Southern Shores is among the Dare County municipalities sued by named plaintiffs Joseph and Linda Blackburn of Richmond in a class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of non-resident property owners who were denied access to their homes for 45 days or longer during the COVID-19 shutdown.

The Blackburns own property in Frisco on Hatteras Island, according to The Island Free Press, which broke the story locally. They are represented by Lloyd C. (“Clif”) Smith, Jr., who is with the law firm of Pritchett & Burch, PLLC, of Windsor.

Mr. Smith reportedly filed the class-action lawsuit on May 15 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, which is the federal trial court that serves Dare County and 43 other eastern North Carolina counties.

The lawsuit reportedly names Dare County, Southern Shores, Duck, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, and Manteo as defendants, and alleges that they violated the constitutional rights of a class of plaintiffs led by the Blackburns, causing them financial damages, including lost rental revenues.

The Dare County Control Group, on which every town mayor sits, prohibited non-resident Dare County property owners from entering the county as of Friday, March 17, at 10 p.m. and staggered their reentry during the week of May 4.

This extreme measure was taken pursuant to the county’s declaration of emergency in response to the COVID-19 threat.

The Beacon has not read the plaintiffs’ complaint, to know the specifics of the violations alleged and the relief sought.

The Island Free Press describes the complaint as claiming that the Dare County access “closure amounted to an illegal seizure of out-of-town owners’ property in violation of the U.S. Constitution.”

The Free Press further reports that Mr. Smith claims the “property owners also lost fair market value for property rentals” during the shutdown.

According to Pritchett & Burch’s website, it operates an office at 6225 N. Croatan Hwy. in Kitty Hawk, which is across the street from OBX Chevrolet Buick, near where Dare County Sheriff’s deputies operated a checkpoint at the Wright Memorial Bridge. Police screened people seeking entry into Dare County between March 17, when visitors were excluded, until 12:01 a.m. May 16, when visitors were allowed free access.

This appears to be a makeshift office. A visit to the site reveals only one law office operating in the location, and it belongs to sole practitioner Pat Hudspeth.

According to a website associated with Mr. Hudspeth, he “has taken an opportunity with a local company and is no longer accepting clients.”

The Southern Shores Town Council held a closed session at the end of its meeting Monday to confer with Town Attorney Ben Gallop about this litigation—but you would have only found that out if you had waited in front of a blank Zoom videoconferencing screen and happened to hear Mayor Tom Bennett’s “do-over” of his motion to adjourn into closed session. I suspect I was the only one who did.

At the start of the Town Council’s meeting, Mayor Bennett amended the agenda to add the closed session. At the conclusion of the business portion of the meeting, he motioned to adjourn the meeting to go into closed session, and the Council approved that motion.

At no time, however, did Mayor Bennett explain the nature of the business that required an attorney-client privileged session. In fact, he can be heard on the meeting videotape saying after his first motion for a closed session: “I should’ve got the wording for that.”

Yes, he should have. When the meeting resumed briefly in order for Mayor Bennett to make a proper motion, he referred to the name of the case, Blackburn v. Dare County et al, and gave a U.S. district court case file number of 220-CV-27.

[Update 6/5/20: The case name is Blackburn et al v. Dare County et al, and the file number is 2:20-cv-00027. According to the district court record, the case was selected for mediation May 19. Attorneys in the Winston-Salem office of the national law firm of Womble Bond Dickinson have entered appearances on behalf of Dare County.]

Town Attorney Ben Gallop should have given the Mayor the information he needed to make a proper motion—including the citation to the appropriate N.C. General Statute that gives the Town Council authority to hold a closed session for the purpose it did. Mayor Bennett included this citation in his do-over motion.

We also question why Mr. Gallop did not mention the lawsuit in his report Monday. We believe the public had a right to know.

To view the video of the June 1 Town Council meeting, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lxrgdn3O_zo&feature=youtu.be

According to the Island Free Press story, Mr. Smith said his law office would soon set up a website for property owners to obtain more information about the class action lawsuit. In the meanwhile, anyone interested in joining the class may call his office at (252) 794-3161. He will gladly send you a contract.

