Council - Regular Meeting

Good evening everyone and welcome to the Smith room for the March 2nd um town council meeting. Um we are uh going to have a moment of silence and say the pledge of allegiance. If you'd like to stand, that would be great. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Thank you.

I need a motion to approve tonight's agenda. So moved, Madame Mayor. I need a second. Second. Thank you. Thank you. All in favor? I Okay, we have um two presentations tonight. And um let's see. The first is Chief Pal Kovix's I believe. Oh, I knew about that. We good? Yeah, we're good. Thank you.

Good evening, Mayor, Council, Miss Manager. Good evening. It's good to see you guys. If I can bring up Michael and Mason, if you guys will come up here tonight, it is my pleasure to introduce our two newest members of the Kittyhawk Police Department. Um, and we've gone in two different ways here. First, I'm going to start with Mason. Uh, Mason comes to us by way of Norol Police Department where he served for just two years. Uh, he has relocated down here with his wife and started in October. And I'm going to say within three weeks or four weeks of starting here, he welcomed his newest child or his only child, his youngest child uh into the family as well. So he has had an eventful start already. Uh he is currently out working on the street for us, but he's attending BL as a partial as well. And all goes well this summer. He will be released from everything and have all of his certifications here in Virginia. So we welcome Mason. Secondly is Michael Ranky next to me here and he's the we're going the different route here. Michael was brand new. This young man and you can tell he's young. Uh is very energetic and excited and we are excited to have him. Um he just started with us after working at Target and uh he's a full student in the basic law enforcement training. Um going there studying hard as I am told and we talked about earlier today uh and doing well. So again, in the summer, we look forward to having him graduated and then starting the field training process, uh, getting him started. And Michael has brought his family with him. So I'm going to put you on the spot, Mike, and talk about introduce your mother and their father, just so they can be introduced as well. So my parents over there, uh, third girl back, that's my mother and my dad to the right, Lisa Ranky, Mike Ranky, and I have my three siblings right here. My oldest on the end here, Haley Ranky. Uh

my little child sister right there Ashley and my youngest brother a nice welcome them and I will I think it's interesting to point out for me at least um Michael is unique because he is the one that has taken us over our largest compliment that we've ever had. um he is the 17th will be the 17th sworn officer on our uh compliment when he finishes his ble and we couldn't do that without y'all's support. So thank you all very much for that support and we look forward to coming the 18th and being completely full. So thank you. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you.

You're welcome. Our second presenter is stuck on the Alligator River Bridge and he will be here as quickly as he can get here, but he's hasn't arrived yet. So, we're going to go on with the with our agenda. There's a bad accident at Mania intersection. Oh, is it like bad bad? Okay. Um, let's see. Madame Clerk, do we have anybody signed up to speak tonight? Yes, ma'am. We do. Our first speaker is Charlotte.

Good evening. My name is Charlotte. It's a very good name. Um, I'm representing the League of Women Voters of Bear County and I'm presenting the 2026 Citizens Guide and it's to uh a guide to community services. Complimentary copies are published by the lead since 1988. They're distributed annually to government and businesses and offices throughout Bear County. It has contact information for local, state, national, governmental agencies, voting information, emergency numbers, and more. The guide is published by the League of Women Voters of Dare Education Foundation. On the back cover are the acknowledgements of the municipalities and local businesses that donated toward the publication expenses. Thank you. Thanks to all the staff members who helped update the information for this year's guide and league members are now distributing 6,400 copies of the guide from Duck to Hatteris Village and there you'll find them in libraries, post offices, the bomb investment center, the town and county offices. The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan political organization that encourages informed, active participation of citizens in government, public policy, and they do this through education and advocacy. It's part of the continued commitment publishing this guide to provide information to voters. Membership in the league is open to anyone of voting age, male or female.

and we thank you for your support. We know you'll find your guide useful. And if there's someone here that accepts it, that would be Lauren. Thank you. Thank you, Charlotte. Next. Okay. Good evening, council members and madame mayor. How are y'all today? Good.

Great. I'm here once again on behalf of Gaterbanks chief invasion and past few years you we've asked for a uh a ride on the kitty off beaches and that's what we're asking for again for this year as well. Our event this year is going to be a September 18th and 19th. We're planning on with your approval hitting the beach with about 100 jeeps each day. Uh starting at 8 am being off the beach by 9 by 9:00 a.m. Uh and also in years past, we've had the the distinct pleasure of having the police department and also the fire department, ocean rescue out there escorting us on and off the beach. And uh we cannot say how much we thank you for allowing us to do that. And as you know, as in years past with with that event, the money raised from that event is donated to your police department and to your ocean rescue. So with your permission, I'm asking again, can we have the beach ride?

Madame Mayor, I make a motion that we grant approval to OBX Jeep Invasion for permission to ride on our beach. I'll second. All right. All in favor? Hi. Hi. I think you have permission. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Thank you. How quickly how quickly did you say that sold out the last time? Um the last time uh last year we opened up registration at 12 midnight and by 700 a.m. it was full. Wow. That's amazing.

Um and year the year prior to that we opened up registration at 12:00 noon and by 1210 it was sold out. Wow. Oh my goodness. Well, that's amazing. Just take care of our feet. Thank you for what you do. Second Taylor Swift. Okay, council, I need a motion to approve tonight's agenda. Madame Mayor, I make a motion to approve tonight's agenda. Thank you. The consent agenda. Consent agenda. Consent agenda. I'll second that. Okay. All in favor? I.

All opposed? No. Okay, good. The consent agenda is approved. Um planning. Can we need to schedule a um two actually two public hearings for the um first for the zoning text amendment for the accessory dwelling units? Do I have a motion to approve? Madame Mayor, I move to set a public hearing at the town council meeting on April 6th, 2026 to consider the proposed text amendment to section 42-528. Do I have a second?

Second. Thank you. All in favor? I Any opposed? All right. The second zoning text amendment are for the setbacks associated with pool decking that we discussed previous. Madame Mayor, I move to set a public hearing at the town council meeting on April 6, 2026 to consider the proposed text amendment to section 42-504. Second. All in favor?

I Thank you. Um, see, now would be a good time to have um Ken Wilson come up if you're if you if you have caught your breath.

No, we're on it. They're sneaking in. Well, if you're going to sneak in, you better be on time. Yeah, it's I don't know if Lily told told you, but this morning we were we were joking around about whether or not I was like, "Yeah, I'll be here in plenty of time." That stupid bridge doesn't stop me. The bridge has caught every one of us at some point in time. I pulled up to it. I'm like, I may have in the foot. I heard she told you to swim. Yeah. That's our softarted finance officer.

Swim faster. I told her I'd try to swim. She said really get That's crazy. For those of you that don't know, this is Ken Wilson and he is with the coastal protection engineering and he has a presentation on the dunes. We need

Yeah. mainly we want to give a little bit of an update um on um some recent analysis that we completed um looking at some dune vulnerability and I know we've got another uh option item that was in that contract that um we're going to try to get approved as well. I'll give you some context on that just a second. Huh? I did it. There you go. Fallout's filled.

All right. Yeah. So, um, just to kind of frame a reference, I know you all deal with a lot of different issues. I'm sure the agenda is filled with all kinds of stuff, but as well as the folks in the in the audience tonight. Um, just to kind of walk through a little bit um to understand how these how these projects work and kind of frame the argument or the you know, the discussion that we're going to have. So, here we've got kind of like this cartoon representation of, you know, what a beach would look like pre- project before we build anything out there. And so, I'm going to walk through a couple of quick pictures and just show you this is what Kittyhawk, you know, taking it from cartoon to reality. This is what Kittyhawk looked like before the project went in. And so, we're dealing with um, you know, houses out on the beach, you know, threats threats to the Highway 12. Um this was just a a photo to illustrate how the water was coming up under homes and being able to overthrow overflow Highway 12 in the past. So when we approach um one of these projects, we try to figure out, okay, well, how how much sand would we need to put out there on the beach in order to provide a certain level of protection so that the water doesn't come over Highway 12 every time there's a Norasteraster or, you know, up to a certain dune uh up to a certain design storm, um you houses aren't going to fall down. So, what I'm showing on this this graphic right here are those red arrows are pointing to the amount of sand that needs to be in place to provide a certain level of protection. And then in front of that design, those green arrows, that's additional sand that we would place in front of that design amount of fill so that over some period of time that sand will, you know, wash away normal erosional conditions. But the idea is to always hold that red sand in the in place. Sometimes, you know, these projects happen every five, six, whatever the interval is, years, and people tend to think you just put all the sand on the beach, then you wait for all of it to erode away, and now

