Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

Good morning, everyone. This, the Wednesday, June 3rd, 2026 regular meeting of the Nags Head Board of Commissioners is hereby call to order. If you will please join me in a few moments of silence. Now, if you'll stand as you're able and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. Before we move on, there are several folks here today that I'd like to recognize. We have former Mayor Bob Mueller with us this morning. Former Mayor Renee Cahoon with us this morning. We have former Commissioner and longtime town manager Webb Fuller with us this morning. Former Commissioner Susie Walters is with us this morning. former Commissioner Mike Sears, and I also see several members of the town's art and culture committee and friends of the arts community, and I'd like to say a special welcome to all of you here this morning. The next item on our agenda is the adoption of the agenda, and a motion would be in order. So moved.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. That brings us to recognitions, and I will first call Nancy Kerwin to the podium.

Good morning Mr. Mayor and Commissioners. I'd like to introduce Johnny Basinger. He's a local from Wanchese that moved to Raleigh and returned home to work for water distribution. Working outside is something he has always enjoyed and makes his position with the town of Nags Head's distribution team a great fit. Johnny appreciates the opportunity to contribute, maintaining the infrastructure and services the residents and visitors rely on every day. Johnny now lives in Columbia with his great Dane, Darla. Outside of work, Johnny enjoys fitness and staying active. These interests have helped him develop discipline, determination, and a strong work ethic. He is carried into both his personal and professional life. Johnny is excited to be part of the Town of Nags Head's team and looks forward to getting to know everyone while learning, growing, and serving the community.

Nancy, you're still up.

Yes sir. I'd like to introduce Jamie Wentz. He's with our sanitation department. As a local for 35 years, Jamie graduated First Flight High School in 2010. After graduation, Jamie worked various jobs, always willing to learn new things and expand his skills. The job that taught him the most about hard work and dedication was commercial beach fishing, something that had been in his family for generations. Jamie says there's something humbling about waking up at 4 a.m., pulling 300 yards of net, and having one box of fish. Jamie is a family man and lives in Kill Devil Hills with his wife Amanda and their three sons, Jackson, Jamison, and Lawson. Outside of work, Jamie enjoys coaching football at first flight and his sons in parks and rec basketball. Jamie would like to thank his family and team members for their support during his first weeks and promises to give the town of Nags Head and its residents his all each and every day. Thank you.

This is always a red-letter day for the town of Nags Head when we get to present some special honors, the highest honors that the town of Nags Head is able to present. And we'll begin this morning with the Nags Header Award. The Nags Header Award recognizes a person who made, in, of, and with their life, whether long or prematurely short, significant contributions to the town of Nags Head. Most often those we have acknowledged with this award have been remembered while fondly and with great respect, somewhat distantly, perhaps more legendary than someone personal and real. But today is different and difficult. Today we remember a comrade, a neighbor, and a dear friend. She lived her life and served our community centered around four great passions. First, her family, her husband and their two children. Second, their friends, church friends, YMCA friends, and well, just friends. There weren't many strangers in her life. Third, art. Art in every form, from a simple business sign to a skillful painting to art direction in film and television. And fourth, but not least, fitness. Not just her personal physical fitness, but your fitness, my fitness, teaching fitness, everybody's fitness. Her passions for family and friends are manifest in this room this morning. One nominator wrote, she was my friend for over 30 years. Our children grew up together. We were members of the same church. She was always involved. School, church, youth sports, whenever help was needed around Nags Head or in the larger community, she was always available and always willing to go the extra mile. In these categories, not much more need to be said by me. Of her art, another nominator wrote, she has been a driving force in shaping our community's vibrant arts and culture scene. From her deep involvement in the early years of Artrageous and service to the Dare County Arts Council, to her contributions on the town's art and culture committee, she consistently shared her talent and passion as an artist. She most notably played a pivotal role in the creation of our community's heart, Dowdy Park. And finally, she was described as an accomplished and fierce athlete. She was an inspirational workout and yoga instructor, serving hundreds if not thousands of fitness enthusiasts all over the Outer Banks. Her commitment to community extended to the YMCA even before its doors officially opened. She inspired countless individuals, challenging her class participants to exceed their own expectations while fostering a welcoming and supportive environment. Her energy, radiant spirit, and genuine kindness have left a lasting impression on all who knew her. Her unforgettable smile and the legacy of encouragement and connection she created will continue to inspire Nags Head and the greater Outer Banks for years to come. This year's Nags Header is Carrie Oak Smith Sanders. I'd like to invite members of the family and the board to come around for a presentation. in honor of the footprints left in the legacy of living life in the Nags Head style. The town of Nags Head hereby recognizes Carrie Oaksmith Sanders,

I mean, she would not be happy with whoever did this.

I can tell you one thing, besides fitness, she did love the arts and she did love her town. And she was very thankful for all the support

and done without the support from you guys. So thank you. We really appreciate it.

Our other award is the Nags Head Light Keeper. The Lightkeeper Award recognizes persons who have shaped the image and direction of Nags Head, making significant contributions to the town through their time, talents, and dedication. The word significant falls far short for this year's nominee. Epic comes somewhat closer, and withholding her name until the end will be a little like fruitlessly trying to hide an iceberg in the refrigerator. She has been a devoted member of the Nags Head and Dare County communities for decades, operating with her family a long-standing grocery market and cottage court. In that capacity, she has hosted and served generations of Nags Head visitors and residents, She has been a longtime supporter of the town's small businesses, led many initiatives supporting the business community, and served as chair of the Nags Head Local Business Committee. Throughout, she has been a strong advocate for keeping Nags Head, Nags Head, working to preserve the town's values as a family-oriented beach community. In 1991, she was elected Nags Head Mayor, serving until elected as Dare County Commissioner in 2000. in 2005 she was again elected mayor serving until 2009 after which she was appointed to the board as a commissioner she served as a commissioner until 2023 concluding over 30 years of public service to the town and its citizens additionally she has served on the coastal resources commission for what i believe to be almost 25 years appointed by Governor Cooper as CRC Chair in 2017, and serving in that capacity since. Her influence is evident in so, so much of what Nags Head has accomplished in the last 30 to 35 years. Examples include development of the town's Kraft Septic Health Initiative, promotion of small business, improvements to the pedestrian infrastructure, including multi-use paths and sidewalks, acquisition of numerous parcels of land for public use, and preservation, preservation of Nags Head Woods, development of town facilities and beach accesses, parks and bathhouses, and last but not least, dedication to and support for Nags Head's beach nourishment program. It is difficult to imagine an individual with a longer record of service to Nags Head or a legacy more clearly defined. The history, legacy, and future of Nags Head will remain intertwined with her life work, and her presence here will always be felt. This year's Light Keeper is M. Renee Cahoon. Come on up and anyone else you wish to bring?

Board, if you will.

Good, good. Thank you very much to the board and the community for this honor. Surely I did not come here today for this.

The town's always been my passion, and I truly love the town. The town's been very good to me and my family over the course of the years. Thank you for all the support I've had from the community. And every person does it by themselves. I've had wonderful boards to work with, wonderful staff, family support because all the times I've taken off from work and somebody had to cover for me. That's been multi-generational. Thank you all very much.

Maybe we don't need to.

Maybe we don't need to.

Some extra luggage to take.

