We would like to thank everyone who reported on traffic conditions yesterday on the cut-through route in Southern Shores and elsewhere in town. We all see firsthand a segment of the congestion on the cut-through route north, but together, we see the entirety.

Yesterday’s traffic was the worst traffic Southern Shores has ever experienced on a vacation Saturday, without a doubt. It was unprecedented. And it is only mid-June.

Yesterday’s northbound cut-through traffic was backed up at times to the Wright Memorial Bridge, according to drivers we questioned en route, making the previous Saturday’s heavy traffic seem light by comparison.

Several people contacted The Beacon to say that South Dogwood Trail was a “parking lot” until well into the evening.

Residents on Hillcrest Drive near the tennis courts reported that northbound drivers turned that street into a two-lane, one-way street for part of the day—posing the risk of a head-on collision with southbound vehicles.

Homeowners in the 300 block of Sea Oats Trail reported that the backup on their street, which started around 1:30 p.m., did not ease until 8 p.m. I saw a fair amount of northbound traffic on Hickory Trail, near the East Dogwood Trail intersection, still at 9 p.m. when I went out.

An email from a homeowner in the 300 block of Wax Myrtle Trail really brought yesterday’s over-the-top traffic conditions home for us. He wrote that he reached the Wright Memorial Bridge at 5:30 p.m. and did not arrive home until 8:30 p.m.

It took this homeowner three hours to drive less than 10 miles! Traffic moved better on Interstate 95 in Virginia yesterday, he said, than it did in Southern Shores.

It goes without saying that if any resident of Southern Shores had needed emergency service yesterday, or if a fire had occurred in a house on one of the congested roads, access by first responders would have been seriously inhibited by the bumper-to-bumper traffic, some of it in the form of large vehicles, such as the massive recreational vehicle that we saw barreling through.

The Town Council has had more than sufficient notice of the dangers posed by the traffic and of the possibility that a preventable tragedy could occur.

We all can speculate as to why the traffic has increased so markedly this June, but the reason it has ultimately does not matter. It only matters that conditions like yesterday’s cannot be allowed to continue. Public health and safety must come first and be safeguarded by taking preventive measures.

I have been advocating for solutions to cut-through traffic for years now, but the Town Council has consistently declined to take action—with the exception of the no-left-turn weekend in June 2018, which former Councilmen Gary McDonald and Fred Newberry spearheaded.

Mayor Tom Bennett, who took office in December 2013, is on the public record as opposing any measures that would inconvenience northbound vacationers, and he has always managed to have a majority of the Council support him.

Meanwhile, the traffic has only gotten worse.

The Mayor stood alone, however, in voting against the three no-left-turn weekends that the other four Town Council members approved this summer at their June 1 meeting.

“We want to get [the vacationers] here so badly,” Mr. Bennett said then, “. . . [and] we depend on them for pretty much our survival, but we don’t want them to use our streets . …”

Mr. Mayor, we would like to meet the people in Southern Shores who depend on Corolla and Duck vacationers for their “survival.”

As for Southern Shores streets, drivers passing through town are perfectly free to use N.C. Hwy. 12, which is the designated thoroughfare.

Tommy Karole, a Southern Shores homeowner who owns a restaurant in Duck and actually does have a livelihood interest in northern Outer Banks vacationers, is the chairperson of the citizens’ cut-through committee that is trying to get cut-through traffic off of Southern Shores roads.

Mr. Bennett’s concerns about what we call biting-the-hand-that-feeds-us is “the thing I have a hard time with,” he said at the meeting, “but I’ll work that out.” Not soon enough to vote in favor of his constituents’ best interests and welfare, however.

The Mayor should consider that northbound vacationers are not served, either, by an hours-long drive through the Southern Shores residential community. The shortcut their navigational device directed them to take yesterday was hardly that.

If all traffic were restricted to Hwy. 12, it would actually move faster because there would be no blockages at intersections where the cut-through side streets meet the thoroughfare. That is indeed what happened in June 2018 when the left turn on to South Dogwood Trail from U.S.Hwy. 158 was prohibited.

The three no-left-turn weekends that the Town Council approved are beginning to look like the metaphorical equivalent of applying a band-aid to a blood-gushing open head wound. We need them, but we need much more.

In the short term, the police can assist with traffic flow, moving it along on U.S. Hwy 158 and N.C. Hwy. 12 and away from South Dogwood Trail.

A coordinated effort among the Dare County Sheriff’s Office, the N.C. State Highway Patrol, and the police departments of Southern Shores and Kitty Hawk could make a measurable difference in the time it takes drivers to travel through Southern Shores and in the volume of traffic through Southern Shores’ residential areas.

In the long term, it is time to consider gating Southern Shores at every access road on summertime weekends. The Town owns the roads, except for a few private roads, and does not need federal or state money to maintain them.

Until the mythical mid-Currituck County bridge is built, Southern Shores is at risk during post-Memorial Day weekends of becoming what the Wax Myrtle Trail homeowner called “an impassable congested freeway that is a danger both to our residents and to our visiting guests.”

The coronavirus is not going away. To the extent it is a factor in the decisions people are making to vacation in, and even move to the Outer Banks—and we cannot know with a certainty what its influence is—it is going to continue to be a factor for the foreseeable future. The Town Council must protect the people who elected them to office. To do otherwise would be blatant neglect and a dereliction of public duty.