it's time to put more sand back on the beach. This graphic is to show that the first time you're putting all of that sand, the design, and advanced fill, but in the future when you're doing maintenance, it's really just that advanced fill that you're trying to place there. So, this this also kind of illustrates that the the sand that's placed on the beach goes out into deeper water. It's not all up on the the dry sand beach, but when the project is first constructed, it is all placed on the upper part of the beach because these bulldozers and the way that the sand is placed, they can't place material way out deep into the water. They they stack it all up automat or they stack it all up on the upper part of the profile and eventually we let mother nature wave effects move that material into the offshore. So that's what this graphic shows. And at the end of it, if everything works out well, you're back to what I was just showing. You've got this flat dry sand burm. Uh in the case of Kitty Hawk, we constructed what what's pointed out there is a starter dune. Um, that was to provide a little bit of a speed bump so that as water comes up over that that burm, uh, it's not making it over Highway 12 and into the road. This is just a couple of shots during the construction of that original project. This is right down there around um, the Black Pelican. So, this is a bulldozer constructing that speed bump, that that starter dune that I was talking about. And when it was all done, this is kind of what that starter dune looked like. And you can see in front of it is that flat dry sand beach. This would have been very soon after the project was built before some of that sand moves out into the the nearshore environment. All right. So, um what let's see here. Um see that. All right. Okay. So, all I'm showing here is the the difference between if you look at that starter dune, that's kind of how it was constructed. And over time that starter dune has gotten bigger

and bigger with the sand fencing and multiple projects. Um and so a couple of comparison I already showed you this photo but if you look at where the arrow is pointing um I was here last summer for another site visit. This is that same same structure but showing how not only that small starter dune that I showed a couple of slides back is still there but with the sand fencing with the vegetation what what it looks like several years later. This is that same house I showed before. A different view kind of that arrow is pointing to that front step, but you can see how that that starter dune has increased over time. Um, so I want to talk a little bit um now that we've kind of framed that reference and we're thinking in terms of a design beach and uh additional sand out in front of that design beach. I want to walk through a couple of high points of as we move into this 2027 project, what are the things that our firm is focused in on. So essentially all four of the towns, Kittyhawks project is built uh in cooperation with Duck Kildable Hills and Southern Shores. All four towns are looking at building the same extent of the projects that were built in 2022. Um, we are talking a little bit about a potential increase in the amount of fill density. And I'll talk to you on the very next slide about um what what we're talking about in terms of um you'll hear me talk about a 5-year maintenance cycle versus a 7-year maintenance cycle. So, the last few projects have been built and designed um that the project would last 5 years and in 5 years we would come back uh with another construction project to replace that advanced spill that I just talked about. And I'll talk a little bit about the benefits, the pro the pros and cons of advancing that to a six or sevenyear maintenance cycle. Uh depending on whether we go with a five or a six or a 7-year maintenance cycle, that third bullet essentially says that um the volume for this project combined with

the four towns, we're looking at around 2.3 to 3.1 million cubic yards. um compared to the initial construction was about 3.9 almost 4 million cubic yards where the 2223 project was around 3.1 million. Um that that fourth bullet talks about variable fill densities. So for each of these towns we've sort of identified the amount of volume that needs to be placed to maintain these projects. Um, we've got some options in terms of we could just take that volume and spread it evenly along the entire let's let's say the town of Kittyhawk. We could take that volume and spread it very evenly along the town of Kittyhawk. But we know that the town of Kittyhawk doesn't all erode away at the same rate. So, we're looking at some different patterns and simulating that in some of the modeling that we have, trying to figure out how to optimize that so that at the end of the fiveyear or six-year cycle, we have the most sand possible still inside of the the the limits of of Kittyhawk, providing the max protection. Um, I'll talk a little bit about uh potential for dune repairs uh if needed along localized portions of the project. and the storm burn the second to last. Um that's the that's the item that you all approved the last time one of my colleagues Adam Priest was up here talking and then I'll I'll touch real briefly about um some additional borrow sites and that gets me into that additional item that's on your agenda uh for potential approval. Um so in terms of that maintenance interval just again um when we talk about I keep coming back to this slide because it's just it's so easy to explain explain the concept here we can compute very simply the amount of sand to fill up those those green wedges there the wedges used with the green arrows the advanced fill if we and that would be for a 5year cycle so we know how fast the sand is eroding away we

simply take that rate how much sand you would lose over the course of a year, multiply it by five. That's real easy math. I'm a geologist. Even I can do that math. Um, so we get that volume, but if we're going to go to six or seven, we have to multiply that volume by 6 years or 7 years, which means the volume for those projects gets bigger and bigger. And so, um, what we're what we're really talking about is in 2027 placing a larger volume of sand at a larger price, but knowing that over either six or potentially 7 years, um, we wouldn't have to come back and and do another uh, maintenance interval. And I'll I'll I'll dissect those numbers a little bit better here in just a second. Um, I talked a little bit about potential for dune repair. For the most part, the project in 202 2022 in Kittyhawk was just this dry sand beach. However, there were two areas. One was like from right around where the bath house is south of Kittyhawk Road going down uh to about um White Avenue, a little bit north of White Avenue. That stretch of beach, those dunes have been eroded away um pretty significantly. So, we built the dry sand beach and we also repaired some of the dunes there. This is a drone video or drone drone image that I took last week when I was up here for another meeting. Uh it's showing that same stretch of beach and some of the scarping that's occurring there. So, in our permits, we will provide you all the flexibility of making those repairs. We'll probably wait until we have updated survey data, which will come probably in the next two or 3 months here. Uh probably early May. Um but once we get that updated survey data, we'll settle in on um the extent of where we may want to do some of those dune repairs. But that's that's that section um just around um uh John's drive-in is is there in the background. All right. The second second point in that long

bulleted list that I wanted to touch on was that analysis that Adam talked to you about the last time uh we were up here. Um, and so basically I showed previously that starter dune, you know, it looked like a little speed bump and it has grown over time. This is an actual beach profile um from a little bit north of the project up near Ecar. Um, but what it's showing is the growth of that dune. So that the yellow uh portion of that dude is what was actually constructed in 2017 and the orange shaded area is showing that as we went through and did um subsequent beach profile surveys, basically surveying the topography, the elevation of a line that goes from the back side of the dune all the way out to around 30 ft of water. As we as we survey over and over that that profile, we see how the dune changes, the beach changes, the offshore changes over time. And on this particular profile, it's showing a big buildup of the amount of sand in that dune. And so before the 22 the 2022 project, we ran a storm simulation model to look at because that dune had built up so much, how much more protection was in place at at in 2020. in 2021, I believe, than there was when we first designed the project back in 2014. Um, and I'll I'll show you that um those results a little bit um I guess on this slide here. So in that analysis that was done in 2021, uh we compared basically the storm simulation allows us to look at the number of oceanfront structures that would be vulnerable to the equivalent of a hurricane Isabel storm if it were to hit in 2021 with 2021 water levels, etc. And what we found was that because of this buildup of the starter dune, because of the amount of sand that was

out there from the projects, there was about a 44% reduction from what we identified as about 126 structures along Kittyhawk back in 2014 to now only 70 structures in 2020. And we looked at a couple of different uh improvements of the dune. Should we build that dune up even more even though it has grown quite a bit? Um, and we calculated some percentages and some costs for making some changes to that dune. But in the end, the final recommendation when we when we built the 22 project was the it may have not been worth the bang for the buck. The amount of dry sand beach that was being captured by that sand fencing. Um, perhaps let's wait kind of kind of see how this works out rather than building an actual uh dune out there. So that was what was done. We ended up uh constructing two separate spots. I just mentioned that area from um uh just south of the the bath house down to about White Avenue and then there was a separate section at the very south end of town about 440 ft long. Um that area was built up as well. So um you know mostly the recommendation was sand fencing and just build those build back those areas that had been damaged uh previously. So, fast forward, the 22 project is built. A couple of years of monitoring have gone by, and back in March when Adam was up here, we recommended doing that same similar analysis again because we could see in some of the survey data that that dune had gotten even bigger couple of years. So, we went back and reperformed that same analysis. And what we found at the bottom of that table um I know that font is a little bit a little bit uh small but essentially the bottom of that table um the first number on the left is 126. That was the original number of structures vulnerable prior to any

projects being built. I just mentioned that when we did this this analysis back in 2021, we found that there were 70 structures that were still vulnerable. When we repeated that analysis just in the last few months in 2025, we found that there were only 15 structures now that were vulnerable. So even though we haven't gone in and intentionally designed features to make this dune or the BM wider, um the performance of the overall project and the amount of sand that's being collected by the sand fencing, the vegetation continues to decrease the risk to those oceanfront structures. So the analysis Mr. Wilson can can I ask a question about this slide?

