Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

I call the Onslow County Board of Commissioners regular meeting to order at this time for Wednesday, September 9th. And we'll start this morning with invocation by Mr. Brett DeSelms, our county attorney. Mr. DeSelms.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for this opportunity to come before you and conduct the business of Onslow County. Lord, be with the commissioners in their deliberations and bless them with wisdom and guidance as they address the items on today's agenda. May all we do this day bring you honor and glory, amen. Now with deep respect and reverence for the faiths, beliefs, and traditions of those gathered here today, please join me in a moment of silence. Thank you.

Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

and to the Republic for which it stands.

Take a minute and recognize those that have joined us this morning from around the county. Mayor Rick Grant from North Topsail Beach. This is Amiga Jarman, our Register of Deeds. Mayor Pete Parnian from Holly Ridge. And Sheriff Chris Thomas is with us this morning as well. I don't know if I missed anyone, but I think that's got everyone covered this morning. We ask that everyone in attendance, please set your cell phones to silent or vibrate at this time. And now we need a motion to adopt today's agenda. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. We now need a motion for the approval of the items on the consent agenda, unless someone has an item they'd like to remove and bring to the agenda today.

Second.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. The board offers the public one opportunity to speak during the meeting. Comments should be limited to no more than five minutes and may be on any issue upon which the Board of Commissioners has control. In accordance with the board's adopted rules of procedure, citizens shall address all comments to the board as a whole and not one individual commissioner. Commissioner shall reserve responses, if any, for the commissioner comment period on the agenda. So we'll move right to item three. Mr. Eaton, we have anyone signed up for public comment?

Yes, sir. We have five individuals. The first one is Daniel Cornell.

Good morning, Chairman Foster and members of the board. Let's make this simple. I'm asking for the board to end the county funding for the Plate Ranger Automated License Plate Reader Program, prevent its renewal or expansion and adopt a policy prohibiting future county funded or county authorized ALPR systems. There are two reasons. One, we still cannot follow the money and we still do not know the full boundaries of the system. The county purchase order identified a first year plate ranger arrangement totaling $38,114 for 12 licensed plate readers installation and an annual subscription. Records later produced by the county document two payments to Sound Thinking totaling $52,000. The vendor's payment schedule identifies a separate $13,985 charge associated with the earlier five camera evaluation. That explains the arithmetic, but it does not answer how the entire program was authorized, budgeted or funded. Sheriff Thomas originally told me in person that the cameras were grant funded and indicated the documentation would be obtained. No record identifying the grant was produced. I was later told that the money originated from revenue generated through contracts associated with the detention facility. I then requested the contracts, revenue account records, budget documents, transfers, journal injuries, and other records that could substantiate that explanation. The county responded that revenues deposited into the general fund are pooled. That may explain ordinary fund accounting, but it does not identify the detention contracts referenced by the sheriff. I have narrowed these requests, clarified them repeatedly, spoken directly with the sheriff, and made clear that I am not requesting confidential information. The remaining financial questions have been met with absolute silence. I understand that the sheriff is independently elected. But this board controls the county's power of the purse. The sheriff may determine what equipment he wants. You determine whether county taxpayers will continue paying for it. When renewal, expansion, replacement, or additional funding comes before this board, the decision and the responsibility belongs to you. That responsibility matters because Plate Ranger is not merely a collection of 12 cameras taking isolated photographs. According to Sound Thinking's own materials, the system can collect license plate numbers, vehicle images, short videos, dates, times, location, speed, direction of travel, make, model, type, and color. Its software can search partial plates and vehicle characteristics, compare activity across locations, identify repeat visits and movement patterns, and issue real-time alerts. More importantly, Sound Thinking advertises Plate Ranger Agent, which can convert compatible existing surveillance cameras into ALPR systems. The company also advertises an open interface capable of importing data from other ALPR systems and combining that information inside Plate Ranger. Current records do not indicate whether the sheriff's office is using this function. That is precisely the problem. We have not been given a complete technical inventory establishing the exact camera models, configurations, integrations, connected video feeds, storage capabilities, or expansion limits of the system the taxpayers are paying for. This means Plate Ranger's potential reach is not necessarily limited to the 12 cameras. The platform is designed to expand through compatible existing camera and additional data sources without requiring every new collection point to be another Plate Ranger camera. That means every existing camera for security is now a plate ranger with this software. Some people compare these systems to ring doorbells. That comparison misses the most important distinction. A homeowner voluntarily purchases a Ring camera. The owner chooses its location, accepts the company terms, and selects whether to pay for the cloud recording and additional services. The physical camera continues detecting all available data points, whether you pay for it or not. Just look at the video doorbell from the Nancy Guthrie case. She was not paying a subscription. We've all seen the video that came from the manufacturer. So the privacy concern is not simply that a camera can see publicly displayed license plate. The concern is what government can create by collecting, retaining, searching, connecting, and expanding thousands of observations involving people who are not suspected of any crime. It is a presumption of guilt requiring the proof of innocence. Let me say that again. We are presuming people are guilty and then proving their innocence. In a functioning democracy, law enforcement is supposed to be hard because we have this thing called rights. We are not supposed to make it easy for law enforcement because we have rights. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Cornell.

Mr. Eaton? Yes, next person is Andrew Bowser.

