Saving the Town
On August 15th in 1991, residents in Orchid received a letter informing them a foreclosure suit was filed, because Robert Haines III faced financial hardship. Development in Orchid came to a halt and its future was momentarily uncertain. The facilities of the Orchid Island Golf & Beach Club were closed and security services at the gated community became minimal.
The Town Council continued to meet on a regular basis, nonetheless. The Mayor Robert Haines IV reassured residents with the words “We are here as a town, regardless of (what happens with) the developers.” However, he did add that “The Town’s property owners would be well advised to keep someone looking out for their holdings.”
At the final budget hearing that year, the Town’s incorporation came under threat. Representative Charles Sembler was considering introducing a bill to abolish Orchid as a Town. His reasoning regarded what he saw as a developer controlled Town Council, which he spoke of at the County Commission meeting a week prior to Orchid’s final budget hearing. He was particularly concerned about the Councilmembers who lived in trailers provided by the developer in Orchid.
Bob and Sally Sibson, who were early property owners in the Town, along with property owners Dan and Ann Zugelter, started a “Save the Town” initiative. This mail and telephone campaign encouraged Orchid’s property owners to contact Representative Sembler. The Town’s residents expressed their negative reactions to the proposed bill that would abolish the Town of Orchid. They had an ally in County Commissioner Dick Bird, who favored keeping Orchid as a municipality, because the “development can market itself better and the residents can control their own destiny.”
Orchid resident Ted Leonsis pointed out that the Town’s Council had never had a true property owner on the council, since the developers had bought the Town years before. He suggested that this was probably another reason Sembler was considering abolishing Orchid. By the end of September, on the 29th, Ted Leonsis and Lynn Velde were the first property owners appointed to the Council in years. It wasn’t long until the former was selected as Mayor and the latter as Vice-Mayor. Velde explained that he was not on the board "to shake anything up, but I want it to be a legitimate board. We're working for the town, not the developers. At this point, my agenda is to learn all I can about the Town of Orchid, to see how we can, as a board, straighten out a few of the problems they've had in the past and make this into a lovely little village."
The addition of these two new Councilmembers brought the number of Councilmembers to five for the first time since the developers had bought the Town. Despite the Town’s Charter calling for a five-strong Council, it had been operating with just three Councilmembers until this time.
Bob Sibson made Representative Sembler aware of this shift from developer to citizen control in the Town. Ultimately, Representative Sembler’s proposal to the County Commission failed and Town of Orchid remained a municipality.
