County Commissioners - Regular Meeting

June 16th, Carter County Board of Commissioners meeting. Commissioner Moore, will you lead us in the pledge of allegiance? Pledge to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Commissioner Moore. The invitation will be provided by DJ Hunt, pastor of the Marantha Pentecostal Holiness Church in Buffer. Welcome DJ. Let's pray. Gracious heavenly father, Lord, we come to you tonight, God. Lord, we thank you, Lord, for your many blessings upon our county, Father. Lord, as we gather together, Lord, for this meeting tonight, God, Lord, we pray for your direction and your blessings and your guidance over this meeting, Father, tonight, God. Lord, keep our county safe, Lord. Put a hedge of protection around us all, Father. Lord, we love you. We thank you, Lord, for everything that you do. And in Jesus name we do pray. Amen. Amen. In accordance with the state government's ethics act, it is the duty of every board member to avoid both conflicts of interest and the appearance of conflict. Does any board member have any known conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict with any with respect to any matter coming before the board this evening? If so, please identify the conflict and refrain from any undue participation in a particular matter. We're all good with that. I'll entertain a motion to approve the agenda. So move. Second. Motion by Commissioner Shen, seconded by Commissioner Quinn. All in favor? I take a motion to approve the consent agenda. Second. Motion by Commissioner Shen, seconded by Commissioner Moore. All in

favor? Thank you. Next, we'll recognize the April, May, and June recipients of the Jamie Hicks Long Employee of the Month Award. Mr. Nick Wilson. All right. Good evening everyone. Um we're here to celebrate the Jamie Hicks long employee of the month for recipients for the second quarter of 2025. Uh I think we've got one here this evening. So I'm going to run through April and May 1st. Um so we're going to bring with the April honores Britney Ward. Britney serves as an office assistant in the women infants and children or wick uh division at the health department. For those who may not know, WIC provides nutritious foods, healthy eating education, breastfeeding support, and healthc care referrals to pregnant, postpartum, and breastfeeding women, infants, and children up to age five. Britney plays a vital role in ensuring families in Carter County reserve these essential services with warmth, efficiency, and dedication. Britney's commitment to our community really shines through her outreach efforts as she visits daycarees and the Boys and Girls Club and spreads awareness about Wick benefits. Her passion for helping others extends beyond her daily tasks. She's always the first to offer support, whether it's training new staff, promoting teamwork, or creating fair rotation schedules to balance workloads. Known widely as the organization queen, Britney keeps uh the real office running smoothly by maintaining up-to-date forms and resources, ensuring both staff and participants have what they need. Her excellent customer service helps Wick families maximize their benefits, navigate the EBT Edge app, and schedule appointments with ease. But what truly sets Britney apart is her infectious positivity. Her kindness, humor, and uplifting spirit make the workplace brighter for everyone. She embodies the heart of Wick's mission and the values of the health department. So, at this time, please join us in congratulating Britney Ward on this well-deserved honor.

I'll be sure to get that to her tomorrow. So, um, our May honory is, uh, honor is Josie Boyette. She's a library assistant with the Bowford branch with the Carter County Public Library System. Uh, Josie has transformed our adult programming with her popular short story suare and engaging craft workshops, all while keeping our children's programs running strong. Whether it's toddlers at storytime or avid book lovers at our monthly events, Josie has a special way of making everyone feel welcome and engaged within the library's vibrant atmosphere. What really sets Joy apart is her ability to bring people together. She has a genuine talent of finding captivating local speakers from veterans sharing their stories to historians digging into the county's rich past. And when it comes to teamwork, she's always the first to lend a hand and ensure everyone works together smoothly and effectively. Her annual poetry poetry month contest has become something kids and parents eagerly await look forward to each spring. Thanks for our strong partnerships with local schools and both friends of the library. Regular patrons know they can count on Josie to remember their names and interests. That personal touch means so much in our community. Josie represents everything we value at the library. Creativity, dedication, and a genuine care for our patrons. She makes our boat brand branch shine and we're incredibly thankful for her. Let's give all at this time give Josie a big congratulations on this well earned recognition. [Applause] All right. And finally, our June honory. Um we're excited to celebrate Shawn Cherry, countant in the finance department. Day in and day out, Shawn plays an important role in keeping our county's finances running smoothly. From managing online banking and insurance programs to assisting with payroll, she ensures every dollar is accounted for. With precision, professionalism, and a sharp eye for compliance, her thorough work not only meets strict auditing standards, but also helps the entire

