Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

It's not good for you not to. Good morning everyone. This the Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 regular session of the Nagad Board of Commissioners is hereby called to order. I will ask if you will please join me in a few moments of silence. Now, as you're able, please stand and join me in the pledge of allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. The next item on our agenda is the adoption of the agenda and we have some changes we need to make. Uh we need to move the rec recognition of new employee Terrence Whitley, the update on the Estreine shoreline management plan and the review of the legislative agenda items to March. So, a motion to adopt the agenda with those changes would be in order.

So, move. I have a motion. Is there a second? I have a motion, a second. All in favor say I. I. I. Opposed.

Thank you. I will also note this morning that Mayor Pro Tim Lambert is absent and is excused today. Uh, that brings us to recognitions and we will start with a new employee, police officer Cody Douglas. Perry Hail. Morning, Mr. Mayor and Commissioner. Uh, it's my pleasure to to introduce our newest employee today, uh, Cody Douglas. Cody's a lifelong resident of Little City and is a graduate from Pasco Tank County High School. Cody attended and graduated from our basic law enforcement uh, training program hosted through uh, the college of ad mall in uh, Elizabeth City, Curry Tuck area that we uh, thoroughly support with our instructors uh, from our staff that teaches at that and they remember Cody and uh he was an excellent excellent student uh during his time at BL. Um we're very excited about him joining our our department here in our family. Uh we look forward to many years with him uh coming up through the ranks and doing his whole career here at Nagit. He seems to enjoy it and fits in with our agency already. We're very excited to have him here. Uh in his free time he enjoys working out, wrestling, video gaming, and fishing. and he continues to reside in Elizabeth City, but we're trying to get coach him into uh getting a little bit closer. Welcome, Cody, and welcome to our

Good luck to you. Next, we'll have uh Chief Wells to welcome new employee uh firefighter Steven Gray.

Good morning, mayor and commissioners. Nags Head Fire Rescue is pleased to introduce our newest full-time firefighter, Steven Gray, who was recently promoted after serving as two for two years as a part-time firefighter within our department. Steve is a native of Suffach, Virginia, third generation firefighter. He began his fire service career as a volunteer in Suffach in 2006. Was hired as a career firefighter medic in Newport News Fire Department in 2008. During his time there, he serves multiple committees and focused on operations, professional development, safety. He was promo promoted to fire lieutenant in 2017. He is a graduate of both Hampton Roads Fire Officer Command School and Virginia Beach Fire Officers Academy. Uh he also coordinated the fire department's citizens fire academy. In 2020, Steve was promoted to captain with Kittyhawk Fire Department. Ray served for approximately two years before joining an AG head. He holds degree from Chaan University, Columbia Southern University, and has been a Dair County resident since 2017. He now lives in Kill Devil Hills with his partner Leah and their five children. We're excited to have Steve continue his career with Town of Nags Head and we appreciate the experience and leadership he's already brought to the department. Congratulations, Steve. Welcome aboard. That brings us next to recognition of a five-year employee and Nancy come up.

Good morning, Mr. Mayor, commissioners. I would like to recognize Louise for his five years in public services. He started with he started work for the town on January 4th, 2021 as a mechanic in fleet maintenance and has advanced to senior fleet mechanic. Luis is the commercial driver's license instructor for public services. Employees learn the safety and responsibility of being certified as a CDL driver while he prepares them for their driving test. Luis has a 100% success rate. Luis's mechanical knowledge and weak and figure it out approach makes him an ex exceptional mechanic and his positive attitude makes him an exceptional employee. It is obvious Luis takes a lot of pride in his work, but it pales in comparison to his pride and love he has for his family. L, his wife Amanda, and their three daughters, Kadin, Gemma, and Frankie have fun and stay busy taking care of their two cows, two sheep, two rabbits, and their dog, Navy. Thank you for all you do for the town, and we look forward to many more years with you in it. Thanks for

congratulations. Next, um Amy Miller will come to the podium to recognize an employee for five years. Good morning, mayor and commissioners. This morning, I would like to recognize Karen Snyder for her five years of service with the town. Karen is our IT administrator, and she's responsible for coordinating our technology and managing our IT systems, and she always makes sure that our team members have the best tools that they ha need to do their jobs. Um, is actually the admin services employee of the year for many reasons that align with our town values, including her sense of curiosity and what we can tackle with our next project and how we can continually improve to serve both our employees and the community at large. She's recognized for her attitude, being calm, approachable, and accessible, and stopping what she was doing while still to help somebody while still keeping focus on tasks. Since Karen has been here, we have really completed some ambitious projects when you think about it and it and technology are at the core and perhaps when things just seem to work like you expect them to, we take for granted the level of planning and coordination that's required um for things to work like we expect them to. Just think about the things we've done in the past five years. We've built a public service complex, implemented a robust key card and camera system. Um we have cclick fix. We have a robust GIS system that has multiple layers of information that integrates with Munis. We have free Wi-Fi at our parks. We have integrated forms and payments on our online payment platform. Um, and of course our greatest

