Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

County Board of Commissioners meeting. At this time, I'd like to call forward Reverend Keith Dye for an invocation. Reverend, thank you for being here today.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. uh on behalf of North Air Ministerial Association know that you are in our prayers and it's my honor to stand before you this morning. Let us pray. Most holy and gracious God, we come before you this morning to ask your blessing on this commission and on the people of Dare County. We are blessed by their talents and service that provide a special quality of life in this place. We pray for the work before this board today that they may be filled with insight and compassion as they hear reports, honor public service, make resolutions, and plan together for the sake of all who call this place home or home away from home. As we move through the spring breaks, the holidays, and the holy days into the busiest days and weeks, help us to care for each other. Guide us and protect us that we may provide a safe environment for all. Watch over our nation and our entire world. Show us yet again that the resources of your creation and its people are gifts that reflect your love for us. We are so blessed. Help us to be a blessing for these things and for whatever else you know that we need. We humbly ask in your name. Amen.

Amen. Thank you, Reverend. May we stand for the pledgece to the flag of the United States of America and to the stands one nation under God indivisibley and justice for all.

Before we get started, I'd like to recognize a few folks that are here with us today. Uh Susan Bothwell, former BOE member is here with us. Susan, thanks for being here. Our chair, current chair, uh David Twitty of the BOE is with us. And u former vice chair of the BOC, Wally Overman's with us. Thank you all for being here today. Um I'd like to uh notify the board that we're scratching item 9 and 12. Item nine and item 12. Turn it over to the county manager.

Good morning, Mr. Chairman. Item one on the agenda is the chairman's opening remarks.

Thank you, county manager. Just have a few items to go over this morning. Um, as most of you aware, I like to start with a little humor. Um, I heard about this elderly couple. uh they were having really a terrible time with their memory. So they went to the doctor and he instructed them to start writing down everything they had been forgetting. Uh that next night they were watching television. And the wife said to her husband, she said, "I sure would like a bowl of ice cream." The husband said, "No problem. I'll get it for you." Well, the wife then said, 'Honey, if you know what the doctor said, you better write it down. He said, 'N no, I'm just going to the kitchen. Um, I'm not going to forget. He came back and a few minutes later, handed her a plate of bacon and eggs. She shook her head and said, "I should have known it. You forgot my toast." um really exciting um things happening um on um April the 14th. As most of you know, our high schools had individual projects that they were doing um this past year. in First Flight High School built an airplane as most of you know and it was showcased um this year at the U celebration of of flight and um it's exciting to announce that the Federal Aviation Administration inspectors have approved the mechanics and the test flights have been made and

It's time for a special invitation to be a part of the history so that you'll get an opportunity uh to watch um from the tarmac and um for First Flight High School RV12 taking flight. Uh this will happen um at about 900 a.m. on April the 14th at the airirstrip at first first flight. And I'm told that um um Superintendent Bass Knight will actually be uh on that flight. Um and they will fly from the coastline of Oregon inlet and back. Um and then um so that's exciting. If you're interested, please uh please show up at 9:00 at at first flight um uh to see this happen. Unfortunately, our board has a uh budget workshop that morning. So, unfortunately, we will not be able at least I'm not going to skip the budget workshop, but um we won't be able to to attend, but hats off to First Light High School. Um I'm also um excited to share with you that uh the college of the Abramal which I serve as a trustee on has named Dr. Gina Southh Hall dean of COA to replace Tim Sweeney. I I was a part of that search committee and and we had four final candidates and and the um president of COA has chosen Dr. Southall uh to be Tim Sweeny's replacement and that will take place uh April the 13th. Dr. Southall brings more than 20 years

of experience in higher education including academic administration, teaching and program development. She has extensive experience in educator preparation and acceleration as director of the education preparation at Liza City State University. She led leisure programs, managed accreditation and assessment processes and served as the liaison to the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction at Longwood University. She served as executive director of teacher preparation and director of elementary, middle, and liberal studies programs. Her academic background includes 15 years as a professor of English education at Longwood University. More recently, she has taught at the college of Abramal and has served as adjunct faculty and u multiple instit. She has contributed to institutional leadership as chair of the academic affairs committee and vice president of the faculty senate. She Dr. Southall is a resident of Dair County. Uh she holds a doctor's education and curriculum and instruction from the University of Virginia as well as a master's in bachelor's degree in English education. So very excited to um to um have Dr. Southhole um serve as dean of the first flight dare campus for COA. Um, at this time I'd like to share um, as most of you are aware, uh, I chair the form form the coastal uh,

county's fishing coalition and we just recently uh, did a video that we will be sharing with our entire legislative body in Raleigh and I'd like to show that video at this time. We're here today in Morehead City for our coastal counties coalition that we formed way home from Raleigh after the 442 bill abandoned the trolling in the sound for shrimp. It really touched my heart to see the families of the fishermen right there in Raleigh fighting for their livelihood. So I said, you know, enough is enough. They're trying to shut down the oldest profession of mankind. And I said, when I get home, I'm going to reach out to the coastal counties and see if they're willing to uh be a part of a coalition. And I sent a letter out to 19 counties. Everybody said, "Yes, we want to participate in the fishing coalition. All we want to do is provide fresh local seafood to our residents and our visitors. and we want to protect the livelihood of those who do that and who provide that.

I was trained as a marine biologist, worked with the state for uh 30 years, been involved with fisheries policy for about four decades now. Our commercial fishing industry is at the lowest state that it's been since the 50s. And so commercial fisherman numbers are declining, wholesale dealers declining, processors declining. And so, uh, as a seafood consumer, uh, I was very concerned about that. And as a North Carolina citizen, I'm concerned about that because if I can, uh, catch my fish, I depend on commercial fishermanmen to, uh, provide a fish where I could buy it. I've been again working with state government for 40 years plus, and this is the first time county commissions have come together to address this issue. My husband's a commercial fisherman and I live in Hatteris Village and I see the struggle every day at the docks, at the fish houses. I see the impact that our commercial fishermen have on our communities after storms. We're the first ones back on the water to bring food to the villages, especially on Hatter Island when we get isolated. We've come together with a common goal and a common message that they don't have to worry about what is Bowford County thinking or what is Hyde County thinking or whatever. We're all in this together and we're fighting for the common good of our coastal communities and also for people to have the access to fresh local seafood and not imported. It's our livelihood. It's so much more than what it just seems on the surface.

In particular to the shrimp ban, everybody was against it because we're supposed to be create jobs, not eliminate jobs. So, you know, it'll put a whole sector out of business. So when you eliminate the shrimpers going to the fish house, that is going to eliminate the fish house because that's another product that they can't handle. So they're not as strong. Uh there's enough fish and enough shrimp for everybody. I wish the public would get that message. And I think they're beginning to get that message to consumer in Raleigh and Greensboro and places. They want fresh local products. They don't want a shrimp from Taiwan. You know, in fairness to the rest of the state, they need to be educated on coastal county issues. and we're going to do our best to try to educate them and do that. A county's already put out a video that we've shared to the coalition members and we're spreading that video out. It's about a 20-minute video on commercial fisherman. We're working with the uh North Carolina Association of County Commissioners to get on their agenda to share our concerns about the coast. We got an environmental committee. We got a legislative committee.

They're elected leaders and they serve the people. you know, they can convey their concerns to uh other leaders.

It has definitely brought awareness in Raleigh that now they understand or are starting to understand it's not just one or two counties that is concerned about this. It's the entire east coast of North Carolina. But we're 20 counties strong. That's 20% of the state, 100 counties in the state. And when we show up, hopefully our voice in Raleigh is going to be heard at the next level. What I'm hoping is that we'll have a voice that the marine fisheries can listen to and respect and follow our recommendations with respect to basing whatever that decision they make. They base it on input from the industry, from our coalition and science. It supplies food to our families and any industry that can supply food to your family is worth fighting for. I'd like to thank for helping um well for putting this together and my fellow commissioners commissioner balance and and the vice chair house for being a part of this uh video as I said in in the video we're going to share this with our um 100 counties throughout the state um and like I said in fairness to them we need to educate them and let them know what we're facing here on the coast. So, uh

that was a great video, Steve, Mariela, Bob. Thank you. I think that was excellent. Well done. Well done.

Thank you, Commissioner. Um yeah, we we uh we'll be sharing that with as many folks as we can as well as the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners. So, um once again, thank thank for that for making that happen. We also um will be working on a another video um with respect to uh three of our major concerns that we have in Dair County that uh we want to share with the state as well. And that's um putting money in a beach nourishment fund for the state um that they established several years ago, but they never put any funds in it. short and long-term plan for NC12 and eliminating the moratorum on hardened structures. So, um after spring back break when Benny gets back in town, we'll be working on that video um uh to produce that. So, uh stay tuned for that. Last thing I have uh to share with you this morning is um please keep um our military men and women uh in your thoughts and prayers. We um this nation, our nation um faces tremendous um u issues with respects to certainly what's going on around the world. and um and pray for our legislators in DC. Um pray for our president. Pray for our our governor. Um these are tough decisions that um the go our federal government's having to make uh with respects to uh nuclear issues and and just world peace all together. And I and our men and women in uniform were right

there in the middle of this. and um nothing could be more important than uh protecting them. And if you just keep them in your thoughts and prayers, it'd be most appreciated. With that being said, county manager, that completes my chairman's comments.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Item two on the agenda is the county service pins. Now is when we recognize our employees, and today we're going to recognize Klay Grant for 10 years of service, and he'll receive his tenure pin from Matt Hester. Morning commissioners, county manager. Uh this is Klay Grant. For those of you who haven't met him directly, Clay is one of our GIS techs. Um you all are very familiar with the work that the GIS does on the uh county website for the parcel data. Um Clay is directly involved in that, but more so he's directly involved with the stuff that you don't see that the county does with GIS. He's uh instrumental in developing maps for EMS runtimes. He's done uh work for mosquito and water uh basically building out uh just fantastic apps and databases for these uh uh departments to use uh on a daily basis. Uh he's constantly updating and tweaking and you know making the corrections on these things to make sure that they're accurate and up to a date and 100%. Um, Clay is kind of a quiet guy, not a big uh not a not a big speaker, but uh his work speaks volumes. Um, it's just incredible. I don't think I've ever had a a issue where I've come to him and said, "Hey, can we do this?" And it doesn't get done. Um, it's just a pleasure to work with him. And I congratulate him on this 10 years. Uh, next we have our employee of the month and if Jeremy Harvey would come forward to make that presentation.

Welcome Jeremy.

Good morning. Morning chairman, commissioners. Um, Stormmy, please join me up front. So, I don't know if you saw your boys sneak in the back, but um we tried our hardest to make sure you didn't know. So, my name is Jeremy. I'm the front office manager at the Dair County Health Department. I'm honored to be here to recognize Stormmy Hero. She has been nominated by her peers for employee of the month, and this is very welld deserved. Um Stormmy has been at the health department since April of 2022. During that time, she has consistently demonstrated reliability, professionalism, and a strong commitment to serving our community. Prior to joining us, she worked at the detention center. So, she has truly brought some valuable experience and a unique perspective that strengthened our team over there. Um, she's truly become a welcoming and recognizable face of public health. Um, anyone who's been to the health department has seen Stormmy. They know Stormmy. um consistently our community members come in and they you know are greeted with stormy smile. So uh what makes this nomination especially meaningful is it comes from her co-workers and staff she interacts daily with um from across the board. So being recognized by your peers speaks volumes. It reflects the respect you have earned, the teamwork you show up for every day and the positive impact those on those you have around you. Right. Um, Stormmy is someone we can count on. She shows up, steps up, and supports both her team and the individuals we serve with care and dedication. So, Stormmy, thank you for the work you do and the example you set. We appreciate you, and we're proud to recognize you today. Congratulations.

Thank you. Thank you. This is too. Okay.

Before we go to public comment, those of you that just received an award, if we'll go right out through this door so that we can get a picture, please. Ladies and gentlemen, now's the time that's been set aside for public comment. If you have public comment this morning and you've not signed up, raise your hand and I'll recognize you. When I do, please come to the podium. State your name where you're from, uh, please limit your comments to five minutes. There's a green light on the podium. When your time begins, there's a yellow light that will come on when you have about a minute left. Uh, and when the red light comes on, please conclude your remarks. On the signup sheet, first I have Pam Anderson. Good morning.

Welcome this morning, Pam.

Hi, I'm with the Eastern North Carolina SPCA. We're a new SPCA in Kouble Hills. We are a resource and support organization for rescues like the SPCA in Mano for other Kuratuck. We help people keep their animals in their homes once they've adopted. We are not an intake shelter. Part of our community service, we recognized that there was a deficit with our first responders having equipment to provide safe extraction for animals in emergency situations. So, we came up with something called the Paul emergency safety kit. I wanted to show it to the commissioners this morning. Through a grant from the Outer Banks Community Foundation, we have developed this Paul emergency safety kit. This is going out. We have 90 kits that are being donated to all of Dare County first responders, police, fire, EMS. Since we came up with this kit and we advertised it, we've now had Dare County lifeguards come forward asking for kits. We're now going to provide those. And Marine Patrol has reached out to us wanting kits for their boats when they come across animals that are in distress. The kit contains everything our first responders need. It comes with over the I'll step over here. Over the head harnesses. It's a onebuckle harness. We have various sizes to help animals from itty bitty kitty cats all the way up to gigantors. We have seven different size muzzles that can help from the itty bitty all the way up to gigantors. We also have collapsible water bowls that were donated by the Outer Banks Box Company. the wonderful people at Ocean Atlantic Reynolds donated as well as

the Outer Banks Community Foundation. It also has two different size leashes which are a clip leash and a slip leash for the animals. It also contains four different size collars again from itty bitty baby collars all the way up to Gigantor. But the best thing in our kit, uh, we also have dog and cat treats so that they can entice the animals if they need to. But when Mike Tally, Chief Mike Tally saw this from Kittyhawk, he said in 30 years as a firefighter, he never thought to provide this to his first responders. Something in the kit that is we recommend for every household as well as first responders is something we call a quick contain bag. Anybody that has an animal, if you have a fire in your house, this is something simple you can buy at Amazon, Walmart, it's nothing but a laundry bag. Comes in various sizes. We recommend folks that if you have cats, dogs in your home, have a couple of these in your house. It has a drawstring. You can throw the animal in here, pull it tight, your animal is contained. If you have a second story house, you can tie a sheet. You can drop them out. They hit the ground. They might break a leg, but they're alive. They don't go anywhere. Chief Tally from Kittyhawk said that they actually encountered a situation where a dog ran under a bed. House is filled with smoke. It puts our first responders at risk the more time they spent. They tried to put the animal in a garbage can, try to get out of the house. The animal escaped ram back into the house. if they'd had something like this, they could have put the animal in the bag and quickly extracted. So, as of May 1st, 90 of these bags are going out to Deer County first responders with more to come as we raise

more money. sheriff's, fire, EMS, and police. And now lifeguards, and our marine patrol will now have safety equipment that will help them safely extract an animal that's traumatized in an emergency situation such as a fire or a car accident. The important thing is when an animal's in a car and you have an accident, the first responders now have nothing to contain that animal to keep them from running out into traffic and causing other accidents. So, we appreciate the support that Der County gives to our first responders, to our rescues, and we want to thank you all for your continued support, and these are going out. So, anybody wants more information, just let me know. Thank you all. Have a great day.