Yes. What is your criteria for determining whether a structure is vulnerable vulnerable or not? Great question. So the the model essentially um let me show you this um picture real quick. So those orange lines that are running up and down on the screen, those are profile lines that are spaced a thousand feet apart down the beach. And those are those profiles that we measure the elevation on every year. Mhm.

We can take any of those profile data sets and we run it through this model called S beach where we have created a hypothetical storm all the forcing mechanisms of water level wave heights uh wave periods etc. And we simulate what that Isabel level storm would do to the profile at that point in time. There's a there's a there's a a a cross-section that will be the actual survey data of what it looks like before the storm and then the storm produces a post storm profile. So, it modifies the profile, knocks down the dune, whatever is going to happen. What we use to to sort of keep this very objective is um where the profile from the actual survey data to the post con or the posttorm survey data falls one foot in elevation. The furthest point landward that we see that measurement of the profile actually falling one foot is is what we call an impact point on those points. So for every one of those orange crosssections that we have, we have an impact point and we we we basically straight line that impact point from profile to profile to profile.

And if a oceanfront structure is intersected or that profile or that line is landlord of one of those houses, then we would label that as as vulnerable as an impact. Okay. Correct. And if you think about that, I mean we call them vulnerable, not destroyed necessarily. I mean, if you think of an oceanfront structure and like the dune that's out there right now, uh, if something happened to where you lost one foot of sand underneath an oceanfront house, um, I think you would go out there at that point in time and look at that house and say that house is vulnerable and the next storm that happens, something that happens, you know, a big storm, knock that down again. So, um, that's how they're they're identified.

May I jump in for one second? Yes, sir. Would it be fair to to to lead back into his question there? Would it be fair that the surveying that you do underneath the contour of the ocean floor, that's how you determine hot spots, too, because it generally shows up in the surveying. Correct. Correct. Right. And they generally don't change. I mean, they stay within a little distance of each other. Hot spots. The sand bars can move, but the hot spots generally are each time there's a storm, we know it's going to be more vulnerable there. Is that correct? Correct. I just want the public to be able to Yep. Okay. Thank you.

Very, very much so. So, I've got three maps that basically show I talked about 15 um um impacted structures. Um I've got three maps that kind of show where those are. Uh the northernmost is between uh that that that red circle there is between historic and Starfish. One of those structures is obviously the uh Pelican Watch, the one that's just north of Kittyhawk Road that's kind of still out on the beach. And then the other three are that area between uh Sea Dunes and and White Avenue. That's where we've got, I think, 11 of those structures. Um, that was all the northern few of those houses are the houses that I showed in that that drone shot that, uh, that I showed just a few minutes ago.

Hey, Ken, if I could please, um, could you explain what I'm looking at here? The lines. I can't really make it out, but I think that furthest one east is the 2025 line. Is that I can't That's right. The furthest one east, the the black line is actually um It looks like it's black to me from here. So, yeah. Well, I do. I'm old, man. I guess on the right hand side where that black line juts out away from the houses, that actually is the most updated one. But you'll notice that it actually juts in and is is probably slightly um landward of that of of the most seawward that blue line basically. Okay. I think the blue line is the 2020 line.

Okay. So the black line is back it's actually closer to the yellow line. I think it actually runs under the yellow line right there. And again, that depicts the one foot erosion line that you're saying that that predicts um so so basically um if you look at the profile that's on either end of that red circle. So we would have an impact point on each of those orange crosssections or orange north south up or down lines. Okay? Um not north, south, up or down. Um and and those impact points are where we've lost 1 foot of elevation in the storm simulation in the simulation

in the simulation, right? The simulation indicates that and obviously if you were out on the beach, you know, that that 1 foot loss is much bigger, but it gets smaller and smaller and we try to find the point furthest back landward on that profile where we've lost one foot each. Okay. Thank you. Sure.

Okay. Um, so this kind of sums up that that Dune analysis. Um, we did evaluate a small storm BM. Um, I talked or I think Adam talked previously that that was going to be part of the analysis. We looked at almost doing kind of a stair step up instead of building out the front of these dunes because they are so vegetated. Could we build a pad of sand that's a little bit higher than the dry sand wide beach um and maybe place that in front right in front of the dune and let that kind of naturally act as a reservoir to build more and more. We built a small one in the model. It was only about 4 cubic yards uh a linear foot. Um and we ran that simulation. That small of a feature doesn't really move that line one way or the other. Um and and to go up in that, you know, it will drive the cost. And then obviously once we saw the results of how we went from 126 to 70 to 15 you know the idea of spending significant amount of money on that um you know we we we didn't go you know too much further and running bigger and bigger simulations to try to figure out how much volume it would take. So, our recommendation at this point in time would be um to identify those areas like I like I showed um between the the bath house and White Avenue, try to repair those dunes again um similar to what was done in 2022. I also talked about we're looking at variable fill densities. So, not just the amount of sand that we would put in that dune, but maybe building the burm a little bit wider in that section. um the northern end of town seems to perform the best. So maybe peeling back a little bit the density that we would place in the northern part of town and try to place a little bit more in those hot spot areas that we've seen, you know, predictably um turn up after each each of these events. Continued placement of sand fencing and and uh potentially vegetation as well. Um, and then one

thing that could be done is right poss right right prior to the 2027 construction project next year, the contractors will come in and they'll do a preconstruction survey of the of the whole beach so that we can kind of finalize exactly the fill density for each one of these sections of the beach. But we could take that that that survey at that point in time and rerun this analysis. It's fairly straightforward now that it's now that the model itself is set up, but we could look at the vulnerability right up. You know, basically in theory, you'd be looking at when all of the green advanced fill is gone and all you're left with is the red, that would be where we would be sitting in the summer of 2027. So if we if we ran that storm simulation again, perhaps we could look at how much wider you might have to widen the burm in those areas to fully wipe out those last 15, you know, vulnerable structures. Or maybe there's a few more than 15 at that point in time. But that what that would do is we would know that volume and that design right off the bat. And as we move beyond 2027, we could build that into the estimate of what what what the project's going to look like six years down the road so that we're planning accordingly for that. Um okay, last uh well, last thing that I want to touch on that was on that list of bullets is um borrow sites. So these are the actual sources of sand that we proposed to take for the the beach nourishment projects. The big green polygon that's on the right hand side of that map is the area that was used for uh the area where all the sand for both the 2017 and the 2022 Kittyhawk projects came from. The majority of all the sand for the four towns project has come from there. A little bit of the sand from Duck for the first project came in those

uh those green polygons that are kind of in the center of that map. Um they were not used in 2022. So over the last couple years, we've done a pretty exhaustive um resource investigation for sand deposits offshore that was paid in half by Dair County in half. There was a grant from the state of North Carolina. And what we've been able to do is identify several additional borrow sites, some of which are proposed to be used for the upcoming 2027 project. So you see on the left hand side, there's one way up north that's actually north of the town of Duck. um that would probably only be used for the town of Duff labeled E8. But there are two additional blue polygons that D4 and D5. And then there are a couple of them that kind of surround that green polygon that are going to allow us to expand um that that borrow area that had been used previously. So in in total, we should have about 19.3 million cubic yards available to the contractor for this upcoming project. Again, we're talking about like 2.3 to 3.1 million cubic yards. So, plenty of sand for um that project and and most likely a few more. Um but what I wanted to touch on was that item that we talked about, that option item that that that potentially needs to be approved is in that green area that had previously been used when when we went in to ask for permits from the state in 2022. um they came back with some comments of how do we know that the sand in that borrow site is still compatible. We put a lot of effort into it back in 2014 to know that that sand is compatible, but in some areas in the southern part of the state, you tend to dig dig a borrow pit and you'll you know, you almost create a hole and there's a concern that that hole may be filled in with incompatible materials, silt and and mud that might be flown floating around in the water column. these borrow sites up