collaboration tool, SharePoint, which allows our team members to work together. Um, right now we're, you know, getting rid of all our physical servers. We're migrating to the cloud. And don't worry because Karen and I have cooked up some good ideas for the budget in CIP next year. Um, all this to say, oh no, I can't. My computer Karen, all this to that was my fault. Not all this to say that we can't keep improving for our team members and our community members without technology. and we are able to achieve ambitious goals and strategic items because of technology improvements and innovations. And it's because of her thoughtful details that everything is orchestrated at the right time for things to work when we need them to work. And you know Karen coordinates and has good working relationships with a lot of our vendors. So she's able to really manage projects and we everybody seems to um prioritize town of Nagad project which is very helpful. So you know over the past five years we couldn't have grown without expanded technology offerings. We appreciate how Karen plans ahead for what's next and she really has the internal drive to think about the next thing we can improve on. And she does this in a very quiet and unassuming way. And I think it's important to make sure that we say thank you and recognize her for making sure things work smoothly and being ready to take on whatever is next. I've really learned a lot from Karen. Um, she's a great team member. I I really enjoy collaborating with her and she collaborates. She touches every department. Um, and I and I think that I uh represent the whole town when we say thank you and we really like to collaborate with you, bounce ideas off you. Um, she obviously has a sense of urgency. We're really fortunate to have her. So, please join me in thanking her for all the work she's done over the

past five years and we have a lot more to do. So, And Amy, you need to stay there. uh for recognition by uh town manager Andy Garden. All right. Told AB I would keep it brief.

Can't be.

Well, you know, she doesn't like a lot of attention, but sorry. Um so I'm certainly honored today to celebrate Amy Miller for her 10 years of service to the town of Nags Head. Uh Amy started on January 25th, 2016 as our finance officer in early 2022. Amy was promoted by me to the current position of deputy town manager and the board, but um that was probably one of the few wise decisions I've made over the years. Um we're extremely fortunate to have Amy with us. Um she's all about the impact she can make on on the town and our community. Um the impact she's had cannot be overstated. In her role as finance officer, she understands the balance between internal controls, accountability, and getting work done from day one. Departments were thankful of her approach, making administrative procedures, uh purchasing more efficient without sacrificing controls and working with them to figure out how the town how they can find the resources they need to get things done. Uh she was responsible for modernizing our current financial system has developed numerous customerf facing solutions to include tax and water bill payments accounting account management and permitting. In 2023, Amy assisted the town with achieving its double A1 bond rating from Moody's which is the second highest rating we could have received. This indicates that the town maintains a strong financial position with very low credit risk. We share the same rating as Dare County. Due to our geography and perceived risk being on the coast, this is likely the highest rating we could ever receive, and she did it on the first try. Uh, this effort allowed us to receive more favorable financing terms in terms of interest rate and length of repayment for the public services complex and the smart meters we recently completed. This ultimately resulted in considerable savings to our taxpayers. Amy has taken great initiative and ownership of the

town's grant strategy. This is something we started as part of our strategic plan several years ago. Together with her consultant and internal team, Amy has been able to secure grants exceeding $15 million in the last few years. This is a conservative estimate. I would say the grants Amy has assisted with would be equivalent to the town's entire property tax revenue for close to two full years. This has resulted in property conservation, reduced flooding, water beaches, safe streets and pedestrian facilities, beautiful parks and recreation amenities, beach access facilities and town buildings. Many of these things would not have been achieved without her efforts. Alternatively, these services would have waited many more years to come to fruition or ultimately at much greater expense to our citizens. She is tenacious in this effort. In one instance, she assisted the town with receiving a $4 million grant after essentially being told no twice early in the process. Amy's a leader in our organization, always living in and championing our values and holding others accountable. She's a mastermind, task oriented, a great compliment to me for reasons which are obvious to most of us. Let's do all we can to hang on to her for as long as we can. She has had an enormous impact in our town and the services we can offer to our constituents. Thank you Amy for 10 years of service.

Thank you. That was almost as good as the

so much. Nagshe Head is very proud and we're honored to have so many people spend um so much of their careers with the town of Nags Head and we look forward to everybody reaching their next five-year threshold including the first threshold for officer Douglas and firefighter Gray. We're really glad to have you all all of you aboard here. Uh that brings us next to public comment and I will turn this over to Mr. Light. Oh. Oh. Oh darn it. Proclamation. Sorry. Proclamation for public safety week.

Deputy Chief Height. Thinking you were kicking me out today. No, I I I am I am fortunate to have people watch out for me. So,

well, good morning, uh, mayor and commissioners. Um, I, if I may, I'd just like to take a a few minutes to tell you about our safety program and our upcoming safety week. Um, your safety committee from the town is supported through you all. Um, and we appreciate that greatly. Um I feel like that through that support we're able to to keep our employees safer and which in turn reduces employee injury rates and just hope helps to make everybody go home in the afternoons and and that's what it's all about. So annually for many many years we have done a safety week where we bring in um different organizations including the North Carolina Department of Labor to offer safety trainings for us. Um we will be doing that this year as well. Um, we have many topics that we have instruction on from a 10-hour general industry safety class to CPR to defensive driving. Um, several others. We also are going to do a cookout on Thursday for all town staff and we're hopeful that hopeful that we'll have good weather and that everybody can come out and participate in that. So, once again, we just appreciate the continued support. Um, again, I know the employees are very thankful for that support and I appreciate you for offering this proclamation.