Thank you so much, Pam. Uh, next is Courtney Gallup. Welcome this morning, Courtney.

Good morning, commissioners. Thank you. Um I'm unfortunately um I'm here this morning because I have a very serious concern. Um Dare County has historically been an incubator of art, music, and culture for uh a very long time. Dare County currently supports a huge range of community art programs and resources. Since the cave drawings in Europe, the human body has been a subject of art. Capturing the proportions, the forms, the shapes, the shadows, the contours of the human body has been considered art for centuries. Recent I'm also uh I have recently taken the figure drawing class at the college of the Alberal four times. I do have an art background and I've enjoyed that course. I have a piece of art that I created that I entered into the Silver Games visual arts competition with Senior Games. Yesterday, I was informed that one Dare County employee from Parks and Recreation has decided that since my art is a nude, it cannot be shown in the Silver Arts Visual Arts Art Gallery because it's in a Dair County property and nudity may be considered objectionable and people may complain. Um, this art wasn't even seen at the time that that employee made the decision. Um, since that decision has made, some key people have seen the drawing. I do have the drawing here. If anyone would like to see it, I have it. It has been seen and it has been decided that the art is art. It is not suggestive, offensive, pornographic, illegal, or political. It is a legitimate qualified to show in the show for Silver Games. And there's no reason that my art

should be singled out and not permitted in the art show because an employee feels that a nude figure of a human being could be offensive. So I implore the commissioners to um think on a higher plane, think intellectually and artistically and remember that there is no current policy on the art that hangs in Dair County. temporarily or per permanently. There is no policy that I'm aware of that has ever caused any piece of art to be excluded from the Silver Games competition. But my piece has been excluded arbitrarily. I believe there's no policies that the employee informed me of that warranted this piece of art being excluded from the show. It can still be judged, but it cannot be hung and shown with the other art pieces, which I believe in it on its face will impact how my art is judged. It's already been stigmatized, and I want my art to be judged fairly in the competition. And I feel that if it's excluded from the gallery process, it will not be evaluated fairly. And therefore, I'm at a disadvantage in the competition. Um, I would like to again offer would can the art be shown? Do you all care to see the drawing? Really?

That's beautiful. It's well done. Well, you did a good job.

Uh you all are educated. Uh you are um I assume you have been to a museum. Probably the textbooks in the schools probably have a nude or two or show some kind of body part in the in the art curriculum. Um, Dare County Arts, uh, the Dare County, um, COA had an art show recently. There was a whole wall of nudes and the show was free and open to the public. So, um, I don't I don't want to be silenced and edited and censored unfairly because of the content of a piece of art, uh, when there's no policy in place and one employee makes an arbitrary decision to exclude me um, from the show. So, I also sent you all an email. I expect that to be read for input before you make your decision this afternoon. Uh, please be fair, please be intellectual, please honor the art community that is strong and vibrant in this community, and please permit this drawing to be shown in the art show. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Courtney. Next is Janet Hasper. Good morning. Welcome this morning, Janet. Thank you.

I'm Janet Haspert and I'm representing the League of Women Voters for Der County. Um, complimentary copies of our annual citizen guide. I don't know if you you all have seen them yet, but we put them out every year. Um, I've brought some copies for all of you, which I will leave. Um, it's published by the league since 1988. So that's been a long time. And distributed annually annually to government and business offices throughout Dar Der County. It contains contact information for local, state, and national government agencies, voting information, emergency numbers, and uh a great deal more. I know that when I first moved to Deer County uh about 18 years ago and I got my first copy from uh the town of Manio, I just thought what a tremendous uh source uh of information to have on hand. Our guide is published under the opaces of the League of Women Voters of Dair County Education Foundation. On the back cover, you'll find acknowledgements of all the municipalities and local businesses that donated generously toward uh publication expenses. And this is a huge mammoth task and um it's a thankless job actually, but it's so worth it. Thank you. And thanks to all staff members who helped update information for this year's version. Uh lately, uh the League of Women Voters uh has distributed about 6,400 copies of the guide from Duck all the way to Hatteris Village, Ronok Island, and mainland Air. You'll find them in libraries, post offices, um Bomb, Fessenden, and Tlet Centers, as well as

town and county offices. The League of Women Voters is a non-partisan political organization that encourages the informed and active participation of citizens in government and influences public policy through education and advocacy. Publishing this guide is part of our continued commitment to provide pertinent information to all voters and residents. Membership in the League of Women Voters is well, the League uh is open to anyone of voting age, male or female, and we thank you for your support and we hope that you'll find this guide useful. Thank you for giving me the time to speak today. And I will leave these on the table.

Thank you.

Anyone else wish to speak at public comment this morning? Anyone in Buckton that'd like to speak at public comment? No comment from Buckston. That Mr. Chairman, we close the public comment and move to item five on the agenda. Uh this is a proclamation from for week of the young child and Carla Hepard is here to make that presentation.

Welcome this morning, Carla. Good morning and thank you for having me here to talk with you guys about the week of the young child. My name is Carla Hepert and I'm the education and program evaluation manager for children and youth partnership for Dare County. For as long as I can remember, the Dare County Board of Commissioners has had these decisions affect our children and families at the top of your agenda. That guiding question shows your strong commitment to children and families and putting them at the forefront of what you do every day. This mirrors the goals of children and youth partnership with our mission being to connect all children, adolesccents, and families with programs and partnerships to ensure they have what they need to thrive. We know that the first five years of a child's life are when their brains are developing the most rapidly. So 90% of a child's brain development occurs before the age of five. So during that time, the foundation for all of their learning is being laid, making the support, care, and experiences that children receive in those early years critically important. The week of the young child, which is being recognized on April 11th through the 17th this year, is a time to celebrate not only young children, but early learning and the dedicated adults that care for them. We recognize the valuable role of play, of creativity and collaboration in a child's development, but also use it as a time to remember highquality early childhood education and the educators that guide that play and nurture that growth. So you can see on your screens as a way of celebrating, we are leading a spirit week that celebrates each of the days represented for the week of the young child. So you'll see there's music Monday, Twin and Tasty Tuesday, Work Together Wednesday, Artsy Thursday, and Family Friday. We've shared this information out to all of our local child care programs. And we encourage everyone in the community, not just those with children in childare or in childare, uh to celebrate the week of the young child

with us by participating. We also wanted to take a moment to give you a personal invitation. We have our KidsFest event coming up on Friday, May 8th from 9:30 to 12:30 at Ronic Island Festival Park. This is our 17th annual children's festival and we invite you all to attend. Kidsfest is such a wonderful morning of collaboration here in Dair County. We have so many local organizations and businesses that all come together in support of young children and we invite you to come out and experience it firsthand. So I thank you for your time this morning and at this time I ask you to proclaim the week of the 11th through the 17th of April as the week of the young child in Dare County.

All right. We have a resol a proclamation. County manager would you read that proclamation?

Sure. Whereas Children and Youth Partnership for Dare County in conjunction with the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the North Carolina Association for the Education of Young Children is celebrating the week of the young child, April 11th through 17, 2026. And whereas the first years of a child's life are the period of most rapid brain development and lay the foundation for all future learning. And whereas high quality early care and education helps build strong development foundations for young children during the years of greatest brain development leading to positive outcomes for individual children. And whereas recognizing, appreciating, and supporting early childhood educators who make a difference in the lives of the young children leads to highquality early childhood experiences for Dair County's youngest citizens. And whereas connecting parents and families with resources and information enhances the healthy development of Dair County's young children. And whereas public policies and partnerships that support early learning for all young children are crucial to young children's futures and to the prosperity of our local community and larger society. We the Dair County Board of Commissioners do hereby proclaim April 11th through 17, 2026 as week of the young child in Dare County and encourage all our citizens to recognize the needs and support the healthy development of every young child in Dair County.

Motion to adopt the proclamation. Okay, there's a motion on the floor by the vice chair to adopt the proclamation. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Balance. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Those in favor signify by saying I. Oppos like sign. Motion carries unanimous. Thank you call. Thank you for your time. That leads us to item six on the agenda and this is a proclamation for child abuse prevention month and Karen Swain is here to make that present.

Good morning ladies.

Good morning. Um hello. My name is Karen Saul and I am the family support services coordinator with Children and Youth Partnership and I'm here with Lee Brinkley with Dair County Department of Health and Human Services. Um, so I'm here today to discuss the crucial topic of child abuse prevention. April is child abuse prevention month and children and youth partnership for Dair County alongside of Dair County Department and Health and Human Services is actively working to increase awareness and empower all community members to play a role in prevention. This year's theme across North Carolina is positive childhood starts with us. This theme reminds us that we all have a role to play in supporting strong families and thriving communities and that support and empowerment are the keys to making that vision a reality. Through throughout April, we have set up three child abuse prevention month displays across Dair County. One at the Kildable Hills Fire Department, one at COA Dare campus in Mano, and one at the Fresno Center in Buckton. These displays serve as a visual reminder of the critical needs of awareness and action. We are also inviting our community to share in supporting strong families and thriving communities by participating in wear blue day this Friday, April 10th. We encourage everyone in Dair County community to wear on this day, wear blue on this date and share photos on social media to show our collective commitment to the cause. In addition, local businesses and community members can take part in the pinw wheels for prevention campaign by planting um pinwheel garden or by displaying the pinw wheels for prevention yard sign. These yard signs are available at CYP office while supplies last and each pinwell represents the bright future we are all working together to create for our children. Research from Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina shows that several protective factors can prevent child abuse and neglect, including parental resilience, children's social and

emotional competence, parents knowledge of child development, concrete support for parents, and strong social connections. These factors can build the foundations for safer, healthier families and communities. I strongly encourage parents to explore the resources available through children and youth partnership and to sign up for one of our free parenting programs or workshops that we offer. These programs are designed to support families and strengthen parenting skills. Another valuable resource is the family services unit at Der County Department of Social Services. This program provides support to families with at least one child under 18, and focuses on enhancing family stability, improving relationships, and building strong support systems. It is important to remember if anyone suspects child abuse, neglect, or dependency, they should contact social services and request to speak with a child protective service social worker. For more information about child abuse prevention month and how you can get involved in prevention efforts, please pre uh visit prevent child abusenc.org. And finally, we ask commissioners to proclaim April as child abuse prevention month. The well-being of Dair County's children shapes the path ahead for our entire community. Protecting them today is key to creating a world filled with care, respect, and hope for tomorrow. Thank you. proclamation.

Thank you. Sorry, can I manager? Thanks.

Yes, sir. Um, this is a child abuse prevention month April 20 2026 proclamation. Whereas children are vital to our state's future success, prosperity, and quality of life as well as being our most val vulnerable assets. And whereas all children deserve safe, stable, and nurturing homes and communities that foster their healthy growth and development. And whereas child abuse and neglect are community responsibilities affecting both the current and future quality of life of our communities. And whereas communities that provide parents with social support, knowledge of parenting and child development, and the resources they need to cope with stress and nurture their children help ensure that all children grow to their full potential. And whereas effective child abuse prevention strategies succeed because of partnerships among citizens, human services agencies, schools, faith communities, healthc care providers, civic organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the business community. Now therefore, we the board of commissioners of Dare County do hereby proclaim April as child abuse prevention month and call upon all citizens, community agencies, faith groups, medical facilities, elected leaders, and businesses to increase their participation in our efforts efforts to support families, thereby preventing child abuse and strengthening the community in which we live this the 7th day of April, 2026.

Thank you. County managers, is there a motion to approve? I'll make a motion to approve. Motion motion on the floor by Commissioner Balance. It's been seconded by Commissioner Bait. Any further discussion? I have something to say. Yes, sir.

There are a few things that I take very seriously, Karen, and this is one of them. And I read the words. I listened to the words in the proculate proclamation and also Carla, your comments. I wish you the most success possible. This is this is terrible stuff when it happens and it does. But I thank you all for the work you do and trying to stop it, correct it, educate, remediate, improve. So well done, ladies. Keep up the good work. Thank you. Anyone else?

Hearing none. Those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I. I. Post like that. Motion carries unanimous. Thank you again, ladies. Thank you. Uh that brings us to item seven on the agenda. This is a proclamation declaring April 10th, 2026 as local news day in Dair County. And Karen Saunders is here to make that presentation. Welcome, Karen.

Good morning, commissioners. I'm Karen Saunders. Um as most of you know, I run Outer Banks Insider along with my husband. Um this is not just a me effort, though. This is more of a statewide effort to have local news day. It's the first one ever. Um, and I just wanted to extend an invitation to all of you to come in person. We're having an event this Friday from 9 to 11:00 a.m. at Wave Riders in Nagad. Um, we're just having coffee and conversation with the community and you get to meet all of the people who are writing your local news. We have um about eight different organizations from Curry Tuck to Ochre Coke who will be represented at the event. So, you get to come and just have casual conversation with all of us. Um, so the the effort kind of started with Montana Free Press. They declared the first ever local news day this year. They spearheaded the initiative and then North Carolina really took it up. Um, NC local has been leading the charge in North Carolina and um they're hosting NC news cafes across the state. So in places where they don't have a staff presence, they asked local newsrooms to kind of take the lead. And so I'm hosting this local one. Um, OuterBinks Insider is and um, yeah, all the details you can find at outerbanksnews.org for this event, but I just wanted to invite you.

Well, thank you. Thanks, Karen. Yeah, we have a proclamation.

