Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

for the varieties of service and skills that make a community, for the many customs of our family, for the many customs of our national heritage. Forgive us that we think that our favorite is your favorite, that you created all. And that as hard as it is for us saying that we love one child more than another, you love all of your creation. We lift up this day a nation and we lift up our president, a governor, a chairman of commissioners. We pray with that you would meet with them in their personal and their governmental needs. Give them wisdom to speak and give decisions that go us forward for the best, better angels of our nature. We pray for all in elected office, for those who sit before us here, those in Raleigh and in Washington. We pray that you would meet with each one of them, that their lives to be good for us all. We pray for those who serve us. We remember people, those in the armed services and particularly those in harm's way in different parts of the world. And we pray for their families who wait for them and those who grieve their injuries and their deaths. We lift up the people among us with whom we live and work and play. We give you thanks for those who visit us in this season of the year. And many who have been coming year on year. We lift up families who have lived here for generations. And those who have recently moved to call their county home. We lift up children just beginning to crawl and walk, beloved grandchildren. We also lift up the aged among us, the source of wisdom and encouragement. We lift up those who serve us in government, in law enforcement, in the agencies represented here this day. and particularly those who receive certificates of commendation and service. We also pray for those who travel each day from other counties to come and serve us, stocking shelves, waiting on tables, tending bar, and serving the public. We thank you, O God, that your wisdom and your love expands far beyond what we can imagine and even speak of now. But we praise you that you are much greater than we are and that your ways are not our ways. We thank you for the wisdom of the aged that we hear right now of the ages and that we hear now of the beloved Psalms. of who you tell us you are. Arise, O Lord, lift up thy hand. Forget not the afflicted. O Lord, thou wilt hear the cry of the weak, thou wilt strengthen their heart, thou wilt incline thy ear. Do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed so that humans who are of the earth may strike terror NO MORE. LORD, WEIGH US IN THE BALANCES OF YOUR MERCY, BUT HELP US THAT WE WOULD ASK THAT YOU WEIGH OTHERS IN THE SAME BALANCE THAT WE WOULD BE WEIGHED. THIS IS OUR PRAYER, O GOD. AMEN.

AMEN. THANK YOU, REV. MAY WE STAND FOR THE PLEDGE. I'D LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING FOLKS FOR BEING WITH US THIS MORNING. WE HAVE DARRELL COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION CHAIRMAN DAVID TWITTY IS HERE WITH US THIS MORNING. DAVID, THANK YOU FOR BEING HERE. WE ALSO HAVE THE VICE CHAIR, RON PAYNE. RON, THANK YOU. AND WE ALSO HAVE BOARD MEMBER JUSTIN BAITMAN. THANK YOU ALL FOR BEING HERE THIS MORNING. I WILL TURN THE MEETING BACK OVER TO COUNTY MANAGER.

Mr. Chairman, commissioners, item one on our agenda is the chairman's opening remarks.

Okay, just have a couple of things this morning. As normal, I love to start with a little humor. I heard about this kindergarten teacher that she was having an art session in the class one morning. And while she was doing that, she was walking around the classroom, and she was looking at her children, you know, drawing pictures. And she noticed this one little girl was drawing so intently, she walked over to her and asked her what she was drawing. And, of course, the little girl said she was drawing a picture of God. And the teacher kind of laughed a little bit, and she said, oh, honey. Nobody really knows what God looks like. This little girl without missing a beat said, they will in a minute. I know you've all been watching intently about our beach nourishment program and Avon and Hatteras and Avon. That at Avon's complete. They've moved on to Buxton and on July 31st, the first day, OF WORK BEGINNING IN BUXTON, AND IT'S UNBELIEVABLE HOW FAST GREAT LAKES HAS MOVED. IF YOU'VE SEEN RECENT PICTURES IN A NEWSLETTER WE JUST PUT OUT, THEY'RE JUST MOVING AT UNBELIEVABLE PACE. I JUST WANTED TO SHARE A COUPLE OF KEY ITEMS ABOUT THAT, WHAT'S HAPPENING IN BUXTON. THEY'VE HAD TO Hopper Dredge, Liberty Island is here, and they're going to mobilize approximately 2 million cubic yards of beach along about 15,500 feet. That's 2.9 miles of shoreline between Haulover Day Use area and the end of Old Lighthouse Road, and they're right now moving with lightning speed. Nourishment is coming from a bar pit located about two or three miles offshore. And the construction activities typically will affect individual oceanfront properties for approximately about two to three days with crews advancing about two to three hundred feet per day and once the work moves beyond that section the beach is generally reopened within a 24-hour period so i'm told that about mid-august great lakes will have a second dredge here so this project will really really move fast and if you've seen some photos online it's just incredible the amount of work that great lakes is doing and we're grateful to have them as a partner to do the nourishment program for us the last thing i'd like to talk to you about uh present i want to present a certificate of appreciation this morning i want to recognize one of dare county's own now when i say this this gentleman has only been on the job for two months so it tells you the incredible personnel that we have on on that work for us in dare county as well as the incredible people that we hire And this is Matt Kellum with the Public Works Department, and he serves as an equipment operator at the CD Landfill in Man's Harbor. He came on board May the 26th, been on board two months. This is the kind of people we hire and the kind of people that work for Dare County that's totally incredible. I received an email from Commissioner Burris via Kenny Meekins, who wanted to make us aware of Matt's extraordinary action while at the beach in Nags Head on July the 11th. According to Mr. Meekins, Matt was spending the day with his wife, Haley, and their two children when a woman approached them for help after her three children, three children became caught in a rip current with no lifeguard immediately nearby. Matt didn't hesitate for one minute. With Haley's assistance, bringing him a boogie board to aid in the rescue, Matt safely brought all three children back to shore. Mr. Meekins shared that about his rescue, and Matt and Haley showed incredible courage and selfishness, placing the safety of others above their own that day. Mr. Meekins wrote that Matt and Haley would never mention it to anyone themselves and that he felt it was important to Dare County to know about their actions. He also shared that Dare County should be proud to have young adults like Matt and Haley in our community, which we very well are. Matt, on behalf of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, thank you for your bravery, your quick thinking, your willingness to help others in a moment of need. Your actions exemplify the very best of our community, and we are honored to present you with a certificate of appreciation and resignation. I'll get it right in a minute. Recognition of your heroic actions. You're an outstanding example of public service. So if you'll meet me down front, I'll present this certificate to you. You take care of the landfill as good as you take care of our services? I know you do. This is incredible, folks. Two months on the job. This is the kind of human beings and people that we hire to work for us in Darrell County. I could not be more grateful and thankful to you, Matt, for what you do. This is really, really awesome. This is a certificate of appreciation, Matt, and it says in grateful recognition, of your extraordinary exemplary courage, selflessness, heroic actions in rescuing three children caught in a rip current off the beach in Ags Head on July the 11th, 2026. The Darrow County Board of Commissioners salute you for your exceptional character, courage and willingness to place the well-being of others above your own. Your heroic actions exemplify the highest ideals of public service and reflect the compassion, integrity and dedication that defines the very best of the values that strengthen our community. Congratulations to you. Let's get one with his wife. Thank you so much.

okay county manager i'll turn the meeting back over to you and that brings us to item two on the agenda this is our service pins each month we recognize people for their years of service today we we had 90 years of service on here one of our people couldn't be here so we've got 80 years of service that we're going to recognize this morning and we'll start if robert preston would come forward to get receive his tenure pin from josh coltrane

Welcome this morning, gentlemen. Good morning, commissioners, county manager.

Today I'm privileged to present Robert Preston with his 10-year service pin. A little about Robert. He's a local from Deer County, grew up in Nags Head, graduate of Emanuel High School. Robert's an avid surf fisherman, likes to surf. Most weekends you'll find him at the beach hanging out with his kids, loves to fish for drum. Speaking of his kids, him and his wife Angela have two kids. His son Sean's an incoming freshman at First Valley High School, and his daughter Anya is going to be an incoming freshman at UNCW this fall. I know he's got a lot of emotions there. He's kind of anxious, excited, kind of all of the above there when you take your oldness off to college. Prior to working with Derrick County, Robert worked in the oil industry. He worked on the boats off the Gulf Coast, and he's got some great stories there. It's kind of like the old Clint Eastwood movie. You got the good, the bad, and the ugly, and he's got stories about all of it. So if you ever see him out sometime, ask him about those, because he's got some really good stories, and we shared some Great laughs about that. Prior to joining EH, or excuse me, when he joined EH, he worked primarily with our food and lodging program, inspecting the restaurants and motels. He's obtained five different authorizations. He can inspect schools and childcare centers, tattoo establishments, commercial swimming pools, and also onsite wastewater. And this is kind of where he spends most of his time now working with our large engineered advanced pretreatment systems. uh he's had a leading role dealing with the uh washouts on hatteras island you know he has weekly contact with the park service make sure we stay on top of any new issues there he's kind of been my right hand man anything i asked him to do yeah i know he's going to take care of it i don't have to worry about it takes a lot of pressure off of me and it's been a great 10 years i look forward to the next 10. thank you robert your tremendous asset to environmental health in derrick county congratulations

Thank you. Next, if Marge Stauffer would come forward to receive her 10-year pin from Stacey Ambrose.

Welcome this morning.

Thank you for having us. I'm happy to recognize Marge for her 10-year pin. She's the finance officer for the airport. She's the kind of employee that everybody would love to She's quarter till every morning, beats me to work, always in a good mood, treats everybody with a smile, sees everybody with a smile on her face. A little bit about Marge. She oversees nine grants that we have, working with the FAA and NCDOT. She's the clerk to the airport authority. She collects monthly billing, 55 hangers, 40 trailers, so a lot going on there. She's completed several classes at UNC School of Government and Finance. Pending a upcoming exam, she'll be the certified board officer. And one thing the airport has out there is we've got a cemetery that a lot of people don't know about. And she has to sell plots, crips, niches to people that come in. at a time when it's a tough time for people so she does really well with that and uh she treats them with compassion and respect and she's got a positive attitude her commitments made a lasting impact over the last decade she's not only a great employee but she's she's a good friend and uh i'd like to thank marge for everything she's done at the airport the last 10 years that's it well thank you

Thank you. Next, if Chuck Albright would come forward to receive his tenure pin from Jenny Collins.

Good morning.

Good morning and welcome.

I'd like to introduce Mr. Chuck Albright here. who is a paramedic with us. Chuck very much like, I'll just, cause I'm included in that, that generation started in EMS because of the show Emergency. That started his interest in it. He was in Illinois at the time. He actually got into a cadet program that you could get into at the age of 16. He got his EMT. Actually, he and I share the same year that we got our EMT, which is 1982. He went on to get his paramedic in 87 and became a flight medic with Arivac Life Team from the years of 1994 to 2004. And then he had several jobs. I know that when he moved to North Carolina and when we interviewed him, he was working in a hematology. So he's been with us for 10 years now, and he's also one of our field training officers that we pair new paramedics with as they learn to cut their teeth on the street. So he has a total of over 44 years with an EMS, which is very unusual that you still find people with that amount of time. His off-duty interest, he does like to travel a lot. They have a 45-foot motor home that they do. But Chuck has many EMS folks. I'm waiting for him to form an EMS band. He is a musician. He's a drummer. And he was with a group. You can Google him. Look at 2015 of the band called the Killer Pimps. You will find them. They're a great cover band for the 80s and 90s music, and Chuck is on the drums. So, Chuck, thank you for 10 years of service with us, and look forward to many more. Thank you. Thank you.

Next, if Dustin Rasmus would come forward to receive his 20-year pin from Jessica King.

Welcome this morning.

Good morning. This morning, I have the pleasure of presenting Dustin with his 20-year pin. Dustin is the South Distribution Field Supervisor for the Dare County Water Department. When Dustin took over as the supervisor and we started to work more closely together, it was a breath of fresh air. He took over a division that needed a lot of attention. Not only did he give the job the attention that it deserved, he was also a pleasure to work with while doing it. He can always be counted on to be professional and courteous, and he has gained the respect of his employees, and he's also gained many compliments from the community. These reasons are also why he received Employee of the Month last fall. Dustin's immediate supervisor has said, Dustin is a huge asset to me. He took over the system down south and I haven't had to worry about it. He gets it done. He keeps his staff happy and work gets completed. a good example of how hard he works is old lighthouse road in buxton with all of the storms that knocked out water mains he would get them repaired almost instantly only to have another storm come through a week later and knock it out again there were only a few houses that remained out of service for longer than a day i have confidence in his knowledge of the entire system congratulations dustin 20 years and i look forward to as many more as i can get

And then finally, if Pam Midgett would come forward to receive her 30-year pin from Matt Hester.

Welcome this morning. This is Pam Midgett. She is my admin assistant in the IT department, but that really doesn't cover everything that she does for us. From helping us reset passwords, to get people straight on their computers, picking up slack and things that fall through the cracks on a daily basis. Pam is like my right hand person to and go to for things that just, you know, kind of get done without me asking. And I can't be more appreciative of that one. One of the things that she does that probably nobody knows about is the addresses in the county. So she's responsible for assigning addresses on all of unincorporated there, which includes you know, unincorporated towns and Hatteras Island. So if you ever need an address question, she's your she's your person, because I do not understand how it works at all. She's kindly explained it to me three or four times, and I still don't know how it works. But she's got it down. And that's all that matters to me. So Pam, congratulations on your 30 years. And thank you so much.

brings us to our employee of the month we have two we have our july employee this month now and then we'll do our our august one for our july employee of the month and gordon price would come forward to make that presentation um morgan come up here with me

Welcome, guys. He didn't know anything about this.

So it's an honor to be here to present this award to a well-deserving person. I've known Morgan most of my adult life. We actually worked together a long time ago on construction jobs when I was working for my dad and we were building houses and he was wiring them up. He's always been a hard and dependable worker. In his nomination, they stated that they submit a lot of work orders and it seems like that Morgan shows up for a big portion of them. And I'd say there's a lot of people that probably feel the same way in different departments around. He never complains. When I really pile the work orders on him to a point that I feel like I need to apologize, he tells me there ain't no problem, keep them coming. um he really brings a lot to the table he's an electrician however he'll jump in and help with anything else that our department's responsible for from concrete helping matt with his i.t jobs appliances plumbing pretty much anywhere else that he's needed he jumps in and never complains He makes the most out of each day, pushing the time clock to the limits. A lot of times when I'm there to leave at five, I find myself sitting, waiting for him to show up because he's trying to finish that last job. Never complains about sacrificing his time. He's very resourceful when it comes to old and obsolete, hard to find parts. He sticks with his job and does whatever he does to have it, to get it done. He's a very hard worker and a great asset to our team. We're lucky to have him. Thank you, Morgan.

And our employee of the month for August will be presented by Mandy Ferguson.

Good morning.