All right. Very good. Thank you. Uh, this is a proclamation for safety week. Whereas the town of Nags Head, board of commissioners, employees, and citizens are committed to the maintenance of a safe and healthful workplace. And whereas the town has assumed an active role in the promotion and of a safe and healthful work environment by a program of regular occupational work site evaluations and employee safety education. And whereas the town strives to simulate and stimulate and maintain an interest in loss control and accident prevention and recognizes past and future services to the employees and citizens of Nagshead. And whereas the town seeks to guide and encourage the adoption and institution of safe work practices by all employers and employees in Nagshead. Now therefore, the town of Nagsad Board of Commissioners does hereby proclaim March 1-7, 2026 as safety week in the town of Nags Head and commends this observance to our citizens. Furthermore, in recognition of this proclamation, I invite all Nags Head employees to attend the annual Nags Head safety lunchon on Thursday, March 5th, 2026 from 12:00 noon to 2 p.m. at the Douglas A. Raali Fire Station number 16, this being the 4th day of February, 2026. Having heard the proclamation, an adoption to adopt, a motion to adopt would be in order.

So moved. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Thank you. Thank you, sir.

Thank you, sir. Um, that does bring us to public comment, but I'm going to take uh the liberty here. Um, I wasn't exactly sure where to do this, but I'll do this while some of those employees are here and it's relevant to safety week. And a little bit of a public comment. Um, I want to recognize our uh public services people first for their response during the the snowstorm here. Um, I've gotten we've all gotten several compliments for um how well the um the town responded clearing streets. Um, and we thank you very much for for doing that. We had people stay in town at public services um at the uh new lifeguard housing and obviously at the fire station during the storm so that they would be available. Um, but I also want to recognize um, unfortunately in the middle of the storm um, our firefighters had to go out and respond to a fire um, over on the ocean front in the snow and the ice and the wind. And um, I want to we've gotten several comments I have about about that and the good work that they did. So, I want to recognize our firefighters, but I'm I'm going to take the liberty to recognize all of those who responded from our department. Uh they were fire chief Randy Wells, deputy chief Shane Height, Captain Phil Wolf, Captain Jane James Mosman, Captain Matthew Swain, Captain Tanner Man, Lieutenant Trey Simmons, Lieutenant Brandon Stallings, Engineer Anthony Dylan, Engineer Guy Crocker, Engineer Will Repky, Firefighter Scott Hooper, firefighter Tyrie Hughes, firefighter Jose Ramirez, firefighter Steve Gray, firefighter Chad Moes, part-time firefighter Frank Repy and volunteer firefighter Mike Rogers. Thank all of you uh for your for your good work um and your dedication to keeping Naget safe. With that, we will come to public

comment. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time, the board of commissioners welcomes members of the public to uh provide comment uh to the board on matters of public interest or concern. Uh this is not an opportunity for dialogue and the board rarely responds to comment, but for anybody who wishes to provide public comment, if you'll please go to the podium uh and start by telling us your name and where you live and then address your remarks to the board and I will let you know when your uh five minutes is just about up.

Good morning. As you know, my name is John Cece. I live in Naged for the past 20 plus years. I was here last month to discuss the funding for the beach nourishment and I know I rattled off a whole bunch of numbers and I ended up confusing myself. I'm sure I confused you too. So I put together a spreadsheet which I've asked Britney to hand out there. As I discussed last month, the town is proposing about a $36 million project. Onethird of that project will be spent on the last mile of the project. This is a 10 mile project and we're spending onethird of that amount on one mile of beach. So, some of you may say, "Well, John, those folks are paying taxes." They are. If you go to the second page, I tried to calculate what the property owners in those each of the reaches pays. And as you can see the top there, I made an assumption, again to keep things simple for my part, $1 million property. And I made the assumption that that property is going to generate $200,000 worth of rental income a year. Just pick numbers out of here. As you can see, over five years, if it's a rental property in South Naged, it may generate $26,000 of funds to pay for beach nourishment. However, those houses are getting $171,000 worth of sand placed on their property. That just does not seem fair to me at all. If it's a non-renal property, the second part of that page, it's even worse. Over a five-year period, those properties are going to pay $6,000 to the town. Yet, they're still going to get $171,000 worth of sand placed on their property.

And I just came up with some numbers there. You can see that's a 2759% gain return on their investment of $6,000. And I ask you, how is that fair? Why is that done? The new members of the board, please ask these questions when these discussions come up. Please. I'd like to propose that that MSD, the second MSD, MSD2, the tax rate in that could easily be quadrupled or quintupled if there is such a word. And you can see they would still come nowhere near paying for the amount of sand that they're getting. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Cece. Does anybody else wish to comment? Yes, sir. Good morning, mayor and commissioners. My name is Randy Cartwright. I've been a resident for the Outer Banks for almost 52 years, and I've been a resident in Nags Head for almost 19 years. Thank you for this chance to address the concerns that I have. Our current national political climate is fraught with disagreement and activities by our federal government that many, myself included, believe to be unlawful and unconstitutional. I found myself and others with like minds eager to publicly demonstrate against these activities. I'm here to ask for clarification and justification for of the town's ordinance requiring a permit for processions, picketing or group demonstrations of 15 or more people on streets or sidewalks. By its nature,