finance department and by extension every county department operate more efficiently. Shawn also brings a very positive energy to the workplace, always smiling and happy, which brightens everyone's day. Beyond her spreadsheets, her contributions extend significantly to the workplace safety. She volunteers for county safety committee and goes above and beyond to educate staff. Whether distributing safety flyers, leading fire drill preparations, or creating hands-on prop training props, her efforts that make countywide operations safer for everyone. Sean's dedication to service also extends beyond the office. She is actively involved with the nonprofit organization Island Cat Allies supporting their trap new year return program. This initiative focus on the humane care of feral cats and over the years Island Cat Allies has effectively managed and reduced the feral cat population in both banks, improving their lives of hundreds of cats through regular feeding, vaccinations, medical care, and spaying or neutering. This same thoughtful and dedicated approach characterizes how she serves Carter County every workday. Sean's contribution to financial expertise, commitment to safety, community spirit, and positive demeanor makes her an invaluable team member. So, she is here tonight. So, please join us in congratulating Shawn Cherry on this well-deserved honor. [Applause] Thank you. Of [Music] [Laughter] course, I'm the official fire.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, moving right along. I did forget to mention Commissioner Waldrip uh has an excused absence tonight. She is at the Marine Corps graduation in Paris Island for her godsons and she's she is excused and uh certainly uh we miss her here but that's much uh more important to be with her family. Next we are going to have the recognition of the Croatan lacrosse team for state championship. Commissioner Quinn will present the uh accommodation. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Uh the 2025 high school lacrosse season culumulated in a thrilling victory uh for the Croatan Cougars uh who entered the state championship as the undisputed number one seed with an impressive 20-2 overall season record. Their journey to the uh title was capped by a dramatic 13-12 win over the formidable threetime state champions Lake Norman Charter School. The championship game came down to the wire with just the 20 seconds left. They netted the game-winning goal, securing the Cougars victory. The team's consistent offensive threat for four varsity seasons. Mr. Mache Roth proved his leadership once more as he provided the crucial assist on the game winning goal and finished the game with two goals and three assists. Defensively, Mr. Graham Mars was a brick wall while in goal, making 12 saves and earning him the welldeserved title of state final most valuable player. The championship team was built on experience, boasting 15 seniors. Got a lot lot of work to do next year, coach.

15 seniors. A few of these graduating players will be continuing their lacrosse careers at the collegiate level. Mache Roth is set to play at Lynchberg College. Graham Mars uh will join Lenor Ryan University and Andrew De George is committed to Lander University. The Cougar success is a testament to the long-standing leadership of their head coach George Benson who has been at the helm since the program's inaugural season in 2015. Supported by assistant coaches John Bradley, Bobby De George, and Troy Meyers. I'd like for y'all to join me in congratulating the Croatan Cougars state championship lacrosse team. Come on, take a picture. Did you have any other teammates across the hall or I don't think on vacation. Okay. Yeah, I understand. Summer vacation is all beautiful celebrating. So, a couple of certificates of recognition from the county grace. All right. That's an accomplishment you'll never forget. Awesome job. Congratulations. Thank you. Awesome job. Congratulations, sir. Thank you very