Good morning, commissioners, chairman, county manager, how are you? Anna, can you come up? So despite efforts to try and surprise Anna with her family, as you may know, it is very challenging to surprise an elementary school nurse. Anna was aware that she was being awarded this this morning, but I would like to tell you a little bit about her. So this morning, I have the honor of recognizing our August employee of the month and sharing a little about her. Anna Miller began her career with the county April of 2017, and she's been a valued member of our team for the past nine years. When I joined the team, Anna was one of the very first people to reach out to welcome me, and she has never stopped. This is just who she is. More importantly, she didn't just do that for me, she does it for every new team member who joins our team. Throughout her time with the county, Anna has consistently demonstrated kindness, dedication, and unwavering commitment to both her students and her colleagues. In addition to the care she provides for her own students, Anna is also a mentor to many of our elementary school nurses, helping them with their own classroom education. Anna has stepped up to lead in many areas and often is the first to volunteer when something needs to be done. For example, if we ever need a county car moved from Hatters to Manio or Manio to Hatters, Anna usually is the first to raise her hand to volunteer often saying, I was going to head that way anyway, no worries. I don't in fact think she was ever headed that way. The simple statement just perfectly captures her willingness to help out without expecting anything in return. One of her colleagues shared these words, Anna has been incredible lifeline since I started. She's a dependable team member who continually shows kindness and a positive attitude. She's always willing to answer questions and assist others while showing up every day for the kids at her school. Anna, thank you for the care that you showed to your students, the encouragement you give to your coworkers, and the positive example you set every day. Your dedication doesn't go unnoticed, and we're really fortunate to have you as part of our team. Congrats on being named August Employee of the Month. This recognition is well deserved.

before we go to public comment those of you that received an award of recognition this morning please go out through this door so that caitlyn can get a picture he's walking

Thank you.

And that's the People for Bright Speed presentation.

Ladies and gentlemen, now's the time that's been set aside for public comment. If you have public comment this morning, raise your hand. I'll recognize you. When I do, please come to the podium, state your name and where you're from. Please limit your comments to five minutes. There's a green light on the podium that'll come on when you begin. There's a y'all light that'll come on when you have about a minute left. And when the red light comes on, you need to conclude your remarks. I do have a sign-up sheet, and the first person I have is Michael Roberts. Michael Roberts here. I'm sorry? You're with Brightspeed, okay, that's fine. How about Charles, is it Albright? All right. Nicole Hassel-Leigh.

Good morning.

Good morning.

Mr. Chairman and members of the board, thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak today. Mr. Chairman, before I begin, I want to share something very personal. I had the great privilege of taking care of your sweet mother years ago. What I have to share today concerns not only the murder of my son, but my family's treatment as crime victims and matters of public safety that I believe are important to every citizen of Derrick County. I have called Derrick County my home for over 20 years, and I am so very proud to stand before you and say that I am the mother of St. Thomas Hughes. This past year has tested me in ways that I never believed possible. It has also forced me to take an honest look at my own words and actions. Last year in my grief, I publicly called for the resignation of several people of public trust. Today, I stand before you to acknowledge that one of those individuals should have never been included in my criticisms. That person is our Sheriff Doug Doughty. Sheriff Doughty has shown a level of integrity, I'm sorry, forgiveness, compassion, and empathy that cannot be matched. I pray that the district attorney and his office and the Kilova Hills Police Department learn something from the example he has set. Sheriff Doughty has embodied the values of professionalism, transparency, and respect. I've learned that real character isn't revealed when people praise you, it's revealed when they're angry with you. Sheriff Doughty met my grief with understanding. When I later approached him with a youth safety initiative that I had been working on, he didn't hold my passwords against me. He listened with an open mind, offered his support, and treated me with a kindness that I had not yet earned. I have always believed that when you're wrong, you own it, and I was wrong. I'm sorry doesn't erase the words that I spoke or the hurt that I may have caused, but I hope it reflects the respect and gratitude that I have for Sheriff Doughty. I would like to thank him for his grace, leadership, and service to this community. Dare County has been blessed to have him His retirement will leave a holster that most could not wear or be filled. He will be truly missed. Over the past decade, I've had the honor of serving this community as a certified nursing assistant. My career has allowed me to know Dare County in a way that few people ever will. I've learned so much from being a caregiver here, like how to overcome storms that seem endless and also how not to judge others and have forgiveness for things that most people would not. By no means am I a saint, and I will never claim to be, but I am only human. My greatest accomplishment in this life is being the mother to the four most extraordinary children that God could create. I am blessed beyond measure. It has been one year since Zane was called home by our Lord. One year that my family has had to live without his love and light. One year that I have had to watch my children and my husband feel pain that they should have never had to experience. And one year that Dare County has had the privilege of carrying the name of one of its newest legends. I come before you today to inform each of you As commissioners entrusted with serving the people of Deer County of the extraordinary obstacles and injustices that my family has endured, I also come to bring to your attention what I believe are continuous crime victims rights violations and serious public safety concerns that deserve this board's immediate attention. Yesterday, the first part of a docu-series was released and no way was it released to make Dare County look bad. It was not made to seek sympathy, attention or revenge. It was created to document my family's journey to preserve the truth and to shine light on problems that cannot be fixed if no one is willing to acknowledge them. Contrary to popular belief, I've always maintained a profound respect for the rule of law because I believe no one is above it and no one should be beneath its protections. North Carolina law recognizes me and my family as victims of a violent crime and promises us specific rights and protections. Those rights were supposed to provide dignity, information, participation, and a measure of justice. Instead, my rights as a crime victim had been repeatedly, and in my view, egregiously violated by the very people entrusted to uphold and enforce them. Since Zane was murdered, my family and I have had to fight for rights that the law already guarantees crime victims while also fighting to uncover true facts about what happened from the Kill Devil Hills Police Department and our district attorney's office. On the day of my son's murder, Assistant Police Chief Harris announced during a press conference that a weapon was found. As that statement was presented, it left the public with the impression that the murder weapon had been recovered. To this day, it is not. That distinction mattered, and failing to make it clear created confusion for both my family and the community. I would like everyone to know that this is not sensitive information, and it was only disclosed to the public after Kittleville Hills Police Department knew that I was aware of this fact. A district attorney's duty is to uphold the law and protect victims' rights. Instead, I received missed notifications, unanswered emails, and was never notified of one suspect's bond reduction hearing, denying me the opportunity to be present and heard. Since his release, my family and I have unexpectedly encountered him twice. I should not have to worry about grocery shopping with someone who is charged with first degree murder, especially murdering my son. I would also like to inform this board that the Kittleville Hills Police Department and the District Attorney's Office were well aware of allegations involving the manufacturing or possession and possession of illegal firearms by Mr. Hargis, including illegal conversion devices long before my son's murder. Those circumstances raised serious questions about whether opportunities existed to intervene before Zane was killed and whether those opportunities were missed. Public safety is not measured by how we respond after tragedy. It is measured by our willingness to recognize warning signs, intervene when the law allows, provide meaningful mental health resources and protect our communities and also victims before and after violence occurs. I wish I had the time to share all of the evidence that I have uncovered since last year, but I hope you will leave here knowing this, the information I have reviewed raises serious concerns that illegal firearms and conversion devices are a much larger problem in Dare County and the surrounding areas than anyone could imagine. My final request is simple. conduct an independent review of the issues I raised today, the prevalence of the illegal firearms here in Dare County, the availability of mental health resources, the administration of crime victims' rights, and whether a certain police department and our juvenile justice system and the district attorney's office are protecting and serving our community. These issues deserve careful scrutiny and meaningful action. Zane always said, always try to do better than the day you did before. I ask each of you to join me in living by those words. Together we can build a safer Derrick County because our children and our community deserve nothing less. Thank you.

Thank you. Is there anyone else here would like to speak at public comment this morning? Any public comment from Buxton?

public that mr chairman we closed the public comment and all right bobby before we move to the next item uh um overlooked to uh individuals that are here with us today and that is uh school board superintendent steve bass night steve thank you for being here and also um sheriff elect rolls thank you for being here this morning as well

thank you mama all right that brings us to item five on the agenda this is a presentation from bright speed uh steve brewer's here uh at our request as you recall we had some discussions at last at our last meeting and we invited him to come and he's agreed to be here and so with that i'll turn it over to you steve and and your team and

Mr. Brower, thank you for being here this morning. Mr. Chair, Commissioners, thank you for allowing me to speak today. My name is Steve Brewer. I am Director of Governmental Affairs for Bright Speed. Joining me today are Heather Hallmark, Manager of Regional Operations, Mike Roberts, Supervisor Regional Operations, and Shannon Flaherty, Government Affairs and Community Relations Manager. I was asked to come here and speak with you today regarding a recent outage that occurred in this community and then to provide some information on what we're doing to enhance our network here in Dare County. But before discussing the technical details of the recent outage, I wanted to start by acknowledging the impact they had on the Dare County community. We understand that reliable communication service is not a convenience, it's essential infrastructure. Residents depend on it to stay connected with family and friends, businesses depend on it to conduct their businesses, and of course public safety depend on it when people are in need. We know the July 5th outage created real challenges, particularly for local businesses during one of the busiest weekends of the year. We heard those concerns and understand the frustration that residents and business owners who are unable to communicate and do business. While the initial failure occurred within the long haul transport network operated by one of Bright Speed's third party providers, our customers experienced it as a Bright Speed outage. We take that responsibility seriously and we're committed to learning from the event and continuing to strengthen the network here in Dare County. So what exactly happened? The outage was ultimately traced to a failure with the long haul transport network operated by one of Bright Speed's third party providers. The failure involved equipment responsible for managing communications traffic across the network. While the physical fiber itself remained intact, the equipment responsible for directing directing traffic across the network failed that and then the company also lost communication with that equipment that failed once it was determined that the original transport equipment could not be recovered our third party provider migrated traffic to alternative equipment and services were restored on july 7th at approximately 7 50 p.m Bright Speed and Third Party Provider are conducting a comprehensive review of the occurrence to identify opportunities to improve monitoring, fault isolation, and restoration procedures. Again, this was an extraordinarily unusual event. Heather, who I introduced earlier, has been on the operations side of the business for over 28 years and has never experienced an outage of this type before. So it was an extraordinarily unusual event. On July 28th, I wanted to also acknowledge an interruption that occurred. due to a fiber cut in the vicinity of our WAVES North Carolina central office that lasted approximately nine hours. That outage again had a different cause and that was an actual fiber cut. The fiber cut was caused by a contractor and it disrupted communication services to the south of the cut, down the outer banks and into open cut. Although the cause of these two outages were different, we recognize that customers experience the same outcome, which is a loss of service. This particular event also reinforces the importance of creating redundant transport. Had the proposed submarine connection between Ocracoke and the mainland that I have spoken to this body before about had that been in place, communication services could have been rerouted, substantially reducing or eliminating the service interruption. Many customers, in fact, would likely not have realized that at all. So those are the two outages that have recently occurred. And again, I was asked to also speak about what we are doing to enhance the network here in this county. But before I move to that point, I wanted to see if there were any questions regarding the outage.

I got one. Go ahead. I'm sorry. Excuse me. When someone cuts a fiber, like an independent contractor, is there a fine that's levied against that individual?

that varies so the state of north carolina does have an underground prevention process so um and then as part of that process and and i don't know it uh intimately but as part of that process there is a review board that can assess fines that board reviews where the locates done correctly where the Were the markings still in place? Did the excavator use do care? There's a number of things that they evaluate. But yes, there can indeed be fines.

Because you know that's not an isolated thing that happens.

Yes, sir. I mean, it happens all the time. Understood. So one thing, there's a lot going on really across our nation with excavation. funds from the american rescue plan through water sewer enhancements fiber enhancement other utility enhancements are causing a great deal of underground excavation and with that it's certainly a challenge for for all providers and the way the law works in north carolina is the facility owner so in our case we would be a network or fiber owner we are responsible for marking the equipment or marking the facilities that are underground if it's a water sewer company they're responsible for marking their own facilities and sometimes you know those markings are incorrect and damages can occur because of that. Sometimes an excavator does not take due care and damages can happen because of that. In this particular area, there is a large transport fiber that runs down the outer banks and there's not a redundant path. It essentially ends in Ocracoke Island. If that is interrupted, if that transport fiber is interrupted, then anything south of that cut becomes isolated. Now you may incur smaller cuts throughout the community that don't have that significant of an impact, certainly to the customers that have been interrupted, it's significant to them. I don't want to discount that. But it might only cut off service to a small segment or neighborhood perhaps. so but i i do agree with you there are more cuts across all utility industries right now than than anyone would like to have but there is a tremendous amount of investment going in the ground and that's that's part of it follow up on commissioner bateman and i had the same question with all that being said um

Nothing's being done to, I mean, whose responsibility is it to contact a contractor that cut the line? And, I mean, we never see anything done to the contractor. Nothing ever happens. Whose responsibility is it to call them on the carpet? That's the problem. And until we do that, we're going to continue to have cuts, and they're not going to have due diligence enough to have respect for where the lines are marked or where they cut or whatever. We're going to continue to have these cuts until somebody's called on the carpet.

we do have contact with contractors who damage our network and there is this underground damage review board that i mentioned to you earlier they meet i believe it's on a monthly basis and if complaints are filed against a particular provider or a excavator they have the ability to assess fines

Was the excavator in this case fined or penalized in any way?

So the most recent event that took place on January 28th, excuse me, July 28th, was the one related to a cut. The one that took place on July 5th had absolutely nothing to do with the fiber cut.

When they cut the fiber, don't you have the ability to fine them for the repair?

Steve, I can take that if you want.

COME UP, COME ON UP, COME ON UP.

ANY TIME A CONTRACTOR CUTS OUR FIBER, WE HAVE TECHNICIANS ON SITE TAKE PHOTOS, ESPECIALLY IF THE MARKS FOR THE UTILITIES WERE NOT THERE, RIGHT? THAT'S NUMBER ONE. OR IF THEY WERE THERE AND THEY DID NOT PRACTICE DUE DILIGENCE AND THEY CUT IT ANYWAY. THEY DUG WHERE THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO. SO WE FILL OUT DAMAGE CLAIMS INTERNALLY AT BRIGHT SPEED. And we, in turn, with all of that, we send that contractor a bill. They have to pay for everything, the fees, the hourly wages for our technicians. It can be exorbitant. How often do you do that?

Pardon?

I said, how often do you bill them? Every single time we have a cut. Do they pay it? Yes. Yes. We have a work group at Verizon that collects the money. They're required to. then in some instances depending on the contractor say they were doing work for us and they dug when they were not supposed to and it was their error we can replace them right if they're ours but a lot of our cuts are not caused you know by a bright speed contractor they might be caused by somebody else digging so they are financially held accountable so i'm interested interested i'm sorry so

Since the company was Carolina Telephone, CenturyLink, Brightspeed, we grew up, everybody in this room, everybody in Deer County grew up with the Richard Johnsons of the world. You see them at 7-Eleven, my internet's down, come by and help me. You call up, you go by the place, your local Carolina Telephone dealer, get somebody and they come fix it. Now we got to call someone over in another country that does not understand proper English, that I have a hard time communicating with. Not any fault of theirs, but that's the fact, correct?

We actually just brought our repair centers back on shore.

