Rauf Bolden: Flood drainage in Orange Beach
Flooding in Bear Point, Orange Beach is a yearly occurrence. Tropical Storm Gordon, September 5, 2018, dumped five inches of rain, flooding my neighbor’s yard. Luckily his mobile home was undamaged. Across the street they worked for hours, keeping water out of their mother-in-law suite on the ground floor. Bear Point is a diverse neighborhood on the eastern end of the island, being home to people who get up and go to work in the mornings. The residents are held hostage in a cringe-inducing cycle of low-capacity drainage systems, and the “one foot above the street” rule for new construction. FEMA’s coastal flooding maps, and FEMA’s river flooding maps paint the flood zones with digital precision, letting residents know they are living in the flood plain, being something residents accept but they wonder why the city cannot build a computerized drainage system, controlling the pumps, mitigating storm damage. “Public Works [City of Orange Beach] is responsible for the maintenance of [and improvements to] the drainage infrastructure within the rights-of-way of Bear Point,” said Kit Alexander, Director of Engineering in an email to Renee Eberly, City Clerk at the City of Orange Beach. “The city by ordinance requires the finished floor [when building new homes] to be elevated one foot above the street. These are basic flood prevention measures. The one foot above the street requirement comes from the building code section R403.1.7.3,” said Howard Stuart, Plans Examiner, at the City of Orange Beach. “Kit Alexander [Director of Engineering] is in charge of all drainage and is the only person allowed to grant waivers on a case by case basis to allow floor levels to be lower than one foot above the street.” “With the new flood maps from July 2017 there are areas [in Orange Beach] that require the floor [of newly-permitted homes] to be as much as 10 feet higher than existing grade [street],” added Stuart. This property-elevation rule sets up a situation for flooding neighboring properties. Bear Point’s flooding is partially caused by poor-drainage systems. Recent building ordinances enacted on new construction are also a contributing factor, allowing builders to flood neighboring properties, because of the “one foot above the street” rule. “They built a new house next door to me, and according to the new code you have to build a foot above the road level. My house is a lot lower than that property is now, causing flooding in my apartment unit downstairs. The last time we had a fairly decent rain [Hurricane Gordon, September 9, 2018] it caused flooding. I really wish the city would address some of our drainage issues down here in Bear Point. See if we could get some engineers in to figure out the best way to do this, and stop people from having water inside their homes,” said Jerry Shields, resident of Bear Point. Linda Morrill, a twenty-year resident of Bear Point said, “Twenty years ago we did not flood. They have built the road up too high, so the water just runs off. Any rain and my yard is at least ankle deep in water. They put a pump in, and it doesn’t work. I am very unhappy and the city is not doing anything to help us, and I don’t understand.” “All this system [drainage] does is pull water from other low areas in the neighborhood to this one spot [boat launch Bear Point]. There is no force to push this water out [into the bay], which could be simply resolved by putting in a spillway down there [north of boat launch dock], and making that spillway high enough that when the water comes up, it spills over into the bay, and not back up into here [residential area],” said John D. Davis, a fifteen year resident of Bear Point. Do homeowners of newly built homes have legal responsibility, ensuring their storm-water runoff does not flood neighboring properties, or does the City of Orange Beach have liability, adopting the “one foot above the street” ordinance for new construction? Let’s look at the process. The homebuilder submits plans to the city for a new home, including a drainage plan. A city engineer approves these. City professionals inspect the finished home before issuing the final document, a Certificate of Occupancy. The homeowner thinks they are in the clear, having met all the city’s criteria for flood and drainage. After a rain the new homeowner gets a knock on the door. The neighbor is wondering what to do about his mother-in-law suite. It is flooded. The Mayor and City Council adopted basic flood prevention measures. Department heads require homebuilders to comply, seeking to maintain a premium insurance rating for residents of the city. Council voted with good intentions, perhaps not fully understanding the consequences of new homes flooding their neighbors. Finger pointing prevails, the homeowner pointing to the city, the city pointing to the building codes, and the building codes pointing to the insurance industry. Simply buying additional coverage for flood and liability is your only win-win, building a new home in Orange Beach. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
Rauf Bolden: Should you stay in Orange Beach during a hurricane?
Living on intimate terms with hurricane disaster is something Orange Beach residents accept, being mentally prepared, understanding how hurricanes work, securing their property against flooding, actively debating the decision to evacuate or not. The community conversation is often peppered with residents’ stories of past evacuations, like not being able to get back after Hurricane Ivan (September, 2004), shading residents’ decisions in favor of staying. “The majority of natural disasters over the last ten years involved flooding. Flood related events including hurricanes, severe storms, heavy downpours, and others, accounted for more than seven out of ten presidential disaster declarations.” according to a report from the Federal Emergency Management database of Disaster Declarations. “Summarizing [the number of] Presidential Disaster Declarations (PDD) from 2008-2017: 73 percent were Flood Related, and 27 percent were Non-Flood Related,” according to a report on Vox. For those planning to stay in Orange Beach during a hurricane, reviewing your family’s plan is essential, taking input from each family member, including the children, allowing them to buy-in as a main component, helping provision food, water (filling the bathtubs), paper products, pet treats, medicines, bandages, disinfectant, propane, and fuel. “I moved here from the frozen tundra of the midwest seven years ago at age 50. I live on the beach. I’m a property manager there. I’ve got a lot personally and professionally invested in Orange Beach, but if an evacuation is called for during the next hurricane, I will most certainly leave,” said Sarah DeLazzer, a condo resident. Remaining during a hurricane is the biggest game-day decision of your life, knowing your vessel or home is fortified and up to the task, inspecting its structural integrity for weathering the storm will give you confidence, not arrogance. You must feel self-assured, knowing you will not need to call 911, because they are not coming! Carol Belmonte, a 30-year veteran of hurricane evacuations in Orange Beach will stay, having purchased her home in Bear Point 25-years ago. She said, [when you leave] it takes two weeks to get back on the island. They let all the FEMA people and contractors on before us [home owners]. As illustrated throughout Hurricane Florence (September 9, 2018) preparation for flooding is key. The Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency (EMA) has the most comprehensive resource database for Orange Beach residents, supplying information for family, home, business, special needs, the elderly, and pets (see video). “The best thing I’ve seen all day [Hurricane Florence] was three households of these older neighbors pitching in to clear a tree from another neighbor’s front yard [near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina] while the storm was still very active,” according to a report by Jerry Tominack on Fox News. “We’ve not had much wind [Hurricane Florence] but all ditches are full and the rain isn’t really stopping. It just keeps sprinkling between short heavy rains. We’re getting prepared to help folks from flooded areas,” said Ann Slaughter in a telephone call from her home in the small hamlet of Haw River north of Graham, North Carolina. The public-awareness campaign ahead of Hurricane Florence [September 2018] was stunning, giving people adequate time to evacuate. The government changed lanes on the evacuation route, accommodating outgoing traffic. This advance-warning system is available in Orange Beach, arming residents with reliable information on wind strength and storm surge. If you choose to stay, understanding how tropical storms develop, feeding off the warm waters