Eco-tours to be offered in Orange Beach

Eco-tours to be offered in Orange Beach - Baldwin County NOW - A Gulf Coast Information Source for South Alabama: "ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — With the opening of the Hugh S. Branyon Backcountry Trail, Orange Beach is taking the steps to tap in to the nature tourism industry."

“Nature-based tourism is the fastest growing segment of the industry,” coastal resources manager Phillip West said. “What we have is the ability to explore relatively new and, we believe, fertile ground in the nature tourism segment.”

While West said the plan of the trail was never to capitalize on eco-tourism, the venture is demanding exploration.

“We’re going to be behind the curve of our competitors that realize that if we don’t start taking advantage of opportunities like promoting the Backcountry Trail,” West said.

To kick off promotions, the idea of eco-tours have developed into the newest project.

A two-hour guided trip of the trail is in the works, and the city is hoping it will debut at the end of February.

Larry Ellis, natural resources manager, said surveys left by trail visitors are asking for deeper information of the trail.

Final Orange Beach City Council Work Session (COW)

December 24, 2008- The final 2008 City of Orange Beach Council Work Session will take place on Tuesday, December 30th in the Council Chambers at the Orange Beach City Hall Complex. The agenda for this meeting has been published on the on The Orange Beach Community Website. Links to online video of the Orange Beach Regular Session Council Meetings since November 18th are also available at the link below.

Click to view the Orange Beach City Council Index.

Former OB City Attorney Larry Sutley strikes plea deal

Former Orange Beach City Attorney Larry Sutley has cut a deal with state prosecutors that will allow him to serve time for two misdemeanors concurrently with the 27-month federal sentence he received for his role in the bribery of the beach town's former mayor, Steve Russo, by real estate developers.

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Orange Beach City Marina on hold

Cash-strapped city not eager to start $17.2M project
Friday, December 12, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — Municipal employees aren't the only casualties of the city's budget crunch: Plans for a public marina that have been on the drawing board for more than three years are also poised to be indefinitely postponed.

Conceived as a home of last resort for Alabama's 301-boat charter fishing fleet, Orange Beach paid about $9.6 million for a storm-battered boatyard on Terry Cove in early 2005 and has since designed a municipal marina complex there.

With the low bid to build the project coming in last month at $17.2 million, elected officials said they can't imagine starting work anytime soon.

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New Rec Center rates are proposed

ORANGE BEACH — In an ongoing effort to raise revenue, the City Council is contemplating a new rate plan at the Recreation Center.

Since the facility opened in early 2003, Orange Beach has charged residents only $20 a year for membership. A comparable annual membership to the city-owned David L. Bodenhamer Center in Gulf Shores costs $240.

Under a plan proposed this week by Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon, the city would charge $50 for the single annual membership and charge a flat fee of $100 for a family no matter how large. Kennon has also proposed new, reduced monthly rates geared toward part-time residents and memberships for people who work in or live near Orange Beach.

Council members Jeff Silvers and Joni Blalock said that while they didn't have much problem with the $30 increase, they were concerned the council wasn't giving residents enough notice. As such a public hearing has been scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Tuesday in advance of the 6 p.m. council meeting at which the proposal could be considered.

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Council delays 2009 budget vote until Dec. 16

Thursday, December 04, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — The City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a severance pay package for 23 municipal employees who were laid off last month.

Originally elected officials had proposed paying the laid-off employees 25 percent of the sick time they've accrued up to 80 hours. The city's personnel plan wouldn't allow for that kind of severance but does contain provisions for laid-off employees to receive set amounts of administrative leave pay, said City Attorney Wanda Cochran.

Because council members had said they were comfortable spending $10,600 on severance under the sick leave compensation plan, Cochran said that number was used to calculate the amount of administrative leave each former employee would get paid: 24 hours worth.

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Orange Beach Budget Cuts for 2009

Expenses large and small are cut in anticipation of steep drop in revenues
Sunday, November 30, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — The penny-pinching that began this summer in City Hall with a hiring freeze, reductions in overtime and employee travel and culminated this month with the layoffs that saw 23 workers lose their jobs will continue in 2009, the city's proposed budget shows.

The plan, which anticipates a $5 million drop in revenue next year, includes detailed plans for a year of frugality from the elimination of take-home vehicles for employees to a mandate to print two-sided documents, and only in black and white.

There will be no capital purchases of more than $7,500, according to the 29-page spending plan. There will be no new employee uniforms.

Employee travel, training and tuition reimbursement are out. Vehicle logs, ride sharing, e-mail and orders to unplug office equipment when it's not in use are in.

