Newspapers / The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, … / Feb. 11, 1993, edition 1 / Page 7
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House Sitters STAff PHOTO BY DOUG RUTTtft A trio of seagulls found this dilapidated purple martin house made a nice place to rest on a lazy after noon at llolden It each. Calabash Splits On Proceeding With Carolina Blythe Purchase BY KRIC CARLSON Three Carolina Shores members ol the Calabash town board Tuesday continued efforts to delay a pro posed central sewage system by try ing unsuccessfully to block the hir ing of a consultant to negotiate a purchase price for the Carolina Blylhc sewer system. As the otherwise routine commis sioners meeting drew to a close, a healed discussion arose over whether the town ought to pay Certified Public Accountant George Dennis a fee of SI.5(H) to sec if he can persuade the Carolina Blythe's owners to reduce their asking price of S4.5 million. The purchase of Carolina Blylhc, which currently provides sewer ser vice to the Carolina Shores section of Calabash and some other areas, is the cornerstone of the first phase in an ongoing effort to build a joint Calabash/Sunset Beach sewer sys tem. Joseph Tombro of Powell Asso ciates, consulting engineers for Calabash, told the commissioners that Dennis is an experienced nego tiator in utility company acquisitions who has worked for the N.C. Public Utilities Commission. Dennis has offered to negotiate a reduced price for Carolina Blylhc in exchange for a commission that would equal 3 percent of ihc differ ence between the current S4.5 mil lion offering and ihe eventual pur chase price. Tombro asked the board to hire Dennis so die engineers can estimate the rates customers of the new sewer system would have to pay lor ser vice. Those figures cannot be com puted until the cost of purchasing Carolina Blythc has been deter mined, because rates will be set at a level that will allow the towns to pay back loans for building and op erating the system. Commissioners George Ander son, Robert Noc and Ray Card, who have voiccd past opposition to the joint sewer system, raised numerous objections to the hiring of Dennis. Anderson first criticized Tombro for moving too quickly toward ne gotiating a purchase of Carolina Blythe. Next he questioned the 3 percent commission rate. Then he insisted dial the hiring be put off "until we get this quote-unquote di vorce settled." There is an effort in Calabash to split the three-year-old town in two, with die largely commercial District 1 area of old Calabash reluming to its former boarders while the resi dential retirement community of District 1 would become the town of Carolina Shores. Slate Senator R.C. Soles has said he will introduce legislation lo make the split, but Rep. David Redwine says he won't support the measure without convincing support through out the two communities. Tombro said it seems that much of the support for the split in Carolina Shores is motivated by fears that the new sewer system would charge higher rates. He insists that will not be the case and suggest ed that hiring Dennis might help defuse the issue. He urged the board to go ahead with plans for ihc system because the downtown area of Calabash will need central sewage regardless of how the issue is resolved. Noc said he doesn't sec "why we're in such a big, fat hurry" to proceed with ihc Carolina Blydie negotiations. He suggested the board should first meet with company owners on their own. He also warned that the board would be committing themselves lo a pur chase by hiring Dennis to negotiate a price. If 598 Europe Ojv Sale! TRAVEL FROM WILMINGTON TO... PARIS $ FRANKFURT vr v i Plus Tax and LONDON ?Fare based on mid-week travel, slightly higher on weekends ?FARE IS $100 HIGHER FROM JUNE 1-SEPT. 1 THESE ARE GREAT BARGAINS Tickcts must be purchased bv February 19th CALL TODAY... 3 Brunswick Travel Inc. CRUISE HEADQUARTERS 1-800-852-2736 754-7484 ? 150 Holder) Beach Rd , Shallotte, NC 28459 a Town Attorney Michael Ramos said the town would be obligated to pay Dennis a commission only if it purchases Carolina Blythe. "All you are approving is the spending of S1,5(X) to establish an asking price and to begin negotia tions leading to a proposed transac tion. If you don't buy it, you don't pay it," he said. Tombro said he feels Dennis has made the town a very attractive offer and urged the board to accept it. "If he can save you SI million, and from that he makes S3(),(XX), you've gotten a good deal," Tombro said. Card also recommended that the town hold up on hiring Dennis be cause "there are major issues pend ing in this town that need answers." He said he had assumed that an ear lier rate-base analysis of Carolina Blythe would have included an esti mated purchase price. He said the town was "jumping from fire to fire" in spending money on studies. Tombro said Carolina Blythe's owners will not provide the internal financial records needed to establish an accurate picture of the company's worth until the town makes a good faith offer to purchase. He said it is "normal business practice" for a company not to provide cash-flow figures and a detailed profit-and-loss statement until such an offer is made. Eventually, Anderson made a mo tion to table consideration of the Dennis offer indefinitely. Noc and Card voted yes while Carolina Shores commissioner Jon Sanborn joined old Calabash members Stuart Thorn and Ed Rice in voting against it. Mayor Doug Simmons broke the tic by voting no. A second vote on a motion to hire Dennis split along the same lines, with Simmons breaking the tie by voting yes. loru/Mm ii, iyyj r/\^jt/A OIB Board Okays Contract For Inlet Dredging To Aid Beach Renourishment Plan BY LYNN CARLSON Occan Isle Beach officials have approved a plan to piggyback on ihe Army Corps of Engineers' routine dredging of the Iniracoaslal Water way to excavate the Shallottc Inlet channel and use the spoil to rcnour ish the beach's badly-erotlcd east end. "We'll be renourishing the cast end and at the same time helping boat traffic get in and out," Mayoi Betty Williamson said Tuesday. The mayor reported to the town's !