Charleston's chief resilience officer, Dale Morris, resigns (2024)

Dale Morris, Charleston's chief resilience officer, announced on June 11 that he is stepping down from his position at city hall.

Morris has led the city's resilience office since September 2021, when he was hired by then-Mayor John Tecklenburg. In that role, Morris spearheaded the city's efforts to adapt to a changing climate and sea-level rise through new infrastructure projects and long-term planning efforts. His last day will be June 21.

“I am incredibly grateful for Dale’s service to Charleston and the opportunity to work with him," said Mayor William Cogswell in a statement released June 11. "From the original Dutch Dialogues and Climate Action Plan to the upcoming Water Plan, Dale’s background in economics and policy has been instrumental in bringing attention to our city's flooding problems and he has helped facilitate ideas on how to defend against rising waters."

Before coming to Charleston, Morris spent more than 24 years as a senior economist for the Royal Netherlands Embassy. In that role, he traveled with a Dutch team to New Orleans for the post-Hurricane Katrina redevelopment operations.

"It was a moment where I felt a shift in my career," he said in an interview with the Charleston District of the Army Corps in 2022. "From this point on, I transitioned from solely looking at economic policy to leveraging my economic background to work on climate change, adaptation and flood risk mitigation."

His expertise was invaluable to Charleston as the city reckons with the threat of rising waters, some have said. And his departure has raised concerns about how city officials will pursue climate change mitigation.

“Dale Morris came to Charleston at a pivotal moment in time, and his leadership helped the city begin taking steps to address the existential challenge of rising sea levels and flooding,” Faith Rivers James, executive director of the Coastal Conservation League, wrote in a statement. “It is our hope that this critical work will continue well beyond his tenure.”

Morris was invited by Tecklenburg to join the city staff three years ago after Morris collaborated with the city on the Dutch Dialogues process in 2019. At that time, he was with the Water Institute, a nonprofit focused on water issues and climate change adaptation. The Dutch Dialogues aimed to lay a foundation for the city to address a changing climate and its impacts and inspired the forthcoming Comprehensive, Integrated Water Plan, another Morris-led project. That plan is expected to be released this summer, said Logan McVey, the city's chief policy officer.

"While I am sad to see him go, we are at a natural dividing point between policy and action," Cogswell said in his statement. "I am excited to focus on tangible solutions for our growing water issues, and I believe now is the time for engineers to take the lead in building the necessary improvements to protect our residents and their properties."

Residents can expect to learn more about the city's initiatives to address flooding, as well as the chief resilience officer position in the "very near term," the press release stated. Morris did not respond to requests for comment before deadline.

In a conversation with Post and Courier columnist Steve Bailey, Morris reportedly expressed concerns about the city’s recently announced reorganization which he felt was a “diminishment of my role.” Cogswell shuffled city departments May 23, which was "the first substantial update to the city's organizational chart in nearly half a century," according to a press release.

Morris has been an outspoken supporter of the controversial sea wall proposal for downtown Charleston. That project, a partnership between the Army Corps of Engineers and the city, would wrap a roughly $1.3 billion sea wall around about eight miles of the peninsula. Charleston would be on the hook for about $300 million of that project, with the federal government and certain credits covering the remainder.

Cogswell has expressed skepticism of that project, citing — among other issues — its cost, efficacy and potential to be an eyesore. The wall would protect high-value peninsula neighborhoods, not West Ashley, James Island or Daniel Island. On the campaign trail last fall, Cogswell endorsed combining the sea wall proposal with the ongoing tidal and inland flooding study, a Morris-led project with the Army Corps that will address flooding issues across the city, The Post and Courier previously reported.

Cogswell spoke at a May 13 forum hosted by the Historic Charleston Foundation, voicing concerns about the wall's aesthetics and stated his support for extending the High Battery around the peninsula, The Post and Courier previously reported.

The resignation has raised eyebrows from some involved in conservation and climate change resilience.

“Dale has been doing extremely consequential work, and he has been balancing a lot of things and working on a very large time scale, so I certainly hope that the city will smoothly pick up the reins,” said Belvin Olasov, director and co-founder of the Charleston Climate Coalition.

Olasov noted this work included “taking sea-level rise seriously,” advocating for nature-based solutions and maintaining a good relationship with the federal government. As for the future of the resilience efforts Morris has spearheaded, Olasov said he has confidence in Charleston’s ability to adapt to climate change.

“My hope and expectation for this administration is that they take the climate crisis seriously, in terms of active mitigation, reducing emissions and adaptation — planning for our climate future,” Olasov said.

The departure of the city's resilience officer comes as Charleston confronts the challenge of sea levels predicted to rise more than a foot by 2050, warming waters that fuel more powerful, less predictable hurricanes and aging infrastructure that can't keep up with a changing climate.

Charleston Harbor hit a "moderate" flood stage a record 27 times last year. The city has seen a 3,650 percent increase in overall flooding events over the past century.

This is the second big leadership shakeup at city hall in recent months. Ben Almquist, the emergency management director, resigned from his role March 15, after which the city's emergency management team was merged into the fire department.