PUBLIC COMMENTS AT TUESDAY’S COUNCIL MEETING: There will be a general public comments period at the Town Council’s workshop meeting Tuesday, which convenes at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center. If you would like to submit written comments, which would be read into the record at the meeting, please email them to Town Clerk Sheila Kane at skane@southernshores-nc.gov. Please write in the subject line to your email: “Public comment for Town Council’s June 16 meeting.”

You also may address the Town Council in person or via Zoom videoconferencing. The meeting is open to the public, but seating will be limited because of social-distancing requirements.

For information about Zoom participation, see https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Electronic-Participation-June-16-2020.pdf.

BEACH NOURISHMENT

As you know, a public hearing on a town-wide beach nourishment project in 2022 will be held at Tuesday’s meeting, as well. You may speak during this hearing in the same manner as outlined above: 1) by submitting written comments, with the subject line, “For the June 16 public hearing on beach nourishment”; 2) by presenting comments in person; or 3) by remotely commenting via Zoom.

Comments during a public hearing are not time-limited, like comments during the public-comment period are. The limit for general public comments is three minutes.

The meeting packet for the workshop session has been updated since The Beacon last provided a link to it. It now includes a letter and “scope of professional services” proposal from Ken Wilsson, president of Coastal Protection Engineering of North Carolina, Inc. (“CPE-NC”), which has been selected by the towns of Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, and Kill Devil Hills to be the joint project manager, designer, engineer, and permitting services provider for their 2022 projects.

Southern Shores has committed to doing five-year maintenance of its beach nourishment at Pelican Watch, but it has not yet made a commitment to a 3.7-mile-long, $14 to $16.5 million (or, likely, much more) townwide beach nourishment project.

The other three towns plan to do maintenance in 2022 of their 2017 beach nourishment projects.

See the agenda and packet at: https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Meeting-Packet_2020-06-16.pdf

Mr. Willson, who is the only coastal professional to recommend to Southern Shores that it undertake a town-wide nourishment project—and as a proactive measure, not to redress damage—proposes to receive $437,675.75 for his company’s services, some of which would be shared by the other three towns.

At a recent meeting, the Town Council determined that CPE-NC, formerly known as APTIM, did not place itself in a compromising position by undertaking a beach management plan for Southern Shores, in which it recommended a 2022 nourishment project, and then applying to manage that project. The Town did not perceive a conflict of interest because CPE-NC will not do the actual dredging and sand filling.

Nonetheless, CPE-NC stands to gain financially from directing Southern Shores toward a beach-nourishment project, which Mr. Wilsson did after initially telling the Town Council that the town’s beaches and dune system were stable and “time is on your time” in terms of doing nourishment.

The Town Council did not consider beach-study proposals from multiple coastal engineering firms before it chose APTIM—as Dare County recently did in considering an Avon study—nor did it solicit opinions from other coastal engineers after APTIM filed its reports.

Former Town Manager Peter Rascoe simply delivered Mr. Wilsson and APTIM to the Town Council, and the Council put the Southern Shores beaches in his hands.

The Council also did not confer with oceanographers and other scientists at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Field Research Facility north of Duck (the “Duck Research Pier”) who offered to consult without charge.

The considerable unchecked control that the Town Council has given Mr. Wilsson and the growing corporate enterprise of which he is a critical part troubles us a lot.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/14/20

A few years ago we suggested at a Southern Shores Town Council meeting that police officers control the flow of northbound traffic from U.S. Hwy. 158 to N.C. Hwy. 12 to just beyond Duck, with all traffic lights set on blinking yellow. The arriving traffic is similar to the departing traffic from a large stadium event, we said. Police can move it along better than it can move itself. No one on the Council said a word.

Update at 5:45 p.m.: Northbound traffic stopped on Hickory, East Dogwood, and South Dogwood trails.

THE BEACON, 6/13/20

Vacationer cut-through traffic on Hickory Trail today has been continuous all afternoon–with most drivers running the stop sign at Hickory and East Dogwood–but not yet what we would call hideous. Potentially hazardous, yes, but not yet hideous.

Please tell us about the traffic flow and backups that you’re seeing on your street today, especially if you live on South Dogwood Trail, Hillcrest Drive, Sea Oats Trail, Wax Myrtle Trail, Eleventh Avenue, and Juniper, Trinitie, and Chicahauk trails.

We like to keep a record. Thank you!

THE BEACON, 6/13/20

 

 

 

 

 

Another Dare County resident has tested positive for COVID-19, according to today’s Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard, which updated after The Beacon posted the story about the County Control Group’s refusal to require people to wear face coverings under any circumstances.

The new case is a woman between the ages of 25 and 49 who is in home isolation, the dashboard reports. She represents the 23^rd COVID-19 case among Dare County residents; 10 other cases have been recorded of non-residents.

One-third (11) of Dare County’s 33 positive test results have occurred since May 16, when visitors were permitted entry to the Outer Banks.

Phase Two of Governor Roy Cooper’s plan to reopen businesses while still controlling spread of the coronavirus started May 22 and is scheduled to expire June 26, unless the Governor extends it.