Good morning, commissioners. I wasn't planning on coming this morning. I didn't really prepare much to say, but I just wanted to share some updates on the Chinese communist-style AI surveillance cameras And honestly, I'm sick of talking about it. But I feel like John the Baptist crying out in the wilderness, trying to warn people about this clear and present danger, this threat to liberty. So I won't stop talking about it until they come down because I don't want my children to grow up in a society that mimics Beijing or Pyongyang. And I will tell you the coalition is growing every single day if you haven't been paying attention to the news. Nationwide, here in our state, and here in Oslo County, Republicans in leadership are starting to wake up that this is a serious constitutional issue. Judge Napolitano said it best last month, plate readers are a blatant violation of the Fourth Amendment. Republicans in government are acting. Two of the most Republican states in the country, Texas and Florida. Governor Abbott has now taken action. And most notably, Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has recently ordered all plate readers to be removed from state roads. He's citing the potential of government abuse and misuse of private tech companies that they absolutely would have been weaponized against people during the COVID lockdowns, which I agree with. And here in North Carolina, boards of commissioners are exercising their lawful authority to protect the rights of their citizens. Macon County, unanimously, the board of commissioners voted them to go away. Davidson County was next, unanimously voted the plate readers to go. The city of Greenville, and just this week, Our neighbor to the south, New Hanover, unanimously voted to remove plate readers from their county. Even right here, our very own Representative Wyatt Gable is working on state legislation to roll back this program. And here in Oslo County, the coalition is growing. Petitions are being circulated, excuse me. And the sheriff's office recently made a Facebook post explaining away the technology of the plate rangers, and it might as well have been a public opinion poll, because I encourage you to go over there and take a look. There were over 540 comments, 95% of which are people not only opposed, you can read it for yourself, but they are pissed off. This is a privacy issue. And I believe there's an even greater silent majority of folks who stand opposed, but because of their occupation, they cannot speak out against the sheriff's office. And I wanna address that real quick about the sheriff. I don't think there's anyone more qualified to be our sheriff than Chris Thomas, okay? He does an enormous amount of good work here. But the role of the sheriff, when you boil it down, his job, primary job, is to protect the constitutional rights of his people. That comes before public safety, and it comes before policing the community. His primary job is to protect the constitutional rights of his people. That is not hyperbole. All right, it's on his website, and that is the primary job of every sheriff. So I'm just asking Chris, and I've already asked him, to please let this expire and never come back. And I understand the emotional side of it. He says it prevents a whole bunch of crimes. And I get that, but we can't think that way because that's how gun control advocates also think. All right, maybe if we ban guns, we'll prevent a mass shooting. but the sheriff here, he has one job. And if he doesn't do it, I'm asking this legislative body to protect the rights of the citizens here. And the sheriff's office here, like I've said, that's his job. And I think this is a very important issue. I'd like to just, you know, hopefully he's the one who takes action because that at the end of the day is his primary purpose. So again, I didn't really prepare a whole lot to say. I just wanted to make you aware of the news because the coalition is growing here and people are starting to turn to you to take action. So thank you very much. I appreciate it. God bless you.

Thank you, Mr. Bowles from the street.

Next person is Dennis Burgard.

Good morning, Commissioners. A completely different topic. I want to bring to you something I'm sure you've either seen, addressed, or been brought to you, and that is the occupancy taxes that are dealt with at North Topsail. Lived here for over 30-something years. Most of my time I've spent going to Surf City and other beaches. Never really went to North Topsail, to be honest. 2020, I ended up buying a property there, and at that point I became extremely aware of all the issues that are being dealt with by the town, the beaches, the inlets and all that. I'm coming to you today because a couple things hit the news recently that made me realize this was a good time to speak. The first is I saw that tourism was up tremendously in Oslo County. I don't think a small part of that is North Topsail. Quite a bit of buildings going on there. A lot of houses going forward. A lot of people, if you drive up and back there now, getting on and off that island is becoming extremely difficult because so many people are going. The other part is they're getting ready to have a discussion. They've already done the environmental impact study, which could end up putting a jetty at the north end, which would have some effect, but of course not much. It would take care of that north end, but at least it would stop the bleeding. What I'm coming to you about is the fact that you have an option. It's really the only one that is available that could help North Topsail, and that is to take the occupancy taxes that currently come in at 6% and half are giving back to Topsail. is to take all of that and give that back to them. Let them dedicate that to taking care of those beaches that are driving tourism and are bringing people into Sneeds Ferry and everywhere else. This is done in Pender County as a matter of policy. At a certain point, they realized their beaches were important. Not only were they in a better position because they don't have cobra zones there, Surf City could actually expand across the bridge and expand land. North Topsail can't grow. It is where it is. There's almost no commercial. Their ability to do anything as an entity is completely limited. And then add to that the fact they're in a cobra zone. There's not even federal aid, so you're it. I think it's a good time to look at North Topsail as the asset that it is, treat it in that manner, and then because of the fact you then make a rule to do so, turn around and dedicate the 3% that you're currently keeping in general funds and turn around and give that back to them where we'll be dedicated to take care of the beach so it can be re-nourished, taken care of, Hopefully the jetty comes through and helps some. Who knows, maybe one day the Cobra that's been battled for the last 25 years will come through as well. But until then, there's really no one coming to the rescue. The only thing that can actually be done is if you were to make a decision to tell North Topsail up front that from now on we will dedicate this back. You don't have to come to us over and over again. just when there's an issue requesting this. That way they have actual funding they can plan, they know it's coming, they can estimate about what it'll be every year, and then they can turn around, make long-term decisions that will protect an asset that is a huge part of this county. So my ask is that you take a look at that seriously, and as quickly as you could possibly make that decision, put it on the table and try to make that. That's my request today, thank you. Thank you, Ms. Burgard. Mr. Eaton.

Next individual is Tim Bogey.