in the Gulf will give you a mental advantage, during the height of the event. As old sailors say, easterly winds and a falling barometer are the first signs, the weather will get worse. Southerly winds indicate the eye-of-the-storm is to the west of you, and you are in the worst quadrant. Northerly winds show the eye-of-the-storm is to the east of you, and you are in the best quadrant. Westerly winds and a rising barometer are good signs, the worst is over, remembering torrential rains and flooding hold the biggest danger to life and loss-of-property. “Most private insurance policies don’t protect against damage from floods caused by rain, overflowing rivers or storm surge. For that damage, the National Flood Insurance Program, which is run by FEMA, provides most of the coverage,” according to a report by CNN. Perhaps you should buy flood insurance if you live in a hurricane-prone state. Look at all the victims of Florence, Harvey and Lane without coverage. Three 1000-year storms in the past four years is an indicator of more storm-based flooding in the future as the planet’s oceans warm. “’Florence’s heavy rains will cause ponding and flooding in places that neither the FEMA coastal flooding maps or [sic] the FEMA river flooding maps are going to do a good job of predicting,’ said Joe Fargione, science director at the Nature Conservancy,” according to a report on Vox. Luckily we have better pre-storm information than we did during Hurricane Ivan (September 2004), providing accurate five-day assessments for wind and flood preparation, raising the question of why state taxpayers should spend tens-of-millions on a second-evacuation bridge in Orange Beach, knowing there is enough advanced notice to organize your affairs and leave the island. Orange Beach, Alabama Mayor Tony Kennon is obsessed, seemingly clawing at the institutions of government, lobbying any state legislator who will listen for an unneeded bridge west of the Foley Beach Express. Midterm election victories may inspire newly-elected officials, giving them the courage to pause funding for a second bridge in Orange Beach ($87 million in state funds), re-allocating these monies to a multitude of infrastructure repairs across the state. Mayor Kennon said on Facebook (June 2018), “[You should] come to a council meeting so that u can get the facts, the real truth and stop being educated into further ignorance [by this Facebook Group of 2800+ members]”: End The #BridgeToNowhere. In all fairness we should hear him out, perhaps a venue where Mayor Kennon does not hold the gavel, possibly an Alabama House of Representatives Special-Select Subcommittee with power to subpoena email, calendar and text
Rauf Bolden: Competing for employees in Orange Beach
The balance between available jobs and job openings keeps the economy rolling. Having more jobs than people to fill them is a problem, creating issues with employee retention, but there is a fix. Businesses are moving to Orange Beach, providing jobs, but finding employees to work is a struggle. Orange Beach’s Comprehensive Plan of 2006 had the resident population at 5330, compared to 5850 in 2015, according to the US Census Bureau. The data indicates that the thriving tourist economy is driving business growth, but growth of the resident population has stagnated. Businesses must recruit employees from north of the bridge, requiring workers to pay the toll, incurring an additional cost of $875 per year, just to take the job. Demographics in Orange Beach may give us a hint at why we have a shortage of resident workers. The median household income for Orange Beach in 2014 dollars was $57,750, and the per capita income in 2014 dollars was $35,908, according to Quick Facts at the US Census Bureau. Perhaps it is just too expensive for the average-wage earner in Baldwin County to live and work in Orange Beach. Creating competition between employers, seeking employees who will put up with the commute, and paying the toll. Balancing work, wages, commute, benefits and family is the primary focus of all Mayors, according to the National League of Cities web site. Underlining our previous demographics are 2016 home prices, averaging $512,536 in Orange Beach versus $238,891 in Baldwin County, according to Andrew Hart of Gulf Shores Re/Max in an email, making it difficult for employees to afford housing on the island. Across the bridge a couple of large developments are opening, including a 90,000 square foot Event Center in Foley, and the OWA Amusement Park Complex, spanning 500 acres with rides, restaurants, a hotel and amenities. Several hundred employees man these facilities, draining talent from the pool that previously fed Orange Beach. Businesses are locating to Orange Beach. On the other hand you have a shortage of labor, putting supply and demand pressure on wages and benefits, especially in the hospitality sector. Accepting the fact that real estate prices will continue to rise on the island, developing a plan to retain the employees who live off island is important, incentivizing a way for them to stay employed and not migrate north of the bridge to jobs located closer to their homes. The biggest obstacle to planning employee retention is managerial awareness that a retention problem exists. According to SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management), new-employee training costs 16 percent of annual salary for low-paying jobs, 20 percent for mid-range, and 213 percent for Executive or Director positions. Losing talent costs money. Grants can indirectly subsidize employee retention, because the Grant winners will need to buy goods and services from local businesses. The following BP Grants ($63 Million) were Awarded for the Environment in 2016, according to The Alabama Department of Environmental Management website. Fisheries and ecosystem monitoring in marine waters and the Gulf of Mexico: about $4.4 million; Bon Secour-Oyster Bay wetland acquisition: about $12.5 million; Dauphin Island conservation acquisition: about $3.5 million; Lightning Point acquisition and restoration, Phase I: about $6 million; Fowl River watershed restoration, coastal splits and wetlands project, Phase I: about $1 million; Gulf Highlands (Gulf Shores) Conservation Acquisition – approximately $36 million. When the government injects millions into the local economy it creates jobs, the people supplying goods and services to these projects will benefit. What if the business owner has trouble finding enough people to work? He or she will have to raise wages and benefits to attract suitable candidates, lowering margins, putting the business at risk of not being able to fulfill their obligations. The reality of a reduced labor pool is something all managers in Orange Beach must plan for. Employee retention is a key objective in planning for future growth. Let’s look at the cost of losing an employee from another angle, factoring in what it costs to train their replacement. “These include the costs of both the supervisor and employee’s time during on-the-job training; instruction materials, equipment and time for formal training; and the cost of a mentor’s time, if a mentoring system is in place,” said Tess C. Taylor author of The Cost of Training New Employees for the Automatic Data Processing web site. Some espouse I can get anyone to do that job. That thinking dismisses the cost of training, mentoring, and shadowing a fellow employee, as well as today’s low-unemployment rate. During the past decade unemployment rates stressed job opportunities, the time of boom-to-bust from 2000 to 2010 along the Alabama Gulf Coast is an example. Putting unemployment at four percent in 2000, 6 percent in 2002, 5 percent in 2004, 4 percent in 2006, 6 percent in 2008, 10 percent in 2010, understanding we had Hurricane Ivan in 2005, a property bubble in 2006, a recession from 2007-2009, and an oil spill in 2010, according to John Coughlan of the Monthly Labor Review. In April 2017, the unemployment rate in Baldwin County was a low 3.9 percent, according to Economic Research from the Federal Reserve in St. Louis, making suitable hires harder to find, making it easier for prospective hires to be selective, finding work closer to home. Employers competing for good people have gone digital, quietly hustling recruits through email blasts. The complexity sets in, realizing there are more jobs in Orange Beach than there are people to do a good job. Simply replacing employees is costly for the bottom line, calculated as a percentage of yearly salary, according to the Center for American Progress web site. Research gives us data and the data indicates that retaining employees, in the present fiscal climate through salary and benefit adjustments is in the best interest of your business, municipality, or school. That is the fix. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road.