See The Island Free Press story at https://www.obxtoday.com/top-stories/couple-files-class-action-lawsuit-seeking-damages-for-outer-banks-non-resident-property-owners/

The Free Press also reports that Mr. Smith is representing Hatteras-based Surf or Sound Realty in a challenge to the N.C. Real Estate Commission’s opinion that “people who rented vacation homes this spring but were denied access should have their funds refunded” by the realty companies.

Mr. Smith alleges that Dare County and other Outer Banks municipalities should compensate vacation renters who were banned from the county for the deposits and other payments they made, and that Surf or Sound and its property owners should not have to refund those monies.

Surf or Sound has refused to issue refunds to visitors who lost their vacations because of the Outer Banks’ shutdown.

“Dozens of renters who lost funds to Surf and Sound” have responded to the company’s refusal, The Free Press reports, by “attempting to launch their own lawsuit.”

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/3/20

 

Of the 23 people who have tested positive for COVID-19 in Dare County, nine are men and 14 are women; eight are between the ages of 25 and 49, and seven are age 65 or older; and 18 are Dare County residents, while five are non-residents, according to an expanded dashboard posted today by the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services.

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

Two Dare County residents continue to have an active COVID-19 status, with one being hospitalized and the other in home isolation, according to the dashboard.

Of the five non-residents who have tested positive, four have recovered, and the fifth has been transferred to his/her home county for isolation.

The latter appears to be the most recent laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 case in Dare County, case no. 23. [In a videotaped message posted today, Dr. Sheila Davies confirms that it is. The Beacon posted more details 6/3/20.]

A further breakdown of the ages of the people who have tested positive reveals that one is between the ages of 18 and 24, and seven are between the ages of 50 and 64.

Please see a 6/3/20 Beacon posting for an update.

THE BEACON, 6/2/20

Dear Readers: I will be out of pocket this afternoon and during much of this week, attending to work and life outside of The Beacon. I will post further reports about yesterday’s Town Council meeting and about news of interest to Southern Shores property owners and residents as my time allows.

By now you should have received a mailer from the Town requesting your opinion on a potential town-wide beach nourishment—from the Kitty Hawk/Southern Shores line to the Southern Shores/Duck line—in 2022. You are being asked to submit your comments by June 12, via email to info@southernshores-nc.gov or by mail to the Town Hall, 5375 N. Virginia Dare Trail, Southern Shores, NC 27949.

Please include your property’s address with your comments. This point was not made in the mailer, and it is very important because the Town Council is considering funding a beach nourishment project by imposing new taxes on property owners according to their property’s proximity to the ocean.

Oceanfront and “ocean-zone” property owners would bear the lion’s share of the tax burden for the Town’s financial investment in an estimated $14 million to $16 million-plus project. (Dare County also would be a contributor.)

The Town staff will compile the comments in a report to the Town Council, which will be holding a public hearing about beach nourishment at 9 a.m., Tues., June 16, in the Pitts Center during its workshop meeting. If you would rather not send in written comments, you may speak at the public hearing, the details of which The Beacon will provide later.

The Beacon just learned from Interim Town Manager Wes Haskett at yesterday’s Council meeting that municipal government meetings are not restricted by the 10-person maximum occupancy limit that Governor Cooper has imposed on other “mass gatherings” indoors. We intend to follow up on this exemption ASAP.

We believe that the relegation of the public to Zoom videoconferencing in order to join a Town Council meeting—while all Council members and Town staff are physically present in the Pitts Center—has adversely affected public participation and the flow of public information in Southern Shores governmental affairs.

Yesterday, I was one of seven Zoom audience members for the Council meeting. By the meeting’s conclusion, I was one of five.

I have wondered before whether the Town Council meetings were being attended by more than 10 “in-house” people.

Because meeting participants who sit on the sideline or in the front of the Pitts Center meeting hall are not visible on a Zoom videoconferencing screen, I have not been able to verify my counts. I trusted the Town that it was adhering to the 10-person maximum occupancy. Last evening it was clear that at least a dozen people attended the meeting simultaneously.

