Dare Board changes name of waterways advisory panel By IRENE NOLAN
By IRENE NOLAN
By IRENE NOLAN
At its meeting on Monday evening, Aug. 15, the Dare County Board of Commissioners changed the name of its citizens’ advisory panel that has been focusing on Hatteras Inlet shoaling issues.
A motion was made by Commission Vice-Chairman Wally Overman and seconded by Commissioner Allen Burrus of Hatteras village to change the name of the Oregon Inlet and Waterways Commission to the Dare County Waterways Commission. The motion was passed unanimously.
“We have been discussing a potential name change for the Waterways Commission for some time,” Overman said in an email after the meeting, “and with all that is going on right now with respect to the Connecting Channel and the short route, I felt that it was a good time to make the change to reflect a concentration on Hatteras issues. Although the Waterways Commission will have responsibility to provide advisory information on all Dare County waterways, there will be at the moment a large effort put forth to relieve the issues facing Hatteras.”
“It’s a good idea,” Commissioner Margarette Umphlett said last night. “It more reflects what we do.”
Dare County has two panels of citizens and users to advise the Board of Commissioners about issues with the county’s inlets. One is named The Oregon Inlet Task Force and the other — until last night — was named the Oregon Inlet and Waterways Commission. Both meet monthly.
The Oregon Inlet Task Force seems to have done a great job of solving the issue of long-term dredging of that inlet. But Hatteras boat captains and others with a stake in the well being of Hatteras Inlet have felt that the county’s southernmost inlet wasn’t getting enough attention.
The Oregon Inlet Task Force members made it clear that they didn’t want to confuse the issue by adding Hatteras Inlet to their business. So it was more or less decided that the Oregon Inlet and Waterways Commission would address Hatteras Inlet issues as well. And the members of that group voted to alternate its meetings, which used to all be in Manteo, between Manteo and Buxton.
However, both groups continued to have “Oregon Inlet” until last night’s change — indicating at least a perceived concentration on the northern inlet.
The commissioners have also tried the address the problems with attendance at the monthly meetings of the Waterways Commission, which did not have a quorum for either the June or July meeting.
Last night, the board filled two vacancies on the Waterways Commission. The two new members appointed unanimously were Dan Oden, whose family owns Oden’s Dock marina in Hatteras village, and Ronald Stowe, a retired dentist who now lives in Hatteras village and is a member of the Hatteras Marlin Club, a private, boating and fishing oriented club whose members are regular users of Hatteras Inlet.
The new members replace Holly White, who was appointed in June but never served since she no longer lives in Dare County and Arvin Midgett, a long-time member who resigned for health reasons.
The eight members of the new Dare County Waterways Commission now include Chairman Dave May, Vice-chairman Ernie Foster, Fletcher Willey, Danny Couch, Steve “Creature Coulter, Allen Burrus, Dan Oden, and Ronald Lowe. All but May and Willey are Hatteras islanders.
The first meeting of the newly named commission will be tonight — Tuesday, Aug. 16 — at 7 p.m. at the Fessenden Center.
