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Wrightsville Beach
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Wrightsville mayor is Person of the Year

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Wrightsville Beach Mayor Bill Blair was chosen as the Lumina News’ 2014 Person of the Year for his proactive efforts during his inaugural year in office.

Beginning immediately and throughout 2014, Blair and the board of aldermen worked pre-emptively to dig into several major issues the town will face in the coming years. The projects include maintaining a viable water supply, lowering flood insurance rates and securing funds for future beach renourishment.

Blair said although he didn’t anticipate taking on so many issues his first year in office, he realized it was necessary to begin planning now for the town’s future.

“We’ve had a plan year to year, but I don’t think we’ve had a five- or a 10-year plan,” he said. “Whether I’m here or the next board is here, in order for the town to thrive, these issues have to be dealt with because they’re coming.”

Fixing the town’s aging water and sewer system was one of his initial goals.

“The quality of water is not that great,” he said. “So instead of complaining about it, we say, ‘What are we going to do about it?’”

He said he soon realized finding a long-term solution would require upgrading the wells and also determining a better-quality water source. The board created an ad hoc committee of residents, which is working with an engineering consulting firm to determine the best source for the town’s future water needs.

The mayor and the board are also beginning to prepare for another water and sewer issue the town won’t face until 2018 or 2019, when Wrightsville Beach will be required to pay its share of repairs made to Wilmington’s sewer lines following the 2005 sewage spill.

“Early estimates are $15 million to $18 million,” he said. “We have to have a plan. If you’re caught off guard it will be significant, because to raise that amount of money in a short time you have to either raise taxes or cut the annual budget.”

Blair said another ongoing project is the possible appeal of the FEMA’s preliminary floodplain maps. A successful appeal could potentially save Harbor Island residents thousands of dollars in flood insurance, he said, but it was important to determine the likelihood of winning an appeal before committing to the costly appeal process.

Blair also oversaw a cycle of beach renourishment in 2014, and although a late start and unexpected setbacks caused the project to be completed outside the approved environmental window of mid-November through May 1, he said he was pleased with the job completed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

However, after taking office he became aware of a troubling statistic for the future of Wrightsville’s beach renourishment projects. He said the town has a contract allocating money for renourishment projects through 2045. The language in the contract caps the budget based on 1986 costs, the year in which the contract was created, so just two more cycles will deplete the fund.

Blair said he and other town leaders met with congressman-elect David Rouzer, R-District 7, to discuss removing the cap or other solutions. In the meantime, he said the town would continue to set aside money in its coastal storm damage fund, which doubled in 2014 due to the increase in parking rates.

Additionally, Blair fought to have previously untapped room occupancy tax (ROT) funds collected from the county’s unincorporated areas (District U) divided equally between Masons Inlet and Carolina Beach Inlet, rather than the original allocation of 75 percent to Carolina Beach and 25 percent to Masons Inlet.

Almost at the onset of his inaugural term, a deal was struck with New Hanover County to take over the recycling center at the municipal complex. This was a bone of contention with the county for a decade or more, and, upon assuming office, an agreement was reached on the recycling center, which had been funded with beach taxes even though usage was predominantly from across the drawbridge.

Blair said his style of leadership is honest, open communication between board members, town staff and the public.

“It allows you to take in everybody else’s thoughts and process it into a decision,” he said. “I know I’m not right all the time.”

He could not have taken on so many large projects throughout the year had it not been for the support of his board members, he added, and their willingness to put in the time to discuss and resolve the town’s issues.

“If I had a dysfunctional board, I wouldn’t be able to take this on,” he said. “I give them credit because they’re always working. People put us here to get something done, so we need to do it for the greater good of the beach.”

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