Recycling and Disposal Solutions (RDS) of Virginia has shown a willingness to be flexible with the proposed contract it presented to the Town for disposing of its curbside recycling and has offered better terms, Interim Town Manager Wes Haskett reported at the Town Council’s meeting last week.

Mr. Haskett said that he spoke with the president of RDS—whom he did not name—on April 24, and that the president indicated he could offer a contract for a term of one or two years, with an option to renew for five years, rather than insist on a five-year term.

Several Council members, including most vocally Councilman Jim Conners, objected to the five-year term offered in the draft contract.

Joe Benedetto, III, who is president of RDS, according to an online search, also offered a very generous truckload-contamination “threshold” of 18 percent, which is considerably better than the 12 percent threshold in the draft contract.

To protect itself against contamination, which is a serious and costly marketing problem for processors of single-stream recycling, RDS has provided that it would charge the Town for the removal and disposal of all contaminated materials in excess of a 12 percent threshold. Before it removes any of these materials, however, it would give the Town 24 hours to remove them itself and save the additional cost.

As The Beacon previously reported, a recycling specialist with the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality informed us that 14 to 15 percent is an average contamination threshold, and 12 percent is low. Eighteen percent is very attractive.

As a result of Mr. Benedetto’s new proposed terms and further discussion, the Town Council voted unanimously to task Mr. Haskett and Town Attorney Ben Gallop with negotiating with RDS to arrive at a contract that meets the Town’s needs and concerns—if possible. The expectation is that this “option” would be presented to the Council at its June 1 meeting.

A LOOK AT TERMS, COSTS, AND STANDARDS

The Beacon believes RDS, which has offered a reasonably priced fixed-rate contract, presents the Town with the best option it will get to bring true recycling back to Southern Shores. Currently, collector Bay Disposal & Recyling, of Powells Point, is hauling the Town’s curbside recycling to an incinerator owned by Wheelabrator in Portsmouth, Va.

Burning is not recycling, although The Beacon did learn from the N.C. DEQ specialist after the April 21 Town budget workshop—when the Council first considered RDS’s draft contract—that Wheelabrator is recycling all metal materials. If it were not, it would be illegal under N.C. law for Bay Disposal to transport the recyclables there.

Mr. Haskett reported at the May 5 meeting that he had heard from a “representative” of Tidewater Fibre Corp., which owns the Chesapeake materials recovery facility (MRF) that Bay Disposal previously used for disposal of Southern Shores’ curbside recycling. This representative told him that TFC would be willing to resume MRF processing at a rate of $95 per ton, excluding collection and delivery.

TFC stopped accepting Bay Disposal’s Outer Banks loads last December because of a high level of contamination. The Beacon has reported extensively about this problem.

RDS’s proposed rates are much more affordable than TFC’s $95/ton. They include:

• $57.50 per ton of single-stream recyclables, including glass
• $49.00 per ton of single-stream recyclables, without glass

(For more about glass, see the next section, below.)

Bay Disposal has said that it would charge the Town $23.80 per ton of curbside recycling for its pickup and delivery to RDS’s MRF.

The calculated annual cost of contracting with Bay Disposal to continue hauling curbside recycling to Wheelabrator for incineration is $189,500, which is the recycling expense in the proposed FY 2020-21 budget.

The annual cost of contracting with Bay Disposal to pick up and haul curbside recycling to RDS’s facility, according to Mr. Haskett, is $195,201, if glass is included; and $190,467, if glass is excluded. Per home, this would be $6.80 and $6.63, respectively, he said.

We were frustrated when the Town Council, with the exception of Town Councilman Matt Neal, who clearly knows how to read and negotiate contracts, did not appreciate the RDS opportunity and take action to make it happen. We thought it showed a consensus lack of foresight, enthusiasm, and commitment to publicly funded recycling, and we said so. We were fortunate that Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey intervened to save the RDS contract from rejection.

(On a personal note: Mr. Neal’s conversation last week with Mr. Gallop about defaults and termination was fun for me to hear. Mr. Neal has a creative mind. When I practiced law, I specialized in contracts.)

The Beacon surmised that the Roanoke, Va.-based RDS, a new player on the Outer Banks, would be eager to work a compromise deal with Southern Shores and other beach towns, and we were correct. Our contact with N.C. DEQ said the same.

Said Mayor Tom Bennett about the company at last week’s meeting: “They’ve shown some flexibility and willingness to negotiate. I think . . . this company is really anxious to establish themselves and get rolling, and they want to extend their operations, so I think they’re willing to work with us. I get that feeling.”

We also were frustrated by what we perceived as a failure to start the negotiating process earlier than the date of the budget workshop and by the absence of Mr. Gallop in the process.

Proposed contracts are merely offers. Counteroffers and negotiation are to be expected in  both private and public contractual business. To negotiate, you have to know with whom you are negotiating, and you cannot be the least bit intimidated by what some people call “legalese.”

We believe that town managers, interim or otherwise, should know how to read and vet a contract; identify the terms that are questionable or objectionable, from the Town’s point of view; and initiate contact/a relationship with the service provider who has proposed the contract.

We would have liked to have seen Mr. Haskett present RDS’s proposed contract with his own analysis, based on groundwork. We believe negotiating contracts is a key function served by a town manager.

Are our standards and/or expectations too high for Town government? Perhaps.

According to Mr. Gallop, he saw RDS’s proposed contract for the first time the day before the Council’s meeting. (We were wondering whether he had been consulted.) But he had no trouble doing a fast skim of the contract during the meeting and gleaning the gist of terms that troubled some Council members.

The proposed contract is lengthy, but the key terms, including the additional cost to the Town for the removal of rejected and/or contaminated recycling, are easy for people used to reading contracts to discern. Mr. Gallop quickly zeroed in on other issues that he would bring up in a negotiation with RDS.

As the Town Attorney said quite precisely: In a contract, “you’re putting different risks on one side or another. . . . Those risks have value.” What risks is the Town willing to accept?

Mr. Gallop brought much-needed clarity and direction to the Council’s discussion last week. We wish he had intervened earlier and saved some time.

WHAT MR. HASKETT OMITTED ABOUT RECYCLING GLASS AND EDUCATING THE PUBLIC ABOUT CONTAMINATION

On March 5, The Beacon met with Dare County Public Works Director Shanna Fullmer, Dare County Manager Bobby Outten, and Dare Solid Waste Superintendent Doug Huff, at the county’s public works facility in Manteo to interview all three about Dare’s recycling operation and to see a demonstration of its glass crusher.