a political demonstration cannot predict how many people, excuse me, will attend. And it's different from all other crowd gathering activities. No tickets are sold. No advanced registration is conducted. As a practical matter, a permitted numerical limit cannot be fairly enforced. Any attempt to limit the number of people who show up is punishing success and belies the express will of the people demonstrated by their attendance. As you know, streets and sidewalks are traditional public forms under the First Amendment, and permitting systems for expressive activity are only constitutional if they are narrowly tailored, contentneutral, and include safeguards against prior restraint of free speech. The ordinance states that is unlawful not only to organize or conduct but also to participate in an unpermitted demonstration of 15 or more people even on sidewalks. My questions are these one. Has the town attorney issued a written opinion concluding that criminalizing mayor participation in a peaceful sidewalk demonstration complies with the first amendment? Two, does the ordinance contain or is in interpreted to contain an exception for spontaneous demonstrations responding to breaking news or unforeseen events? Three, what specific objective criteria govern

permit approval or denial? And what is the guaranteed decision deadline? Four, how does the town reconcile this ordinance with federal case law holding that permit requirements cannot operate as a prior restraint on protected speech? If such legal analysis exists, I respectfully request that it be made available to the public. If it does not, I ask the board to consider whether this ordinance should be reviewed or amended to ensure constitutional compliance. In closing, I will applaud the board for its forward-looking vision. If your review of these ordinances finds that changes are appropriate, I believe that other municipalities in Dar County and beyond have possibly constitutionally problematic demonstration ordinances as well. As a resident of Nags Head, I want to be able to say that Nags Head's mayor and commissioners were leaders on this issue and led the way for others to also take these actions. Thank you.

Thank you, Mr. Cartwright. Does anybody else wish to address the board? If not, at this time, we will conclude the public comment session. Right. Thank you very much. The uh next item on our agenda is the consent agenda. Item E, which you have before you with seven items, and a motion to approve would be in order. So moved. Have a mot I have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

I. Opposed. Thank you. Um item F, reports and recommendations from the planning board and planning and development director Kelly. Good morning, mayor and commissioners. Real quick, thank you. Um, I'll give a brief uh update uh for the past month from the planning and development activities. If you'd like me to dive any deeper into any of these, I'll be happy to. Um the planning board at their January meeting, the planning board elected new officers um and acted on two new items. The first was a special use permit site plan review. Um the planning board did recommend denial of the TWW's bait and tackle group development due to architectural non-compliance. Um but uh the applicant and the architect noted that they would be interested in collaborating with staff to bring forth um a set of revised drawings that better aligned with their commercial design standards in February. Um so that item is going to stay on track for its public hearing in March and the planning board will revisit the architectural item in February. Um, also, uh, the planning board recommended adoption of a text amendment increasing illumination levels for publicly owned and publicly accessible pickle ball courts. Um, and that was in conjunction with some dark sky um, international aligned conditions as far as the fixture goes. Um,

scrolling down, the planning board's next meeting is on February 17th. Um, and like I said, they will revisit that TWW's item. And then they're also going to be reviewing the site plan for the EMS station over um across the street on CC Chase. So, um it's been about a year since the board last approved that. So, that site plan approval has expired. So, they just need to reup that approval. Um the board of adjustment did not meet in January. So there were no items there. As far as the septic health advisory committee goes, um their January meeting was postponed to February. Um we're picking a date uh for that meeting now, but the program continues to see to see steady participation in the program. Um and the program is also getting more recognition, which I wanted to highlight. Um our environmental planner Connor Twitty got an invitation from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina to participate in a think tank, a one-day think tank um for local governments from around the area to come and talk about um septic systems and programs similar to ours. So that's quite a recognition and I wanted to highlight that for him. Um also we're continuing to coordinate with the uh division of water infrastructure, the DWI interest DWI um zero interest loan program. Um hopefully we'll be hearing back from that soon. Um and then um we've had to coordinate with Hydromeat um with some issues with our groundwater loggers, but uh hopefully that's coming to resolution soon. Sand relocation and dune management um obviously that remains steady. At the end of January, we had 125 sand relocation applications. um and 67 dune management applications

with over half of the funding being allocated. So um over $200,000 of that 400,000 has been allocated. And I wanted to recognize um Connor Twitty again. Um he was in the office during this storm knowing that we had a lot of sand issues on the ocean front. He was out and about um coordinating with property owners and equipment operators yesterday. So wanted to thank him for that. Um, as far as Dowy Park and our winter markets, the January winter market was very well attended. We have another one coming up um on Valentine's Day, February 14th, and there's one scheduled in March and April as well. Uh, the committee for art and culture, they met on January 14th to discuss the upcoming season, potential programming for Wellbone Park. Um, all of that we plan to bring back to you at the uh March meeting for your art and culture update. Um, and I did want to note that Paige is working on sponsorships for the upcoming season. Um, this would be to sustain our existing programs as well as to support the expansion of new programs and initiatives. So, um, anyone here, anyone watching, um, would like to sponsor any of our events, please reach out to Paige Griffin, our event coordinator. And That's all I have for you this morning.