Morning, gentlemen, vice chairman, commissioners. Tim Bogey. I live out in Hubert. Of course, I'm going to be here to talk about Maynard Manor off of Gum Branch. And I also got a few other things I'd like to discuss. I'm not getting into the whole camera issue because that's just a small aperture in the county within a worldwide view of surveillance anyway. First off, Maynard Manor, the post office has stopped services. I don't know for sure if it's the whole manner or just certain areas, but I know for sure it affects 18 different homes. Some of those residents, including the elderly and physically constrained, rely on the post office and other delivery services to provide needed medication and necessities due to their lack of physical ability or lack of transportation, things like groceries, home goods, clothing, etc., Right now, those current 18 homes, they have to go to the post office in order to pick up their mail. As you all know, my son is one of those. He got married back in June, so now his wife is one of those as well. I have messaged the state reps, Representative Shepard, Gable, and Smith, and also Senator Lazara. Representative Shepard and Representative Gable, they responded and said they will look into it. Now, in my message, I did state that the county commissioners and the county government staff has put forth vast effort into this issue with great transparency of info, which has assisted me in getting almost, actually, over 200 documents regarding this matter. So, still appreciate what all y'all have done for this. I know there's no actual... Complete solution right now. I've got a few ideas of some stuff I'm going to start working on. And hopefully I won't get in trouble for that. Next thing I want to talk about, image. County has an image problem. Nobody knows who you people are. They don't. I've asked 42 different people and they think the mayor of Jacksonville makes all the decisions for the county. They think city hall makes all the decisions. If we remember last election, 11.44% turnout. Of that 11.44%, 9% of those were 45 and older. We were the lowest in the state for our election turnout. According to North Carolina's Board of Elections, there are 135,874 registered voters in this county. That means only 14,947 people actually voted in the last elections back in March. Most adults 25 and under have no idea what day or time nor location to vote for the next election. The county websites have the information, but young people do not look at that nor watch the news. They listen to their online friends and influencers. They do not know an election is coming until they see the little vote for me signs in the medians and roadsides about every 10 feet. Coming down Highway 24, you can see billboards that tell us who to use for lawyers, who to use for real estate agents, who to use for banking. On Western Boulevard, you can see a sign that tells you to, let's see here, tells you that geese have the right of way to turn on your headlights when using your wipers and texting while driving is against the law. On social media, currently on your Facebook page, you have 30,000 followers. YouTube, you have 968 subscribers. This past Onslow County today, earlier this month, had 57 views. Last month, at that three-hour meeting that you all had, there was 1.4 thousand views. Last meeting, you had 832. Back in February, you had 240-something. Other than that, you've barely broke 100 watching the commissioners' meetings. I'm not saying that as a... I'm not here to fuss. I mean, I'm not. But nobody knows who we are. Nobody knows what they want and what they need to do until it becomes a problem for them. Like I said, you have an image problem. So I think you need to start some type of information campaign. Use your resources that young people see daily or use on a continual basis. Things like different links, QR codes, et cetera, for more information. I don't have your Instagram stats because I don't have social media. I come down here. At the end of every meeting, ceremony, or public appearances, the attendees should be reminded of the many different social media platforms that are available. I know, Chairman, that at the end of this meeting, you'll tell us never apologize for our faith, right? But we also need to be reminded for the people who are watching the different platforms that they can go to. Now, yes, I am signed up for the thing that you get every so often about what you got for the next special event, what you have for the next meetings, but I'm one of the few that has that. So, conclusion. Um... I got seven seconds. I'm not even going to conclude. That's all I got. I want to thank you for the UNC Health thing, though, for passing that. Unfortunately, it's five years too late for myself and my wife. But thank you for that, because that's going to help out quite a bit.

Thanks, Mr. Bogey. Mr. Eaton? Yes, sir. Last individual is Aaron Wiseman.

Good morning, gentlemen. At this time, I'm going to decline. The topic that I wish to speak upon has not yet been presented. So I'd like to refund that time. And thank you. Thank you, Mr. Weissman.

That concludes the public comment.

Thank you, Mr. Eaton. So we'll move to public hearings. We have one public hearing scheduled during this meeting. And we'll call Mr. Carter Metcalf, our planning director for the diversified investors rezoning. Mr. Metcalf.

Good morning, Chairman, Vice Chairman, and Board of Commissioners. The item before you is Diversified Investors Rezoning Period Z 2026 number eight. The applicant is Mr. John L. Pearson Associates and the owner is Diversified Investors Incorporated. When we take an overview of the request, it's from Rural Agriculture to Residential 20, or RA to R20 for the acronyms. Located across two properties, their tax map numbers are 48-2 and 47-67. It's located at 279 Fire Tower Road and is in the Richlands Township. The rezoning area across both properties total 62 acres, and the existing use is split. 48-2 has an abandoned mobile home on it, so there's a residential use, while 47-67 is a farm field, therefore the use is farmland. So we take an overview of the services. There's a 14-inch on Wausau Water Main along Fire Tower Road. Nearby development of Sunny Point, there's an eight-inch on Wausau Water Main water line located there. The area is served by individual septic systems, and the fire service that responds is Road Town with an OUSA rating of three. Most recent traffic count closest to the site comes from 2024. Its trip count is 3,800 trips with a level service D standard capacity is rated at 13,600. Therefore the roadway does have capacity. Schools serving the property are Meadowview Elementary, Southwest Middle School, and Southwest High School. The elementary and high school have capacity at this time, while the middle school is currently projected over capacity. Since rural agriculture and Residential 20 have the same minimum lot size, we anticipate no additional impact to the school system than what the property could already provide. Here you see there are zoning map, lime green color designated the rural agriculture designation. There's two residential designations in the nearby area. Residential 15 is the pink color and then more of that salmon red hue is residential eight manufactured. where we compare two zoning districts. The current zoning district of RA is to maintain a rural development pattern that preserves our agricultural character and heritage. It accommodates low density single family uses, single family residential subdivisions are allowed in rural agriculture, and their minimum lot size is 20,000 square feet. It also provides for duplexes, AKA two family dwellings, manufactured homes, and again, a variety of other uses. Specifically, when we look at the non-residential uses or commercial ones, they're geared towards supporting our rural community, such as contractors offices, some self storage, as well as also allows for campgrounds by special use permit. Comparatively, when we look at Residential 20, its purpose is to accommodate low density single family development in our suburban and rural areas of the county. Its minimum lot size is the same as RA at 20,000. However, our residential uses are limited to only stick-built and modular construction, and then the associated non-residential uses for a single-family neighborhood, parks, government uses, and that sort of nature. Again, limiting our uses down towards what's compatible with the traditional neighborhood. And the comprehensive plan here is split. So the first property of 48-2 is given the rural residential designation. And its purpose is to provide for a low density single family development in on the fringes of our suburban growth areas. We look at our land use and development summary is this is a residential rezoning. Look at the residential summary. And this is our comprehensive plan. So it is prescriptive but not regulating. So it would prescribe or recommend that we would have a single family development at a density of two dwelling units per acre. Residential 20 is a minimum lot size of 20,000 square feet and would allow for a density of two dwelling units per acre. So residential 20 is a corresponding zoning district to rural residential. Now the other tract of 47-67 is given the designation of agriculture forestry. And its intent is to preserve and protect the rural character and those working lands of the county in both agriculture and civil culture. Look at the land use and development summary here, again, residential rezoning. And this is a recommending document, it's not regulating. But it would recommend that you'd have a single family residential development and parcels where they are larger than one acre outside of your major subdivision development. And then within major subdivisions, we wanna be mindful of density. We wanna have a similar scale at the same time using conservation or cluster designs to protect our environment. Here as well, RA is a corresponding zoning district to agriculture forestry. So here you can see our future land use map. Some of the other nearby areas are infrastructure, energy and extraction, that is our pink color. You can see there a rural residential section is there to the north, and also the property that abuts fire tower, smaller of the two, the 48-2. And then 47-67, the larger of the two tracts is the agricultural forestry designation. We look at environmental conditions. The properties not lie within any special flood hazard area and there are no blue line streams located on the property or adjacent. Any wetlands would have to be reviewed through any sort of review process though with our office. Take a look at reasonableness in the public interest. Our future land use map here is split. In one sense, it is corresponding. Residential 20 aligns with rural residential. At the same time, the current designation of RA aligns with agriculture forestry. Now residential 20 has the same minimum lot size, but is not our most immediate corresponding zoning district. We look at objective 1.2, there are many aspects of development in this area, or excuse me, many aspects of infrastructure that would allow for development. Our roadways have capacity, there's certainly good water line sizes in this area, as well also there is no anticipated additional impact on our school system. We wanna encourage development density to occur though at densities that are appropriate for the location, and two dwelling units per acre fits with our future land use map. Now non-supporting, residential 20 allows for less housing types than RA does. So for that reason, objective 6.1 is non-supporting. Planning Board met on August 6th, and they voted unanimously to recommend approval of the request. We had three citizens that spoke on the request that lived in the nearby area. Their concerns were that if a development were to come, increased traffic would occur on Fire Tower. Their concerns were there's already significant speeding on Fire Tower. that some of the culverts in the nearby area don't handle some of the current stormwater runoff, and therefore, if a development were to come, it would cause more stormwater drainage issues. There is an existing tree line that was discussed, as well as also where mailboxes are located on Fire Tower as well. And overall in Salmation, their concerns were that the rural nature of that community could change if a subdivision came to that area. No military impacts that were presented during the planning board meeting and overall planning board did recommend to approve the request and consider it consistent with our comprehensive plan and future land use map. Chairman of the planning board, her remarks as follows. This is a 62 acre rezoning currently from RA on fire tower and proposed to be rezoned to R20. With the new zoning, the property would be permitted for single family housing rather than two family and manufactured. Three citizens spoke against the request, citing flooding and drainage issues, traffic concerns, and mailboxes situated on the opposite side of the road from any of the homes on Fire Tower. That could become more dangerous with increased traffic. Speeding and congestion, wild animals losing their habitat, and stormwater problems were also discussed. The rezoning, though, was found to be consistent with the comprehensive plan and the future land use map. Here we can see a broad scope via our aerials of the surrounding area. There's a variety of uses in the surrounding character, such as agriculture, silviculture. There is some sand mining there to the south, and you can see to the north some other residential development and neighborhoods. Some there along Fire Tower, but then also the Sunny Point neighborhood. Closer look, you can see the property's current use there as a farm field. and the manufactured home is hidden within the tree line there up against Fire Tower Road. You can't really see it that well. Here's where we noticed for today's public hearing at the roadside of Fire Tower Road. It's respectfully requested the Board of Commissioners consider their proposed zoning map amendment of PRAZ 2026 number eight and adopt a statement of the consistency for the amendment and authorize the chairman to sign the necessary documents on behalf of the county. This concludes the staff presentation, sir.

