Page *-A—THE BRUNSWICK BEACON, Thunday, Juoe IS. 1W7
Brick Landing Area Owners Tell County They Need Water
BY SUSAN USHER
An audience with a thirst for coun
ty water turned out Monday night to
conunent on county plans for a
special water assessment district in
the Brick Landing area.
Of the 45 to 50 people present dur
ing the SO-minute hearing, a few had
questions that needed clarifying or
were concerned about (he method by
which they’re to be assessed. But
none appeared to be against the pro
ject itself.
The scene differed dramatically
from a hearing earlier this year for
the county’s first special assessment
district, to be constructed on the
mainland near Holden Beach. At that
hearing, a clear majority of speakers
said they didn’t need or want county
water.
Despite those objections the county
voted to move ahead on the project
After Monday’s hearing, the Utility
Operations Board voted to recom
mend to county commissioners at
their July 6 meeting that they also
approve this second project. The
UOB hopes to let bids for both pro
jects at once as a cost-saving
measure. Earlier it had hoped to do
the first of six or seven districts
together, but preparatory work for
District No. 3, in the Seaside area, is
Wroint Resident Expresses
^Frustration At Water Lack
. Frustration was evident in her voice when Dorothy Suggs asked
Monday night what plans there are to get county water to the Sballotte
f. P(dnt community where she lives,
She was speaking in Bolivia at a hearing for residents of the Bride
. Landing area, where the county has proposed a special water assess
ment districL
Because of gasoline contamination, one of the Suggs’wells has beat
shut down and they have been hauling water for houseMd use for ap
proximately a year now waiting action by the state regarding their
1 groundwater contamination problem., ^
£ ’ She stressed the overall communlfy’s need for public water, a point
reiterated by UOB member Bill English.
Noting that no county water project is slated in that neighborhood in
the near future, English suggested residents get together to begin con
sidering their alternatives.
“We feel like we’ve already begun,’’ said Mrs. Suggs. “We’ve had
water meetings before. I just want to know how far we have gotten. It
. ^seems like it must be dead. ' ‘
“Everybody in our area needs it But we can’t do anything; weean’t
get ai^where.’’
, According to Plaiming Director John Harvey, Shallotte Point is me ■
of 100 or more areas with a known need for public water. “We have to
set priorities," he added. . ,t .
New County Manager Resigns
After SBI Probe Uncovered
(Continued From Page 1-A)
and he was also given the use of a
car, as was his predecessor.
Gegg, who was authorized by the
board to offer Barnes the manager’s
post was also directed to make a
background check on the candidate
before hiring him.
“I followed standard procedure,’’
Gegg said Monday
Gegg said he caUed Robert Hester,
field representative for the N.C.
Association of County Commis
sioners, to ask about Barnes and to
run a “full background check" on
him. Hester had previously assisted
the board in locating a county
manager.
Ciegg indicated Hester gave
Barnes a clean bill of health, stated
that he was a fine candidate and
wished him the best at Brunswick
County.
Hester said Tuesday that he did not
know what Barnes had told the com
missioners during the interview ses
sion. Barnes had “apparently told
them his firing was due more to
political pressure,” Hester added.
Hester said that when Gegg ca"°d
him to ask if there was anything else
the county should know about Barnes
before they offered him a job, he ask
ed Gegg, “Did he tell you about the
Halifax County situation?"
Hester said Gegg told him that
Barnes had.
“I was referring to the SBI in
vestigation," Hester said. “I pro
bably should have gotten more
specific.
“That one simple statement is pro
bably the whole basis for the whole
misunderstanding,” Hester said.
When asked if he thought Barnes
was a good candidate for Brunswick
County, Hester replied, “I sure do. I
think ’Thomas Barnes would have
been a good county manager."
Barnes, an East Carolina Universi
ty graduate, had also graduated from
the Municipal Management Program
of the Institute of Government at
Chapel Hill. He had been affiliated
with the Central Region Planning
Commission of the Region L Council
of Governments.
The board also reappointed Gegg
as interim county manager Monday,
giving him a renewed vote of con
fidence. Since April, Gegg has been
serving as acting county nnanager.
The board received more than 70
applications for the job and inter
viewed four candidates, including
one from Brunswick 0>unfy.
Commissioners did not di^uss how
they would approach refilling the
county manager’s seat. However,
they are pot required by law to
advertise the position or readvertise,
since the manager’s position is one of
three county posts not under the state
personnel system. Others are the
county attorney and the clerk to the
board of commissioners. They are
employed at the commissioners'
discreticn.
Typical Summer Weather Due
Typical summertime weather’s
ahead for the South Brunswick
Islands.