Well, that's fantastic news. That's great news. But back to the point, it was not like that in the past, whatever. The communication was not there. So... The user friendly thing of the old company is not there anymore. You know, there's no no hometown stuff. So each individual that experience these outages and I'm good analysts this weekend when we went out of what our agenda was, I got a call, for instance, from Robin Amy, and she had to go down a bond forward volunteer fire department to do her business on the 28th because the fact she had no Internet service at all. I got a call from Corey Hemmerite. Issues going on with his telephone. Could not talk to anybody. Beeman Hines has five restaurants. Five restaurants. They could not do to-go orders for five days. I have a restaurant. I had five days. Last year, my internet went down at the restaurant. I lost $25,000. Now, I'm nobody. But I lost that money that I cannot ever get back. I had to call your call center. They told me it'd be Tuesday before they had a technician out. Fortunately, I knew someone in Elizabeth City who came down on Sunday and fixed it for me. And then unfortunately for y'all, I switched my service on the following Monday because I couldn't wait till Tuesday. So the user-friendly thing, the hometown atmosphere is gone from Brightspeed. And I'm concerned about that, especially since we just got, the federal government gave y'all $336 million. $334.6 million to do expansion on broadband, and I get something in the mail every week that says I need to switch to Brightspeed. You have no infrastructure to back up all this expansion of business you guys have. I will let Steve I appreciate y'all coming down here. Yeah, I really do. But there's so many people in their county that have been affected. This is not just one isolated instance. This happens all the time to everybody. The best night called me up this weekend. She had somebody come to her house. She did not have internet. She called Brightspeed. They told her, well, if you switch to fiber optic and new system here, you're not having more problems. She said, I really don't want to do it. I just want to be able to talk on my telephone. You've got to do that in order for your phone to work. So they came out. They marked the individual showed up, had no ID, nothing on his truck, no identification, could not speak any English at all and was cutting in the wrong place. She said, stop, stop, stop. He didn't understand. He called an interpreter who called back some guy named Pedro, called back and talked to her on the phone. She said, stop it right now. I do not want you to do anything.

Yeah, that's a problem.

I know.

So if you could provide her information, name, contact, we'll handle it. As far as local, Mike Roberts, who is the supervisor, he is local. He lives in Manio. So we do have management local within the community. And then Wesley Locklear, I don't know if anybody worked with him in the past. He was the previous field supervisor. He is still with Bright Speed handling damage claims, believe it or not. And he also, he lives in Collington. in Kill Devil Hills. We do have local people along with our technicians, most of which have been in this community for years, and they really do care about the network and the services we provide. So, you know, all I can say is I apologize. Now, if you get, you know, for example, she got a Tuesday, I'm assuming she called in maybe on a Friday or if you, yeah, you are always have the ability to escalate for sooner due dates. I can leave my information with you for the board. And if you have people that call, have issues, Steve's always available. I'm available, and so is Mike, and he's local.

And I appreciate that. And I'm not trying to be hard on you, but I want you to understand the gravity of what you're facing as a company. Yes, sir. And your expansion down here, because we're just average people. We just want to be able to pick up the phone, and it works. Hit the computer, it comes on. We do our business.

We understand. I understand completely and I understand your frustration there. And insofar as what we are doing to enhance the network in this area, to date, we have passed approximately 22,000 addresses in the county with fiber. Approximately 16,500 of those addresses are open for sale, meaning the customers can subscribe to service today. By the end of next year, we expect that number to be at approximately 37,000. Fiber services are far more reliable than the legacy copper network. know certainly we find ourselves right now in a balancing act where we are managing both the legacy copper network and fiber network and that creates some of its own operational complexities but ultimately the legacy copper network is going to be replaced by fiber and you know that is happening across the country country not just with with bright speed our goal is to have pretty much a fiber-only network by approximately 2031. And of course, the copper will be gone from certain areas of our network sooner than others. But again, we are moving rapidly to replace all of the copper in our network with fiber. It's far more reliable, provides a much better customer experience.

With all due respect, that fiber means nothing if you don't have a loop on Hatteras Island. I'm going to talk about that.

mean we've been talking about the loop for over 10 years i i agree with you um we have another initiative that we've taken was an early 2025 bright speed relocated transport fiber from the ocean side of highway 12 to the sound side of highway 12. why didn't you put it why can it not go up on the electric poles because we're going to continue to have road work are not allowed to put it on the electric bus we we did reach out to the electric provider in that area and that was not a possibility i i personally had a conversation with the electric provider and that was just simply not a possibility When the fiber was initially placed in the ground, it was placed at six feet through the shifting sands. That fiber became exposed over time. So we relocated the fiber from the ocean side and the P Island area to the sound side. Since we've done that, we've not experienced a cut of that transport fiber in that area, which was originally plagued by cuts. Which is why we need the loop. And I'm about to talk about the loop right now. Like 10 years now we've been talking about the loop. The single most important improvement that can be made is the inclusion of a fiber loop along the Outer Banks. And that would entail connecting a submarine cable from Ocracoke Island over to the mainland. We have been working with the North Carolina General Assembly. I personally have been lobbying the issue for four to five years. And as you know, over the past few years, the General Assembly did not pass a budget for reasons unrelated to this issue. We also applied for a federal grant and we had a really robust grant application there. And quite frankly, the federal program ran out of funds before they got to us. I am delighted to report that in the 2026 budget that the North Carolina General Assembly just passed and Governor Stein signed into law, there are funds in that program or there are funds in that budget to fund a project exactly like this one. so in that regard we look forward to working North Carolina Department of Information Technology is the administrator of the grant program so we look forward to working with them and making that a reality have you been awarded the grant no they have not they have not yet stood up the program but the funds are in place do you know how much it's gonna cost to do it yes it's going to be somewhere in the 15 million dollar range and your company can't sustain a 15 million dollar to have more customers well the the actual closing of the fiber loop is unlikely to have an it it's a there's no way to recoup that expense it's not like we're going to be able to charge fees to other providers or companies to ride along that fiber so it's about a 15 million dollar expense we will be making an investment there but those funds would never be recoverable if all goes as planned how long before that would be in place that's a good question and with the permitting associated with it i really don't i would be speculating at this point

to speculate a little bit for us just to give us an idea.

I would say at a, I would assume with the permitting, it would take a minimum of two years. But you can't hold me to that because I am not a submarine cable expert. To my knowledge.

Three or more years likely away from that probably.

Again, I would be speculating. But that is a huge milestone in getting those funds placed in the budget.

well i have a question about that does the state earmark where that money goes if you do get awarded the grant or just bright speed to spot decide where they're going to spend it so there there will be an application process and in the application process you would have to identify exactly how the money would be spent Okay, because I know that the state is obviously very focused on infrastructure in the western part of the state currently. That's where most of our highway budget, most of everything's gone since Hurricane Eileen. I just, even if you get the money, is there a guarantee that you could even be able to use it on Hatteras Island?

Again, as part of the application process, you will have to specify exactly how the funds would be used.

So you're going to write a grant specifically asking for money for Hatteras Island. Is that what you're telling me today?

It wouldn't be for Hatteras Island. It would be to close the fiber loop from Ocracoke over to the mainland. There is a small section of submarine cable that goes from Hatteras to Ocracoke. So there's connectivity all the way down, or there's fiber running all the way down to Ocracoke. but what you need to do is close the fiber loop or excuse me. Yeah. Close the fiber loop from over to the mainland when that happens. So if that transport fiber were cut somewhere along the outer banks today, anything south of that cut becomes isolated. But if you've got the loop closed, you just simply reroute the traffic along the loop. And, and again, most customers wouldn't even notice an outage. Now, if there were two cuts at the same time, I want to be clear, if there are two cuts at the same time, the segment that is in the middle of the two cuts, that one would become isolated. But that's very, very uncommon.

Do you have service in Harkers Island? I do believe we provide service in Harkers Island. Then why can't you just come up Portsmouth Island and loop into Ocracoke? It would be a lot cheaper. Why can't we do what now? Right up Portsmouth Island and then lock into Ocracoke. That'd be a lot cheaper.

I would have to, I don't know the answer to that. When we were evaluating the most efficient route a few years ago when we applied for the federal grant, I believe the route was Ocracoke to Cedar. that was identified because and it may be where fiber exists that would be connected to the submarine cable that may have a significant role. But I'm sorry, I don't know enough detail about the network there to be able to answer that question. We do not serve.

How about quick action response teams? How many technical people do you have on the ground here? I know obviously this gentleman here is here.

We have 12 issues of peer operations, too.

That doesn't include personal law.

Come up here. Yeah.

SO WE HAVE 12 TECHNICIANS ON OUR FIELD OPERATIONS TEAM. THAT DOESN'T INCLUDE ANYBODY ASSIGNED TO DEPLOYING NEW FIBER OR TO, YOU KNOW, THE CONTRACTOR STRENGTH. BUT BRIGHTSPEED FIELD SERVICE TECHNICIANS, THERE'S 12 BACK HERE.

NEW SPEAKER THOSE 12 TECHNICIANS SAY THERE'S A FIBER CUT UNDER THE GROUND LIKE THE ONE WE HAD ON THE 28th. NEW SPEAKER YES, SIR. NEW SPEAKER IS YOUR TEAM RESPONSIBLE FOR FIXING THAT CUT?

NEW SPEAKER YES, WE DID FIX THE ONE FROM LAST WEEK. SO USUALLY THE WAY THAT that starts is we'll get an alarm in the central office. And then I deploy my central office technicians as well as our cable maintenance team immediately. And their task when we want to get there is to first try to isolate exactly where the cut is. And depending on the circumstances, sometimes that can be very difficult. We had some difficulty last week. But then when we eventually were able to find it, that's when we excavate the cable up. And then we put in the new temporary cable and splice it in there.

Yeah, I understand a splice. But your team, you don't have to wait for somebody to come from another state or another area to come help you or provide you. You have all those splicing tools available here?

Correct. Correct. You know, sometimes we might have a situation where we'll have multiple cuts going on at once.

Okay.

In those instances, then I'll call in support from other areas or we'll talk to one of our contractors here. And generally the goal is to restore as soon as possible. So if for any reason, my team isn't going to be as fast as I want them to be, then, you know, I call on the contractors and we'll keep the work going overnight if we need to. so that we can have it restored just as soon as possible.

Is it nine hours of standard time?

Nine hours was actually very quick, I believe. I haven't been at bright speed long enough to know exactly what our average response time is, but I was told that this was relatively quick. And especially for a buried 48-pair cable like this, I felt pretty good about our response time.

Splicing fiber to get together is extraordinarily tedious work. It's slow. It's got to be done perfectly.

I understand.

I NEED A BASELINE SO WHEN PEOPLE ARE CALLING ME COMPLAINING ABOUT THEIR SERVICE BEING OUT FOR NINE HOURS, I HAVE TO BE ABLE TO TELL THEM WHETHER THAT'S A RESPONSIBLE AMOUNT OF TIME OR AN IRRESPONSIBLE AMOUNT OF TIME FOR SERVICE RESTORATION.

NEW SPEAKER SOMETHING I COULD POINT OUT IS THAT SOMETIMES IF MULTIPLE UTILITIES ARE HIT, LIKE IF A POWER ELECTRIC POLE GETS HIT AND TAKES EVERYTHING DOWN, THEN OFTEN THERE'S AN ORDER WE HAVE TO GO IN WITH UTILITIES. SO WE MIGHT HAVE TO WAIT FOR POWER TO DO FIRST AND THEN CABLE AND THEN then it would be the bright speed fiber. So, you know, there's all sorts of different ways it can get complicated, but generally in situations like this, you know, nine hours I think would be a good target time for my team. And so that's what we keep trying to do.

Okay. Fair enough. Yes, sir. Just a clarification question earlier on this loop discussion and the cost of $15 million investment in the three-year time frame.

And again, that's a...

It's an estimate. In three years was kind of a speculation. Not trying to hold you. What I'm trying to understand is, is the three-year time frame that long because of permitting, lack of funding, waiting for grants, combination of all three, why it couldn't be in under 12 months, I guess.

I would say a combination of all three. I mean, certainly the project has to be engineered and then we have to submit for the permits and depending upon the parties that we need to get permitting for, um, sometimes that moves very quickly and sometimes it moves slowly and i'll give you an example we have an rdof grant in this county we've got a i think it's about 75 addresses that are sitting behind a permit that we've been waiting on for the man in the man's harbor vicinity we have been working with federal fish and wildlife for months upon months upon months to get that one across the finish line right You know, I wish I could sit here and tell you that permitting went very quickly. Sometimes it does, sometimes it does not.

And that $15 million investment, some or all of that is being funded by grants from the federal government?

So there's actually still two possibilities out there. So the state of North Carolina and their BEAD application to the NTIA did include this particular project as part of that. And I think we'll find out by the end of the year, is what I'm hearing, if that stays in there. However, what they put in, what the North Carolina General Assembly put in the state budget this year, so this is state funds, and they did it for reasons of public safety. is to close the fiber loop along the Outer Banks. So there's technically two possibilities, but I mean, I feel very confident. I mean, the North Carolina General Assembly did appropriate funds for essentially this purpose.

So the delay can be traced back to the permitting, not funding, since it's already an approved budget?

It's in an approved budget, but the program has not been rolled out. right because it needs engineered and well the first thing we have to do so um if if we go the route of the north carolina right that sounds like the surest way agreed um if it goes that route they still have to put out a request for proposal So once they do that, they will have an application period of their determination. I don't know, 60, 90 days, something along those lines. But again, I'm speculating there and probably shouldn't speculate, but that's up to the North Carolina Department of Information Technology. And by the way, we have an outstanding Department of Information Technology. We do business in 20 states and they are the cream of the crop. They are an outstanding organization to work with. but so how the process generally will go is they will put out a request for proposals providers will have an opportunity to apply they will um then they will go into they will make an award go into a contract period the engineering begins the permitting follows and then construction okay just the three years felt like a and i don't understand why i don't know that it will take that length of time i will tell you in the broad in the other broadband grant programs not submarine cable just standard broadband grant programs the typical time in those is two years but I have never been responsible for deploying submarine cable. It's really a very unusual situation. And this is quite frankly, is a somewhat of a long stretch for submarine cable. But I assure you that, you know, if we are successfully awarded this grant, we will move as quickly as possible to close that loop.

Well, it sounds like the state budget has approved the funding and for Northeast North Carolina. So. MY OPTIMISM IS HIGH.

I'M SORRY?

MY OPTIMISM IS HIGH.

MY TOO, SIR. I ASSURE YOU OF THAT. I TOO HAVE BEEN WORKING THIS ISSUE FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS. YES, SIR.

I GOT ONE MORE QUESTION. WHAT'S THE POSSIBILITY USING SOME OF THAT COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT $334 MILLION TO DO THIS? WOULDN'T THAT BE THE SAME? I'M NOT SURE. IS THE COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT TO DO FOR THE 13 COUNTIES IN EASTERN NORTH CAROLINA?

I will tell you if you read the state budget this was federal money I'm talking about yeah but if you read the state budget there it is designed to cover a situation like the one we are describing here and then again the bead program that I spoke of a bit earlier that is federal money so the way that works is providers submit an application to NCDIT. NCDIT makes a provisional award, but then it has to go to the federal government for their review and final approval. So NCDIT is the administrator of the grants here in North Carolina, but they still have to be signed off at the federal level. They included funds to cover this particular closing of the fiber loop. And we still don't have, I'll say, sign off or clearance from the federal government there. So there's some chance greater than zero that this could be funded by the federal government as opposed to the state government. But the state government has specifically included funds in the budget for a program such as this.

The last question is, what can this entity do to expedite this thing further? What can you do?

I will let you know. I will be happy to stay in touch with Mr. Alton, and if there's anything that you can do to help us push this along, I'll be happy to do that.

We would be happy to work both at the federal and the state level to do that, and once we get it up we get the program in place, if we can help expedite permitting and some of those things and make this faster as well. We've got some experience here. We'll be glad to.

We would welcome the coordination.

i'm sure you have an extraordinary lobbying group in the federal and state legislature let's uh you're looking at it that's uh they pay you to do the big you're the big bucks guy handing out the checks let's uh it doesn't work that way but yes it does

So in August of 2025, you guys announced that you had raised one point six five billion, increasing the new total fiber expansion capital. So I mean, to one point six five billion, 16 million seems like pennies. Well, why are you waiting for grants? unless I'm not understanding.

