SSPRNer
Kramer’s Komer
Congrats to all the light blue fans in college
basketball. The Devils will get you next year.
Here are a few of the things happening at town
hall.
Fiscal year 2022-2023 budget. The Board
of Commissioners is in the middle of budget
planning, as is normal for this time of the year. This is a tough year, and I
expect I will request that the board approve a tax increase as part of my final
recommendation. If you wish to follow the discussion on this, I recommend you
attend or listen in to the May 11 and 25 commissioners meetings at town, hall.
Pine Knoll Shores water system improvements. I mentioned here last
month that we are submitting a grant to the North Carolina Department of
Environmental Quality to make system-wide upgrades in town. This involves
replacement of water mains across large areas of Pine Knoll Shores on the east
end of town, which has the oldest section of water lines. By the time you are
reading this, we will have submitted the grant and will await word later this
summer as to any funding that may be offered. Once we know the grant amount,
we will zero in on what sections of town will be addressed. All water mains are
on town or state property in the right of way, but there will unquestionably be
issues with sprinkler systems, driveway cuts and other ornamental objects placed
here over the decades. We will get the word out as soon as possible to those areas '
that will be impacted.
Replacement of steps at town hall. We now have the design completed
to replace all of the wooden steps and ramps to all three entries at town hall.
We will likely start this project later this summer. While you can expect to see
construction activity in this area, we will always ensure one of the two public
accesses is open.
2021 Pine Knoll Shores water system water quality report. Your electric/
water bill from Carteret-Craven Electric Cooperative will include a link for easy
access to our water quality report (tinyurl.com/ycx7yprw). All measurements for
various contaminants were well within acceptable parameters. Of note for those
not familiar with water system operations: we have a 6% water loss level, which
tells us how much water our system loses through leaks. This is a very good
number for a system the age of ours and is a credit to Sonny Cunningham and
his management of the system and his leak detection program. The acceptable
parameters for a system of our age for water loss is 5 to 15%.
Request from Morehead City for help funding school resource officers
(SROs). Morehead City is requesting that Pine Knoll Shores and Atlantic Beach
consider contributing to the cost of the SROs at Morehead Primary (K-grade
3), Camp Glenn (grades 4-5), and Morehead Middle (grades 6-8), the three
elementary/middle public schools that town kids attend. They are requesting
$8,500 from Pine Knoll Shores (and $6,900 from Atlantic Beach). As a point of
interest and lending to the position that our town demographics are changing:
Pine Knoll Shores actually has more kids (102) enrolled at these schools than
Atlantic Beach (66). Morehead City receives grants from the state to cover half
of the SRO expenses at these three schools and receives some county funding.
West Carteret High School isn’t involved because state grants cover 100% of the
expense at high schools. The board briefly discussed this at the April 13 meeting
and will consider it as part of the FY 22-23 budget.
Inspection of bulkheads in the canal. Very soon. Pine Knoll Shores Town
Planner Kevin Reed will tour the canal by boat at low tide to look at bulkheads.
We do this occasionally to enforce our ordinance requiring bulkheads to be in
good shape to prevent shoaling of the canal.
Garbage carts for sale and delivery. Our solid waste (garbage and recycling)
contractor. Waste Removal of Morehead City, is selling heavy duty 95-galion
carts for $95. This includes delivery to your home. These same carts are $139
and $145 at local national chain stores. Waste Removal will repair or replace
any damage to these carts that is not the fault of the owner. If you are interested,
please contact Waste Removal at 252-499-9710.
Yard waste collection. While we try to get the NC Department of
Environmental Quality to reconsider the use of brown paper bags for yard waste,
there is something you may
be able to do to help Sonny
Cunningham’s Public Service
Department handle our
twice-a-month yard waste
pickup. At right is a photo
Sonny took last month during
April’s first pickup. These
are the smaller size plastic
cans (30 gallons) than many
homeowners have. If your
yard waste can fit in one
or two of these, it makes it
much easier for Sonny’s crew
to pick it up and place in the
trailer. Placing yard waste in the larger 95-gallon cans creates a heavy lift for the
men and slows down the pickup process, If your yard waste exceeds the capacity
of these smaller cans, you can fill them and leave the remainder on the ground.
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BI^FAST, U/NCH
& DINNER SPEC/ALS!
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Prices^ Menu & Tim§s Subject to Change
511 Salter Path Road • Pine Knoll Shores • 252-247-4155
AU. ABC Permits
30 The Shoreline I May 2022