According to Mr. Huff, Dare’s glass crusher handled 500 tons of glass in 2018, reducing bottles and jars to piles of fine sand and a pebble mulch that are free to the public.

Dare is the only county in North Carolina that has its own mechanized glass pulverizer—thanks to the influence of former N.C. Senate President Marc Basnight. (See The Beacon’s report on 3/12/20.)

The March meeting was at the invitation of Ms. Fullmer, who also invited Mr. Haskett and Southern Shores Public Works Director David Bradley to join us. We could bring whom we chose, so we invited Rod McCaughey, president of the Southern Shores Civic Assn., whose membership is keenly interested in continuing recycling–pursuing grass-roots solutions, if necessary.

Mr. McCaughey has publicly expressed the SSCA’s commitment “to do everything possible to work with local government entities on responsible recycling efforts.”

Before the meeting in Manteo, Mr. McCaughey met with both Mr. Haskett and Mayor Bennett–after Mr. Haskett invited the Mayor to a second meeting–to offer the SSCA’s assistance with addressing the recycling problems the Town was experiencing. He specifically brought up the possibility of glass-disposal bins being located on SSCA property. The SSCA owns and manages extensive open spaces in Southern Shores.

Mr. McCaughey was rebuffed by both the Interim Town Manager and the Mayor, neither of whom individually runs Southern Shores’ council-manager form of government.

After viewing a demonstration of the glass crusher, all meeting invitees retired to a conference room to talk further. Mr. McCaughey and The Beacon specifically asked Ms. Fullmer about how Southern Shores, possibly with the SSCA’s support, could arrange to have the Town’s glass recyclables disposed at a collection site and picked up by the county for crushing in its pulverizer.

Ms. Fullmer said the County could sell the Town a glass-collection bin for $20,000 and pick up the glass materials deposited there for transport to Manteo, free of charge. The Beacon later discussed with Mr. McCaughey the possibility of soliciting a business contribution to pay for the cost of one or more bins. A grant from N.C. DEQ is also a possibility.

Mr. Haskett heard every word of this exchange and has never mentioned this meeting in public until last week, when, as an afterthought, he alluded to Ms. Fullmer’s offer to sell the Town a bin, without mentioning the SSCA’s interest and possible participation.

Mr. McCaughey openly talked at the Manteo meeting about locating the bin(s) on the Hillcrest Beach parking lot, the SSCA tennis court parking lot, and/or other SSCA-owned properties, but Mr. Haskett failed to mention this brainstorming to the Town Council.

He also omitted the cost for a bin and put a negative spin on the idea. Mr. McCaughey had previously heard this same spin in a meeting he had with Mr. Haskett and the Mayor.

“We don’t have anywhere to put [a bin],” Mr. Haskett told the Council. “We would have to find somewhere to put it. It would have to be a fenced-in area. It would have to be paved, most likely. Someone would have to be there to attend to it.”

Problems, problems.

Who says? Who says the Town doesn’t have a place to install a bin or multiple bins? The SSCA’s president has offered its properties. What about the Town property behind the Pitts Center: How is it being used now?

Who says a bin needs to be fenced in, paved, attended? And why did Mr. Haskett fail to mention the possible involvement of the SSCA? The Chicahauk Property Owners Association also might be interested in participating.

I personally was shocked to hear our Interim Town Manager throw up all of these obstacles, knowing that he had attended the March 5 meeting. I was even more shocked when he responded to Town Councilman Leo Holland’s question, “Would we have to pay for [the crushing?]” that “I don’t think so.”

Of course not. Unequivocally no. This is a Dare County service. That Mr. Haskett would not know such a basic fact is troubling to us.

Are we being “mean-spirited”—Mr. Conners’s word—in pointing this out? Or are we merely fully disclosing facts that the Mr. Haskett did not disclose and offering fair criticism?

We were very dissatisfied with the discussion that the Town Council had about glass recyclables. Everyone, including the usually razor-sharp Mr. Neal, missed the point that the more glass that locals—forget about the seasonal vacationers—take out of the single-stream recycling picked up by Bay Disposal, the less the Town will spend on RDS’s processing fees. Glass is heavy, and RDS charges by weight.

The operative question is: Can the Town save money by setting up glass-collection bins on property somewhere in the Town limits? We believe it can. We believe it could get a donation or a grant to cover the cost, and that is where the focus should be, not on having someone attend to the bin(s) or fencing in an area.

Glass-recycling bins are stand-alone in multiple sites in the Washington, D.C. area and elsewhere in this country. They are familiar sights. The fear that a bin might be filled with trash, instead of glass, is not one that besets us. Also, Dare County’s mechanized glass pulverizer sorts out the glass from other materials that it does not crush.

Mr. Haskett further failed to share with the Town Council the literature and information that Ms. Fullmer gave us about the County’s campaign to educate the public about recycling do’s and don’ts, in an effort to reduce contamination.

Councilman Neal brought up at the meeting the need for an public-educational campaign in Southern Shores. This work has already been done by the County. Ms. Fullmer would be happy to provide literature to our town. We do not recall seeing stickers to put on recycling receptacles, as Mr. Neal suggested, but we would be very surprised if the County has not already manufactured them.

The Town does not need to reinvent this wheel. It just needs to reach out beyond the town limits. There may be grant money available for this effort, too.

As usual, we wrote more than we expected to write, so we will post again tomorrow or Tuesday with more news from the Town Council’s May 5 regular meeting.

Kudos to Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey for wearing a cloth face covering to the meeting. Others may have done the same, but she was the only one visibly wearing one at the beginning of the meeting videotape, which you may view here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6P7RUwuIiE&feature=youtu.be

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/10/20

 

Today’s Dare Emergency Management COVID-19 case dashboard shows an additional positive COVID-19 test result, bringing the total in the county to 19.

This new COVID-19 case, for which no explanation is offered in the Joint Information Center, is the first new case reported in eight days. The previous three positive test results came from one Dare County family after one member was infected by direct contact outside of the area.

These three people have not recovered yet, according to the Dare dashboard.

The Beacon is hearing from readers concerned about the increased risk of contracting the novel coronavirus with the arrival of out-of-town visitors. One reader asked how Dare County residents would know if non-resident visitors were to test positive locally for the virus and possibly spark an outbreak.