Rauf Bolden: We need a trauma center in Orange Beach
It is hard to miss the distinct sound of disappointment. A stand-alone trauma center is not even in the planning stages, only bridges and roads, according to Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon’s 2017 Town-Hall Presentation, being available on the city’s web site. Prioritizing infrastructure over the urgency for healthcare is financially driven. Roads move people, pushing development forward, putting heads in vacation-rental beds, and generating huge revenues for the city. Whereas health-care facilities support families, tending the critically ill, generating an enormous sense of well being for the local community. This asymmetry in choices nurses the for-profit model, nested in an outdoor community where swimming, fishing and boating accidents happen, simultaneously developing contact-sports programs at the new Middle School/High School, located within a community of medically dependent retired residents is the mosaic we must plan for. Arguing for a 24/7 stand-alone trauma center with a helicopter pad on site over the need for another bridge makes sense to local families, because we should care for the people who live in Orange Beach first. Getting comfortable with the idea of driving 17 miles (29 minutes) to the nearest trauma center in Foley is misguided. We shouldn’t have to do that. Our public debate is marinated in despair, finding no answer for the critically injured, needing immediate state-of-the-art care in Orange Beach. “South Baldwin Regional Medical Center [in Foley] is your community healthcare provider,” according to a report on the hospital’s website. The Medical Center has an average review rating of 2.5 out of 5.0 from 128 reviewers, according to a report by Google. South Baldwin is the only facility in the area providing emergency-care-for-veterans, according to Larry Belmonte a Marine Corps veteran. We deserve better, understanding Orange Beach has Walk-In Clinics, being open during the day, supported by local Fire EMTs (Emergency-Medical Technicians) at night. The ambulance service is Med-Star, coming 17 miles from Foley, returning the patient 17 miles north to the trauma center. “I was about to lose consciousness when the helicopter landed so there are a few blanks. I had 2 stents immediately (last night) and had one more this morning. Thank goodness I didn’t have to have a bypass. I can tell you I am going to start doing some things on my bucket list when I’m cleared. Life is so short & there’s a lot less road ahead of us then there is behind us… life, love & happiness is what should matter for all of us… I’m so grateful to be here,” said Melba Morgan a resident of Green Cove Springs, Fla., having survived because her community provided state-of-the-art healthcare. Retired Hospital Administrator John D. Davis explained what is needed to start the conversation about a trauma center. “Certificate of Need (Alabama State Health Planning and Development Agency), resurrecting the Gulf Coast Health Care Authority, allowing the authority to issue bonds, studying the financial-feasibility, and determining realistic alternatives (Plan B),” estimating five beds are enough for a local trauma center in Orange Beach. Healthcare facilities are expensive, priced on a per-bed basis, “around $1.5 million per bed to build,” according to a report by Quora. “Whether as a patient or visitor, we’ve all been in a hospital and had ideas about what would have made our hospital experience exceptional. Thinking about what I would want to see as a patient coming in for surgery helps determine everything from signage to the design of the hospital rooms,” according to a report by Becker’s Hospital Review. To make this dream a reality we need local support. Orange Beach has a government of Mayor and City Council, being clear who is the junior partner. It is the Mayor who sets the agenda for the media and the government. Mayor Tony Kennon has dug his heels in, being clear about Council’s priority for an ALDOT (Alabama Department of Transportation) Bridge west of the Foley Beach Express, and the Wolf Bay Bridge by Doc’s over anything else. Still 1538+ members of the Facebook Group: “End The #Bridge2Nowhere,” are in opposition to the proposed span west of the Beach Express, thinking the State’s money could be better spent. The Mayor responded to this opposition. “i have been following with much interest the comments on this site [Facebook]. my suggestion is that everyone who is in disagreement with this bridge, in favor of the bridge, in favor of the road thru the park , those who r against the road thru the park and everyone who wishes to blow up the bridges so no one else can make it across the canal now that u have ur piece of the island, load up and come to a council meeting so that u can get the facts, the real truth and stop being educated into further ignorance by following this site. i welcome all of u. in the end we may agree to disagree but at least u have the true facts to base ur decision on. let me know of a date and i will make sure we accommodate the request,” said Mayor Tony Kennon in a Facebook post (End The #Bridge2Nowhere, June 18, 2018). His writing speaks volumes. Changing the Mayor’s mind, allocating funds for a local trauma center is not going to happen, perhaps he has simply lost touch with the needs of constituent families. Besides the political headwinds, other factors mount a convincing argument against a trauma center, including issues with Medicare and Medicaid patients, budgeting for “cuts to Medicare reimbursements, around $112 billion in the ensuing years,” according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office. Several exceptions to the make-it-pay model used to exist in Orange Beach, like the Sportsplex, Recreation Center, Aquatic Center, Tennis Center, Art Center, Golf Center and Senior Center, being maintained for the greater good of the community. Taking this now extinct precedent, and running with it is the only way to open a dialogue with City Hall. “The right to decide” is a simple and seductive slogan, applying it to a
Rauf Bolden: Theory of economics in Orange Beach
The differences between theory and practice are often insurmountable, but Orange Beach may be the exception. Community-oriented development started in late 2006 with the Horizon 20/20 Plan, defining the direction Orange Beach wanted to take. The Great Depression of 2008 changed that, re-inventing the way businesses and cities look at long-term growth. A decade later, our local economy is booming, breaking records for municipal revenue, according to Mayor Tony Kennon in a Facebook video. John Maynard Keynes said, “Employment levels are determined by aggregate (total) demand rather than by the price of labor. Economies should not be expected to automatically right themselves after a temporary shock,” according to Macat An Intro to Keynes’ General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, a YouTube video. After the Great Depression in 2008, finally seeing the ship right itself with record-setting revenue levels in Orange Beach, generating $48.6 Million in revenue in 2016, compared to $36.3 Million in 2010, according to Financial-Audit Documents on the web site, cityoforangebeach.com. This ship was not self righting, municipal intervention played an integral part with stimulus programs, like beach cleaning and the “Leave Only Footprints” initiative of 2014, injecting money into the economy, being so successful that a 2% lodging tax was laid-on-top in 2017, generating $5 Million in revenue, according to Ford Handley, Finance Director for the City of Orange Beach. This tax-based stimulus was enshrined into law, expanding its brief to cover traffic infrastructure, creating additional jobs and more economic growth. The importance of government intervention, helping economies grow cannot be underestimated. Assuming that natural-market forces and free enterprise will keep the economy in Orange Beach thriving is delusional, because governments have resources to intervene during economic shocks, creating jobs, like cleaning the beaches, and providing ambassadors for sunbathing visitors. These municipal efforts have a positive affect, supporting restaurants, fishing trips, and beach services. Stimulus may not have been Council’s Plan, but it is the result of their actions. Another example where actions begat stimulus is the $14.9 Million Middle School approved for construction in Orange Beach by the Baldwin County Board of Education in 2017, according to John Sharp at AL.com. These monies will generate jobs, purchasing everything from alphabet