So I mean, certainly our investors, I mean, quite frankly, investors are providing us funding to make investments where we can recover those investments. Closing the closing the fiber loop presents some challenges. It is by no means money that we will recover that's why a grant is is really a good way to fund this and it's quite frankly it's a real public safety issue and all aspects exactly all aspects of like i've had support here's where we get frustrated because we had a system with the microwave towers and things that was working

But you guys came in and said, and you, fiber aquas came in and said, we can do this better. We can do it faster. We're going to do this. Now you've got us in too far to go back. And our only option for reliable service is Starlink.

Well, we did resurrect the microwave tower.

Because, well, I'll tell you this. When the power went down or when that cable was cut, there's a man in Hatter's Village that had a very serious medical issue. And thank God there were some kids playing at the pool nearby and heard him and had to go to the fire station to get help because nobody could make a call. It is real. it is very real so when we read that you guys are investing this 1.65 and you've got to get a return on your investment the return on your investment in hatteras village on hatteras island is someone's life or someone's safety so it's not about the bottom line it's about can someone i love get help when this happens

I completely understand that. And we did resurrect the microwave tower. The microwave tower is capable of when there is a cut in the transport fiber coming down the outer banks, the microwave tower is capable of carrying landline voice services.

There's no landline.

on the beach there's no landline on a boat that's sitting at the dock i understand that nobody has landlines anymore that's not entirely true but um i will the the wireless providers in the area and i don't want to speak for them but there's also options for them to move to satellite it's a good time to tell you i was going to tell you at the end anyway

Drew's been working for nearly two years with AT&T to do just what you just described, to get a microwave up to be a redundant 911. We can't do a redundant internet. We've got two problems. We've got our business community, when we get a cut, has the problems that you all have described. And then our public safety has a problem because our 911 service won't work as well. So we've been working for a while trying to get that up. And I say we, Drew has been working hard to get that up. And I think as of last week or the end of last week, AT&T has got their microwave up and running so that at least if we have a cut now, you can still have 911 service from your phone, whether you're an AT&T customer or not. Anybody that has a cell phone can do that. You will not have to drive to the fire station to do that. You should be able to do that. And if you're an AT&T customer, then you can get regular cell service as well. So, you know, not the perfect solution, but it is a solution to one of the problems there as we work on the other problems. We need to get that information out there. Make sure I've got that right, Drew.

I just want to clarify, you said microwave. First, that AT&T is backhauling via satellite when the fiber was cut last week. Only one of their cell sites, the one in Avon, backhauled automatically. I engaged with my contacts at AT&T. The first one that got turned on of the other six was in Hatteras Village. After the cut was done, I reached out to them again to say, what about the other four? They said, as of today, all six of them. That's going to be on Ocracoke, Hatteras Village, Buxton, Avon, at Rodanthe. see six, but there's six of them. Three are on our water towers. One's on a tower in Ocracoke, one's on a tower in Rodanthe and one's in a tower in Buxton. But they will now all automatically backhaul over satellite, which was not happening before the fiber was cut last week. So that's a good thing. Our CRDs are still there to help us bring those online. And that person in Hatteras Village is alive because that CRD, they did get a text to the 911 and offer that CRD. But that's my, that's a mobile, a compact deployable resource, something we got a grant for. We bought six of them. They're deployed on Hatteras Island, their mobile cell tower on wheels that we, that our volunteer fire departments deploy and they're hosted at volunteer fire departments.

What are we doing? What are we doing to get that word out?

I just got it right now, sir.

What are your what are the plans then to get the word out?

I'll get AT&T to come down here to a joint press release. Just breaking news, sir. I understand.

I'm just asking a question.

I want to know how we're getting it out. That's all. Yes, sir. Just got the word just a couple days ago, so we're working on it. Bobby, that's the only thing to clarify. It's being backhauled via satellite, not microwave.

Okay. The only other thing, sir, is I hear that you at least tell your investors they need to start investing a little more in these rural areas because there is a major company seeking out the lost. As you're aware, Starlink is now popping up all over the Outer Banks. All the charter boats have it. Everything in these rural areas is switching over to Starlink, and if you continually lose your customer base to this multi, almost trillion-dollar company, you might see an end where your cables become obsolete.

Thank you for that. Certainly in North Carolina, and we are a rural provider in North Carolina, when our fiber deployment is concluded, we will have somewhere between 800,000 and a million fiber passings in the state. So we are making a substantial investment, particularly in North Carolina. It's our largest state of the 20 that we do business in by a long shot.

I've got something to bring up that's not as important as what keeping Hatteras and the rest of the county up and running. But I know we're at the downside of that. Commissioner Bateman and myself have a constituent in Kitty Hawk. He's got Bright Speed line running through two of his vacant lots well outside of the right-of-way, like through the middle of a lot. He has contacted Bright Speed. Somebody from Bright Speed told him they were going to take care of it. That person got promoted and was gone. I got involved with it. I called Bright Speed. I spent an hour and a half on the phone from someone from a foreign country who was adamantly telling me there was nobody in North Carolina I could talk to about this person's Bright Speed line going through his vacant lots. They actually issued a second work order under my name to have that line removed. It's been eight months. I haven't heard nothing and neither has he.

If you could communicate their address and contact information, perhaps through Mr. Alton, to me, we'll get it taken care of immediately. Okay. Thank you. They shouldn't take that. I don't disagree with you. I don't disagree with you, and certainly I can't speak to the specifics of the situation, but if you will get the address communicated to us, and we'll be happy to take care of it. That's why Mike came up here, because his team can do that. Okay. Thank you.

You have anything else to share with us?

I think that will do it.

Any further comments from the board? Questions?

Well, thank you for taking the time. Yes, sir. Bringing your team. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

Have a good day. Yes, sir. Okay.

Chair, that brings us to item six on the agenda. This is a presentation from Coastal Family Collaborative, and Heather Jeanette's here for that presentation.

Good morning.

Is this like law and order? Like, can I ask if I can approach or is it?

Sure. We'll pass it back. Just hand them here. I'll get Scott to give them. You may not approach. We already got them. We already have.

We sent you one thing, but there's a little background. Oh, okay. no okay i'm sorry it's all right you can share it's not a binder okay Good morning.

Good morning.

My name's Heather Jeanette. I am here with several other members of the nonprofit organization Coastal Family Collaborative. Thank you for allowing us the time and space to be here. I'm not on the timer, like public comment, okay. So I'm sorry, this is a little bit long, but I think it's important, so bear with me. We are representatives of parents, educators, business owners, healthcare workers, other community members who are here with the same goal. We hope that we're not bringing you another version of a problem that you've heard about time and again. We think we are here rather with a plan for a tangible solution. We believe what we have is innovative, thoughtful, and most importantly, sustainable. You know that the last licensed child care facility on Hatteras Island closed in December of 2025. And since then, families have been left trying to piece together child care however we can, and sometimes we can't. We rely on grandparents and friends. We've reduced work hours. Some parents have had to leave the workforce altogether. Employers are struggling to recruit and retain employees. And mostly we're left making impossible decisions with the most precious members of our family. And we know that childcare has not or has been traditionally operated as a private for-profit business. And we recognize that Deer County has historically been cautious about using public dollars to support a private business. And we respect that. And our request is different. We are a nonprofit organization. There are no owners, no shareholders, any dollar brought into this organization beyond operating expenses is to be reinvested directly back into children, teachers, and the long-term success of the program. We are not asking for County dollars to support a private business. We are asking for a partner in restoring an essential community service. We recognize that the County previously funded child care centers during the pandemic. And those funds were provided because child care was recognized as an essential service. And we believe that remains just as true today as it was then. The difference is we're not asking the county to rescue a struggling operation. We're asking you to help launch a new nonprofit model that has been intentionally designed from the ground up with long-term sustainability in mind. Deer County in words and deeds has consistently spoke of its commitment to families and children and children. We know about proclamations like the month of the child and child abuse prevention month. And we know about partnerships with CYP, the early care and education initiative, family support services. You've repeatedly recognized that supporting children and families is shared community responsibility. That was a quote. that supporting families is shared work across our community and we see our requests as an extension of those efforts we're also known as the land of the beginnings we like to lead the way we like to find innovative and creative solutions to community challenges but in north carolina communities across the state have already recognized that new approaches are needed Jackson and Yadkin County have purchased properties and are supporting childplex models. Does anybody know how to say Wataga? Thank you. That county offers financial support to child care workers who have their own children enrolled in a child care center. Buncombe and Mecklenburg counties have repeatedly used county dollars to stabilize efforts. They are recognizing that child care is not simply a family issue, it's a workforce issue. an economic issue, a community issue. We think it's time to shift thinking from childcare as only a private business to recognizing that it is actually economic infrastructure. THE NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE DID A COUNTY LEVEL ANALYSIS THROUGH A FORMULA CALLED THE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL IN NORTH CAROLINA. AND DARE COUNTY STANDS TO LOSE APPROXIMATELY 11.8 MILLION EACH YEAR TO LOST BUSINESS PRODUCTIVITY, EMPLOYEE TURNOVER, ABSENTEEISM AND LOST TAX REVENUE DUE TO THE LACK OF CHILD CARE. I CAN'T SPEAK TO HOW MUCH HATTERS ISLAND into that equation, but it's some. And 35% of parents who experienced disruptions in employment in the past year have ended up leaving the workforce altogether. And these patterns are not sustainable. We've been working for several months as I've been involved with this. I've had numerous conversations with families who are living this, parents who made the decision to grow their family when there was a daycare. And by the time the delivery got there, there wasn't. um parents who have quietly put plans for another child on hold because they it's it's not feasible they can't do it um i've watched parents leave jobs they loved and worked really hard for not because they wanted to but because they had nowhere safe for their kids to go I've seen the stress and an uncertainty that it's placed on families. And I've seen and lived the exhaustion from trying to answer the same question every day or every week of who's got my kid tomorrow. I sat down last night to edit this for what I swore was going to be the last time, and we had 24 letters. I think when I woke up this morning, it was 27 from parents, business owner, foster families, people who have already left our community because of this. And we put out the call for these letters on Thursday. So that's the response we've had in that amount of time from an organization who hadn't even made their Facebook page public because we were kind of waiting to see where things were going. So the need is there. The outcry is there. And that's why we're here is because of these conversations. Our first initiative is to bring safe, reliable childcare back to Hatteras Island through what we plan to call the Title Touch Childcare Center. Our vision is to create and sustain this nonprofit model to provide early childhood education and support working families that are the backbone of our community. Getting here to this model has been nothing like a straight line. We looked at parent co-ops. We looked at religious sponsored organizations to get the doors open. We looked at Child Plex models. We've talked with CYP, the Division of Child Development, COA Small Business Center, former owners, former employees, county staff, We've done our due diligence. We've looked at the role subsidies play in that and how STARS and licensure allow or preclude funding. Every step has brought us to where we are and we think what we have has a real incredible opportunity to succeed. Being a nonprofit opens revenue sources that are not available as a traditional childcare business. We've already been awarded grant funding from the North Carolina Rural Center. We've applied for a grant from the community foundation. We continue to look at their larger grant as childcare is one of only three criteria for that. We have a board of people who are willing to work to find the money that's out there to make this sustainable. So that's how we're here. This is what we're here for. Our request to you is specific and intentionally limited. We are requesting $125,000, which will cover the cost of leasing the facility for three years. During that time, our goal is to establish a stable, self-sustaining organization while continuing to grow additional grant funding and community support. If our model was dependent on ongoing county funding, we wouldn't be standing here. It's not. We know that any public investment establishes expectations. We've worked hard to make sure that this request is limited in scope and purpose. We're not asking you to underwrite an ongoing operation. We're asking for a one-time investment in restoring an essential community service through a nonprofit model designed to become self-sustaining. We have negotiated a lease with the last operating childcare center on the island. I don't know if you've looked into the building requirements and the code requirements that it takes to open a childcare facility, but being able to move into the last occupied one has eliminated a lot of financial and administrative hurdles that will allow us to get teachers and kids in the classroom much sooner. Our operating model is designed to be close to revenue neutral, surplus directed, reinvested directly into the program. We're looking at offering competitive wages and benefits to attract and retain workers as we understand that that was many of the reasons that they left before was it was a low paying hourly job with no benefits.

I'm skipping some of that.

Really, we believe that this is more than opening another child care center. It's allowing parents to get back and remain in the workforce. It's helping employers fill positions. It's supporting year-round families. It's investing in a model that we hope will serve an example. We intend to do no gatekeeping. We want this to work, and we want other communities in Dare County to say, how did you do this? And we can share that information. So we've built the plan, we've sought the guidance, we've secured some funding and we are asking you to partner with us in bringing it back. Thank you.

Thank you. Board. for any questions you may have. Just a quick clarification or two.

We don't have the presentation queued up on the screen, do we? No? The package? Okay.

Were you asking me or back there?

I'm asking you, Heather.

Not to my knowledge.

Right. Then these can be follow-up questions for you. You don't have to answer them right now.

Okay.

On page five, we have two graphs. One of them, 5.3, is the funding wheel. If you have a copy, maybe you could look to it while I'm...

I may have a copy, yeah. I can... Come here, baby. You're okay.

Wait a minute. No assistance allowed. This is one person. This is not an open book exam with assistance. What was it they used to do? Call a lifeline? We just called in... Call a friend lifeline.

Let him answer.

Yeah. Yeah. Again, page 35, Heather.

Okay.

Are you on it? Not yet.

I'm on it, but my numbers could have changed. It's the graph. We're looking for a graph, yeah?

There are two graphics on the page 35 that I'm looking at.

Okay, okay, I'm here.

Just like that.

The tuition waterfall.

And the funding wheel. The funding wheel shows a breakdown of how the money will be brought and used to basically provide the revenues and run the operation. Below it is a waterfall. What I'm finding is I'm a little confused on the actual cost says $1,600 per child, right? The grants and public funding, $450 a month. Right? You're with me?

I'm with you.

Grants and public funding. Are those known specific grants, public funding that are going to be secured because we know they're there and we can get them? Or is this a wish list of we hope we can find some grants and public funding someplace?

We've been awarded $50,000 from the North Carolina Rural Center. That grant is typically dispersed over two years, 25 each year, given the urgency and scope of what we are trying to do they have indicated that they would be agreeable to giving us all the money up front that is a grant that we know that we have but that's very small compared to the nearly 400 000 a year 450 a month times 30 students that's 150 000 am i getting that correctly Yes, I'm not sure about the waterfall graph.

Not sure about the water? No. OK, because I would say I was trying to reconcile again. I'm just reading. The plan was very detailed, very, very specific in its numbers and data.

And if you, in the copies that you have, because I do know that you're a numbers guy, the average monthly tuition, it pained me to do so, but I scratched it out and rewrote it with a pen. When these were printed, we were working with some numbers that were a little bit lower that we'd moved up just basically because they were much more easily divisible by four for weekly or biweekly payments, and it also increased the revenue a little bit. So that's why there's a discrepancy between what you might have gotten digitally and what's in front of you. Yeah, $42.

Well, yeah, I'm not chasing $42 here. I'm not trying to trap you or anything. The grant funding was, again, ROUGHLY ALMOST 30 PERCENT OF THE MONTHLY TUITION BASED ON THE WATERFALL SO I THINK MAYBE But above, again, you don't have to, I'm just pointing out what I'm trying to do is the grants above on the funding wheel are only 15 to 20%, yet they're close to 30% on the waterfall.