There have been N.C. and national press reports that the State’s move into Phase Three could be delayed. A suggested worst-case scenario has the State reverting to Phase One, which would be devastating for many small businesses.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services,  told NPR on Thursday that if cases and hospitalizations statewide keep rising, North Carolina could return to a stay-at-home order. The order only lifted with Phase Two.

“The way the numbers look now, I would be surprised if we move fully into Phase Three,” Alma (“Gibbie”) Harris, the public health director for Mecklenburg County, N.C., where Charlotte is located, told reporters yesterday.

“We all prefer not to move backward. We would like to move forward,” said Ms. Harris, who is a registered nurse with a master’s degree in public health.

RECORD-HIGH METRICS

Mecklenburg County, a former virus “hot spot” in the state, hit a new record high yesterday in single-day increases of COVID-19 cases, according to The Charlotte Observer, adding 398 cases to its cumulative total of 6,538.

The State of North Carolina also marked its largest single-day increase yesterday in newly reported COVID-19 cases, adding 1,768.

Today’s statewide single-day total is 1,427, according to the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard. Nearly 9 percent of the new single-day completed tests were positive.

The total number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases reported statewide since the pandemic began is 42,676.

As of today, 823 people are hospitalized in North Carolina for the virus, and 1,104 people have died.

“I grow more concerned every day,” UNC-Chapel Hill epidemiologist and infectious modeling expert Kimberly Powers, Ph.D., told The Observer. “This reopening is looking like a failed experiment, where if things don’t miraculously somehow change really soon, it becomes increasingly frightening.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE

North Carolina is among nine states nationwide that have experienced an upsurge in new COVID-19 cases since Memorial Day, according to The Washington Post.

The others are Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah.

“Our metrics have moved in the wrong direction,” Dr. Cohen told The Washington Post last week. Unlike states such as New York and California, North Carolina never hit a peak. It is still experiencing a first wave of viral infections.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina have tripled during the past month, and hospitalizations are close to doubling.

Dr. Cohen stressed hygiene, mask wearing, and social distancing as means by which people can prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Ms. Harris told The Charlotte Observer that within a few weeks, social-distancing metrics could return in Mecklenburg County to where they were in March, before the local stay-at-home order took effect.

Other N.C. counties that have been hard hit since the reopening, according to Dr. Cohen, are Alamance, Duplin, Durham, Forsyth, Johnston, Lee, and Wake.

Duplin County is in southeastern North Carolina near Jacksonville. Johnston County abuts Wake, and Lee County is nearby. The seat of Forsyth County is Winston-Salem.

Orange County, which is next to Durham and Alamance counties and near Wake County, initiated a face-mask mandate yesterday. Durham County residents have been required to wear masks since late April.

Orange County is home to Chapel Hill and the University of North Carolina; Durham is home to Duke University. Both counties are densely populated as are Wake, Mecklenburg, and Forsyth counties.

A statewide face covering/mask requirement would send one unified, consistent message to North Carolinians about personal protection from the COVID-19 pandemic during the reopening process.

Because COVID-19 can be transmitted by asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic people, those who choose not to wear a face covering or a mask are posing a risk to others, not assuming one for themselves.

The Beacon will update cases reported on the DCDHHS dashboard as they occur.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/13/20

The Dare County Control Group decided Thursday against requiring people to wear face coverings “when in close contact with others” . . .

. . . but, in a videotaped message yesterday, Chairman Bob Woodard encouraged business owners to “please require” their employees and customers to wear masks and asked service providers who come into people’s homes to do the same.

Why the Control Group thought it had to require people to wear face coverings—or masks, as Mr. Woodard repeatedly referred to them—in all settings in which members of the public encounter each other is not explained in the video.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam recently ordered all people statewide to wear face coverings or masks when they are in enclosed places open to the public. It is in enclosed public places, such as supermarkets, that the risk of virus transmission by a stranger is greatest. Few of us worry about passing a mask-less stranger in a parking lot.

The Dare County Control Group met Thursday, a now-bearded Mr. Woodard said in yesterday’s You Tube video, for the 42^nd time since the COVID-19 outbreak—“almost a month since the last meeting”—for the purpose of  considering a face covering/mask requirement.

Mr. Woodard said he sought “consensus”—not a majority decision—among the group members, who include the six Dare County town mayors, Dare County Sheriff Doug Doughtie, and Dave Hallac, superintendent of the Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

According to Mr. Woodard, who is chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners as well as the Dare County Control Group, the Group concluded that masks would be “strongly encouraged, but not mandatory.”

The reason the Group did not act, he said, is because of the “inability to enforce the requirement.”

The Chairman then gave what The Beacon thought were ludicrous reasons to buttress that argument, saying that law enforcement officers would be unable to distinguish household members from non-household members—we think at the Walmart, they could tell—or know who cannot wear a face covering because of “a medical condition.” (Think about that explanation for a while.)

In what was the worst possible reason offered, the Control Group Chairman said that people who newly arrive on the Outer Banks would be unaware of the mask/covering requirement and innocently violate it.

Last we checked, ignorance of “the law” was not a defense, and anyone who travels during this COVID-19 pandemic and does not ascertain the “rules” of their destination is more than just ignorant.