Shallotte Point meteorologist
Jackson Canady says the area can
expect near-normal temperatures
and rainfall. He expects
temperatures to range from iilghtly
lows averaging around 70 degrees to
the upper 80s during the daytime,
with about three-quarters inch of
rainfall.
For the period June 16-22, he
recorded .72 inch of rainfall, with
some places, he said, receiving quite
a bit more.
He recorded a maximum high of 88
degrees on three consecutive days,
June 16-18, and a minimum low of 70
degrees on both June 19 and 20.
An average daytime high of 87
degrees combined with a nightly low
average of 72 degrees, for a dally
average temperature of 79 degrees,
which is about two degrees above
normal.
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taking more time than anticipated.
Monday night, comments were the
opposite from that first hearing as
UOB members heard from property
owners in Shangrila, I>ong Acres,
Stanley Campground, Brunswick
Shores and a portion of Brick Ijin-
ding Plantation.
Representative of the speakers
was Horace Wheeler, who owns pro
perty in Shangrila. “I want to get rid
of my jugs—the sooner the better,"
he told members of the Utility Opera
tions Board, which conducted the
hearing. Thebna Soles of Brunswick
Shores reiterated, “We need the
water."
A woman who identified herself as
a resident of tiong Acres told the
board, “My water stinks so bad and
is so dirty I can’t wash clothes in it"
UOB members wouldn’t give an
estimate of the cost of the project or
each property owners’ faii^share
assessment A ballpark figure will be
available when the preliminary
assessment resolution is drafted and
taken to public hearing, in plenty of
time, said UOB attorney Michael
Ramos, for property owners to make
preparations for paying the assess
ment within 60 days after water ac
tually is available.
The iusscssment for construction of
the line will include a 10 percent “iii>-
pact" fee to help cover the co.st of
capital projects that will bcncrit
users in a broad area.
The assessment method used by
the county could vary for property
owners, with options including front
footage assessments and calcula
tions based on area and value.
While assessments arc required,
tap-ons will be voluntary. As an in
centive a lower rate is offered to
those who tap on when water is first
available to them.
Referring to a method where
owners on each side of the road split
the assessed cost of the water line.
E.V. Gore, who owns property along
N.C. 179 from (he junction to
Shangrila Estates, told UOR
members, "I’m not planning on pay
ing linlf the (lislancc to Shangrila."
WIkh asked by UOB member
Ernest McGee what he thought the
best approijch would be. Gore
replied. “The county pay for it."
John T. Madison of Brick I.anding
Plantation, which has a development
tract along N.C. 179, .said his group
would tnist tlie UUB’s judgement as
to the best means of assL'ssment.
“Progress makes advantages to
some ami disadvantages to others,"
he noted.
Utility Board Says County Would Gain
By Helping Run Water Line To Project
BY SUSAN USHER
It would be to Brunswick County’s
advantage to help pay the cost of ex
tending a water main to a large golf
course subdivision being developed
near Holden Beach, members of the
county’s Utility Operations Board
agreed Monday night.
The UOB will recommend financial
participation in the project at the
commissioners’ July 6 meeting.
Meanwhile, board Chairman Robert
Nubel has asked developers of
Lockwood Folly Golf Course subdivi
sion to document on paper justifica
tion for county participation. Up ’til
now, said Nubel, Uie operating direc
tive for the UOB has been “no free
ride” except as allowed in the over
sizing policy.
The developers plan to install and
then dedicate the water lines within
their subdivision, as is standard pro
cedure. However, they said Monday
they don’t think they should have to
share the cost of the line from the
Holden Beach traffic signal along
Sabbath Home Church Road and
Stone Chinuiey Road S.W. to the edge
of their property.
Tliat’s wiuit tlicy want the county
to handle.
“If an industry that was going to
employ 75 to 100 people and needed
Hi miles of line came before you,
there would be no question," sug
gested Mason Anderson.
“Everybody would vote for it.”
UOB member Ed Gore, a
developer himself, said that develop
ment should be considered as the in-
dus&y it is. But, he added, he doesn’t
think any additional water lines
should be installed at the county’s ex
pense except for where the county
picks up the difference in cost for
oversizing above six inches.
He recommended that a narrow
“linear" special assessment water
district might be one way to have
Two shallotte Officers
Get Permanent Status
(Conttnued From Page 1-A)
On StovaU’s recommendation, the
board agreed to take patrol officers
Robert Joel Hoagland and Charles B.
Yager off probationary status and
hire them on a permanent basis. Both
officers had been employed by the
town on six-month probationary
terms.
The board met in executive session
for 20 minutes to discuss personnel
before Alderman David Gause made
the motion to hire the two officers on
a permanent basis.