much. Thank you. Those are memories they'll never never take from you. Yeah, you're free to go. You don't sit through this. You are excused. Thank Thank y'all for coming in. Congratulations. We don't want to We don't want to punish you no more than us. Congratulations. All right. If you're in the other room, we've got nine nine seats that opened up. There's two right there in the front. Is there anybody else out there? Chris wants to come in. Okay. Next, we have uh public comment. If you will come to the podium, you'll have three minutes to speak. If you will, for the record, state your name and address. First, we have Tabby Nance. Good evening. My name is Tabby Nance and I have three parcels of land on Laurel Road just north of Bowford. The primary is 400 Laurel Road. A resonian request for a parcel on Laurel Road was made to you several months ago and it was not approved and I thank you for that denial. That same basic request is now coming before you and will be on your July 21st meeting agenda. Jeff Piltchure is again requesting a parcel be reszoned from R15M to B1 conditional use and it is my understanding his plan is to purchase a property contingent upon that resoning. I have spoken with and emailed

Greg Hartman and I appreciate the information he has shared with me. Mr. Piltter's new request is downscaled a bit from his previous request. However, it still requests a change in zoning and if granted, there is no restriction that would prohibit him from returning with another request to add additional development that he initially planned for. There is no moratorum once it's granted. Laurel Road is a busy street yet it remains rural residential agriculture area with family businesses. All of Laur Road is R15 with a very few exceptions. Parker boats on the corner that does not use law road as industrial access. A parcel owned by a church that is vacant. The community college's fire training center and the parcel directly beside the land Mr. Piltchure wants to reszone is owned by the Cors Waterfoul Museum and is in a conservation trust. That seems to be completely against what he is planning to for with his resoning request. Mr. Mr. Pilter's request for this land to be reszoned is not compatible with the family business rural residential and agriculture properties on Law Road. Additionally, I am concerned that a resoning request for this parcel would set a precedent and open that proverbial door for more requests to follow. The county has zoning in place for many reasons. When citizens purchase property in zoned areas, they have an expectation that the zoning will protect them and their investment. On the resoning application, Mr. Piltchure noted that there were horse stables on Law Road. One is mine. I questioned Mr. Hartman about the relevance and was I in any kind of violation and he quickly said no. And he did not know why that was on the application. So I'd like you to consider that when you read that because Mr. Hartman said public and private staples are permitted uses in R15. Thank you for the opportunity to share my concerns with you and I hope you will take my

comments in consideration when you reserve review your uh board packet prior to the July 1st commissioner's meeting when the public hearing on this request will take place. Thank you. Thank you, Miss N. July 21. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, you said first. He's got me scared. I was thinking first. We knew what you meant. Next we have Trey Ryvenbark. Uh Treybar have three parcels on L Road. Um Carter Farm speaking on the same thing Tabby was. Jeff built tried this last year. Went to the planning board. They pretty much shot him down. So we want to commercial property on L road comes back less than a year. Now all of a sudden he come up with some engineer drawings plot plan and they're passing coming y'all next month. Um, two things is no other commercial property on there but Parker boats all the way around the corner and the fire station that's been reszoning that for 40 plus years. Um, road as y'all all know it is low. We all have problem getting rid of water. It floods every storm. It's a regular storm, rain event, whatever. My farm takes the brunt of it on the whole east half of L Road. On his actual plot plan, it shows you existing ditches of me carrying all the water. Um, you know, just like Tabby said, I bought this as a agriculture and R15 zoned area along with other people and we kind of want to keep it that way. Um, I mean, if we're going to keep do conditional zoning, I'm going put Bojangles in a gas station. You know, that's but that's not what it's for. I mean, I could do a lot of stuff in my land. I could put up a 100 post that case, but it's not what we're zoned for. You know, all of us there haven't done anything against our zoning or anything else. So you next month, are you Trey's brother? I am Trey. Oh, no. I'm Joey's brother. Sorry. Sometimes. God bless you.