This brings us next to a public comment and I'll turn this over to Mr. Lighty.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time, the board of commissioners welcomes members of the public to provide comment on matters of interest or concern to the public. Uh, this is not an opportunity for dialogue and the board rarely responds to such comments, but, um, uh, this is an opportunity to address the board. Please note that we also have a public hearing regarding the budget. If you're here to address the budget. should wait until that public hearing is called but for anyone else who wishes to address the board this is your opportunity please approach the podium start by telling us your name and where you live and i will let you know when your five minutes is just about up anybody seeing no one here for public comment we will close the public comment session

Very good. Thank you, John. That brings us next to the consent agenda, which you have before you, and a motion would be in order. So moved.

Second.

I have a motion and a second. All those in favor, signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. That does bring us to our public hearings and first being a public hearing, their public hearing to consider citizen comments on the Town Manager's recommended operating budget. And I will turn this over to Manager Gorman and to John.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So at this time, we'll open the public hearing to consider citizen comments regarding the manager's recommended operating budget for the upcoming fiscal year. We'll start with any presentation that the manager wishes to make regarding the budget. He's already, of course, presented the budget. But if you have any further remarks to make, Mr. Manager, this would be an appropriate time.

OK. Yes, thank you, John. I do have one thing I wanted to point out. Maybe I'll ask Amy for some assistance as well. As the board is aware, we've had several workshops throughout the course of the spring, including a board retreat to discuss the budget. We presented the budget at the May regular meeting The board did have a workshop about the budget, so we've presented back to you a final budget ordinance. In a minute, maybe Amy could get up and talk a little bit about the changes to the budget ordinance. There were some slight changes between the workshop and now. I do want to point out one thing that sort of came up as we were working through the budget, and it's a change that we've made. It's not a material change in terms of the numbers in the budget, but it's more of an organizational change, and it just, It happened because we've had some retirements in our water department. And so as part of the budget, we decided to show a new organizational chart and look at reorganization of the water department. Currently, we have two divisions. We have distribution and operations. We have staff that work at our water plant and also out in the field managing our water distribution system. We have two superintendents currently, one over each division. Um, with, with some of these changes, we wanted to try and simplify the structure for the water department. And so as part of this attachment, we've got some additional org charts for the board to adopt as part of the process. And so that would basically combine the two divisions into one new division. We're calling it water services. And essentially you would have the, instead of having two separate superintendents, you would have one water services manager and an assistant manager and then staff. And again, It doesn't materially change the budget for the water department. It just simplifies the structure and allows the manager to have a little bit more flexibility on how he staffs the department in terms of how many hours people work at the plant versus out in the field. And so I just wanted to point that out. As part of the budget, certainly we have a budget ordinance for you today that you could adopt. We have scheduled a workshop after this meeting if the board would like to discuss the budget further. And also, if the board decides not to adopt the budget today, we could bring all this back for the mid-month meeting. But we do have the items for you today if you decide to adopt. We have a budget ordinance. We have the pay plan and organizational charts, the CIP, and the fee schedule. And so I believe Amy had written a memo that was in the packet. Maybe you could just talk about that briefly, Amy.

Good morning, mayor and commissioners. In the packet, there was a brief memo regarding some minor changes from the recommended budget to the adopted budget at the budget workshop we held in May. We talked about some organizational changes like Andy had discussed. And one thing essentially that's happened is that the manager has recommended creating an HR assistant position without adding any headcount to the town. And the way that we're doing it is we're switching the part-time person in admin service, there's a part-time position in admin services that helps out at the front, and that position is going to public services admin, and the full-time position in public services admin is being switched to to the town hall position. So I'm essentially gaining a half a position. Nancy's losing half a position, but with this restructuring, we're able to create a new position without again, having adding headcount. So just with those changes being made, there's just some slight changes to the salaries because that that position is split with the water fund also so again it's just a result of changing you know people around between departments and and this hasn't been done yet obviously the board would still have to adopt it so this would just be a result if that did happen um and and other than the other changes that andy discussed there there is a slight change in the ordinance just because of the restructuring of the Water Operations Department and the Water Distribution Department, we are calling it Water Services. So in the Water Fund budget ordinance, we have combined those two departments and called them Water Services instead of the two separate outs. So that did change the ordinance just in the name. And that's about it. But again, we're happy to, any other changes, you know, Andy had discussed, we're open to any feedback and this can certainly be changed. but we're happy to answer any questions.

Does the board have any questions for Ms. Miller?

No questions.

No questions. Thank you.

Thank you, Amy. Thank you, ma'am.

Thank you.

Anything else you want to present, Mr. Garman?

Not at this time. Thank you.

All right. Thank you, sir. Does any member of the public wish to comment on the proposed budget?

Yes, sir.

Mr. Former Mayor, if you would please approach the podium, tell us your name for the record, and then to address the budget.