The board also hired Wayne
Mason, 34, of Vamumtown, as a full
time employee in the maintenance
department. Mason, who is a
maintenance employee for Brier-
wood Golf Gub in Shallotte, was
hired on a six-month probationary
term.
Other Business
In other business last Wednesday,
Correction
A typographical error led to an in
correct statement in a June 18 news
story regarding indictments of 32
persons on cocaine trafficking
charges.
The word “said” was inadvertently
omitted in a sentence that should
have read as follows: "The alleged
offcn:>es involve more than 200
pounds of cocaine, which Eiasley said
sells on the street for approximately
$2,000 an ounce."
The Brunswick Beacon apologizes
for the error.
the board:
•Agreed to rewrite the town’s sign
ordinance to place restrictions on
portable signs that are lighted. Town
Attorney Mark Lewis had been in
structed by the board to rewrite a
section of the ordinance regulating
off-premise signs. The board agreed
to rewrite the entire ordinance and to
allow portable Emd/or lighted signs
on commercial property for 36days,
at which point the owner must
replace it with a permanent sign.
•Set a special meeting for Monday,
June 29, at 7:30 p.m. to adopt the
1987-88 budget and to accept a pro
posal for the town’s insurance
coverage.
Apply Now For
Privilege License
J.C. Raines, revenue officer for
North Carolina, urges taxpayers who
are liable for state privilege licenses
to apply before July 1.
He said the 1980 census is to be used
where the applicable rate of tax is
based on population.
Applications, together with the
remittance, should be mailed to the
N.C. Department of Revenue, P.O.
Box 25000, Raleigh, N.C. 27640, or
submitted to the local office in
Bolivia.
Penalty for failure to comply,
Raines said, will be five percent for
each delinquent month, or fraction
thereof, after July 1.
8%%
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others who benefit from the water
share the cost of running tlie line.
Such a district would include proper
ty owners along Sabbath Home
C?hurch Home, where a 12-inch line is
planned, and along Stone Chimney
Road S.W., where an 8-inch line is
planned.
UOB members noted the project
might be handled concurrently with
Special Assessment District 3, since
the developers have said they arc
looking at a November deadline.
According to a recently-adopted
policy, the county would pay for the
difference in a six-inch line and the
line used, with the prt^rly owners
sharing the remaining cost.
UOB attorney Michael Ramos said
the only problem he could see with
this type of participation project Ls a
‘‘polidcar’ one.
“Shallotte Point residents need
water but it may be ten years for
them and you run water to Lockwood
Folly," he offered as an example.
Paul Dennis and 'Tripp Sloane, two
of the develc^rs present, told com
missioners that if the county chose
not to participate, Lockwood Folly
would install the water lines
anyway—but as part of a private
water system it would operate and
from which it would collect any pro
fits realized.
“If we pay for the cow, we want all
of the milk,* said Dennis.
However, Anderson pointed out the
county hasn’t been making money
from water sales, from the growth
associated with development, some
of it made possible by the availability
of county water.
UOB members agreed among
themselves that the project offers
economic and social benefits to the
county, including that for the mile of
line the county would install, the
developers would initially install two
inside the subdivision; the tax base of
the developed property would be in
the $10 million figure; development
of up to 1,000 units, all of which would
be required to hook on to county
water; and hiring of permanent
Look for our
Grand Opening
od in this week';
poper!
/SSoiico ^i^mes
employees.
According to Slonnc such a change
in county policy “would encourage
developers to put lines in the
ground."
In other action, the board agreed to
rcconmicnd fulfilling a request from
developers Bill Benton and Paul Den
nis for participation in installing a
2,356-fcet long oversized (12-inch)
line north up N.C. 904 from its in
tersection witli N.C. 179 at Seaside. It
would serve Ixing Bay Center and
Seaside North subdivision, with
about 15 initial customers and the
potential of more than 200.
The county would pay the dif
ference in the cost between a 6-inch
line and a 12-inch line, about $14,100.
The developers submitted a plan
for a water system nearly two years
ago specifying use of a six-inch line.
They also included a promise to pro
vide county water in their HUD
documentation for marketing the
project outside the state.
The county turned down the ap
plication, saying a 12-inch line was
needed to meet the area’s water de
mand.
Said Dennis,“You all are holding
us up.”
Until recently, county policy dic
tated that developers pay the cost of
any oversized line up to 10 inches, not ■
six inches, in diameter.
The UOB board recessed the
meeting until Monday, June 29, at 6
p.m., at which time it will review the
draft of revised contract with Jeny
liCwis & Associates engineering firm
of Shallotte./
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