God bless you. I got it backwards there. Next we have Mr. Zack Brown. Good evening. Zack Brown, 620 L Road, about directly across the street from this area. I just want to echo what Tabby and Trey said. I don't believe that the area is not zoned for it. It shouldn't be changed for. We met last year on this. The president was said that this would be the president. They said don't do it last year. So, I just want to echo that. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Brown. Next, we have Nicolina Merl. Hi, I'm Nicolina Merl. side at 123 Law Road. Um I'm not going to go over the same speech, but I agree with my neighbors. We would like to keep a residential location um and not remain commercial. My husband and I, we do have a business, but we are residential. It's just a place where we park our trucks at. Um we don't do anything further than that. So, I'm in agreement with my neighbors and would like for that not to be resoneed commercial. How'd you get those great numbers for your address? Can't never you can't ever forget that. I know. I can't. Thank you. Next we have Shelley Phillips. So my name is uh Shelley Phillips and I reside at 204 Church Street in Morhead City, North Carolina. Um I'm here tonight and a voice for many of the people in this room. Um I'm come tonight as an advocate. Um I work with a group called United Together Services. Um a nonprofit committed to supporting individuals who are in custody and who have no voice, no advocate and too often no hope. I was asked to speak tonight not only because of the work that we do, but because I am living proof of why what I have to say is so important. I'm also a survivor of a wrongful

conviction. I served 11 months of a 30-month prison sentence before advocate was able to get me released. I currently await a final decision um through a pardon with Alice Johnson, the the pardon Cesar, and currently under the review of President Trump. I continue to use my freedom to fight for those still trapped in a system that has failed them. Since my release, I worked alongside of this team investigating wrongful conviction cases across the country. And tonight, I'm not here to point fingers at anyone, but I am here as a citizen of Carter County. And I am deeply alarmed by what we have found and what is going on. I fully understand that this board of commissioners does not direct criminal investigations nor prosecutions. But what you do control is the funding and the oversight of the local sheriff's department. And that's not a small thing. In fact, it's one of the most powerful tools of accountability that you possess. And with that power comes a duty to ensure that tax dollars are not used to violate the Constitution, deny people their basic rights, or fund a system that lacks transparency and fairness. When we began investigating this case that we were reached out to in Carter County, we believed it to be an isolated concern. But we were wrong. A petition that granted over 500 names in less than 12 hours showed us that the flood of cries for help that followed this were overwhelming. case after case and too many to ignore. All revealing the same pattern of constitutional violations, ignored evidence, questionable witnesses, and apparent disregard for due process. Tonight, I just bring to you attention the case that started all of this was Hugh Willis Jr. A case where this person was convicted in Carter County without any physical evidence, without any credible testimony, and with little apparent regard for presumption of innocence. If any member of this board would like to review any of the details, I am happy to share them with

you. But let me be clear, this is not just about him. It's about the system that if it's left unchecked, threatens the safety, liberty, and dignity of every person in this county. When a justice system abandons fairness, it ceases to be justice at all. And when we ignore its failures, we become complicit in them. And what I'm asking you tonight is not radical. It is well within your authority. I know that you don't decide who's charged and you don't decide who's prosecuted. But you do control the budget and you do have the right to ask questions, to demand answers, and to call for an investigation into practices that may be undermining the very rule of law. No department, especially one funded by public money, should operate without any oversight. No badge, no office, no title should be immune from accountability. And I ask you because I know most of you and I have the utmost respect for all of you. Show the people of Carter County that the Constitution is not optional, that due process is not negotiable, and that this board will not turn a blind eye when there are serious credible concerns that brought to your doorstep about constitutional violations. I thank you so much for your time and allowing me to speak. And more importantly, I thank you for the courage to act on this because I know it would be easier to be silent and let it go. But justice for somebody who sits behind bars with no evidence against them, no credible witnesses, he can't wait any longer. And justice demands more than that. Thank you. Thank you, Shel. Next, we have Mr. Brian Nicolo. Good evening, commissioners, staff. Want to thank you all for your service. Sovereigns, great to see you here tonight. Uh last speaker um was very uh inspirational actually. Uh America has one of the highest incarceration rates of non-violent offenders in the world. So yeah, it's systemic and we need to do