soup to zip ties. Workers will need to eat, perhaps persuading the city to temporarily ease permitting on food trucks, specifically servicing the school’s construction site. Local vendors will also benefit, because the city allows 5% leeway on Bids for City Contracts. “In accordance with State Law (Act 2015-293), the City does have a 5% local preference. Our local preference zone as set by City Council is Baldwin County. Please note that this local preference only applies to purchases subject to the State of Alabama’s Competitive Bid Law, which includes materials, equipment, and services $15,000 or more, with some exceptions, and does not apply to competitively bid Public Works Contracts,” said Renee Eberly, City Clerk & Procurement Officer for the City of Orange Beach in an email. Even without a written plan, big dollars will pour into the city’s coffers from the Middle School’s construction. Afterwards, additional jobs will come online for school administration, teachers, special-needs personnel, bus drivers, cleaners, cafeteria staff, and grounds keepers who will spend money in Orange Beach. So, who needs a plan? The stakeholders in Orange Beach are the entire community from beach condos to residential homes to local businesses. No one escapes an economic downturn like the one we had in 2008, knowing it has taken a decade to recover from the last cycle. We cannot avoid what happens on the national level, but we can lessen the impact on the local level, understanding there is a pillow to soften the landing with stimulus. Decision-tree strategies give government self-policing oversight, checking in the rear-view mirror, ensuring they are between the lines, defined by plans like Horizon 20/20. In the case of Orange Beach, I do not believe we would have achieved this level of success by welding our colors to one particular strategy. It took navigating-by-gut, seeing an opportunity to grow, strengthening beach tourism, and a little luck from hurricane-free years to succeed. Seen with 20/20 hindsight, we had a viable plan, as if the path were intentional, perhaps we should write it up, and share it with other municipalities. The classic-economic model decries stimulus-related thinking, “If the economy is allowed to work, the economy will automatically gravitate towards full employment, according to John Nash, The Keynesian Model and the Classical Model, a YouTube video. This will happen eventually, but taking so long that the economic devastation will impact a generation. Milton Friedman, the doyen of classical economics, argued against government stimulus. This is where the social conflict between the two ideologies of stimulus versus non-intervention becomes important. Friedman espoused free markets should be free from government meddling in his book Capitalism and Freedom according to Macat, An Introduction to Milton Friedman’s Capitalism and Freedom, a YouTube video. Friedman saw government intervention, leading to economic stagnation without innovation, threatening democracy, because of excessive-governmental intrusion. Both the Keynesian and the Friedman Models strive towards an economy operating at its full potential. The Keynesian model forces government intervention, arguing the economy is not always in full employment, realizing wages and prices can get stuck, like in a recession, requiring government stimulus for help, kick-starting the economy for a faster recovery. Keynesian theory is clearly the corner stone of economic thought in Orange Beach. Perhaps not being defined as such, because Keynesian doctrine was liberally applied by the Obama administration, yet here we are, enjoying the fruits of municipal stimulus in the heart of conservative orthodoxy. Proving liberal theories and conservative practices can work in harmony. Perhaps Orange Beach is the small-town exception, defining new rules for municipal economics. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
Rauf Bolden: Ecotourism as economic stimulus in Orange Beach
For many years, I have assured people that it is easy to be an expert on Orange Beach because there are really only two answers to any question you could ever be asked about it: “I don’t know” and “It depends.” While glib, this point is strikingly accurate. The public face of Orange Beach’s council system is highly transparent with meetings and work sessions in a public forum. Its inner workings and decision-making processes are shrouded in mystery, wondering about who is really making the decisions, rarely conforming to what any outsider might predict. Perhaps ecotourism’s economic value to this community is the galvanizing exception, making it priceless. “Ecotourism is considered the fastest growing market in the tourism industry,” according to the World Tourism Organization with an annual growth rate of 5% worldwide and representing 6 percent of the world’s gross domestic product, 11.4 percent of all consumer spending, bolstering local economies. Behavioral economists combine economics with insights from psychology to show how heavily economic decisions like ecotourism are influenced by cognitive biases, according to the Economist Magazine’s summary of Richard Thaler’s work. He is the winner of this year’s Nobel Prize in Economics. According to him our economic decisions are influenced by cognitive biases like ecotourism, influencing our decision to choose vacation cities that are eco-friendly. Environmental tourism began in Orange Beach after the Great Depression of 2008, being an inadvertently disguised format for economic stimulus, injecting government funds into the economy, bolstering the recovery, as John Maynard Keynes espoused. The City wrote grants to build the Backcountry Trail System, continually encouraging investment in offshore fisheries with artificial reefs and scuba diving, having ships demolished as underwater attractions, extending the red-snapper fishing season, using cognitive biases, ensuring vacationers understood we are pro-environment, promoting growth in the local economy. A Beach Ambassador Initiative was started. “Leave Only Footprints,” affects all aspects of beach life, erasing tents, chairs and paraphernalia from the beach at night, presenting a fresh canvas each morning for our visitors to enjoy, creating jobs in the economy. These emissaries had a busy season in 2016: Public Interactions: 51,124; Promotional Items Distributed: 20,439; Glass Warnings Issued: 3322; Tent Warnings Issued: 3285; Tents Tagged: 886; Hole Warnings: 1378; Holes Filled: 2170; Trash Warnings: 485; Trash Bags Distributed: 5689; Law Enforcement (Backup) Requests: 46; Fire/EMS/Rescue Requests: 14; Dog Issues/Encounters: 157; Wildlife Related Incidents: 88; Metal Shovel Warnings: 71, according to a representative from Orange Beach Coastal Resources in an email. Investing in ecotourism as a form of economic stimulus has strengthened economic growth in Orange Beach through active participation by our tourism partners: Alabama Department of Environmental Management, The Citizen and Visitors Bureau, The Orange Beach Chamber-of-Commerce, The Backcountry Trail Foundation, The Islands of Perdido Foundation, The Alabama Coastal Foundation and the Fishing Association, providing sustainable-business examples to build on. Perhaps economic stimulus was not the root concept of the initial plan, supporting ecotourism from the beach initiative to turtle nesting, but economic stimulus was certainly the end result. The trails network, beach ambassadorship, turtle nesting, trash pickups on the islands, dredging the pass for offshore-fishing access, increasing the red-snapper season require complex management skills and grant-writing abilities, rewarded when driven from the perspective that infrastructure stimulus creates jobs in the local economy. Businesses profit from ecotourism. Being seen to be caring for and taking care of the environment is behavioral economics, supporting initiatives for Beach Mouse habitat; tag-and-release fishing; rental of bicycles, pontoon boats, and jet skis; or going on Segway tours, is making an environmental statement to our visitors, underlining the council’s commitment to Orange Beach’s eco-friendly image. Finding the funds for these projects is key; writing grants is not a funding source one can depend on year-in-and-year-out. The City of Orange Beach recently increased the Lodging Tax by 2 percent from 11 percent to 13percent, generating $5 Million per year in additional revenue, according to Finance Director Ford Handley. One assumes some of these funds will be allocated to stabilize ecotourism’s infrastructure budget. The Backcountry-Trail Tours yielded: 408 tours