The answer is we would not know about positive COVID-19 tests locally of non-resident visitors unless, we would speculate, the number reached critical mass and posed a threat to the local health-care delivery system and to the Outer Banks community.

The Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services only reports the positive COVID-19 tests of residents and does not inform the public as to the area of the county in which the residents live, citing patient privacy.

It is extremely important to observe the three W’s cited by Governor Roy Cooper and N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen for Phase One of 1) wear a cloth face covering; 2) wait six feet apart (avoid close contact with people outside of your household); and 3) wash your hands often or use hand sanitizer.

The statewide stay-at-home order is still in effect. The restrictions have only been loosened to allow more businesses to operate, with social-distancing and infection-control measures in place, and more outdoor activities to occur. If people neglect or refuse to take the three W’s seriously, we may see an uptick in COVID-19 cases locally. The danger is far from over.

Retired physicist Bob Bateman of Southern Shores is still busily making face shields on his 3-D printer for Outer Banks first responders, according to his wife, Ursula Bateman. Bob has made an estimated 120 face shields so far.

THE COVID-19 PICTURE STATEWIDE

After the number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases hit a new single-day record of 639 on Thursday, the case reports for the next two days dropped below 500.

On Friday the NCDHHS dashboard reported an increase of 471 cases, based on 7,285 new completed tests, for a 6.5 percent positive rate; and today, 492 more cases, based on 7,749 tests, were reported, for a 6.3 percent positive rate. Hospitalizations also declined to 515 and 513, on each respective day.

The number of completed COVID-19 tests being done every day is well above the 5,000 to 7,000 tests targeted by Dr. Cohen for adequate surveillance.

BULK TRASH COLLECTION SET MAY 30

The Town’s spring bulk-trash collection has been scheduled for Saturday, May 30. The Town asks that you have your discarded items in the roadside right-of-way for pickup that day by 5 a.m. and that you not place any items in the right-of-way before May 23.

See https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/semi-annual-bulk-waste-collection/ for a list of the materials that can and cannot be disposed of.

While furniture is acceptable, building materials are not.

We often see lumber incorrectly placed in the right-of-way: We see it in the right-of-way before the collection date and we sometimes see it there for months afterward.

No roofing, windows, doors, carpets, toilets, demolition debris, or any waste left by a contractor will be picked up. The Town also will not collect tree stumps, and it will only take yard waste or vegetative debris that is bagged in clear bags or brown paper bags.

COMING TOMORROW: An update on curbside recycling.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/9/20

 

Mark your calendars for Tuesday, May 19, at 9 a.m., if you would like to submit what appear to be your last public comments before the Town Council votes on approving an estimated $14 million to $16 million nourishment project of the entire Southern Shores coastline.

Thanks to Town Councilman Matt Neal, who urged the Council at its Tuesday meeting to stop delaying a vote on whether the Town will undertake a project in 2022 beyond re-nourishment of the Pelican Watch beach, the May 19 workshop meeting will be focused on beach nourishment. The expectation is that the Council will select one of the four project options presented to it by its coastal engineering consultant.

Although Council members will likely address how to fund a large-scale beach nourishment project, the Town has not yet taken the steps required by N.C. law to designate municipal service districts and to hold a public hearing about them. Towns may create municipal service districts for the purpose of assessing different tax rates on property owners in order to pay for a beach nourishment project.

Interim Town Manager/Budget Officer Wes Haskett has submitted a proposed balanced budget for fiscal year 2020-21. You may access it at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Budget-FY-2020-2021-Filed-with-the-Clerk.pdf

The budget is balanced at $5,908,243 in revenues and expenses. A public hearing will be held on the proposed budget during the Town Council’s June 1 meeting, at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center.

You may view a videotape of the Council’s Tuesday (May 5) meeting at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6P7RUwuIiE&feature=youtu.be

The Town Council will meet today at 5 p.m. for a special closed session to interview top candidates for the position of full-time, permanent town manager, which has been open since Peter Rascoe’s resignation last summer.

The Beacon will be taking most of today and tomorrow off. If important breaking news occurs, we will report upon it when we can, but otherwise, we will not be commenting again until the weekend. We will provide a report of the Council’s Tuesday meeting as soon as possible.

BREAKING NEWS, 11 a.m. NCDHHS COVID-19 DASHBOARD UPDATE: The COVID-19 case count in North Carolina hit a new single-day record, with 639 new laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases being reported since 11 a.m. yesterday. The new cases represent 9.3 percent of the total number of COVID-19 lab tests that were completed, which was 6,846. Hospitalizations also increased by nine, from 516 to 525.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/7/20

Dare, Hyde, and Currituck counties will lift restrictions on entry for visitors to the Outer Banks starting May 16 at 12:01 a.m., Robert Woodard, the Chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, announced today in a videotaped message.

See bulletin and message at https://www.darenc.com/Home/Components/News/News/6226/1483

“As visitors prepare for vacation,” Mr. Woodard said, “it is important to remember that the coronavirus is not over. There are still State restrictions in effect to protect everyone’s safety that may impact the way you have vacationed on the Outer Banks in the past.”

This decision made by the three Outer Banks counties in coordination with each other is directly attributable to the Governor’s issuance yesterday of Executive Order 138, which initiates at 5 p.m. Friday Phase One of his three-phase reopening plan.

North Carolina’s stay-at-home order remains in effect during Phase One.

Executive Order No. 138, which is titled “Easing Restrictions on Travel, Business Operations, and Mass Gatherings: Phase 1,” expands upon the allowable activities in which people may engage outside of their homes and reopens some retail businesses, subject to restrictions, as The Beacon reported yesterday.

(See The Beacon’s report of the Governor’s press conference, 5/5/20.)

For the text of the order, which is very extensive, see https://files.nc.gov/governor/documents/files/EO138-Phase-1.pdf.

Having read the Executive Order, The Beacon believes it is important to distinguish between requirements that are being imposed, and are legally enforceable through criminal arrest and prosecution, and recommendations that are being advised.

Requirements come into play chiefly in relation to regulation of businesses.

When people leave their residences for “allowable activities” during Phase One, Executive Order No. 138 “strongly” advises them to take steps to reduce transmission of the coronavirus, but it does not require them to do so. Dare County also recommends the same measures, but it does not require them.