Thank you, Mr. Metcalf. We will open the public hearing at this time. Mr. Eaton, do you have anyone signed up to speak?

Yes, sir. One individual, Mr. John Pierce.

Good morning, gentlemen. I represent Diversified Developers. I'm in 405 Johnson Boulevard, and it's unusual that more of the objectives that are... Horizon 2040 are in favor and opposed. And the reason we want to resume this, we can develop it in an RA, but once you develop it, it permits campers and some types of commercial businesses that would, after we develop it, would be on our control and we light it. And you can set up mobile homes or trailers as we always called them. But we're trying to do this, and we're going to put a public streets in it, and we're going to put a business border. It'll be turned over to unwashed water. And we can develop either way, but it's a whole lot better for us if we get it rezoned, because we can eliminate some uses that I think would be not good for the neighborhood. And as far as leaving buffers on the mobile homes, we plan on leaving a buffer to protect ourselves as well as them. If you have any questions for me, I'll be here to try to answer them. If any of you got any questions for me.

Thank you, Mr. Pierce.

Is he the only speaker? Yes. That concludes public comment.

So we'll close the public hearing at this time and bring the matter to the commissioners.

Motion to approve.

Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye.

Aye.

Those opposed? Hearing none, the motion carries. So I move to general items, and we'll ask Sheriff Chris Thomas and Dr. Brendan Gartner of Onslow County Schools, their chief operations officer for the school bus safety ordinance. Good morning.

Good morning. According to statewide tracking, excuse me, according to tracking from the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, in accordance with the National Association for the Directors of Pupil Transportation Services, drivers illegally pass school, stop school buses over 2,500 to 3,000 times every day in the state. Oslo County is not Immune from this a good example is that is one dedicated parent who lives on Berg all highway is email 17 videos last year of drivers passing stopped school buses in front of her home The North Carolina General Assembly has provided us with a tool to combat this issue North Carolina General Statute 153 a dash 246 this statute empowers county governments to adopt an ordinance for the civil enforcement of school bus stop-arm violations using automated camera systems rather than a current system that pursues criminal charges. The Onslow County Board of Education has requested that the Board of Commissioners review the ordinance to adopt for the civil enforcement of school bus violators. It is respectfully requested that the Board of Commissioners adopt this ordinance and authorize the chairman to sign the necessary documents on behalf of the county. I will say cameras have been on buses for well over 10 years. We use those for our enforcement purposes, trying to identify vehicles and drivers. We're more often than not, not successful. I don't have enough staff to follow the number of buses the school has. And if I have one fall on a bus, you can be sure nobody will pass the bus. So we're asking for you to review this ordinance and approve it.

Motion and a second. Any discussion? I think, Dr. Gardner, you could probably give us a number of what happened in Onslow County in the last year with complaints or people passing school buses in Onslow.

Yes, we do receive complaints quite often. When the sheriff and our superintendent and the chief of Jacksonville did a PSA, we received a number of complaints and support for doing something for stop on by or later, something more stringent that we could do. You know, I did use this one example of a parent out on Burgall Highway who, you know, during last year, her home alone, 17 different occasions, she sent videos and I will say that she has already sent more. So this is a pressing problem and this is a tool we have that could help to address it.

Already, week three.

violation, the bus driver would forward that information to the county?