and 1869 visitors, divided by the number of years since inception is 208 visitors per year. On tour, visitors learn the inter-dependency between flora and fauna indigenous to the Gulf Coast. This educational approach diversifies the offerings available to visitors in Orange Beach. Turtle nesting is also an important component, watching the beach during the summer months, patrolling at night with teams of volunteers, looking for females coming ashore, burying their eggs in the sand. Volunteers protect the nesting sites with markers, patiently waiting for the hatchlings to surface, escorting them to the sea, ensuring the survival of another generation. Environmental projects like these require funding to continue. The City of Orange Beach has shown no sign of curbing its appetite for allocating resources, presenting a unified face with everyone in step, assuring council remains proud of the city’s eco-friendly image. Some holdouts still exist, citing “disputable findings about climate change”, quoting the new Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt. “I would not agree that carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to the global warming that we see,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” President Trump’s position on environmental protection “has been consistent,” Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp notes in an essay published in the July-August issue of Foreign Affairs, a subscribers-only magazine. “He wants far less of it,” according to their blog. Therefore, the constituents of Orange Beach must follow their own compass, because Federal Grants for environmental projects are diminishing. Orange Beach’s 5,000 residents are a tiny microcosm in the greater scope of the nation, manning their own tiller, implementing their own style of environmental ethics, riding the wave of ecotourism to stimulate the local economy, gladly pulling together with all-hands-on-deck towards a common-ecological goal, because ecotourism’s economic value to this community is priceless. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
Rauf Bolden: Solving the traffic problem in Orange Beach
Roads are the lifeblood of a community, moving prosperity, maintaining economic flow. The ones in Orange Beach do not perform well, especially during the peak-tourist season. We must find a better way to move traffic or we must reduce development, because the countdown is ticking for a summertime solution. When government pours money into local economies jobs are created, according to a stimulus theory espoused by John Maynard Keynes. In Orange Beach development has outpaced infrastructure, requiring government to come in. They are investing millions-of-dollars in the local economy, re-balancing the development-to-infrastructure equation, spurring economic growth, and alleviating congestion on our roads. Visitors do not care if it’s the State’s road, it passes through our town and City Council must answer for what is perceived to be poor planning on the part of elected officials. In recent memory, traffic complaints were innumerable, prompting Mayor Tony Kennon to put the Governor’s telephone number on the electronic sign in front of City Hall, telling people to call Montgomery. “All I know is we need a road through the State Park,” said Mayor Kennon in an interview with John Mullen of the Lagniappe, putting commerce ahead of environmental impact, supporting development of the natural resource the State Park was created to protect. The Gulf Restoration Project lawsuit settlement ($53 Million) prohibits building a road across the State Park for the next 20 years, according to the Lagniappe. Mayor Kennon is frustrated that officials from Orange Beach were not consulted prior to the settlement, acknowledging the settlement virtually erased any chance to build a direct route from the Beach Express to the Beach Road for a generation. “That was part of the settlement that was able to get the lawsuit settled and us moving forward,” said Chris Blankenship, Commissioner of Alabama’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (DCNR). We must plan an alternative route, going east from the Beach Express, skirting around the State Park. The city disavows any responsibility for traffic problems on State roads, saying it is not a local issue but one for the State of Alabama, arguing the revenue sent by the beach community is supporting their General Fund, implying the State should repatriate dollars to solve the beach’s traffic problem. At some point the beach community will own up to the fact that locally-approved developments fueled this expansion, causing traffic congestion. Once partial guilt is accepted, solving the traffic issue becomes a partnership with the State, letting them provide input on developments with the city supply feedback on infrastructure. Both sides discussing additional-developer fees to pay for road improvements, understanding that fee increases for the developers are not going to go down well. Funding is always a key issue in Orange Beach because we treasure our reserves. The new school being built on Canal Road is a good example of the thought process, getting someone else to pony-up $14.7 million for our children’s school was a stroke of negotiated genius, but now that everyone in the county has seen the jet-sweep, evaluating different strategic options is our only choice. Sain Associates wrote Orange Beach’s traffic counts. For a typical summer weekend we had 1796 cars per hour come down the Foley Beach Express, turning onto Canal Road (SR-180). On the Beach Road we had 2436 vehicles per hour down SR-182, according to documents on the city’s old website. Obviously the major holidays like Memorial Day, Independence Day and Labor Day generate more traffic, but you get the idea. Development has outgrown capacity, tarnishing Orange Beach’s image. For the best possible traffic flow, making all the arteries five lanes, matching the capacities on every passageway is the common-sense approach. Finding the funds to pay for it is easy, but whose funds will be tapped is another question. Arguing strongly against a “free bridge” for Orange Beach, because it only benefits a few people in the State is espoused by a couple of political groups. “Ending the push for a $30 million Government Bridge to the Gulf Coast and allowing a public-private partnership to solve that problem would be a great place to start. As such, there is no justification for shaking more money out of Alabama families and businesses. Alabama’s transportation woes can be solved without a net tax increase, encouraging public-private partners rather than competing with them,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform, a non-profit taxpayer advocacy group, and Marty Connors, Chairman of the Alabama Center Right Coalition. Mayor Kennon told Fox10 News, “You can’t stop the growth. It’s coming whether you like it or not.” Are the constituents comfortable, knowing their City Council has an insatiable appetite for big developments and the dollars they bring? In the playbook, Orange Beach officials have eaten up a lot of clock with Town Halls, inviting Montgomery to show its hand, promising a bridge across Wolf Bay to County Road 20, promising a bridge to the west of the Beach Express, promising five lanes down Canal Road, giving residents hope that the traffic nightmare will soon be over. Not so fast. Environmentalists, Americans for Tax Reform, and Alabama Center Right Coalition will certainly file separate actions in Federal Court, moving to impede the proposed bridges, stating various ideological reasons, possibly taking years to settle. I suggest an unpopular approach, studying the consequences of local re-zoning, putting a moratorium on development until Council can determine what level of fees are right for infrastructure compensation, leveraging the developers’ purse versus the City’s ability to assess premium fees for ambitious projects. We must find a better way to move traffic or we must reduce development, because the countdown is ticking for a summertime solution. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
Rauf Bolden: Municipalities, ransomware and the cloud-based browser
