Takeaway from Yesterday's Town Council Meeting

Yesterday’s Council meeting was well attended and resulted in several significant decisions and useful information. For those of you unable to attend, Council meetings are now being live streamed over the internet so you can watch without being there.

          As a first item, Tim and Robert addressed the circumstances surrounding the water valve incident at Buckeye prior to Thanksgiving. Using the questions I submitted to the Council, they handed out a response sheet and did a summary presentation. In brief, it is clear to me that there was a lot of misinformation spread about the incident (further addressed below) and the Town handled the entire issue appropriately. 

          Here are the facts addressed. Because Buckeye Reservoir is a stream impoundment, the Army Corps of Engineers requires the Town to keep a certain water flow in Buckeye Creek below the dam. The valve, installed in 1984, is a 4 foot by 4 foot gate about 37 feet under water, controlled by a long iron pipe and screw gate. It is regularly opened to release water. On October 15, representatives of the Town met with representatives of various federal agencies to seek a change in the minimum release requirements. As part of that issue, the Town was asked to install stream flow gauges, as well as inspect and operate the valve. The Town retained an experienced dive contractor to complete this operation. The work needed to be done in the fall in case there was a release, to allow the Laketo refill. Town employees were aware of the risks involved in operating the valve.

          The contractor’s divers worked filming and operating the valve on November 20. At some point in the operation the valve rod bent due to water pressure, leaving the valve partially open and causing water to flow at a high  rate of speed through the valve. A diver working to determine what had occurred was sucked partially into the gate and became stuck. In a 4 hour rescue operation, involving about 45 people, the diver was rescued.  The valve, however, could not be closed until the Lake was drained. Once the Lakewas drained, the valve was closed and is now stuck in that position. The valve is operational, but the mechanism to open and close it will need to be entirely rebuilt. 

          The Town immediately declared a water emergency and implemented its emergency plans. The total cost of responding was about $60,800. An after action meeting has occurred and several issues requiring corrective action identified and implemented. Chief Pudney stated that this was an extraordinary rescue and many similar incidents result in death. Fortunately, this diver has recovered. Various individuals were recognized at the meeting for their efforts during the rescue.

          In other business, new appointments to various Town boards will be made in January and anyone interested in applying should do so. A motion for the Town to financially support the Resort’s bus service failed for lack of a second, but in subsequent discussion it was clear that a majority of the Council believes this is an issue better left to the TDA. By motion, the Council has agreed to allow a second public comment period at the end of each Council session, but only for those items addressed in the agenda. Finally, Council has set a public hearing on the proposed leash law ordinance for the January meeting. It is clear that the proposed ordinance currently has a 3 (Renee, Wendell and Barry) vote majority, but please make your thoughts known to Council. The annual planning retreat will take place in Council chambersJanuary 15 and the public is invited to attend, as well as submit issues and suggestions to Council prior to the meeting.

          Finally, a personal note. It was clear to me from public comments yesterday that social media is the 21^st century equivalent of the game of telephone and should not be trusted when it comes to Town issues. If you see something on social media about Town matters, please do not further broadcast it until you have confirmed it with a Town employee or elected official. Two examples will illustrate the problem. First, much of the information spread about the valve problem was simply wrong. Second, the Town and TDA purchased one large ornament. There are no plans to purchase any others and any suggestion to the contrary are also wrong. Please do not spread false information on social media. Thanks and I look forward to seeing everyone at the January meeting.

Buckeye Reservoir Questions to Town Council

This is an email going around the town of Beech Mountain on our water situation. I wanted to share it with you in case you didn't see it. Big thanks to Urs for getting this moving for the December Town Council Meeting. If you are not on the email chain, let me know and I can forward email addresses.

As discussed with Renee, I have drafted a series of questions, attached, answers to which I believe are the minimum needed for taxpayers to have a better understanding of how this incident happened and how to prevent similar events. While I still believe an outside investigation is needed, I hope that these answers and the documentary evidence will

suffice. If any questions are unclear, please let me know. Urs

In order to better understand the facts and circumstances surrounding the loss of water at Buckeye Lake on November 20, 2018 and to ensure we are better prepared in the future, answers to the following questions are needed. In all cases, any documents supporting the relevant answers need to be provided. Any references to Town employees include contractors working for the Town under pre-existing contracts, such as contracts with West Consultants.