Sure. This is a proclamation declaring April 10th, 2026 as local news day in Dare County. Whereas Americans overwhelmingly say local news and information is the most important and most trusted source of news. And whereas local journalism is a foundational element of a functioning and health healthy democracy. And whereas local journalism equips communities for civic engagement and action. And whereas communities across the state are joining together to recognize and celebrate the importance of local news during the second week of April. And whereas the Dare County community relies on trusted local news for reliable vetted information both in daily living and in moments of crisis. And whereas Dare County is home to several news outlets. And whereas Dare County recognizes the critical importance of local news in many forms. Now therefore, I, Robert L. Woodard Senior, chairman of the Dare County Board of Commissioners, do hereby proclaim April 10th, 2026 as local news day in Dare County and commend its observance to all residents this the 7th day of April, 2026.

All right. Thank you for that um proclamation. I'll make the motion to approve. Is there a second? Second by Commissioner Krief. Any further discussion? If we come on is that going to be if we come on Friday, will that be off the record? Oh yeah, it's just casual conversation. Yeah, Mary will write it down. I know she will. I mean, all right. Those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I post like sign. Motion carries unanimous. Thank you. Thank you, Chairman. Item eight on the agenda is an update on the Dare County Library and our librarian Megan Beasley is here for that presentation.

Welcome this morning, ladies. Good morning. Good morning, chairman. Good morning, commissioners. Gotta make sure this is angled so you can hear me because I now have a little tiny voice.

Uh, thank you for having me here today. I feel like I'm on a good day. There's a lot of fun things happening. Um, for those who have not met me in person or formally, my name is Megan Leonard Beasley and I am your Dare County Librarian. Uh, sorry. National Libraries Week is April 9th through the 25th and so I thought it would be a good time to come by and see everyone. For those who are not aware, I am employed actually by the East Albam Marl Regional Library System as the head of Dair County's library department and I am the administrator and operations manager of the three branches of our regional library located here in Dair. I am here today to speak with you about the future Dare County Public Library system. Uh in 1964, the commissioners, county managers, and library administrators of Derek, Curry Tuck, Pascatank, and Camden allowed for the creation of a regional library system headquartered in Elizabeth City. The East Albamoral Regional Library System or Earl is the governing and administrative head of operations of the eight library branches located in our four counties of northeast North Carolina. On June 30th, 2026, Oral will dissolve and on July 1st will be replaced with four independent North Carolina North Carolina county public library systems. So, we're going to talk about that today. Thank you, Kelly. This Thursday, our library board of trustees will meet to approve the current and new policies which will apply to Dare County Library. Uh, present today from our board of trustees is of course Commissioner Baitman and as well we have Lisa Ma Lisa Matthews is here with us today. Thank you. And I thank all of our participants and members of our Dare County uh board of trustees. They do a great job and provide a lot of support. One policy we will review is our collection development policy which includes our new mission statement for Sorry, there's

a clicker. Sorry. the new which will include our new mission statement. The Dare County Library is a strong community partner that provides resources, services, and programs to foster inclusivity, creativity, curiosity, and lifelong learning to the citizens and guests of Dare County. There's a lot to unpack there, but the one word I want to emphasize today is community. We strive to bring our community members in touch with local groups who provide resources and assistance. We are a space for people to come together and find community. And we are a clearing house of community information addressing patrons needs. 23 county residents representing almost all municipalities and unincorporated areas of DARE make up our library team. 13 full-time and 10 part-time employees provide top-notch customer service, excel at individualized attention, are competent and conscientious, and most of all, dedicated to finding the answers to our patrons needs. With me today is KellyRum, our accounting technician, who I refer to as the backbone of the library. Also with us today is Julie Stewart, our adult services librarian, and Trisha Allen, our uh branch manager for the Kildevil Hills Library. I'll embarrass her and remind everyone that she was the June 2025 Dare County Employee of the Month. Yay. Um, you can see in the photo, we are a big group, a happy group, and it is an honor to be able to work with all of these individuals, and I hope that you all come by and meet them sometime if you have not already. In March of this year, I asked our Facebook community to give us their one word to describe our library locations. And from their responses, I created this workcloud. Every team member who works at our library says they are there because they want to help people. So, it's very heartening to see that the

public views us most often as helpful. They also view us as welcoming, friendly. They're grateful for the services that we provide. We are knowledgeable and again you see that word community popping up. Um, and I want to thank everyone who participated in the in that. Thank you to our public. Now, outside of libraries, we're always asked by the public, does anyone even use a library anymore? I mean, people don't read, right? So, um I'm going to start with our collections. Yes, we have books and audio books and magazines in print and digital format as well as DVDs, but we also have other collections in the libraries. Most notable, our recent addition of the Library of Things. These are items that the public might need or want but either don't have the space or it's a small it's a commitment of time. They don't want to buy the item. So, we've added these items for checkout. Starting with memory kits, litter pickup kits, still our most popular item. Paper shredders, external CD ROM drives, portable DVD players, digital paper scanners, metal detectors, and analog to digital converters. Uh these are all items that go out quite often and we continue to add to the collection. Uh recently thanks to a patron donation and a quest request we have added a ghost hunting kit in our KDH library collection and we will be adding another in Hatteris. It's quite popular as you can imagine. Uh we also offer book club in a bag kits. So far we have 60 sets of 12 books that patrons can check out for their book clubs. They come with discussion guides and an online website where they can access additional resources and it helps save money for all those book clubs that we have here in the county. Four years ago, we created a seed library. Last year, over 9,000 packets went out to the public of

seeds, herbs, vegetables, annuals, perennials, and locally harvested native plants. One program in particular I'm proud of is our participation in the International Library Telescope program. We have four tabletop telescopes available for checkout by the public and we partner with the OBX astronomy club to provide education on reading the night sky and lessons in astronomy. We are one of two North Carolina counties who participate in this program. Wait, OBX Astronomy Club? I have a telescope and I don't really know how to use it. They they're open to Okay. Oh, yeah.

Yes. Julie, tell do you want Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Cameron is wonderful. He helps at all of our sky part night sky parties and uh we offer education. So, come on out. Actually, we have a star party at Jockeyy's Bridge on April 24th 24th. We're going to have our uh telescopes there and come on out. It'll be fun. 5:30 to 10. Write it down. Yes. Write it down.

Where? Uh, obviously one of the most important things that we do are programs for children. Um, we want to help children and caregivers develop and build a lifelong love of reading by teaching early literacy skills through a multitude of programs for children starting at age zero. The more we read print materials, the deeper the neural pathways we build. Scientists have proven that these pathways help us develop critical thinking and problem solving skills. Starting a child on a path to a lifelong love of reading not only teaches them these literacy skills, but it helps set them up for success in life. As you can see, we offer all of the traditional library programs for children. Story times, Hooked on Books, book clubs. Last year, we added a thousand books before kindergarten program. Our summer reading program will launch in just a couple short months. We've added uh Steam T uh tablets with um Steam software for in-house use in our libraries called Launchpads. And we are adding games into the libraries for families to come in and play those games. Programs for adults. That's Julie Stewart over here. Um, programs for adults are created and designed to address the unique needs of our community members. We provide education, boost creativity, support growth, and build opportunities to find and create community with like-minded individuals. In the last couple of years, we've added summer and winter reading challenges. We now have fiber arts groups outgoing monthly in all three locations, as well as book clubs in all locations. We've added writing clubs and additionally we now offer four online author talks each month for individuals to either watch online. They can come into the libraries and watch them as well. And we've added special topics programs on true crime and meditation and mindfulness as well as life skills.

Sounds like you need to add astronomy. Well, we do. Well, the hardest part I'll tell you the hardest part about those clubs. No, I'll tell you the hardest part about those clubs is scheduling them when the sky is not going to be cloudy. Thank you, Outer Banks, for that.

Yeah, there's still a good time though, even if you don't see the sky. Um, in addition to collections and programmings, we address community needs by providing services that may be unavailable or inaccessible to our patrons otherwise. cut printing, copying, faxing. These are things that people don't do at home anymore. They don't want to pay for printer ink. They don't fax anymore. So, we are kind of the kinkos of the Outer Banks these days. You hear them laugh, but it's true. Um, in particular, we find ourselves waiting deep into the needs and demands of the digital literacy pillar of librarianship. We offer technology assistance in one-on-one appointments during dropin hours on all sorts of technology. your phone, tablet, computer, laptop, any sort of device, we will troubleshoot and work with you to fix what the problem is. And then in that um kind of broader CERN oh that area of digital literacy, we assist and provide education in computer skills, online navigation, email communications, safety and privacy to help prevent against scams, emerging technologies. Of course, AI is all the rage right now. We want to get ahead of it and we want to be able to educate our patients on the good and the bad as well as navigating egovernment resources. Everything's online and if you didn't grow up filling out job applications and forms online, it's incredibly challenging and we find that we encounter that every day and help folks overcome. Additionally, we still offer our home delivery services and traditional good old library reference genealogy and readers advisory. Oops, where am I? Now, community partners, you I said I love community. On the lefth hand side of this slide, you are going to see a just a small listing of the community groups and nonprofits with whom we have partnered, collaborated or supported over the past year. On the right are a

few outreach events in which we participated. Now, obviously the groups ahead of me are speaking for themselves, but there are so many amazing groups in Dare County dedicated to supporting and lifting up our locals that I have made outreach to and with these groups one of our major library objectives year in and year out. Now, of course, I have to touch on our Dair County Library Foundation. Founded in 2002, the Dare County Library Foundation is a 501c3 nonprofit uh which provides programs and services. Nope. They provide funding for programs and services not covered by our operating budget. And with us today is our chair, Susan Sawen, and our treasurer, Jane Young. Um we have gone from having about three members of our foundation two years ago to I believe 14 active uh foundation board members who are helping us to relaunch the foundation with new marketing new programs, new initiatives. This year they are helping to support or have fully funded our thousand books before kindergarten program, our annual children's bookmark contest which is going on now, our summer reading program for children. They are adding to our collections, particularly our library of things, and they pay approximately 51% of our online author talk series. So, we are incredibly grateful for their support.

Thank you. Okay, how about some numbers? Because why not? We're librarians. We love numbers. So before you see a chart of adult fiction items owned by branch location in Earl uh 2024 is the most recent official numbers. So you can see uh collectively Dair County owns approximately just under 26,000 adult titles in fiction. Pascatang 19, Curry Techch 17, Camden just under 5,000. checked out by county. Uh, our D County card holders checked out over 90,000 adult titles in 2024, followed by Pasc Tank at 27, Curekch 26, Camden 7. Now, children's will show you this number. Children's fiction owned by county. Dare County just under 18,000. Curry 17, Camden 11, Pasca Tank 7. Children's fiction checked out 80,000 in Dare County checkouts. Curry took 44, Camden 31, Pascake 29. We got readers. Um, finally, I'll I'll share these visitor count numbers with you. In 2024, we estimate 94,000 library visits in Dare County. Uh, raw numbers that aren't published quite yet. In 2025, over 102,000 visits to library branches in Dare County. And there's an asterisk, a little caveat with this. We only have door counters on one door in each of our libraries, but we actually have two to five doors on each library. So, we're missing some folks. So, you can guess that this number is a little low overall, which is just fine. It's a good number to see. To answer your question, does anybody

use a library anymore? They certainly do in Dare County. I've been immersed in the book, literacy, writing, and library communities of this county for 23 years, and I can say unequivocally that Dare County is a county of readers who use and value their public library system. Moving into our new phase, we adopted a new slogan, a lighthouse for learning, a bridge for all. This slogan is intended to bring to mind a vision of a library as a community beacon where we bridge gaps and divides in knowledge and resources. Now, what's happening in the next couple of months? Some things. Some things. Um, as I mentioned, our board of trustees meets this week to adopt our policies for future Dare County Library. Next week, our library leadership meets for the first of 10 weeks to uh schedule and plan the movement of all of that information in our library system from one computer system to another. In May, all libraries will close for one day so that staff in all of Earl can get together and have a training session in person. This is a Wednesday, hopefully the least inconvenient day of the week. June is when we do our big turnover. We will shut down at the end of the day on June 19th, Friday, June 19th, and that will be the last day of our current system catalog that you see. We'll close for the 20th of June. Doors will reopen June 22nd, Monday, and will be in our new system called NC Cardinal. That day, as well, I know my e-readers are going to love this. Libby rolls over to the Dare County Library. So, if you are a Libby user, you would know that when you log in, you log in under Earl. On June 22nd, you go to log in, you log under Dare County. Easy peas. On the

25th, we are back fully operational. However, this is we will not be sharing our books between our four counties for two weeks. That's okay because we have 50,000 items in Dare County Library and I'm sure you haven't read them all. So we'll be able to find people some books until we can get those books sharing again. Then on June 30th, Earl dissolves and July 1st, Dar County Public Library is a recognized entity at the state and federal levels. We also begin receiving state aid for public library payments from state government. Now this last item is incorrect. I turned in these slides and since then we had a change. So disregard, we will reserve resume limited courier services between our four Earl counties the second week of July. That doesn't mean that we can put a book on hold in pass and have it brought down, but we will be able to return books between the four counties. Um, and details will come in future emails. If you're an email reader, I'll share that information. uh we can commence statewide resource sharing which I'll get into in a moment two to four weeks after June 22nd. So knowing my team we will probably be back up and running to sharing with the entire state probably by mid July. Yeah. And then it'll be as if nothing has changed except you will have more access. So what stays the same? Courier service between our Earl member libraries. All of your digital resources will remain the same. Physical collections, buildings, and the knowledge and experience of 22 library employees. What changes? Our board of trustees will become an advisory board. The trustee budget that they oversee

will be integrated into the county operating budget, which I think might be covered at the workshop. Inscrable. Um, and the courier days and frequency may change a little, but they will still be there. What the county gains a grant from the state annually estimated this year to be $105,000. Uh, you also get a library director. You don't have a library director right now. You have a Dare County librarian. Uh so you will have a library director who carries a master of library science and is a certified public librarian. We'll also be able to apply for a broad range of grant opportunities which we have not been previously able to do. I'm excited about that. We'll also have direct access to resources provided by the Library of North Carolina and the North Carolina Library Directors Association. Fun stuff, new cards. Uh I think you've all seen but maybe the public hasn't. We have designed new Dare County Library cards which will be available July 1st. And the front of the card is actually comes from a Hatteris an old Hatteris library book with the uh traditional punch card on there with our new logo and on the back it has a preprinted barcode and the NC Cardinal logo which will be the statewide system of which we will be a part. Of note, nobody needs a new card because all of the card numbers will roll over. That's one of the great things about this transition. You can just keep going with the one you have. If you decide to get a new card, there will be additional steps to transition. So, choose wisely. Um, and your card can be used in any Cardinal Library in the state, including

our current Earl libraries. So, it'll be just like it was before, only better. NC Cardinal, this is the program that we've been talking about. This has run out of the state library in Raleigh. All of the counties in green, the few in blue, and then the orange dots are all participating member libraries in Cardinal. That means, as I've said, which I continue to say, we're going to go from 140,000 items to 8.1 million at no additional cost, no charges or fees for our patrons to access those. And let me think, one of the great things I'm excited that Hyde County is a part of this. So, we're going to be able to serve our ochre Coke uh friends and neighbors. They can come up to Hatteris. We can go down there. We'll be one library that way. Uh, and what Carninal does is if you go on vacation in any of one of these counties and you decide you want to check out a library book, you can check it out there and then you can bring it back and we can send it back for you or visitors can come here and check out books and take them back with them and they'll send them back to us. So, it becomes a part of a great big state library really and it's pretty exciting. Rethink. Well, we think we hope everyone else does as well. That's it. Thank you for your time. If you have any questions, concerns, comments, please reach out to me. This is my information. It's also on the website, darc.gov/lbraries.