something about it. But I'm here to talk to you about something different tonight and it is about who is Data Republican. All right, Data Republican, she's a patriot. Data Republican is a software engineer. She is also an anonymous data scientist. She runs a website offering tools like grant searches and charity graphs data and she operates this website called data republican.com. Try to remember that she has been doxed she has been threatened. That's why she wants to remain anonymous. So I'm not going to mention her name tonight. But um her work involves using AI to expose government waste. She maps financial connections between officials. The key to her work involves identifying factions, motives, and money. For example, recently we had a nationwide protest. And you wonder who funded it? Who funded the No Kings protest which took place on 14 June 2025. 200 progressive organizations including Indivisible, the ACLU, the American Federation of Teachers, 5051 Movement. They involved private uh donations, non-governmental organizations, federal grants in amount of $1 billion was funneled through this and foreign funding. Some of the private donations incur uh included Christy Walton the Walmart, George Soros of Open Society. The NOS's were used in 2020 to subvert our elections. NOS's were used in um in the invasion. They've funneled and trafficked people to our borders and now we got 20 some million uh undocumented uh people here. Federal grants included uh routed through ACLU, American Federation and foreign entities including 40% of the funding from China which included paid protesters. So they were able to amass in 2100 cities these

protests and in 20 countries. So the funding structure involving multiple stakeholders. However, it makes me think that regardless of the factions, motives, and money involved, the globalists were able to gather a coalition of actors and in some cases chaos. So, I wonder why in U Carter County what it takes to get patriots involved. I don't advocate for violence, but advocate for gathering and coordinating as patriots in the event of unforeseen circumstances where people come to your county and start waving flags, false flags and and ulterior motives behind them. We need to come together as patriots in this county to coordinate. And I suggest you start talking to your neighbors. I'm not fear-mongering here. Just talk to your neighbors. Come up with a plan and then expand from our neighborhoods into the county and come together. I'd like to see us incorporate a citizens grand jury and that would be a first step into coordinating our efforts as a county. Thank you for your time. Thank you, Mr. Nicolo. That's all that has signed up to speak. Would anybody else like to speak? Is there anybody next door? I thought he was going to check next door right quick. Yes, sir. Okay. Next on the list is uh manager's report. Thank you and good evening U. Chairman Chadwick and commissioners. And uh tonight I have a couple of announcements and and things I'd like to give in the manager report. First of all, I'm thrilled to welcome tonight our brand new senior services director. She's here at the meeting and I'm going to embarrass her a little. Her name is

Shellyley Ashley. Would you stand up or wave perhaps and we're very very excited to have her. Um and she will be um making some great improvements over at senior services and we are just thrilled that she's accepted this position here in Carter County. Um also I wanted to remind everyone of our Independence Day closure. It's coming up sooner than you think. Um, in just a week or two, we will be closed all county offices on Friday, July 4th, of course, to celebrate Independence Day. And we hope that everyone will be safe during their celebrations. Please take care. And we of course always have a lot of folks who come visit us down here for Independence Day. So, keep that in mind. Also, our summer reading program at our library uh has officially launched the 2025 program. It's titled Color Our World, and it runs throughout the summer at all five of our library branches. There's something for all ages, so please check it out and get involved this summer. Um and finally, this week at the end of the week, the North Carolina City and County Management Association is actually having their summer conference right here in Bowfort. And um we will have city and county managers from all over the state uh to come down and learn about leadership and discuss important topics for all local governments and to see what a amazing place we have in Carter County. And that's all I have unless you have questions. Thank you. Any questions? Thank you. Next we have appointments. Mr. Chairman, I'd like to nominate the following to the ABC board. Karen Hardesty, Brandon S, Tim McLolin. All right. Motion for the Carter County ABC board by Commissioner Clark. All in