The Valve

1. When was the valve at issue installed?

2. What is the valve’s purpose?

3. What state or federal regulatory agencies have any jurisdiction over the valve or its functioning?

4. When was the last time, prior to the day of the incident, that the valve had been opened and closed?

5. What correspondence has the Town had in the past three years with any state or federal agencies about the valve?

The Dive Contract

1. What prompted the Town to contract with a dive company to inspect the valve?

2. Was there a Request for Proposal issued by the Town?

3. If so, describe the scope of work in the RFP.

4. How many bidders were there for the contract?

5. What was the scope of work in the final signed contract?

6. Who selected the contractor?

7. Was the contractor required to have general liability insurance?

8. When was the contract to be performed?

9. Who was to supervise the scope of work?

10. Was the contractor tasked to open and close the valve?

11. If so, was there any discussion about the possible adverse consequences to water levels at Buckeye Lake if the valve could not be closed?

12. Was there any discussion about using a coffer dam or other method to isolate the valve from the lake to facilitate inspection?

The Incident

1. What employees of the Town were present while the divers were at Buckeye Lake?

2. Describe, using eyewitness testimony, what occurred at Buckeye Lake on November 20, 2018, starting from when the divers arrived until the diver was rescued.

3. What, if any, instructions did the divers receive from any Town employee on November 20, 2018, prior to the diver’s leg becoming entangled?

4. Who decided to open the valve on November 20, 2018?

5. Was there any discussion on November 20 about the possible adverse consequences to Buckeye Lake levels if the valve could not be closed?

6. Was there an emergency plan in place in the event that the valve could not be closed?

Emergency Response

1. Did the Town have a written emergency plan to deal with a sudden loss of water at Buckeye Lake?

2. If so, was that plan executed?

3. If so, what were the parameters of that plan?

4. What was the total cost to the Town to supply water by tanker and to supply bottled water?

5. Has there been an after action meeting of Town employees about the incident and the response?

6. If so, what deficiencies were identified?

7. If so, what changes, if any, were proposed to any Town policies or emergency plans?

Beech Mountain - Questions and Answers About Our State Of Emergency

As many know and experienced, Beech Mountain had state of emergency over the Thanksgiving Holiday Weekend resulting in water shortages.

Residents pulled together, conserving as much water as they could helping the town get through this emergency! Shout out to the residents!

The town did a fine job of keeping the water flowing, including bringing water up in tanker trucks while working round the clock over a holiday weekend closing the valve and getting our water levels back up to acceptable by Sunday.

I asked Tim Holloman a few questions and thought I would share with you the results.

Many people are asking why this work was done during a holiday week when we knew the mountain was going to be busy. It would be nice for the town to let us know. Was this the only time we could get a diver? Was it a maintenance schedule?

• "Kelly, thanks for reaching out.  The time for this work was carefully thought out and dependent on the contractor’s work schedule.  The months of September, October and November are the best in regards to surface and groundwater recharge.  The work was supposed to be clean, video and assess. No repair work was planned.  This is just one of many routine projects and we don’t notify the public unless it has any effect on the operation.  If there was no accident, nothing would have been impacted.  The Town uses divers on a regular basis to clean water tanks, etc.  This is part of trying to reduce the amount of water that we have to release on a regular basis and to be in compliance with our existing state permit.  This, in turn, affects the larger project of trying to get a freshwater intake to the Watauga River."

There are many also saying that we had the grant to get this fixed four years ago but the town didn't want to spend the money. Included in this is that the valve hadn't been serviced in 10 years.  

• "I’m not aware of any grant that we didn’t get or use.  I believe that prior councils had been informed of the work that needed to be done, but was not funded.  If I find out differently, I will follow up."

I heard the diver had broken limbs and surgery and wanted to see if this was true also. All the news reports said just hypothermia.

• "No broken limbs and he was released Wednesday evening from the hospital."
• Kelly -  (THIS IS AMAZING NEWS! THANK GOD!)
• Kelly - I also talked to some of the first responders. The diver was on an umbilical cord type oxygen so there was no worry of air running out. First responders pumped warm water to the diver keeping hypothermia at bay. Another shout out to our First Responders and their hard work saving this man's life!

Also, has this now solved the problem? Or is it part of other items. 

• "The problem with the gate is not fixed, just closed.  Engineers and staff are working on the fix and there is no document available at this time.  The “looksee” was the purpose of the divers to craft a plan and document for repair at a later date."