That's it. Thank you very much, Megan. Thank you, everyone. And don't forget to come out for National Libraries Day week and fill out a uh what are we doing right now? Bookmark contest. Come on, fill out your bookmark contest. Turn it in. We'll judge it fairly. Have a great day. Thank you,

Chairman. Items 10 and 11 are special use permits, and our planning director, Noah Yol, is here for both of those items. Mr. Chairman, for the record, all the participants in both of these SUPs have already been sworn in. Oh, okay.

Good morning, chairman, commissioners. Um, the first special use permit application we have before you was for Rodanti Sunset Resort. This is a renewal of an existing special use permit. Um, back in January of 2021, y'all approved this special use permit that authorized the construction of a um six-unit multif family structure, an 8-unit multif family structure, and two single family residential dwellings. Um, since that time, the six-unit structures been built and the two single family dwelling structures um have been completed. The remaining eight dwelling unit structure has not been completed and permits have not been pulled to the state. The special use permit had a five-year time frame for them to apply for all of their building permits and that has since expired which is what brings this before you today. Um part of this also is a modification to the special use permit which is a reduction in the size of the last remaining structure. The proposed 8-unit multif family structure is going to go from eight units down to four units and a significant reduction in the square footage um of that building. Um all prior conditions of the um formally or the former approved special use permit will remain in effect. New conditions have been added at the request of the fire marshall to address um changes in the fire code and needed additions to the site such as uh the location of a fire hydrant and the requirement to bring all the road surfacing to the standard improvements prior to them constructing the final um structure. Um the applicant and a representative from the engineering firm are here to answer any questions. if the applicant could come forward. I've got a couple of questions for the applicant.

Mr. Harris. Good morning. Um, good morning. First question is, do you consent to the evidence as just presented by Noah? Yes. And do you also consent to uh the entry of the contents of the planning staff's file into evidence in this matter? Yes. And do you consent to the terms and conditions of the proposed SUP? Yes. That's all that I have. Anyone else here to present any evidence this morning? I see no one. Mr. Chairman, it's with you all. All right. Questions? There's any questions of the board?

If not, what's the pleasure of the board? There's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Baitman to approve. Is there a second? Second. Second by Commissioner Burus. Any further discussions? Hearing none. Those in favor of the motion, please signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Like sign. Motion carries unanimous. Thank you, John. Thank you. Thanks for all you do for the quality of life for the residents of Dare County. I appreciate all the work that you do every day.

Thank you, John. The second special use permit application before you is is a new application um being submitted by the K patter membership corporation. Um they're proposing to build some employee housing um across from their facility on Lake Plant Road in Buckton. Um they're proposing this as a group development consisting of two residential dwelling structures. One will be a duplex and one will be a single family structure. Um the location is like I said is across the street from their existing facility, their office. Um the the purpose of this is to try to bring um employees to Cape Patter Electric by being able to provide some housing in the area for their employees.

So in other words, there's a housing shortage that's causing them difficulty to hire people to run the electric power plant. Have I got that right? Yes, sir. Um

everybody out there at the town's listening, thank you. Keep going. Um the site plan as proposed shows the structures meeting all the dimensional standards of both the um R2A zoning district and the group development um ordinance. Um the parcel is located in the SED1 zone of influence. Their proposed site plan has a vegetation removal plan that meets the requirements of the zone of influence. They're proposing a centralized dumpster location that has been approved by Dair County Public Works. The site plan has been reviewed by the Dair County Fire Marshall and conditions have been added to the special use permit um reflecting his comments and concerns. The Dair County Planning Board reviewed the special use permit at their March 4th meeting at the close of discussion. They found the special use permit um and the conditions to be reasonable appro reasonable and appropriate for the proposed development. Um Mr. Joseph Anloff, the project engineer is here and also a representative from the power company to answer any questions. I have the same questions for the applicant.

Morning. Morning. Um, do you consent to the entry of the contents of the planning staff's file into evidence in this matter? I do. Yes. And do you consent to the facts as presented by Mr. Gillum? Yes, sir. And do you consent to the terms and the conditions of the proposed SUP? Yes, sir. any other evidence to be presented in this matter? Seeing none, Mr. Chairman, it's with you all for questions or to take action. So, tell me again, it's going to be u half of it single family. The other half is uh what? Two two

one one single family residence and one duplex. I got you. The duplex has two residents in the duplex has two two res. Yeah. Uh it's a start. I'll make a motion to approve. Okay. There's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Cref. Second.

Second by Commissioner Balance. Floor is open for further discussion. Hearing none. Those in favor signify by saying I. Opposed like sign. Motion carries unanimous. Thank you, gentlemen. Just on behalf of CHC, I do sincerely appreciate you all for approving this special use permit that we can build residential housing um across, excuse me, across Maryland facility at Lake Plant Road. Uh this project, as stated, will allow us to recruit and retain the very best employees so that we can continue to provide our members on Hadress Island with safe and reliable electric service. And we all understand again as already stated the housing challenges that affect employee retention on DAR in Dair County. And while this project will just help solve maybe a small portion of that for our company, we do um see the bigger picture and I am honored to serve on the Daryl County Housing Foundation board and help continue to find solutions that help our residents and employees in the county. Thank you very much for your time this morning.

Thank you. Thank you. That brings us to item 13 on the agenda and this is a resolution in support of the Mid Curry Tuck County Bridge. Um, this came to us from some of our neighbors to ask you all for support. I know that the chairman has been involved in some meetings and Commissioner Ballots has been involved in some meetings and so before I read the resolution, I'll hand it over to you all if you have comments to make.

Yeah. the um well Mary Ellen's our representative on the RPO. You do you you want me to go over it Murray Ellen or you want to go? Um, we attended recently a a meeting that uh the RPO hosted and had the um NC do come in and in a short explanation, the Mid Curry Tuck Bridge is short uh 900 plus million in funding and uh they wanted take it out of the um system and it would save the district. The the money's it's broken down into state um uh second is u region and then the third is district and there's about $173 million in the district that uh could be put back in the district for projects. There's 14 um counties I guess um in that in our district. So if you split that 173 by the 14, it would give 9 million and some change to each county. Um which wouldn't wouldn't generate much at least for their uh for a project, but um that's that's what they'd like to do. doesn't mean that that they couldn't reapply for the mid curry tuck, but um there's a meeting on the um what is it 16th that the RPO has to decide if if in fact that's what they want to do or if they want to continue to keep the mid curry tuck in the plan. um they've

proposed um toll in it which their numbers would not um certainly bring up the enough funding to fund the mid curry tuck. So, uh, Curry Tuck County has, um, uh, asked and and would like to at least extend it for a year or two to see if they can find other ways for additional funding to to make that happen so that the midcurry tuck bridge can take effect. We we have uh and out of respect for them, we I have asked staff to draw up a resolution in support of um Kuruck County and it's before you today to uh look at um this has been ongoing for a number of years. Um I personally feel like we need to do what we can to support our neighbors, but that's certainly a decision this board would have to make. So, um, we've u established a a resolution to do so and u we need to have our representative commissioner balance uh take that voice to the RPO meeting on the 16th. Um, I'm happy to try to answer any other additional questions the board may have. If I've left something out, Commissioner Balance, feel free to speak up. I

I would just say this, for those of you that don't know what the STIP means, it's the state transportation improvement program, and we call it the STIP, and it's how our projects are rated and decides whether we get it or not. And being in rural North Carolina, we face these challenges on Hatter Island and all over because our numbers don't we don't always fit in that step. And that's kind of where this bridge is. And so it's a time that we have to start thinking outside the box. And if they need a couple more years to do that, I'm sure there's going to be some situations where we're in that same boat. Um it would be this bridge would be a huge relief for Dare County in the going to Duck and up in up in that area because anybody that's tried to travel on a Saturday in the summer through uh southern shores is not it's not an easy thing and it's become quite dangerous. So, I I agree with Bob that this is something we kind of I feel like we need to support them on this, but as he said, it's the pleasure of the board and I'll take it to the RPO however you guys see fit. I' I've always been in favor of the midcur bridge uh for several different reasons. Um but for the main reason and being in emergency services for so many years, a hurricane evacuation from the northern beaches area is even back few years ago was was very daunting. And if you've noticed the traffic going uh from the Wright memorial bridge up up to Corala on Friday on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, you know, at times it can take you two to three hours from that Wright brothers bridge to get to Corala. And now if you compound with all of those three days of traffic into one day of traffic for hurricane evacuation,

you can see where the problem lies. So for safety reasons and also uh not only for hurricane evacuations but when there's a major fire something up in Corala then all the dare county fire departments go up there and very few of the Kuratuck fire departments go there because they can't get there without coming all the way around. Now Kuratuck can actually take care of their own emergencies up there with this bridge. So, there's several different reasons why this bridge really needs to go into effect and if we need to need a little bit more extra time to find out how to fund it, I'm all for it. Thank you, Vice Chairman. Anyone else?

Can man, will you take the liberties of reading the resolution if you would, please?

Sure. This is a resolution supporting the continued inclusion of the Midcurry Tuck Bridge project in the NC DOT state transportation improvement program. Whereas the mid Curry Tuck Bridge is a vital infrastructure project intended to provide a second crossing of the Curry Tuck Sound connecting the mainland to the Outer Banks near Kerala. And whereas the project is critical to improving hurricane evacuation clearance times which currently exceed the state designated standard for northern Outer Banks. And whereas Dare County has long supported this project to alleviate severe seasonal traffic congestion on NC12 and US 158, which impacts the quality of life and safety of residents and visitors. And whereas the recent financial analysis indicates that the estimated construction costs for the brid bridge have risen, creating a significant funding gap beyond currently committed state funds and projected toll revenues. And whereas the county believes the base toll rate of $15 is well below what users would likely pay and urges NC DOT to analyze the potential impact of higher toll rate to reduce the revenue gap. Whereas the North Carolina Department of Transportation has recently considered pulling back committed funds and requiring the project to recompete for the funding in the state transportation improvement program. And whereas the Der County Board of Commissioners believes that removing or deprioritizing the project now would undermine decades of planning environmental reviews and recent legal victories that have cleared the way for construction. And whereas keeping the project in the step for one additional funding cycles provides the necessary time frame for stakeholders, including the North Carolina Turnpike Authority and regional partners to identify and secure alternative revenue sources such as federal grants or updated toll strategies. Now therefore, be it resolved by the Der County Board of Commissioners that retention in the in the STIP, Dair County strongly urges NC DOT and the North Carolina Board of Transportation to retain and advance the

Mid Curry Tuck Bridge project step number R-2576 in the current and future state transportation improvement program. The county supports a concentrated effort by state and local officials to aggressively pursue the new revenue streams, including federal US Department of Transportation grants and public private partnerships to bridge the current funding gap. The county reaffirms the midcur bridge as its highest transportation priority for regional safety, emergency management, and economic stability. All right. Thank you, county manager. Motion to approve.

Mo motion on the floor. um by Commissioner Balance and has been seconded by Commissioner Baitman. Floor is open for further discussion. Hearing none, those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I post like saying motion carries unanimous. Thank you board. I know our um neighbors to the north will certainly appreciate our support. Gentlemen, that brings us to item 14 on the agenda and this is a license and maintenance agreement with the raves waves road the rhdanthy wave salvo community center. Um years ago when we did uh the sidewalk or the like the project there in Dare in Rodanthy Ways and Salvo NC byways sort of led that project. We had grant funding and part of the grant funding was the Dair County as the applicant I suppose um was responsible for the maintenance uh of that project. Over time that had been done by the community uh and hadn't really had any kind of agreements or things to do that. Uh the Ranthy Waves uh community center has sort of agreed to continue doing that. uh but we needed some kind of formal agreement to delegate our authority for that maintenance to them. Um and so this agreement does that. Um it really what they're going to do is they're going to do the routine dayto-day stuff out there. But if a bridge fails or falls in or there's some significant maintenance item, then that will then fall back on us. Um this is a five-year agreement. and it'll get come back to be renewed in 5 years. But it takes some of that day-to-day maintenance burden off of us and and they've agreed to accept that. Uh but it keeps sort of the longterm bigger picture maintenance items uh on us should those kind of things occur. Um so

that's there for your approval if you have questions and I'm glad to try to answer those questions. Okay, any questions about me? Motion to approve. Okay, it's motion on the floor by the vice chair to approve as presented. Second, seconded by Commissioner Balance. Any further discussion? Hearing none, those in favor signify by saying I opposed like sign. Motion carries unanimous.

Chairman, that brings us to item 15, and that's a road request for the Windover Wave subdivision. As you know, from time to time, subdivisions have and communities have asked for the their roads to be taken over by the state as part of that process. It has to be approved by the county commissioners. And so this is one of those where they've asked us to approve uh that so that they can move forward with the state to see if they can get the roads taken over by the state. Pleasure of the board. I have had um some email communication with um Mr. Amatui and this is I think this will be a huge help for them. It's um why

because the state because there it's it's the personal it's the private road. So if the state takes it over, it takes a lot of burden of moving that sand and all of that for the homeowners that don't live here but are responsible for taking care of that road and our trash trucks and delivery and all of the other things that come into that. So I'll make a motion to approve. Okay, there's a motion on the floor to approve by Commissioner Balance and seconded by Commissioner Baitman. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. Opposed like sign. Motion carries. Unanimous.