You could almost hear people gnash their teeth, wondering about ransomware attacks on municipalities in New Mexico and Georgia. “The city of Farmington continues to recover from the ransomware attack that shut down computer systems throughout the city in early January [2018],“ according to a report by Hannah Grover in the Farmington Daily Times. “Six days after a ransomware cyberattack (March 22, 2018), Atlanta officials are [still] filling out forms by hand,” according to a report by Kimberly Hutcherson of CNN. The proliferation of online services to improve urban life, branded “Smart Cities”, as municipalities adopt interactive technologies, allowing cities to connect with their citizens has a downside, opening up the city and its residents to ransomware attacks. Governments know they have responsibilities, keeping residents’ data safe, because malware can jump from one host to another, usually through the local browser, emailing the address book when malicious code infects a city’s computer system. In spite of the dangers, local governments continue to offer online services, supporting residents, service providers, and vendors through the local browser, but City IT systems must have a minimum-security plan. Off-site backups, and cloud-based servers are a good start, limiting the damage from browser-based attacks. Today, cloud-based browsers provide an easy to use encrypted solution, protecting networks, ensuring the municipal-employee experience is fast and secure, while communicating effectively with residents. Cloud-based browsers have unique features. No web-native code like HTML, PHP or JavaScript is executed on the local machine, protecting municipal networks from ransomware, malware, spyware or other malicious scripting. Admins can disable the clipboard for copy and paste, simultaneously setting up content-access filtering, locking your network down to one browser, controlling every machine, and permission, but still giving people a fast, working experience. Acknowledging your browser is the weak link in the security plan is vital. “I’ve spent a lot of time cleaning up and preventing the influx of Ransomware and Spyware on hundreds of computers. Cleanup success was never 100%, and it was a slog to find where each flavor or variant would hide the logs or encryption keys. I had these sorts of problems everywhere I went, from home PC’s to Police equipment,” wrote Tanner Bonner, formerly with the City of Fairhope, presently IT Administrator, OWA Amusement & Entertainment Destination, Foley, Alabama. “We continually strive to keep this issue [browser security] before our employees. We have watched as several surrounding jurisdictions have suffered through ransomware attacks that were let in through browser related issues,” wrote Jeff Moon, City Manager, City of Woodstock, Georgia. ”We set up the browser [Chrome] in incognito mode and enable the setting of ‘Do Not Track’ with browsing traffic,” emailed Meagan Bing, MLIS, IT/Technical Services Librarian, Orange Beach Public Library, Orange Beach, Alabama. “I am not one to allow my browser to remember me or my password. As annoying as it might be to have to provide credentials to Sign-On over and over to the same sites, I avoid saving my credentials to avoid the possibility of someone gaining access to a site/service. I’m surprised by how many folks I encounter that don’t give this any thought, even on a shared device,” said Mark Pearson, IT Director, City of Mobile, Alabama, discussing his personal-browser strategy. “We pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve in security, and we have not been affected [by ransomware],” wrote Shana Edmond, IT Systems Supervisor, City of Gulf Shores, Gulf Shores, Alabama. The cities in Baldwin and Mobile Counties have talented IT personnel, getting buy-in from management for a migration policy is key. Cloud browsers require funding, and a small amount of configuration; having login credentials and pin codes, possibly text-to-phone confirmation, enabling 2-part authentication. “We use a turn-key tech service that includes private cloud servers. They do a really good job of protecting us and stopping intruders,” said Herb Malone, President, Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism, Orange Beach, Alabama. There is a cheaper way to do things: ”85,000 employees [at Google] have managed to go more than a year without getting phished because of mandated security devices [USB authentication],” according to a report by Rhett Jones in Gizmodo, a tech web site. Cloud-based browsers provide a secure alternative to USB sticks (Whoops! I left mine at home), making the jump from the browser to the local network impossible, because there is no physical connection. New ideas will always find resistance, but there are worries. “Downtime. This may be one of the worst disadvantages of cloud computing. No cloud provider, even the very best, would claim immunity to service outages. Cloud computing systems are Internet based, which means your access is fully dependent on your Internet connection,” according to a report by Andrew Larkin in Cloud Academy’s Blog. Weighing a technology’s upside potential versus its downside risk is what managers do. Given the operational downside, possibly opting for network-integrated hardware with several competent staff over the cloud. “We do port based security on our firewalls in order to control the flow of traffic [on local browsers]. The most important piece to this security would be the staff that we have to manage the day to day business of the county infrastructure,” wrote Brian Peacock, IT Director, Baldwin County Commission, Baldwin County, Alabama. Local governments get it, desperately needing to leave malware defeats in the rear-view mirror, keeping residents’ data safe, reducing the pressure on IT personnel, letting technology take the place of employee vigilance. Privacy and security are not in conflict; they are bound together by the same thread, ultimately realizing the era of government-enforced regulation is over. On March 23, 2018 Congress passed a law dismantling Internet Privacy Rules (Senate Joint Resolution 34 (S.J.Res.34)). On April 3, 2018 President Donald Trump quietly signed the bill into law, arguing privacy regulations are burdensome. ISPs (Internet-Service Providers) are no longer required to get explicit permission before collecting any customer’s data and re-selling it, being something a City or County Administrator will have to explain to his or her Elected Officials, possibly amending the
Rauf Bolden: Finding out what residents want in Orange Beach
Without sophisticated polling and surveys to guide decision making our cities will become intellectually bankrupt, and politically rudderless in a sea of data. The constant purr of good news from City Hall has yielded an imaginary hashtag, #NoPublicData, where the wildfires of rumors can only be quelled with real proof. Orange Beach should be the data-mining leader in Baldwin County, shirking from its role does not do anyone any good. Customer-service surveys are not tealeaves suggesting harmony. They are an easy way to get feedback from residents, having a link on the website for “Take Our Survey”, allowing survey designers to change the survey monthly, gathering different sorts of information. Orange Beach is already paying for Google and Seamless Forms. Both are built for data collection. These are not your only options. Survey Monkey, PollDaddy, SurveyGizmo, Zoho Survey, LimeSurvey, and SurveyLegend are all free, with restrictions. The reasons for improving customer service are real. Collected data can target the needs of a city’s constituents, utilizing taxpayer dollars in the most productive way instead of assuming people want to give government the keys to the castle, and constituents won’t ask too many questions. What do you want out of the survey? Here are sample questions from Survey Monkey: How likely is it that you would recommend this city to a friend or colleague? Overall how satisfied or dissatisfied are you with our city? Which of the following words would you use to describe our city? How well did our city meet your needs? How would you rate the quality of your experience in our city? How would you rate the value for money of our city? How responsive have we been to your questions about our city? How long have you been visiting our city? How likely are you to visit our city again? Do you have any other comments, questions, or concerns? The questions above target general-customer satisfaction, but they can be focused, and applied to issues like short-term rentals in residential areas, the need for a hospital, public safety improvements, or what trees to plant in the beach median. Now that you have collected lots of data, the results need to be collated. Seamless Forms has a built-in engine for evaluating data. Google’s Cloud Machine Learning (search “Google cloud machine learning”) is free for testing on a project like the 56 video-surveillance cameras at the Art Center, analyzing video feeds and facial recognition, understanding