It seems like there's- So the 1600, I think, is saying that's the average cost per child per month, not tuition per month. So it's factoring in things like overhead and- rent utilities. There was never a tuition number that was $1,600.

No, the tuition number is $550. And if you had 30 fully staffed, 30 kids, and they were there 12 months out of the year and every parent paid on time, you're only looking at $198,000 a year while your overall cost is $375,000.

You said $550,000?

That's what it says right here on page 35. Family tuition. What families pay per child $550 a month?

I think that is the goal after subsidies come in, in averaging the percentage of kids that are typically on subsidies, that might be the family's additional cost. So the important numbers are, I think,

per child well yeah page 36 how many which you guys have a certain number of toddlers you can like for the age groups how many infants are you allowed up to five and how do you know how many toddlers and how many preschool ten and fifteen

And all these projections are not done at full capacity. They're done with an average of 28 kids because Little Sprouts was historically on a wait list. They didn't close because they didn't have kids that needed daycare. So I think we all feel very confident that we can have 30 kids in the building. But to err on the side of caution, we're basing it on a capacity of or on a 28 kids at a time.

I have a thought I read through the full document and it was obviously very well prepared, very thought out, very professionally done. So thank you for that. What I was covering in my questioning were what I couldn't quite clarify or reconcile some inconsistencies. And I've spoken with some of my fellow commissioners. I'm going to ask the board if you guys would be willing to create a small subcommittee of and I'm going to do an ad hoc here, Matt Matica, myself, Commissioner Balance and Chuck Lissette, the four of us to sit down with Heather and or her group as soon as possible, go through the questions. I know Mr. Lissette had some questions in an email sent to us clarifying questions because the issue is indeed extremely important. It is I'M LOOKING AROUND AT SOME OF OUR YOUNGER CONSTITUENTS HERE THIS MORNING.

NEW SPEAKER WE WISH THIS WAS PERFORMATIVE. THIS IS OUR DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT.

NEW SPEAKER THAT WAS NOT A JOKE. I KNOW THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, ETHER, BELIEVE ME. I'M TELLING YOU VERY SERIOUSLY. THAT'S WHY I'M PROPOSING WE DO THIS TO GET A DEEP DIVE SO WE'RE NOT PUTTING YOU ON THE SPOT HERE WITH WHAT ABOUT THIS, WHAT ABOUT THAT.

NEW SPEAKER I'M HERE FOR IT.

NEW SPEAKER WELL, WE ARE CLEAR ON IT THEN. So that is a motion I would like to make if you guys feel it would be helpful.

I'll second it. There's a motion on the floor then by Commissioner Ross to create a subcommittee to meet with the applicant and WORK THIS OUT AS SOON AS PRACTICAL.

AND IT'S BEEN SECONDED. FLOOR IS OPEN FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION. NEW SPEAKER Yeah, I WOULD SUPPORT THAT ISSUE BECAUSE A LOT OF THE NUMBERS HERE JUST TO ME JUST DON'T ADD UP. LIKE UNDER THE FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS IN THE FIRST DOCUMENT.

NEW SPEAKER WHAT PAGE?

NEW SPEAKER IT'S IN THIS RIGHT BEFORE THE TABLE OF CONTENTS.

NEW SPEAKER THAT'S PAGE UNKNOWN.

NEW SPEAKER PAGE UNKNOWN. You've got the cover sheet, then you've got the executive summary narrative. Page 5. Yeah, there you go. Under the financial highlights, it says annual operating budget of $375,000. Annual revenue needed, $370,000. So you're already five grand down just in that alone.

So that was, again, before the marginal tuition increases.

Even with the one that you did the increase on, the extra $42 into that, those two numbers didn't change. That's why the motion's on the floor. Exactly. That's what I'm pointing out. We need to get a little bit deeper into the numbers to make sure it works.

and i certainly agree and i understand because i work with a lot of non-profits but you have to understand how slippery of a slope this could potentially be sure if i give one non-profit 125 000 do you understand there's over 200 registered non-profits in dare county if we gave every single one of them 125 000 to make it fair that'd be 25 million dollars i do and i would hope that they would also have secured their you know grant funding and have a workable model Irvin said 300, so that's even more.

That's why we have Rob on here. Yeah. I think we do need to have a subcommittee thoroughly go through everything.

And I understand there's a need, and certainly we want to do everything we can help. But this is certainly a slippery slope, so I completely agree with the appointment of a smaller subcommittee.

Heather, thank you for putting this together. Yeah, absolutely. Guys, I'm going to tell you how big of an issue this is. I HAVE NOT NOW, BUT I HAD AN EMPLOYEE WHO WOULD BRING HER LITTLE GIRL TO WORK. AND SHE WAS SITTING IN THE AQUARIUM AND SHE WOULD CALL HER AND SO FORTH, WAIT FOR THE FATHER TO COME PICK HER UP. UNFORTUNATELY A LOT OF TIMES THE FATHER WOULDN'T COME PICK HER UP. SO SHE WAS THERE FOR WORK AND THE PRESSURE PUT ON THE EMPLOYEE, THE POOR LITTLE KID THAT STAYED THERE FROM 4 O'CLOCK UNTIL 930 AT NIGHTTIME. You shouldn't have to do that. So we do need to find a way, possibly sometime, if the numbers can work, to help out. So I get it. I understand.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, it's tough. Any further comments? No, same way.

Hearing none, those in favor of that motion, please signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, like so. Motion carries unanimously. I'd like for Rob to reach out to you and get together as quickly as possible. We do have a meeting coming up, a special meeting coming up on the 10th. There might be a possibility we hopefully y'all could meet and have some answers for us so that we could act at that meeting as well.

Okay. That was my question is how's the timeframe on this?

I'd hate for us to push it back a month. That's why if the urgency, if it's possible that y'all could meet.

and and work some things out and bring a proposal back to us about a tenth and in the meantime let me know if i can help you find any private investors well if you know them so certainly the grants are a great thing and then Potentially we could, because like restaurants sponsor a lot of Jersey Mike's every year does the stuff for the. Sure.

And we've talked to, you know, banks and businesses and the support is there. I think it's for our thing. We're sort of a two phased approach because right now families are crippled. So if we're here with like urgency, it's because it's urgent.

On Hatteras Island would appreciate having somewhere for their children. Yes.

And there are support letters from businesses that we have left with you.

Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Anything that you guys wanted to add? Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Oh. Got it. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

We're going to take a 10-minute break.

To protect us from that.

We'll call the Adair County Board of Commissioners meeting back to order. I'll turn it over to the county manager.

Yes, sir, Mr. Chairman. That brings us to item seven on the agenda. This is a Parks and Recreation Tax Referendum presentation, and Caitlin Kite and Spencer Gregory are here for that presentation.

Good morning, everyone.

Good morning, Spencer.

Good morning. We come before you today to present you a slideshow presentation detailing information about the upcoming quarter cent sales tax referendum that will be on the November ballot. The PR team has been hard at work creating a dedicated website for the public to view along with this PowerPoint presentation that will hopefully answer some frequently asked questions the public may have in regards to the upcoming referendum. Caitlin Kite, Assistant Public Information Director, and myself are here to present the slideshow and are happy to answer any questions you may have afterwards. And Caitlin's going to start us off.

Thank you all for allowing us to speak. I know you're all very well aware of the sales tax referendum that will be on the November ballot, but this is sort of our launching point. Spencer, myself, Dorothy, Sheila Davies, and then our Parks and Rec Advisory Council board members. We have Chairman Justin Bateman here. Vice Chair Macy Chauvin, we've been meeting, we've met several times to discuss how we should educate the public because I think that's our responsibility here to let them know what's going to be on the ballot and what it means. We've also referenced other counties that have successfully enacted a sales tax increase like Mecklenburg County to see what sorts of tools they used, what were some of the frequently asked questions that they included on their websites, what kind of educational outreach and print pieces that they produced so i'd say the first question is um that i'm experiencing just in the public when i talk about it is what is it what's being proposed what is this tax increase um you can see the graphic that we use there a penny cut into quarters because when you say a quarter cent sales tax increase a lot of people immediately assume oh that's a quarter increase So it's important to communicate the impact that this will have for the average taxpayer and that it is pennies. Pennies for parks is kind of what we're using the slogan. So a quarter cent is .0025 cents. And that, if it's approved on the November ballot, would be enacted as a sales tax increase to fund several Deer County Parks and Recreation improvements. And Spencer's going to go through all of those, the priorities that have been set. McGill Associates created a plan, an implementation plan for the county. And one of their suggested tools to cover the cost of some very significant improvements to parks was to enact a sales tax referendum. So that's why we're here today. This is a question that I think is very important. So what's it going to look like on my ballot? The language is specifically mandated from the state. I got this from our elections director. So this is how it will look on the ballot. Local sales and use tax at the rate of 1.25% in addition to all other state and local sales and use taxes. And the voter has the option to vote for or against. So you can see there's not a lot of detail there. We're not able to say, look, this is for parks and recreation. This is much needed improvements. We are putting this on the ballot based on the survey responses that we received, the studies that we did on all of the parks and recreation facilities. So what we're using for that is our webpage that has a lot of these frequently asked questions.

Dorothy, we talked briefly about this. you aren't allowed to say it will go from X to Y. Or it's currently X and it will be Y. Not allowed to say that.

Not allowed to.

No, I wouldn't tell anybody either. Can't do it.

So... What we can say is how much is this going to cost me? On an average item I might purchase, like a $10 t-shirt, that's going to be two and a half pennies additional. For a $100 pair of tennis shoes, that would be 25 cents additional. For a $400 television, that's going to add a dollar to that cost. So our finance director, Matt Motica, ran the calculations, and based on the median Dare County individual and family income, assuming that 10% is spent on items subject to this tax, this would cost approximately $14 per individual additionally per year or $22 for families per year. So not a large amount per year.

That's per year, not per hour or per day or per week. Exactly. Per year.

Per year.

Thank you.

Mm-hmm. And another important thing to point out is who will pay this tax. So this isn't a property tax. It's not something that's specific to our residents and property owners. Our visitors will share the burden of this. The benefit of it being a sales tax is our visitors who also utilize our facilities. And I know our tennis courts and our pickleball courts and all the great facilities that Parks and Recreation offers will help pay this tax every time they shop and dine in Deer County. also very important to point out you'll see the graphic in the lower corner of this slide has a cross through automobiles groceries gasoline this sales tax increase would not apply to those very important items the sales tax today apply to any of these important items there is a sales tax, but not, this increase would not apply to those items.

Does the current sales tax tax food, groceries, prescriptions, Matt?

Food.

The answer is no.

We have a, whatever the grocery tax is. I don't know what that is on there.

tax. So there's a gotcha percent on groceries of the sales tax. That's what it is. But generally the answer is no.

OK, let me ask you something. Have these been printed

The slides?

No, the brochures that we're going to hand out.

Oh, we had an initial brochure that we did hand out at the block party. So just to kind of get the idea out there that this was coming, that was a great event that was coming up. We included three of these FAQs that are within this presentation.

I mean, this may sound petty. When you look at this, it all blends to me. You know, if I read this, I would have had the word not. in bright red and i would i had groceries gasoline prescription medicines vehicles underlined and in red so it just pops at you so you know that's not what it's going to apply to it's just it's just just just when because when you read this when the average person's reading this that's not and willing to spend another quarter cent on sales tax they're going to read right through that. They're not going to see that one bit. And that's the only reason I bring that to your attention is pop it so it pops at you.

And we can definitely do that. We just did a very small run of those cards and we'll have other additional educational pieces that we're running and we'll focus on that.

I mean, folks, this is going to be a hard sell. You would not believe I've had

good conversations with my fellow commissioners and some of the stuff that we're hearing just blows my mind why they're not willing to support this yeah you gotta go word of mouth i mean you got to thoroughly explain it because right now i can tell you what you're up against you're up against 70 30. you're going to have to swing 20 to 22 percent of people that's almost one out of every four people that live here you're looking at 70 in the hole right now i guarantee you if you voted right now Is that based on a poll, or is that just your intuition, or what? Due to similar counties already trying to do sales tax referendums, it failed by 70% margins in Hyde, Currituck, and other similar places.

So Currituck instituted a one-quarter cent and lost 70-30? Yeah, pretty much. And their purpose was also parks and records? No, it was something different, I believe.

Well, it might have been. It wasn't. What was theirs?

They have one going right now. I think one will be on the ballot.

I mean, the more we can get it to pop as to what this would not apply to and what it's going for in printed material is, to me, I think is certainly critical. Okay.

So we'll do that. And also our Parks and Rec Advisory Council, they've accumulated a list of homeowners associations, children's after school groups and sports groups like OBX Storm, that they have representatives who are going to go and speak and provide a presentation to get that general awareness out there for all of those groups. It's a pretty exhaustive list. I made a mistake.

Cory Duck hasn't done theirs yet, but Hyde did. Yeah, I think they're working on one right now. They're not involved yet. I mean, they've got one on the ballot.

The public needs to be aware.

So this is our kickoff.

If this doesn't pass, we're not going to be in a position to spend $800,000 for lights for a soccer field. We're not going to be able to spend another 30 40 i can't remember spencer how many thousands of dollars we spent to reside a soccer field behind first flight middle and repair those lights and to put those lights in or to do satterfield a whole separate field with fencing the list goes on and on and if this doesn't pass the first group that pops in here that's asking for money and we don't help them, they're going to be bent out of shape.

I think it's vital to share with the public that this is how we make the improvements that all of our residents voted in favor of. They took surveys. We had more than 10% of our Deer County residents complete the survey that McGill and Associates shared. We also had focus groups. And the plan that Spencer is going to present is based off of that. And the only way that can be funded was, okay, we will enact a sales tax referendum in hopes that that will cover the costs of all of these improvements that residents have shared they would like to see in our parks and recreation facilities and fields. So that's definitely, we're also working with Current TV. We're gonna produce a series of short videos, sort of using our FAQs and using what we're hearing from the public to quickly disseminate information on social media platforms. Then we think that'll be a great way to target people in addition to the in-person outreach and the marketing materials we'll be handing out at farmers markets and events like that. Just getting in front of people.

And I think 69.8% in Hyde County voted against while only 30.2% voted for it.

And what was the referendum in Hyde County to do in Hyde County?

It was a .25 sales tax. I got it right.

Yeah, I got that. For what purpose?

.25 local sales tax. That's all it is. Referendum proposing a one-quarter cent local sales and use tax increase. Probably similar to what they're doing in Currituck to offset ad valorem.

I think the toughest part is definitely getting in front of people ahead of this, because if you do see that on the ballot, it doesn't provide any information.

We have similar voting demographics to theirs.

Yeah. So just really providing information ahead of this is what our goal is.

Once again, Caitlin, I love this slide when it says, the plan identifies significant needs for improvements over the next decade that exceeds what can be funded through the county's annual budget. That sentence is critical. It needs to pop and it needs to hit them between the eyes.