I would like very much to see accommodations made for the public to attend the June 16 workshop meeting, with seating arranged so that social distancing can be observed.

DISAGREEMENT ABOUT TOWN ENGINEERING CONTRACT

The Town Council unanimously approved yesterday the proposed fiscal year 2020-21 budget and an amendment to chapter 16 of the Town Code that updates the Town’s flood damage prevention ordinance, after holding public hearings on each during which few remarks were made.

Differences of opinion arose, however, when the Council took up implementation of the no-left-turn initiative this summer (see The Beacon, 6/1/20) and the selection of a new engineering contractor from among applicants to a Request for Qualifications issued by the Town. The Beacon will delve into these differences in a later post. Today, we would simply like to share with you a most unusual occurrence.

Town Councilman Matt Neal was in the middle of making a motion during the meeting about delaying a decision on a new engineering contract when Town Councilman Jim Conners interrupted him to make his own motion to approve awarding the contract to current engineering contractors “Deel and Anlauf.”

Mr. Conners’s interruption was a shocking breach in professional courtesy and the rules of procedure. But, rather than rebuke Mr. Conners for his breach, and disallow his intervention, Mayor Tom Bennett seconded his motion, ignoring Mr. Neal!

I have never seen such a sequence of events occur in a Southern Shores Town Council meeting. When former Councilmen Gary McDonald, Chris Nason, and Fred Newberry were on the Town Council, Councilman Conners often asked not to be interrupted, and the offender would always apologize and desist. That Mr. Conners would interrupt another Council member and not stand down was quite shocking.

Town Attorney Ben Gallop, who might have stepped in to restore order, chose to say nothing, until after the Mayor attempted to amend Mr. Conners’s motion to somehow incorporate Mr. Neal’s request.

The Beacon will elaborate on the interests at stake in this disagreement when we have sorted it out better. Neither the RFQ nor the applications received by the Town were in the meeting packet for public perusal nor are they on the Town website.

Town Councilman Leo Holland spoke about verbal presentations made by the applicants, but The Beacon is unaware of when such presentations may have occurred and before whom. Council members also repeatedly referred to a “scorecard” for applicants—which Mr. Neal called too subjective—but that scorecard also has not been publicly disseminated.

Bottom line: The awarding of the Town’s engineering contract will occur at the June 16 workshop meeting.

We agree with Councilman Neal that new Town Manager Cliff Ogburn should be involved in this decision, but he will not be in office by June 16.

In fact, we believe he should make the choice, and the Town Council should approve his choice, unless there is a clear problem with the qualifications of the engineer he chooses.

It is Mr. Ogburn, not the Town Council, who will be working directly with the town engineer.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/2/20

 

 

By a vote of 4-1, the Town Council approved at its meeting today a budget amendment in July to pay for three no-left-turn weekends this summer.

The sole dissenting vote was cast by Mayor Tom Bennett.

Councilman Matt Neal, who made the motion at the April 21 budget meeting to discuss what he called “the no-left-turn initiative” at today’s meeting, and Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey took the lead in the Council’s discussion. They enthusiastically supported the three-weekend initiative, which involves gathering vehicle count data on cut-through residential streets, as well as easing the traffic congestion that results when northbound vacationers turn left on to South Dogwood Trail from U.S. Hwy. 158.

Shepherded by Mr. Neal, who framed the discussion and the motion, the Council directed Finance Officer Bonnie Swain to prepare a budget amendment to the fiscal year 2020-21 budget, which it unanimously approved earlier at the meeting, to pay for the weekends, rather than to add a line item to next year’s budget. Mr. Neal expressed his preference that the money for the initiative come from the Town’s unassigned fund balance.

Although the budget amendment will not be adopted until the Town Council’s July 7 meeting, the Council, at Mr. Neal’s suggestion, discussed scheduling the weekend left-turn prohibitions at the U.S. Hwy. 158-east and South Dogwood Trail intersection on July 4-5, July 25-26, and Aug. 1-2.

Police Chief David Kole, who backed the initiative, saying, “Manpower-wise, we’ll do the best we can,” agreed that some of the worst traffic occurs on these weekends, especially the July 4 weekend.