All right. Thank you, Kelly. Any questions or comments this morning? Not today. All right. Very good. Thank you, Kelly. Appreciate that. All right. That is going to bring us to um new business. The first being the annual audit report. And so that we can get we're running a little ahead of schedule and we want to get our tech straight before we go into this. Um, so staff has asked that we take a short break at this point. So, um, if with the board's consent, we'll be in recess for about five minutes.

Okay, the board has returned to business, which brings us to um new business item one, a presentation of the annual audit report. Amy, are you going to introduce this? Good morning again. Um, and thank you, Emily. Um, I know we're a little ahead of schedule. Um, Emily Mills is on the phone with us and we did a video just because we didn't want to have any snafoos with Zoom or anything like that. Emily lives close to Charlotte, so we didn't want to have her drive in. Um, so she did a pre-recorded audit presentation which is required by the local government commission. Um, we have her on the phone as well. Um, she's a partner with the audit firm DMJPS which was formerly Potter and Company. They they acquired them. So, um, they've been our audit partners for several years now. We really value our relationship with them. She's a great advisor to us. Um, we have a great working relationship with them. We definitely have a cadence going at this point. So, we appreciate all their staff, their hard work. Um, again, any um improvements they have for us. So, with that being said, I think we can show the video. If you have any questions for me, happy to answer. We did submit our um financial statements to the LGC, and we didn't want to hand them out because Emily advised we should probably call them draft until they are accepted by the LGC. So that's why we don't have a hard copy and that's why we um attach it to the agenda with saying it's draft. We don't anticipate any problems, but just we want to make sure we're in full disclosure there. So um we will hand them out at a later date. But with that being said, happy to answer any questions. Emily is also, so I don't know if you want to play the video.

Good morning. My name is Emily Mills and I'm a partner with DMJPS, formerly Potter & Company. I am pleased to appear before you this morning to present the town's annual comprehensive financial report for the fiscal year ended June 30th, 2025. Thank you for allowing our firm to perform the audit for the town. I want to commend the work of the town's finance team. Amy, Brooke, and now Steven and the entire staff were helpful, professional, and wonderful to work with. On page one of the financial statements, you will find our independent auditor's report. We have issued an unmodified opinion on the financial statements of the town of Knackad as of June 30th, 2025. An unmodified report is the highest level of assurance that we as independent auditors can issue. The report states that the financial statements present fairly in all material respects the financial position of the town at June 30th, 2025. This is commonly referred to as a clean opinion. In addition to the independent auditor's report, we have also issued a group of reports on the town's compliance. These reports are found in the compliance section of the financial statements starting on page 137. These reports deal with the town's compliance with government auditing standards in addition to the compliance of federal and state programs with laws and regulations. We noted no findings that we consider to be significant deficiencies or material weaknesses. The financial statements were submitted to the LGC on January 29th, 2026. The LGC will notify Amy and I, as the auditor, when the review is complete. As part of the submission process, the LGC collects data and generates benchmarks for units. If the town does not meet any of these benchmarks, a response to the

LGC is required. We are happy to report there are no items for the fiscal year ending 2025 that require the town to submit a response to the LGC. Again, we would like to thank the town for the opportunity to be of service. And I'm happy to answer any questions you have. Okay, great. Thank you very much. Um, and as always, Amy and everybody, we're happy to have a such a clean um, audit. I'll ask the board members if they have any questions. No questions this morning. No questions. No, pretty straightforward. I have none.

Okay. All right. I see no questions then. So, um, we appreciate you making arrangements to be with us this morning. And as we study the audit audit, if there are questions, I'm sure that we'll send them to you through Amy. Um, and and appreciate your good work. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Emily. Thank you, Mayor and Commissioner. Thank you.

Um, that brings us to committee reports for uh members of the board to report any committee activity. Um, and so you still have no committee. We're going to have to fix that. We need to fix that at some point. Uh uh I don't believe that the Jockeyy's Ridge um I mean the Janette's Peier Advisory Committee has met again since the last time I reported. Commissioner Sanders. Uh nothing more on the Eastern Shoreline plan today. Okay. All right. Commissioner B.

The Deer County Tourism Board met on January 15th and swore in a new slate of officers. Um, quick highlights. The boardwalk here in in the confines of our town is still or was then on schedule for completion in late February and there'll be a ribbon cutting and ceremony at when all that goes on. Obviously, they have um we hired a contractor to repair the electrical platform that was damaged and we heard a lot of good things about um Chief Hail during that discussion discovering the fire or something. Um so that was good. They we hired someone and that should be complete by late spring. Um they're current we're currently accepting grants for its event grant season for these first two weeks in February. And a quick recap that I thought might be interesting on the um 2025 year end. Well, these numbers were through November, but not expecting many changes. Um basically occupancy tax collection was flat um pretty much flat from year the year before and um meals up slightly two and a half%. So as we move into budget season, that's probably interesting information for us.