Um item 16 on the agenda is a proposed uh consulting contract for a lobbying group Meuire Woods in Washington DC. Um Mr. Chairman, I'll in a second I'll let you chime in because you you were involved, but we've traveled the state and we've traveled to DC and we've met and talked and all trying to find ways to solve some of the problems that we're having on Hatteris Island with Highway 12 as well as on our beaches. And um again, we're not lobbyists. We're not there every day. We're not before those folks every day. And so the question came, do we need somebody in DC advocating for us uh to try to move some of these things along and also scouring the things that are available in the agencies there for the possibility of grants and other funding sources there. Uh and those people are connected to the folks that do that kind of thing. Um and so we talked to a lobbying firm. um they presented us with this proposal that's in front of you today. Um and we talked to them and said, you know, we weren't sure how this would work. We weren't sure how the board would feel about it, then we would bring it to you all to look at and decide if this is something that you wanted to go forward with, if you thought it would be helpful, and if so, then we would get them moving in that direction. I don't know if there's anything else you want to add, Mr. Chairman. Well, yes, there is. Um, Dare County has always uh been the forerunner of stepping up to the plate and um doing what we could to uh protect our economic engine, and that's our beaches. Uh we've always uh stepped up to the

plate by doing that through beach nourishment. We've lobbyed multiple years for the state to put money into a fund that they established but never put any funds in it. Not just for Dair County but for the entire coast of North Carolina. as well as eliminate the moratorum on hardened structures and most importantly a short-term and long-term plan for NC12. We have the ears of some pretty high um profile senators in the state legislature to help us with these three items. And we have a lobbying firm that is well respected in the state uh lobbying on our behalf for these same three items and we have gone to the federal legislators multiple years multiple times for their help. Um, this is another tool hopefully in our toolbox that we can get some traction and get some action on. And that's why we u uh talked to our lobbyist here in Raleigh and they recommended their constituents in DC to help us since we can't be there every single day on lobbying on our behalf. So, so once again, this is just another tool in our toolbox to try to make these things come to fruition. Um, because we are we have gotten to the point where we need help and um we need federal help funding and

we need state. So that's why we bring this um proposal to you um to work with our federal legislators just like we're doing with the state um lobbyist as well. So I'm happy to answer any questions that the board may have with respects to this particular item.

Well, I have an issue with this item as I already previously told you. Um, I'm not I mean I'm a Republican- elected official and I'm not okay with funneling Dare County taxpayers hardearned money into a very liberal association. Mr. uh Butterfield was a Democrat congressman. He's going to be the direct one on this federal lobbying. He served in the Congress from 2014 to 2022. He voted with Joe Biden's agenda 100% of the time. the NA pro-choice America gave him a 100% rating. He is a big proposer of Planned Parenthood. He also co-authored in the uh the uh worst bill I think that's ever been passed, the Affordable Care Act, which has drove health insurance premiums through the roof since it's passed. It was a disaster. And uh Mr. Butterfield is uh doesn't represent me well. He doesn't represent the people who voted for me. Well, and to throw Dare County taxpayer money just to funnel into a liberal agenda. I mean, 88% of the employees donated Democrat. Their top donor recipient in 2024 was Camela Harris. Nearly 3 to one over any other candidate. These people do not serve the best interest of Dair County nor its constituents. and therefore I cannot and I will not vote for it.

Anyone else? Yeah, I've got something. Yes, sir. Commissioner Ross,

uh, in my opinion, we've got three strategic problems facing us in no particular order. One of which is both in a chronic and acute shortage of housing that we hear and revisit every month. The second, and I'm looking at Dr. Dave is in the back at the moment. The advancing disturbing trends we see in uh mental health disorders and the number one issue in a recent survey. And finally, I come to the third, which you've referenced, which we've talked about, the sustainability of Highway 12, the implementation of additional funding, either state or federal or from whatever source we can to protect our coastline and beaches, and the third dimension of that, which is within state hands related to the use, development, and implementation of hardened structures. Now, if this group and Meguire Woods, which we have known for years, can help us at a federal level advance solutions against that third and again not particular order strategic uh priority, I am 100% behind it with or without the issues of Mr. Butterfield unless he has in the past stood against efforts to retain, protect, and mitigate issues of our coastline. And I'm unaware of that. So, I'm prepared to vote yes on this.

Thank you, Commissioner Ross. County manager had comment. Yeah, I'll just add um I understand what we're discuss what Commissioner C said this lobbying firm is is is bipartisan. It has a Republican arm. Yeah. No, you're knocking. You're shaking your head. It absolutely does. Statistics right here. Hold on, Commissioner. They have a Republican finish.

Um they do our lobbying in um in Raleigh. they they're the head lobbyist there is a staunch Republican supporter and so and Republican votes and Democrat votes help advance our cause. So votes are votes and and I don't think this is a a partisan thing and I don't think this lobbying firm is partisan. They they again we met with them. We met with the Republican side of the lobbying firm and and Mr. Butterfield was on the call as well. is the Democratic side of the lobbying firm and so they lobby to both parties for whatever that's worth. Did you have something commissioner balance? I'm good. Pardon? I'm good.

Anyone else? Being well familiar with the federal government side of this um from several different aspects and several different uh uh senators and representatives. I've heard nothing but good things about Meguire Woods Consulting throughout the many years they've served in Washington DC. So, uh I would be in support of using them again for for our situations here.

I'm going to make a motion that we um do this. It's very very important. It's important for the guys. I mean, Hatter Island, Highway 12, Harden Structures, all those things we've been fighting for years. I meant fight, fight, fight, fight. It's not going to get any better. And so we need to use every tool in our toolbox to make sure that we take care of our people. I'll make a motion we approve this. Did they rework the language in the contract that was printed out and presented to us last month? They did. They did. It's in your pack. Um, yeah. One last thing is this is a terminal at will contract. So,

right. Yeah. Absolutely. Getting results. If if it doesn't work, then we have the right to cancel it. We don't owe them anything if we stop it. That was one of the few clauses last month that I noticed that I like was that there is a short-term window for which we can say, "Hey, we want to step away for right if it doesn't work, we can pull out. We're not getting the return on investment we were seeking." I'll say we we've been since I've been on this board, we've been talking about how we have to think outside the box and we have to go federal. There's no way we're going to we've tried state. And so with that, I would absolutely second Iran's motion.

Okay. There's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Baitman is seconded by Commissioner Balance. The floor is open for further discussion. Hearing none. Those in favor of the motion signify by saying I I. Those who oppose, no. Motion carries six to one.

So that brings us to item 17 on the agenda. It's it's speech nourishment topics. Um and Matt's going to make a presentation to you. While he's coming down, I'll sort of give you a little bit of an entree. Um we have beach nourishment projects going on throughout the county. We have our project down south that's going to start here in a month or so. Uh Nags Head's working on a project and then next year the towns are coming through to do their projects as well. And so there's going to be a lot of beach nourishment going on. And as we all know, we share the burden or the cost of of paying for all these projects out of our beach nourishment fund. And we've been working, I say we, I use the Wii, not very strongly. Matt's been working really hard, um, trying to come up with a sustainable model to be sure that we can fund beach nourishment into the future and to give numbers to the towns um, that allows them to plan to so they can know what they're getting um, and to basically point out to us the problems that we know are coming. Um we've talked about it a number of times, but over time the cost of beach nourishment is rising faster than our fund is growing. Um we've he's going to present to you a model that he's that we've worked on that's going to allow the us to continue to fund the towns at our current levels. Those current levels grow by the growth of the fund. But really our commitment to the town would remain constant well into the future under these models. But that isn't going to be enough at some point uh to continue doing beach nourishment the way we do it. And so what we're doing is getting everything locked in so we know where the money's going, we know what it's doing, and everybody can plan into the future as we talk about these other methods, these

other things, these other ways to make this go forward. Um this isn't a problem for this cycle. it may not even be a problem for the next cycle. But as you get out 10, 15, 20 years, then we don't know. And and I think that there's got to be some planning done and some thinking done in that interim uh to make sure we can continue to keep our beaches as they are. Um, with that said, Matt's going to take you through a whole bunch of stuff and then at the end we're going to ask you to uh give us some guidance and make some decisions on how we move forward down south. So, with that said, Matt, I'll turn it over to you.

All right. So there there as well as Bobby said the objective of the model was to come up with an equitable allocation to the towns. prove that over time allowing that allocation to grow with the growth of the fund still creates a substantive enough fund to support the future maintenance projects that the fund has already been established to commit to. So as Bobby said, this model that we have both created and then projected supports the next four nourishment initiatives. Um those are the next four initiatives for all the maintenance projects that the fund currently um supports. And once you get beyond that in 2042, we're going to be revisiting um the model and hopefully the science that we're using to maintain the beaches. So um so we're going to walk you through high level that framework and then ask that you approve the reserve policy of the beach nourishment fund. We're going to talk specifically about the Buckton Avon project. um where we stand with FEMA and what the scenarios are. Um and ask that you authorize Bobby to execute part of that. Um and we intend to bring um more decisions back as it relates to that project to this group potentially based on what happens with FEMA. So, we'll talk about that. There's a budget amendment um that we're going to ask you to approve on demolition and debris removal and preparation of the nourishment project in Buckton and then just an

administrative step to um approve the Nags Head interlocal agreement which is based in the amount that you voted on at the February meeting. So, so as Bobby mentioned, we have met with the town managers and their finance directors individually. We went through the framework and their baseline um allocation within the beach nourishment fund which which follows that town allocation through the model. So background on the model, it is funded by occupancy tax, interest, earnings, grants, and there is a Buckton Avon property tax allocation. Um, it supports the town projects, but it also has allocations for sand fencing um that we provide the towns as well as about $3 million a year of our dredging. Structures like groin repair can only be funded by the earnings of the fund. So that's to say the occupancy tax cannot be used to fund any hardened structure. So we have created a mechanism in the fund to isolate the investment earnings so that we can earmark those and access them for hardened structures. And in this case in the Buckton Avon project it it is the groin. So framework we would not take on an additional project if we cannot substantiate that the fund can support its future maintenance. So if the fund has capacity to do something now it has we have to prove that it has capacity to maintain that thing that we do. So it given the pressures on the fund we're really it's limited in it in its current capacity to the projects that we have supported historically. So the town contributions were initially

established by calculating a consistent tax levy on their taxable base. And so towns approached generating that levy in different ways. Like if you think of Nags Head, they have six MSDs. Um but when that was done that was sort of the fairness that was created with the fund in that the town contributions were identified and the allocation of the fund was identified and the way that this model works is similar to like I when I described it to the managers. It's like a mutual fund. You buy in your shares and then as the fund grows your allocation grows. Now, as we take money out of the fund to do beach nourishment, it's not growing. And so, there's a a mechanism by which as it comes back in following the town projects, those towns are participating in the growth of the occupancy tax. Um, and that's um part of the presentation that we went through together with them. So, historically all the grants or savings were put back into the beach nourishment fund. Um, we are tweaking that in the model to provide the town's access to grants to maintain the county's allocation as it was in their baseline project, which just means that as costs grow and the amount of the contribution from the beach nourishment is fixed, if we get a big grant, we're going to make that grant available to the town up to that baseline allocation support. And that's that's a way um to share in some of the inflation in the projects, but it also is an incentive for the towns to help us get future grants. So the objective of the nourishment fund is to fund future allocations based on this baseline maintenance project that we established for each town while

reflecting occupancy tax growth over time. So a trailing average is used to reduce volatility and smooth growth for planning processes. So that just means that um similar to like an endowment model, we're using a trailing average of the occupancy tax growth so that it smooths the volatility so we can model and plan. So, one of the things that the towns appreciated is that not only that it's based in an equitable model, but it also provides them the ability to model the amount that they're going to get. And we plan to give them a report each year with what their allocation would be so that they can plan for their projects. All right. So, this is the framework for funding the projects. Each project baseline is an established dollar amount in sand volume. Um it participates as I said in the growth of the fund using that endowment model to smooth volatility. In the past we have provided debt service to towns. So we might have given them a fixed amount of money and then we said we'll help you make your debt payments over the next five years. So what we did to create the baseline is any town that received a debt subsidy payment, we used basically we took the present value of that payment in the year of the project to get a number so that we would set the baseline number and then within that we created a formula that allows their financial advisor to model a debt subsidy payment if they want it um in a consistent way. But for the purposes of us in the fund, we're basically going to give the town that fixed amount regardless if they take it as a direct payment or as a subsidy. So the allocation sets the baseline from

which the next allocation is calculated. If they do less cubic yards of sand, it's adjusted down. So this just means that we can't have a situation where a town says we're going to do a smaller project to let the fund pay more of it. This is based on keeping at at minimum that that relationship and their contribution has to be at least what it was in that baseline project as a percentage. So any project efficiencies as I said or grants can now be used to balance that relationship. Um and in the model in the current so in our 2028 plan for the towns there's roughly $7.5 million in grants and we're using those grants to increase what the towns would get. But again the rule is it cannot be at the detriment of the fund. So we have we're not assuming that we're getting grants and as we model the fund um but we'll prove that if we if we share those with the towns it won't be at the detriment of future projects. Um as the tax rate was created in a consistent way. The towns are not allowed to reduce their tax for beach nourishment from that initial tax rate. If they do we would change their allocation. So, this is really just to establish a methodology for future allocations that's based in fairness. Um, and all of the towns were very receptive and and understand it.

So, Matt, that last bullet like it it it ensures if they want to continue to move forward that they have to keep their MSD in place. they do or generate the equivalent levy in some other way. Or some other way. Yep. Right. Or if they don't then it impacts our contribution. We're not covering it. And two, it could lessen what we give. Right.

Yeah. that that I'm and and that's critical because uh as you very well know Nag's head eliminated that one year and it and it um it made a huge difference in in their next project. So that bullet is critical and I'm glad that they've agreed to that. So, I appreciate that I'm sort of just reading you the rules of a big math problem and it the intent was really to have a simplified math problem, but given the complexity of what we've done in the past, we had to do this all through the theme of um sustaining the fund and keeping it fair. So, what we are asking you to to approve is the reserve of the fund. So this fund hasn't had a reserve because it really didn't have this framework in place. The other funds like the capital when we do the CIP, there's a reserve framework in that fund. Um so the baseline of the reserve of this fund we're proposing is one and a half times the occupancy tax revenue. Occupancy tax revenue is the majority of the income in the fund. as we allocate or plan for these future allocations, it's the majority of the debt service. So, um, so we use that as a reference point and we use onethird of the reserve to be held for disruption in that occupancy tax. That is the equivalent of what we're doing in the CIP fund which in which case we're saying we need a 0.5 debt service coverage ratio as our floor which just means that you always have at least a half a years of your debt payment in your reserve. So if something happens with that income stream you can make your debt payment. So that is the floor of this reserve in the same way it

it's calculated in a different way but it effectively gets you to the same floor as what we're using in the CIP. So the remaining 2/3 is available for the repair and construction of hardened structures and or for the county to aid in the response to a catastrophic erosion event. So this would be at the discretion of you um as we need to provide for the repair or creation of hardened structures andor if there is something that this model can't support and we need to come to the aids of the town.