Faced with a $3.3 million shortfall to end this year, municipal officials have spent the past few months trying to figure out ways to operate cheaper in 2009, which they believe will see revenues drop lower than they were in 2008.

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Orange Beach City Meeting Details City's Layoffs

From WKRG-TV5...

WKRG.com

Oversight committees need citizen involvement

Administration plans to align newly formed panels with various municipal departments
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER, Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — If you've ever wanted to participate in municipal governance but didn't feel like mounting a city council campaign or haven't been able to pledge several years of service for a planning commission seat, City Hall might have an opening for you.

As part of Mayor Tony Kennon's campaign pledge to bring more taxpayers into the fray at City Hall, applications are being made available for a series of citizen oversight committees the new mayor wants to align with several municipal departments.

Kennon said the panels' roles will be three-fold. They'll provide a layer of "transparency and accountability," act as a liaison between municipal officials and the public, and utilize the expertise of Orange Beach citizens, he said.

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Orange Beach makes employee cuts

From Fox-10 News...

23 Orange Beach city workers to be laid-off

Friday, November 21, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER, Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — This morning, 23 municipal employees will lose their jobs and many others in the weeks to come will see their pay slashed as city officials scramble to make up a $3 million budget shortfall.

Specifics of the firings won't be released until after Mayor Tony Kennon tells affected employees, but they amount to a little more than 8 percent of the city's current 275-person workforce. Overall, Orange Beach is cutting more than 13 percent of its jobs via the layoffs and the elimination of 15 positions that have been vacant since summer.

Over the last decade Orange Beach has thrived as one of the wealthiest cities in Alabama. City officials spent feverishly to add park land, build roads, provide amenities and generally get ready for a forecast population boom.

But sky-rocketing property insurance rates and tightening credit markets conspired to slow the area's booming real estate market and the onrush never came. Developers of more than 4,200 high-end condo units and hotel rooms that were approved in recent years never applied for building permits and construction of at least 3,400 more have been permitted but not started, city records show.

"We're cleaning up the mess from someone else's party," said Kennon, who took office earlier this month. "It's not a fun thing to do, but I've committed to run this city like a business and that's what we're going to do."

Kennon's counterpart in neighboring Gulf Shores, Mayor Robert Craft, said his city will also probably have to part with some of its nearly 300 employees. Gulf Shores isn't facing the immediate shortfall that Orange Beach is, but Craft said that city financial planners are anticipating that tax revenue will be about $3 million, or 10 percent, less than it was in 2008.

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Orange Beach taps into reserve

$3.45 million used to pay off land purchase, will be repaid in bond issue
Sunday, August 03, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — With revenues running well below projections this year, city officials have taken numerous penny-pinching steps, from curtailing spending, foregoing new hires and reducing its sponsorship of local events.

The latest move to save money came Thursday when the City Council dipped into its $6.8 million disaster fund to enable the refinancing of a 2007 loan used to buy about 2cm HALF acres on Wolf Bay.

The council voted 5-1 to withdraw $3.45 million from the fund to pay off the land purchase and to replenish the emergency money later this month with proceeds from a pending bond issue. The move could save the city around $10,000 in interest on its original loan over the next three weeks and at least $75 a day once the amount is repaid, city officials said last week.

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Orange Beach garbage rates rise

Hike to fund recycling pickup, cover fuel costs
Thursday, July 17, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER, Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — To cover rising fuel costs and fund a new curbside recycling program, the City Council voted Tuesday to raise the monthly residential garbage bill to $15 from $12.

Next month's billings will likely reflect the change, city officials said.

Tuesday's vote was 4-0 with one abstention.

Councilman Ed Carroll said he abstained because he was torn between supporting recycling and raising bills for residents.

Councilwoman Joni Blalock was absent from the meeting.

For most households the $15 will cover twice-weekly garbage pickup. Condos will continue to see seven-day-a-week collections during the summer and six days a week throughout the rest of the year.

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Curbside recycling coming to city

Council will likely OK $3 monthly rate hike to pay for recycling, fuel costs
Friday, July 11, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — Monthly garbage rates will likely go up $3 to accommodate a new curbside recycling program and rising fuel costs, city officials said this week .

On Monday afternoon, the city's Solid Waste Authority approved a contract with Orange Beach's garbage hauler, Allied Waste Industries, that includes concessions for higher labor and fuel costs as well as the addition of recycling service, Mayor Pete Blalock said.

Because the Solid Waste Authority is made up of the City Council and a few other municipal officials, the subsequent rate hike needed to fund the new contract is likely to pass when the council meets at 5 pm on Tuesday.