Absolutely. That's about it. We'll meet again this month. Okay, great. Thank you for representing us there. Appreciate that. Uh that brings us to um uh item G3, which are actions necessary to approve the 2026 beach nourishment project. And David,

good morning, mayor and commissioners. At the December uh 17, 2025 meeting, um the board moved forward with authorizing a uh notice of intent to award uh the bid for the 2026 beach reourishment project. And these actions um that are being requested at this meeting are the next line in the sequence of events as we move towards uh construction um here for the summer of 2026. So uh we've got three separate requests. Um the first request is to formalize uh the notice of award to Weeks Marine. Uh and that amount is $36,412,600 to initiate the construction contract process. Secondly, um there's an additional request for the town manager to execute the contractual agreement with Weeks Marine for the construction of the 2026 beach nourishment project. And in order for that contract to be pre- audited, uh it's going to need an amendment to the capital project ordinance. Um, and the capital project ordinance number 18, which is included in your packet, um, reflects the contract amount of the $36,412,600. Um, this will further be amended to include such things as contingency, administrative costs, and financing costs. as we start to pin down those numbers, as we get closer um to uh bringing this forward to the LGC, which we anticipate that will be in the April

or May time frame. And so the specific uh request uh for this um action is to issue the notice of award to Weeks Marine for the 2026 beach nourishment project. uh authorized the town manager to execute the construction contract with Weeks Marine, Inc. in the amount of 36,412,600 and approve the Beach Nourishment Capital Ordinance Amendment number 18. Okay. All right. Let's take those as uh three separate motions this morning. Uh we can do it in the order that Dave David gave them to us. Um so first I would ask for a motion to approve the notice of award.

Mayor I make the motion to issue the notice of award to weeks marine for the 2026 beach nourishment project. Okay. Second. Very good. I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I I opposed. Thank you. Uh second. A motion would be in order to authorize the town manager to sign the contract with Weeks Marine for this project. I'll make that motion for the town manager to execute the contract with Weeks Marine. All right. Very good. Do I have a second? Second. Have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

I. Opposed. Thank you. Um and the the uh third and last item is the capital project ordinance amendment number 18 uh which you have before you and a motion to approve that would be in order. I'll make a motion to approve the capital project ordinance amendment number 18. Okay. Do I have a second? I have a motion and a second. Any discussion hearing? None. All those in favor signify by saying I. I I opposed. Very good. Thank you, David. Appreciate it.

Thank you. still a lot of work to do on that, but uh but we're we're getting the getting the ball rolling and I know that um especially after this storm, I know we all recognize how desperate we uh we need to do this project this summer. Um that brings us to items referred to and presentations from the town attorney. Anything other than the close sessions, John? No, sir. Nothing other than the close sessions. All right. Very good. Thank you. That brings us to items referred to and presentations from the town manager. Um, and uh, Britney is going to update us on activities for the 250th anniversary. Good morning, mayor and commissioners.

Good morning. Um, so I am here to share with you uh the town's work uh with the Dare County American 250 committee and what they have put together uh for our participation of that event that celebrates the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Um since September, staff uh mostly Katie and Roberta have been attending the regular meetings of the American 250 committee which has consisted of representatives from Dare County, our local municipalities, the visitors bureau, several state organizations, the National Park Service, nonprofits, local business, Dair County schools, college of the Albamaral Dare count Dare campus, local churches, and we have a local historian on that committee. So, lots of people in the county and state working together. Um, they use those meetings to provide an overview of the celebration, receive reports from their subcommittees, uh, to brainstorm events and to plan. They've worked together to develop a passport program which highlights many of the, uh, local sites across the county that allow it to be known as the land of beginnings. In Nags Head, we have three particular passport locations. Janette's Pier, the Body Island Lighthouse, and Jockeyy's Ridge State Park. Um Katie's got that website pulled up just to show you. So, it has an interactive map on there that will explain each site and participants can do a self-guided tour and it will allow them to scan a QR code at the site and then they can uh complete the form and get a digital stamp. Um, several of us, including Katie, Roberta, Andy, Kelly, Paige, and myself, worked together to develop some ideas on how we could

incorporate America 250 into our existing town events. And we submitted the following to Dare County for inclusion. Um, for our family fun times on the week, we decided to do the events the week of July 4th and starting on Tuesday, the family Sometimes uh Paige is going to incorporate patriotic themed kids crafts like making flags or perhaps corn husk dolls. Um the summer concert series for Wednesday is going to include soul one and they have told us that in addition to their regular lineup that they will also host a patriotic themed sing along with the audience. Paige is going to request uh the vendors if or offer the vendors to participate by offering patriotic themed items or to decorate their booths patriotically. Our kids move more on Thursday is going to include or sorry, Friday is going to include the uh colonial style games for children such as hoop rolling or ring toss. And then we're going to cap it off on Saturday, of course, with our annual fireworks show um at Nagad Fishing Pier. And then we have also gotten the support of our facilities maintenance who is going to be enhancing the patriotic decor throughout the town um especially at Town Hall, Dowy Park, and our town entry points. I'd be happy to try to answer any questions for you.

That That's cool. That's the first I've heard about any of this. That's pretty cool. It looks like fun. That's very nicely done. Thank you. So, any questions or comments? I don't. It looks fun. That's great ideas. Yeah. No, thank you. That's awesome. Thanks for all your work. Thank you. Thank you, Britney, and and everyone involved um in that.

Um that brings us to a discussion of the ordinance regulating group demonstrations. And um Andy, uh we'd had a little bit of discussion about putting this on the agenda. not being aware of public comment um in this regard. Um and um you know the town the town's interests are protecting free speech and public safety. Um and so do you want to speak to this a little bit this morning and then uh perhaps John?