off of Deer County, they're they're they're essentially hills. They're offshore hills. And so we're, you know, we're cutting parts of that hill off, bringing it down, but we're not creating a depression where incompatible material could could settle in there. So we had some discussions with the state. They they said, you know, essentially their hands were kind of tied with the way that the rules rules work, but that they if we took a few extra vibra corores and we took some grab samples out there and reserveyed the borrow site, um you know, we may not have to redesign the entire borrow area. So, we did that in 22, but when we went into the design for this upcoming project, you know, we wanted to think through that process ahead of time. So we we've had some discussions with um the agencies. We did collect some of those grab samples which was part of the um you know the the base contract. The the um the state has come back and they said we won't need to take additional fiber cores in that site which save each of the towns like $11,000 I think which is good. But they did ask that some of the samples that have already been collected, we would run grain size analysis on those and provide those to them. So that option item, it was I think it was 50 $5,100, $5,127. Um, I don't think that we're going to spend anywhere close to the total of that, but that would be one of those option items in order to get through that state permitting process. I think we're going to have to move forward with that. Um, all right. Last thing that I wanted to share with you is this idea about the five, six, sevenyear maintenance cycle. Um, we talked a little bit about volume. So, obviously, if you're building for the six or seven, you're going up in volume. What what I've highlighted on this um slide here are the numbers specific to Kitty, but you can see the numbers for the other three towns as well. in the if

you if you start from the left after you see in the upper panel um you've got the listed towns and the first number that you come to is the volume of material you would need to be able to build the 5-year maintenance cycle. So that volume for Kittyhawk is 721,600. The number directly next to that is the total all-in cost of that 5-year project. The number next to that is simply if you took that number and divided it by five, five years because you're paying the project off over five years, you would get that essentially annualized cost per year of 2000 or two $2.549 million. The next sellover is the equivalent of six years. So we've added volume. The volume went up from 721,600 to 865,900. You see the increase in cost up to 14.6 million. But now we divide that number by 6 years because you're paying it off over 6 years. The idea there is, you know, I don't I want to be completely transparent. It's not necessarily a gimmick to show cost savings. It's essentially the idea that these projects are understood that there's always maintenance. And so the way that the towns have paid for these projects, the way that the county is contributing funds is that you've got five years to pay this project off and then you're going to go into another big construction project and you've got 5 years to pay the next one off. So if you're always paying something every year, if you extend this out to six or seven years, that per year cost actually goes down. And that's what that last number in uh kind of the tan column shows that per year there's a cost savings of 119,137. So if you just look in terms of I'm going to pay something every single

year, there is a reduction in cost. The panel below is simply comparing that same 5-year maintenance. So all those first three columns are the same to a seven-year maintenance. And you can see that the the cost savings increases again instead of 119,000 per year and you're up to 207,000 per year. So the obvious question is if it's that easy, well then why not give me a project that would go 10 years or 15 years because then we can really jack up the cost savings. The problem with that is when you build these projects and the bigger the bigger the impact, so the bigger the, you know, the bump in the shoreline that you construct, the more nature has a tendency of trying to smooth that bump in the shoreline out and spread that material laterally and and it will erode the project faster and faster the bigger you make that bump. So, there is a sweet spot in there, an optimization, if you will, that we're we're trying to balance. Um, but after seeing these first couple of projects over five years and running some simulations, doing some analysis, we're starting to get more and more comfortable that that seven-year project is a reality. Um, now the, you know, the key here is that all the towns are going to have to decide to do the same thing. You can't have Kittyhawk going seven years and duck going 5 years because then the math doesn't work. So, um, you know, it is a bit of a balancing act. We're going to have one more shot at in May. We'll be collecting new data for all four towns. That's probably some we we've been telling all the towns the time that this decision is probably going to need to be made is probably sometime in July where we have that new data. We're able to meet with all four of the towns, talk about the implications, um you know, finalize the engineering analysis and and try to get some discussions. Um, you know, some of this is also going to be um, you know, contingent on the position of the county obviously as a big cost share partner

there. So, um, with that, I'd be happy to take any questions. Yeah, Ken, I've got one about this slide here. The So, your estimation just from the 5year to the six years, it'll take about 100,000 plus cubic yards to uh, prevent the erosion for one more year. Correct.

And that's your your algorithm was using those simulations you were talking about. That one is primarily looking at observed volume losses that have occurred um between the 2017 project and the 2022 project. So we have 5 years of data between those two beach nourishment projects. These numbers are really based on that rate. I will tell you that between 2022 and the time the project was built and the surveys that we have from this past year, 2025, so the first three years of this cycle. Mhm.

The Kitty project's actually performing better than the volume that would be indicated in these. Now, we know it's been a pretty rough winter. So my guess is we're getting closer to those estimated volumes, but that's also something that we've been talking with the other towns. Some of the towns are in a really good position. Uh some of the towns are pretty much tracking where we would have anticipated them to be tracking. Um and so there's kind of a decision point there that um if if the if the current project doesn't erode as fast away as fast as these predictions show um you know we we may be talking about reducing some of the volume and still being able to get to a seven-year you know projection. So um

that's awesome. That that's again why the decision point is, you know, we're kicking the can down the road because we really want to see that next year's worth of data to see, you know, what this what this winter looked like and how that affected our our long-term observations. How do you propose you to get all the towns on the same page?

That's beyond grade. I mean, we're we all we can do is continue to give information. Um, you know, we we provided all these these data to um the county finance director. I know that they're working on their models as well to figure out, you know, what they can do long term. Um, they just recently got some bids in for the Nagad project and the Avon Buckstead project. Um, my guess is that those numbers were a little bit higher than um, you know, might have already been built into the model. So, I think they're going back and kind of retooling that. Um, there's also a grant that's that's in that's already been secured from the state for this 2027 project. There's about seven seven and a half million dollars that was secured um by the county for this next project. So, that all plays into it, but um I think maybe like the end of March there's supposed to be another another meeting to discuss some of this

with the county. But yes, I will I'm not in charge.

That's a good question. getting all of them to uh to to to come to come together. I mean, I was at a meeting up in Dock last week and um you know, they they the the town manager um you know very candidly was like you know seven years you know gives me a little bit of heartburn. You know I I trust your I trust your analysis but I kind of don't trust the analysis and like maybe six is a sweet spot and we see how six works this next go round and then you know if it works maybe we go to seven the following year. Um, some of this there's some there's some things that we could do in terms of when we bid out the project. If we can get everyone to settle in on six, but maybe we could go to seven, we could bid the project out for a base amount of volume, assuming we're going to build a six-year project and then provide the the contractors with the option of going to seven and basically looking at the price. If the price is, you know, better than we expected, maybe you you roll the dice and go with it because you're getting a better than anticipated price. If the prices come in a little bit higher, um, you know, maybe that gives that that weighs into the answer that, you know, folks couldn't afford to go up to the sevenyear project. So, there's a lot of moving parts. Uh but like I said, we we continue to be, you know, super transparent, working hard with the county, you know, working with each of the towns and um you know, there's still some data to be collected in the next couple months, but yeah, around July, I suspect it'll be decision time for for everybody.

Anybody else have questions for Ken? Thank you, Ken. Thanks again for uh for for make for shuffling me around. Happy to do it, Ken. Okay, we get back to our agenda and we have new business. I need an appointment to the recreation committee. We have a vacancy on that committee. So, madame mayor, I make a motion to appoint Grace Onloff as a member of the recreation committee. Madame Mayor, I'll second that. Thank you. All right. All in favor?

I I Okay, it's official. And Grace happens to be in the audience tonight. Grace, would you stand and let everybody see who you are? I can help. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Under old business, we have um fleet management policy. I'm the old business. Oh, you have no idea.