Let's talk about that just for a second. Um you know that we have been out the collective we have been out in the meetings that we've been to and the things that we've done advocating for other tools to mitigate oceanfront shoreline erosion which means hardened structures and we've the chairman has met and commissioner balance has met and others of you have met with our uh leaders in in Raleigh trying to get them to go that way. We've I've had conversations with the CRC um I was at the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association conference um week before last and talked about it there um as well as other issues with this. This isn't going on in a vacuum. This has gotten nationwide attention. Um so there's a science panel for the Coastal Resources Commission working on this. There's other communities. Figure eight island for one is working on hard and structure things. And the idea being is as this science becomes available and as these rules start changing, we have to have a mechanism in addition to what we're spending on beach nourishment to provide some of these things or to pro test some of these things or to spend some money to see if they work in certain areas. And we don't have any fund for that. If we take every dollar we put and put it in sand, then what are we going to do if we have a $20 million something that might work and we don't have $20 million. So, this fund will create some dollars that we can use to work on those things. Uh maybe more importantly, it is a backs stop if we have a catastrophic event that takes out beaches up and down the our county beyond what we anticipate and not

knowing what FEMA is going to do about paying for lost beach numbers. we at least have some dollars that you all can allocate to try to resolve those problems in those catastrophic things because the model doesn't take those into account and won't cover those costs. So again, it gives us some money to prepare for the unknown in two ways, if you will, that we did not have and it does that while maintaining the same level of funding that we've had in the past for our other projects. um and it's not enough money that would allow us to actually build another project. So again, it covers some bases, but it doesn't cover them to the detriment of anything else that we're trying to do. So

um this second to last bullet, um there you go. Um the second to last bullet is really an accounting rule. So, the mechanics of this, this will allow us to use the investment income. We're going to put it first in the reserve and then we're going to rebalance the reserve and we're going to use that to prove if anyone challenges how we paid for harden structures that it was specifically funded by investment income which is within our right to do. Um, and this last bullet is just to say that if we do um vote to use the reserve for any of the reasons we just described that we would we would collectively work on a timeline to restore it. Um and we would prioritize that debt service that 0.5 um or the one-third of occupancy tax reserve um as an allocation for disruption in the revenue and to provide for the payment of debt service. So that's important as we think about rating agencies that we have something like that in place. So,

so I know that's a lot, but that's the framework um and the request for the reserve criteria. Do you want to do voting at the end of or do you want to would you like to deal with this now? Then we'll deal with Buckton. Let's take them individually to three individually if it if you don't mind. I'll I'll ask the board if they have any questions uh with regard to the model.

Yeah, I got a question. Matt, uh, you've done really well with this. Uh, one of my concerns is obviously the rates per cubic foot on the dredging and the sand process on the new nourishments has gone up considerably because of obviously cost of living, everything going up. Certainly gas prices aren't going to help right now. Uh, with this model, I mean, our occupancy tax for the last two years has kind of leveled off, wouldn't you say?

Yeah. You think with the everinccreasing cost of these nourishment projects, do you think we're going to be able to sustain this three parts revenue, what are we looking at 61 million reserve? Is that correct? You want to have equal to one and a half times the uh 24 million or no one and a half times. Okay. Only 36 million. No, no, that's a misunderstanding. Please clarify, Matt. Yeah. So, the reserve is based in occupancy tax. Um but I think where you're what you're asking is that expenses are growing faster than everything else in this. Yeah. Our revenue is growing,

right? And so what what we see in the model is a lot of pressure as you get out to 2042 and that doesn't before you get there Matt please explain the misunderstanding regarding 24 million to 36 and why it's appropriately 24 million as the amount of reserve one and a half times revenue. There's a confusion here. Yeah. So the 24 million is just one and a half times the act the occup annual occupancy tax. Oh, that is

that that's what it is in FY27. That's what that number comes from. Um, and the way the model works is all of the town's allocations grow with the growth of occupancy tax. So, so the relationship between the town commitment and the reserve stays the same. So, there won't be pressure on the reserve. The pressure is going to come from what you said, the increase in the cost of the nourishment projects themselves. But you think the model's good through 42 is what you're saying. So So the Well, it's it it provides a consistent amount of money that grows with the growth of the fund.

So what this model does, this isn't this model is how we use our funds. This model is not the total cost of a beach nourishment project because the towns contribute. So what this does is this holds our contributions to the town constant over time constant in that they only grow if the fund grows. And so if we give if we gave a town $20 million, they get the $20 million every five years plus whatever the growth if any occurred in that five years. And then if the costs then exceed that plus what they were putting in, they got to find a way to come up with. But they got to find a way, not us, right? That's what I

Yeah. Because I do believe at some point in the future, it's going to add up more than this cowboy makes and we ain't going to have enough money to cover all these projects. I agree. That's why we're fighting so hard to get f state and federal funding commission federal funding. And I think the grants have been the plug to allow it to work. But if the grants stop, if FEMA stopped, if there's not some other source, yeah, there is definitely that pressure. So Matt, does the model and the assumptions we've used assume the inclusion of the 20 I think it was $29 million of FEMA funding. We have not included that in any of our model calculations. Right. That's correct.

Okay. Thank you. Excellent job, Matt. So, we need a motion. You need a motion to accept the Well, the floor is still open for any questions concerning the model. Is are there any other questions concerning the model? If not, a motion would be in order to approve. I'll make a motion to approve. Okay, there's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Balance to approve the model as presented. Is there a second? Second. It's seconded by Commissioner Ross. Once again, the floor is open for further discussion.

I'll add that I know this takes a lot of work and I appreciate all the work by the commissioners that were involved in this as well as yourself, Matt, and your staff. Thank you. Those in favor of the motion then signify by saying I. I post like that. Motion carries unanimous. All right, next topic is Buckton. Havon,

do you want to frame or you want me to go framing Bobby? Frame Bobby.

So, we're at a place again, Bucks and Avon and well, back up. As you know, the original project was designed and we contemplated getting FEMA money and back in January of 2025, we went to FEMA and FEMA said, "Yes, you're eligible and yes, your calculations are right and yes, this is something that we would pay for like we have in the past." And so, we felt comfortable with that. Well, from then to now, things change. And so now we're unsure still whether we're getting the FEMA dollars or not getting the FEMA dollars. And so we've done a lot of things. We've we've been to our congressional delegation to try to get our thing pulled out of the stack. We've been to the state uh emergency management folks that manage North Carolina's portion of FEMA to get them to do whatever they can do to get us pulled out of the stack. We've been to our contractor and said, you know, give us as much time as you possibly can to make a final decision on the project so that we have time to hear from FEMA. But where we are is we don't think we're going to hear from FEMA. We've got a phone call. We had a phone call on the first with Great Lakes and we talked through all this and we talked about some strategies to try to one give them a commitment where they can go ahead and plan their fuel and their equipment and all the logistics they've got to do, but at the same time give us time to wait to see what FEMA's done. And they're approaching a place where they can't wait any longer. Uh, I don't know if we've scheduled that call, but there should be a call coming up in the next few days, I would expect with them to follow up because they had to go back and look at their stuff. And so, we're at a place where we're going to have to make some decisions on what are we going to do with this project. Uh,

and Matt's going to go through that with you in just a second. You know, we can there's we've been through it with our contractors. We're trying to figure out what's what gives us five years. you know, what's the minimum we can do for five years? What's, you know, if we get the FEMA money, can we do the maximum? We're working with uh our contractor to say, we'll do a contract that starts you at the minimum, and if we hear from FEMA within a certain time, you can add more sand to it to go ahead and do a FEMA project. Those kind of things. And so, we've we're working through all those things. But we've got to be in a position to tell them yay or nay about a minimum project. and then in a position later on for them for you to have authorized us to do the full FEMA project if that money came in in midmon. We don't want to wait two or three weeks to have a meeting to make a decision. So Matt's going to take you through some of this and ask you uh for some authority for us to start entering those contracts.

All right. So there's fundamentally three scenarios. Okay, here's the slide. So the first is the FEMA scenario which we are not confident as Bobby said we'll have confirmation of in advance of starting the project. Our objective is to delay the final decision on the sizing of the project as long as possible to keep this window open. So the FEMA scenario is 2 million cubic yards in Buckton, 800,000 cubic yards in Avon. That including the groin repair is roughly $65 million. The FEMA contribution is just over $30 million. And because there's other grants in the model, the cost to the beach nourishment fund for that is about $30 million. So that's scale. Our baseline scenario is the scenario that we put together when we did our bid, assuming we had no FEMA FEMA funding. That was 1,351,616 cubic yards of sand and bucksin, which was the FEMA declared volume and it was 300,000 cubic yards in Avon. So the cost of that project, our baseline project is 45 million. And because there's no FEMA assumption, the cost to the beach nourishment fund of that is $40 million. So the third scenario that's been we've been molding as we get more and better information and is we'll call it halfbaked, but we're going to ask you to approve part of it.

It's not a derogatory halfbaked. It's partially in process. Yes, insert better description there. The is to have Great Lakes start in Avon and work north to south to provide as much time as possible for the Buckton volume decision. In their modeling, it looks like the optimal sand volume or minimal optimal sand volume in Avon to maintain the five-year plus project given erosion assumptions is 375,000 which is 75,000 more than what we had in that baseline bid. So in that model I I guess in that scenario we would be asking to do 375,000 in Avon and to reconvene the group or come back to you at the next meeting depending on the timing of that we need to provide Great Lakes the ultimate decision on the volume for Buckton. meaning we will explore whatever we can do within the model to maximize that Buckton um nourishment project if that is what makes the most sense um and to the extent we become very pessimistic on the fee funding

and the options on Buckton at that point are either 1.35 1.9 or 2.0. Yeah. I mean, you could have a volume between 1.35 and 1.9, but the 1.9 that you're referencing comes from that erosion analysis as like the optimal project size.

I'm trying to frame this a different way. So, what we've done is we we're we plan projects for fiveyear increments. And so we went to our contractor and we said, "What do we got to do in Buckton to get five years?" If you take normal erosion rates, you can do five years at that 1.351 cubic yards. Um, if you take the last two years erosion rates in isolation, then you probably won't get five years out of 1.35. Um the assumption is is that the erosion rates have exacerbated in the last two or three years because of the failure of the groin that we're about to replace. Meaning we believe that as we replace the groin that we can get five years out of that 1.351 million cubic yards. Um, however, we ask them if there's more money available, what buys us a year, what buys us two years, what buys us three years? Um, and what's we don't want to put some amount in that we're going to lose in three months and throw that money away. So, there's some break point where it's not worth putting more sand. And what are those break points? And so they ran some graphs and some things for us that came out with the scenario that Commissioner Ross was just talking about. If you do 1.35 on a on normal erosion rates there and and a growing, then you can get five years out of that. Um if you're concerned and you want to mitigate that risk, then you can do some more if you can afford that. And that is the middle ground approach. And then if you get the FEMA money, you go ahead and do two mill million cubic yards and then you're

pretty confident it'll stay for five years irrespective of what erosion rate occurs. And so those are our scenarios. We can't what where we are is we need to tell Great Lakes we're committed to something. And so we we want to go to them and tell them we're committed to the 1.351 million cubic yards in Buckton. And how much in Avon? 375. 75,000 in a that's the bare minimum of the totality of the project in both location

and go ahead and do a contract and sign it with them that says yes we're on for beach nourishment in these two areas at these volumes and if the dollars become available we reserve the right to increase those volumes they're going to have a provision in that contract that says yes we'll agree to that but you have to tell us by some date

by when you're going to increase those volumes and if you don't know by then then we can't commit resources to do that and you're stuck with the 1.35. So, so that's where we are. And so, what we're going to ask you to do is one is to let us um let us move forward with the base minimum. uh if the FEMA money comes in between now and the time uh that we meet again to let us do the FEMA project, the full FEMA project. And if that doesn't occur and we have some money and we have an opportunity, we'll come back to you and talk about the middle ground project and what that would mean and then you can say yay or nay then. That I think

that's perfect. what we're asking you to do today. Let me and and I'm fine with that, but let me let me throw another wrench in there. Um, we don't get the FEMA money uh in time for the Great Lakes to to do that portion of it. Three or four months goes by and all of a sudden we get the FEMA money. FEMA has a 24 month requirement that you got to use those funds. Correct. I don't know the answer that you they that's what they have been in the past. Yeah.

But you would So I think the use of the funds is that you have to prove that you did the 1,351,616 cubic yards which you will have done. So even though the money would come late, it would be a reimbursement. You wouldn't have to use it for this project because you would have earned it. I understand we wouldn't have to use it for this project. No, but we got a 24 in prior years when we've had that, we've had a two-year uh requirement that we had to use that money. Yes. So, so what happened in those projects is we got the commitment in the money before we started the project and so that wasn't an issue, right?

But it's a reimburseable amount. So you build the project and they give you the money back. FEMA's paying for 1.351 million cubic yards and 375 in Avon. So what we would do is we would take that money. We would reimburse ourselves for what we just did as soon as we that's that's would leave the money that we just spent available. I don't think there's some some permit requirements about Okay, that's the answer I'm looking for. But we would have that to do another project there. Yeah, that

so if and if they reimbursed us with that money, would we be able to put it in the account where we could uh invest to get the interest for Yeah. Okay. So, it would be a beneficial investment later on to for the hard structures. We could go and get another permit and add sand to buff. Exactly. We can get another permit later on if we do get reimbured. Yeah, but it has to be a year down the road because it's only certain million can last a year. We still have no indication of when if FEMA's looked at it where we are in that. There's nothing we've heard from anybody on it.

Is there a deadline for when we h we should hear by like So getting information from FEMA is difficult because they're shut down. um they're in the DHS shutdown.

Um we've been I've been and I've talked with in uh Murphy's office, I've talked to Congressman Davis's office, I've talked to Tillis's office, and I've talked to Bud's office. Um, and they've all responded back and they're all reaching out to their connections, whoever they are, their their leazison with FEMA trying to get this moving forward. Uh, there's a new director in DHHS. This is and he was actually in North Carolina two days ago.