“Business is booming on the Outer Banks,” Mr. Woodard proclaimed, and clearly the Chairman wants to keep it booming.

“Approximately” 150,000 people are on the Outer Banks “this week alone,” he said, “maybe even 200,000.”

“Vacation rentals are seeing record numbers,” he continued, saying that rental property companies are at close to “maximum occupancy.”

Since May 16, 800,000 visitors have come to the Outer Banks,” he said, and only 10 new COVID-19 cases have been reported.

The Chairman did not report on the number of COVID-19 tests that have been administered, however.

We find it disappointing that the Control Group did not back up those business owners who have imposed face covering requirements on their customers by making the requirement county-wide. The Beacon heard recently about two ugly confrontations between a proprietor and customers who refused to observe her mask requirement and were reluctant to leave.

While Mr. Woodard asked home service providers to show “respect for others and their safety” by wearing face coverings, his Control Group did not require our fellow customers to do the same in all enclosed public places where social distancing cannot be maintained.

The Southern Shores Town Council could implement a face-covering requirement to protect public health and safety in our town, if it chose. Any of the beach towns’ governing boards could take action.

But the Dare County Control Group exists in large part so that there is consistency in action among the towns of Southern Shores, Duck, Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, Nags Head, and Manteo.

Professing that he “personally” wears “my mask everywhere I go,” Mr. Woodard concluded his six-minute message by saying:

“Thank you for wearing a mask.”

To listen to Chairman Woodard’s message, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bw61n0aARjw

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/13/20

 

A Dare County resident who tested positive recently for COVID-19 and was in home isolation has been hospitalized, according to today’s Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard.

Meanwhile, two of the non-residents who tested positive recently in Dare County and were transferred to their home counties for isolation have recovered, the dashboard shows.

There have been no changes in total COVID-19 cases diagnosed in Dare County since last Sunday when six cases were reported, bringing the total to 32.

Evidence of a COVID-19 outbreak on a statewide basis continues to accrue as cases and hospitalizations in North Carolina have steadily increased since the Governor authorized Phase One of the economic reopening on May 8.

Phase Two started May 22 and is scheduled to expire June 26, unless the Governor extends it.

“Our metrics have moved in the wrong direction,” Dr. Mandy Cohen, secretary of the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, told The Washington Post Monday.

North Carolina joins Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, and Utah, as states that have experienced a “new wave” of cases since Memorial Day, according to The Post.

Confirmed COVID-19 cases in North Carolina have nearly tripled during the past month. The total as of today is 39,481 cases, according to the NCDHHS dashboard.

Total hospitalizations reported today stand at 812. A month ago, the total was 464. The state has recorded 1,064 COVID-19-related deaths since the pandemic started.

Since Phase One started May 8, North Carolina has reported single-day positive-test rates of between 2.3 percent and 12 percent, for an average of 6.7 percent.

Dr. Cohen would prefer to see an average positive test rate of 5 percent or lower.

About 5.4 percent of the State’s 10.5 million people have been tested for the virus.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/11/20

Tomorrow is the deadline for submitting your comments by email or U.S. mail in the Town Council’s beach nourishment survey. The Town Council will hold a public hearing during its workshop meeting next Tuesday on whether or not to move forward with a beach nourishment project in 2022.

The Tuesday, June 16, meeting will be held at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center and will be open to attendance by the public, who will be required to comply with social-distancing guidelines for mitigating the potential spread of COVID-19. Seating will be limited.

You also may participate in the meeting via Zoom.

Please send your email comments to info@southernshores-nc.gov or mail them to the Town of Southern Shores, 5375 N. Virginia Dare Trail, Southern Shores, NC 27949. Make sure you include your property address(es) with your written remarks.

According to the Tuesday meeting agenda, emails will be forwarded to Town Council members at the close of business tomorrow:

See https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Meeting-Packet_2020-06-16.pdf.

The Beacon has been reporting on the continuing beach nourishment story for more than 15 months. For background, we refer you to blogs posted 2/28/19, 9/17/19, 9/20/19 (in this report, local oceanographers question the Town’s coastal engineering consultant’s “limited data”), and 1/19/20.

In a notice mailed to all Southern Shores property owners, the Town described a potential 2022 beach nourishment project as being funded possibly “through tax assessments which may include Municipal Service Districts and/or a Town-wide assessment that could potentially range from an additional $100 to around $3,000 to your tax bill depending on the value of your property, the location of your property, and its proximity to the ocean.”

What this means is that the Town is considering paying for its share of the estimated $14-$16.5 million project—Dare County would contribute monies, as well—through a special property tax assessment that imposes different rates on properties according to where they are located. The town would be divided into different designated “municipal service districts” for this assessment.

No formal analysis or report of the Town’s MSDs and tax rates has been done. The financial data upon which the Town is currently relying is strictly preliminary and for “discussion purposes only.” The Town cannot know how much your annual tax bill would increase.

The Beacon does not support the beach nourishment project, as proposed. We do not believe that all—or even most of the—3.7 miles of the Southern Shores coastline need additional sand fill.

We also believe that Southern Shores, which differs substantially from other beach towns because of its strong dune system, its lack of commercial property on the oceanfront, and its layout, should settle the beach nourishment question by referendum and its funding by a general obligation bond.

