Posted on December 14, 2017
By Zach Driver and Alex Guarino, WECT
On Tuesday night, the Town of Carolina Beach terminated a contract for its lake dredging project.
Before the new council members took their oaths, the previous council voted unanimously to terminate the existing contract in the best interest of all parties involved. The new council will now be responsible for finding a solution.
“We’ve got to get it done,” new Mayor Joe Benson said. “In fact, a week and a half ago, JoeDan (Garza, new town council member) and I hosted a public meeting at Good Hops Brewery. It’s a good place to get outside. We had about 100 people there.
“Seven of the eight folks who got up and approached the microphone to address their concerns said, ‘We’re willing to be patient. We want the job done because a lot rests on not just the property around the lake, but the infrastructure we’re working on now.”
Town Manager Michael Cramer recommended council stop the contract with Civil Works Construction until permits could be secured for future dredging.
“The project is of very critical importance to the community as a whole,” Cramer said. “The fact that the project has sort of gone awry about halfway through it is a concern for us, and yes, I have heard from many residents that are interested to hurry it up and get it over with.”
The project stopped in August, and Cramer said close to a $1 million has been spent up to this point.
“It gets very frustrating trying to finish a project on time and within budget and make it so it is a good solid project for the community,” said Cramer. “All in all, that is really what we are after in making sure that we have a good solid project that meets the goals that we have and helps the community overall.”
Source: WECT