how people use the facility. Privacy is certainly going to be a talking point. “Online surveyors commit multiple violations of physical, informational, and psychological privacy that can be more intense than those found in conventional survey methods. Internet surveys also invade the interactional privacy of online communities, a form of privacy invasion seldom encountered with traditional survey methods,” according to Social Science Computer Review. Squaring the circle with privacy is important. The City of Orange Beach’s privacy policy outlines how they will secure your information like name, email, telephone number, family members, home address, SSN and direct-payment info. DIY surveys don’t produce reliable results. “Employees and their relationship with your company are different from your customers and their relationship with your company,” according to InfoSurv a marketing-research firm. Raw data is often skewed in DIY surveys. Orange Beach conducted one DIY Survey in 2015, yielding the following results from 1,424 residents: 5.76% completely satisfied; 36.80% mostly satisfied; 26.19% were neutral; 23.74% mostly dissatisfied; 7.51% dissatisfied, according to this survey’s designer. It looks as though 36 out of every 100 people living in Orange Beach are mostly satisfied. In contrast, Pensacola is reporting a 77% satisfaction rate, according to the Pensacola News Journal. Obviously numerical analysis is not enough. Other techniques must be applied to make sense of human behavior in big datasets. We can provide better data for our businesses, residents, and visitors, simply applying technologies that are within our grasp, and making the data public for topics like business-owner satisfaction, rating the quality of the beach, flood-insurance pricing, traffic statistics, and employee contentment. These data give constituents a better understanding of what is going on under the hood. Orange Beach should be the data-mining leader in Baldwin County, shirking from its role does not do anyone any good. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
Rauf Bolden: Call for a Council Records Preservation Act in Orange Beach
The policy process is never a tightly managed affair. Creating a Council Records Preservation Act must be comprehensive, preserving all memos, letters, texts, emails, photos, videos and executive sessions that the Council touches for the historical archive and legacy preservation. Establishing the archive record is vital, letting descendants see how their ancestors wielded power, letting historians write about the achievements of our beach community, letting the documents speak about the government and the governed. Think about how many details have been lost because we do not have the legislative machinery in place to record history, preserving the historical archive during The Great Recession of 2008, The Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill of 2010, the School-Split Referendum of 2014, the Lodging-Tax Increase of 2017, or the Short-Term Rental Ban of 2018, documenting all those events when hard decisions were made is our canvas, adding emails and texts gives color and substance to the public-facing chronicle. Legislation for records preservation must have teeth, codifying public ownership of all Council records, placing the responsibility for the custody and management of incumbent Council records with the Council, requiring that the Council take all practical steps to file personal records separately from Council records, establishing that Council records automatically transfer into the legal custody of the Archivist/City Clerk as soon as the Council Member leaves office. The hard part is writing a policy by which the public may obtain access to these records; specifically, the legislation shall allow for public access to Council records through a Public Records Request. Connectivity by fiber-optic to the archiving server is the first step of the plan, probably requiring network development, building the connection to the city’s hub. Using a virtual server, hosted on the Internet, continuously providing hardware, software and data backups accessed from anywhere on the planet is defendable. This type of web-based service is very common, particularly easy to setup, usually coming with a free trial. It is a secure way to preserve historical records, providing read-only permissions for the public from the administrative portal. The public can request permission by writing to the Archivist/City Clerk, being granted for specific documents for a specific time period, like checking out a library book. Council members and appointed commissioners using their personal phones for government email, texts and recordings is reckless, possibly creating an unwanted legal dilemma. We must change Council’s culture about their government emails and texts. They are not their personal property. Surrendering those emails and texts when they leave office shall be a legislative requirement. We should learn from the book of Hillary Clinton, needing one phone for government and one phone for personal use. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) details guidance for records preservation on the Federal level, “The Freedom of Information Act, or FOIA, generally provides any person with the statutory right, enforceable in court, to obtain access to Government information. This right to access is limited when such information is protected from disclosure by one of FOIA’s nine statutory exemptions,” according to their web site (https://www.foia.gov/faq.html). These Federal guidelines are easily amended to fit municipal code if the Council is willing to initiate mandatory-records preservation. I have heard elected and appointed officials say, “These are my emails and texts,” acknowledging government emails and texts are stored on their personal devices. One must assume they are using the governmental address of .gov innocently for their personal business, being a more prestigious point-of-contact than @nomail.com. The scope of Council’s data-retention policy shall be broad by definition, including all the contacts, emails, texts, photos and videos on personal devices, including phones, tablets, and computers. Data must be copied and logged into the digital archive for preservation. Council Members and Planning Commissioners at the City of Gulf Shores use non-governmental email addresses like Gmail, Hotmail or their business accounts, avoiding the .gov extension, minimizing legal entanglements, sending and receiving .gov messages on their personal devices, creating health rather than treating disease. The goal of records preservation is not to inconvenience elected officials and their appointed commissioners, but to preserve the canvas while the paint is fresh, recording the Internet Age as it unfolds. During the Dark Ages (pre-1400s) manuscripts and classical knowledge resided with the monks. When Greek merchants migrated to Venice from Constantinople (1500s), fleeing the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent, bringing their knowledge and artifacts with them, allowed people to see antiquities, books and art that had been lost, sparking the Renaissance. So it is with our time. The Internet provides a renaissance of knowledge in an unprecedented way, freeing intellectual data from the confines of universities, bringing its power to the fingertips of all who seek it. Documenting government during this new renaissance is not only a great opportunity; it is easy to do. Orange Beach has a museum, adding a digital archive section with remote access should be simple. Politically allocating funds and writing policies for historical preservation is a problematic illusion. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
Rauf Bolden: Affects of history on Orange Beach