I promise I will not take as long as George Crocker when he spoke to the board for 90 minutes. I rise in the spirit of John Acree used to come before the board at every public hearing and tell you that he was John Q. Public and he was there to protect the public's pennies because if you watched the pennies, the dollars would accumulate. My name is Bob Mueller. I live at 124 West Old Cove Road. At your last budget hearing, the mayor suggested that I would speak today so as not to disappoint the mayor. I decided I would come and do that. You're very welcome, sir. I want to start by thanking staff for their patience in answering a host of questions that I've been sending. You saw one set of responses. Amy Miller has been diligently responding to me over the last couple of days and they were both gracious and very, very helpful. I also want to recognize all the work that town staff, and of course the board has put into the development of this budget it is not a simple document and it's not just the budget it's the cip and it's the paying classification study that you've done this year and all the other things that build into the document many of which i will say that you have adopted as they've come forward but i would urge you to consider that that adoption is not complete until you see how they integrate into the budget and that must be the place where you make a final decision about whether you actually are gonna be able to do the things that you hope to do when you adopt the things like the CIP. So, slide. The budget contains a half million dollars being taken from undesignated fund balance. It represents about a penny in the tax rate the town is avoiding a one cent tax increase by using its savings account. That is unsustainable and it sets you up for what staff has already told you will be a two cent tax increase next year if no changes are made to this year's budget. My goal in looking at this budget was to find a way to eliminate the need for that $500,000 draw from undesignated fund balance. And I believe that I at least have some suggestions for how you might do that. First thing I want to do, and this is not really a comment, this is more of a question that I did not get a chance to submit. Salaries increase, salaries alone, not benefits. Salaries this year increased a million dollars. A million dollars. That's about a 10% increase, 9.8% increase in your total salary line. I've been able to identify Some of that costs, but there's a piece that I'm missing. It may be in some of the changes that Amy and Andy were just talking about. It may be in new positions. It may be in other things, but I hope that you will look for that because that's over $300,000 in costs that I could not directly pull out of the budget. Pay and classification costs $234,000. You chose an implementation strategy at your retreat. You have well-deserved merit increases for staff in there at $156,000. And you have paying the 3% COLA, which I'll talk about in a minute, at $314,000. That totals up to $704,000. I'm still missing that piece, and I'm sure Amy and Andy can help you find it. Look hard at that. That's 3% right there. And as you think about this budget, understand that you are giving, you are putting an awful lot of money into your employees. While they are the most valuable part of the town apparatus, you couldn't do it without them, you're also asking taxpayers to pick up that tab. Slide, please. So is the 3% cost of living justified? I believe it is not. Very simply, when you adopt a paying classification study, you set your pay rates at the market rate. In fact, at this point for the town, you set it at the market rate plus 5% because you wanna be highly competitive and find the best employees as we have done in the past. I support that positioning of the pay structure, but I do not support putting another 3% on top of that. When you adopt the Pay and Classification Plan, you are at the market. You do not need to add another 3%. And I would point out to you that you're already giving, that Pay and Classification Plan has already added over 2% benefit to the employees. It benefits over 80 employees, and it includes not just that $200,000 plus, it includes an additional day off, and it includes an increase in longevity pay for your long-term workers. Town and Exit employees are being well served by the Pay and Classification Plan. The taxpayers do not deserve to pay another $300,000 for a cost of living when you've already got the employees at market. Slide, please. Let's talk about traffic lights. In the capital funding, Boy, don't ask me to explain the capital fund, capital improvement fund, and the various funds you've got drawn up. They seem to work well for you. You've got two traffic lights tucked away, and they're at $175,000 each. One of them is Lakeside Drive. It is supported by a traffic study and the creation of the new hotel. It is well-deserved, and I'm pleased to see that that street is getting widened. The other one is this proposed traffic light at the event site. And let me start by saying that I believe there is a safety concern for police officers working in the middle of the right-of-way when those events are happening. I do not believe this cost should be borne by the town's taxpayers. This is a problem created by the Visitors Bureau and it is the Visitors Bureau and the folks who are making money on that site who should be paying the $60,000 additional for this traffic light. Yes, the Visitors Bureau has put in $115,000. The town taxpayers have no cost for this site now, nor should they have a cost for the traffic light. I urge you to go back to the Visitors Bureau and ask them to put this money in. if the town truly if the town believes strongly that there is a safety issue there i suggest the town not allow its employees to work in the middle of the street and put them and and put them at risk if that's an unsafe situation then don't let your employees do it and that'll put some pressure on folks to make sure that a traffic light does in fact get there as long as you're allowing your employees to do that you're saying that you think it's safe for them to do so This would save approximately $60,000 in the general fund. Slide. Sidewalks. You're proposing to put a sidewalk from Carolas to Drive down to Soundside Road. This would complete a missing section of the 158 sidewalk. This is in the capital improvements plan, and interestingly, when you review the capital improvements plan, you use a system that came out of work that was done by Mr. Fuller, who was here earlier, and Anna McGinnis, and Bruce Bortz, and myself back in the 80s. When we built the first capital improvements plan, we said, how are we going to evaluate this? And they said, well, we've been talking a lot about service levels, and let's talk about how projects will affect service levels. We said, we can do this as staff, we can do this as sort of capital improvements committee submitted report. The board will never adopt a service level based evaluation. They'll make it political. Well, lo and behold, the board did and boards have continued that process much to their credit all the way through. You look at capital improvements plans as to whether they bring a service level up to, whether they're meeting an unsatisfactory service level, whether they're maintaining a service level because it's under threat from growth or other increase in demand. and the lowest level is to say this is a service level, this is an increase in service level. You rank this path as an increase in service level. I suggest to you when you're spending a penny tax on the tax rate worth of dollars, when you're putting them in your budget rather than raising taxes, when you're drawing on your savings to pay your bills, you have no business doing things that increase your service level. There's a perfectly adequate alternative to this, which is to cross, coming from the north, to cross at Hollowell Street, go to the Beach Road, go down to Dune Street, cross back over to 158, and to use the sidewalk on the east side of 158, the town installed from Dune Street to Deering Street, to meet just this need, and then cross back over at Deering Street at the post office. If you come in the other way, then you reverse that process. sidewalk's a great thing, it'd be lovely to have, it'd be very impressive if the town cannot afford to pay its bills, if the town's using savings to pay its bills, this is not the project the town should be doing. It's over a million dollars for 10 years, it's $90,000 this year, it's $134,000 next year, and it keeps on going up. You're going to be told you have a grant for it that's saving you the cost. I suggest to you that just because an item is on sale, that doesn't mean you have to buy it. When you go to the grocery store, just because the best tomato sauce is on sale is not necessarily what you buy. You buy only what you need. Slide, please. So when you combine all three of these savings, when you take $314,000 out for the cost of living increase, when you take out, and I've added 10% to the cost of living increase to reflect a decrease in benefits, which includes both FICA and overtime pay, decrease in overtime pay. That number may not be exact, but it's within the margin of error, if you will. $60,000 for the street light funding, $97,000 for the sidewalk project. You're saving $499,294. So you're saving, I've got you just shy, pennies shy of $500,000. I strongly encourage you to make these changes to put that money back in your designated fund balance. Next year when staff comes to you and says we need a tax increase, you'll have it there if you want it. I'll also note that reducing the salaries, not increasing salaries this year, not reducing salaries, that's unfair. Decreasing salaries, not increasing salaries this year, removes the compounding effect of those increases. Because every time you increase salaries, you're gonna pay them every year going forward and you'll get percentage increases going forward. As I indicated, you have looked at each of these items individually. You have approved them. Now they're before you in a large package. You see the full impact of those decisions and I urge you to make these changes. And with that, I'll be happy to answer any questions or cede the floor to anybody else who wants to speak. Thank you.

Does the board have any questions for Mr. Muller? Thank you, sir. Does any other member of the public wish to comment on the budget? Does the board wish to receive any other information regarding the proposed budget from staff?

I do want to ask staff to respond to some of these. Would that be appropriate in the hearing? Yes, sir. Okay. All right. If I may, with the board's... Yes. I would like to ask perhaps Jan, Amy, or Andy first to address the salary question that former Mayor Mohler presented. If you're prepared to do that. Amy?

I do have a couple responses regarding the salary, the the unfound 300,000 and without having the benefit of actually looking at it this morning, there are some things off the top of my head that I can comment on. There was a new position added in facilities maintenance, so we do have one new position in the budget. Additionally, The seasonal position in planning for the events has been turned into a part-time year-round position, so those are two things. We did increase the longevity, as was stated, and that added about $40,000. We have within-grade increases and career progression increases. Um, we do have, and again, without kind of being able to go line by line, um, we do have three new police officers or three police officers that are retiring and there we will be paying their salaries out of law enforcement officer, uh, separation allowance. So that will be added. Um, and I made, I was making a few notes. Ocean rescue salaries have increased. So again, without having the benefit of,

looking at the spreadsheet um i i know that those are some things that can justify um that discrepancy without being to the exact dollar but i'm pretty confident that can account for a lot of it at least okay thank you and could you um one of you speak to the way that the cola was applied that the the the study and then the cola were applied and how all of that was constructed

Sure. When we did the salary study, that was done in January. It was in the winter. What we were comparing ourselves to was before anybody was adding any COLAs, it was salaries before COLAs were even thought about for us or anybody else. The salary study was separate and apart from any COLA. We did do, you know, an above the market, a 5% above the market, but that was 5% before any colas, you know, before anybody was applying cola. So it was kind of apples to apples. So the way we applied the cola was everybody's salary as of, you know, June, then the three percent cola was applied and then the paying class so um again the cola was completely separate from the paying class and when we did our market study it was before any colas were were applied if that makes sense so it wasn't comparing you know us with having a cola with it was basically no colas were were in that analysis it was just what the salaries were in the in the winter okay thank you

We used about 18 other towns that we looked at to compare ourselves to, and that's essentially the market we chose. And so Jan, or the consultant, reached out to those communities and pulled their salary data. That was the salary range data that was adopted on July 1 of 2025. And so then those communities theoretically would be adopting a new salary range on July 1, 2026. with a COLA included. And so if we didn't include a COLA, then we would automatically be that percent behind, you know, if we didn't do the COLA and the pay ranges that were based on last year's market data. And that's how we looked at it.

Thank you.

I was going to mention a COLA is specifically for the beach towns here are ranging between 3% and 5%. And that would be like manuals, . So the .