“I want the data, too,” the Chief said.

Mr. Neal and Ms. Morey, who were elected to the Town Council last November, are co-sponsors of the citizens’ committee to address cut-through traffic, which is chaired by homeowner Tommy Karole.

According to Ms. Morey, Mr. Karole contacted her today to say that his committee, which was unable to meet to prepare a final report because of the COVID-19 crisis, supports the three-weekend left-turn prohibition and traffic study this summer. It also apparently has some other thoughts on traffic control.

The committee expects to reconvene in the fall.

The Beacon will add to this breaking news report when we can.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/1/20

 

 

A new positive test result has been added to the Dare County COVID-19 dashboard, bringing the total number of positive test results to 23.

The new case is “active,” according to the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard, which was updated today.

The DCDHHS has not yet issued a bulletin explaining the circumstances of the person who tested positive.

The DCDHHS also has not followed up on the results of the undetermined nine tests remaining from the 178 tests done in last week’s drive-thru event in Kill Devil Hills.

The Beacon, 6/1/20

The Town Council will decide tomorrow whether or not to add an estimated $19,500 to proposed fiscal year 2020-21 budgetary expenditures to pay for holding three no-left-turn weekends this summer in order to curb and count northbound cut-through traffic through Southern Shores’ residential areas.

The Council will meet at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow in the Pitts Center for its regular June meeting. The public may join the meeting through a Zoom videoconference.*

The no-left-turn cost estimate is based on per-weekend expenses of 1) $6,700 to set up, maintain, and retrieve 60 traffic barrels, as well as to erect signage and windstands, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 158-east and South Dogwood Trail, and 2) $2,800 to have two Southern Shores police officers monitor the intersection for traffic violations from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.

In June 2018, when the Town held its first successful no-left-turn weekend, it paid $6,200 to block the left-turn lane on U.S. Hwy. 158 during the same hours.

The Town received a quote dated March 4, 2020 from P.D. Brooks Traffic Control, which is included in the meeting packet (p. 75), requesting $500 more per weekend. No other quotes appear to have been obtained by the Town. Police department expenses were $2,800 two years ago and apparently have not been increased.

A majority of the Town Council decided not to decide whether to fund three no-left-turn weekends at its April 21 budget meeting because of COVID-19-related concerns about both an anticipated revenue shortfall and an anticipated drop-off in vacationer traffic.

Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey, who was one of the co-sponsors of the citizens’ committee to address cut-through traffic, said at that meeting that committee chairperson Tommy Karole discouraged having no-left-turn weekends this summer because of the aberrant times.

Town Councilman Matt Neal, who is also a co-sponsor of the citizens’ committee, wisely suggested delaying a vote on the no-left-turn funding until June 1. Because of COVID-19, the citizens’ committee never met to vote on a formal recommendation, according to Mr. Karole.

See The Beacon, 5/27/20 and in April budget reports, for more background.

You may express your opinion on the no-left-turn funding at tomorrow’s meeting during the public hearing scheduled on the proposed FY 2020-21 budget or in public comments. We recommend the latter.

The proposed budget, which is balanced at $5,908,243, currently contains no funding for cut-through traffic-control. See https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/town-government/administration/public-documents/budget-fy-2020-2021-filed-with-the-clerk/.

The Council must approve a balanced budget for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, by June 30.

The Town Council also will hold a public hearing tomorrow on adopting the new flood maps and updating the Town Code flood damage prevention ordinance.

The Beacon has not covered the considerable efforts expended by the Town Planning Board in dealing with the new maps and drafting an amendment to chapter 16 of the Town Code. We refer you to extensive materials in the meeting packet.

There is no time limitation on remarks given during a public hearing, although speakers are asked to be as concise as possible. Public comments outside of a hearing must be kept to three minutes.

You may submit your remarks to Town Clerk Sheila Kane at skane@southernshores-nc.gov. before 5:30 p.m. tomorrow, and she will give them to a Council member to be read aloud at the meeting. You also may speak during the meeting through Zoom by requesting time in a chat message to Ms. Kane.