Currently, yes, sir. Currently, yes, sir. When we have that, when a bus driver calls in and says, I just had someone pass my stop arm, then we'll download the video and then send that over to the sheriff's department. The fact that it's currently a criminal violation makes it a lot more difficult to enforce. because the criminal violation connects it to the individual driver. Very hard to prove who was actually driving the car. Our cameras aren't quite that good. Make it a civil violation, connects it to the vehicle rather. So it's a different standard of evidence as well. All right, okay.

sheriff could you follow that with the kind of how this process is going to work you get this report and certainly uh the incident will occur uh the documentation be sent uh through the school to us uh we'll evaluate it make sure that it is a actual stop-arm violation because there are some regulations that the yellow light has to be out for a certain duration first before the bus actually stops and deploys the the red light, the red stop arm. And once we have verified that and we confirm that, and then the civil citation is issued, if the individual opposes it or wants to appeal it, there's an appeal process through the county that they can appeal. And of course, we will always have the bus driver as a witness in case we need them for the process. And how much is the penalty? The first penalty is $400 and an increase from there. And those penalties are set by general statute, not by the county, not by us.

Who maintains a record of who violators are? I mean, who knows if it's a second offense or the third offense? Is that the county that's going to maintain that record?

We will from the report sent. We'll know whether it's a second. It will keep a log of them. And I will say the money will be submitted to the county of Onslow for the penalties and not the sheriff's office, and it will go through the school education stuff for education purposes.

Mr. Samson. And Commissioner Davis, to the fine issue, the first offense is 400, second offense is 750, and after that it's $1,000. And if the individual is charged criminally, then we can't issue the civil fines. This is only if they cannot go criminally.

And I will say that this ordinance, that if it is a severe offense, if there's an injury, death, or anything like that, then it does not prevent criminal charges from being pursued.

We also plan to do a public period of advertisement education for the public, which we've been trying to do for the past couple of years. But hopefully this will give it more urgency to folks to stop. So it's not going to be a surprise thing. We're going to educate the public before it is deployed.

Any other discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Thank you, Dr. Gardner. Sheriff Thomas will stay with us for the next four items. So, Sheriff Thomas.

Yes, the Onslow County Sheriff's Office is seeking approval to continue the Governor's Highway Safety Program DWI Enforcement Grant. This is a continuation grant supporting enhanced traffic safety enforcement efforts throughout Onslow County with an emphasis on reducing alcohol-related crashes and deaths. The total cost of the project is $470,726 with 25% of that being provided by the grant and 75% being provided by a match from the county. The required match is already included in the Onslow County Sheriff's Office budget and no additional county funds are required or requested. Grant funding will allow the Sheriff's Office to continue dedicated impaired driving enforcement within the unincorporated areas of Onslow County. THE EFFORTS ARE TO REDUCE ALCOHOL-RELATED CRASHES, INJURIES, AND FACILITIES AND ADDRESS THE COUNTY'S CONTINUING TRAFFIC SAFETY NEEDS. IT IS RESPECTFULLY REQUESTED THAT THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACCEPT THE FISCAL YEAR 27 GOVERNOR'S HIGHWAY SAFETY DWI ENFORCEMENT GRANT AUTHORIZED TO THE CHAIRMAN, THE SHERIFF, AND THE CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER SIGNING NECESSARY DOCUMENTS ON BEHALF OF THE COUNTY. A MOTION TO APPROVE.

SECOND. MOTION AND A SECOND. ANY DISCUSSION? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed, opposed. Hearing none, motion carries.

The Onslow County Sheriff's Office is seeking approval to accept $15,000 through the fiscal year 27 Traffic Safety Overtime Grant administered by the Governor's Highway Safety Program. This is a continuation grant program for the Sheriff's Office and requires no local match. The grant will be used to support overtime costs for deputies conducted in enhanced traffic safety enforcement activities throughout Onslow County with an emphasis on impaired driving, speeding, and other unsafe driving activities. Oslo County continues to experience significant traffic concerns. In the state of North Carolina, we rank 17th for total traffic fatalities, 14th for alcohol-related fatalities, 11th for speed-related fatalities, and 5th for motorcyclist fatalities. The funding will allow the sheriff's office to conduct additional targeted enforcement activities without impact in our regular patrol operations. It is respectfully requested that the Board of Commissioners accept the fiscal year 27 Governor's Highway Safety Traffic Safety Overtime Grant and authorize the chairman, sheriff, and the chief financial officer to sign the necessary documents on behalf of the county. Motion to approve.

We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Hearing none, motion carries.

And next we have the Onslow County Sheriff's Office is seeking approval to continue the existing safety educator grant administrated by the Governor's Highway Safety Program. This is a continuation grant program to support traffic safety, education, prevention, outreach, and training throughout Onslow County. The total amount of the grant is $147,890, with 70% being provided by the grant funding and 30% as a county match. The required local match is already included in Onslow County Sheriff's Office budget and no additional county funding is being requested. The grant funding will support continued employment of a dedicated traffic safety educator who works with community organizations, local schools, military personnel, and families, law enforcement personnel, and other community partners to address impaired driving and other high-risk driving behaviors. This position compliments the Sheriff's Office traffic enforcement efforts by increasing public awareness, promoting safe driving behaviors, and providing education on traffic safety priorities, including impaired driving, occupant protection, and speed management. Continued grant funding will allow the Sheriff's Office to maintain these prevention and education efforts with the support, while supporting the overall goal of reducing traffic-related crashes, injuries, and fatalities throughout Onslow County. It is respectfully requested that the Board of Commissioners accept the fiscal year 27 Governor's Highway Safety Program Traffic Safety Educator Grant and authorize the commissioner, sheriff, chief financial officer signing necessary documents on behalf of the county.

So moved. Second. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Hearing none, motion carries.

The Onslow County Sheriff's Office has recently been awarded $34,572 through the fiscal year 25 Edward Burns Memorial Judicial Assistance Grant Program local solicitation. Onslow County will serve as the financial agent for the grant award, which includes $20,977 in pass-through funding to the Jacksonville Police Department for its robotics enhancement program. The remaining $13,595 will support the Sheriff's Office project. The Sheriff's Office will use this portion of the grant funding to acquire trauma kits, also known as stop the bleed kits for deputies, providing personnel with essential emergency medical supplies to respond to traumatic injuries and potential life threatening bleeding incidents. A memorandum of understanding between Onslow County and the city of Jacksville is required to establish the responsibilities associated with administering and pass through of JPD's portion of the grant award. Additionally, a grant project ordinance is required to authorize the receipt, appropriation and expenditure of the grant funds. Approval and execution of the documents will allow the county to provide with the administration of the grant funding projects. It is respectfully requested that the Board of Commissioners approve the memorandum of understanding between Onslow County, City of Jacksonville, and adopt a grant project ordinance for fiscal year 25, Edward Burns Memorial Judicial Assistance Grant Program. a local solicitation and authorize the county or the commissioner chair to sign the necessary documents on behalf of the county.