Anyway, um it's not in the proper format evidently, but um I don't know. We'll we'll suffer through this. Okay. So, um tonight, and I'm sorry it says February 2nd. It's actually March the 2nd now. Um we have according the fleet maintenance policy. Um actually you got you guys have had this since October and I appreciate the feedback that I have gotten from y'all and I just wanted to kind of go over the overview of it. Why it's not Okay. So, first off, we have policy overview. So, uh the town has never had an actual written policy on fleet management. Um and we as a leadership team felt the need that we needed to establish uniform standards, some of which we've been practicing. They're just not written down. Um, for the operation of purchase, assignment, maintenance, and disposal of town vehicles. This applies to all of the vehicles owned and licensed and rented or otherwise controlled by the town of Kittyhawk. And it also ensures safe and efficient and cost-effective transportation for official town business. Um, so why is this important? Uh fleet vehicles are essential to delivering town services as other than our people and our buildings. The vehicles are probably our largest asset. Um we need to have clear standards to reduce risk control costs and extend our vehicle life and we need to align fleet decisions with our budget, our capital improvement plan and our long-term

planning. Um, this policy applies to all vehicles owned in title, lease, rented or otherwise controlled by the town, used by all departments and employees for official business. Um, key areas include vehicle operations, procurement and replacement and maintenance and management. So first of all, the general policy standards establish that vehicles are for official town business only. Departments are responsible for their assigned vehicles. Compliance with federal, state, and local laws is required. Vehicle purchases are reviewed through the annual budget process and the finance department maintains all the vehicle information, the type of asset tracking and inventory records. Um, driving records are verified upon hire and then annually. Professional and defensive driving courses are required. Town vehicles reflect the town's public image and driving while under the influence of alcohol or an intoxicant and strictly prohibited, which would also probably be a state law. Um, passenger use is limited to official town business. Um, government license plates are on all the cars except for the unmarked police vehicles. Vehicles were required to be clearly marked as town vehicles except again unmarked police vehicles. There should be no unauthorized stickers or markings or anything on a town vehicle and white is the standard vehicle color unless otherwise approved. Um, so fleet replacement, this is a practice that we've had for some time. We look at service life, technological life, and the economic life of a vehicle. Our replacement standards right now are police, fire, public works, and

administrative vehicles, 80,000 miles or 8 years of age. And again, depending on that vehicle, we have a 2012 vehicle sitting out in the parking lot right now. So, it just depends on the use and the the need of that vehicle. um fire engines and equipment and ladders. We have 25 year life cycle currently. We did not change that. However, we will discuss lowering that threshold at our budget workshop. And then heavy tricks and heavy trucks and equipment mileage or powerbased thresholds are used on those vehicles. Um again we look at condition, reliability, maintenance costs, downtime and operational need. Eligibility does not guarantee replacement. There could be budget decisions and prioritization that would prohibit a vehicle being replaced at the time. Um council reviews the budget, reviews CIP, and approves both of those things on an annual basis. So any vehicle purchases, any vehicle um leaving the program would be part of that budget, be part of the CIP. Again, you review and approve replacement schedules, capital purchases, and any exception of the policy. And that's something that I did add based on some input. If it's something outside of normal like police vehicles, um there's a certain standard in the policy that it needs to be an SUV or a truck. Um it's not necessarily to be a sedan that is no longer listed as a use. So if we were to decide to get a sedan for a police vehicle, um that would need to be approved by council. Okay. So again, vehicles be acquired by

purchase, donation, transfer between departments. Again, the 2012 that we have in administration is from the police department. Um rental or lease, government surplus or port combination. Um all of these are coordinated with Liliana through finance. Um it's not something that's done just by one person. Um vehicles uh that are being replaced or sold through government auction. We currently use gov deals as our auction online. Um vehicles may be reassigned with the town manager approval. Reduce cost sales require council approval. That's like in in um sometimes other police departments ask for our used vehicles because they can't afford um to buy a new one. And we've done that before where council has approved selling that directly to the other police department. Um, disposal timing, balances, service needs, and control cost. Again, it's all it's all we don't get the new vehicle. We we get the new vehicle, then we let go of the old vehicle and all of that. So, so benefits of this policy to the town are improved public safety and reliability, reduce long-term operating and repair costs, consistent fleet standards across departments, stronger fiscal and asset accountability. Um, what we're asking tonight is that you approve the fleet maintenance policy. um affirm the replacement philosophy and life cycle standards and support ongoing fleet planning through the capital improvement process and the budget process.

Okay. And that is I think all I have. Okay. Council, what would you like to do with this? Melody, I just have a clarification question for you. The what would you call it? The replacement rate table shown in the Mhm. the 80,0008. Yes. Yes. Mhm. Does that differ from what we're currently utilizing? That's exactly what we have. There's nothing in there that has a shorter range of Okay.

For a while, we used to be 7 years and 70 mi and then we went to 10 years and 100,000 mi. But for a while now, we've been eight and 80. And just because a vehicle hits eight or 80, if it's in good shape, it's not in the shop all the time, it's not it's not just going to be replaced just because we hit that milestone. Not at all. Okay. Yeah. I I have a few things. Um it's definitely a lot better than it was. Um I still have some issues with with some of it for sure. Um one thing I wanted to ask, you just mentioned a police department may not have the funds to have a patrol guard. Is that that again?

You just mentioned that there might be another police department that doesn't have the funds for a patrol car. Um is that something that you approve to send to them or is that Yeah, y'all have to approve it. Okay. Um then you have uh there's like the driving while impaired, which is I would think is pretty common sense. Um, I have a little heartburn as an example of employees who are taking prescription drugs may cause drowsiness or may affect the safety of the employees or other shall receive authorization from the department head. I mean to me that seems like a liability. The department head thinks they can drive and they don't aren't able to.

Well, I think the department head would take it very seriously. Well, I understand. I mean, I do too, but we're making So, do you think that should come to HR? I'm not sure how to handle that. Um, I mean, it's a good concern. I like the fact that, you know, you're trying to address that, but I don't like the liability feeling of that. The way it's worded, there's a huge liability. Absolutely. So, the department head says, "Okay, I think you're fine to operate that back today." And they're not. I mean, that's what I'm referring to. Okay. So, that comes with trust of the department heads, I'll say.

I understand. But I got it worked out for the town from a liability standpoint as well. Um there's definitely I mean there's definitely some things that have been cleaned up. I I I personally would like to see a few more things. Um I I'd like to hear what everyone else got to say on any of it. I mean, based where we were in October to where we are now, there's some good things that have been added on to it and that's based based on input. Yeah. Um, so if there's other things you like to see, then that needs to be told to me. Um, whatever. I mean,

no, I appreciate you putting the work into it. I'm not trying to discount and I will say too that this is not done just by me. This is we did this is a whole leadership team thing. Everybody on the team has reviewed this decided they can live within these parameters and try to pick best practices for this type of thing. And me did the department heads to get a chance to look at this? Oh, they were part of developing it. Oh yeah. So here's another example too. Um, you know, you have on travel. Okay. Well, we haven't gotten to travel yet.

Okay. So, I'll stand until we get the whole It's fine. Yeah, we'll do that one next. Okay. Any other questions? No, ma'am. Okay.

Do I have a motion to accept this policy? Okay. Well, thank you for uh allowing me to come in and go over this in your office. I really appreciate your time. Of course, we're not going to get everything perfect here, but this is a lot better than what we had to start with. And I think you've worked very hard to address some of the issues that council has come and maybe and through conversation we can if there's some that's we can revise the plan if if we don't see but uh to go ahead and and um have a policy period I think um we should move forward with what is recommended. Um, so with that being said, I recommend motion to approve the fleet management policy.

The Kittyhawk fleet management policy. That's it. U Councilman Puit, do you also uh include in that motion the affirmation of the philosophy behind the production and then future future review perhaps which was all on ABC of that last slide. Yes. Perfect. Matt, I ask a question. He he made a comment about going back in down the road and revising some things. Did that be part of the motion that that's on the record? That was actually in there. Okay. That was part of that ABC.

Yeah. and we can revise a policy anytime all the time and right we're finding that we need to do that quite often. So at least we have something. So I I hold with my motion. Thank you. Do I have a second? I'll second. Okay. Thank you. All in favor? I. All oppose. I All right. Let's move on to the travel expense policy if you're ready for that, Melody.