Absolutely. I agree. We'll push that. It's going to provide that long-term funding for all of the different priorities that Spencer's going to go through. And again, it also removes the financial burden slightly for our property owners. It's not a property tax increase. It's a sales tax increase that's being suggested. So our visitors will help pay for this. And then I know another question that I've heard from the public is why can't occupancy tax assist with this and Occupancy tax is restricted by the state and cannot be used for these parks and recreation improvements So that's another thing that we want to make sure is clear that this is our only viable tool to make these improvements And I think now hand it over to Spencer for the next slide he's gonna go through priorities and

All right, how would Dare County residents benefit from this tax? Parks and Recreation provides safe, accessible places for residents of all ages to stay active, healthy, and connected. Additional funding would help Dare County meet growing demand for youth sports, recreation programs, and community events, improve and modernize aging parks, athletic fields, and recreation facilities, Expand opportunities for children, families, adults and seniors. Support healthier lifestyles through outdoor recreation and wellness programs. Recreation for 100 miles. So as you know, our county is 100 miles long, so it adds some distinct disadvantages. Their county Parks and Recreation serves residents across three regional divisions through five major community and rec centers. The department provides youth and adult athletics, after school programs and summer camps, fitness, dance and wellness classes, senior programs and community activities, Special Olympics and inclusive recreation, countywide special events and facility rentals. Our current facilities include 17 baseball, softball, tee ball fields, 10 playgrounds, soccer and multipurpose athletic fields, indoor and outdoor basketball courts, tennis and pickleball courts, walking trails, skate parks, dog parks, and fitness facilities. How would these revenue be used If approved, the additional one quarter cent sales tax would be dedicated to improving their county parks and recreation facilities. Funding would support approximately 56.9 million in parks and recreation facility upgrades, renovations and expansions identified through the countywide recreation needs assessment and recommendation plan. The sales tax will only be implemented if approved by their county voters during the 2026 general election in November. so what did mcgill identify as as our needs for dare county recreation artificial turf fields this will allow not every single field but they did recommend adding in turf fields to allow for year-round multi-use increasing capacity and availability on our most used fields trails addition of walking and biking and multi-use trails increasing connectivity also indoor facility expansion at our three major divisions recreation expansion and all three divisions to provide more availability of programming revitalizing the old swimming hole and creating a site plan for that park and redevelop and name the site Splash pads. So they identified for the aquatic need a splash pad in each of the divisions, one in Northern Beach, one in Roanoke Island Mainland, and one in Hatteras Island. Playground improvements. We have 10 playgrounds. Upgrade all existing playgrounds and offer more accessible features and improve surfacing. Outdoor pickleball. Create a multi-use court at the Pheasanton Center and improve existing outdoor courts. Security lighting to enhance safety and lighting at all of our parks, as well as our field lighting. And also land banking. When opportunities arise to secure some land, we would have that land bank in order to increase our future park facility expansion, like when the opportunities arise. And that is the website that Public Relations has created for this presentation and many other frequently asked questions. It's darenc.gov slash quarter cent.

And we're open to if you all have suggestions for questions that aren't listed on the page, if there's some that you're hearing from constituents, please let us know because it's going to be ever evolving and we can add to it as we go and as we hear in the public as we do outreach questions that people may have.

I have something real quick. Excuse me. Go ahead. I DIDN'T HEAR IT MENTIONED. YOU MIGHT HAVE MENTIONED IT AND I JUST DIDN'T HEAR IT. ONE OF THE THINGS WHEN WE WENT OVER THIS INITIALLY WAS THAT ABOUT, AND CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG, I BELIEVE MATT HAD THE NUMBER, IT WAS AROUND 70% OF THIS WAS GOING TO BE FUNDED BY PEOPLE WHO WERE HERE AS VISITORS. SO THREE QUARTERS ALMOST OF THE BURDEN IS GOING TO BE on the tourists on tourism. So only about a quarter of the burden is actually going to be on the taxpaying citizens, even less.

So very, very much.

I mean, the real number is twenty two dollars a day. People, we are not talking about a lot of money here.

Wait a minute.

Not a day. Not a day or a year. Not a year. Not a year.

That's definitely something that I thought.

Yeah. And a family. Right.

Yeah. Thank you for bringing that up because we'll emphasize that.

I think it's very much worthy of emphasis at some point. And then I don't know if you'll be allowed to, but to have handouts available. I know we're about to get into the fall sports schedule with parks and rec, soccer fields, and facilities in use on Saturdays full of people, full of kids. It would be great to get the word out. And then one other thing I would love to see is I know there's going to be And, Macy, you can correct me if I'm wrong on this. The inclusive playground is at Kitty Hawk Elementary. I would love to see one further south, more centralized. If we eventually do have that funding, I think that would be a fantastic use of funds somewhere closer like Nags Head or even Roanoke Island. Absolutely.

Let's talk about promotion of this, the legalities. COUNTY MANAGER, YOU'LL HAVE TO POP IN ON THIS. LET'S TALK ABOUT LEGALITIES OF PROMOTING NOT ONLY FROM BOARD MEMBERS BUT FROM BOARD EDUCATION MEMBERS OR PARKS AND REC COMMITTEE MEMBERS OR WHATEVER. PARDON? RIGHT. Legally, what can and can we not do? Let's talk about the board first.

So as a board proper or as the county, all we can do is put out information. You can't, as a board, put out a flyer or a postcard or a video that says vote yes or vote no. You can't ask for a vote. You can put out all the information that you want as a board or as a county that does what we just did, says, here's what we're doing. Here's what's being asked. Here's what it means. Here's how it works. All the facts, you can lay those out however you want. You just can't promote a yes or a no vote. Now, you all as individual people are political by nature and many of your decisions are political and you have the right to voice your own opinion however you want to. if you're for it or against it or whatever, you have the right to say what you think. You just can't do it on behalf of the county. It's you. And the same would hold true then when you go to the boards. The board, the Recreation Advisory Board can't come out and say vote yes or vote no. But the chairman can say, I think this is a great idea. Let's do it as the chairman. But he's not speaking on behalf of the board. He's not speaking on behalf of the county.

So if I have a pocket full of these flyers, I can give them to my friends. Sure.

Okay.

Now, Michael brought up a very, very, very important point. And I'm not so sure that we shouldn't have a separate flyer, just a card that information card saying exactly what matt has told us and that is 70 of these funds are coming from our visitors i'm not so sure that we might not want to look into having a second card printed because that's critical i mean that that message is as critical as the messages that might also I didn't say anything about it. I'm just making a recommendation. Yeah.

It might be worthwhile also making that one of the short videos that we do, kind of focusing on that because we can target our local population, residents of Dereck County in a certain radius. So that might be a good short video we create also. How many of Carentan? We'll see. The first run that we printed was we just printed 200 for the block party just to have out there to have some information to get ahead of it since that would be a big stakeholder group. That's a lot of parents of children who participate in parks and recreation activities. i think for this i mean for similar um initiatives like our a250 fair we printed i think 6 000 of the postcards for that so something around that number in order to have them for outreach at farmers markets at our national night outs those sorts of events and then also have some in each parks and recreation facility i i know that uh

Our public information office is going to do a fabulous job with posting this in our system and so people can read it. But what legality, if any, do we have to do a mass mail?

We can do anything that we want to put out facts. cannot spend county dollars to promote a yes or a no.

All right, so we could literally do a mass mailer to our citizens. I understand it'll cost some money, but just that flyer itself.

NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS. NEW SPEAKERS.

a hard sell an extremely hard sale commissioner bateman can back me up the rest of the commissioners i mean i i've got people that well i'm not going to support this i don't have any children in school well excuse me you know i i i got two grown grown men that's one's 50 and one's 48. i don't have any in school I DON'T HAVE ANY GRANDKIDS IN SCHOOL HERE, BUT I'M GOING TO SUPPORT SOMETHING BECAUSE THIS IS THE FUTURE OF DARE COUNTY. I'D MUCH RATHER HAVE THIS AND THEM INVOLVED IN ALL THE THINGS THAT WE WANT TO DO THAN HAVING THEM END UP IN URBANS.

It's an investment in the health of your community. Absolutely.

Absolutely it is. On Hatteras Island, we have a very large number of adults, retired adults that are going. I mean, there's 40, 50 of them every morning working out and doing the fitness classes. I mean, on the hour.

I mean, they're... they're just as active as the kids, if not more. And that's one thing that we talked about, and I don't think I really touched the presentation. Well, during our meetings, we want to make sure that folks in the community know that this benefits our adult population also. Our senior center and our Virginia Telecommunity Center.

And you did a good job with the pictures, showing different pictures of different ages, because I picked up on that.

Yeah, yeah. It's not just for our youth, but that's a great point.

This may not be a question for y'all, but it could be a question for Justin. Are there groups out there, baseball moms, dads, soccer moms and dads, gymnastic moms and dads, et cetera, et cetera, willing to help us sell this?

Would you guys like to speak about anything? No, they can absolutely advocate 100%. It's just not on our behalf.

Right, right. They can't speak for the county. If the Little League program wants to say support the tax referendum and put up billboards and run TV ads, they can do all that they want to do. Their county just can't fund and promote it as a county. Got it.

THEY HAVE A REALLY EXHAUSTIVE LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS THAT THEY HOPE TO REACH OUT TO WITH EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS OR PRESENTATION, AND I THINK THEY'VE SECURED MEETINGS WITH ALL OF THOSE ORGANIZATIONS. AND SEVERAL OF THEIR MEMBERS ARE GOING TO TAKE TURNS GOING OUT TO THOSE GROUPS.

NEW SPEAKER Have we had ‑‑ what about our municipalities? Have we made them aware of what we what's out there?

Have we directly my knowledge we haven't done anything directly to the town saying here are the facts now i'm sure they're aware there's members in the municipalities that sit on the parks and rec advisory board and all that so it's not that they don't know but have we reached out to them directly to ask them to put out the factual information i don't think we've done that or at least not yet

I would say become Labor Day, things start slowing down a bit, that's when people are really going to be focused on it. And certainly we have a close relationship with our PIOs, our communications cohorts in the towns.

we'll be asking them to share it in their newsletters all the towns have newsletters and different ways so we're really just getting started with part of the reason that we're here before you today is for you to do what you just did right to look at what we got get your reaction to it come up with ideas so that when we do this in earnest in full then we've got it the right way we've got the right information and we've emphasized the right stuff so We're just now starting. This is the first go and we'll take the information you've given us today and add it to what we do.

I would do the my card that we could do the every door direct mail and see how much it's going to cost to do that as an informational piece. I think when Bob suggested that when we were talking about it, it was it's a it's a great way to get the facts to every door. I know a lot of people kind of just toss those two, but it's also it's out there and it's a solid piece of information. You could put the 70% on one side and then how it affects the households on the other.

And send them to the website.

Yes. Yep. Could the soccer moms do like a Facebook page?

They can do anything they want. Especially, yeah, they're not an entity that's appointed by.

Go ahead, go ahead, go ahead.

I mean, you can. We just can't fund it as a county and we can't take a position as a county on yes or no.

But as an individual, you can do whatever you want. So an individual on this board could work the polls And hand this out as an information piece.

Just like you do on election day.

And not say anything about yay or nay.

As an individual, you can stand up and say vote yes. But you can't say their county says vote yes. And we can't use county resources to say vote yes. And we can't do a flyer that says vote yes or anything like that.

I'd say get a lot more than 6,000.

Great.

There's going to be roughly 18,000 votes.

I'm going to put some in my restaurant.

2022, similar thing, U.S. Senate election, very similar demographics on the ballot, 18,000 turnout. So you can roughly between 18,000 and 20,000 people are going to vote on this referendum.

Yep. We estimated that we need 10,000 votes.

I said we estimated from that that 10,000 votes is what we would need approximately.

Yeah, that's typical average on an off-election year.

But it is. It's very important to get the educational piece out there because if you just show up to the polls and don't know about it, it's an easy...

So do you have enough information from this board to start printing these flyers.

Absolutely. Yeah. That's great. And as you have time, look through the website and if there's any feedback you have to share, please send it our way. We'll update it. Thank you.

Thank you. Do you all, when we get the markup for whatever the next run's going to be, maybe we'll share it with you all and say, hey, here's what we're getting ready to do. Yep. If you have anything, anything, give it to us and You got two days, and then two days we're having them printed. We don't hear from you.

I also heard that you want us to price a direct mail box holder's mail recipients in the county.

And if you do that before the 10th, we can talk about that on the 10th.

Right.

Well, thank you all very much. Appreciate all the hard work.

Thank you for the time. Thank you for your support.

That brings us to item eight on the agenda, Mr. Chairman. This is an asset inventory and assessment grant resolution. And Jessica's here for that.

Good morning.

Welcome, Jessica. Thank you.

i'm here today to request approval for three resolutions to apply for asset inventory and assessment grants it would be one for the rhodanthi waves salvo water system one for the cape hatteras water system and one for the stumpy point water system The benefit of this grant is that they would assess our infrastructure and they would help us inventory it so that we can have a more proactive approach to future management of the infrastructure. So the grants are limited to a maximum of $150,000 per grant. Now we would be required to have a 20% match per each system. The current budgets do have those funds available for the maximum match. However, the grant itself, if awarded the funds, we are not obligated to accept the funds, and we also do not have to accept the funds in the full amount awarded.

And that's really all I have.

Okay. Bobby, you want to read, I mean, the three resolutions are

repetitious but would you read the one all right this is a resolution to apply for an asset inventory and assessment grant whereas a dare The county of DARE will apply for funding to conduct an asset inventory and assessment from Stumpy Point drinking water system. As you said, we'll change it for each of the three, but this one's for Stumpy Point. Whereas the county of DARE intends to request state loan or grant assistance for the project. Now, therefore be it resolved by the DARE County Board of Commissioners that the county of DARE, the applicant will arrange financing for all remaining costs of the project if approved for a state loan or grant. that the applicant will provide a 20% match of up to a maximum of $30,000. The applicant will provide for efficient operation and maintenance of the project on completion of the construction thereof. The applicant will adopt and place into effect on or before the completion of the project a schedule of fees and charges and other available funds, which will provide adequate funds for proper operation, maintenance, and administration of the system and the repayment of all principal and interest on any debt. that the governing body of the applicant agrees to include the loan agreement provisions authorizing a state treasurer upon failure of the county to make a scheduled repayment to withhold from the county any state funds that would otherwise be distributed to the local government unit in an amount sufficient to pay all sums due and payable to the state as a repayment of the loan. That Robert Outen, the county manager, Matt Matejka, chief financial officer, or Jessica King, the public utility director, The authorized representatives and successors so titled or hereby authorized to execute and file an application on behalf of the applicant with North Carolina or the state of North Carolina for a loan and or grant aid in the study of or construction of the project described above. that the authorized representatives and successors so titled are hereby authorized and directed to furnish such information as the appropriate state agency may request in connection with such application or project to make the assurances as contained above and to execute such other documents as may be required in connection with the application. that the applicant has substantially complied or will substantially comply with all federal state and local laws rules regulations ordinances and funding conditions applicable to the project and to the federal state grants and loans pertaining thereto this is the third day of august 2026. pleasure of the board must approve all three individual resolutions there's a motion on full about the vice chair is there a second second second about commissioner balance any further discussion

Hearing none, those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, like so. Motion carries unanimous. Thank you, Jessica. Thank you.

This brings us to Item 9 on the agenda. This, once again, is our proposed ordinance establishing the regulations for the sale of Kratom products, and she was here for that, and I think that she's made some of the changes we discussed at the last meeting, and I'll let her fill you in from there.

good morning good morning so there were two changes that were requested last month when i presented to you and what you will find with those changes they're in two different sections the first change is in section 115.02 definitions under number five it's the definition to compliant kratom product specifically under that item number five under that definition this is where you asked for language to really go into detail about how the laboratory test what those what those requirements would look like how you can make sure that the products being sold can be traced to like a batch number or lot number so that's language there that Hopefully you feel confident satisfies that request and provides that level of detail. The only other change was, this was in response to the law enforcement piece. This is in section 115.04 penalties. We needed to change the chapter of reference. The version that you saw last month was related to a public health reference. This is specifically related related to the law enforcement so it's the chapter 14.4 which would then give law enforcement the authority to act on a sanction other than that the version is what you saw last month okay any questions of sheila

Motion to approve. Okay. There's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Bateman to approve as presented. Is there a second? Second. Seconded by the Vice Chair and Commissioner Kree. Any further discussion? Hearing none, those in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, like said. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Sheila, for doing that.

