_ The State Port Pilot__
OUR TOWN
Bald Head Island
Bald Head Island Transportation Inc. has announced ferry fare
increases to become effective July 1.
The fundamental passenger ticket will cost $15, where individual
property owners now pay $14. Prices of bulk-sale tickets and
annual passes will increase substantially. Lots of 50 tickets now sell
for $500. After July 1,40 tickets will cost $500. The present $1,200
price for general annual passes will increase to $1,500. The $800
price for senior citizen annual passes will 'go to $ 1,000.
The rates are among those which the transportation company will
provide to the North Carolina Utilities Commission as part of an
application for license to operate. In the future, price increases will
be in accordance with state rules.
Transportation manager Hill Goodman said that parking costs,
which are not under state jurisdiction, are to remain the same.
Boiling Spring Lakes
The planning board is scheduled to meet Monday, June 28, at 7
p.m. in City Hall. Permits for two town residents to put doublewide
mobile homes in a residential area requiring special use permits for
manufactured homes will be considered.
Also on the agenda is discussion of a proposed subdivision at
Holly Point. The realtor is expected to present the site plan for the
development. Final approval for the subdivision will have to come
from the board of commissioners.
Caswell Beach
Commissioner Bill Boyd reminded all town residents this week
that gill nets must be attended at all times between Memorial Day
and Labor Day, from sunset Friday to sunrise Monday. Persons
who leave their gill nets unattended may be subject to an S85 fine.
Boyd stressed that gill net rules require users to remain physically
present during supervision, and that people who watch their nets
from a kitchen window are still considered to be in violation of the
law.
Department of Transportation personnel are in town this week
clearing vegetation along the state right-of-way of Caswell Beach
Road. Town clerk Linda Bethune said the town asked the state to
clear the roadside because trees, bushes and other vegetation were
impeding visibility.
The owner of the condemned property at 124 Caswell Beach
Road has demolished the unsafe dwelling, but has not yet cleared
the debris from the demolition. The town has given Elizabeth Bell
of Greensboro until the end of June to clear the lot before proceed
ing with a lawsuit.
Long Beach
Beginning July 5, twice-weekly trash pickups will resume
throughout Long Beach. A complete schedule of trash collection
pickups is available from Town Hall.
Town manager Tim Johnson announced this week that the town's
second newsletter is in the making and he expects it to be published
in mid-July.
Bids for constructing sidewalks along 40th Street and Middleton
Street were higher than expected, Johnson told the town council at
its last meeting. Council members subsequently gave Johnson
permission to negotiate for a lower price without going through the
bid process again. The average cost of sidewalk is about $6 per
foot, Johnson said, and the bids were for approximately $9 per foot.
Council members also agreed to allow the Long Beach Police
Department to swap a radio console it could no longer use for two
mobile radios and a portable radio from Bladen County worth an
estimated $2,000. The police department has been unable to use the
console since the county's 911 system was activated, said police
chief Danny Laughren. Because Bladen County does not yet have a
911 system, Laughren said a deal was airanged through
Wilmington Communications in which Bladen County's radios
were traded for Long Beach's radio console.
Yaupon Beach
The town received official word last week that it has been
awarded a $3,400 state grant to pay for erosion control projects and
swale construction. The grant stipulates that the town must also put
up $3,400 for similar projects, said town clerk Nancy Wilson.
The town's erosion control committee has been renamed the
"beach preservation committee" to emphasize its primary function.
All Yaupon Beach residents who are concerned about preventing
erosion and preserving the beach are encouraged to join the
committee by contacting Town Hall. Commissioner Mack Aman
has been coordinating committee efforts.
Wilson also reminded residents this week that the first day to
register as a candidate for town commissioner is Friday. July 2.
Three seats will be open on the board, with commissioners Dot
Kelly, Hugh Zachary and Bill Smith up for re-election, if they
choose to run. Commissioners have maintained four-year terms, but
a new mayor is appointed, or the current mayor is reappointed,
every two years.
Southport
The office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management an
nounced last week that it has officially recommended to the state
Grants Management Division that Southport be awarded an
additional three-month extension to complete the Riverwalk
project, and that final approval on the extension should come within
30 days. The city would then have until the end of September to
complete the walkway.
City manager Rot> Gandy indicated that he is now prepared to
begin renegotiating with the contractor, Telesis Ventures of
Wilmington, and hopes to have a new proposal to present to the
board of aldermen at its next meeting on July 15.
Members of the Southport Beautification Committee were busy
this week painting the water tank fence. A local volunteer, who
asked to remain anonymous, recently completed construction of a
fence around the water tank.
Another film company is expected to be in town on July 8,9 and
27 to film the motion picture "The Inkwell". Filming will take place
in Southport* Fun JjfiXiB mm till* it* locations iaCWiMW
Beach. The movie is a coming-of-age story about a boy who visits
wealthy relatives in a seaside community in 1976 during the
Bicentennial celebration.