If you email Ms. Kane, be sure to indicate in the subject matter line: “Southern Shores Town Council Meeting June 1, 2020—Budget Public Hearing comments” or alternatively, “Southern Shores Town Council Meeting June 1, 2020—Public Comments.”

The meeting agenda: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Agendas_2020-06-01.pdf

The meeting packet: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Meeting-Packet_2020-06-01.pdf

Also on the Council’s agenda is a verbal update about the Town’s efforts to renew actual curbside recycling.

Currently, all “recycling” that Bay Disposal & Recycling picks up is being taken to a waste-to-energy facility in Portsmouth, Va., for incineration. The Town is considering contracting with Recycling and Disposal Solutions (RDS) of Virginia, which operates a materials recycling facility in Portsmouth.

The Beacon has extensively covered the Town’s recycling crisis and will report in detail on tomorrow’s update.

*See details on electronic participation at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Southern-Shores-Town-Council-Meeting-Notice-Electronic-Participation-June-1-2020-1.pdf (You must download Zoom before you try to access the meeting. Once you have the software on your computer, you will be able go to the Zoom website, click on “join the meeting,” and enter the meeting code number.)

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/31/20

 

Of the known test results of the 178 people who were tested for COVID-19 at Dare County’s first drive-thru testing event this week, none is positive, according to a bulletin posted online today by the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services.

DCDHHS has received results on 171 of the 178 specimens obtained at the drive-thru event in Kill Devil Hills Tuesday and tested by Macko Medical Laboratories of Raleigh. Of those 171, 169 were determined to be negative, and two were rejected as invalid. The people whose tests were deemed invalid will be retested.

The other seven test results are expected to be available later today or tomorrow, according to the DCDHHS bulletin.

See the DCDHHS’s COVID-19 update at https://www.darenc.com/Home/Components/News/News/6304/1483

There are 363 appointments still available for the drive-thru COVID-testing event next Tuesday, June 2, starting at 10 a.m., at the Soundside Event Site in Nags Head. Because of the large number of unfilled appointments, DCDHHS is opening up the event to permanent residents of both Dare and Hyde counties who are age 10 and older.

To schedule an appointment, call (252) 475-5008.

The number of positive COVID-19 tests in Dare County has been 22 since May 14. The same two cases that have been active for more than two weeks remain active, according to DCDHHS’s bulletin. One of them continues to be hospitalized, and the other is still recovering in home isolation.

DCDHHS warns that, “Just because we have not had a positive test result since May 14, 2020 does not mean that COVID-19 is not in our area. It simply means that no one has tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.”

The County health department urges Dare residents to “make good choices” about their social behavior and to “understand that your choices can impact others.”

It reiterates that people who are a high risk of serious illness should continue to stay home and only travel for essential purposes; that mass gatherings should be restricted to 10 people indoors and 25 people outdoors (except for exempted gatherings that are protected by the First Amendment); and that people should observe social distancing of at least six feet.

Although people in North Carolina are not required to wear face masks or coverings, The Beacon believes that, at minimum, everyone who is in an enclosed space that is open to the public should wear one—as a matter of public health and safety, respect, and courtesy.

As everyone knows by now, COVID-19 can be transmitted by asymptomatic people, and a face covering can prevent the expulsion of infected droplets into the air that spread the virus. Such droplets can be expelled by an infected person sneezing, coughing, talking, or just breathing.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/29/20

 Mea culpa. I apologize for my earlier errors and confusion. I was working out of town Tuesday through Thursday and was very busy and distracted. Lesson learned. The Town Council meeting is definitely Monday, June 1, as I originally wrote, and then second-guessed myself into thinking otherwise.

I now recall that the meeting day was changed in order to accommodate a family event that Town Councilman Leo Holland wished to attend.

You will need to submit your written comments to Town Clerk Sheila Kane before the 5:30 p.m. start of the meeting, which will be held at the Pitts Center for the Town Council and the Town staff. You may participate through Zoom videoconferencing.

Email Ms. Kane at skane@southernshores-nc.gov.