Calling a politician an opportunist is redundant. History is littered with politicians, kissing the ring-of-opportunity in public even as they roll their eyes in private, and so it is with the history of political opportunities that shaped our island. Once in a generation, politicians become leaders, assisting in the development of an affluent, safe, and debt-free city with a beautiful beachscape. Piloted by captains who want to achieve a sense of well being for their people. Grasping that opportunity is another matter. Our history started with a fish, according to oral historian Gail Walker, curator of the Indian and Sea Museum in Orange Beach. Her ancestors were Creek Indians, having settled this area in the 1700s, founding the communities of Bear Point and Caswell. By the 1800s the idea of an orange beach germinated, prompting Gail’s ancestors to plant orange-tree hybrids that were a cross between oranges and satsumas, beloved for their vibrant-orange color. For Gail’s ancestors the Civil War was about holding onto their land. Her great-grandfather Lemuel, being a full-blooded Creek Indian, enlisted in the Confederate Army in Ft. Morgan when he was 14 years old and marched to fight in Tennessee. He returned with two soldiers who later died from their musket-ball wounds. They are buried in the cemetery at Bear Point. Lemuel rode his horse to Washington, DC, securing a land deed for $200, signed by President Lincoln. The Creeks in Ft. Morgan somehow avoided the Trail-of-Tears March to Oklahoma when the Federal Government rounded up the Indian Tribes in Alabama after the Civil War. The 1900s saw change. Gail’s father was born in 1910 in Caswell, inheriting his family’s turpentine business, milking the local trees for their sap, collecting it in barrels, and sailing it to Mobile where the pitch was converted into turpentine. Her relatives also owned and operated the old Orange Beach Hotel. It consisted of hand-made bricks on the walkways and in the chimney, being destroyed in 2015 to create the Coastal Arts Center. Gail’s family were fisherman, founding the island’s charter-fishing business when a chance encounter with a tourist in 1956 sent them offshore, landing a sailfish onboard a small boat, becoming the economic driver that it is today. Building on the rich history we inherited requires caring, because the history of the people is also a history of the island’s ecology. Hurting one hurts the other. We are at a point in the economic-growth cycle where roads, population and infrastructure have more political bandwidth than protecting the environment, because we are taxing natural resources in a way we cannot reconcile. This level of development has never happened before. We do not know the consequences of continued approved-by-right construction on the beach. Gail Walker’s ancestors fought to hold onto their land. In different ways the ownership of property is as precious to us today. Instead of acreage, it is development on the beach. The slices of ownership are smaller than a 1700s land hold, but the desire for ownership is part of the human spirit. With Gail’s ancestors, the stress on the land was less, and that is the key issue. The City is satisfying the developers’ desire for property ownership through planned-unit-developments, creating more intensity per acre than the beach has ever had before. Mayor Tony Kennon told Fox10 News, “You can’t stop the growth. It’s coming whether you like it or not.” Trying to find ways to create more developments, the chin strokers proceed, scratching it like a suppurating wound, finding the gray area, moving the goal posts, brow-beating the opposition into quiescence. Expecting anything different is hope over reality. Saying you can’t stop the growth, but at the same time voting to ban short-term house rentals in the neighborhoods with minimal-environmental impact is troubling, voting against the business interests of smalltime-property investors, voting against families who rent their properties for income, voting against families’ rights to seek financial improvement through property rentals, voting against customers’ rights to choose between a condo on the beach or a house in the neighborhoods is troubling. I digress. Purchasing a large stretch of beach for Orange Beach residents to enjoy with their families, reducing the environmental impact, increasing happiness, making a better quality of life for the locals who live here is something Council needs to do. Once in a generation, politicians become leaders, assisting in the development of an affluent, safe, and debt-free city with a beautiful beachscape. Piloted by captains who want to achieve a sense of well being for their people. Grasping that opportunity is another matter. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
Rauf Bolden: Call for a better paid Mayor and Council in Orange Beach
Jumping into the vortex of social change requires courage, rewarding executives for time and effort spent invigorates the community. Coaxing the City Council into amending Ordinance No. 2016-1219, giving the 2020 group of elected officials real-world salaries is a decision that must be on the table. Actually pulling-the-trigger and compensating those in the front line for the responsibilities associated with managing a $40 million per year budget is another matter. Council is imbued with a sense of entitlement, and does not have the passion or the desire to complete the transition to a modern-pay structure for elected officials. Orange Beach needs a 40 hour-per-week Mayor, being paid a salary of $168,000 per year, compensating him or her for the effort required to run a $40 million dollar a year enterprise. Council Members should also be rewarded for their part-time work, proposing $52,000 per year for each Council person is realistic, being members of the Board of Directors of the same $40 million dollar a year company. These salaries must include family-health benefits, being paid for by the taxpayer. Today, the Mayor earns $42,000 per year, the Mayor Pro-Tem gets $16,557.36 per year, and each Council Member is paid $13,401.18 per year, according to Public Records from the Clerk’s Office at the City of Orange Beach. The Ordinance defining salaries (2016-1219) does not reflect a working wage, considering the liabilities elected officials assume as public servants. Pay for municipal office has never balanced out the workload with the responsibilities. I propose Council finally right this wrong, changing the balance sheet, perhaps attracting more qualified candidates, and giving constituents more choice. Planning for any wage increase requires Council to allocate funds for the next set of elected officials in 2020, being unable to give yourself a raise while still in office, per legal statue. Seeking legal opinions from the State of Alabama’s Attorney General’s Office is a long process. Starting now to build a case for change keeps us ahead of potential problems, providing the best chance to improve our candidate selection for the next election cycle, because the job will be worth the trouble. The key issue is constituent mindset. In a geographic area where wages are traditionally low, commonly finding jobs at $10 per hour is the norm, understanding the skill set the Mayor and Council have, enabling them to manage a city of 300 employees is not widely understood. Skilled managers are needed, designing and permitting a City Bridge costing $60 Million across Wolf Bay, breaking ground on a new Middle School and High School with city-financed Performing-Arts Center ($4 Million), and athletic fields ($4 Million). Taking this burden off of the shoulders of constituents is what government does, compensating officials by offering realistic salaries for the Mayor and Council positions is what the city needs, because our elected officials are doing the heavy lifting. “Why should we pay the Mayor at all?” my neighbor asked. “He gets other perks with the job.” “True,” I replied, “but free tickets to the Boat Show hardly make up for the time elected officials spend making our quality-of-life better, making our community safer, or improving the economic potential of our city.” The Baldwin County Commission voted to increase the next group of Commissioners’ salaries from $32K to $65K, similarly comparing the Mobile County Commissioners get $79K per year, according to FoxTV10, posted by Robbie Byrd. I argue we should increase the salaries of Orange Beach’s Mayor and Council from $42K and $13K respectively to $168K and $52K for the next election cycle, attracting professional candidates with a broad-spectrum of experience from diverse-corporate backgrounds. When a Mayor and City Council stand unopposed in a general election, being the case in 2016, it is not good for democracy. So let’s pay our elected officials what the job is worth. Jumping into the vortex of social change requires courage, rewarding executives for time and effort spent invigorates the community. Coaxing Council into amending Ordinance No. 2016-1219, giving the 2020 group of elected officials real-world salaries is a decision that must be on the table. Actually pulling-the-trigger and compensating those in the front line for the responsibilities associated with managing a $40 Million per year budget is another matter. ••• Rauf Bolden is retired IT Director at the City of Orange Beach, working as an IT & Web Consultant on the Beach Road. He can be reached at: publisher@velvetillusion.com.
