Brunswick Beaches Consortium changes name, focus

BOLIVIA, NC (WWAY) — The Brunswick Beaches Consortium has a new name and is going in a new direction. The group, made up of beach town leaders, was meant to raise money for coastal improvement efforts. But there are big changes coming.

Vicki Halloran has been spending summers on Oak Island for years. She says she has seen a lot of changes.

“Well there’s more people finding our paradise,” Halloran said. “The erosion this week you know comes and goes with the water levels you can look down here now and see the dunes are a lot smaller than they are now.”

While beach erosion is often at the forefront of beach management discussions, the Brunswick Beaches Consortium is working on reorganizing right now.

“To point where all the towns are together and we talk about our common issues and our common problems, and that’s what we need this organization for,” Caswell Beach Mayor Pro Tem Deborah Ahlers said.

The consortium is now called Brunswick Shoreline Protection and there are no longer dues or contracts for its members. The changes come after its former chair, Caswell Beach Mayor Harry Simmons, became the center of a financial controversy.

“It’s not having a formal inter-local agreement which we did have in the past, though we operated in informally, but you saw the collaboration that keeps all these communities in Brunswick County together,” Ocean Isle Beach Mayor Debbie Smith said.

There is $50,000 set aside for the Brunswick Shoreline Protection’s efforts but since there are no longer dues, they are exploring other ways to get money. Halloran says she hopes whatever is raised will be well spent for the beaches she loves to visit.

“I generally like to think that there are more effective ways that you can spend money, as opposed to making more money,” Halloran said.

The next Brunswick Shoreline Protection meeting is scheduled for August 20th.