Yeah. Well, this so this is act this is theoretically already been vetted. So, we know that it's approvable. It's just somebody's got to release it and get it out of the stack and say, "Hey, give them their money." Unless they're gonna not give anybody money. Uh, and we're doing all we can do to put pressure on them to get them out of the stack. Um, the first thing we're going to do with this lobbyist when this meeting's over is to get with them and say,

"You go to whoever your contacts are at FEMA and start getting this money released as well." So I don't and I'll just tell you I met with uh when I was at the uh AS BPA meeting in Washington DC I met with uh a guy one of the vice presidents of uh Great Lakes dredging and we talked for a while and he's got some contacts up there and I explained to him the situation that we're having and he's said he would work his contacts as well. And just by the way, as an aside, I talked to him that he's pricing us out of the market and need better start thinking of some ways to mitigate the cost of nourishment or else us and other small local communities that are self-funded aren't going to be able to do this forever. And they need to help us find solutions. And he committed to that as well. So, so anyway, so, so we're we've done everything we can do to try to get it released, but if you're asking me for times, I I got no idea. That'd be a a wag at best.

So, are you looking for approval on the baseline scenario or the expanded scenario? I'm looking for an approval on the authority to enter the contract on the baseline scenario and authority to increase it if we to the FEMA project if we get the FEMA money before May. moved and the hang on hang almost perfect almost almost with the incremental 75,000 in Avon yes and that they started I had as well Matt yes so moved right it's a motion on by commissioner balance is there a second second by the vice chair floor is open for further discussion hearing none

hang on hang on there's good news and bad news one the incredible work that went into discipline iplining the structure and rules and process for this model. Um, these guys were kind enough to give me a little bit of time to go through it with them, which was extremely productive. And again, I I thank you, Matt, you and your team, and Bobby, for whatever help you could provide for Matt. That was a good job, too. Go.

Yeah. There you go. The bad news side of this guys is it reveals uh between 2026, the year we're about to uh begin doing this work in 2042, putting into place the projects we've got, as well as their regular cadence of maintenance is in just in excess of $375 million in 17 years. Three. I said, "Wait a minute. We don't want to buy the state of Connecticut. We're just trying to keep beaches open and the costs, as Bobby said, he mentioned even to the guy from Great Lakes, your cost structure is increasingly making it untenable as a long-term solution for maintaining our coastline. So, as as again as Bobby mentioned, it is going to require, I think, and I would agree, innovative, creative solutions with state andor federal help outside of simply bidding and contracting with an independent party to whom we are basically are we're we're locked. I mean, we we don't have a great deal of flexibility here. So, that was my takeaway. both the great work and the discipline. Really, I applaud the discipline put into place so that when we are gone or Matt's gone or Bobby's gone, this framework, this model stands with whomever is at the towns, whoever's sitting at these in these chairs and it won't be this to subjected to a lot of whims and uh winds of change or how the winds were blowing. So that's really well done and I look forward to getting good news on our FEMA reimbursement so we can increase the buckton uh cubic yards

and and and to that point that did all the heavy lifting and really did the work on this. Um the only thing I could provide is I'm I'm like the only one left that has the history of this from sort of start to finish. Even most of the towns have managers that weren't here when we started. And so this is a good opportunity to memorialize all these policies and things that we've said verbally over and over and everybody sort of kind of understood now it's locked in place and these are in fact the policies and you all have now adopted them formally and so they're there for everybody to follow as we go forward. So that's that's a good benefit.

Yeah, absolutely. Well, it's it's in the past and I've go back way from the beginning with it. It's been a gentleman's agreement and it's worked extremely well. And what brought this to fition uh to really get it in in in a in a agreement and format and writing. Um there was some issues with Nag's heads maintenance project that they're about to do and that's really what brought this to head to sit down and put this in writing with the rest of the towns. And um so I'm I'm I'm glad that we've done that. Um, and I'll just reiterate, uh, you're exactly right, Rob, but that's why I'm busting my buns every single month with state and federal legislators talking about we can't do it anymore by oursel. We got to have help. And I deal with this every single month

myself. I, you know, this is a massive amount of money. It is. It absolutely is. And that's why we need help. And that's why I'm calling and doing what I'm doing with the state and feds month after month after month. We've got to get state and federal help. And uh the the more we do, that's why I'm getting ready to do a video on on on the three issues. The rest of the state, they don't have a clue what we're dealing with. And and and that's why I'm getting ready to do this video so that we can share with them what our concerns are and what what we need and what help we need. and and and uh

I'm not sitting on this on my buns. I'm do deal dealing with this every single month for this board. We got a motion on the floor. Those in favor of the motion signify by saying I I opposed. Motion carries unanimous. Thank you. Nag. Yes, we got Nagsid budget amendment and then Nags head. tax hit. What about interlocal? What about the stuff on the beach? That's the budget amendment. Okay. Yep. That's next. So, um we're going to get this slide. Perfect.

All right. Well, or not. You want us to execute the Nags Head in a local agreement consistent with the funding allocations approved back in February. That's what your request is for Nag's head. Correct. That's the NAGS head. There was a budget amendment. We can flip the order and do the interlocal first, but that's okay. Yep. It's in the packet part. Yeah. We can see I can see it here. Okay. Good. You want to do the interlocal first? Yeah.

Okay. So, it's exactly that. And this is based in the interlocal agreement that was used in the previous project. It just spells out the contribution from the fund. That contribution is contingent on the town paying their share of the project. So need a motion. Motion to approve. Motion on the floor by vice chair house. Second. Seconded by commissioner bur and balance. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Those in favor signify by saying I. I post like sign. Motion carries unanimous.

Um the last thing that we have for beach nourishment is the budget amendment which is an up to approval um for the removal of is really for demolition and removal of um some structures that can't be there when we do the beach nourishment project. very much. So, our our permits require us to remove all the old debris, the pilings, the old swimming pools, septic tanks. U if a house is leaning and is in the line of where the dune has to go, we got to get that house out of the way, all those things. And so, this is to allow us the authority to deal with all those issues.

Motion to approve. Second. Second. Okay. There's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Balance. It's been seconded by the vice chair and Commissioner Bi Baitman. Any further discussion hearing? None. Those in favor signify by saying I oppose like sign. Motion carries unanimous. Thank you. Thank you so much, Matt. Thank you, Matt.

All right, that brings us to our consent agenda. On the consent agenda, you have the approval of the minutes from March 2nd, tax collectors report uh authority to advertise the 2025 tax year leans uh contract with Train US for the justice center, a fair housing month proclamation, a budget amendment for the insurance fund, a budget amendment for the A250 committee, a budget amendment for parks and recreation, uh Dair County Transportation Procurement Policy Update, a Dare County Parks and Recreation Advisory Council byWall revision, and the Dare County Tourism Board request for consent expenditure from restrictive fund item 5160.

Motion to approve. There's a motion on the floor by the vice chair to approve. Seconded by Commissioner Ross. Any further discussions? Hearing none. Those in favor signify by saying I. I. Oppos like sign. Motion carries unanimous. Uh next is your board appointments. Uh the first is the airport authority. The airport authority recommends the reappoint of Wally Overman and the appointment of Doc Sawyer to be appointed to fill the vacancies. Make a motion we reappoint Wally Oman and appoint Doc Sawyer. Second. Okay. There's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Baitman, seconded by Commissioner Burus. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Those in favor signify by saying I.

I post like sign. Motion carries unanimous. Uh, next is the Juvenile Crime Prevention Council. The JCPC recommends the appointment of Michael Wagner and Jessica Petri to the two at large vacancies. They also recommend the reappoint of Jamie Cotch. Motion to approve. Motion is on the floor by vice chair to approve. Second. Seconded by Commissioner Balance. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Those in favor signify by saying I. Oppos like sign. Motion carries unanimous. Uh, next is the Man's Harbor Marina Commission. The Mans Harbor Marina Commission recommends the reappoint of Audrey Shackleford, Paul Man 5th, and Jeff James. Motion to approve.

Motion on the floor by Commissioner Balance, seconded by Second. Vice Chair, any further discussion? Hearing none, those in favor signify by saying I. I. Post like sign. Motion carries unanimous. Next is the Older Adult Services Advisory Council. The Older Adult Services Advisory Council recommends the reappoint of Maggie Dennis and Mary Ellen Holland. They also recommend the appointment of Vicky West to the vacancy. Motion to approve. Motion on the floor by Commissioner Balance, seconded by Commissioner Burus. Any further discussion? Hearing none, those in favor signify by saying I. I posted like sign. Motion carries unanimous.

Next is the Park and Recreation Advisory Council. Uh the council recommends the appointment of Margaret Northrup to the vacant seat. So moved. There's a motion on the floor by Commissioner Baitman, seconded by Second. Vice Chair. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Those in favor signify by saying I. Post like sign. Motion carries unanimous.

Next is the tourism board. The town of Kiloville Hills commissioners have designated the following nominees in order of preference for the town's representative to fill the vacancy formerly held by Commissioner Terry Gray. Their first priority would be Commissioner Dylan Hikkins. Second would be Mayor John Wley and third would be Commissioner Ivy Ingram. Commissioner nominate Dylan Hikkins. Motion on the floor by Commissioner Baitman to nominate Commissioner Dylan Hikens. Is there a second? Second seconded by the vice chair. Any further discussion? Hearing none. Those in favor signify by saying I. I.

Oppos like sign. Motion carries unanimous. U. Next is your upcoming board and committee appointments. In May you have the veterans advisory council with two terms expiring and the zoning board of adjustments with two terms expiring. In June you have the college of the albamaral board of trustees with one term expiring. The extr territorial jurisdiction district for the town of Nags Head with one term expiring. The Fezant Center Advisory Board with six terms expiring. The Hatteris Community Center board with two terms expiring. The Juvenile Crime and Prevention Council with four terms expiring. Library Board with one term expiring. The Man's Harbor Community Center board with two terms expiring. The Northeastern Workforce Development Board with one term expiring. The Reno Island Community Center board with two terms expiring. the Transportation Advisory Board with three terms expiring and the Waterway Waste Commission with four terms expiring. And then in July, you have the airport authority with one term expiring, the Game and Wildlife Commission with four terms expiring, and the Were Community Center Advisory Board with two terms expiring. And that would be your agenda, Mr. Chairman.

Thank you, county manager. That brings us to item 20, uh, county business and manager attorney business. Do you have anything else for us today, Bobby? U I'm looking Hang on one second. Um um yeah, a couple things. One, I wanted to update you on the transportation issues that we had had with the hospital. Um I think that we're at a place where we got those resolved. Um the um chairman and I and Matt uh were on a phone call and had a few conversations with them since the last time that we've talked to you all. And then Jenny and I had some meetings with them in addition to that over time to basically get us to where we are now. And where we are now and to sort of to set the stage for you a little bit. Um the hospital has grown well from day one we've provided all the transportation because we were all that there was in Dair County and there wasn't a hospital and when the hospital came we kept doing the transportation even though transportation is technically the hospital's responsibility. Um over time the hospital grew and their transportation needs grew and over time uh our EMS has grown and our demands for EMS services our primary mission has grown as well and we're getting at an inflection point where we needed to do something to spend some money to make this work and to grow the EMS side of this thing. Um we put uh some alternatives on the table. uh one was for them to pay for one truck and one crew and we would provide one crew and one truck and then we would provide two trucks together to provide the transportation services. So in that scenario they subsidized us which they haven't been doing for a while forever.

Uh and that was helpful. Another would be for them to pay for two trucks. Um, and another would have been for us just to stop doing it all together and leaving the community and the lurch to do whatever came of that. Uh, the the resolution was the one truck resolution. They're going to fund one truck. Um, they're going to do it in a way that um allows us to have a crew where we can dedicate resources to that. It helps our position from where we were with no subsidy. Um the two truck approach didn't work for if they were going to do that. They felt like they needed to just take over the whole transportation. Um that would have included the helicopter and that would have been problematic for us and for our community. Um and so we couldn't really do that either. And so we wound up where we are. And so we're going to move forward with that approach. the budget that we bring you next week will have that in it and it'll be prepared based on that. Um and so just to make you aware

was Jenny pleased. Um was who pleased? Our chief um Jenny Collins pleased too strong. Um she's she's she's pleased that we're in a better place than we were but it isn't really not the ideal solution but Chinese never mentioned it to me. it it's a it's a good it's a good solution and we've got a contract that we're working on and so we'll be coming back to you with that contract but I just want you to be aware because I didn't want to spring that on you the first time

in the budget workshop when we we came there um do is going to have their board down here um do you remember what that day was in May May something. Yeah, something. Um, test is going to be

and it's an opportunity for us to do what we've been talking about all morning with their board. Um, we would like to provide dinner for the board if we're allowed to do that. There may be some reasons why we can't do that. It's okay. So, we'd like to do that and I'd like the authority to use the contingency to pay for that dinner. Darthy, you had a number and I forgot what it was. I don't use $6,000 out or thereabouts out of contingency to cover the cost of that dinner with their board members. That's a cheap opportunity for us really to get them all. So,

who who all will be at the dinner from our side, I guess, any any of us who wants to go. Well, that's what I was asking, Mr. Chairman. Yeah. Yeah. Sounded like a good opportunity. That number includes our board, their board, and and some of the other officials in DOT that aren't on their board. Yeah, this is nobrainer. Yeah. So, I need that authority. Please move to we'll give him authority. Second. Okay. There's a motion on second by everybody. Commissioner Ross, second by Commissioner Balance. Everybody. All those in favor signify by saying I post like that. Motion carries now.

And then Mr. Chairman, at the appropriate time, I need a close session. Yes, sir. Absolutely. That brings us to um Miss Hester, our public information officer. Do you have anything for us? Everything DARE A250 fair related. That's we're in the thick of finalizing everything for the 18th. Um all the tickets have been reserved for the evening portion at Festival Park. So that's a you know 3500.

Yeah. Um, so it is going to be sold out. Yeah, it is exciting. Um, I'll have your tickets, two tickets for each of y'all along with the park and pass next week. I didn't I wasn't able to get that for you today. And um, Vice Chairman House, I'll be speaking on behalf of y'all at the opening ceremony in the morning and in the afternoon. So, in case you haven't been following it, um downtown there'll be entertainment and vendors and street performers and lots of good things, you know, food and beverages. That's runs from 11 to 4. 11 to 4. And then Festival Park is 3:30 to 7. and the 3:30 to 7 is ticketed um due to the capacity of the venue and it like I said it's full. It's going to be a great day. It's just a lot that we're pulling together. And of course, Carl is chairing that. So, I need to give him a shout out because I don't know how he's managing his business and also leading the charge for everything. So, it's going to be a great day and I hope y'all will attend and um once we get past that, we'll you know, March was a busy month with the state of the county present the two state of the county presentations both well attended. I was really pleased commissioner balance with Buckston. I enjoyed being down there. I think the chairman has indicated he'll do that again. Um so, yeah, just time's moving quickly. A lot going on.