Much of Southern Shores is “proximate” to the oceanfront. That is a primary reason why people bought land here and built homes.

TRAFFIC COUNT DATA FROM APRIL, MAY, AND LAST WEEKEND

In addition to the public hearing on beach nourishment Tuesday, the Town Council will resume its discussion of the three no-left-turn weekends this summer that it approved, 4-1, at its June 1 regular meeting.

You may find of interest traffic-count data compiled in weekly increments by Police Chief David Kole from March 30 to June 7, and included in the Council’s meeting packet.

Until the week of May 25-31, vehicles on N.C. Hwy. 12 and the South Dogwood Trail cut-through route apparently were being counted at 12 different locations. During the June 1-7 week, a thirteenth location on Juniper Trail was added.

We believe the data, if accurate, speak for themselves. Assumptions as to why traffic may have increased on a given Saturday are not evidence-based and should not be made. There is no way for Chief Kole or anyone else to know why people come to, and leave the Outer Banks when they do. Speculation is inappropriate.

The Chief highlights in red on his data sheets those traffic-count numbers that may be erroneous because of a problem with the counter. While they are not many, they do call into question the reliability of this technology.

You may be interested to know that last Saturday, when the cut-through traffic was hideous, 10,002 vehicles were counted traveling north on N.C. 12 at the Skyline Road counter; 2,121 were counted going north at the South Dogwood Trail counter; and 2,472 were counted, going north on Seat Oats Trail, at 332 Sea Oats Trail, which is just north of the Hillcrest Drive-Sea Oats Trail intersection.

It would appear that Sea Oats Trail is the convergence point for traffic because the count last Saturday at 55 Hickory Trail (going north) was just 1,284, nearly 50 percent fewer vehicles than those counted at 332 Sea Oats Trail. Drivers appear to be jumping off of Wax Myrtle Trail, Hillcrest Drive, and Sea Oats Trail between East Dogwood Trail and Hillcrest Drive.

More counters are necessary to get a full picture of the traffic flow.

The data, as presented, do not distinguish between northbound and southbound traffic on the dunes roads or on Juniper Trail. So we checked the roadside counters themselves, which also register the speed of the passing vehicles. They are all positioned to count northbound traffic.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/11/20

Of the seven people who tested positive for COVID-19 in Dare County between last Friday and yesterday, six acquired the virus by “direct contact with a family member or household contact,” according to a report by the Dare Co. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

Of these six, “some” of them acquired the virus by direct contact with an “asymptomatic positive case,” Dr. Sheila Davies, DCDHHS director, said in a videotaped message posted yesterday to the health department’s COVID-19 website.

The remaining case is deemed to be “community acquired,” Dr. Davies said, because no cause can be determined. This person is a non-resident who contracted the virus before coming to Dare County, she noted.

Four of the seven people are non-residents, of whom three are asymptomatic and in home isolation outside of Dare County. The fourth is hospitalized outside of the area.

As you may recall, three of the non-residents are young people under age 24, two of them just 17 years old. The fourth non-resident is between the ages of 50 and 64. (See The Beacon’s posts on 6/7/20.)

The three Dare County residents who tested positive for COVID-19 are all symptomatic, Dr. Davies said, and are recovering in home isolation.

Dr. Davies stressed three “takeaways” from a review of the seven positive cases in her message:

1. Acquisition of the virus by direct contact with an asymptomatic case “reinforces the importance of wearing masks and maintaining social distancing.”
2. The spread of the virus occurs “quickly among family members and members within the same household.”
3. The number of direct contacts associated with the latest positive cases is greater than previously seen with positive cases, an increase that Dr. Davies attributes to a relaxation of infection-control restrictions in phases one and two of the economic reopening.

The increase in the number of direct contacts means the the DCDHHS’s job of contact tracing is more time-intensive.

“From family gatherings to social parties and backyard barbecues, the number of direct contacts individuals have is on the rise,” Dr. Davies said. “While this is to be expected, please note this increases your risk of exposure.”

Dr. Davies said she is continuing to work on plans for the “next community testing clinic,” which will involve both diagnostic and antibody testing for COVID-19. An antibody test requires a blood sample to be drawn indoors.

The DCDHHS director will announce details of the testing clinic as soon as they are available. The next COVID-19 update on the website will be Friday.

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/10/20

 

 

Kitty Hawk engineer Joe Anlauf has worked for the Town of Southern Shores for more than 20 years, according to the man himself.

It is time for a change. The Town Council needs to hire a different engineer.

It actually is long past time for a change. The Town should have ceased working with Mr. Anlauf after the canal dredging project fiasco, which now-Mayor Tom Bennett oversaw as the contractual project manager.

Mr. Anlauf, who operates a sole proprietorship, does not mention the troubled canal project, in which he played a critical design role, in the professional experience he includes in a Statement of Qualifications (SOQ) that he recently submitted to the Town.

On April 27, thanks to the three new Town Council members, the Town issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) to find a “qualified N.C. licensed professional engineer” to provide “ongoing general professional engineering, environmental, surveying and related services” upon demand.

Four engineering firms, including Mr. Anlauf’s firm, which has a “supporting engineering” arrangement with Deel Engineering, PLLC of Kitty Hawk, replied by submitting statements of qualifications.