So moved.

Second. Motion at a second. Any discussion?

Chairman, if I may real quick, I just, I noticed you got a large or a small contingent of your department back there with us. And certainly with you standing here, let me get the elephant in the room being the flock cameras or the, I know we have a different type, sorry, different name. Um, I definitely have concerns with those, but that's not the point of my discussion, but I would just get that out there. But I wanna say thank you for the fantastic work y'all are doing, and this just demonstrates what y'all are doing besides just the cars running patrol, and just how much y'all are supporting our community, and I appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries. Anything else, Sheriff?

I wish you all a very happy and safe week. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, Sheriff Thomas. Next, we'll have looks like four items from our airport, Onzo O.A.J. And Mitch Sprunger will be standing here with us for a few minutes.

Yes, sir. All right, happy to bring these four items to you. All grant offers and all unique ones, so happy to answer any questions you may have. So the first one is for a airport infrastructure grant that we received for the airport entrance road design. So the previous BOC meeting, you approved the project ordinance and task order associated with the airport entrance road. This is the funding mechanism that we will use for that design. So the grant is for roughly $400,000. And at the conclusion of this, we should have about 2.8 million leftover within this program for additional projects. So really excited about this. So with that is respectfully requested that the Board of Commissioners approve the FAA AIG grant. 337-3351-2026 in the amount of $403,750 and authorize the chairman to sign the necessary documents on behalf of the county. So moved.

Motion and a second. Any discussion?

Yes, Mitch, I'm getting this question. How large of an aircraft will be coming in with the expansion of the runway?

With the expansion, so the load bearing capacity of the runway is not gonna change. So right now you could comfortably land up to a 767 or A330, Airbus A330 sized aircraft. So a large wide body aircraft. The benefit of the extension primarily is for The load-bearing capacity, excuse me, takeoff and landing. So fuel capacity, baggage capacity for a regional jet mix. So all in all, it doesn't change. But wide body aircraft right now.

But it is possible for more seats, I guess, possibly.

Yes, yes, definitely.

That's some of the citizens were asking that question. We're doing this expansion. How big are an aircraft? But now you're talking about the load. Thank you. Sure, yeah.

And the plan is in the next few months to put out some... As mentioned by the gentleman earlier, some more social media output on what this is going to give the community. So it's very exciting. Thank you, Mitch.

Any more discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed?

Motion carries. All right, the next grant is for a Federal Aviation Administration contract tower grant, and this is for $100,000. This is the first time that we have applied for and received this grant. So just for some context for the citizens, the air traffic controllers, they're not county employees, they're not federal employees, they're federal contract employees that the FAA pays for. As part of having that contract at OAJ, we are required to have a minimum equipment list in place in our tower. So these funds will go toward the replenishment of some of that equipment. It's about 10 years old now. So it's time for a few upgrades. So with that, it is respectfully requested that the Board of Commissioners approve the FAA FCT grant 337-3350-2026 in the amount of $100,000 and authorize the chairman to sign the necessary documents on behalf of the county. I move. Second.

Motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Hearing none, motion carries.

All right. The next grant is for our annual North Carolina Airport Improvement Program entitlement funds. The amount came out to a little over $1.7 million. Really, these are... Some of my favorite grants that we get provide a lot of flexibility. You can use them for all kinds of capital projects and revenue generating projects. So we need to encumber this relatively soon. I've got a pretty good idea how we'll use it. It'll likely go toward the parking lot renovation and expansion that's coming up. So with that, it is respectfully requested that the Board of Commissioners accept the allocation, approve the NCDOT funding agreement, and authorize the chairman to sign the agreement on behalf of the county. Motion to approve. Second.

Motion and a second. Discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries.

Okay, and last grant offer here. This is for a OTA grant through the Transportation Security Administration through their law enforcement reimbursement program. So this one's a little bit different. Rather than capital projects, this goes towards our operating budget for reimbursables for our police department out at the airports. The federal government had not been funding this for the past two FYs and they've re-upped the program for FY 2027. So we're happy to have that back out in place for our police department. Also a quick shout out, our Lieutenant from the airports here, Lieutenant Todd McAllister. Does a great job, as do the other officers out there with law enforcement. They handle TSA regulations, and they're also great ambassadors for all of our guests in the county. So happy that he's here. So with that, it is respectfully requested that the Board of Commissioners approve the TSA-LEO OTA in the amount of $141,000. $437.50, and authorize the chairman to sign the necessary documents on behalf of the county.

Motion to approve.

Motion and a second. Any discussion?

Yeah, it's good to see you, Todd.

I think it's also important to point out that Mitch has just shared several grants coming to us that's going to help Albert J. Ellis out, so we appreciate that. Any further discussion?

Yeah, just quick. I had the privilege of touring around with Mitch. I encourage anybody on the board to call Mitch up and go see the airport and see the... expansive work that they're doing it is quite impressive um the skills taken by all of your staff and team to pull off what you're pulling off is and i say that loosely i mean you guys are just doing an incredible piece of work out there and it's exciting to see the 900 feet expansion it's exciting to see how the road's going to loop around and make things more efficient just a lot of great work so thank you appreciate it we're grateful for the opportunity

This is not related to the motion. So are we one of the airports where they're able to escort certain people to the gates now that's taking place across the nation?

I don't know yet. I just read about that yesterday and I need to look into that. So I'll take a rain check.

I thought that was interesting. 20 years since that has happened. So that's something interesting.

We're going to find that out. Yeah, perfect. I would give another shout-out to the lieutenant. I worked very close with Todd over the years. He's a heck of a trainer, does a good job through the college and whatnot, and he's a good firearms instructor. Good to see you, though, Todd.

All in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. Thank you, Mitch. So now we move to our Chief Finance Officer, Mr. Kevin Patterson. And man, he only has one. Come on up, Mr. Patterson.

I have a change order for the Enrichment Center. This is a request for $130,000. For the contract, this is primarily due to the additional asphalt services for the additional milling services that were provided as well as the additional drainage that needed to be done to maintain our ADA compliance. We also expanded the original amount of asphalt to cover the added in the farmer's market area as well. we did expand the total amount of asphalt covered. The project is, we're still working within the existing project ordinance. We're adjusting funds, but we do not expect additional county funds to be needed to cover this project.