All right. And for the benefit of those watching, if the mic didn't pick that up, the local communities are 3 to 5, COAs of 3 to 5% this year. Okay. Thank you. The next question I would ask would be the sidewalk or the multi-use path at Jockey's Ridge. I do know that I've been the recipient of numerous emails from citizens who were interested in seeing that stretch developed and built. It has been part of the plan. So, Amy, if you or Andy could speak to the funding of that the grants received and the annual cost of that debt service.

Sure. Feel free to chime in. I think we had we were able to to cut the cost down a little bit to about one point. I think it was 1.6 million. I don't have it in front of me, but I do. I do know from from memory, unfortunately, sadly, that the debt payment is it's less than 100,000 a year. We are going to finance the portion that's not funded by a grant, and it's between 90 and 100,000. for next year. But that is that we are financing it over.

Thank you. Let me let you come back up if you don't mind.

Look at your budget. Yeah. Look at your budget. Okay. All right.

Thank you. Can I ask you a quick question? Yes. Or just so Amy can clarify something. Yes. For the financing for the multi-use path, We included other things in that.

Yes, we did include other things. Thank you for bringing that up, Andy. This has to be approved by the local government commission because it's a real property improvement. You cannot collateralize. When you finance something, according to state statute, it has to be collateralized. You can't collateralize a sidewalk. They can't come and take it away from you if we don't pay our bills. So we collateralized some improvements at Town Hall. We collateralized, it was the elevator, Andy? And like the what's that called? Not the transfer switch. Yes. So.

Yeah. So we chose some items that we needed to do here because we've been sort of deferring the maintenance of our or the replacement of the town hall elevator. And so the contractor has been telling us for years they cannot get parts for that anymore. And so if it breaks down, we could be waiting months to replace it. So we want to proactively replace it. And then also, we have an electrician that we bring in to do things for us, and he's been telling us for years that we need to look at replacing the transfer switch and the electrical equipment in the back of the building. And so we've added those projects in with the multi-use path as one financing package.

And so and the town hall kind of adding on to that, the whole town hall campus is already collateralized because of the wellness facility in the apartments, because all of these little buildings are not parceled off into separate parcels. It's all one parcel. So the whole campus is is already or this whole part of town hall is already collateralized. So if we use the same bank, they already have a collateral on this property. So by doing the improvements at town hall, that would fall within the statutes of the collateralization requirements for the LGC. So that is tied into that just because you can't collateralize a sidewalk or multi-use path.

Right. Thank you.

And then in terms of the grant funding, I don't know if you already said this, but I know we got the $750,000 from the Visitors Bureau. We got a state trails grant for the design.

Yes, we received a $100,000 grant for the design of that trail. Just the way it's being designed now is going around Jockey's Ridge between Carolista and West Soundside Road. So we are designing that now.

um we did get a hundred thousand dollars to do that we've done topographic survey and david has been working with with his ravenel to do a preliminary design that we then used to have a discussion with dot and also the state parks already about that so we're trying to work towards being able to apply for permits and you know um so that that is sort of underway now obviously the bidding wouldn't occur until later in the summer i think is the goal Thank you.

So we're not 100% sure how much town money is going to be needed above the 750 is correct.

Yeah, I mean the everything's an estimate and you know originally we had one estimate the CIP and David went back in and sharpen the pencil and tried to make some refinements to the design. There is a some bulk heading involved. And then also we have reduced the width of the sidewalk through the really constrained section to try and get through that area without impacting the park or getting outside of the right of way. And so we won't know the actual cost till it goes out to bid. But obviously I think David tries to be conservative with his estimates so that hopefully when it comes back, you know, it's less, but. We'll hopefully know that later this summer, be able to update you on that. And then the actual number would be taken forward into the financing.

Thank you. Any questions from board members?

I have another question. With the paying classification study, it might be for Jan. I think I'm of the understanding that every employee is not affected with a salary increase in that study. Is that right?

that 87 employees are affected, and the remainder, we've got 119 staff.

The remainder are already paid at Worldwide Market. I was going to do Roberta Comey. I was going to translate.

Chasing you to the podium.

yes to answer your question commissioner um 87 staff members are impacted by the study that leaves the remaining um we have 119 full-time staff and that is because they're already paid either at or above the market preference point okay all right thank you

And I think last I'll ask Amy about the, you've talked quite a bit to us about the implications of drawing from the fund balance and where that leaves us in terms of our fund balance. How we got to that point in fund balance, how that leaves us with respect to the board policies with regard to fund balance and its impact going forward on what we anticipate being tax rates in the future.

Sure, so the board, I guess we do have two separate fund balances. We do have a fund balance policy in the Capital Investment Fund, and we have a fund balance policy in the General Fund. Last year, we were above our fund balance policy. We were in the 20-some percent. It was above 25%. We didn't contribute any money to the capital investment fund because we were not over 35%. And I will say in one of the budget amendments you did is the grants are great, but you do have to get reimbursed for the grants. We have to pay for them first and get it back. And so this year and last year, there were some timing issues. So we're fronting the money for that. So even though it was dipped low last year, a lot of it was because of the grants, because we hadn't even though I'm applying for them every month, it is a timing issue with some of the grant reimbursements. For example, Project Area 12 and 13, they're withholding the last bit of money because we have to submit a lot of paperwork. So the last 5% we have to front that until they give it to us. So a lot of it is a timing issue, but still it is it is real. So the way we use our budget estimates when we prepared the budget, I took our budget estimates and I did account for the fund balance appropriation to get to what I'm estimating will be more within the 30% range this year just because of the grant reimbursements interest that the fair market value that we get on our investments. So while I don't, again, more so because of the timing of the grants, anticipate that we're going to be above the 35% policy, I do think that we will be within fund balance policy. And again, a lot of this is a timing issue with the grants.

All right. Thank you. All right. Board, any further questions?

Not this moment.

No questions. Okay. Thank you. Is there anything else the staff wishes to present regarding the budget? Nothing from staff. And anything else the board wishes to receive before we conclude the public hearing? All right, at this time we will conclude the public hearing to consider the proposed budget for 26-27.

All right, thank you. Board discussion. What is your pleasure today in terms of considering the budget? I do want to thank former Mayor Muller for a thorough analysis of the town's budget and the presentation of questions. I think regardless of what the board chooses to do, I think the edification of the public and how all of this comes to be. You know, I'm aware that we do all of this discussion through a series of meetings. And some folks pay close attention to that. Quite a bit of the public does not. And so I think it's very beneficial to have further discussion on days like today about some of the critical questions, how we got where we are. So, board?

I just have a general remark, philosophical sort of, that I, overall, I think this is a proactive budget. I'm glad about that. I think it's important that we you know, keep moving forward and looking forward. And as long as we're staying within the confines of, you know, our rules, obviously, that we should consider. I mean, backing off projects that are really positive and, you know, really popular, such as the Multi-use path and things like that, you know, this stuff's all tied into long-term planning and all that so I don't I don't get the impression that we're you know skidding towards a big problem by continuing on the track, you know deferred maintenance of Town Hall and isn't good in the short, certainly long run. So I think, I guess that's my comment right now. I'm glad to see that it's proactive. I think it's really important that the pay study and that we put our money where our mouth is, so to speak, regarding the importance of our staff and employees. And that's about it for me, really.

Thank you. Commissioner Sanders.