These steps, which are known in the Executive Order as “Recommendations to Promote Social Distancing and Reduce Transmission,” include maintaining six-foot social distancing; wearing a cloth face covering; carrying a hand sanitizer and using it frequently; and washing hands frequently.

The order advises people, but it does not require them, to wear a face covering whenever they leave home, including inside all public settings, such as grocery stores, pharmacies, or other “retail or public-serving businesses,” as well as outdoors when they cannot maintain at least six-feet distancing from other people who are not family or household members.

People may now engage in more “allowable activities,” subject to the recommendations on social distancing

ALLOWABLE ACTIVITIES

According to the new executive order, people may now act:

• For health and safety: People may leave their homes to engage in health and safety tasks or activities for themselves, their family or household members, people who are unable to or should not leave their homes, and for their pets.
• To look for and obtain goods and services: People may leave their homes to look for or obtain goods and services from a business or operation that is not closed by the previous Executive Order that imposed the stay-at-home order. Attendance as a spectator at a sporting event, concert, or other performance is not allowed.
• To engage in outdoor activity: People are “encouraged” to engage in outdoor activities, provided they do not form prohibited mass gatherings of more than 10 people. State parks and trails may reopen, but public playgrounds remain closed, including those in state parks. Park operators must adhere to the same requirements that are being imposed on retail businesses. (See below.)
• For work: People may leave home, provided their place of employment is not closed by the new Executive Order (a restaurant or bar, for example).
• To look for work.
• To take care of others: People may leave home to care for or assist a family member, a friend, or a pet in another household, and to transport family members, friends, or pets, as allowed. This includes weddings and funerals, the latter of which are limited to gatherings of 50 people, who should observe the social-distancing recommendations.
• To worship or exercise First Amendment rights.
• To travel between places of residence.
• To volunteer, but only for organizations that provide charitable and social services.
• To attend small outdoor get-togethers: People may travel to another person’s home for social purposes, provided no more than 10 people gather, and the activity occurs outside.

People riding on public transit MUST comply with the social-distancing recommendations.

RETAIL BUSINESSES THAT CAN OPERATE

It is easiest to identify which retail businesses can operate during Phase One by identifying those that cannot. The following businesses remain closed during Phase One because of close contact among people:

• Personal care and grooming businesses: including, but not limited to, barber shops; beauty, hair, nail, and tanning salons; tattoo parlors; and massage therapists, except for those who provide medical massage therapy.
• Entertainment facilities without a retail or dining component, including, but not limited to, bingo parlors; bowling alleys; indoor exercise facilities (gyms, yoga studios, indoor rock climbing facilities, etc.); indoor/outdoor pools; live performance venues; movie theaters; spas; skating rinks; and gaming businesses and those that allow gaming activities, such as video arcades.

All other retail businesses may operate during Phase One, provided they meet safety requirements imposed by the Executive Order.

Social distancing that we have become accustomed to observing in stores remains in effect, as do requirements on business owners to clean high-touch areas, provide hand sanitizer, and conduct daily COVID-19 symptom screening of workers. The big change here is that the maximum customer occupancy has been increased.

Businesses are now being limited to no more than 50 percent of their stated fire capacity. If they do not have a stated fire capacity, then they must limit customer occupancy to 12 customers per 1,000 square feet of the business location’s total square footage, including the parts of the location that are not accessible to customers.

Open retail businesses are also “strongly encouraged” to ensure that their workers stay at least six feet apart from each other and from customers; to provide designated times for people age 65 and over and other high-risk populations to access services; to develop and use systems that allow for contact-free ordering (online, email, telephone) and pickup or home delivery, and contact-free checkout; and to use shields at cash registers, provide clear designation of entry and exit points and assistance with routing through store aisles.

NO CHANGE WITH RESTAURANTS AND BARS

There is a special section in Executive Order 138 for restaurants. Nothing has changed. They may remain open only if the consumption of food and beverages occurs off-premises through drive-through, curbside pickup, carryout, or other such non-contact means. Restaurants are encouraged, but not required, to comply with the social-distancing recommendations, particularly by requiring their workers to wear face coverings.

Secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services Dr. Mandy Cohen has determined that the seating areas of restaurants and bars “constitute an imminent hazard for the spread of COVID-19.” Restaurants remain restricted, and bars remain closed.

No sit-down food or beverage service is permitted in any business.

NO MASS GATHERINGS, WITH EXCEPTIONS

The Executive Order defines mass gatherings that bring more than 10 people together “at the same time in a single space, such as an auditorium, stadium, conference room,” etc., or “any other confined indoor or outdoor space.”

The prohibition against mass gatherings remains in effect, with some new exceptions.

The prohibition does not apply to mass gatherings for health and safety, for shopping and obtaining goods and services, for work, for worship, for the exercise of First Amendment rights, or for receiving governmental services.

Mass gatherings for worship may occur outdoors, provided participants observe social-distancing requirements.

The same is true of mass gatherings at airports, bus and train stations or stops, medical facilities, shopping malls, and shopping centers. They may occur, but people must observe social distancing.

Phase One will be in effect at least through 5 p.m. May 22.

KEY METRICS TRENDS

The Beacon had intended today to go over the metric trends in more detail that Dr. Cohen outlined at yesterday’s press conference. These trends, which she viewed as hopeful, but not perfect, prompted the Governor, in consultation with the NCDHHS Secretary, to initiate Phase One. We will save them for another day.

Asked by a reporter at yesterday’s conference what concerns him the most about Phase One, Governor Cooper answered: “people beginning to not take [COVID-19] seriously.”

If North Carolinians are lax about observing safety restrictions and recommendations, Phase One may last longer than two weeks, or the Governor, conceivably, could roll back the reopening altogether.

The 24-hour metric picture provided on the NCDHHS dashboard today shows that 502 new COVID-19 cases were reported, an increase of 94 over the previous 24 hours, based on 12,682 laboratory tests. Hospitalizations statewide dropped by 18, from 534 to 516.

The percent of positive tests among all tests performed in the past 24 hours is an encouraging 4 percent.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/6/20

 

Phase One of North Carolina’s three-phase economic reopening plan will go into effect at 5 p.m. Friday, Governor Roy Cooper announced at a 5 p.m. press conference today.

The statewide stay-at-home order will remain in place throughout Phase One, which will expire May 22 and be extended, the Governor said, if the COVID-19 data “indicators are not in the right place.”

During Phase One, which is designed for “limited easing of restrictions,” the Governor said residents will be allowed to leave home for more reasons, including for more commercial activity.

