By Staff
Expects others to join in fight against runoff regulations
By MIKE VOSS
Contributing Editor
Beaufort County commissioners on Thursday approved awarding a contract not to exceed $60,000 to McClees Consulting to serve as a lobbyist in the county’s fight against proposed new stormwater runoff regulations.
That fight is being taken to the General Assembly, which begins its short session May 13. Beaufort County Manager Paul Spruill said the commissioners’ decision to hire a lobbyist “an unprecedented step” in an effort to oppose rule changes that coastal counties question the need for in the first place. McClees Consulting is based in Oriental.
Spruill also said the commissioners’ decision to hire a lobbyist is “a big step for local governing body.”
Spruill said other coastal counties that will be affected by the rule changes are in that fight. Washington, Hyde, Bertie, Chowan and Perquimans counties — described by Spruill as rural, undeveloped northeastern counties — have indicated they are prepared to join Beaufort County in its fight, possibly providing money to help cover the cost of hiring McClees Consulting, Spruill said during the commissioners’ called meeting Thursday.
Beaufort County is prepared to spend $30,000 for the lobbyist’s services. The county is counting on the remaining $30,000 being shared proportionately by other coastal counties, said Spruill, who indicated he’s confident several other counties will help pay for the lobbyist.
Earlier this week, Washington County commissioners made formal their opposition to the new rules, but they stopped short of allocating money to hire the lobbyist. That decision has not discouraged Spruill.
He told the Beaufort County commissioners he believes it’s “all but a certainty they (Washington County) will participate.” Hyde and Bertie counties are “very supportive” of using a lobbyist to voice the coastal counties’ concerns with the new rules at the General Assembly.
As for Washington, Bertie and Hyde counties, Spruill said he believes they are “in the 80 percent ‘yes’ column” when it comes to supporting Beaufort County’s decision to hire the lobbyist. Spruill is hopeful the other counties, when they meet in coming weeks, will commit to helping pay for the lobbyist. Their portion of the lobbyist’s fee would be based on their populations.
Spruill also said other coastal counties that may not help pay for Beaufort County’s lobbyist are fighting the rules changes, too. Carteret County has obtained the services of a “hired-gun law firm” to help it fight the rule changes, he said.
The coastal counties are waiting to hear if the N.C. Association of County Commissioners will help them oppose the new stormwater rules.
One of Spruill’s statements about possible support from two state legislators drew a rebuff from commissioners Stan Deatherage and Richardson.
Richardson and Deatherage, who are Republicans, said Basnight and Williams, who are Democrats, have done little, if anything, to help the coastal counties facing implementation of the new rules.
Spruill said he expects that “sympathetic ear will be proven out” as the matter makes its way through the General Assembly.
Under terms of the contract, McClees Consulting will be paid $10,000 a month, beginning on April 1.
Changes to the stormwater rules are the result of a 2005 study by the N.C. Division of Water Quality. That study determined the stormwater regulations in place then were not protecting water quality in the state’s coastal areas. The new rules tighten triggers that require stormwater permits and mitigation measures for new and old development, which Peoples has said could “stymie development” in rural coastal counties.
Officials from the coastal counties want the General Assembly to re-examine the science used to develop that study and make sure that environmental benefits of the new rules would offset the potential cost to poor counties’ slowed economic development.