Yeah, I really like the questions that the former mayor brought up. I think it does kind of chug, you know, make the brain kind of move a little bit and make you think about all this stuff. But I do think that staff's put a lot of time into this budget, and I think it is a proactive budget as well. I, too, have received numerous, numerous emails and discussions about the jockeys ridge multi-use path and i kind of favor that kind of heavily so i mean but and that kind of makes you look at sharpening the pencil for the next couple years because uh two percent two cent tax increase does seem a little a little much but that is something we could work on down the road okay thank you

First, I appreciate all the work that went into this budget, and I appreciate the engagement from Mayor Moeller, but I do echo what Commissioner Vaughn said on being proactive. I take a lot of pride that I feel that we are very proactive in what we do and not being reactive. And I think that this budget is very proactive. And again, a lot of the stuff that has been brought up is stuff that I have heard overwhelming praise that people are happy that they're seeing us do that. So I feel that this budget is in line with goals and wants that we've seen, and I believe that it's budgeted properly. But I do appreciate Mayor Muller's engagement, because it is a lot, and it's important to see people do that.

Okay, Commissioner? Okay, so I also appreciate the fact that former Mayor Muller found ways to save money. I do have concerns about reneging on something that we've promised with the Visitors Bureau. While I would be great if they paid for the whole thing, but we've already made this agreement, so I don't know how that would work to take that money back. I would love to save the money, but I also have hesitations about how we would ever make that happen. So I think we should stick to what our agreement was with them. I've also heard a lot about the multi-use path. We would lose the money that we've invested, or we would lose our grant money if we didn't continue forward with that, and there is a lot of public support for that. So I would hate to take that out of this budget as well, especially since the amount that we're gonna be paying is only, hopefully, around $100,000. With the salary increases and the COLA, I want to give this, support to our staff i don't know if should we wait on the budget to find out where this unidentified three hundred and twenty four thousand dollars is well i i know that it's all accounted for should we wait to vote on that until it's publicly presented

Well, somebody else may speak to this.

The question has been raised.

Yeah, but I think that the, to Amy's point, the numbers in the budget do add up. And I think she gave some explanation to, to sort of how that occurred. And we have had a public presentation on that particular plan at a previous meeting. I also don't like the notion of drawing from savings. What the town has done, and this is a product of generations of commissioners who've sat here and who contributed to and created a process that the board has continued to develop and refine, that staff applies, that the board um has um is very policy driven and goal driven and our um our plan that we have in place and staff does i think staff does a good job of implementing what the board's goals are um which are reflected in part in the in what the town has asked us to do and and by survey what the town says they're happy with doing and the town constructs this budget with a multi-year view you know looking looking back i mean we put money in savings for a purpose and we look forward to budget increases increases in the future for a purpose and there are implications to I understand being analytical about it, but there are implications too of pulling out pieces in a given year and how that cascades down the road in terms of what future costs may be. And so I have a fair bit of faith in staff and how they've put this together, and in the board, because the board has been very thoughtful for the last several years in considering how this plan moves forward. We've had numerous discussions about the capital plan. We do look ahead several years every time we get the budget. We do see line items for the future, so I'm inclined to say that for myself that I think that we have a good budget here, that staff has been very thoughtful about this. We are going to have to bite the bullet going forward with either a cut or tax increase. And we know that, but I do believe that this is the right place for us to be right now in terms of this budget and the projects that we have in it. which is basically a summation of what all of you said already. So thank you. So having had that discussion, I would ask if the board is ready to move forward perhaps with moving the ordinance and the various other items.

I think so. I had one more question. There were quite a few items that were cut from this year's budget. Is that, I think you said in the workshop, so.

Yeah, we certainly cut the lower ranked CIP items We tried to focus on first the maintenance items, the replacement schedule for vehicles, trying to take care of the things that we have to do, the things that we already have. So whether it's maintaining equipment, replacing vehicles, maintaining our existing assets, that usually always ranks first. You know, now sometimes the grant funds do push something up in the rankings, you know, so recognizing that the multi-use path, we had the sort of large grants in place for that, that does push that up. But we do try to cut things. We did cut things. We presented things to you during the workshop, including some of the position requests that didn't make it into the budget. And so, you know, we try to be mindful, you know, I, you know, communicated a lot with former Mayor Mueller over the last few days. We provided him with some responses to questions. You know, I appreciate this astute level of analysis of the budget. You know, I don't think many people could do this. You know, to look at things in this detail. And it sort of makes me sweat too. I mean, in terms of like, okay, you know, the level of thinking we need to put into this and, you know, for next year, you know, the things that we're going to have to get into. And I keep saying this, but I think next year is going to take a lot. It's going to be a challenge to get where we need to go. And, you know, we're going to have to pull back on some things that we've been doing consistently for many years. And I think that there's a balance there between capital and operating costs and personnel costs. And you don't want to sacrifice one for the other, you know, but you want to come up with a good balance. And so, yeah.

challenges on us to try and propose something that does that okay all right thank you andy so we have uh four things that we need to act on this morning those being the budget ordinance the pay plan and the org chart the recommended capital improvement program and the consolidated fee schedule so we'll take them in that order you have the budget ordinance before you um With a total budget of $35,691,858. Having discussed this, a motion would be in order. A motion to adopt would be in order.

I'll make a motion to adopt the budget as presented.

Thank you. Do I have a second?

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. That brings us to the pay plan and the organizational chart, which has been updated as noted this morning. And so a motion would be in order.

I move that we adopt the pay plan and organizational chart.

Okay, is there a second?

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Thank you. We have the recommended capital improvement program.

I'll make a motion to adopt a recommended capital improvement program.

Okay, thank you. And I have a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Opposed? Thank you. And last but not least, the consolidated fee schedule.

I'll make a motion to approve the fee schedule.

Okay, thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor signify by saying aye. Aye. Opposed? All right, thank you. That brings us next to reports and recommendations from the Planning Board and the Planning Development Director. Safe travels, Mayor.

Thank you.

Thank you. Good morning. Good morning, mayor and commissioners. I'll be pretty brief this morning. Start off by talking about the planning board at their last meeting on Tuesday, 19th, 2026. They heard the vested right special use site plan application that was submitted by Michael Robinson on behalf of the Tar Heel Motel. Specifically, this was for addition of a two-story, 26-room hotel located at 7001 South Croatian Highway. The planning board voted unanimously to recommend approval of this, but typically you would see this at your next meeting, at your July meeting, but the applicant and the engineer has asked to push this to August so that they have a little bit more time to work on the engineered septic design. So it won't be July, it'll be August when you see this next. Also, staff presented to the planning board the strategic plan and kind of talked about the planning items and how that would fold into a work plan for the planning board moving forward. We do have one text amendment coming up for the planning board's June 16th meeting, and that was submitted by Ms. Bayer on behalf of BIPA LLC, so that's, The shopping center on the causeway, Caribbean Corners, text amendments are not site-specific, but the request there is to consider a text amendment to allow water-dependent uses, recreational uses as a permissible use within commercial mixed-use developments, such as a shopping center. We didn't have anything for the Board of Adjustment in May. As far as the Septic Health Advisory Committee goes, we didn't meet this past month, but the flyers that went out, we continue to see a lot of engagement and interaction from those. We're still moving forward with the DWI zero interest loan, getting those letters out. to engage with them, and then further down in the report, we talk about Dowdy Park, art and culture, things that are coming up, and the farmer's market is one of them, so we do have our environmental planner, Connor Twitty, who's gonna be there trying to get more information out at the farmer's markets as well. Estrin Shoreline Management Plan. For the Harvey and Soundside event site, we're really looking at just trying to navigate some Questions about the conservation easement there, but it is moving forward. Villa Dunes and Catfish Farm, there haven't been a lot of changes there. For the Soundside Road project, we do have the easement language ready and we're trying to coordinate some engagement with property owners. As I mentioned, Dowdy Park, Farmer's Market, and Art and Culture Committee's items. There is a lot going on there. Things are beginning to kick up. Tuesday morning yoga has already started. It's been going really well. Our event coordinator, Paige Griffin, has said there's between 25, 28 people there. at our Tuesday morning sessions. Farmers Market, the first one is Thursday, June 11th. We do have some additional fitness programs. Wake Up Wednesdays are starting on June 3rd, so this morning was the first. And then we have Fitness Fridays as well, beginning this coming Friday. Our first concert's gonna be June 10th. It'll be the first of 13 summer concerts. and Wagon Wednesdays at her dog park will kick off June 17th. Staff member, Bobbi Sue Lubros, she was the part-time person for the front desk. She has transitioned to part-time seasonal event planner, helping Paige Griffin out for the summer season. and Art and Culture Committee continue to work with artist Julie Moy on some concepts for the walkway at Dowdy Park, trying to do a mosaic there. And we do have a couple of new art masks that are ready to go up, and those were included in your packet. Let's see if we can make this. There we go. Who are the artists who do this? Sure. So Brent Nultemeier, I think, might be how you say his last name, and Carol Hennessy.