I have a motion. So moved. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion, signify by saying aye. Aye. Those opposed? Hearing none, motion carries. So we'll move now to item six, appointments to the Onslow County Hospital Authority. Mr. DeSounds?

Yes, Mr. Chairman, you have ballots before you for the appointment of the Onslow County Hospital Authority Board. The proposed applicants that are before you are Michael Elder, Joel Churchwell, Patrick Alford, Ralph Taylor, Steven Blackburn, and Dr. Mark Fulton has been submitted as additional name pursuant to the resolution we have with the hospital authority. So I'm gonna collect those ballots and I'll read off who the winners are. Mr. Chairman, Michael Elder, Joel Churchwell, Patrick Alford, Ralph Taylor, and Stephen Blackburn have been selected.

Thank you, Mr. DeSalms. Do we have any manager's comments this morning?

Yes, just want to take a moment. Friday evening there was a tornado that touched down in Sneeds Ferry and just wanted to express our thoughts and prayers to that community and all those who were impacted and also recognize the many, many first responders, volunteer fire departments, EMS, emergency management, and all the first responders who responded. So just a quick moment of thank you for all those individuals and we're thinking of that community. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Reid. Commissioners, any comments?

Yeah.

I'll take a couple. One is I got asked again about some of the conditional rezoning we did. And having been an advocate of that, I figured I'd tackle that one again. I was at a dinner the other night and I was asked why in the world would you allow these developers to build on this property? And you know, fair enough, great question. But I can't allow, we can't allow or disallow a developer that has by right ability to develop on our property. We can't tell them no. And so I feel like I have to keep evangelizing that, that we do not have the authority to tell a developer or a property owner that they can't build on their property. That is decided by state statute. Now, what we can do is if the developer's kind enough to come to us and say, hey, I wanna develop this property, but I wanna make it as friendly to Onslow County as I can, for us as a board to be able to receive that for our staff with Carter Metcalf and his staff to give ourselves the best opportunity to be successful in growth that we can. Now Carter's team is working on several things coming up that we're supposed to see in the next couple of months to help with growth. But one of those will not be for us to say, no, you can't build. But what can we do? And when we have the opportunity to be able to work with a developer to make a build better, a development better, I think that's doing what's best for the citizens. Giving ourselves opportunity for sidewalks. One of the biggest complaints we get is sidewalk, I mean is traffic. What can we do? Well, when we do one of these ordinances like this, it allows us to say you have to have turn lanes. And that helps eliminate some of the traffic issues where if we don't do that, they don't have to have the turn lanes. And now your traffic's all jammed up. So the board, by doing this practice, is helping. So I think that's just important to keep getting out to the public. We've had two developments that the developers could have built regardless of what this board wanted to do. They just could have went through quarterback calf, went through the process and built. There would have been no public hearing. There would have been no signs. They would have just built. versus we had the opportunity by working with a developer and working as a board to have a better product for our citizens. So I definitely wanted to point that out. I think another important thing is you have this tension of we don't want housing. But there's also folks out there that are saying we don't have affordable housing. Well, the only way housing is gonna become affordable is that you have too much supply. And we don't want to get to too much supply because that creates other issues. But you need enough supply in order to drive the price down. If you don't have supply, the price is going to go up. So these contentions are all things that this board is considering when we make these decisions. So that's my arguments for today, sir. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Hicks.

I'm sorry. Is Mr. Gartner still here? Dr. Gartner? Is he gone? Okay. All right.

Anyone else? Absolutely. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I have a few things to say. I want to appreciate, thank everybody who came and made comments today. But I would suggest that we need to look at our agenda and think about changing the public comment period. If you look out there, notice Mr. Bogey is the only one who was interested enough in our responses to their comments to stay and actually hear what we had to say about it. And I hear people all the time who tell me, out of those, what, 200 people that actually watch this, that actually stay to the end so they can hear what we have to say. So we've got these people who are putting all this information out to the public and then nobody's hearing what our response is to it. They either don't stay here to hear it or they don't stay on the video for an hour to watch it. So I think we need to look at how we can change that. There are some interesting ideas that are presented and I want to respond to Mr. Bogey since he did have the courtesy to stay here. And we do have new positions in our public outreach department that are trying to get more information out to our citizens. And I hope that they'll take some of your suggestions and maybe they can use them to help us to get information out to the citizens. But I think that's something that we as a board ought to look at. Maybe there's a way we can change that public comment so that people who actually come to comment get to hear the response. And I also want to thank the Planning and Zoning Department. We spent two hours here last night talking to probably about 200 people who were concerned about the new ETJ issue. And the public should know, we typically rezone, what, 50, 60 properties in a year, every year. And the State General Assembly told us in August that we had to rezone 1,151 properties, 1,151 properties in 60 days. So it's been a big chore for them, and they're working hard to do it. They had the whole staff here last night, and a lot of people are confused about it. Probably half the people that I talk to actually have... No, it's not going to affect them at all. But because of the notice regulations, we had to send them a letter. They don't understand it. And, you know, I would invite people who don't understand to call Carter and call the planning and zoning staff. Call me if they want to. I'll talk to them and we can make sure we get this right because we've got now about 30 days left. to find the correct zoning for 1,151 properties. And finally, we'd like to thank our I. Kennedy and our GIS people because they have placed the map of the new road, 111, for the airport expansion. That map is now on the GIS. So I've had a lot of inquiries about, you know, people who live out in that area, where is this road actually gonna go? And now it's possible for them to look on the Onslow County GIS and see exactly where that proposed road is gonna go. And I think that's gonna be helpful for a lot of our property owners out there and people who are just interested in that new road. So go on onslowcountync.gov, look up the GIS map and you can see where that new road's gonna go. Thanks for being here this morning. Thanks, Mr. Bogie, for staying around.

Anyone else? Yeah, I just wanted to follow up on what I was saying. I started that discussion with somebody asks me about that zoning. And when I explained to that person at dinner about the conditional rezoning and what we would have gotten and what we did get, they were like, oh, well, I wish somebody would explain that to me. So I would ask that those that are out there putting this information on Facebook and Facebook Twitter and all these other things, please put out both sides of the story so folks can understand because most of my, actually all of my conversations when I explain the conditional rezoning and what they would have gotten versus what they did get, they go, oh, I didn't know that. That's great. So it's been very positive when I have the one-on-ones. Thank you.