The consensus at the Town Council’s June 1 meeting, during which the hiring of a new engineer was discussed, seemed to be that the applicants are all equally qualified. Town Councilman Matt Neal, a builder, said he knew them all.

Mr. Anlauf’s qualifications and interpersonal communication style have been called into question since the canal-dredging project was completed in 2014, as we will explain below.

In 2015, Mr. Anlauf was one of the defendants, along with the Town, who settled a lawsuit filed against them by the original dredging contractor for a wrongful discharge.

Nonetheless Mr. Anlauf has been rubberstamped by a Town Council that has preferred the comfort of cronyism over an expansion of opportunity to other qualified candidates, including those that are minority-owned.

It is time for a change.

ENGINEERING CONTRACT AND RFQ

Southern Shores has a contract until June 30 with Deel Engineering, not with Mr. Anlauf. The contract dates to June 2016 and was originally for three years. A simple majority of the Town Council extended it last June for a year.

Although he is not a contractual party, Mr. Anlauf is often referred to by Town staff and Town Council members as the “Town Engineer.” In fact, that is how he refers to himself in his SOQ. Mr. Anlauf typically runs the Town’s Capital Infrastructure Improvements Planning (CIIP) Committee meetings.

Mr. Neal and Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth Morey sought at last week’s meeting to postpone a decision on the new engineer until new town manager Cliff Ogburn could weigh in.

As the longtime town manager of Nags Head, Mr. Ogburn—whose starting date, Mr. Neal said, is June 22—has worked with both a staff and contractual engineers and would have the experience and knowledge to distinguish among the applicants, something the Town Council, other than Mr. Neal, cannot do.

But Councilmen Leo Holland and Jim Conners thought it was imperative that an engineer be hired by the Council’s June 16 meeting, even though there is no engineering design work to be done immediately after the June 30 expiration of the Deel/Anlauf contract.

The Beacon questions this rush to hire an engineer. We also question the Town’s imposition of a ridiculously short amount of time to reply to the RFQ, which seems onerous to us in the detail it required. The applicants’ qualification packages were due within 24 days of the RFQ’s issuance.

We would like to ask Mr. Ogburn if the Town’s RFQ contains standard requirements and if the 24-day deadline is typical of similar RFQs that he has issued.

“I would like to hear his opinion,” Mr. Neal said at the meeting about Mr. Ogburn evaluating the applicants.

Said Ms. Morey: “Me, too.”

It is Mr. Ogburn, not the Town Council, who will have “direct interface,” as Mr. Neal said, with the new engineer.

We agree.

Ms. Morey also said she had not had time to do her “due diligence” and carefully evaluate the applicants. The new flood ordinance had consumed much of her time.

Small wonder. We obtained the four SOQs pursuant to a public records request. The Council had about a week to read and process 140 pages. That Mr. Holland referred at the meeting to the written “presentations” by the applicants, rather than to their qualifications and project experience, is not surprising, either. Visuals can be eyeballed.

As The Beacon reported 6/2/20, Councilman Conners shockingly interrupted Mr. Neal with a motion to approve “Deel/Anlauf”—as he referred to Anlauf Engineering’s SOQ— when Mr. Neal was in the middle of making a motion to table a decision on the engineer RFP until a later date.

Mayor Bennett seconded Mr. Conners’s blunt and inappropriate motion—supporting his former canal dredging partner—after what may have been a withdrawal by Mr. Neal of his motion.

We could not hear a withdrawal in real time during the Zoom videoconference, and we cannot definitely hear one on the meeting videotape. All we know is that the Mr. Conners’s breach in protocol was eventually “cured” by a unanimous tabling of Mr. Conners’s motion until the Council’s June 16 workshop meeting.

QUALIFICATIONS THAT CAN BE CONSIDERED

Mr. Neal pointedly asked Mr. Conners when the latter made his motion what makes the Anlauf/Deel application “superior” to the other three applicants, which include Coastal Engineering & Surveying, Inc., of Kitty Hawk; Albemarle & Associates, LTD., of Kill Devil Hills; and American Engineering Associates, a Pennsylvania-based firm that has an office in Kill Devil Hills.

Carlos Gomez, the president and owner of Coastal Engineering & Surveying, is a Southern Shores homeowner who has served on the CIIP Committee, as well as the Town Planning Board.

Mr. Conners replied that “they’re all very qualified,” but he likes the engineering team’s “fees” and “the history that the Anlauf/Deel firm is offering.”

Mayor Bennett actually referred to the applicants as candidates who have submitted “quotes.” But fees and quotes are not what an RFQ is about. An RFQ is not about the “low bidder.”

In fact, N.C. law specifically prohibits local governments from taking fees into consideration as part of their selection process for engineers, architects, and other construction contractors. While towns may request “unit price information,” they may not make their choice of a contractor on the basis of “costs or fees.” (N.C. General Statutes sec. 143-64.31(f).)

The Town’s RFQ (in paragraph 4(t)) requires applicants to submit a “proposed unit price,” which it defines as an “hourly rate,” for “design, bidding and contracting, and monitoring and inspecting infrastructure construction projects.” We believe this requirement contravenes state law.

An hourly rate is clearly a “fee,” not a unit price. The Town Council’s choice of its next engineer cannot depend on hourly rates. The choice must be based on demonstrated competence and qualifications.