Nice.

Very nice.

And that's all I have.

Any questions for Kelly?

No.

Great. Thank you. Thank you, Kelly. That brings us to New Business and their committee reports. I'll start on my left with Commissioner Harrison.

GACC committee is not meeting until July. But Roberta is busy working on videos at present.

Great.

And we were talking about possibly showing some of the videos that get made from the county relating to Nags Head at some board meetings if the board is interested in the future. Because they're short. They're like three minutes. And I think it would be fun to see what these guys are putting together. Yeah. Yeah.

It would. That'd be great. OK. Thank you. Commissioner Weber. Thank you.

Um, no update for the septic health committee. Um, we haven't met yet, but Kelly updated as well.

Okay. All right. Good. Um, jockeys Ridge advisory committee meets Monday. Um, and I mean, not jockeys Ridge, Jeanette's peer advisory committee.

Sorry. It meets Monday.

Um, and, um, there will be, there's going to be a fairly extensive walkthrough of the recent improvements they've made. And, um, I, I'll extend this invitation without asking them. I think if any commissioners want to be there, is it at 9 o'clock on Monday or is it 10? I think it's at 9. Um, for commissioners, if you want to be part of the walk through, I think that would, that would be fine. Um, anybody who has time and wants to, wants to share, um, handy, you'll have the time here in a minute, eight 30, eight 30. So eight, eight, eight 30, that's Monday. Uh, this, this coming Monday. Um, and I'll let them know I've extended this invitation for the, for the walkthrough portion of the, of that meeting. Mr. Sanders.

Well, I just got appointed to a committee that's kind of new. They had their logo revealed at their housing foundation last Friday. I was out of town.

I think you were there. I was there.

Yeah, good, good. So that's going well, and they're looking at identifying some possible sites for housing right now, and we're working on that, and it's very interesting and going really well.

Okay.

I can report on that very briefly. It was a great turnout. I think most of the local mayors were there. Members of their board were present there. It was a pretty big turnout. It was pretty nice. Coffee and light breakfast. A lot of good discussion about, and there were some exhibits about where they're moving. And I know, I believe they have, currently they have issued a request for proposal. They are looking for architects to design small homes, a package of small homes for them. And they did reveal their new logo. So it was fun, it was nice to see all those folks there supporting that effort.

Commissioner Vaughn?

The Deer County Tourism Board met on May 21st and Ms. Wyatt already described some work that they're doing on the conservation easement for the estuary and shoreline project down by the event site. The steering committee reported to us that they, and the board approved an RFP, staff put together language for an RFP for someone to do a three to five year plan for the Soundside event site. They're looking at multitudinous things, so I'll keep you all apprised as that comes in, but they're doing sort of, like I said, a three to five year plan, considering what to do with the things that were mentioned, where the Dairy Queen building, the vacant land, these kind of things, trying to sort of tie the parking together, just get a general short-term plan. It's not the first time they've looked at it, but I'll certainly keep you apprised on that. And then I thought something that would be interesting, we had our, you get a lot of figures every month, But we had first quarter figures for totals throughout the county. And I think these are relevant. Meals and occupancy are basically flat. A slight increase, less than a percent up. across the county but I thought of special interest to us might be that for the first quarter so we're in the winter season Nags Head and there's 16 districts reporting for occupancy and Nags Head represents 23% of that total gross And when it comes to meals, it's 15 reporting, and we're at about 18, almost 19%. So that's Nags Head's contribution to the totals throughout the county, and that's for the first quarter. So I think I'll keep those coming to us so we can see. I'm imagining that might change in the summer, too. So we're doing our share.

Okay, very good. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that.

All right, thank you everybody for your work, not only on this board, but all the other committees and boards and all the other things that you do as well. That brings us to consideration of disaster debris removal. David. We don't do this every year, do we? Do we do this every few years?

yes good morning mayor and commissioners so annually we go ahead and we enter into agreements for debris removal and debris monitoring and about every four years we have to go ahead and send out an rfp and start that process over again So this year it was our time for the debris removal services to go ahead and send out a request for proposals. We had received eight proposals in response to the RFP. And with that, We had gotten some really competitive pricing, but pricing is not the only consideration when considering these responses. It also includes responsiveness, especially here out in the coastal environment. We want to ensure that we get a response within a 48-hour period or less. Also, we want to make sure that the contractor is qualified That they have a management plan in place that part of their planning plot process includes some of the town's staff as well as Just overall experience within the coastal environment and being able to respond to a large-scale event So of the eight responses that we had received, we had asked for a whole matrix of pricing for that, which includes estimation of debris removal for vegetation, construction, other related debris, hauling. We also get personnel hourly rates and equipment hourly rates, as well as mobilization. And I've got a summary of what that looks like here. Get this to work. I guess we're having some technical difficulty. But what we had received of the eight responses, the lowest value that we had received was from DRC Emergency Services. That's up here on the screen. We've got just a layout and a breakdown of schedule one and schedule two rates, which include the hauling, the debris removal, as well as the personnel, the equipment, and the mobilization. DRC Emergency Services had the lowest submitted amount in the amount of $5.3 million, followed by CTC at 5.364, SDR, and Aftermath Disaster Recovery Services. And in addition to the value of these contracts, we also assess them based upon the other criteria. And with all that being considered, DRC Emergency Services, who is our current vendor, ended up ranking the highest out of the eight submissions that we have received. So for your consideration is for the town manager to enter into a preposition contract with DRC Emergency Services for the provision of debris removal services for a post-storm response. In addition to this, we have debris monitoring services. This year, we're still in the renewal process. Debris Tech is our current provider, and we would ask for a consideration to go ahead and renew that existing agreement. So we would be looking at two separate actions, one to authorize the town manager for DRC emergency services, and the other is the renewal for the debris monitoring with our existing vendor, which is DebrisTech LLC.

One question. DRC has been our contractor for some time. Have they had a, I know that one of the things we asked you to do, I think four years ago, was to look at them and their response, and you checked around some, I think, to see how they, sort of what their reputation was for responding to disaster.

Yes, and we had done some outreach and we had spoken with four different municipalities and the responses that we received from them were outstanding. In addition to that, we asked them about their responsiveness. Within the agreement, we talk about response within a 48 hour period. They have agreed to responding 100% within a 48 hour period. 50% within a 24 hour period and have done outreach with local subcontractors. I think there's a half a dozen. So once a storm hits, they can use local boots on the ground to be able to hit that initial what they call push and shove period. Okay, gotcha. Okay. Any questions for David?

All right. Then a motion to authorize the manager to enter into agreement with DRC emergency would be in order.

So moved.

I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye.

Aye.