Well I think um one of the reasons this came up we had received an email about a week ago from Mr. Heartwright who spoke earlier and uh he he was concerned about our ordinance and whether it it sort of hampered the ability for for spontaneous protests in in sort of a reaction to what's going on nationally. You know, the desire is going to be there to to be able to spontaneously protest and you know, does the town's permit process overly restrict that ability? And so that was his question and you heard his questions today,

right? And so it's one of the reasons we we added this to the agenda and I know John has spoken to us about this and you know John was involved with town attorney in reviewing this ordinance. You know part of the reason we wanted to update this ordinance was to ensure that it was consistent with the constitution. And so you know John did intentionally rewrite some of the sections of this ordinance to do that. Right.

And so he can speak to to his take on that. Um and certainly if you know we think there are provisions of the ordinance that make it difficult to spontaneously protest we could review those items. You know there's some discretion there with how we handle that. Um certainly the number of individuals that triggers the permit could be reviewed and also the timeline for getting the permit. Right now, it's the 72-hour notification that could be reviewed in in light of um individuals wanting to spontaneously protest. You know, overall, our goal is to regulate this activity in a reasonable manner to allow us to to react and um plan for organized events that may require resources from the town. So, you know, we're not trying to to hamper any ability to protest, but to be able to provide resources to that to make sure that they're safe and orderly and, you know, aren't disruptive. So,

Okay. And John, and before we voted the ordinance, I think my last question to you was to confirm that this was constitutional, that we could that we could take these kinds of actions. Do you want to speak to this further this morning? I mean I the manager did a good job of summarizing my opinions about this uh and my involvement but um we are satisfied that the current ordinance uh meets the constitutional requirements and complies with the comp constitutional restrictions on those types of uh time place and manner regulations that the town can impose. U I believe that the old ordinance did not include a small group exception which is the window for the spontaneous um uh gatherings. Um and of course now you have one um and that number the the number the uh that triggers uh the permit requirement is 15 or more. And so we feel that the spontaneous gathering of of of not a number not to exceed 14 is consistent with what uh courts have upheld. Um I would not recommend that that number be made smaller, but the number could be made larger and that's really up to the town. And as I said when we had the discussion about this originally, the town's not required to have an ordinance at all, but if you don't, you can't impose any controls. And so, you know, the only controls you can impose are on time, place, and manner. And the ordinance that you have right now um imposes what we consider to be reasonable restrictions on those things.

Right. Thank you. Let me ask board members any questions or comments? Start with Commissioner Vol. I I have one specific question about um place and the time, place and manner. So is the rightway the DOT rightaway or wherever like some of these spontaneous demonstrations are just taking place on in the rightway. So that do we have authority to

you don't have authority to regulate on private property but you have the reg the authority to regulate on public property and so you know and I think someone mentioned this sidewalks and streets are what we call traditional public forums the right of way we think is a part of the road itself um whether it's maintained by the town or maintained by the state. So we think that that falls within the areas that you all are allowed to that people are entitled to protest on but that fall within the restrictions of the ordinance.

Okay. And I guess then my only um comment might be that I think well you know so much has changed really since we did this in December even it I say changed you know but we're in a we're in a new world a new time so I would not be opposed to considering raising the number of participants that were considered you know small group um especially in a spontaneous situation because 15 I think Mr. Cartwright made the comment that, you know, you're almost punishing success if you, you know, if you want to demonstrate and I punishing might be a little strong, but but 15, you can get 15 pretty people pretty quickly, you know, and people just stopping by. And if you're in front of of Dowy Park, for example, and there's a market going on, people are stopping by to see what's going on. All of a sudden, it's it's bigger than that pretty quickly,

right? But of course, I'd like to, you know, um, see where our police department stands on a lot of these things, too, because it's it's their responsibility to keep us all safe, right? Okay.

Yeah. I think, you know, I agree totally. And I mean, you know, the problem is, and Mr. Cartright said it himself, is this spontaneous events. You have no idea how many people are going to show up. So, I mean, We're all in favor of free speech, but we have to consider public safety and how thin it might stretch our police department if one of these things grow really big. So, I mean, I'd be probably in favor of limiting the numbers some and moving it up and maybe doing something about the hours as well. But, I mean, I I do think that we need this ordinance and it's something that we need to keep. And I mean, it's not just the rightway that's affected when you gather. It's also if you have a business or a private parking when you're trying to do business. I mean, where do all these people park? I mean, that's a consideration, too. They're parking in parking lots and they're kind of hampering business a little bit, you know, maybe, maybe not, but I mean, that's some of the things you have to consider when you have one of these spontaneous,

right? And and as you say, given the given the numbers, um, you know, there there is a there is private property right there. Um, and I think one of the things that time does for the larger events is gives us the opportunity to ask, have you accommodate, you know, have you made accommodations for parking? I understand for small events that's that's less of an issue, but but I think when it starts to get to the some of some of the larger numbers and people are showing up at whatever location, you know, park in public parking, that's one thing, but if they start parking on private property, um, we need to know that they've made some kind of arrangements for that. Um, yes, I yes to all. And also, I definitely want Nagad to be a place where everyone feels free to make their voices heard. And I I do feel like 15 is is a rather poulry number. So, I would like to see that number grow. Um, definitely by at least double. Um, one thing that's been kind of crossing my mind is that we the crowd gathering activity application fee for group demonstrations with more than a hundred incurs the fee. Is that right? So that's when it gets more than 100, we start the fee for $25.