Okay. So, now we're going to talk about travel expense policy. This was an existing policy um and we have updated it and again you received copies and I actually again changed it um from the last version because of some input and some confusion perhaps in the policy. Um but everything in the policy that is read is new or deleted or a change. Um so the purpose of this policy is to support professional development and effective representation of the town. Um ensures travel and training expenses are appropriate, reasonable and compliance, establishes clear guidelines for payment and reimbursement of travel expenses and reinforces accountability. This this was done because we realized we had a problem of number one some inconsistency and some number two unfortunately some abuse of some of the reimbursement um policies. So we want to clarify authority. The updates define clear lines of approval for travel at all levels and ensuring oversight and accountability. expanded guidance on meal and PDM payments, standardization of reimbursement procedures, improved financial controls, and compliance with the Fair Labor Standards Act to ensure consistent compensation for travel and compliance with federal guidelines. So the new pol policy language we add verbiage to town council has the authority to approve quest request made by elected and appointed town officials. Um and and now we're encouraging everybody's developments and um so you guys can approve your own travel and and

and so forth. Travel time will be paid for actual time spent traveling for the most direct route via Google Maps. Um we've had people say, "Oh, I took the scenic route and it took them like 9 hours to get there, you know, um for a three-hour trip." Uh the town will not provide travel advances. Um right now we pay them upfront. We don't have much control over what happens after that. So now we will pay travel reimbursements. you take the travel and you get reimbursed if somebody has a financial hardship or they have an issue with not being paid up, you know, and let me just say travel advances are really only for the food and the mileage. Um, the town pays on credit card for the hotel and the training. So the employee um may need help with the meal predium or may need help with the mileage and they can um do that with my approval. Um reimbursements will be made upon completion of travel and submittal of proper documentation. Spouses, family members or other guests may travel with town officials or employees at their own expense. The town will no longer pay for spouses and things like that. Can Can I ask a question real quick?

Uh, they can travel with their spouses or family members, but did I not in the fleet management? You can't go in a town car. Can't go in the town car. Correct. For liability. Yes, sir. Okay. Thank you.

Mhm. Okay. PDAM um is provided only when employee is traveling on official business and incurs meal expenses to being away from their regular work location for a qualifying period of time. We have had salv request where an employee who um worked in well lived in uh Fertop had a three-hour meeting in Elizabeth City and wanted us to pay them breakfast and lunch. Um that is not necessary because normally you would have to supply your own breakfast and lunch if you were going to a three-hour meeting. So we are cleaning this up and clarifying this. So travel requires an overnight stay. The employees away from their official duty station for 12 hours or more and the travel is approved in advance by supervisor or department head. So we've kind of cleaned up when you get that when you become eligible for a pdeium. The pdium is not granted when the travel occurs entirely within the employees normal work area or time. Meals are provided by the event, hotel, or host organization. The employee returns home the same day without an overnight stay. PDM will not be approved for personal days taken during travel. Again, I'm going to take the day off, but I'm on the back end of my trip, you know. Um, we will not the fun the town will do that. So, um, let's see. 3D cutters breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And we use federal numbers for the DM. Breakfast is eligible if your travel begins before 6:00 a.m. Lunch is eligible if your travel occurs between 10 and 2 and dinner if you return after

700 p.m. Lunch PDM is excluded from long same day trips as an employee can eat a normal meal during their regular work hours. You know, again, on a regular workday, we are not paying for lunch for everybody. So we wouldn't pay for the lunch. This is just a kind of I won't go all all over this but examples when you get a predium when you don't get a predium and so forth. Um the updated policy modernizes town's approach to travel management, balancing efficiency, fairness, and stewardships of taxpayer funds while ensuring all town officials and employees have a consistent understanding of their responsibilities when traveling on official business. Again, uh what we're asking for tonight is just an approval of the update of the policy and um again, we support ongoing and improvement and clarification of policies. There's already another one about inclement weather that came up the last time we had snowstorm. So, you know, as things come up and we have questions,

then we think we we have to address them policy. Exactly. So, we feel these are best practices. Once again, this was done by a committee of the lead team and everybody had their input and everybody has seen it. Everybody um has said what they needed to say and the these revisions have been in our hands since last Wednesday. Is that true? They were in our packet. Well, basically they were in your hands in October, but Right. But but as as you've gotten input, they are like they have I only had one input from this that I remember and that was from Pete. Okay. Councilman Nance. Okay.

And it was to you sat down with with um proim um when you say lead team that is department heads correct? So fire chief, police chief. So they're all comfortable with the this. Yes. Okay. Okay. I rely on all of them heavily to Yeah. I just want to make sure they have to implement these policies. I just wanted to know who the team that was making this all the department has. Thank you. Mhm.

Is there is there any cross referencing of that with like other departments say like fire looking at police and police looking at fire just to get a input? This is a townwide policy, so it it applies to everyone in you say department heads. I was just wondering if you had like a little bit of cross feedback from other departments on the the planning talking about Oh, planning was everybody. It was planning. It's every it was Rob, Liliana, uh me, Laura, and Lauren. I think it was and Willie. And it's fun doing things by committee. I'll tell you.

Melody, I have a question. Um, on one of the sheets here, it's talking about when it's granted, when it's not granted, the meal pdium is not granted when, and it goes on to list four things. The third bullet in that says when the employee returns home the same day without an overnight stay. That would be a case where meal predium is not granted. It depends on how long they've been gone. That's my question. So, if they leave at 5:00 a.m. and they get back at 8:00 p.m., they would get meal PM for that day. They wouldn't get lunch. They would not get lunch. Okay. So, just for the record, this is the this policy for me seems like it's clearing up some definitions what when this is allowed, when it's not allowed.

Correct. And take taking out some of the ways that people I mean people will always find a way, but just trying to clarify. We didn't have it written down. So you could you could argue it. Yes. So in your opinion, does this going to cost the town more less or the same for me? Less. Your opinion is that this will make the town's cost less because we now have definitions. Yes. Okay. Agree. Okay. What do we want to do? So you so you get you get breakfast and you get dinner, but you don't get lunch because you're you're the assumption is you would be eating lunch anyway,

right? Out of your lunch box or whatever, right? But if I'm in Pinetops, I might not be eating out of my lunch box. You can also go. So that's where I'm from. We got places to eat, but lots of people don't bring their lunch any day. They go out to eat. So, we don't feel the need to provide lunch. We didn't feel the need to provide lunch unless it was a no day. Thank you. Okay. Do I hear a motion to accept this travel expense policy?

Yeah, Madame Mayor, I'll make a motion to approve the updated travel and expense policy as presented. Okay. Do I have a second? I'll second. Okay. All in favor? I I. All opposed? I Thank you.

All right. Um Okay. More me. Just one more thing. Um this is also we had talked about this briefly I think at the November meeting and um we were to talk about it in February is the discussion about town hall renovation. Um so town hall is about 5,580 square ft. It's a twostory h two one and a half story I guess condo and a frame building built in 1987 1988. um background. Uh as the town grows, the current configuration is is at capacity and lacks accessibility in reference to Americans with Disability Act. The town council um asked me to explore the renovating town hall for current and future needs. Um the staff here has been in has identified um move three offices from upstairs to downstairs for accessibility. Achieve ADA accessibility for everyone. Add additional bathrooms to meet or exceed building code requirements. Create a dedicated break space that is separate from the coffee room. Create a small conference room. Add a few offices for future needs. and design a visible and distinct planning suite for all the planning staff. Again, um we have grown and we're pretty much at capacity now. Um so the first step to even moving forward is to have a space allocation and design plan and what is possible where if we wanted all these things where we could put them um so we have received two proposals one is from Beacon Architects. Um it's budget friendly. It is a local company well suited um if the want town wants to start with a limited feasibility study

but before committing to a full design. It does lack detailed cost estimating and multiple design options at this stage. So if we didn't come up with the right design from the very beginning, we would have to continue to pay additional money. The initial cost is $8,000. Um the second option is Dill's architects. Um it's a little bit more comp comprehensive. It includes programming, multiple design interrations, and a cost estimate which does offer more clarity for budgeting and decision making. While it is more expensive, it likely provides a better value if the town aims to move quickly, and I'm not sure that we're in a position to move quickly financially wise um into schematic and eventual construction phases. that cost is 14,500. So, um either cost would need to be approved as a budget amendment and transfer from the fund balance and um you you have copies of the proposals. That's all I have on that. Um, if council would like to move forward with just trying to figure this out or taking the first step, we would need a motion to approve one of the contracts and uh take it from the general fund.

Okay. And and that's there so we it's okay. All right. Did they specify how long those quotes were good for? No. But we could I'm sure we can work work it out.