Certainly. Thank you. And I will just follow up to add one thing. When we adopted this as a public health rule, well, I guess it's two things I'm going to share. We had our health educators go out and do some education for the businesses. We will now do that again with the rule, and then we also will be taking the rule version of the language back to the Board of Health and Human Services at their upcoming meeting later this month to make sure the language is consistent. We need to change the original rule to match this rule. Yes, sir.

Just a curiosity question, Sheila. Do you have any idea how many different business locations are actually selling Kratom products that you would have to reach out to or train, address?

I had to guess it's like 10 to 15.

Okay, so this is not hundreds of Kratom establishments.

no it's not in fact we when we did our original education though we sent it to we used environmental health we sent it to a much larger larger audience and then i had some businesses like including grocery stores that were like we don't sell these products and we just were doing it as education they appreciate the education but they have no desire to sell these products got it i've only ever seen any gas stations gas station smoke shops well i don't go to those when will this ban take effect

Just did. Okay. I've had several people that manage gas stations that have reached out to me and said, hey, when is this going to take effect when you guys vote on it? When, you know, 10 days, 30 days. So just did. That's all informative. They'll be happy to hear that because they say it's a pain to deal with.

Yeah. When will the, do you know, Sheila, when will the criminal stuff apply? Is there a grace period for this or is it like today right now?

Since I'm, Hard to speak. Doug is not here or Jeff. My understanding is, you know, this will be complaint driven and then they would follow up based on the complaint to investigate. I think the goal initially is education. And so my thought is the reproach would be a little bit of a grace period. I think where it will be a problem is if there's repeat offenders, they know they've educated them, they know we've educated them, and they're still being willfully noncompliant. That's when I think they would take action. Does that sound appropriate, Bobby?

That sounds good to me.

We have trained Galaxy to sniff out some Kratom back there. Are you ready?

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Sheila. Thank you, Sheila.

Item 10 on our agenda, Mr. Chairman, is a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concerning Rawson Channel. Barton, if you want to come tell the board about that, please.

Welcome, Barton. I think Commissioner Mallinson mentioned this during her commissioner's business probably last month. The Corps of Engineers pipeline dredged Rollinson Channel, also the Hatters Ferry Channel, and recently completed the project. They dredged those channels to approximately 12 feet, and then some of the material was placed in the open water disposal area out in the Sound. IN ONE OF THOSE LOCATIONS, IT'S 1500 FOOT NORTH OF THE FEDERAL CHANNEL, AND SO INITIALLY THEY PLACED THESE MOUNDS UP TO TWO FOOT BELOW SEA LEVEL, AND WE HAD VESSELS IMPACTING THESE MOUNDS RIGHT AS THEY LEFT ROLLINSON CHANNEL. IF YOU LOOK AT THE MAP HERE AT THE BOTTOM, YOU CAN KIND OF SEE WHERE THE FEDERAL CHANNEL ENDS AND THE PLACEMENT AREA, THE APPROXIMATE LOCATION OF THE MOUNDS. The Corps directed the contractor to fix it, but per their contract, they could only fix it to minus five foot mean low, low water. And that is still a problem. Our Waterways Commission has talked about this at the last couple of meetings. That five foot depth is still an issue. And so this letter is to request the Corps address the mounds and bring them back to a depth of a maximum of minus nine foot mean low, low water. just to avoid any further vessels impacting them on their way north from Hatters to Oregon Inlet to Engelhard. The depth of the water in this area has traditionally been around 12 foot. So it's kind of unexpected for boaters to leave a federal channel that's 12 foot now that's been pipeline dredged and then run into a mound on their way north.

Barton, is your expectation they'll say thanks for the letter and ignore it? Or do you think we'll get a response and help us get these channels? Deeper.

Uncertain on that. It is their pipeline contractor is gone. He's met their five foot requirements. So they would likely have to bring one of their dredge plants, the merit to dredge that. It is outside of our dredge corridor. We do not have a permit to dredge. We have a permit to place in that area, but we do not have a permit to dredge where they placed all this material. So we cannot use our own vessel to... the state and federal government, that would probably not be a very quick process with permitting, whereas the Corps can declare an emergency and address it much quicker than the months and year that it would take for us to pull a permit. So yeah, I'm just seeking approval for a letter co-signed by Chairman Woodard and our chairman, Steve Coulter from the Water Risk Commission to be submitted to the court.

All right. I'll say too that I think for the guys from the core that come to the meetings, us saying this kind of gives them a little bit of a argument to make that to their higher ups to say, hey, look, they're doing their thing. Can we just get this? So it's...

They admitted that is a problem. All future contracts that the court does, they will have a depth way deeper than five foot. And so in the future, it's going to be solved. The court's not going to do this again, but that doesn't solve the issue our voters are experiencing right now.

All right. I'll make a motion too.

Okay. There's a motion on full by Commissioner Valance to send the letter. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Bateman. Further discussion? Hearing none, those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you, Barton, for your work on that.

Thank you all. Mr. Chairman, item 11 is a proclamation for Child Support Awareness Month. And with your permission, I'll read that proclamation.

Yes, sir.

Whereas Dare County is recognizing August as Child Support Awareness Month and reaffirms its commitment to strengthening Dare County families by providing child support services to improve the economic stability and well-being of children. And whereas the state fiscal year 2025-26, more than 1.8 million in child support was collected from parents of Dare County children. And whereas there are nearly 602 child support orders in place working to ensure that children receive financial support from their parents. And whereas the court must order either parent to obtain and maintain medical health insurance coverage for a child if it is actually and currently available to the parent at a reasonable cost. And whereas Child Support Awareness Month salutes the diligent working parents who spend time with their child and who make regular child support payments to safeguard their children's future. And whereas strengthening individuals and families promotes the safety and well-being of children, provides stability, improves the lives of children and provides opportunities for families to be able to enhance their children's futures. and whereas children who do not receive adequate financial and emotional support from their parents may experience greater difficulty in becoming healthy, happy, and productive citizens. And whereas many concerned and dedicated judges, district attorneys, clerks of court, sheriff's personnel, and child support professionals work to establish and enforce child support orders for Derrick County children, one of our county's most vital resources. Now, therefore we, the Derrick County board of commissioners do hereby proclaim August, 2026 as child support awareness month in Derrick County and commend its observance to all citizens.

Pleasure of the board. motion to adopt is a motion on the floor by the vice chair to adopt is there a second second second by commissioner burris any further discussion hearing none those in favor of the motion signify by saying aye aye opposed like sign motion carries unanimous chairman item 12 on the agenda is a reimbursement resolution for the manioc field house and matt mccleek will make that presentation

Good afternoon, Matt. Good afternoon. So this is a housekeeping item. So we have in our CIP, and this is the Dare County School CIP, the Manny O. Fieldhouse project. Within the CIP, there is a funding of $1 million in borrowing for that project. And we're going to attach that funding to the debt issuance that's planned for Public Works. Now you'll see this resolution has an up to $1.5 million. And that's because we're also working with the school through their current CIP model. And so to provide capacity in the current year's model, we might actually borrow more money for the field house. So all that this is doing is allowing us to pay ourselves back for the construction that's already started when we do that future bond issuance.

I'm looking at your associates. It's never enough, Matt.

Okay. Is there a motion to approve the resolution? Motion to approve. There's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Ross. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Balance. Any further discussion? Hearing none, those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, like, sign. Motion carries unanimously. Thank you. Superintendent, board chair, board vice chair, former member of the board, thank you all for your patience this morning.

You ready to move on?

Yes, sir.

That brings us to item 13, which is our consent agenda. On the consent agenda, you have the approval of the minutes from July 7th. You have a tax collector's report. You have a budget amendment for the libraries, a budget amendment for the water department. News Bank Contract for the Dare County Library, Debt Book Investment Module Contract Extension, Albemarle Commission Senior Nutrition Contract, Dare County Transportation Scheduling Software Proposal, and the Beach Nourishment Capital Project Ordinance Amendment and Budget Amendment.

Can I ask a question about the beach? Sure. Is that a requirement for the beach nourishment? Is that a requirement? To fund the bird monitoring?

Yes. Yep.

and the turtle monitoring no other question okay it's a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented by vice chair is there a second second second my commissioner balance any further discussion hearing none those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed like sign motion carries unanimous

Chairman, next are your board appointments. You have the ABC board. Phil Scarborough and Jimmy Pierce both have terms that expire this month, and they both wish to be reappointed.

Motion to reappoint. There's a motion on the floor by the vice chair to reappoint. Is there a second?

Second.

Seconded by Commissioner Kreef. Any further discussion? Hearing none, those in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, like said. Motion carries unanimously.

And then you have your Veterans Advisory Council. William Reyes is no longer serving on the Veterans Advisory Council, and the council recommends the appointment of Barry Holt to fill his unexpired term.

Motion to appoint Barry Holt.

There's a motion on the floor by the Vice Chair to appoint Mr. Holt. Second. Seconded by Commissioner Burris. Any further discussion?

hearing none those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed like sign motion carries unanimous and then your upcoming board and committee appointments in september you have the health and human services advisory board with four terms expiring in october you have the library board with one term expiring and the thomas a bomb senior center advisory board with three terms expiring in november you have the older adult services advisory council with two terms expiring and you have the working waterman commission with one term expiring that would be your agenda mr chairman thank you county manager that brings us to commissioner business manager business i would ask the county manager if he has anything else this morning this afternoon one thing i guess it's more informational than for you to act but on our pickleball project which is underway over in nags head We found as they were excavating, there were some unsuitable soils. When they excavated down, they had to go much deeper than anybody thought because the soil would not compact. And so they had to dig deeper and bring in additional field. That resulted in about $192,000 increase in the cost. Now remember, we got three or $400,000 of savings. So it's coming out of that. So it's still in the budget. But what I didn't want, I didn't want to get to the end and you all say, Hey, you told me it was only going to be this. We got savings. And now it's this because you spent half of your half of the 192 to cover those unsuitable soils. And so I'm just bringing you up to speed. That is what has occurred. $200,000 for soil?

Some dirt, man. It's expensive dirt.

Just so long as we have enough money for the bright neon Bob Woodard pickleball facilities.

it's still it's still even with that remains under what we budgeted and and again and the tourism board their half split half of that 192 I think we could have gotten by cheaper I just received something from my good vice chairman it blew my mind there are do you are you aware of

There are pickleball courts that are placed in the sound. They are floating pickleball courts. We could have blown up a few flatable, what do you call those floats that you float on in the ocean? We could have blown up. You can buy them for a dollar, Danny. Yeah, really. at the stores we could have bought a couple of hundred of them and we could have put a man on there there you go another great idea but it blew my mind when he sent me that and showed me the floating pickleball course i'm looking at dustin on that

Topic, County Manager, do we have any estimated completion date given the delay in the additional soils and accompanying costs? End of October. Can we write that down?

Yes, sir.

Okay.

I don't have anything else. I mean, that's a lot of dirt.

You've got an area that's ten pickle buck what it means yeah it's big it's a big area and you're going down yeah that's that's a lot of a lot of dirt dirt is that it that's it that's all thank you

Public information, Ms. Hester, do you have anything for us?

Two meetings being scheduled for Hatteras Island. I think I've made you at least the one you know about this month, August 18th at 6 o'clock, to have a session at the Fezzenden Center about the Highway 12 closure. Right. Based on the last one, just to talk about the communication and coordination around those type imminent, I would say, where it's not expected to go through that. So 6 to 7.30 that night. And then Commissioner Balance has been working on a coyote management workshop. So we'll be at the Fezzenden Center again in the evening at 6 o'clock. Okay. the date is september 10th again six december six probably six to eight and we're gonna videotape that one so that we can use it oh good on the channel but we've got those two things going down there good deal hope i didn't steal your thunder no not at all i was gonna say the um my i have an outdoor cat that's not that a coyote got

It's a problem, but it's not a problem.

People need to understand it. And so I'm glad we're doing this.

Yeah, that's all I've got.

Thank you. Our finance director, Matt, do you have anything else for us?

We would normally present our award from the GFOA at this meeting. The GFOA has been running behind in their reviews. So we talked to them last week and they're averaging nine months. So hopefully at our September meeting, we'll have that result.

Good deal.

They won't let us go meet with them and do anything until we get our audits in right on time. Now they're months late with what they're coming back with. Right.

Thank you. Thank you, Matt. Do as we say, not as we do. That's right. Okay. That brings us to Commissioner Business, and I will ask Commissioner Burris if he'll kick it off.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Just a couple things real quick as it pertains to the information out there about the sales tax increase for the recreational facilities. One point that was made about having places for these kids to go and things for them to do, I don't think that can be overstated enough, especially in Dare County where we have seen such an opioid epidemic over the past 20 years we've seen alcoholism ruin families in this community we've seen people you know petty crime get to where it just spirals out of control and and ruins people you know decades of their lives i think we start you always start with the young people And we need to make sure that we have them in mind when we make decisions like this, because their benefit is our benefit. And I want to see us make the right decision, however people feel about that once they interpret the information for themselves. But that's something that, and I work with these children. I coach in a travel basketball program, OBX United, for three years now. And having enough facilities is a problem. Having places for us to practice. And we're doing it in March, April, May, and June are about the four months we operate. That's baseball season, that's softball season at the schools. And so we're lucky enough that we can get a little bit of gym time at the middle schools and the high schools, but it's still very limited. And that's still depending on the schools rather than more of a public facility like a recreation facility. So I think there's definitely a need and we need to we need to rise up and meet the needs of our children because they're the future. Our time has come and gone. We've moved on, and we need to make sure that they have every opportunity to succeed in life, and I think this goes a long way in doing that. And that's all I really have this month, Mr. Chairman.

Well said, Commissioner. I'm like you. Our kids are extremely important, and we need to make whatever we need to do to keep them active in sports and stuff, and I appreciate your comments on that. Thank you. Commissioner Valens.

Thank you, Chairman Woodard. I just have one quick thing I'm going to go over. Back several months ago, we went through, and Dustin, if you could come up, I want you to help me with this one. We looked at trying to expand that parking lot at the teacher housing, and the quotes for that came in a little higher than what we expected because of some grading and some retaining walls and things that were going to have to be done. And I'll let Dustin explain that, but there was another part to that and that's the dog park. And so sure.

So as a commissioner balance indicated, when we went through the study and identified the areas that we would be able to add additional parking, the overall cost of construction stormwater management and site work was a little beyond what we were prepared to move forward with however a part of that included the dog park or the unofficial area across the street that people are using as a dog park if we wanted to fence that in do some minimal site work it would allow the people that are already using a space that they could let their dog run off leash and kind of have some social environment without the fear of running in the highway or across the street or you know off the property so If you all wanted to move forward with funding just the dog park, a not to exceed amount of 25,000 would get that done. And I say not to exceed because we'd like to do all the site work we could in-house to try to prevent any cost escalation beyond what is absolutely necessary if that's something you all wanted to move forward with.