Aye. And then to authorize the manager to enter into contract with, enter into agreement with DebrisTech for monitoring. And a motion would be in order.

So moved. Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Great, thank you.

Thank you, David. Could we take a quick?

We sure can. The board will be in recess for about 10 minutes.

Sorry about that.

Sorry.

OK, the board has returned from its break. I want to acknowledge that former commissioner Anna Sadler is in the audience now. Good morning and welcome. Always good to see you. The next item on our agenda is consideration of an appointment to the Board of Adjustment. You see the expiration of a term there before you on the roster, and we have a candidate list there, and a nomination would be in order.

I'd like to nominate Mary Kaye Gay for the Board of Adjustment.

Thank you. Is there a second?

I'll second.

I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. That brings us to items from the town attorney.

Mr. Whitey. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I actually do have a couple things this morning. First, I know you're going to have a presentation on the beach nourishment project update, but I just wanted to give you an update on the easement acquisition process. I was just discussing that with Ms. Thuman, who's been intimately involved in that. We have filed 25 actions to acquire easement rights. Initially, we started with a list of about 35 properties, and as we started working on this, several people gave easements at the last minute. Of the actions that we filed, several people have contacted us wanting to know what do they need to sign to give the town the rights that are being sought. Um, but, um, that's where that process stands. Um, secondly, I wanted to give you an update on the Cherry, uh, Inc. versus Town of Nags Head litigation. As you all know, that case is pending in the Court of Appeals. And I think at the, uh, the May meeting, I reported that we had submitted our brief in response to their brief. Um, since that time, there have been two developments. One is, um, as I had previously mentioned, um, uh, two, um, organizations have submitted a brief, a joint brief, an amicus curiae brief has been submitted by the Southern Environmental Law Center and the Duke Environmental Law and Policy Clinic on behalf of Dr. Robert Young, Dr. Stanley Riggs, the North Carolina Surfrider Foundation and the North Carolina Land of Water Organization. So they, the amicus brief supports the town's position in this case. And yesterday the plaintiffs, appellants in this case filed a reply brief, two hour brief and the amicus brief and so now the briefing is completed And at this point, we're waiting for the Court of Appeals to let us know whether they're gonna hear oral arguments in the case or whether they're gonna hear the case just on the briefs. That's something we should know probably in the next 60 days or so. So that's where that stands.

Good, progress. Yeah, progress. Yeah, very good, thank you.

That brings us to items from the town manager. And the first is the fireworks display update.

Welcome Deputy Chief Shane Hite.

Good morning. Good morning, Mayor and Commissioners. Thank you all for letting me talk just a little bit to you and the community about our fireworks that we're going to have on July 4th. Just once again, invite everyone in the community out. We're planning on a really nice show. Zambelli Fireworks comes out, they arrive on July the 2nd and they start setting up things. July 4th, of course, we set up, we do all the permitting, the inspections, and then the biggest thing that goes into this is staff and getting ready and preparing for the event. So none of it could happen without the police, the fire department, public services, and of course all the support that we get. all the planning's underway everything's in place as you know the knagshed pier has changed ownership we've been working very closely with mr kevin nielsen the owner there it's going to look a lot different this year when people go there and we're looking forward to that but as far as the fireworks goes try to get out hopefully the community can get out and see them if you don't get there on the beach where you can see them you miss out on a lot Sam Belly does a lot of water effects that come up from the water as the show goes on, in addition to the things that go up, the aerials in the sky. So we're really, really looking forward to a great show, and we just hope that the community can come out and speak about that. And if you've got any questions, I'll be glad to answer them. Good. Any questions? Thank you.

I'm curious why you moved the time up. Did you move it to 9 o'clock instead of 9? Yes, ma'am. Just curious.

And thank you for bringing that up because I should have brought it up. We did decide this year. So we looked at the time, and we're usually sitting up there for about 20 minutes in the dark waiting for the fireworks show to start. So we looked at it from the community standpoint and people with small kids and staff and so forth to go ahead and move it up a little bit earlier. And that way, you know, you get done with the show and just everybody gets to get home and clear it up a little bit earlier too. it it really like i said last year i think we were sitting about 25 minutes waiting and um just hoping hope it just turns out well doing a little bit earlier so yeah yeah okay great that's good thank you sounds like a good call thank you andy that brings us to the discussion of the group demonstration ordinance all right thank you mayor so this is something that's been ongoing you know the board adopted

a new crowd gathering ordinance and group demonstration ordinance back in December. And the board continued to receive feedback on these ordinances. There's been several meetings where at public comment you've had some individuals commenting on certain provisions of the ordinance. One primary concern is how well the ordinance addresses spontaneous demonstrations and also in terms of what triggers a permit, it being based on a number of attendees, which is really hard to anticipate. And so I think the concerns were primarily based on those two things. The board is aware that I had reached out to some of these individuals to engage them in a dialogue about what we might be able to make a little bit better. We have drafted an ordinance based on some of the comments we received. The ordinance does address spontaneous demonstrations. It makes an adjustment for smaller demonstrations below 100 where it would only be a notification instead of a permit for those demonstrations, and then over 100 would still rely on crowd gathering, I believe staff still feels like having a threshold based on a number is more clear for applicants in order to determine when they might need a permit. So we'd like to stick with that. Subsequent to putting this ordinance in the packet, I sent it to a person I've been speaking with and they then came back and provided some additional comments. And I also spoke with the town attorney, John, And he was still reviewing some provisions of the ordinance. And so in light of that and also the mayor and Commissioner Vaughn and I had a meeting with the tourism board back in May to talk about some items, mainly the Rod and Custom Festival and our permit process for crowd gatherings. They expressed an interest in providing us with some suggestions for the ordinance that might make the process a little smoother. We were certainly open to that at that time. and they have expressed an interest in giving us those comments. I haven't received them yet, but I feel like at this point it would be best to table this item and bring it back in July and that would give us a chance to fully address the comments I've been receiving from this individual to allow John to continue to review it and incorporate these other changes if we get those from the tourism board. Well, I think we made some progress on there. I think it's best to just wait at this point if the board would entertain that.

And I think one of your correspondents that you're working with additionally said better right than fast. So there's not really a problem with waiting. So a motion to table to the July meeting would be in order.

I make the motion to table this item until July.

All right, is there a second?

Second.

I have a motion and a second. Any further discussion? Hearing none, all in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Great, thank you. Thank you, Andy, appreciate your work on that.

Thank you.

That brings us to the Beach Nourishment Project update. Yahoo, David. Although we had a little weather interruption here.