favor of Miss Hardesty, Mr. Su, and Mr. McLaclin. All right, the eyes have it. Next, we have the East Carolina Eastern Carolina Workforce Development Board, Michael Krosinski, reappointment to a two-year term. In favor, Mr. Krosinski. All right, Mr. Krosinski is appointed. Next, we have the Fireman Relief Fund Board, Allison Bents, appointment to a two-year term for the Broad and Graes Gales Creek representative. All in favor of Miss Bent. Next we have the Highway 70 corridor commission. Do we have three appointments for that? Yes, sir. I'd like to table one of those. I got a person interested in that. Can we uh appoint Mr. Patrick Flanigan and our new assistant county manager, Matt Rennell, and hold off on the other one? Yes. All in favor of Mr. Flanigan and Mr. Now, next we have the Carter County Transportation Committee, Patrick Flanigan. All in favor of Mr. Flanigan. Next, we have the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. Uh Pamela Stewart, reappointment to a two-year term. Susan McIntyre, reappointment to a two-year term. What's that? Paul's name. Pauly. this one. Anthony Pulbicki. Anthony Pbicki. Thank you for that because I knew that wasn't a Harker's Island name there, but I was trying to see how I was going to say that. I was dancing around a little bit. I work with Tony at the college. Thank you. We'll just call him Tony. All in favor of Anthony, Susan, and

Pamela. How's that? I could see you were You knew I was going to mess that up. Next, we have the Senior Center Advisory Board, Michael Guden, to a reappointment to a two-year term. All in favor, Mr. Gooden. Next, we have the Caret County Zoning Board of Adjustment, Bradford Owen, appointment to a sitting member of the board for a three-year term. Mr. Owen currently serves as an alternate, so he's moving up to a true member there. All in favor, Mr. Owen. All right. Chairman, a lot of duty tonight. Can I interrupt right quick? Um, I just want to make sure we clean this up the way that you want it and the way the board intends. On the Highway 70 corridor commission, the position that you tabled is actually reserved for the economic development. So, Rod Kirk has to be in that position. All right. Well, we'll put him on there then. All in favor, Mr. Kirk. Yeah. If you would like to um vote again to take one of the other two off to reconsider, we can do that or we can just No, we'll leave them all on there. I know Mr. Benson uh retired for medical reasons and I had a guy that was interested in that, but we'll So, we'll we'll keep that in mind for the next seat. Will that work? Thank you very much. Their staffs, I'm sure they'd be be glad to not be on there if you let them. Nobody shows up to the meeting, so they're looking for more people to be on there to pull from. Mr. Vincent showed up to every meeting. He did. He's Jesse was a good board member. Yes, he was. A very very nice. We can also check to see if they'll accept an alternate to take the place if one of our three can't go. I appreciate that. Next, we have commissioner comment. Mr. Moore, we'll start with you. Well, first of all, I'd like to thank everybody for coming out that spoke this evening. Certainly, there's a a lot of information that needs to be looked at,

reviewed. Um the Jamie Hicks um employee award Britney Ward uh Josie Boette and Sean Cherry. I'd like to congratulate them. Also like to congratulate the um Croatan lacrosse um for state champions. Um hope everybody all the fathers had a great Father's Day yesterday. And that's all I got to say. Thank you, Commissioner Moore. Commissioner Quinn. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um, again, happy Father's Day to all those belatedly. Um, and thank you to the and congratulations to the employees of the month that U. Commissioner Moore named over and also to the Croatan lacrosse team. Before uh we meet again, we will be celebrating July 4th. So, please uh enjoy the time with your family. Enjoy the time celebrating the Declaration of our country's independence. and be safe out there. Uh some folks idea of safe fireworks is to keep it out of the hands of the children and let the adults has been drinking all day uh shoot off the fireworks. So y'all be careful. Uh thank you very much. Thank you, Commissioner Quinn. Commissioner Clark, I'm going to keep it short and just admonish everyone to drive home safely because I think that's a little ugly out there tonight. And uh so we can see you at the July meeting. Thank you, chairman. Thank you, Mr. Clark. Commissioner Shen. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, so I'd like to congratulate the Jamie Hicks, employees of the quarters. Uh, Britney Ward, Josie Boyette, Sean Sherry. I appreciate their dedication and loyalty and hard work and, you know, all they do for for the county. And I just encourage you to keep it up. Um, glad to have you. Want to keep you. Also, I think I got the name

