Dale Morris stepping down as Head of Resilience and Sustainability; city pivoting towards engineering efforts to defend against rising waters

As Charleston moves toward implementing solutions for resilience efforts, Dale Morris has decided to step down from his position. Morris has served the city for almost three years and has been a leading advocate in making rising water and resilience a top priority of the city. Morris’s department also housed sustainability efforts and previously the Emergency Management Department before organizational changes were made to increase accountability and responsiveness.

“I am incredibly grateful for Dale’s service to Charleston and the opportunity to work with him. 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. While I am sad to see him go, we are at a natural dividing point between policy and action.  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,” said Mayor William Cogswell.

The City of Charleston is working on several initiatives across 16 drainage basins across our city that will protect our residents against flooding.  More announcements about the specifics of these efforts and the future of this position will be forthcoming in the very near term.