Most businesses that are not close-contact businesses, such as restaurants, bars, hair and nail salons, gyms and fitness centers, will be allowed to open, and all retail stores may have 50-percent capacity, provided social distancing is maintained, the Governor said.

Restaurants will continue to provide carry-out and delivery service, as previously established.

Mass gatherings will continue to be limited to 10 persons in Phase One, except for religious activities outdoors, where more than 10 people may gather, provided social distancing is observed.

State parks and trails will also reopen.

“We have flattened the curve,” Governor Cooper said, “but we haven’t eliminated COVID-19.” He stressed that State officials are being “cautious and methodical with plans to remove restrictions.”

Before the Governor announced his new executive order initiating Phase One, NCDHHS Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen went over the trends of the four metrics that the State has been following, concluding: “We look relatively stable.”

The only metric that she said has not declined or leveled off is the number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases, which have shown a “slight increase” in the past seven days. With increased testing, Dr. Cohen did not view this increase as significant.

“We are heading in the right direction,” Dr. Cohen said, “[but we’re] not perfect.”

The Beacon will go over Dr. Cohen’s report in more detail tomorrow. The Southern Shores Town Council meeting has already started, and we would like to join it. Dr. Cohen said a full report on surveillance will be posted on the NCDHHS website Thursday.

Both Dr. Cohen and Governor Cooper touted a 3-W message for North Carolina residents to remember when they go out. “If you leave home, remember,” Dr. Cohen said:

W—To WEAR a face covering

W—To WAIT six feet apart from other people

W—To WASH your hands often.

“We have to continue to protect our loved ones and our neighbors,” the Governor said. “But we still have a way to go.”

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/5/20

 

About 51 percent of adults in North Carolina are at higher risk for a severe illness from COVID-19 because they are age 65 and over, have certain underlying health conditions, or both risk factors, according to a data analysis by the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

The underlying health conditions, which have been identified by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are:

*Chronic lung disease

*Cardiovascular disease

*Severe obesity

*Diabetes

*Kidney disease

*Liver disease and immunosuppressive conditions, including cancer treatment

*Smoking

*Other immune disorders

The NCDHHS reportedly cross-referenced the CDC’s health conditions with its own data sources to identify the percent of North Carolinians who are at higher risk for serious illness, according to an NCDHHS news release.

The analysis concludes that an estimated 51.1 percent of adults in North Carolina have a higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 because of one or both of the two risk factors.

The NCDHHS’s data sources do not contain every underlying health condition identified by the CDC, and their definitions of specific health conditions may not align exactly with the CDC’s, the release states, in describing “limitations to this analysis.”

According to the NCDHHS, 42 percent of people in North Carolina have at least one of the CDC’s underlying health conditions, and 52 percent of the people in North Carolina who died in 2018—the most recent complete year with data available—had one of the health conditions.

For more details about the data and the analysis, see: https://files.nc.gov/ncdhhs/documents/files/covid-19/Risk-Factors-for-Severe-Illness-from-COVID-19.pdf

Of interest, we believe, is the analytical breakdown of the percent of COVID-19 cases and patient deaths in North Carolina in which an underlying health condition was a risk factor.

Data about underlying health conditions “are obtained through case investigations, which take time,” according to the NCDHHS release. “Local Health Departments contact each person that has tested positive for COVID-19 to gather this data.”

Information about specific health conditions “will become more complete as case investigations are completed and information is entered into the North Carolina Electronic Disease Surveillance System,” it states.

Suffice it to say that information about underlying health conditions will never be available for all COVID-19 cases or COVID-19-related deaths.

Here is what available data reportedly show, as of May 4:

The percent of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases with at least one underlying health condition, by patient age:

Patients 0-17: 7 percent have condition; 48 percent no condition; 45 percent unknown.

Patients 18-24: 13 percent have condition; 46 percent no condition; 41 percent unknown.

Patients 25-49: 19 percent have condition; 34 percent no condition; 47 percent unknown.

Patients 50-64: 38 percent have condition; 22 percent no condition; 40 percent unknown.

Patients age 65 and over: 51 percent have condition; 8 percent no condition; 40 percent unknown.

Overall, 31 percent of lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases have a known underlying health condition; 23 percent do not; and 46 percent are unknown.

The percent of lab-confirmed COVID-19 deaths with at least one underlying health condition, by patient age:

Patients ages 0 to 24: no deaths have been reported.

Patients 25-49: 63 percent have condition; 19 percent do not; 19 percent unknown.

Patients 50-64: 79 percent have condition; 10 percent do not; 10 percent unknown.

Patients 65+: 75 percent have condition; 3 percent do not; 22 percent unknown.

Overall, 75 percent of the people who have died because of lab-confirmed COVID-19 had an underlying health condition; 4 percent did not; and 21 percent were unknown.

The analysis also breaks down the incidence of a specific underlying health condition in people with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and among those who have died because of COVID-19. Although the data are incomplete, the most common underlying health condition is cardiovascular disease, followed by diabetes and chronic lung disease.

The full report is available at https://files.nc.gov/ncdhhs/documents/files/covid-19/Risk-Factors-for-Severe-Illness-from-COVID-19, pdf.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/5/20

Yesterday The Beacon published an item about the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau’s proposal that this summer be called “The Summer of Glove,” and we illustrated it with the Bureau’s logo, which depicts two gloved hands forming a heart.

Underneath the logo’s heart are printed the words: Be Safe. Be Smart. Have Fun.

This same sentiment, or slogan, was displayed yesterday on a sign held aloft by a face-masked person at the Wright Memorial Bridge checkpoint. OBX Today took a photo of this sign holder and two others who were welcoming non-resident Dare County property owners back to the Outer Banks.

We asked you yesterday what you think of the Visitors Bureau’s SOG theme and logo, and no one commented. Today we will tell you what we think.

We think they are in poor taste.

We think they trivialize a very serious public-health threat that has already claimed the lives nationwide of 70,000 people and will claim the lives of tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—more before it is managed.

We think that if 85 percent of the people who were dying from COVID-19 were under age 50, instead of age 65 and over, no one on the Outer Banks would be exhorting vacationers to have fun during a worldwide pandemic.

Is the message of the logo, have fun, but be sure to wear gloves? Or are the gloves only on the health-care workers who are treating COVID-19 patients?