So currently there is not a dog park on Hatteras Island at all. This property is, it's not a huge piece of property, but there's really nothing else you can do with it. It's got monitoring wells on it. So, and people are using it, not, it's kind of, it's kind of been designated as a dog park, but there's no fencing around it. So you can't really let your dog off the leash, but it's a perfect spot. It's right on the Buxton back road where they have the sidewalk and it would just be a really,

really nice thing for us to have at a minimal cost would we fund that through contingency i'd like to see it down there you know yeah i mean we got we've funded dog parks and i mean we look at roanoke island and i mean that's a minuscule amount they haven't got one i'll make that motion okay there's a motion on the florida's SPEND 25,000 TO DO THAT.

NOT TO EXCEED.

I'LL SECOND IT. IT'S BEEN SECONDED BY THE VICE CHAIR. THE FLOOR IS NOW OPEN FOR DISCUSSION. I DON'T HAVE ANY PROBLEM WITH THAT.

THE PARKING LOT, WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE PARKING LOT?

THE PARKING LOT WE ORIGINALLY THOUGHT WAS GOING TO COME IN AROUND, I DON'T KNOW, UNDER 100, REALLY, BUT IT'S COME BACK AT CLOSE TO 30.

LET ME GO DEEPER. HE WANTS SOMETHING DEEPER. There's a lot of soccer folks that come to that.

Yeah, I remember. Yeah.

OK, well, we were going to expand that parking lot between that business and the current.

I recall that as well.

It's a deep hole in there. It's fencing in there and all that stuff. So he's saying that he's gotten some numbers in there. Pretty astronomical. 300 plus? Yes, sir. It was about 370,000.

Just to get how many parking? I think it was like 17 additional parking spots. It would reroute how all the current existing parking goes in, how the traffic goes in.

Which I don't think is necessarily a bad thing or something that we don't need to look at further, but I don't think it's something we, I didn't feel like it was something I wanted to bring forward.

20,000 per space.

Yeah.

Yeah. So that is the reason you brought it up with the dog park was to update us. And then we shifted to Part B dog park. I was.

Well, it was one combined combination of two. Come on.

So we're doing the combined project.

No, no. We're just doing the dog park.

OK. It started with a combined project. We got to explicitly pulled out the park and left the dog park, which is right.

Thank you. We don't have any further. We don't have any. uh issues arising again from the tenants over there that used to park trailers and and run uh run down motorcycles and stuff we don't got to my knowledge we don't have any more of that we've moved we had our folks move all of our stuff out right with the schools to have them have the tenants move out the stuff that wasn't parking um so and we even had bleachers sitting in a parking lot we moved all of our all of our parks and rec stuff we moved out of there okay good so to my knowledge i'm not saying there's probably some rundown boats sitting there right now that i've said this but the last time i was there that stuff was all moved out good okay all right so there's once again there's a motion on the floor it's been seconded um any further discussion hearing none those in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed like sign motion carries

Thank you. And I'll be brief. That's all I have.

Is that it? Okay.

Well, thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Ross. I will also be brief. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I just want to revisit what we started with earlier this morning. Mr. Matt Kellum. Do you believe what we heard? I cannot believe it. It was amazing. And I just want to offer one more round of congratulations to this guy. That was really above and beyond and represents the best of all of us, frankly. So thank you, Matt. And secondly, we earlier heard from the childcare nonprofit and The board approved a subcommittee meeting, which will take place this Thursday in Avon at 1215. It will include everyone I mentioned, as well as county manager Bobby Alton. So that's moving forward. That's all I've got.

Good deal. Thank you, Commissioner.

Vice chair. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Chief Collins mentioned something in her presentation about the us being the generation from the TV show Emergency. I'm from that generation. I started in emergency services in 1978 and had the distinct pleasure of working with James Page, who after he retired from L.A. County Fire Department as a paramedic, he became the North Carolina director of OEMS. And he was actually one of the technical advisors for that TV show. And I actually got to talk to him very much about the TV show. And on a sad note, of course, Director Page passed away several years ago. The character, John Gage, the little funny, goofy guy, that was loosely based on James Page when they wrote the show. Randolph Mantooth took it upon himself to actually go through the paramedic program while they were filming the show so he could get a better insight of his character in the show. He spent the rest of his life promoting the paramedic program throughout the entire United States. And unfortunately, last month, he passed away. So all of us from the emergency TV show generation We mourn the loss of Randolph Mantooth, Johnny Gage. A lot of you are aware, in case you're not, we do have a dredge called Miss Katie. And this month, Miss Katie has been here for four years. And we have a video we've put together that shows you the highlights of what she's been able to do in the last four years. When Katie came, it kind of helped it out a lot. Because if it weren't for her, you would not be going out of there.

But with Miss Katie, thank God, it is definitely helping us out. Big difference. We're able to come and go.

The Miss Katie seems to have, I'm not going to say solved the problem, but their answer to the problem. You know, it does a great job. When they come in town, whatever the problem is down at the inlet, they clean it up and go on.

My name is Barton Grover. I'm the Grants and Waterways Administrator for Dare County. The Miscati arrived in August 2022. It is a public-private partnership. The dredge is operated by EJE Dredging under the guidance of the Oregon Inlet Task Force.

I'm Steve House, Vice Chairman of their County Board of Commissioners and Chairman of the Oregon Inlet Task Force. And we hold the oversight for the Miss Katie Dredge project. It's been a remarkable project, very first time ever in the United States. There was two things that we did for legislation to get this done through the state of North Carolina. Number one issue was that she would be based here in North Carolina and be dedicated to Oregon Inlet and Hatteras Inlet, but she could go anywhere in the state when she's allowed to. which on several occasions we've had her go to other places in North Carolina to do dredging projects that the Army Corps could not get to in a timely fashion. And number two on that list was a $15 million forgivable loan through the state to build Miss Kate. And with that legislation, there was a 10-year process to pay that forgivable loan back. And what that forgivable loan part is, is they take the rate that to account that rate for the Miss Katie, and that savings pays back that forgivable loan. This year, she's been dredging for four years straight. That $15 million forgivable loan has been paid out.

The main purpose of the Miss Katie is to dredge navigation channels to ensure safe navigation for both mariners and the Coast Guard. Since her arrival, the Miss Katie has dredged over 3 million cubic yards. The Miss Katie can hold approximately 500 cubic yards per load and then transports that material to deep scour holes west of the bridge or offshore Pea Island. Of that 3 million cubic yards, the Miss Katie has dredged over 2 million from Oregon Inlet, approximately 275,000 from the crack in Walter Slough adjacent to the Coast Guard Station, and approximately 250,000 in Hatteras Inlet. By having the Miss Katie in Dare County, we've not only seen increased dredging, but we've also saved over $16 million compared to the federal dredging rate.

The Miss Katie is extremely important to the Wanchese Marine Industrial Park. The park has 24 businesses that are all either commercial fishing or boat building related. The park has an annual impact to the state of North Carolina of $105 million a year. So the Miss Katie helps provide safe passage to and from Wanchese and Oregon Inlet. which helps ensure that we keep these 350 to 400 jobs in the park every day. Before the Miscati was here, it was very sporadic. The dredging that was done was not dependable or reliable because it wasn't done as often as it needed to be done. And so as a result, the businesses here hurt. We weren't seeing as many commercial fishing boats coming into the Wanchese facility or the boat building industry was having trouble getting boats back here to be worked on or repaired when that needed to be done. So the Miss Katie is vital to the stability and success of the Wanchese Marine Industrial Park.

The Miss Katie is the quickest to the job and get the job done quicker.

So that's our update on what Miss Katie has been able to do in the four years she's been here. That's quite a few cubic yards dredged out of these inlets. And she's doing a phenomenal job. And I want to share one more video with you today. The favorite part of any Dara County Commissioner meeting, Pet of the Week.

Our Pet of the Week this week is probing. Meet Proby. This handsome guy is about two and a half years old.

He was previously adopted from our care, but sadly was returned because his family did not have enough time for him. Proby loves playtime, especially a good game of fetch. He has done great with other dogs and would thrive in an outgoing home. To adopt Proby or foster one of our other animals, come visit us Monday through Friday at our shelter located in Manteo. For more information, visit our website at obxspca.org or visit our OBX SPCA Facebook page.

Please run down to the OBX SPCA, check out Proby and all the other animals they have there and give someone their forever home. Thank you very much, Chairman. That's all I have.

Thank you, Vice Chair. And, um, I JUST HAVE TO COMMENT ABOUT MS. CATEY AND ALL THE AMOUNT OF DRIDGE AND STUFF THAT THEY'VE BEEN ABLE TO DO. WE LOOK BACK ON ALL THE HOURS AND PHONE CALLS AND MEETINGS AND PROBLEMS THAT WE HAD KEEPING OUR INLETS OPEN AND JUST GETTING THE CORE TO COME IN AND HELP US. I FALL BACK ON THE FACT THAT THEY SAID THE INLETS WERE ONLY OPEN 33% OF THE TIME. And now that we've been able to have this public-private partnership, it's just unbelievable the difference it's made. And who knows how many commercial fishermen we would have today if we'd had this years ago and how many processing centers.

we'd have if we'd have been able to do this years ago. Yeah, absolutely. Since Miss Katie has been here, Oregon Inlet has been closed zero times. Right. It's incredible. Unbelievable.

Commissioner Bateman.

Yes, sir. And Steve, thank you for all your work on it and as well as Commissioner Tobin. Yeah. Working really hard on that thing. Yeah, Commissioner Bateman. I had the opportunity to do the to do the opening, yeah, it is me. This has been a rough summer, y'all. Goodness gracious. Gosh. With all I've got going on this past month, whatever I did, the opening remarks for the Carolina basketball team. Great. I was standing up and I look, these guys are like seven foot and blah. I mean, it's unbelievable how tall when you're standing beside one of those guys, it's enormous. And then last night we had the coach in the restaurant, very interesting guy. He was even the coach of the Denver Nuggets when they won the national championship.

So this is an NBA team that was at your restaurant? No, this is Carolina Tar Heel. Carolina Tar Heel.

And then last night I had the coach in the restaurant, and he used to be a NBA coach. Super nice guy, great family. I think his daughter plays volleyball for Carolina. Just super nice, good time with those guys, enjoyed it. I also had the opportunity to go for the opening, the dedication for the park. Chairman Wood would give opening remarks for Bobby Owens, and that was a good turnout there for somebody who really done a lot for Derry County. And I got a lot of inspiration from that guy because his philosophy was, you know, he said, I ride down the road, he said, and I can look and say, you know what? I had something to do with that or I had something to do with that. And he never told anybody. It was always between him and himself of what he did. And I think that's truly a public servant. You know, no credit, nobody. Just take and do it. And that's the kind of guy he was. So I enjoyed going to that place. The other thing I had was the, oh, who, so ditches in Dare County. Department of Transportation claims them. How do we get a ditch on a list for them to possibly go and clean?

We just ask them if it's a, is it their ditch is the first question.

It's in Dare County. And I got some calls.

It's in Dare County. DOT has ditches that are aligned with their roads, and their ditches are designed to take the water that runs off the road and hold it until it is absorbed in the ground. They do not have a ditching system that runs to the sound to take stormwater from other places to move it to the sound, although stormwater from other places ultimately runs in their ditches. And so it has to be a DOT ditch. There are numerous ditches in Dare County that are not DOT ditches. their ditches and how they got there, whose they are or whatever. I can't tell you that. We're going to get the bottom of these damn ditches.

The ditch I'm talking about and ditches I'm talking about are back behind Ace Hardware back in Good Luck. All those people back there, all the yards are flooded and so forth because it's a low-lying area anyway. And, of course, we have a torrential rain for six, seven inches. But they haven't been cleaned out in a long, long time.

I can certainly ask DOT to take a look at that.

Okay. All right. And that's all I had. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner.

Commissioner Kreef.

Yeah, I'm going to piggyback on what Irvin said a little bit. It's not just even down there. It's the whole north end of Manteo and even southern parts of Nags Head where we're having these major flooding issues due to rain events. Obviously, we had an extraordinary amount of rain there in about a two-week time period. Can't do nothing about that. But the ditches are in bad shape. So back in the day in Wanchese, they had a similar issue, and they came up with their own ditch commission. They had their own town. And even though it's not a town, unincorporated Wanchese had a ditch commission, and Lish Meekins, went down with equipment, and they went through, and they cleaned out every single ditch in Wanchese. And maybe we need to look into organizing something like that in some of these unaffiliated places in North End of Manteo. And Town and Agshead, I mean, they're on their own on that. They need to get their own equipment out there to take care of that. i would like to see our ditches cleaned up a little bit better in some of these places and if that's the route we got to go where we need to put a citizen kind of deal together and figure out how to raise money for it then that's what we need to do but i'd be certainly willing to help with any of that other than that can i speak to that sure real quick so

counties don't have any roads or any ditches. And so there's, if somebody says it's a county ditch, it's not, there's none of that. So, so if a community and you pick whatever one cheese, wherever you're picking, if they want to do that, then you can create a service district like we do for beach nourishment. And those people can pay a tax into a fund for that purpose. And I think stormwater management is one of the listed purposes in the statute. to fund that. And that's how, that's how we would be involved. If they're just going to do it on their own, like they did in Wanchese, then they got together. We really didn't have any involvement in that other than, and so they can certainly do that as well. And they got to worry about easements if they're worried about that and, and placement of the dirt and all those things that we would have to worry about. They probably didn't worry about, they probably agree they're just going to do it and did it.

Well, it's a lot easier in Wanchese than it would be in some of these other places because everybody knows their neighbor.

So those are our choices. And for us to do a service district, normally what we would ask is we would ask for a significant part of the community to come forward and say this is what we want to do because we're getting ready to tax them for that. So before we tax them, we'd want to hear from them.

Yeah, no, I agree with that. I would just say we need to look into something because I don't think that people in these areas would be opposed to that rather than having their entire property flooded. I mean...

well except that even if we now one thing that we found out on the north end we did do a study up there we spent some money trying to solve those problems and as i said almost all the ditches aren't designed to drain into the sound they're designed to retain water and let it do and they're designed there's a state stormwater standard i don't remember what it is but they're designed to that state stormwater standard well when we get seven inches of rain in two days and 17 inches of rain in a week there's no system that's designed to deal with that and there's no system that we could build that could handle that much water because we're only a foot or so above sea level and so some problems could be solved others at that level of rain we can't solve when they're going to be flooded so i don't know where the balance is but i mean when you see the facebook videos of all these ditches clogged up i mean that's what we're talking about here

Anything else?

Well, we're wrapping up the summer, and I hope everybody did okay. I know I've been working about 80 hours a week. I don't know about everybody else, but I'll be glad come October. Speaking on the coyotes, coyote season opens up for trapping regulations October 1st. So from October 1st until the end of February, you'll be allowed to legally trap and harvest coyotes with a licensed trapper. So that can solve some of your issues here in a couple months, and certainly places like Address Island where these people are having their pets and everything else taken off by what I think of as an invasionary species that doesn't belong on our islands here. And with that, that's all I have.

Thank you, Commissioner. Anyone else have anything else? With that being said, we need a motion to adjourn until September. August. I MEAN, THIS IS AUGUST 10.

OH, THAT'S RIGHT.

WE'LL TAKE THAT BACK. WE ARE MEETING SPECIAL AUGUST 10. SORRY ABOUT THAT. AUGUST 10. OKAY. THANK YOU, VICE CHAIR. COMMISSIONER BALANCE MADE THE MOTION. SECONDED BY COMMISSIONER BURRUS. ANY FURTHER DISCUSSION? HEARING NONE, THOSE IN FAVOR SIGNIFY BY SAYING AYE. AYE.