Mr. Padgett? I just want to thank everybody for coming and the ones that spoke. We do listen to what you have to say. It might not go your way every time, but we do listen and we do try and we do care. And this Board of Commissioners is trying to do what's in the best interest of everybody. and not have chosen few, and some think it's that way sometimes, but it's not. We try to do what's right for the majority of the people, and we do care about the citizens of Oslo County, and thank you for being here. Thank you, sir.

Commissioner Buchanan, anything?

No. Thanks, everybody, for being here.

All right.

Vice Chairman?

Real quick. Number one, we can talk about the flock cameras and APLRs at a later date. One of the things, you know, we all have various opinions. I appreciate all the speakers coming up. I appreciate you, sir, for speaking. I'm always attentive when you speak because you bring up some very good points, et cetera. But when we talk about the flock cameras, everybody's got their opinion. But, and I'm not even gonna address that. What I am gonna address, though, is that I know that we had a very, very, I'm very proud and confident of our sheriff Chris Thomas, who's the sheriff of Onslow County. I've known him for 36 years. And he's a man of honor. He's a man of integrity. And he's in a quagmire right now because he's trying to do his job to the best of his ability, which I think he's doing a great job to the men and women in the sheriff's department that work hard uh every day and you know whatever kind of advanced license plate reader they got out there whatever it is that's a different issue that we can discuss at another time i understand where you're coming from being retired law enforcement i understand the law enforcement side as well but i also understand the constitutional side too and that's that's for another discussion i just wanted to give prompts to the sheriff for an outstanding job that he's doing and what he's trying to do for this community. He always puts the community and he puts the constitutional rights of the citizens first above all others. And I can attest to that firsthand, knowing the man for 36 years, working with him back in 1990 when I first met him. We're very, very fortunate that Oslo County has a sheriff like we do in Chris Thomas, a man of integrity, a man of honor, and a man who's got a lot of experience. So just keep that in mind when you're talking about all these systems. And the other thing I'm getting a little weary of, and I just wanted to say it real quick, you know, I see all these comments on social media. Social media can be advice. Social media can be good. But I get sick and tired of hearing these comments about lining our pockets and things like that on social media. I don't address them. and then putting false labels on certain commissioners like Mr. Bennett. Stop it. Just stop it. Because I've worked with Mr. Bennett for almost 12 years now. And he's a very smart man. He cares about the citizens. But when you put labels on people saying whose pocket it's lining or whatever, You know, well, if that's the case, you know, Tim Foster and I wouldn't have jobs and continue to be working now, okay? And it's preposterous that you would even say that. People would even say that no matter what is said out there.

Hey, Robin, I still work.

Well, kind of. But, you know, it's preposterous because, you know, I don't say anything. I don't go on social media because once you go on social media, they're going to twist it. They're going to snapshot it. They're going to abuse it. And Mr. Gabbard, you're very familiar with that because you and I have had discussions about this because they don't understand the facts. But, you know, when you're going to point your finger at somebody and make comments and the words of which you said, you know, know what you're talking about. Because, you know, when you say stuff like that that is ludicrous, and then you talk about transparency, that's another word that I get really upset with. People talk about we're not transparent. I don't know how we're not transparent as a county. We're very transparent. We're transparent in almost everything we do. We've been more transparent in the last six years than I can imagine, and I'm a little frustrated with it. I go away on vacation, and I see all this stuff that's being written about pockets this, pockets that. Give it a break. If you're out there writing this garbage, which it is, I'll call you out when I see it because it's garbage. And for God's sakes, quit dinging on a commissioner for no reason other than the fact that you just want to do some dinging. That's what it boils down to. Because you're dinging people for no reason, and it's stupid. And I'm probably going to get dinged now because I'm making this comment and I'm opening my mouth. I don't care. Ding away. But I'm just going to speak the truth. And I'm getting sick of it, you know? Mr. Royce and I don't agree always on everything, but I will agree on one thing about his integrity. And he didn't lay off. Just stop it, because it affects the whole board. And it frustrates me. I'm 6,000 miles away and I'm reading this stuff on social media. Are you kidding me? I'm reading this stuff. And the last thing I want to say is, if you would, I want to shout out to my wife. My wife lost her mother-in-law. We were on vacation, four days into our vacation. And my mother-in-law passed away. And it was very tough for my wife. We're on vacation. She wanted to get back. She wanted to come back. We couldn't come back. I've never met a stronger woman in my life than my wife. And just pray for her. And she's going through a hard time right now because she's very close to her mom. So if you're out there listening, Kelly, we're thinking about you. And thank you for coming today. And thank you to all the speakers that came out and spoke. Appreciate it.

Thank you, Vice Chairman. I know we have another meeting, but I think it's the 26th of September. Is that right for the Sneeze Fairy Shrimp Festival?

Yes.

Yep, yep, yep. I was looking at Dottie out there, so yes. So yes, sorry. So get ready for that. Great day for fried shrimp. Not a great day to be a shrimp. But... Just Mr. Bogey, I appreciate you coming up and talking about Maynard Manor. We did receive an email with those issues there. And I believe I responded with trying to get to our Orphan Road program that we offer here. And I may be going out on the limb here and I may have five people here that may say something to me later for mentioning this. but we can at times go to the legislature and ask for a quarter sales tax increase. And they always want something attached to it. Maybe they give it to us for a year, maybe they give it to us for two years, maybe we take that money and invest in those communities because they're in tough spots. And what little bit we've tried to do is still difficult for them to be able to get those loans. So maybe that's something that we'll discuss and we can get out there. Whether we can or not, I don't know. There's other things we've tried to do with it before, but...

You knew the answer to that.

Oh, yeah. They ain't going to do it. But, man, it would be great to be able to take care of that for them. And you always do a great job coming in, and it's not only a problem, but at times you bring a solution or opportunity to discuss and come up with solutions. So thank you. Maybe Mr. Bogey's day is on the ballot in about four years. I would say if you did that, it would be a welcome to the arena. So, but thank you, sir. We always do appreciate that. And I am going to, before we make our motion here, I will repeat what I try and repeat each and every time. Never apologize for your faith or your patriotism. We now need a motion to adjourn this regular meeting and then a motion to reconvene our closed session. So we have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, we are adjourned from this meeting. Now we need a motion to reconvene. Motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor of the motion signify by saying aye. Aye. All right, thank y'all.