Here’s the meeting packet:

https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Meeting-Packet_2020-06-01.pdf

My sincere regrets, folks!

Ann

The Town Council will decide at its June 1 meeting whether to budget $19,500 in the next fiscal year, which starts July 1, for three trial no-left-turn weekends this summer.

The Council’s meeting, scheduled for 5:30 p.m. next Monday in the Pitts Center, will feature two public hearings, one on the new flood maps and updating the Town Code flood damage prevention ordinance and the other on the proposed fiscal year 2020-21 budget, which does not currently include funding for the no-left-turn weekends.

A majority of the Council declined to allocate the funding for the cut-through traffic-control measure during its April 21 budget meeting because of COVID-19-related concerns about both an anticipated revenue shortfall and an anticipated drop-off in vacationer traffic.

The Council would like to conduct a vehicle count on town roadways over the weekends that the left turn from U.S. Highway 158-east, north on to South Dogwood Trail, is prohibited. The majority did not believe in April that the traffic this summer in Southern Shores would be representative of typical summer-weekend traffic.

Town Councilman Matt Neal, who is one of the Town Council co-sponsors of the citizens’ committee to address cut-through traffic, wisely suggested delaying a vote on the no-left-turn funding until June 1. Because of COVID-19, the citizens’ committee, chaired by homeowner Tommy Karole, never met to vote on a formal recommendation.

If the rentals and traffic in Southern Shores for the Memorial Day weekend and this week are any indication, The Beacon believes vacationers will be coming in droves to the Outer Banks, not staying away.

Traditionally, Memorial Day is not a big summer beach holiday, but we saw traffic backups heading north to Corolla on N.C. Hwy. 12 over the weekend and backups in Kitty Hawk Monday on U.S. Hwy. 158 as vacationers departed. There was a noticeable increase in cut-through traffic, as well.

You will have an opportunity to express your opinion on the no-left-turn funding during the public hearing about the proposed 2020-21 budget or in public comments at the June 1 meeting.

There is no time limitation on remarks given during a public hearing, although speakers are asked to be as concise as possible. Public comments outside of a hearing must be kept to three minutes.

You may submit your remarks to Town Clerk Sheila Kane at skane@southernshores-nc.gov. before the meeting; they will be read aloud by a Council member at the appropriate time. You also may speak during the meeting through Zoom videoconferencing by requesting time in a chat message to Ms. Kane.

If you email Ms. Kane, be sure to indicate in the subject matter line: “Southern Shores Town Council Meeting June 1, 2020—Budget Public Hearing comments” or alternatively, “Southern Shores Town Council Meeting June 1, 2020—Public Comments.”

For the June 1 meeting agenda, see https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Agendas_2020-06-01.pdf

PROPOSED FY 2020-21 BUDGET

The proposed FY 2020-21 budget, prepared by Interim Town Manager Wes Haskett and Finance Officer Bonnie Swain, is balanced at $5,908,243. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effects, Mr. Haskett and Ms. Swain reduced anticipated revenues for occupancy, sales, and land-transfer tax revenues.

Mr. Haskett explains in a very short budget message how he compiled the figures for the proposed budget.

Although Mr. Haskett writes that he was directed by the Town Council to use the $662,340 “that has traditionally been allocated to fund street projects . . . to offset the anticipated loss of revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he does not indicate, for easy reference, how much money was offset.

The answer is $463,581.

It is a safe assumption that if the Council approves the $19,500 funding for the three no-left turn weekends—an estimated $6,500 per weekend—it would appropriate this money from the remaining $198,759 infrastructure-project budget.

It may be a distinction without a difference, but it is imprecise to say that the Town has “traditionally” allocated $662,340 to fund street projects. The amount set aside for “infrastructure projects,” an item that is included in the budget for “Streets, Bridges, Beaches, and Canals,” is derived from appropriating five cents from the then-current real-estate property tax rate.

See the proposed FY 2019-20 budget for an explanation at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/FY-19-20-MANAGERS-PROPOSED-OPERATING-BUDGET-1.pdf.

