By: Erin Smith
Things got heated in the town of Bladenboro on Monday night. The Bladenboro Town Board heard twice from Dawson Singletary regarding the Bryant Swamp Drainage District clean up during Monday night’s meeting. He first addressed the board during the Open Forum session regarding the Bryant Swamp Drainage project.
“I’m here to try to work towards keeping Bladenboro from flooding,” said Singletary. He showed the board a photo of the Bryant Swamp area which he said dated from 1950 and compared it to another photo he said was taken in 1980.
Singletary said the Bryant Swamp drainage ditch has only about a 6-foot fall (or slope of the ditch) from the dry cleaners to the point where the ditch ends. Singletary said the original permit called for a canal to be dug that measured 32 feet wide and extended all the way to the Davis connector. He told the board the original work to create the drainage system was not done correctly.
“There are hundreds and hundreds of loads of dirt that have washed out of these laterals which were dug in ‘sugar sand’ and it has now built a berm between Berry Lewis Road and Big Swamp,” said Singletary. He suggested the best way to get relief from flooding in downtown Bladenboro is to obtain permission from the Corps of Engineers to remove the silt that has built up and widen the canal.
He pointed out that in Hurricane Matthew, the town received 13 inches of water and the town was flooded just as it was when Hurricane Floyd struck dumping 22 inches of rain. Singletary agreed there is a problem with the flow of the water.
Later in the meeting Singletary stood to address the board a second time for what he called “inaction of the board.” He requested that the board go into executive session. Mayor Rufus Duckworth asked him under what part of the General Statute governing closed session items did the item meet.
“I want to discuss some fraudulent actions of the former board,” said Singletary.
Mayor Duckworth said, “Mr. Singletary first off I want to let you know that I respect you as much as I do anyone that addresses this board. I have set in this room, both up here and out in the audience, and have heard you come before this board and in previous board meetings more times than I can count, and talk about the canal slip and dip, your feelings towards different groups of people, as well as certain individuals, and what you say is or is not going to happen. Your request tonight states that you wish to speak to this board about inaction of this board. I ask you to tell us what inaction you are talking about and not get up here and talk about how you feel about certain individuals that you have spoken about in the past, slip and dip, or what you say happened in the past. Your request is about inaction, so I ask you to speak on what you consider to be this board’s inaction. In plain, simple terms tell us what you feel you have asked us to do that we have not done.”
Singletary replied, “I brought before you the situation with the payment of the irrigation on the land around the wastewater treatment plant and how that was handled. This board as far as I know has taken no action to address that situation. I brought to you that the Bryant Swamp Flood Control project, what I call slip and dip, was obtained by what I feel like was fraudulent means and it was colluded between the town and Bryant Swamp Drainage Corporation. I showed you the statutes where it was done; where the state was mislead about how the money was to be used — not on a flood control corporation area. You have not done that. At this point Mr. Duckworth, I think you need to resign.”
Mayor Duckworth said, “You are entitled to your feelings.”
In other business:
*The board voted to rescind the motion to hire Bobby Callihan.
*The board scheduled a public hearing to discuss an ordinance change allowing someone who is newly hired by the town, who does not have a GED or high school diploma, a specific period of time after being hired to obtain one after being hired. Currently, the town ordinance requires a newly hired employee to have a high school diploma or GED. The public hearing will be conducted at the October meeting.
*The board declared three generators and a tractor as surplus property to be sold.
*The board voted to purchase a tractor from R. L. Priest for $19,000.
*The board voted in favor of placing “In God We Trust” stickers on the town’s law enforcement vehicles.
*The board voted to repaint the parking stripes on W. Seaboard Street.
*The board voted in favor of making a donation of $1,000 to the Bladenboro Historical Society
*The board conducted a closed session to discuss personnel matters but took no action on the issue.
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