PART OF A SERIES
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Mayor Ken Haller
1975-1980 and 1983-1985
By Phyllis Makuck
HISTORY ST
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Reflections of Pine Knoll Shores
Following is the second article from a blogpost entitled “Pine Knoll Shores Mayors:
1973 to 2003” atpineknollhistory.blogspot.com. Most of the information comes
from back Shoreline issues available on ncdigital.com. Pine Knoll Shores History
Committee member Susan Phillips has provided supplementary information from an
internet search and communication with Mayor Hallers daughter, Sue Haller Balmat.
In November 1975, Pine Knoll Shores elected Art Browne, Ken Haller,
Rudy McBride, Hayes McCulley, James Ramsey and Mary Katherine Smith
as commissioners. A referendum on the ballot gave the second Board of
Commissioners the ability to exceed what had been a $10,000 limit on operational
and maintenance expenditures, but not on capital expenditures. There were 260
eligible voters, and 208 voted. On November 13, newly elected commissioners,
meeting at Bogue Banks Country Club,, selected Ken Haller as inayor.
A brief biography of candidates published in the October 1975 Shore Line and
written by Ken’s wife, Newell Haller, provided the following: ,
KEN HALLER, Oakleaf Drive, was born in-Frederick, Maryland, 69 years
ago. He received his college degree (Phi Beta Kappa) from Johns Hopkins
University and graduated from Harvard Law School. He first practiced for
some 10 years in association with a large law firm in Buffalo, New York, but
spent the war years on the staff of the General Counsel of the War Production
Board in Washington, D.C. With the end of the War, he and others formed
a partnership in which he practiced corporate law in New York City for over
twenty-five years. Since retirement five years ago, he served as Chairman
of the Citizens Committee, responsible for the incorporation of Pine Knoll
Shores as a town, and he drew its charter. He also served on the original
Planning Board and on the Board of Adjustment. Ken and former Newell
Maverick were married in 1938. They have two daughters and two sons (Judy,
Sue, Kenny and Hugh) and six grandchildren. Ken likes nothing better than
casting in the Sound for live bait and then fishing in the surf at dawn the next
morning.
At the time, Ken and Newell Haller were living in a house they had built in 1972
on Oakleaf Drive where Alice Hoffmans house had once stood. In building a new
home on the site, they retained some of the remnants of Alice’s house, including
the foundation and cement stairs on the sound side of the property.
Like Jim Redfield, Ken Haller was a member of Pine Knoll Association (PKA),
which in 1975 shared its representation of the largest voting block in Pine Knoll
Shores with Pine Knoll Shores Corporation (PIKSCO). We also learn from the
Shore Line that before becoming mayor Ken Haller was part of a group studying,
future growth of new subdivisions.
During Haller’s first term in office, the Town of Pine Knoll Shores gained
recognition in the county. In the summer of 1976, Mayor Haller became the
official representative of Carteret municipalities on the Neuse River Council of
Governments.
Mayor Ken Haller
His first term also included
reworking zoning ordinances and
establishing a Community Appearance
Commission, which would have long
term influence on the preservation of
trees and lead to Pine Knoll Shores’
becoming a Tree City. Mayor Hdler
led the Board of Commissioners in
making recommendations to erect
a new town hall and to acquire new
fire-fighting and rescue equipment,
both of which required voters to pass
a referendum, which they did. The
referendum was the town’s first request
for authority to issue bonds and raise
taxes.
According to statistics presented
by Mayor Haller in 1977, Pine Knoll
Shores had the lowest tax rate and
one of the highest real property values
in the county. It also had the largest population on Bogue Banks and the smallest
budget, all of which probably helped support the bond and tax proposals.
Among the more localized issues at the time were requirements for bulkheading
and for managing the problem of silting in the canals. But, whether the concerns
were small or large. Mayor Haller seemed to take a hands-on approach in working
with citizens and the Board of Commissioners.
Volunteerism was always important in Pine Knoll Shores, before and after
incorporation. Mayor Haller, like Jim Redfield, was himself an active volunteer. To
help solve a litter problem. Mayor Haller led by example. The July 1976 Shore Line
named him “scavenger-in-chief” because he was picking up so many discarded
cans and bottles, “approximately 200 a month.”
Neighbors helping neighbors as a way of life was established early on. One such
group was Civil Preparedness, a volunteer organization Mayor Haller would call
into action when storms threatened.
Unlike Jim Redfield, Ken Haller served multiple terms as mayor from 1975
to 1980 and from 1983 to 1985. He resigned in April 1980 for health reasons,
and a Carteret News-Times article announcing his resignation also cited the all-
consuming nature of the job done without monetary compensation but with
“all the criticism in which anyone wants to indulge.” Not everyone in town was
ungrateful, however, and declaring a “Ken Haller Day” on May 4, 1980, was one
way a group of Pine Knoll Shores citizens showed their gratitude.
Wayne Cleveland, who had been mayor pro-tem, became mayor to serve out -
Haller’s third term, and was selected for a full term in 1982. When Cleveland died
in office in the fall of 1983, Ken Haller agreed to serve as mayor again, which he
did for almost two additional years. He resigned after writing a letter in support of-
the Roosevelt interests’ final plan for the town center. His last few months in office
were no doubt stressful, and he was soon to turn 80.
As mayor, Ken Haller supported open meetings. As stated in a February 1985
Shoreline, he “welcomed all citizens to attend meetings and offer suggestions and
criticisms.” Tlie tug-of-war between pro-development and pro-status quo factions
often played out at his meetings.
Among the frustrated efforts dragging on for years were proposals for a
third bridge. Haller joined a delegation to Raleigh to petition the Department
of Transportation to build a third bridge to Bogue Banks. (Today’s Pine Knoll
Boulevard was, in accord with A.C. Hall’s city plan, originally named Bridge Road,
anticipating a bridge where McGinnis Point now begins.) Most residents seemed to
want a third bridge but did not want it in their neighborhood. Haller, who liked to
write light verse, put it this way:
(Continued on page 14)
April 2018 I The Shoreline
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