Mr. Gomez certainly has history with Southern Shores and its road system, as may some of the other team members of the applicants’ firms.

Let’s look further at some of Mr. Anlauf’s “history.”

THE ANLAUF HISTORY

Mr. Anlauf’s insistence upon a defective design of a hydroclonic dewatering system for the Southern Shores canal dredging project resulted in substantial delay and added to an accumulation of costs that doubled the price tag for the $1.7 million canal project.

Mr. Anlauf prepared this design with his former employer, Quible and Associates, P.C.

We are not saying that Mr. Anlauf and Quible are solely responsible for the additional costs and delay of the 7.5-mile canal project, but they significantly contributed to both.

The Town Council started planning the canal-dredging project in 2003 and hired Quible and Mr. Anlauf as the design engineers and now-Mayor Bennett as contractual manager of the project. Dredging should have started in 2006-2007, but it was 2009 before it finally did, and the project did not wrap until February 2014.

One key reason was that the dewatering design upon which both Mr. Anlauf and Mr. Bennett insisted was unworkable, and it had to be replaced. Other problems, including those in the permitting process, also occurred.

The original dredging contractor, Sampson Contracting, Inc., sued the Town, Quible, Mr. Bennett, Mr. Anlauf, and others in 2013 over what it alleged was a wrongful termination by the Town.

The final cost of what was envisioned to be a maximum $2 million canal-dredging project was $3,465,377, according to a report by former Town Manager Peter Rascoe.

The Town also paid costs related to the litigation, including $123,500 of a  $248,000 settlement that the defendants paid to Sampson. The Beacon does not know how much of the settlement Mr. Anlauf paid.

More recently, Mr. Anlauf announced at a Town CIIP Committee meeting that a section of Chicahauk Trail that was repaved just 10 years ago is already showing “alligator cracking” and will need to be replaced much earlier than contemplated. Mr. Anlauf designed this rebuild; he is in charge of all of the Town’s road engineering work.

While Mr. Anlauf sought at the December meeting to attribute the failures in asphalt to an asphalt mix standard “mandated” by the federal government, known as the Superpave system, The Beacon learned in subsequent research that engineers and road contractors have to adjust Superpave to the specific environmental conditions of their geographic areas. They also must consider, and allow for, the type and amount of traffic to which a pavement will be subjected. (See The Beacon, 12/21/19.)

Mr. Anlauf’s professional assessments and decision-making regarding this road rebuild should be scrutinized, as a matter of quality control, but the members of the committee—including co-chairpersons Mayor Bennett and Councilman Conners—showed no inclination to do so.

The Beacon believes that other road rebuilds Mr. Anlauf has designed and overseen should be evaluated for their sustainability, as well. The “new” Hickory Trail between Hillcrest Drive and East Dogwood Trail is not in very good shape after just 10 years, either. (A Chicahauk resident reminds us of the “over-engineered” rebuild of Gravey Pond. We have lost track of how many times the dipsy-doodle Chicahauk bridge has been corrected.)

We further question why Mr. Anlauf designed curbs in conjunction with the South Dogwood Trail sidewalk that have narrowed the road in a number of locations, making traffic flow more hazardous. The curbs are not adjacent to the walkway.

Since December, Councilman Neal has served as co-chairperson of the CIIP Committee, replacing Mayor Bennett. We are hopeful that he will push for a professional review of the Chicahauk Trail paving project. Roads should last longer than 10 years.

INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Four years ago, when Mr. Anlauf’s previous contract expired, then-Town Council members Gary McDonald and Fred Newberry sought to replace him as “Town Engineer.”

They strongly objected to what they saw as Mr. Anlauf’s hard-nosed tactics with homeowners over tree removals on Fairway Drive and South Dogwood Trail and his arrogant demeanor. The 2016 contract presented to the Town Council for approval appeared to be with Deel, not with Anlauf, which satisfied Mr. McDonald and Mr. Newberry, who voted to approve it.

They were unaware that Deel and Anlauf came as a package deal and felt circumvented.

Mr. Anlauf’s name only appears in an hourly rate schedule for 2016-17 that was appended to the contract. It states: “The rates reflected hereon describe the current billing rates for Deel Engineering, PLLC and Anlauf Engineering, PLLC to perform work in the Town of Southern Shores.” It also refers to the entity, “Deel/Anlauf Engineering, PLLC,” but the only contracting party is Deel.

The Town Council extended the Town’s three-year contract with Deel and Anlauf last June for one year—this time over a strong objection by Mr. McDonald and Mr. Newberry. Although interested in considering other local engineers, former Councilman Chris Nason, an architect, voted with the Mayor and Mr. Conners for the extension.

The Mayor and Mr. Conners tried again recently to extend the contract for another year, but this time they did not have a third Council vote to give them a majority.

To their credit, Mr. Neal, Ms. Morey, and Mr. Holland opposed the extension.

Like Mr. McDonald and Mr. Newberry, The Beacon not only objects to Mr. Anlauf having such a tight grip on the Town’s engineering projects for such a long time—especially in light of the canal-dredging fiasco and, more recently, the failed asphalt in Chicahauk—we also take issue with Mr. Anlauf’s treatment of, and attitude toward homeowners.