If you have any questions, you have any questions for me? I I have a a I guess a recommendation. Um we have a budget workshop on the 20th of March at 9:00 a.m. and Um, I I think you I would like to have more information of our needs for the following year for our trucks and where we stand and then see after we set our budget and whether we have to raise taxes or whatever. We can see if where we're at with even considering it. I would hate to

uh spend $8 and find out that, you know, and then not do anything. anything. So, I think if we were to to everybody think about this and and and after we crunch numbers all through our our budget that we could uh have a more uh I think a better decision on where the town is financially to before I would want to spend $8,000 and realize that we're getting ready to not be able to pay for a firetruck chief. Mhm. I understand. I think that's that's my that's just mine. And so I'm

if that ends up being where council's at, you could do that by consensus. Wouldn't require a vote. So you could just all agree to to discuss it at the budget workshop. Okay. Not necessarily needing to make a decision at the budget workshop. No, no, just just to continue discussion. Exactly. Mhm. Exactly. I I agree with Mr. Puit. I think the discussion is great. I think discussions are going to need to be started but right now like deciding on moving forward with a cost such as that when we have other expenses coming up I understand and you know this was one of the goals that I was attached with so I just want to follow

yeah that's good and we and I still want to move forward it's I I think it at the budget and that's a great place for all because we're more relaxed atmosphere and and because there's There's nothing worse than doing a plan and then not doing anything. Correct. We we we did that one time. A lot more than $8,000. So, I want to make sure it doesn't happen again. I'm good with that. And we just got the bulletproof glass. That thing was on back order for like what? Wow. Yeah.

So, I' I'd agree as well. um and and how it fits in and I guess we can figure this out at the budget um workshop is you know our our capital funds prioritization how does that fit in because there's a you know it's 8,000 as you were saying for this but for a much larger effort and how does all that but we recognize that there's a need for further space because we've outgrown and this is not going to be an inexpensive undertaking if we decide to do this and so Um, you know, it will take some budget magic and some some real prioritizing to make it happen in the next 5 10 years.

Let me interrupt. I got a question for Rob. Based on that comment, um, does does the government town of Kitty fall under the 50% rule to bring everything up to code, substantial improvements? Um, because I know it's based on an appraisal or whatever, but I mean, are we exempt from that? Because you start tearing into things, you never know. Well, you said no. Does that am I making sense when I'm asking? Like if it's more than 50% of the tax value or appraise value, everything has to be brought into code. What is not up to code? Do we know for flood damage prevention, which I believe this building is elevated what my thoughts were. Yeah.

But yeah, that would apply for flood damage prevention purposes. But even a standard building permit would apply even a I guess the next flood zone is still a flood zone. But yeah, um I would have to convert Christian on that build inspector. But um as far as the the elevation rate, I think we are I think this building is compliant with the current flood regulation. So even I don't I don't know what this building would be assessed at, but if it did come in over 50%, I think our elevation was high enough that we'd be all right. You would have to bring the whole building into compliance and then Right. I mean, I can't speak to the building part of it off hand, but from the elevation for flooding, that's I'm speaking to the building side of it. I'd have to believe that. Yeah, I appreciate that.

Yep. Melody, to get my wheels turning, um adding a few offices for future needs. Do you have in mind how many you're thinking? Is that a two to three number? You said three. Yeah. And um the planning department would like the idea was to put a door right as you walk in the door and fill in this um square that's got the HBAC stuff in it and make that more of a planning suite where they could have their own spaces and have a big table in the middle and the receptionist

and then that would probably take care of moving us downstairs cuz Rob would go there and Laura and I could go somewhere down here. And then I mean that could be it could be done in phases too, you know. Um, so those are the and and the bathrooms. I don't I think David Lewis told us we're not up to code for the number of bathrooms that we were supposed to have. So, and that's always especially when we have an event here or something, we always have some bathroom issues and things. On that same note, conference room. Any ideas what size conference room we're thinking?

I mean, it could be the size of the lunchroom, you know, just without all that stuff, but enough to fit six, seven, eight. I mean, maybe department heads. Yeah. Yeah. Mhm. Like a 10seater when we meet with public or when Rob and them meet with people that are looking for a building permit or have plans. Well, they planning would be but I mean we use this room as a multi-purpose room all the time. You know, we come over here a lot. So something that might um have smaller than this for for any kind of meeting, right? Okay.

So, we're we're tableabling this until after the budget meeting. Sure. Okay. And everyone in agreement? Absolutely. Um Melody, do you have any reports anymore?

Yes, I do. Um, I just want to remind everybody that uh March the 21st is our community cleanup day. We keep it clean Kittyhawk. You can go on our website and register to volunteer. It is a fun, easy event. It's 10 to 2 I mean 10 to 12 and um we serve lunch and snacks and all kinds of stuff. So, it's it's a lot of fun. Um, also in 2025, Kittyhawk officially named the Live Oak as its town tree. Um, this effort was spearheaded by Kittyhawk resident Ron Tumalo. And tonight, I'm proud to share a video created in conjunction with the local government access channel that highlights our official tree and how one person's voice can make a difference. And um, I want to say special thanks to Mr. Jumalo and and Lauren here for participating in the video and coordinating that. So, I wanted to share it.

In Kittyhawk, some of our strongest landmarks don't have signs or names. They have roots. The Live Oak, strong, enduring, and unmistakably coastal, has long shaped our town's landscape. And in 2025, Kittyhawk officially named the Live Oak as its town tree. But this story didn't start with a policy. It began with a person. I've always wanted to do what I can do to preserve the live oak. I think it represents so much of who we are and where we are as a community.

Kittyhawk resident Ron Tumulo noticed something meaningful and chose to participate in local government by proposing an idea rooted in shared values. That idea sparked a conversation and that conversation led to action. This is what public participation in local governance looks like. Local government works best when people speak up, especially when the goal is preservation and education.

The live oak is native to coastal North Carolina and is uniquely suited to the Outer Banks. Its deep roots help stabilize sandy soils. Its wide canopy protects against wind and storms. Its branches shelter wildlife and define the look and feel of our neighborhoods. Some of these trees have stood here for generations, quiet witnesses to Kittyhawk's history. When I came up with this idea, I really wanted to do what I could to make sure we weren't going to be infringing on the property rights of our citizens. This was more about recognizing what we already have and what connects us, and that's our live oak.

That distinction matters. Naming the live oak as Kittyhawk's official tree does not create new rules for homeowners. It does not limit private property rights. The designation is educational, meant to promote awareness, conversation, and appreciation entirely by choice. For residents who want to care for their live oaks, there are trusted resources available. The North Carolina Cooperative Extension offers research-based guidance on pruning, tree health, and storm preparation. ISA certified arborists can help homeowners assess tree safety and longevity, especially after major weather events. Organizations like the North Carolina Forest Service provide educational tools for protecting trees. These resources empower residents to make informed choices on their own terms.

I think this shows what everyday people and everyday citizens can do to shape their town in a positive, lasting way. The live oak stands as Kittyhawk's official tree and also as a symbol of something deeper, of civic engagement, of shared stewardship, and how one voice rooted in care for community and history can help shape the place we call home.

And you'll recognize Lauren's voice. She's the voice over. She does a great job. And um I just think it's a great example of how we you know we kind of came through this with a citizen suggestion. Um also the June walkover at Kittyhawk Road is complete and ready for the the season and uh we've had very positive comments and even people say this is good to see our taxpayer money at work. So kudos to us and um also I want to thank you guys. Um we recently um had the fire department and public works install and our with our IT provider install redundancy uh internet for our town buildings and in the event of se severe weather service outages other expected disruptions. Um this system will help us to remain connected and operational when it's most important. So, I want to thank you guys for supporting that and letting us move forward with those projects. So, and we saved quite a bit of money by having the the fire department and public works help with the installation instead of hiring a third party. The fire department actually has this big ladder truck so they can climb into tall spaces.

And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Melody. Um Casey, do you have anything for us? Um Dylan. Yes, ma'am. You

like to uh just want to welcome Michael and Mason to the force and thank them. Uh also thank Mr. Wilson for his presentation on the beach nourishment. That stuff is uh it's a lot to explain there and I certainly learned something new. So it was pretty pretty good. And uh just a quick update. I did have a resident reach out to me a couple weeks ago about the White Street Beach access. Um just looking for a status update and uh town manager and I got back with her and just replied that we were still trying to gather some information. Um there's nothing that I know of anything new. Is there Mr.