I wear protective gloves when I go into stores, but I never see other customers wearing them, just some store employees.

In short, we think “The Summer of Glove” is a tacky, witless, and embarrassing idea that should be scrapped.

If the Outer Banks Tourist Bureau wants to spin off of the hippies’ 1967 Summer of Love in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, we suggest it have “Another Summer of Love” and leave protective gloves and face masks out of it. Underneath a revised heart for “Another Summer” could appear the words: “Be Safe While You Enjoy the Beach.”

We all need fun in our lives, especially during times like we’re experiencing now. But we also need to understand that this summer the manner in which we have fun is going to be dramatically different. The Visitors Bureau’s witless “Summer of Glove” does not convey that message. It should be nixed.

A WORD ABOUT FACE MASKS AND CLOTH COVERINGS

The primary complaint that we hear from locals about out-of-towners is that they don’t face masks or other face coverings in grocery stores, as in: “I watched the people in the Harris Teeter parking lot, and no one driving a car with out-of-state license plates wore a mask into the store.”

Sound familiar? The implication is always that locals are being conscientious and responsible, and out-of-towners are not.

Our observation is that the majority of locals, as well as many visiting out-of-towners, do not wear masks or cover their faces in retail establishments.

For the record, we would like to state that the Dare County Stay Home-Stay Health emergency order requires people to wear masks or cloth face coverings in public settings “where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain.”

It is not an absolute requirement. There is discretion involved in deciding whether to wear a face covering. (The requirement is absolute, however, if you would like to enter the ABC Store.)

See https://www.darenc.com/departments/health-human-services/coronavirus/face-coverings

You no doubt have heard about the alleged murder in Flint, Michigan, of a Family Dollar security guard who refused to permit a woman to enter the store if she and her child were not wearing face masks. The woman left and returned with two adult male members of her family, one of whom allegedly shot and killed the guard.

When people complain to us about customers not wearing face masks and the need for police intervention to enforce mask wearing, we always speak of the potential for ill will that can escalate to rage and say it’s not worth a confrontation. We now, unfortunately, can point to Flint, Michigan.

We think wearing a face mask or cloth covering in public shows respect, concern, and empathy for others. Personally, I don’t want anyone to feel anxious near me because I have not taken protective measures. I want people to feel comfortable around me. But my judgments are only my own.

(Speaking of Harris Teeter, we learned Sunday that cashiers will not bag groceries in customers’ reusable bags because of the fear of coronavirus infection. The scientific jury is still out on whether the virus lives on cloth surfaces, but we strongly doubt it.

(Cloth is not typically a virus fomite: A fomite is an inanimate object that is capable of transmitting infection from one person to another. Of course, we pointed out to the cashier that gloves, which she was not wearing, would take care of any long-shot infection risk.)

KEY COVID-19 METRICS STATEWIDE INCREASE 

Four hundred eight new lab-confirmed cases of COVID-19 were reported to the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services over the past 24 hours, an increase of more than 120 percent over Monday’s case total, according to today’s NCDHHS dashboard.

The NCDHHS also reports that 5,361 laboratory tests were performed, making the percentage of positive tests in this test batch about 8 percent, up from 5 percent yesterday.

COVID-19-related hospitalizations statewide also increased by 36, rising from 498 to 534.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/5/20

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper will detail by Wednesday what Phase One of his gradual three-phase economic reopening plan will entail, he said at a press conference today. The Governor also said he hopes to initiate Phase One this weekend.

North Carolina’s stay-at-home order will remain in effect for Phase One, which is designed for the reopening of low-risk activities. In unveiling his plan two weeks ago, the Governor said that during Phase One some nonessential businesses will be permitted to operate and state parks will be reopened.

Those nonessential businesses will not include restaurants, bars, entertainment venues, gyms, fitness centers, nail and hair salons, and other businesses in which people come in close contact.

The Governor will detail by Wednesday specifics of what types of stores can be open and what people are allowed to do when they leave their homes. Protections for employees and customers must be in place before businesses will be allowed to reopen, he said today.

Phase One is to be in effect for a minimum of two weeks, the Governor previously said, before the State progresses to Phase Two.

IN VIRGINIA TODAY, Governor Ralph Northam announced an extension of his order closing most nonessential businesses to May 14. It was set to expire May 9.

The Virginia Governor, who is a physician, appears intent on reopening nonessential businesses on May 15, according to The Washington Post. He has made no mention of lifting his stay-at-home order, which is in effect until June 10.

In contrast to North Carolina’s phased-in reopening, Governor Northam’s Phase One permits people to get haircuts, dine in restaurants, work out in gyms, and shop at nonessential retail businesses, provided adequate safety precautions are taken.

The Governor has suggested, for example, that fewer people will be able to dine at the same time, in order to provide social distancing among strangers, and that servers will have to wear face masks. Similarly, fewer people will be able to work out in gyms or fitness centers at the same time, and business owners will have to adhere to a thorough cleaning protocol.

PUBLIC COMMENTS FOR TOWN COUNCIL MEETING

If you would like to participate in tomorrow’s Town Council meeting, which is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center, see:

https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Southern-Shores-Notice-Electronic-Participation-May-5-2020-1.pdf

Public comments may be submitted in advance by email or presented live via Chat in a Zoom meeting.

If you would like to submit written public comments, email them to Town Clerk Sheila Kane at skane@southernshores-nc.gov with the subject line, Council Meeting Public Comment May 5, 2020.

Your comments must be limited to three minutes, when they are read aloud by a Town Council member. The Beacon hopes that Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey will do the honors again. She did a smooth job at the Council budget workshop.

PARTICIPATION IN TODAY’S PLANNING BOARD MEETING

Click to access Southern-Shores-Notice-Electronic-Participation-Planning-Board-May-4-2020.pdf

 

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/4/20

THIS JUST IN . . . The two new positive COVID-19 test results reported over the weekend on the Dare Emergency Management case dashboard without explanation were of family members of the person whose case was reported April 30. According to today’s emergency bulletin, the two people were infected by direct contact. See https://www.darenc.com/Home/Components/News/News/6222/1483

The Beacon’s sources report that the traffic into Dare County this morning through the checkpoint at the Wright Memorial Bridge ran smoothly, with no noticeable backups.

Today is the first day that some non-resident Dare County property owners with valid entry permits—along with their “immediate family”—may enter the county pursuant to a gradual lifting of access restrictions that went into effect March 20.