Mr. Anlauf has been described by members of the public—including myself, in full disclosure—as rude, arrogant, and condescending.

South Dogwood Trail homeowner Paulette Jones found him to be just that when she called Town Hall to complain about a large camellia bush in her front yard being removed during the sidewalk construction, without notice, and was referred to Mr. Anlauf.

Mrs. Jones should not have been subjected to Mr. Anlauf’s rudeness and condescending manner. When she spoke with The Beacon later about the incident, she was furious.

The Southern Shores Town Engineer should treat homeowners with respect and courtesy, regardless of what he thinks about a complaint. Anything less is unacceptable. He represents the Town, not himself, in dealings with the public.

It is time for a change.

THE CANAL DREDGING LAWSUIT

Dredging contractor Sampson Contracting, Inc., contended in its lawsuit that it was “scapegoated” for the flawed Quible-Anlauf dewatering design that was never going to work, but upon which Mr. Bennett and Mr. Anlauf insisted.

Sampson alleged that the Town required the dredging contractor to use Mr. Anlauf’s unworkable design, after more traditional dewatering methods had been permitted.

The Town acknowledged no error in judgment or design on the record–not of which we are aware.

Emergency Town Council meetings were held in January and February 2010 to address the struggling canal-dredging project. After a closed session held during an emergency meeting on Feb. 6, 2010, the Town Council—led by Mayor Hal Denny—declared Sampson in default of the dredging contract.

Mr. Bennett, who attended the privileged session between the Council and the Town Attorney, had sought the default declaration. Mayor Denny also invited Mr. Anlauf and a third contractual party to attend the closed session.

Previously, in the January meeting, the Council had authorized using geotubes, instead of a hydrocyclone machine, to dewater the canals.

In its lawsuit, Sampson called the Quible-Anlauf hydrocyclonic dewatering system “a catastrophic failure of epic proportion.”

A geotube-based dewatering system, which was the method that Sampson claimed it wanted, and it expected to use, effectively finished the job.

The Town Council emergency meeting minutes are inadequate to determine exactly what occurred among the contracting parties, and The Beacon has no intention of launching an investigation now.

We did come across a Feb. 1, 2010 Outer Banks Voice article in which Mr. Bennett said, “[The hydrocyclone gets] most of the heavier spoil, but leaves fine silt in the water that needs to be cleared out in a settling pond before it can be returned to the canals.”

The Voice reported in the same article that “[Joe] Anlauf said he still believed the hydrocyclone method would work and would like to attempt it again before looking into other solutions.”

The Town hired Byrd Brothers Emergency Services of Wilson to step in after Sampson.

The hydrocyclone machine was not a feasible method of dewatering dredged material. Mr. Anlauf’s insistence that it was cost Southern Shores dearly.

It is a shame that an independent investigation of the handling of this project was never done. There should have been accountability to the public.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

In expressing some preference for “Deel/Anlauf” last week, Councilman Holland said, “I’d just as soon dance with the person I know,” to which Mr. Neal quickly replied: “That’s boring.”

Mr. Holland is a well-intentioned person who seeks to do the right thing, but we disagree with him in this instance. How “comfortable” he feels with Joe Anlauf is not relevant to the decision-making process. When a government contractor becomes a familiar favorite, it is past time for a change.

The Town is not, and should never be run as, a private club. It should have an open door of opportunity to people in the business community. It should not show biases.

Being “comfortable” with someone because of familiarity is a bias that predisposes an elected official to a candidate for subjective reasons and discourages newcomers from knocking on the door.

Contractors should never have a lock—exclusive control—over governmental business for 10 years, much less 20. Competition and change are healthy. Different professionals with their own fresh perspectives, talents, and skills should be welcome and encouraged to participate in the operations of a town run openly and democratically.

While we would prefer to leave the decision to Mr. Ogburn, we would approve the Town Council’s qualifications-based choice of any engineer other than the current one.

“Continued discussion of Town Engineer Contract” is the second item of business on the Town Council’s agenda for next Tuesday’s workshop meeting at 9 a.m. in the Pitts Center. The public hearing on beach nourishment is the fourth and last item.

See agenda at https://www.southernshores-nc.gov/wp-content/uploads/minutes-agendas-newsletters/Agendas_2020-06-16.pdf

Ann G. Sjoerdsma, 6/9/20

 

 

Dare County has reported three more COVID-19 cases today, bringing the day’s total to six cases, and the overall total to 32 cases, according to the Dare County Dept. of Health and Human Services’ dashboard.

Unlike the three earlier reported cases—all of whom were young, with two being just 17 years old—all three new patients are between the ages of 50 and 64, the dashboard reports.

Two of the new patients are Dare County residents and are currently in home isolation. The third patient has been transferred to his/her home county for isolation.

Two of the newly recorded cases are women, and one is a man. The three cases reported earlier today were those of two males and one female. (See The Beacon’s preceding post.)

We hope that Dr. Sheila Davies, the director of DCDHHS, will provide more details during her videotaped update Tuesday about the means of viral transmission and the testing circumstances of each case.

Ten people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Dare County during the past week–more than 50 percent of the total number of positive tests during the previous three months.

THE BEACON, 6/7/20