No. And there are some items that in close session would perhaps be better addressed uh for you know again consideration. So at a future meeting maybe even our next one we have a close session to kind of go over certain things. Okay. And I'll limit it to that just because obviously we're talking about close session stuff. Understood. So more to follow once we get information that we can share with the public on that just for everybody who's listening that also has an interest in it. But nothing new, Tennessee. Nothing new. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Don.

Yes. I'd also like to thank Mason and Michael and welcome to our force and Charlotte. Thank you very much for our League of Women Voter Guide and all that y'all do to make awareness to all of our candidates and elected officials. Uh, I'd like to thank Steve House for all the good work that the OBX Invasion and your group does for our area. We appreciate it very much, Steve. And Ken has been very with the engineering firm has been very um educational. Uh, when we started Beach Nourishment, other towns were to add more beach. our our idea was to save houses and infrastructure. That was our our goal. And uh he's proven that they're doing a very good job of doing that for us. Uh Grace, welcome to the recreation committee. Look forward look forward to seeing you. Also, um um I've just been reappointed to the Dair County um tourism board. Thank you, Steve, and your fellow commissioners for uh believing in me enough to put me back on. Thank you, David, for your role. I'm taking David's place, and thank you very much for all you did on that. Um, let's see. Um, we have on update from the tour tourist bureau on March the 14th, the OBX taste of the beach chowder cook off uh will be at 11:00 a.m. at the Outer Banks Brew Station. Also, long wind also the North Carolina School of Government. Uh, Councilman Mans, Madame Mayor and I attended the School of Government

classes. It was a very educational classes for all of us. I think we all learned a great deal and I think we all came back home realizing how well we have it. folks. Some places um aren't in the conditions that we are through bad management and bad staff and bad elected officials. And thank you staff for for that. And while I was there, I was tapped on the back and I got a little card in a note and it's from the Betty Moore Williams, a former employee of the town of Kittyhawk for many years. And the card says town of Jamesville, Betty Moore, mayor.

Wow. Betty is now the mayor of Jamesville. It was founded in 1785 and it's her daddy's hometown. I just want to give her a shout out. She gave us so much credit for all the things she learned while she was here working for the town of Kittyhawk. That is all. You should have heard her squeal when she heard when she heard us say we were from Kittyhawk and she was right behind us. I thought, "Oh my gosh, what's happened to this woman?" But she was excited that we were there. So, um, David, do you have anything?

Yes, ma'am. Um, I also like to thank Morn Mason and, uh, welcome, Grace. And, um, I think Mr. House should get a standing ovation. I saw him at the polar plunge, and I looked like he was going to the commissioner meeting. He was going in the plunge dressed with tide and everything or not tie, but a coat and shoes. And I have a picture of you getting out, which I'll share with you later. Um, but uh, also I had a it was a good turnout for the polar points was for Special Olympics this past weekend. It was a good time. Um, I had a question for Casey. Um, can you real quick let us know where that easement is right behind the bath house that uh, your law partner signed off on several years ago. Let me know. What do you mean?

There's there was an easement. No, no. I But when you say let you know where it is, the location. Yes, sir. Oh, okay. So, from what I recall, and if I had the document in front of me, I would know a little bit better, but running right essentially right from behind what's now two roads semi down the property line of the US postal property. I forget the exact dimensions, but leading ultimately directly to the bath house, right? Kind of running the property line. Okay. From two roads, like I said, down past the postal service. I mean the federal property right to the bath house. Okay. From the highway.

Well, yeah. I mean, you there would be access coming in from the highway. Sorry. The intersection point after you get through uh two roads would be the back end where it intersects with uh the postal property. Yeah. Sorry. I didn't I was like, "Oh, no. Did I forget to do anything?" I thought about when dealing with this something, so I didn't catch you off guard. No, no, no. Fine. No, I got it. I got you. Locationwise, yeah, that's the general proximity of it. Is that easement um just an access easement or can it be used for anything else you're aware of? Good question. No, access is I believe primary access is your primary okay

uh you know cause and purpose for that particular easement. So but it was vague in its terms. So you know lawyers like vague. We could do a lot of things with bait. But uh but but no uh I I would say that in the past research that I did, yes, access was the ultimate was the ultimate purpose. I do remember we looked into the potential to be able to improve for access purposes. So whether that be gravel or or cement or whatever. And uh we never really got that far along because we just I mean we did we didn't really have a need for it at that particular time.

If I if I recall I think it was um we were discussing improvements and but we didn't have access at that point. Then we were granted access and kind of just drifted it away. Right. Right. Exactly. Exactly. Do you have any other comments, David? That's it. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Pete. Who do you have?

Yeah, madam mayor. Um, council, uh, just to reiterate what Mayor Pro Tim said, um, that that training has been, um, fantastic. Uh, um, Dylan, I know you and I did that online as well. So, not just in person, but online, but I want to thank Melody and the staff for, um, setting that stuff up for us and and for the staff partaking as well. Um, you know, that that development of our folks really means a lot. It's significant. It's important because it really goes to the heart of of being able to run government efficiently and effectively and making sure that we have the right people trained in the proper areas. Not to mention the fact that it's um you know the the mandatory ethics training, those type things. So it's a amazing amount of resources that um UNCC brings to the table and that North Carolina specifically brings to the table amongst any other state to help folks like out us out navigate through some of these bigger challenges. So, so that was a real eyebrow for me and I I got a great time to spend with you folks as well. So, um having said that, um uh recreation committee update just real quick. Um Grace, welcome to the recreation committee. Um look forward to working with you as the leazison. Um the recreation committee has done a lot to talk about the trails around town hall and and looking at how we can clean them up and get them ready for the season. So, um some really really neat stuff going on there. Uh to include a lot of discussion about potential other events such as um a Halloween um opportunity where we might be able to use the trails during Halloween for special events. So, so some really exciting stuff that the recreation committee is working on and and getting some, you know, new energy in. It's uh awesome as well to include, you know, looking at our uh strategic plan which goes into so many things to include our our town vision, our everything that's mentioned in the Cal land use plan all the way through. So, so those type uh strategic plans are very important. That kind of goes back

to you, Melody, and doing some of the what I call housekeeping with the travel and fleet management. those are all critical to making sure that the gears are turning and moving properly. So, I know a lot of hard work in that. Nobody wants to do that, but but thank you for doing that. Um the uh other thing the rec committee has been working on is the uh life-saving memorial down at the bath house that you were just talking about. Um we've got the pillars in place and uh next step will be putting up the g the gamles and and the roof. Um the educational panels are in the work right now and those should be getting hopefully finished towards the end of March with an ideal goal of opening the having everything in place ready to open for the season in April. So that's what we're shooting for right now. And and um uh there's another attachment with a uh a boat a model boat that's going to be hung underneath, but unfortunately that won't be ready until June. So but uh that that won't hold anything up uh from that end. Um, also we also have the Northeast North Carolina Trail Association has been doing a whole lot. Um, and and it's this is a really neat piece because North Carolina and all the trails and connecting them being able to bring them back to Kittyhawk and Kittyhawk having a rep on a as as part of the region of how we connect all these trails together which brings in tourism and uh economy and everything else. It's a it's a it's a big deal. So, it's uh it's awesome to have a recreation committee member attend a much broader outside Dair County regional um event. So, so a lot of neat things going on there and um and uh outside that that's all I have.

Okay. Thank you. Well, Grace, welcome aboard. And uh um I was appointed to the Dair County Housing Foundation and right now they're just uh we're getting some housekeeping done and then investigating and identifying properties and and next month I hope I have a a better update for you from the housing foundation. Um uh that but that school that we went to was amazing. And what I took away from it was I left with a a sheet of people that would answer any question or help us with any thing that we happen to have. Uh their phone numbers and they were happy for us to contact them and and it's really nice to know that we have all that at our fingertips to be able to to utilize that. and um thank you for all your work you've done with the lifesaving station and I'd like to thank the tourist bureau as well for the grant that they gave us to do that. Um, I if there's no other comments or any other anything, then I will entertain a motion to recess until March 20th budget workshop at 9:00 a.m. at the Kittyhawk Police Department.

So move, Mr. Mayor. Thank you. All in favor? Second. All in favor? I Okay. All right.