Yes, let's see if I can overcome technology first. All right, so back on May 19th, we had the first dredge arrive on station, and that was the RS Weeks, which is the cutterhead dredge, and they are working in South Nags Head. What I have up here on the screen is the project progress map that we currently have on our website. This is being maintained by Roberta Thuman. She updates this on a daily basis just to go ahead and reflect and let the public know where they are actively working and what progress has been made to date. So just to review this map this green represents that area of beach that has been completed with the beach fill this yellow indicates the location of the sub line which this is located right off of Camelot Street just north of milepost 20 and the red area represents the area of beach closure. so the cutterhead started pumping operations on may 19th they ran into some issues with their anchor supports over memorial day weekend they got up and running again and then with this uh this weather here recently and the uh the wave action They've had to go ahead and pull off and they are currently up in Norfolk, but expect to be back here by the end of this week when we experience commerce ease. What you can see is the portion that's been completed is up here. This is Jacob Street public beach access. They've completed all the way down to about Limulus. And they've got all of their equipment staged just south of there. Since the dredge pulled off, they try to go ahead and compact their work zone and make certain that they minimize the impact of beach goers to be able to just make a safe environment for them in addition to going ahead and working around their equipment. We also have another dredge that arrived on site on May 25th. That's the RB Weeks, which is a hopper dredge. That subline that they are pumping to is located just south of the Nags Head Pier. That's represented here in yellow. They hit the ground running and the hopper dredge is a little bit more durable and can pump in with wave axing a little bit higher than what the cutter head dredge can. And so they were operating all the way through, I think, Tuesday of this week. and they had to pull off again because the wave action was to the point that they could not operate that dredge safely. But the area that they've completed so far is they started off here at this sub line, just south of the Nags Head Pier. They went underneath the pier. They filled out all the way to Bonnet Street, which is the northern terminus. and then what they refer to as flip the elbow, and then work in the southerly direction. Right now, the discharge line is just out of Hallowell Street, and here in red, which is just a little bit north and south of Hollowell Street is where their active construction zone is. Right now with the dredge being off station that they have again compacted this site and they've got a pedestrian corridor that they set up on the backside so people can go both north and south of that location to gain access to the beach. To date, approximately 427,000 cubic yards have been filled on the beach, which represents about 17% of the overall volume. Tomorrow we have our weekly project meeting with the contractor to go ahead and get an updated schedule from them so we can see what impact this recent weather has had on the schedule. As of last week, they were still maintaining the beginning to mid-July to go ahead and finish out the project. So I'll be glad to answer any questions that you have.

Questions, board? No questions. No questions. That's great.

Thank you, David. Thank you, David. All right, thank you.

That brings us to the Board of Commissioners agenda, and I'll start on the other end. Commissioner Bowen?

Nothing on my agenda today. Okay. Nothing on your agenda today. Okay.

Thank you.

I just want to say thank you to all the staff for such good work on the budget, and thank you to everyone who helped me get over my learning curve, staff, fellow commissioners, community members. Thank you. I appreciate all the help.

Great. Thank you.

That brings us next to the mayor's agenda and I want to give an update on legislation among other things that the former mayor mower asked about he asked this morning about the status of some of these pieces of legislation and So I want to report for the benefit of the I think the board is pretty well up to date but for the benefit of the public I The town does have a lobbyist working for the town in Raleigh and we do have a legislative agenda that the board adopted that we act on, that our lobbyist is charged with acting on and monitoring. Thanks to the board for a lot of attention to the correspondence that we've had and input on various maneuvers and letters. And thank you to the staff. Thank you to Andy who's put quite a bit of work into this. Among the things that are in our legislative agenda are opposing legislation that would limit our government authority over our local regulations. And there were two bills in particular this year that the board has been very active on. And they were Senate Bill 445 and House Bill 369. I do want to say, in addition, that thanks to our sister towns here on the Outer Banks, Manteo, Kettleville Hills, Kitty Hawk, Southern Shores, and Duck, who all joined us in our efforts and put some letters together. I have kept those mayors updated on progress as we've gotten reports from Raleigh in terms of how things were moving. They are very appreciative of being engaged and being kept in the loop on these things and the progress that's been made. in particular House Bill 369 would have removed the town's authority to regulate parking. In other words, we would not be able to say that a house or a restaurant or anything else required a certain number of parking spaces. And there are various reasons for why that sort of made it into the legislature in the form of a bill. But we went to Raleigh. Commissioner Vaughn and Commissioner Lambert and I and the town manager, along with their lobbyists, went to Raleigh. We were able to talk with the sponsors of that bill. We were able to present our arguments for why reasonable parking standards were necessary. They were all very receptive to that. And we were able to acquire some allies along the way for changes. including the home builders which was which is very fortunate and so we're three six nine stands today it is slated to go to the agriculture energy one other word committee next before it goes to the floor And one of the things that we've been able to do is to ask those committee co-chairs, there are three of them, we've been able to ask them to not vote on that, to move it to the floor, but to only consider it for discussion. And what that means is that if this week, uh it can't be acted on can't be voted on then it potentially could be considered next week or another time but what we've been told is that generally the legislature once it has a budget in place shuts down the work of the committees so understanding based on the news and the reports that we have that they are getting close to a budget it may be possible that we are able to run out the clock at least for this session on House bill 369 which would be which would be good progress we will continue to monitor that week by week and day by day and week by week to see if that that comes up and if anything else is necessary for us to do. Be aware, former Mayor Cahoon reminded us that sometimes they will tuck legislation into the budget itself. So we need to be very careful about that. That's where the the whole dam zoning thing took effect. And so we will need to monitor that. And of course, once the session ends, we'll have to watch next year because there are always shenanigans. And we just have to be vigilant. On House Bill 445, Senate Bill 445, that would have mandated that we permit residential in any zone that was not agricultural so back behind the bowling alley where we have public works we would be required to permit housing in in that zone for example on the other thing it would have mandated would be that we would permit accessory dwelling units in any residential zone And again, you tie that with the no parking standards. I mean, you can just kind of imagine the mess that you could get with all of this. Our folks in Raleigh were able to go directly to the speaker, of the head of the Senate to their office and raise all the thresholds, so population thresholds for where that took effect so that we would not be affected by those provisions. which is good you'd rather see it die but you do what you can we also as part of our as part of our agenda legislative agenda are seeking funding from appropriations from the legislature uh in particular um for the biggest item is replacement of air asbestos cement water lines so that we can accelerate that process we've had affirmative responses from our legislature legislators when we've met with them in that regard that they would support that effort and so that remains to be seen that would also have an impact on our budget that's probably another reason not to to affect the budget this year because we don't know what the consequences of those appropriations may be. And so we need to continue with our plan. And then if we get those appropriations, that's gonna mean a really different plan next year potentially. So that's good. There was one other piece of legislation and that the town actually took the lead on advocating. And this was last year and we got positive response and that was raising the minimum threshold for bidding for informal projects. And we've had a problem in the past attracting local contractors to some of our smaller projects because if they fall into the category of being formal, there's a lot of paperwork, there's a lot of other things that our smaller contractors are just not equipped to do. and being busy, they're just not gonna make the effort to take on that kind of public project. And so we were able to raise that informal threshold, I think it was a million, is a million and a half million and a half we were able to raise that threshold and that is making its way um in a piece of legislation so that is very encouraging and we would like to see that and that will that will help the town significantly in um in our small projects going forward so i think that's all i have to report on for you this morning any comment i mean i really want to thank I really want to thank staff. I want to thank the board again for participating in this. Go into Raleigh when you can. I also really want to thank our other towns. We put in the legwork, but they are receptive. And we put together a letter that has the letterhead of all of the towns, the logos of all the towns. And we are told, you know, when you wave that in front of a legislator, I mean, that makes a difference. You're not just seeing the Nags Head logo at the top, you're seeing all the towns together with one message. And that is impactful, so we're very grateful to them. All right, so that's all that I have. We do have a closed session this morning. Before we go to that closed session, is there any other business to come before us? Seeing none, then a motion to go into closed session to consider a personnel matter pursuant to 143-318.11a6. A motion would be in order.

So moved.

I have a motion. Is there a second?

Second.

I have a motion to second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. The board will be in closed session. The board has returned to open session. Will you report, Mr. Lighty?

Yes, sir, Mr. Mayor. The board did discuss confidential personnel matters. Some action was taken, but nothing else needs to be reported at this time.

All right, very good. We covered other business before we went to closed session. We do not need a budget workshop, a mid-month budget workshop, so a motion to adjourn would be in order. So moved. Second. Motion and a second. All in favor say aye. Aye. Opposed? Thank you. Board is adjourned.