>oard of commissioners that the contractor's dredge left Savannah on Monday and will be at Ocean Isle Beach later this week. When the waterway project is complete, the inlet dredging can be gin and is expected to continue through much of February, she added. Using a contractor already in the area for another project will save time the town the considerable cost of transporting dredging equipment from another, she said in an inter view alter Tuesday's monthly board meeting. The town has raised about S90,0(X) to fund the bcach rcnourish ment project, setting aside S80,(XX) in accommodations tax revenue, with the balance coming from the town's three-cent ad valorem tax in crease last year. The mayor said the inlet dredging and bcach renourishmcnt projects arc the culmination of nearly ihrcc years of effort. The Corps turned down the town's original application as unfeasible; on resubmission, the plan was approved. "Hurricane Hugo increased ero sion at the east end," Williamson said. "We need all the assistance we can get." She added that this project is a short-term fix, but that the town will be devising a long-term erosion con trol plan in hopes of becoming pari of a federal-local partnership pro gram in which the federal share is 65 percent ol the cost of renourish mcnt efforts. Other area communities, Carolina and Wrightsvillc beaches, are al ready on the federal funding list lor renourishmcnt, she said. Plans are to dredge the main channel of Shallottc Inlet to a depth of eight feet below mean water level and to place as much spoil as is suit able on the bcach trout beginning at Ashevillc Street and continuing west 250 feet past Lumbcrton Street. Ihe dredge area will measure 2<X) feci wide by 9(X) feet long and the spoil area, 40 feet wide by 2,560 feet long. An estimated 25,(XX) cubic yards of material will be excavated at a cost ol S2 per cubic yard to the town. The town board approved the contract price after a 30-minutc closed-session discussion of the matter. As much dredge spoil is as "suit able"?sand as opposed to mud? will go toward the renourishmcnt project. A public bcach access in the spoil area will "remain in placc and will be extended as necessary to prevent damage to new grow th vegetation as it occurs." the town's Corps applica tion states. Once the dredging is complete, sand fence and American beach grass plantings will be used to keep the fill material in placc. The dredging project is expcctcd to be applauded by local boaters, who have complained that, because of inadequate maintenance, virtually no channcl exists in Shallottc Inlet at this point. Streets Commissioner Defends Maintenance The town's strccLs commissioner and original developer Odell Wil liamson defended what he called ru mors that he used town equipment I 1 February Coupon Special M ?Within 15 Mile Radius ? With A Full Tune-up Lawn & Garden Tractors Only Milligan's Sharpening Shop 501 Whiteville Rd , Hwy 130 West, Shallotte, 754 8535 to maintain two uninhabited streets he owns on the island's east end. "There's a rumor I've tried to de velop sonic of my land at taxpayers' expense," he told the town board. "1 assure you I haven't." Odcll Williamson said he has maintained the streets lor 20 years and plans to have them added to the map used for Powell Bill street im provement funds. "They have water and sewer (lines), and I paid for the taps when the sewer system went in. I gave the town S170,(XX) to let the sewer con tract. Some people think that Odcll wants something for nothing to haul a load of coquina," he said. Although he did not name the streets, they arc believed to be in the area between Lcc and Mixirc streets. Lots arc platted on both sides of a canal between Lcc and Goldsboro streets: the property between Golds boro and Moore street has never been subdivided. "One street goes to a dump where sand and shell are used for mainte nance," he said. "During Hugo, all the sand and shell for the east end came from there." The other, he said, is frequently used by fisher men. "I've never in my life tried to take advantage of a dollar," he said, protesting that "somebody's running around trying to make me look like a thief." Odcll Williamson said "a frau.on above S6(),(XX) remains in the town's street maintenance lurid and will he spent this spring "to lake tare of some headaches" in street IkxKling caused by iccord rains this winter. Mayor Betty Williamson asked townspeople attending Tuesday's meeting what areas diey believe de serve priority for street maintenance and was asked to consider Isle Plaza, North Duneside Drive, West Second Street and Driltwocxl Street. Other Business ?The mayor reported that sewer system extension work has begun on the east end and in the area where the new lagoon will be built. ?Police Chief Curtis Prilchaid le portcd that two men Iia\e been or rested in conncclion witli a west end burglary that occurred a year and a half ago. Local police followed leads to Winston-Salem and Concord, where cooperation wiUi police in those towns resulted in the two being brought back to Brunswick County to be charged. ?Developers of the Ross subdivi sion, which has been before the town board and planning board fre quently in recent months, met with Town Attorney Elva Jess following the meeting to discuss "language on particular items" involving the sub division plan. Driving For Education Test drive a car for Bolivia Elementary this week at Ocean City Chevrolet in Shallotte and help our school acquire much needed learning tools. Each test drive between Monday, Feb. 8 and Saturday, Feb. 13, will take us closer to obtaining our goal. For more information, please call Aleta Murray, Bolivia Elementary PTA president, Ruth Gore, PTA treasurer, or Ocean City Chevrolet. A Unique Taste Now open, just in time for Valentine's! Gift Baskets & Gourmet Foods Coffees ? Cheeses ? Crackers ? Bagels Chocolates 'Cookies ? Jelly Bellies We deliver! Open Monday-Saturday \ t 10-5:30 Great idea, jlte #5 King s piaza Jjs Hwy. 179 at Seaside %Vclentine's^ 579-9612 t&Wr Debbie Sheehan & Missy Williams CI993 TMF BPUNRWlCK CI! A S ALL THESE PEOPLE HAVE A YELLOW PAGE BOOK, BUT THEY'RE READING YOUR AD IN THE NEWSPAPER. Beacon advertising works. Call 754-6890 to speak with one of our friendly ad representatives.
The Brunswick Beacon (Shallotte, N.C.)
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Feb. 11, 1993, edition 1
7
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