Non-resident property owners whose last names begin with the letters A through I were permitted entry today, starting at 6 a.m. Those with last names beginning with letters J through R will be given access starting at 6 a.m. Wednesday, and the remaining non-resident property owners (S through Z) may arrive on Friday at 6 a.m.

All non-resident Dare County property owners must have valid entry permits.

In a May 1 welcoming videotaped message, Dare County Board of Commissioners Chairman B Woodard asked all arriving non-resident owners to bring enough essential supplies with them to last through their visits, specifically mentioning “groceries, prescriptions, [and] paper products.”

A discussion over the weekend on the social-media neighborhood site, Next Door, brought to The Beacon’s attention that the restriction on the people being allowed to enter Dare County with permitted non-resident property owners has changed.

Whereas originally the County specified only permitted primary property owners and their “minor children” could enter, the current entry regulations specify that “immediate family” members of the permit holder are allowed.

“Immediate family” is defined as “a spouse, parent, child, brother, sister, grandparent or child,” including “step, half, and in-law relationships.”

Some Next Door commentators questioned this liberal definition, in light of the fact that such relatives of Dare County residents cannot enter—not unless the Dare County resident is a property owner and is in the vehicle with them.

The Beacon does not recall reading a Dare Emergency Management bulletin with an update concerning family members. While some resident homeowners may believe the expansion is unfair, we would ask all residents, as Chairman Woodward did in his message, to “welcome visitors,” and to “act with compassion and kindness” and “foster a warm and welcoming environment.”

See The Beacon, 5/2/20 for news about non-resident property owners, Dare County schools, and more.

STATE METRICS ARE ENCOURAGING

One hundred eight-four new COVID-19 cases were reported in North Carolina during the past 24 hours, based on 6,964 laboratory tests, according to statistics posted at 11 a.m. today on the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services dashboard.

The count of new cases and the percentage of positive results in a 24-hour batch of lab tests are two key metrics of COVID-19 trends in North Carolina that the Governor and the NCDHHS are monitoring to decide whether to lift the statewide stay-at-home order at week’s end and start Phase One of the reopening plan.

Today’s positive test-result percentage is about 5 percent.

The dashboard also reports 498 COVID-19 hospitalizations, another key metric—an increase of 23 over Sunday’s total hospitalizations, which showed a drop of 27.

The NCDHHS case count on Saturday hit a new single-day high with 586, but then it dropped dramatically on Sunday with 155. Today’s total new cases and lab tests are encouraging. NCDHHS has a goal of administering 5,000 to 7,000 tests daily.

Only the NCDHHS knows how reliable and significant these 24-hour snapshots are, but we believe that today’s 5 percent rate of positive tests is a step in the right direction.

Avery County in western North Carolina on the border of Tennessee continues to be the only county that has not reported a positive COVID-19 test result.

One reason may be that Avery County instituted a self-quarantine requirement on April 13. The county mandates that all residents and non-residents who arrive from outside of the county, after having spent an overnight away, “self-quarantine for a period of 14 days or 7 days after symptoms have resolved, whichever time period is longer.”

The county excepted commuting essential workers and first responders from its self-quarantine order.

See Avery County’s State of Emergency at: http://www.averycountync.gov/docs/SKM_C55820042715200.pdf

As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Avery County’s population was 17,797, according to the county’s website.

BREAKING NEWS: The Governor this morning signed the two coronavirus relief bills passed by N.C. lawmakers Saturday, one concerning policy and the another directing how to spend $1.57 billion of federal funds coming to the state. See The Beacon, 4/24/20, for background.

North Carolina receives $3.5 billion in federal funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Security (CARES) Act.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/4/20

The $47,599 budget amendment that will be before the Town Council for approval at its meeting Tuesday is undeniably for funds to support a 2022 beach-nourishment project of the entire Southern Shores coastline that the Council has not yet approved.

The Town Council meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center. The public has the option of participating by Zoom videoconferencing or listening by telephone. The Town has made no announcement about in-person attendance.

For the agenda and meeting packet, see: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Meeting-Packet_2020-05-05.pdf

What is the matter with our Mayor, members of our Town Council, and our Interim Town Manager that this budget amendment, and the underlying proposal from Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina (“CPE-NC”) that prompts it, are being treated so furtively?

The Beacon knows some of the Town Council members to be very conscientious, and we seriously doubt Interim Manager Wes Haskett is trying to pull the wool over anyone’s eyes, so we honestly do not get it. We would hate to believe that Town Council members have stumbled because they are reluctant to speak their minds and be decisive.

Having read the services agreement submitted by CPE-NC—including the laboriously written exhibits A, B, and C that detail the specific services—we can say with certainty that CPE-NC proposes to undertake foundational beach profile/survey and permitting work for an as-yet-unapproved new coastline nourishment project in 2022.

The proposal covers required design and permitting work for this as-yet-unapproved new 2022 beach nourishment project, as well as what it refers to as a “potential Hurricane Dorian damage repair project.”

This is the first The Beacon has heard of the need to hire a coastal-engineering consultant to design a damage repair project for a hurricane that only minimally damaged the Southern Shores coastline. Most of the damage from Dorian in our town last September, as you will recall, was in the maritime forest with the felling of numerous trees.

CPE-NC is seeking a five-month contract for activities whose performance would start immediately. CPE-NC would be providing services for Southern Shores, as well as for Duck, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills.

MULTI-TOWN COORDINATION OF BEACH PROJECTS

At its March 4 regular meeting, the Town Council voted, 4-1, to unite with the three other beach towns to hire a joint coastal-engineering coordinator/consultant to handle all 2022 beach nourishment projects among them.

The Town Council signed on to a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) that Duck, which is spearheading the multi-town collaboration, subsequently released. Three applicants responded to the RFQ.

(See The Beacon’s 3/8/20 post, in which we described the assessment of Duck’s RFQ as “inadequate.”)

To his credit, Councilman Jim Conners dissented at the March meeting, protesting that the Town was “putting the cart before the horse” because it had not yet approved a beach nourishment project.

And it still has not.

The other four Town Council members adjudged that by voting to include Southern Shores in Duck’s RFQ—which Councilman Conners said he had read “four times and I’m still unclear” about what it covers—they were not making a commitment that they could not withdraw later. They could see no “downside,” they said.

