February 11,1998
THE STATE PORT
_Phone 910-457-4568/Fax 910-457-9427/e-mail pilot@southport.net
Volume 67, Number 24
50 cents
Winter storm
Winds, tides take a bite of Oak Islarj
Pre-budget talks i
Regional projects are on Long Beac
Brunswick ABCs
County, municipal stores show gooi
Published every W'
Q. O
mthport, NC
Union and Confederate Civil War reenactors joined a large turnout
of residents and visitors at John Smith Cemetery on Saturday to com
memorate the service in the Union cause of Abram Galloway and
Photo by Jim Harper
Abrain Blount. Galloway and Blount, who served with the 37th
Infantry Regiment ofJLFnited States Colored TVoops, lived in the com
munity and are buried here.
Public forum helps
choose future goals
By Richard Nubei
Municipal Editor
Just how big should Southport be?
Aldermen are going to-ask city residents to help
them answer that question - a question of far
reaching importance, all agree.
At a workshop devoted to discussion of the
city’s overtaxed wastewater management system
Thursday, public services director Ed Honeycutt
told aldermen if the city requires developers to
deliver wastewater directly to force main lines -
bypassing gravity lines which feed the city’s five
overburdened pump stations - Southport’s waste
water management system can continue to oper
ate until a decision is reached on how big an
improved sewer system should be.
Naturally, the.size of the wastewater manage
ment system the city builds will reflect how big
the city is projected to be at build-out. For that
reason, aldermen want to know how big city resi
dents want Southport to be.
Should the city stop at present city limits?
Should it grow to the two Carolina Power and
Light Co. canals? Should it expand farther out N
C. 87andN.C. 211? ‘
“We can essentially stay as we are,” alderman
Bill Delaney said. “Or, we can get on that train
and invite everybody in. We have to ask the citi
zens: Do we want to ride that train?”
With that question in mind, aldermen have
scheduled a public hearing for 7:30 p.m. February
19. The subject of that hearing: How big should
Southport be?
Officially, notices of the public hearing say it is
to solicit comments, concerns and suggestions
regarding future growth issues in the City of
Southport's extraterritorial zoning jurisdiction -
that area lying between the present city limits and
See Future, page 7
How shall Southport
Aldermen want to hear how residents of Southport want their city to grow and where they
think city services should and should not be provided. 3
A public hearing on those issues will be held at 7:30 p.m. February 19 at City Hall
City government wants to hear from you. 3
Southport
More facts
would help
in analysis
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
City staff will tell aldermen Thursday
night it has been unable to analyze
Brunswick County’s consolidated solid
waste proposal beyond year one of a pro
posed six-year deal with Waste Industries
Inc.
And, Southport city manager Rob Gandy
has expressed several reservations about
the county’s proposal to the city governing
board.
Aldermen will entertain a proposed
interlocal agreement with Brunswick
County by which the city would allow the
county to foot the cost of once-weekly
solid wa’Ste collection in Southport.^
In a memorandum to aldermen this
week, Gandy suggested the county propos
al was incomplete.
“We have analyzed the ‘numbers’ associ
ated with this proposal, but can only do so
See Southport, page 11
Decision Monday?
County plan
for collection
is questioned
■ Towns seeking
some explanation
for contract costs
By Richard Nubel
Municipal Editor
Reaction to Brunswick County’s
proposal to provide once-weekly
curbside refuse collection for virtu
ally every home under a countywide
contract with Waste Industries Inc.
has ranged from enthusiastic to very
guarded in the Southport-Oak Island
area.
Under terms of the ^5-million pro-,
posal, Brunswick County has asked
all 18 of its municipalities to join it
in a contract by which the county
will pay Waste Industries the equiv
alent of $10.98 per household per
month from its general fund, the
fund supported in part by property
taxes. In successive years of the pro
posed six-year contract, Brunswick
County’s general fund cost will be
capped at $5 million, but each prop
erty owner in the county will be
billed at tax time for 2.5-percent
per-year contract cost increases.
Those once-yearly assessments on
tax bills will range from $10.20 per
household in year two of the con
tract to $43.08 in contract year six.
Last week, mayor Tom Tully of
Boiling Spring Lakes hailed the
county proposal for once-weekly
service as one that would save that
city an estimated $76,000 per year.
Boiling Spring Lakes now spends
the equivalent of $5.09 per house
hold on solid waste costs and will
cut that to a fraction, paying only for
semi-annual large-item collections.
Boiling Spring Lakes' board of
commissioners became the first
municipal governing board in the
county to ratify the plan county offi
cials have said all must execute bv
See County plan, page 10
Not so. says attorney
Company says
county ignored
low trash bid
■ Management
firm could have
left out services
By Terry Pope
County Editor
County commissioners are expect
ed Monday to sign a seven-year
garbage deal with Waste Industries
Inc. to provide countywide curbside
collection service, but objections
have been raised by another contrac
tor.
Waste Management of Wilming
ton’s claim to have submitted lower
bids came at the 11th hour, four days
after a retreat ended with 18 munic
ipalities as county officials dis
cussed Waste Industries’ proposal.
County attorney Huey Marshall said
both companies were asked to sub
mit proposals in October to take
over the entire trash collection oper
ation in the county, but only one
complied with all specifications.
Waste Management sent informa
tion to the towns and municipalities
, last week to complain that its pro
posal “was not seriously considered
or presented” during the three-day
retreat between commissioners and
town officials. Waste Management’s
cost comparison claims to save the
county $681,200 the first year based
on providing curbside service to
40,000 residences at $9.56 each,
rather than the $10.98 figure com
missioners have negotiated with
Waste Industries.
Waste Industries holds a three
year contract with the county to haul
garbage to a Sampson County
regional landfill and is currently
operating under a six-month interim
contract to haul and collect from
county green-box locations.
Information distributed by Waste
Management last week did not stir
town or municipal officials to ques
tion the county’s decision to seek a
$5-million ' deal with Waste
Industries. Even among county
leaders, there has been no debate
over the counter-proposal.
“Commissioners went about this
See Trash bid, page 10
Schools to better serve ‘gifted’ student
By Terry Pope
County Editor
School leaders hope an academically gifted
program approved Monday by the Brunswick
County Board of Education will identify top
students earlier and offer them a higher level
of instruction.
The plan drafted over the past 18 months
by a committee of 24 teachers, parents and
administrators will be sent to the state in
. March for approval. Under House Bill 53, the
■ N. C. General Assembly stipulated that
school districts submit plans to better teach ’
academically gifted students, with the plans
in effect and updated every three years.
The increased emphasis in Brunswick
County is identifying gifted students by the
time they reach third grade, using end-of
grade test scores as the primary indicator
rather than standardized tests as used in the
past.
“We hope to identify students earlier who
are academically gifted,” said Mary
McDuffie, assistant superintendent of cur
riculum and instruction. “We think that
assessment will tell us about our other
needs.”
Most of the stipulations in the new plan are
changes that are already being made on a
daily basis in the county, she said. However,
in the past, Brunswick County did not do a
comprehensive assessment of third graders,
but neither did most other school systems in '
See Students, page 6
ranmai
Opinion
Police report
Business
Obituaries
Notices
Calendar
Church
TV schedule
District Court
Classifieds
n n n a o ^ u w o\
■ NEWS on the NET: www.southport.net —