right. Welcome Sher Ashley. Is that correct? Did I get that right? Shelley Ashley. Shelley Ashley. I'm sorry. But, uh, welcome aboard. Um, glad to have you. Um, hope you'll be one of those recipients, uh, in a quarter coming up soon. Uh, Mr. Nicolo, always appreciate your comments coming in every month. U, you do a lot of research and, uh, so much appreciated. um your patriotism doesn't go unnoticed. So, thank you for for for that drive. Um appreciate the the comments from the Laurel Road folks this evening. Uh they certainly got ahead of it this year or or this uh this meeting if they're coming back next with next year. No, month. I'm sorry, I tripped up a little bit. Anyway, they're coming back next month for a public hearing. So, um we'll have to watch and see where that goes. Um, and also I'd like to wish everybody a happy 4th and safe Fourth of July. Uh, and just a little bit of comment on that. You know, um, we've had all over the country and right here in Carter County, we had this we had this no kings protest over the weekend. Uh, I think it rained it out for the most part here. Uh, but you know what? In actuality, every year since 1776, we've had a a No King celebration, not a protest, but a celebration, and it's called the Fourth of July. Um, so I hope everybody will will remember that and take that into account. Um, we live in the greatest nation on the planet and there's absolutely no reason for anybody to be protesting. Uh, if if you don't like what we got going on here, go back to the country you're you're advocating for. Amen. So, with that, Mr. Chairman, I'm done. Thank you. Thank you,

Commissioner Shen. Vice Chairman Mansfield. Mr. Chairman, I don't say too much. I'm embarrassed. Everybody's been so short. So, I'd like I'd like to um keeping the tradition. That's right. Keeping the tradition. I I would like to um before I recognize those uh nice winners have done such a great job for the county, to remember Jamie Hicks, who was a great employee who we lost to a tragic situation. And we do this to honor our employees, but also to honor Jamie. Um, so it's very special for Britney, Josie, and Sean to win those awards in my opinion. Um, and I like to thank all of our employees because we appreciate all that you do. You're the front line. You do all the work. We're just up here on the cameras and not looking pretty either, but we're up here. So, well, well, touche. Um, but I'd like to welcome Shelley also. I mean, I think it it's a great place to work. I think there's some employees sitting in this room that have been here for a long time working for the county and and and they are very valuable and you're going to be very valuable, too. Uh, and we're just glad to have additional assets to our team. Um, and with that, I'd like to wish everybody a happy Independence Day to be safe. everybody have a great summer vacation and congratulate the Croatan lacrosse team because winning a state championship is a memory that those coaches and those children will never forget and it's just one of those valuable moments in your life and I was fortunate enough to have one of those experiences. So, um, God bless everybody. Have a great Fourth of July. Appreciate y'all coming out. Thank you, Vice Chairman Mansfield. I'll be brief as well. Uh yesterday was Father's Day. Hope everybody had a good Father's Day and uh Fourth of July is coming up real soon. I want everybody to be safe. Some people are talking about canceling Fourth of July, but they're not going to cancel my

Fourth of July. I have festivities, I can tell you that. And uh welcome Shelly to the team. Uh you you'll find a good group to work with. Uh got a lot of good things going on in the county and better than it's been in some time in my opinion. Uh, I see a lot of the Willis family here tonight. And uh, we're paying attention and Brian, I don't know if you know Shellyley back there in the background, but how about talk with Shel? She might be able to give her some insight on what to do. But, uh, God bless y'all. And with anything further, anything further to come before the board tonight, I entertain a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Motion by Vice Chairman Mansfield, seconded by Commissioner Quinn. All in favor? Thank you. Y'all have a happy fourth.