In FY 2020-21, the proposed tax rate was set at 19.58 cents per $100/property value, which is the computed post-reappraisal revenue-neutral tax rate. In FY 2019-20, the tax rate was 22.0 cents per $100/value.

For Mr. Haskett’s budget message and the proposed FY 2020-21 budget, see https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/town-government/administration/public-documents/budget-fy-2020-2021-filed-with-the-clerk/

The Town Council must adopt a FY 2020-21 budget by June 30.

The Beacon covered the Council’s April 21 budget meeting in three postings: 4/21/20, 4/25/20, and 4/27/20.

COVID-19 UPDATE; BULK-TRASH PICKUP

Please see the breaking-news item we posted earlier today about the drive-thru testing that will be available to permanent Dare County residents on June 2 in Nags Head.

The Beacon is taking a break this week. We will resume full coverage of the latest COVID-19 news on the weekend. So far, Dare County is holding steady at 22 confirmed COVID-19 cases.

In the meantime, if you would like to keep up with the NCDHHS COVID-19 dashboard numbers, the Phase Two scofflaws in the state, and the pressure by President Trump on Governor Roy Cooper to allow thousands to meet in Charlotte in August without observing infection-control measures, we refer you to The Raleigh News & Observer, which is providing excellent daily coverage.

Today, North Carolina hit a new high in COVID-19 hospitalizations with 702, a leap of 81 over the previous day’s count. Hospitalizations statewide have been steadily increasing since May 16.

(We also pass on that Governor Ralph Northam is imposing Friday a face-covering requirement in Virginia that would require people to wear a face mask or covering in enclosed spaces, such as retail stores, that are open to the public. This action could very well help the Outer Banks, since many of our visitors are from Virginia, and, anecdotally speaking, we perceive and hear that our visitors are lax about wearing face coverings. In our experience, they aren’t great about social distancing and observing one-way grocery-store aisles, either.)

We will post the June 1 Town Council meeting packet soon after it is available. We are still waiting for the May 19 meeting video to be posted—a major oversight that we hope the Town Clerk will rectify upon seeing or hearing about this post.

It is important that property owners have access to the Town Council’s discussion on beach nourishment at its May 19 workshop. It is informational background for the town-wide beach nourishment mailer, which will be soliciting property owners’ opinions, and the June 16 public hearing, which we will address again.

THIS SATURDAY, DON’T FORGET: The bulk-trash pickup is this Saturday. The Town asks that you have your bulk waste at the roadside by 5 a.m. that morning. Lumber and other building materials will not be picked up, nor will televisions. We have seen both at the roadside. They will be there Sunday, too. We can promise you that.

We would suggest that you take your old televisions to the Kitty Hawk/Dare County Recycling Center, at 4190 Bob Perry Rd., in Kitty Hawk.

The recycling center accepts televisions and other white goods, but you may need to obtain a paid permit from the Town of Southern Shores to dispose of your appliances there. Residents of Kitty Hawk can dispose of white goods for free, without a permit. I have disposed of electronic equipment (e.g., laptops, VCRs) at the recycling center that was deemed by the attendant not to require a permit.

The recycling center is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. See https://www.kittyhawknc.gov/departments-and-services/public-works/recycling/.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/27/20

 

 

BREAKING NEWS: 

The second local drive-thru COVID-19 testing event will be held next Tuesday, June 2, starting at 10 a.m., in Nags Head, the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services announced this morning. This time, 500 people will be tested–a substantial increase over the 200 people who will be tested at this afternoon’s drive-thru event at First Flight High School.

The June 2 testing will take place at the Soundside Event Site at 6800 S. Croatan Hwy. (the bypass) in Nags Head. It is open to Dare County residents who are age 10 or older and provide appropriate identification. 

To be tested, you must call (252) 475-5008 and make an appointment. If you are tested, you will be informed of your results by telephone within 72 hours. 

The Dare County HHS department is partnering with Macko Medical Laboratories of Raleigh to bring drive-thru COVID-19 testing to the Outer Banks. 

For details, see: https://www.darenc.com/Home/Components/News/News/6294/1483.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 5/27/20