On Tuesday, they will see the downside: a $47,599 budget amendment during the 2019-20 fiscal year; a services agreement submitted by CPE-NC for its approval because Southern Shores is a contracting party with the other three towns; and a prospective FY 2019-20 budget amendment for $450,000, to cover more up-front costs.

(Mr. Haskett said at the budget workshop that Dare County will pay $250,000 of the $450,000, but he did not indicate when the county money would be received.)

An even bigger downside to consider is what, if any, ill will the Town would generate with the other towns—especially Duck, which has a very aggressive Town Council and Town Manager—if it backs out of the multi-town agreement now, or scales back its involvement.

At the March meeting, Councilman Conners supported the idea of multi-town cooperation, but said, “I don’t see the rush to approve this right now,” and argued that the “optics” suggest that by joining the RFQ, the Town has committed to beach nourishment beyond maintenance at Pelican Watch. We agree.

He also suggested that any county-wide effort to manage the beaches, and provide for their nourishment, should be led by Dare County, not Duck.

The companies that responded to the Duck RFQ were CPE-NC, which is based in Wilmington and formerly did business as APTIM; Coastal Science & Engineering, which is based in Columbia, S.C.; and Moffat & Nichol Engineers of Norfolk, Va.

The town managers evaluated the applicants—their rankings appear on page 50 of the Council’s Tuesday meeting packet—and selected CPE-NC to be the coordinator. The next steps for the towns are outlined in CPE-NC’s proposal, which its president, Ken Willson, prepared. (See The Beacon’s blog on 4/27/20.)

The problem The Beacon, and any honest and reasonable person should have, is that the Southern Shores Town Council has not approved a shoreline beach nourishment project for 2022, beyond the maintenance of the Pelican Watch project done in 2017.

Until the Council takes that action it should not be approving a budget amendment and a service agreement like the ones that will before it for approval Tuesday.

That Mr. Haskett has described the proposed budget amendment in a Town document as covering expenditures for a mere “beach profile study” is so vague and ambiguous as to suggest deliberate obfuscation.

The vagueness about CPE-NC’s role, duties, and work timeline as a multi-town beach-nourishment coordinator/consultant and the Town of Southern Shores’ commitment to 2022 projects must stop. All must be clarified, publicly, in plain English, for Southern Shores property owners—as well as the Town Council—to understand.

Mr. Haskett needs to explain in particular what the Town paid CPE-NC, when it was known as APTIM, $45,000 this spring to do, if it was not a “beach profile study.”

POTENTIAL BEACH NOURISHMENT FUNDING

The Town Council also has yet to have a serious discussion about how it would seek to fund a shoreline nourishment project in 2022. The financial data that it authorized paying consultant DEC Associates $35,000 to prepare were compiled, according to Mr. Haskett, “for the sake of discussion.” It is just information, not recommendations, he said of financial materials that have been included in recent Town Council meeting packets.

This information designated municipal-service districts (MSD) in Southern Shores and proposed tax-rate increases according to the MSD, in order to pay for one of four possible beach-nourishment project options that APTIM recommended and the Town Council is supposedly considering.

If the Town Council is not prepared to spread the cost equally among property owners, with an across-the-board tax increase, then it has a long way to go yet with mapping and designating municipal service districts and subjecting its decisions to public scrutiny.

For a municipal service district to be designated, and the property owners within it to be taxed more than other property owners in a town, N.C. law requires a town to attest that the proposed MSD is in need of beach nourishment to a “demonstrably greater extent than the rest” of the districts in town.

Inasmuch as Southern Shores is a town of vacation rental homes whose occupants visit because of the oceanfront, we seriously question the legal justification of the districts that the Town has preliminarily carved out—for the sake of discussion—from the “townwide” tax base, as well as omitted (i.e., the commercial area). They are based solely on proximity to the oceanfront, not on the “demonstrably greater extent” standard.

Currently, the special-obligation bond program that has been financing beach nourishment on the Outer Banks is in abeyance. The N.C. General Assembly inadvertently repealed it last September.

It is this program that permits otherwise unconstitutional disparate tax rates to be assessed against taxpayers in the same town according to districts.

Frankly, the General Assembly has bigger fish to fry now, and so does the Southern Shores Town Council.

THE PROPOSED RECYCLING CONTRACT

The RDS of Virginia recycling contract that is in Tuesday’s meeting packet is the same contract that was in the April 21 budget workshop session packet. No changes have been noted. (See The Beacon, 4/29/30.)

We hope that the Town Council will not take the easy way out and summarily reject the contract, without first tasking Mr. Haskett with trying to join forces with Nags Head and other beach towns to negotiate with RDS for a better recycling disposal deal.

But we have learned not to expect initiative, creativity, and leadership from the Town.

Since last December, when the Town Council first learned that the Town’s curbside recycling was being taken to an incinerator in Portsmouth, not to a material recovery facility for recycling, it has been strictly in reactive mode.

The Interim Town Manager has not reached out to try to problem-solve the recycling crisis. When The Beacon spoke to a recycling specialist at the N.C. Dept. of Environmental Quality who has been active in the Outer Banks situation, she did not know Mr. Haskett, but she had much to say about the proactive efforts of the Nags Head Town Manager.

We hope the new Southern Shores Town Manager will be more inclined to take initiative and be more adept at doing so.

In fairness to Mr. Haskett, he is doing two full-time jobs now, acting as both Town Manager and Town Planning Director. But this is what the majority of the previous Town Council wanted, unfortunately, especially Mayor Tom Bennett, who made no secret of his preference for Mr. Haskett to succeed former Town Manager Peter Rascoe.

PLANNING BOARD MEETING TOMORROW

The Southern Shores Planning Board will hold a special meeting tomorrow at 5:30 p.m. in the Pitts Center to consider the new flood maps and to update the Town Code’s flood prevention ordinance found in chapter 16.

A draft of a new flood ordinance has been prepared. You will find a copy of it, along with preliminary flood maps and other flood information at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/httpsouthernshores-nc-govsfloodprotection/.

For a summary of changes integrated into the draft ordinance, see: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Town-of-Southern-Shores-Summary-of-Changes-to-DRAFT-FDPO-3-12-2020-Copy-1.pdf

This meeting, like the Town Council’s meeting Tuesday, will be conducted electronically. To learn how to join and/or participate in it, please see: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Southern-Shores-Notice-Electronic-Participation-Planning-Board-May-4-2020.pdf

The Beacon will not be covering the Planning Board meeting.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/3/20