Great celebration. Look, look, u I'm I'm uh anxious and excited that it's going to be a great day. Um unfortunately, I'm I'm out of town, but uh You've had that plan? Yeah, I've had that plan for a long time. So, unfortunately, I won't be here. Um and thank you, Vice Chairman, for my pleasure. Um Matt, our finance director, you have anything else for us? Uh, no. We're just switching from beach now to budget and so I look forward to that meeting on the 14th. Okay. All right. That brings us to commissioner's business. And Commissioner Baitman, do you mind kicking that off?

I do not. Um, so Bobby, I want to thank you and um, thank Warren and all the folks and the commissioners at the time that came up whoever orchestrated the beach nourishment plan. And the reason why I'm telling you all this and Bob, you were a commissioner in Kil Hills. Yep.

I was a commissioner in Kittyhawk. And we were beating oursel up for folks that don't know what to do about beach nourishment. We had gone to the federal government. we we didn't qualify and we were dead in the sand until y'all came up with this plan. And so this is what was laid out today is an extension of that and kind of gives us a blowby-blow how it came about. It's really remarkable because we would have been dead in the water and this is a long-term um investment for our terrorism. you know, people weren't going to come to Kittyhawk at the time because we didn't have many beach. We were losing houses every day, getting ready to lose Highway 12. Everything was going to the um to the outhouse, so to speak. And you kind of saved us. We appreciate your efforts and and continuous efforts. Um the library board, you know, we talk about um uh how would these decisions impact our children and and families. when I was a young um boy growing up and had it was my escape to get into a book. I used to upstairs and and read the encyclopedia. I used to go to the library two three times a week. We cannot discount how much importance it is for these libraries across the county and for our children because they can go anywhere they want to go through a book and um fantasize you can dream um by the reality of other people's lives. So we can't forget that. Um other than that I'm a I'm a happy camper today. We had business this weekend and so we look forward to the season coming up. Thank you. Good deal. Thank you, Commissioner. Commissioner Krief.

Yeah. Uh, one of the things I'd like to speak on is obviously Matt doing you've done an excellent job. I mean, day one from you coming here working through all these processes. Obviously these beach nourishment projects a huge deal and you've done an excellent job. And for the people of Buckton, uh, with this baseline package, you will get some relief. I know y'all been working so hard going to DC and everything else. I just say to continue to lobby, continue doing your part because you're definitely helping and uh you never know, we might get this FEMA money in time and be able to do the full scale project. If not, with the reimbursement, we might be able to fast line another project in the future. So, appreciate everything that they're doing. Certainly Brian Harris leading that up and going to DC. Another thing, the A250. You know, a lot of times when I sit in this chair, I I think to myself, what would my ancestors do who served in different delegations in Congress, one which signed the declaration? And uh I just love American history and I'm so excited for that opportunity to come to Mano. Uh I was excited to hear when they changed the venue over to Mano because this is the birthplace of America. It's where the first settlers ever came. So, that's all well and good. Other things going on, uh, marine fisheries wise, uh, obviously the trout getting shut down two years in a row is just so detrimental to our economy and, uh, in our commercial fishing. Uh, in this spring time of the year is usually our best trout fishing. two years in a row are inshore giln net fishermen have had to go without that source of income which is a large portion of their year's income. Another thing, there's a particular case right now dealing with speckled trout where an individual was uh charged by both the wildlife

department and marine fisheries department for criminal charges. And uh those two, one of which is based on inland waters laws and other of which is based on the actual fishable waters with marine fisheries. In that particular case coming up next week, uh you've got a very big conflict of interest there. You got two conflicting parties. One saying one thing's legal, one saying another thing's legal. And our commercial fishermen across eastern North Carolina are caught in the middle of what precedent does this set? Are we allowed to transport fish through inland waters or are we not? Can we go to our docks here or do we have to go over here? It it's it's just those two departments need to find get them in a room, find some level ground, and I know they've had arguments in the past, but when it's affecting our fishermanmen here, and we don't know what the proper litigation process is, it's kind of remarkable to me that they don't have some kind of a joint task force in that regard. Um, other than that, weather's warming up. Enjoy the outside. I've seen a bunch of people going to the beach already, so that's cool. Uh, but y'all got to quit wrecking. Goodness gracious. We had two school bus wrecks last week. Terrible wreck up there in Aad yesterday. Just pay attention when you're driving and uh try to keep everybody safe out there this year. That's all I got.

Thank you, Commissioner Commissioner Burrus.

Uh, thank you, Chairman. I I would like to uh point out um Miss Hester's already kind of pointed out how busy a month you guys had and I just wanted to uh say what a fantastic job our public information department does. Uh and Skyler as well. Uh the three of you ladies with Stephanie and Caitlyn and you, Miss Hester, and then um Skyler also being at at all the events you had. You had the Coastal Counties Coalition meeting. you had both of the the state of the county meetings. Um we had the parade. We just we had a lot of things going on in the month of March and you guys didn't skip a beat. Everything was perfect. Um and and I look forward to the event this month with the A250 on the uh 18th and I think you guys just did a fantastic job and I wanted to let you know that. Um you guys as always if Yeah, as always, fantastic job. Matt, fantastic job uh with the information you provided us and the and the form in which you put it. Sometimes it's one thing to collect information and put it together. Um another time, you know, it's it's how you present it and make it so that the people you're presenting to because not all of us are are as financially sound as you are with the with the knowledge base you have and what you do. So, putting that out there for us to understand it and make it easy for uh for anybody who was watching today hopefully to to understand that um will just fantastic job. Uh I see Mr. Nichols out there. You you've hung with us for the whole meeting. Glad you're here. Glad you're involved. Um he'll be on the board of education this fall. So, I'm glad to see you're here and seeing what's going on on the county side of it, too. um because there will be a lot of overlap and and things that go on between the both boards and you'll work together and that'll be great. So, thank you for for toughing it out. And Miss Mary Helen, how are you doing? It's good to see you out there. Yeah. And Karen, uh the media folks that that tough it

out every uh every Monday, first Monday of the month. So, thank y'all for coming out. Um and then other than that, just uh try and stay clear of the pollen if you're out there. I know it's been been a rough couple weeks for me. It always is. is this time of year with the pil. So, and that's all I have. Thank you, Commissioner. Thanks, Commissioner Balance.

Thank you, Chairman Woodard. Um, couple things. Um, first I just want to say with the things that we did earlier in this meeting with the children and our youth is just the commitment that this community and this board and the board of education have to making sure our youth are taking care of and doing everything we can to be proactive. And that is really inspiring. Um, if you haven't been to KidsFest, it is a pretty amazing event. I went for the first time last year and it was it was phenomenal. Um, there is still an opportunity to sponsor if you want to be a sponsor for that. I think the cut off for advertising your sponsorship is tomorrow, but um, that event is on May 8th. Um, the RPO um, for the Abomaral Commission I did send and I think I I copied you guys in this. I did go ahead and take um all of the bridges that were identified in the Highway 12 task force. I sent an email to the RPO um admin the the person we work with at with the RPO, his name is Ethan um and requested that those all be included on the next goround of the STIP. And so it became important to me after Bobby and Bob and I went and um we were in Raleigh and met with um Senator Raven that that was an important thing to check off the list. I'm not hopeful that anything will become of it other than what we probably won't qualify, but that kind of helps us as we lobby for moving forward at the state and federal levels to try to come up with some solutions for Highway 12. Um the there was a law that we all got letters all of a commercial fishermen got letters that they have to start reporting their by catch. So if you go out fishing and this was a law that was put in it was done a while ago but it just came up everybody got a letter

saying that starting December 1st if you go when we go to our pound nets if we throw over undersized fish we have to report it. We have to have a trip ticket for it. if you don't have it's it's very convoluted and it's very difficult. It also is giving the division of marine fisheries um director the ability to pull your license if you violate. So that's a really risk risky thing for me. So I have phone I've spoken with John Nichols with or Nicholson with the department um with DEEQ and he shares my concerns. He um so we'll be in some further discussions with that. On a positive note, this is a p this is a positive for fishing. You ready?

I'm ready. We had the South Atlantic Marine Fisheries came down. They did some group things and they came down. They did one in Hatters. They did one in Mano and they did some in the other beaches. Well, Mary Helen, remind me of the numbers. Hatter has had 34

34 fishermen that came out more than any other of the other meetings to sit down and talk with those uh marine fisheries people with the um federal marine fisheries. And one of the things that I also um made a point to is that the state marine fisheries and federal marine fisheries have got to start having conversations with each other because a lot of times those um the things that they're trying to implement contradict each other and put our fishermen in limbo and make it just even more difficult. But um we had a really good turnout up here in Mano too and Mary Helen you called me and told me the numbers and I can't re remember exact numbers but it was like 20 there was like 20 some up here in Mano as well but really proud of our fisherman and hatters for coming out and um meeting with the South Atlantic Marine Fisheries Commission to go over those things. Um and on a sad note um I just want to send prayers out. There was an accident in the Hatteris. Um a boat overturned and so prayers to all those involved in that. It was unfortunately tragic, but um our community is resilient and we rally around those that need us and we'll continue to keep them in our prayers and I think that might be all I have.

Thank you. I'll think of something else later. Thank you, Commissioner Ross. I'm very sorry, Mariel, and I did read about that accident. That's that's very bad. Very sad news. I'm going to start off with a uh blatantly partisan call on the town of Kittyhawk. I'm looking at Mary Helen.

I attended their meeting last night and I spoke on behalf of the Dementia Friendly Coalition. These are some wonderful folks who do amazing work for both those afflicted by memory loss and the related challenges as well as their caregivers. Um they are pursuing an opportunity to occupy the vacant old police station and are hoping for a public hearing in Kittyhawk to be able to advance their uh proposal. I I spoke these words last night uh to uh Mayor Charlotte Walker and her board and u I'm using this opportunity to say them again. Please, please do take this seriously. It is a wonderful effort from wonderful people and I hope it will be uh a successful one. Number two, there will be a big, get ready for it, concert on the dunes at Jockeyy's Ridge on May the 15th. It's going to be a big time affair. A lot of fun. I urge everyone to keep that one on their calendar. The tourism board, uh, we're having Earth Day at the Soundside Event Center on April 22nd. also going to be a big time from what we heard earlier from the you know the children youth partnership this Friday we're blue it's close to Friday we're Tuesday so please keep it in mind these uh these issues are very important and I take them deadly seriously so anything we can do to advance advocate and support that I would I would support And lastly, I know everyone has been waiting all year on the edge of your seats, chairs. It's

about to begin. Yes, I'm talking about Mast's week. So, keep your televisions tuned and watch some great golf. That's all I have, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Commissioner. And Commissioner Burst did say it. It is a tradition unlike any other. Absolutely, Vice. Vice Chairman House. Yeah. And uh Commissioner Ross, we will expect to be seeing you in your green mast's jacket in the next meeting. Yes. I play in the honorary over over 75 tournament. We only play six holes. We get too tired.

Uh most stuff I was going to go over has already been covered. So, uh I had got a couple things. Uh, First Flight Society will be having a uh birthday celebration for Wilbur Wright on o uh April 16th at 6 pm at Janette's Pier. Uh so please come come around. It's a fundraising event for the uh first flight society. Be uh great to see you there. And being at Janette's Pier uh while you're there, you can also see the renovations that are going on there with the new walkboards going down throughout the whole period. pier is a multi-million dollar project and it's been in the works now for quite a few years and now they're starting to actually put it together. So that'd be great. And Matt, do we have the pet of the week? Our pet of the week this week is Storm. This pretty girl came into our care after her family relocated and can no longer give her the time and attention she deserves. Now she is ready to find her forever home where she can truly thrive. Storm does well with submissive dogs her own size, but would do best in a home with no small animals or as the only dog. She adores attention, loves car rides, knows basic commands, and is houset trained. To adopt Storm or foster one of our other animals, come visit us Monday through Friday at our shelter located in Mano. For more information, visit our website at obx spbca.org or visit our OBX SPCA Facebook page. So, please go out to the OBX SPCA, check out Storm, maybe you can give her her forever home. And uh that's all I have for now. Thank you.

Thank you, Commissioner. How vice chairman? Um that brings us to the end of our meeting. Um we have a motion. Bobby, you want to read that for close session? And in in between the close session, our Thrive truck uh is outside and um u our health department director Sheila Davies would like for us to uh take a look at that. So if we can do that soon as we break for a recess. Um can we do that or do we have to go right into close session immediately? Close session take five minutes.

Five minutes. All right. Well, that'll work then. Let's go into close session and then from there we'll come back and we can go outside and check the Thrive truck out. So I made a motion for a close session pursuant to NCGS143-31811 A3 to consult with an attorney employed or retained by the county in order to preserve the attorney client privileged and to receive an update on the opioid litigation and to approve the minutes of the last close session. So move there's a motion on the floor by the vice chair seconded by second commissioner Bur those in favor signify by saying I oppose like sign motion carries unanimous.

I call the Dair County Board of Commissioners meeting back to order and turn it over to the county manager. Uh in the close session the board approved the minutes of the last close session. Um, we discussed uh another of the opioid settlements and I need a motion that authorizes me to execute settlement agreements as these random uh entities come in in this class action suit going into the future. So, if somebody would make a motion giving me that authority to settle those cases, then I can move forward.

So, move that authority. There's a motion on the floor by I mean a motion on the floor by the vice chair as well as commissioner Ross and it's been seconded by commissioner Baitman. Those in favor of the motion signify by saying I I post like sign. Motion carries unanimous and and then in the close session we we had a public comment about a piece of art this morning. I gave you the the law on what that means and the consensus of the board is that is speech and to allow it to be posted with the rest of the art. So I'll let Oh, she's here. I'll let the applicant know and so that's resolved. Okay. Thank you very much, county manager. I need a motion to adjourn until 9:00 a.m. on May the 4th.

Motion to adjurnn. There's a motion by Commissioner Balance, seconded by Second. Vice Chairman. Those in favor of the motion signify by saying I. I post like sign. Motion carries unanimous.