Southporters hammered in the morning on Saturday, repairing the
city dock at the west end of the yacht basin. Mayor Norman Holden
Photo by lid Harper
(center) helps install one of the planks donated by private citizens.
Other planks were provided by makers of the movie "Birds II".
Change of governance considered
Democracy may come to BHI
By Jim Harper
Staff Writer
Appointment of a "conference com
mittee" to study the direction that
community governance will take is
expected in the July Bald Head Island
village council meeting.
Such a committee was recom
mended by the Bald Head
Association's finance and adminis
tration committee, which has dis
cussed island governance in two re
cent public meetings, and by the asso
ciation board itself.
The committee will be formed by
the new council in July. The weight of
that responsibility was emphasized
Saturday by retiring mayor Dick
Messinger. who expressed relief that
he will not have to address the issue.
Concern over how Bald Head is
governed heightened recently as an
island-resident group, including coun
cilman Bill Leineweber and associa
tion board member Chuck Pardee,
held conversations and conferences
about moving the island toward demo
cratic rule.
(Presently the village council, un
der a unique charter arrangement, is
Presently the village council is ap
pointed by the major developer and by
the association board. The association
consists of property owners, regardless of
where they live. Island residents who own
no property have no vote.
appointed by the major developer and
by the association board. The associa
tion consists of property owners, re
gardless of where they live. Island
residents who own no property have
no vote.)
But the issue is not new.
A report to the association annual
meeting in January. 1990, said, "The
finance and administration commit
tee believes that it would be better to
commence dealing with issue (of the
constitutionality of the village char
ter) as a separate and remedial project,
rather than having the issue forced on
the community at an inopportune time
by an unhappy populace."
And in February, 1991, a special
association committee on governance
wrote. "It is our opinion that a change
is inevitable. The board of directors
and village council face a number of
issues that can be resolved only if
commitments can be made and sus
tained. if challenged. We do not be
lieve that our present system offers
the degree of certainty needed."
In a June 5 finance and administra
tion committee meeting, former may
ors Jim Harrington and Tom Storrs
were among those who commented
on island governance.
Storrs said, "The record shows that
the government has been effective in
building the physical and organiza
tional infrastructure of Bald Head Is
land.” Yet he also noted "transitional
characteristics" in the charter (the
developer has no appointive power
after 1999) and said. "It may well be
that other special aspects of the char
ter will outlive their usefulness at
some time in the future. If so. they
should be phased out."
Harrington said. "The village gov
ernment under the present charter has
worked well."
One of the village government's
designers. Harrington said that at the
outset "there were too few eligible
resident voters, and among them even
fewer with the experience and will
ingness to govern in the unique cir
cumstances of Bald Head Island."
He continued. "It’s my opinion that
this limitation still prevails!"
But later Harrington said. "I be
lieve that it is appropriate and neces
sary for the council to address the
issue of change in governance." and
suggested appointment of a "select
committee of 'elders'" to propose
amendments to the charter for pos
sible legislative consideration in 1995.
See Bald Head, page 6
Who can employees turn to?_
Personnel body is dissolved
By Holly Edwards
County Editor
Calling U "weak,” "unneces
sary" and "unsavory,” the Long
Beach Town Council voted 4
2 last week to eliminate the
personnel advisory board and
leave employee grievances to
courts of law and state and
federal committees.
"I feel the PAB, as a quasi
judicial body, represents noth
ing mom than a point where
'dirty laundry’ is aired," coun
cil member David Dunv who
recommended theboard's dis
solution, said in a letter to the
mayor and town council. "It
has been the focus of public
rvresentment»Gfdistortedpublic
^"fcjstokm and derogatory com
ment."
Allegations against town
manager Tim Johnson arose
7 don t think the town manager can
be the accuser, prosecutor, jury, judge
and executioner all in one. And if em
ployees are falsely or wrongfully ac
cused, how do they spend $5,000 to
$10,000 in a court of law to defend
themselves?’
Jeff Ensminger
Town councilman
during former town maintenance
garage supervisor Frank
Lombardi's public personnel hear**
ing. Lombardi was fired after an
engine block from a 1989
Chevrolet Caprice used by the
txmg Beach police was found in
Wscar.Lombardi’s attorney, lames
Payne of Shallotte. suggested dur
ing the personnel hearing that
Johnson may be guilty of misap
propriating townproperty himself
because he allegedly ordered
town employees to dispose of
some asbestos pipe in another
town employee's yard.
However, Johnson indicated
that the pipe was 14 years old
and of no use to the town. He
also said the only older he gave
was for employees to clean out
the garage.
Durr said hearings such as
these serve no useful function
since after all of the "di tty laun
dry" is aired, the town manager
can either accept the personnel
board’s recommendation, or
reject it
Council members Danny
Leonard and Jeff Ensrainger
voted against eliminating the
personnel board, and said they
believed town employees need
somewhere to turn besides their
immediate supervisor or the
See Personnel, page 6