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No hiring Touart, at least for now

Ousted Escambia County, Fla., administrator was called best of 70 candidates, but mayor says decision will be left to city leaders elected in August
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
By CRAIG MYERS
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH — Mayor Pete Blalock said Monday he has suspended an effort to hire ousted Escambia County, Fla., administrator George Touart as the city's next administrator and will leave that decision to the municipal leadership elected in August.

Several City Council members and Blalock said Monday that Touart, of Pensacola, was the most qualified of nearly 70 candidates to replace Jeff Moon, who left the position in April.

Blalock said he and the city's attorney were negotiating the details of a contract with Touart that would have been brought back to the council for a vote. But the process has ended, he said.

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Pensapedia- About George Touart

Ethridge to run for Orange Beach mayor

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Staff Report

Former Orange Beach City Councilwoman Iris Gay Ethridge has announced her candidacy for mayor in the Aug. 26 municipal elections.

Ethridge, 71, was first elected to the Place 5 council seat in 1996 and retained it in 2000. She was defeated by Joni Blalock in her 2004 re-election bid.

The mayor's position is now held by Pete Blalock, who has not said whether he will run again. Former Councilman Tony Kennon has said he will also seek the part-time job, which carries a yearly salary of $27,562.63 plus 5 percent annual raises.

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Beach cities search for administrators

Orange Beach expects to interview next week, Gulf Shores' consultant culling candidates
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

More than 50 people have applied to become Orange Beach's next city administrator, and Mayor Pete Blalock said elected officials hope to begin interviewing the top applicants as early as next week.

Meanwhile, in Gulf Shores, Mayor G.W. "Billy" Duke III said city officials are waiting on a consultant they've hired to bring them a docket of qualified candidates to vet for that city's administrator job.

On Monday evening, the Orange Beach City Council met in executive session to discuss some of the more promising prospects to replace Jeff Moon, who left last month to take a city manager's position in the Atlanta suburb of Woodstock.

Moon was hired by Orange Beach in 2001 after holding ad ministrative posts in Riverdale, Ga., and Daleville, which is near Dothan.

Blalock said the council was still whittling down the field of applicants and would probably choose five or six to interview.

The Orange Beach mayor said the City Council may hire someone before the Aug. 26 municipal elections, if the right person is available. But, Blalock said, if elected officials complete the interview process and no one stands out, they may turn to a headhunting firm, as neighboring Gulf Shores has, to cull candidates.

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Orange Beach rethinks spending in troubled economy

Sunday, May 11, 2008
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH Over the past decade, it seemed that this resort city, flush with the spoils of a booming real estate market and a lucrative tourism trade, could buy just about anything it wanted.

In 2004, Orange Beach paid

$4.3 million for Robinson Island, an oblong 12cm HALF acres in Terry Cove that is populated by great blue herons. The next fall, the city shelled out $6 million for a nine-hole golf course and driving range, partly to relieve nearby residents of flooding they thought would worsen if the property were developed, partly to add discount golfing to Orange Beach's recreational offerings.

The city bought a warehouse on 2 acres, miles north of the city limits, for almost $343,000 in August. And in March, the City Council agreed to pay $380,000 for two small lots near the Community Center.

But last week, with a deal on the table to land a relatively Lilliputian parcel that would link the two lots it bought in March and enable the city to build a new office for its Parks and Recreation Department, the council balked. The asking price: $120,400.

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Holk makes bid for return to Orange Beach City Council

Former Orange Beach City Councilman Brett Holk said he will seek a return to the panel in this summer's municipal elections.

Holk, 48, was first elected to the Place 4 seat in 2000. After four years in that spot he ran for mayor, eventually losing to then-incumbent Steve Russo in August 2004.

Holk said he is running for Place 2 on the council, members of which are elected at large. The job pays $11,576.30 a year with annual 5-percent cost-of-living raises.

"My vision for Orange Beach is for the city to be recognized for its commitment to shaping growth," Holk wrote in a news release. "It should be a place of natural beauty that values the quality of life for its families.

"Maintaining the character of the Orange Beach community can only be achieved through careful planning with public input from local resi dents. Orange Beach isn't just a destination, it's our home," Holk said. "If we make it a great place to live, it will be a great place to visit for the long term."

Holk said he would make diversifying the local economy a top priority if elected.

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Carranza tosses hat in ring for Orange Beach council

Pattisue Carranza, a pharmacist and small-business owner, has announced her candidacy for the Orange Beach City Council.

Carranza, 45, will vie for Place 3. The incumbent in that spot is Larry Alexander, who was appointed to the place in February when Pete Blalock gave up the position to take over for then-Mayor Steve Russo, who resigned. Carranza is the first to declare intentions to run for the position.

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