By Outer Banks Voice on November 19, 2024
A Nov. 19 story by investigative reporter Dan Kane of the Raleigh News & Observer reports that six Dare County Commissioners have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury. The story noted the grand jury “recently obtained hundreds of records related to $50 million in state funds for dredging and affordable housing projects.”
The common denominator in those two projects is Jordan Hennessy, who is a top official at EJE Dredging, which owns the Miss Katie dredge working Dare County. He was also a principal of Coastal Affordable Housing LLC, which was the county’s affordable housing partner until the county terminated that relationship back in April.
Back in October, the U. S. Attorney’s office asked the Dare County Commissioners and Oregon Inlet Task Force to provide records for an ongoing federal probe related to, among other things, EJE Dredging and the Coastal Affordable Housing, LLC.
The subpoenas indicated the records should be produced between Oct. 16 and 18. In remarks at the Oct. 7 Dare Board of Commissioners meeting, County Manager Bobby Outten stated that the county and its officials are not “a target” of the investigation.
Dare County Public Information Officer Dorothy Hester has confirmed to the Voice that the commissioners who received the subpoenas to testify are Chairman Bob Woodard, Vice Chairman Wally Overman, Rob Ross, Danny Couch, Steve House and Ervin Bateman. Hester indicated that the subpoenas were received in recent days and some of them require appearances this week and others are for a period in mid-December.
The News & Observer story also notes that “the subpoenas don’t specify what the grand jury is seeking.”
Here is the News & Observer story.Federal grand jury summons six NC county commissioners for secret testimony
Ray
Hmmmmm………to use a line from a book……”….follow the money….”…
Tuesday, Nov 19 @ 6:18 pm
OBX Resident
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for reporting on this matter. County Manager Bobby Outten’s statement that the county and its officials are not “a target” of the investigation is condescending to the citizens of Dare County. This is all about the scrupulous actions of the Board of Commissioners and their relationship with Mr. Hennessy. If any of the Commissioners elect to take the ‘fifth’, and refuse to answer questions to avoid self-incrimination, they need to resign from the Board of Commissioners. They are now going to state they are unable to comment because of an ongoing legal matter and on the advice of their attorney. What outside firm has the County retained for legal counsel? The truth will now come out and it is not going to be pretty.
Njgeorge
Observer link story is behind a pay wall.
I agree follow the money…making.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 3:11 am
Ray M.
What happened here is after Ray Midgett died and the Sentinel failed, no one was watching the board and what they did with all that money. (The visitor bureau is still funded at about 2x that of Virginia Beach, where the heck is that slush going?)
But to the point, as soon as the Voice did the smallest amount of digging, you really helped the people in our community.
I hope that going forward, as you continue to be called a news site, you remember that you serve the people and not the revenue opportunities.
Thank you, good job Mark.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 6:12 am
charlie
the next commissioners meeting should prove very interesting…..
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 6:40 am
Ray M.
I looked for that report Eye on Dare did before he passed about how 95% of the grants given by the VB basically went to cousins and friends and partners of the BOC. Does anyone still have that? It went event by event, check by check.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 7:29 am
About Time
What a relief to see someone is investigating this mess, bc clearly our county commissioners won’t.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 7:56 am
Derek
I thought the dredge was a public private partnership, that Dare county owned part of it?
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 8:43 am
NHJW
What’s especially repulsive, is that it is highly likely that legal counsel in this matter, for each individual commissioner, is paid for by the taxpayers. We are paying, not only for their bad decisions, but for them to defend their bad decisions. Shout out to all the party-line voters who asked for more of this. Holding people in your party accountable for their decisions doesn’t make your “R” any smaller. It’s okay to be a free thinker.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 8:50 am
Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice
We are asking about how legal counsel will be paid for.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 9:36 am
Frank Tillett
Let’s be honest, what the likely outcome? They were just voted in… Won’t be censured or fined or replaced. Nothing is going to happen, and the public doesn’t care.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 8:51 am
lippy
Wow….pleasantly surprised to learn someone somewhere is doing some investigative reporting.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 9:18 am
Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice
Lippy, Dan Kane and the News and Observer has consistently been out in front on this federal probe. He’s done a great job.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 9:37 am
Ray M.
Mark, you kept it in the local eye. The News Observer is a great paper, but please take a second and know that there are a lot of us who really appreciate the work YOU did to cast light on it all.
Thanks.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 10:37 am
Mark Jurkowitz | Outer Banks Voice
Thanks, Ray.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 11:58 am
Jay
Dang I wish we could watch the questioning and testimony of Dare County elected officials.
I’d pay to see Bob Woodard on the stand. Sadly the proceedings are private.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 11:32 am
Nice to see a little light shine on the dark corruption. This whole story smells like a fish house dumpster!
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 12:21 pm
Pay-per-view
I agree with Jay, if they could put it on pay-per-view they could make a fortune.
Some of them may find themselves between a rock and a hard place. The Grand Jury subpoena includes the following statement:
“During your appearance as a witness before the Grand Jury you will be expected to answer all questions asked of you, except to the extent that a truthful answer to a question may tend to incriminate you, and you choose to assert your 5th amendment right. An untruthful answer to any question may be the basis for prosecuting the untruthful witness for perjury. Anything that you say may be used against you by the Grand Jury or may later be used against you in court.”
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 12:32 pm
surf123
Great job Mark. Everyone knows the dredge deal was a crooked as a deal could get. How in the world did we end up with taxpayers and tourists purchasing a dredge and then giving it away to a private company with zero experience. I’d like to see resignations by all involved in this fiasco.
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 1:26 pm
Next?
Will the Currituck BOC’s special use permits for some developers be investigated next?
Wednesday, Nov 20 @ 3:36 pm
Oregon Inlet Task Force ?
I don’t think the US Attorney provides public notice when Grand Jury subpoenas are issued, so the public would not necessarily know about the subpoenas unless the recipient of the subpoenas made that information publicly available. I am wondering if the members of the Oregon Inlet Task Force also received subpoenas to testify in person before the Grand Jury since they were involved in the decision to award the dredge contract to a politically connected bidder with zero experience.
Thursday, Nov 21 @ 1:55 pm
Corolla Citizen
As a Currituck County resident, I always thought this kind of stuff was reserved for us!
Seriously, though, in CC we usually view the Dare BOC as an example of how we’d like our commissioners to work. This is disappointing, to say the least.
Saturday, Nov 23 @ 6:04 am
