Council to consider city docks suggestions

Published 5:34 pm Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Establishing a separate budget for the city-owned docks is one recommendation developed by a panel composed of city officials and the chairman of the Washington Harbor District Alliance.

That recommendation — and the others — came after the City Council directed City Manager Brian Alligood to review the previously adopted waterfront docks business plan with city staff and provide a recommendation to the council concerning a management plan. Alligood discussed the matter with John Rodman, city planner; Kristi Roberson, the city’s parks and recreation manager; Joe Taylor, chairman of the city’s Recreation Advisory Committee; and Chris Furlough, chairman of the Washington Harbor District Alliance.

Those recommendations are scheduled to be discussed by the council during its meeting Monday.

In addition to recommendation of setting up a separate budget for the waterfront docks, the panel made these recommendations:

• Creation of a part-time dockmaster position to manage staff; market the docks and

oversee facility maintenance. The dockmaster would report directly to Rodman.

• Reduction of part-time dock attendants to three positions with one working year-round, one

working seasonalIy and one working peak months.

•. Creation of a five-member Waterfront Docks Committee to advise and make recommendations to the dockmaster and Rodman. Committee members would include three at-large members selected by the council based on their boating experience and two members of the Washington Harbor District Alliance’s maritime committee.

• Delineation of areas of responsibility for the Dockmaster to include the docks and waterfront area, with the Festival Park area remaining under the supervision of the parks and recreation manager.

“It is my belief that this proposed management structure will reduce costs, focus attention on the unique recreation/business aspects of the docks by taking advantage of Mr. Rodman’s experience as a boater, allow continued oversight of Council by committee appointments, and help the waterfront dock area flourish as one of the ‘door steps’ to the City while continuing to preserve its rich maritime history,” wrote Alligood in a memorandum to the mayor and council.

The council meets at 5:30 p.m. Monday in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building, 102 E. Second St. To view the council’s agenda for a specific meeting, visit the city’s web­site at www.washingtonnc.gov, click “Government” then “City Council” heading, then click “Meeting Agendas” on the menu to the right. Then click on the date for the appropriate agenda.

About Mike Voss

Mike Voss is the contributing editor at the Washington Daily News. He has a daughter and four grandchildren. Except for nearly six years he worked at the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., in the early to mid-1990s, he has been at the Daily News since April 1986.
Journalism awards:
• Pulitzer Prize for Meritorious Public Service, 1990.
• Society of Professional Journalists: Sigma Delta Chi Award, Bronze Medallion.
• Associated Press Managing Editors’ Public Service Award.
• Investigative Reporters & Editors’ Award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Public Service Award, 1989.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Investigative Reporting, 1990.
All those were for the articles he and Betty Gray wrote about the city’s contaminated water system in 1989-1990.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Investigative Reporting, 1991.
• North Carolina Press Association, Third Place, General News Reporting, 2005.
• North Carolina Press Association, Second Place, Lighter Columns, 2006.
Recently learned he will receive another award.
• North Carolina Press Association, First Place, Lighter Columns, 2010.
4. Lectured at or served on seminar panels at journalism schools at UNC-Chapel Hill, University of Maryland, Columbia University, Mary Washington University and Francis Marion University.

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