I saw most of the Press Releases on Facebook, so if you are not a friend of the town you may want to add them to your friend list.

Here is the town of Beech Mountain Facebook Page

Make sure, if you haven't, sign up for CodeRed phone calls from the town. This is a great way to stay informed on everything from events affecting traffic to road closures, to public works work to everything that happened this past weekend.

Sign up for CodeRed Alerts here.

Now go ahead and finish your laundry congratulating yourself and the Town of Beech Mountain for pulling this one out!

Would love to hear your thoughts or other questions?

WTF - Taking One For The Family at the Water Park

We are already into the dog days of summer and even though I hate it, one summer bucket list is always the local water park. When I mention our typical summer trip, the boys get excited, the hubby looks at me.

"Don't worry, I know you don't step foot in water parks, movie theaters and Chuck E Cheese!" He nods, happy he doesn't have to endure what I endure at the waterpark.

My first thought when we pull in is the massiveness of the place, a cesspool of germs. I follow the line of cars resembling a hurricane evacuation into the place my first thought is, "What have I gotten myself into?"

After applying every coupon code I can find, I figure we'll stop by the plasma center covering the cost of entrance into the park.  Because folks, there's no way to do this cheap. (Now that's an idea for another post)

Always find something to be grateful for, I tell myself, watching several people walk by thinking, I feel much better about my bathing suit choice!

I set up shop by the kiddie area feeling this could be the safest, calmest spot of the water park.  Nope.

I'm sitting and applying sunscreen, minding my own business when two women start screaming at each other warring over a chair in the shade. Granted, I'd rather be in the shade also I've been there 15 minutes and already look like a stuck pig.

"You don't own the water park, I can sit wherever I want!"
"This is my chair, you have to move!"
"I'm not moving from MY CHAIR!"

They call security (pronounced Securrritaaayyy and OVER A CHAIR) effectively shutting down the "kiddie area" until the dispute is settled. No on in and no one out. "Am I going to get taken down in the kiddie pool" I wonder as they start negotiating with the women. One of the officers has a gun, another has a taser. I grab my phone thinking "What an amazing Snapchat if I catch that woman getting tased over a lounge chair!" Luckily they talked one woman out of the chair and of course she plops right next to me in the sun.  Time to move.

My next section involves little Samson who has a big offensive mouth. I swear this child is probably 5 maybe 6 years old with the mouth of a seasoned sailor. Mom looks over to me, "He's just excited about being here." No kidding, if he screams at you one more time about applying sunscreen I'm going over there slapping him for you.  Time to move.

I go to the wave pool thinking this would be a relaxing place, I can stick my toes in the water and watch all the kids play, right?  15 minutes into this some little girl is sneezing into the water next to me as a used Bandaid washes up on my foot.  Time to move.

My last resort is spending the next 3 hours in the Lazy River, everyone hates the Lazy River because it is boring - perfect! I park it in my tube, put on my big hat ready to take a nap as I go in circles for an hour or so. Of course, a bunch of kids show up behind me saying,

"Dude, let's chill in the lazy river."
This is my lazy river, I think, can't us adults have ONE spot in the water park?
"Look Laura is over there, let's go bug her." So they splash me trying to get to Laura then I listen to Laura scream as they play with her tube.
The kicker?
"Mom, I have to go to the bathroom," a little girl floats by me on her tube,  snot running from her nose.
Wait a minute, she's positioning herself perfectly upstream from me!
"Just hold it for a little longer, we'll go around again," I hear Mom say.

Time to move.

How do you sum up a trip to the water park?

Taking one for the family.

Selling organs to get in, chasing everyone down coating them with two layers of sunscreen, sitting and sweating in the sun and oh, the 50  dollar lunch of a large pizza and two sodas. So when it came time to leave, the cute little teenage photographer informed me I have pictures taken in the park available for purchase of course.

What? Me looking horrified as it took 3 security guards and 2 life guards persuading a very large lady her chair did not belong to her?

Wait! It had to be my face when I gave myself an enema on the Devil's Drop, right?

Oh maybe me screaming and jumping out of the chair as the Bandaid floats onto my foot?

No, it has to be the Lazy River, I think they got my best side when giving teenagers the "Evil Eye."

"Naw," I say, "I've got to save up for the Rollercoaster park!"