Correct. Um, and the permit is needed for over 15. So there's such a huge gap between 15 and 100. Do you see where I'm going? Like there's we allow 15 with a less than 15 without a permit, but 15 and above you need a permit, but then you don't pay until it's 100. Is it two different permits, Britney? Well, there's a crowd gathering permit um for anything over a hundred in addition to the group demonstration permit, and that's the $25 fee. you know, the fee is such a nominal fee

that for like a speech related event, you know, I wouldn't be opposed to eliminating the fee. I'm not sure the fee does anything for us materially. Yeah. And and so if the board's position is that you want to encourage or not disrupt the ability to do it, then you know, obviously eliminating the fee makes the process more streamlined, you know, and you still need the permit.

Yeah. Some of the recent events though, you know, I mean, we learn about things, you know, the folks that have been doing these activities uh recently have wanted to comply with the ordinance and they reached out and they they make a concerted effort to do that and they asked questions. And so that's a good thing and that we're trying to be proactive and learning about and reaching out to people about these things so that we don't end up in a situation where okay you didn't meet the deadline and you didn't get the permit and now what are we going to do and so we don't want that to happen. So you know obviously increasing the number reducing the time frame eliminating the field those combination of things you know would would lend lend themselves to um encouraging more spontaneous

events. while still maintaining some reasonable control of what's going on. So, you know, we could talk about those specific things today or bring something back. It's the board's preference. Okay. Chief, I do want if you would come to the podium just briefly. Um I know we've had um some events since we instituted the ordinance. Um, and even when they have exceeded 14, 15 or more, we've done head counts. I know. So, we're we're still talking about something in the order of what 15 to 20 or 25.

Yes, sir. The ones that so-called spontaneous, I mean, I've got my opinion spontaneous, I mean, that's the sudden impulse when you're advertising it to me out there. That's not spontaneous to me. But they have been within the 20 I think 22 was the most.

Okay. So we had close to 40 on one of them and we're monitoring them. Um we're riding by. Um the biggest things that I have with them. The one group we work well with together. They're in constant communications. They even ask for feedback after the events. Um and they've taken all of our suggestions and put them in place. Um very excited to work with them. Um, any event that comes on as the chief, I don't want to take staffing from our normal shifts that are dedicated to traffic control, answering calls to have to deal with something else that comes up. So, every event that has been coming up where it's been large enough that we have known about, I myself, I'm out. I have my lieutenants out. I pull in two or three other officers out so we can monitor to make sure that we have no issues. Um, that is putting if if somebody pops up last minute, I can't get staffing out there to to monitor to make sure that we don't have any issues. And knock on wood, we've not had any issues. We've had one that come out and wanted to oppose. Um that person was told to leave not because of his speech, but because he was parked in no parking area. So um we also have to understand that if somebody comes out to oppose speech is protected even they're opposing the original people until they provoke violence or cause retaliation then it's disorderly conduct that we can do something about the police department is not looking to get into the middle of any of these things. We just want everybody and we're proud supporters of of the first amendment and we just I

my biggest goal is to make sure everybody that comes to a head is safe and I'm not taking resources away from my normal shifts. Um because I might have somebody call in sick and you know we're already scrambling for our shifts and and to have events going on to to be able to plan for is makes it a lot easier for us. So I realize some of this is just subjective and sometimes you don't know until you have an event that doesn't fit the fit the pattern. Um, is there a material difference between 15 and 30 in terms of

No, and I would be good with that number. It's just, you know, and and if and if 32 are out there, we're not going to go out there and, you know, you've got 32 people, you're I mean, we can monitor and then make contact afterwards. That's our goal, right?

Um, now all of a sudden, if there's 3,000 out there and you're in the middle of the streets, you can't block streets, etc., you know, we're going to handle things a little bit differently then. Um, we do get calls and complaints from from both sides. Did y'all mention on private property and stuff, people calling that owned businesses didn't want them parking in there? Um, we took it as a courtesy to let them know that they had the option to tow and people looked at it as us of trying to tell them they couldn't park there. It's not. We were just letting them know that the the property on a dead. We've gotten calls about it being, you know, right there at school and the children crossing, you know, and reading the signs out there. Um, you can read one. You can read one with profanity on it. Um, our goal is just to make sure that everybody is getting along and provide safety for those that are exercising their right and also to to the others that might come up and oppose to make sure that we don't have any altercations.

The ordinance does talk about the the police chief has the authority to sort of create space between opposing groups, you know, and that that is intentional. If we had two groups of opposing that wanted to use the right of way in front of Dy Park at the same time that the ordinance gives me the authority to regulate well you can come at 10 m you can come at 10:30 so we would alternate it back and forth and hopefully everybody to get along and they would go along with it but we also know that that's not the case all the time okay

right and and if I may sort of expand on that you know the um the town's ordinance is an ordinance that applies all year round and it's one thing to have, you know, 16 people show up at Dowy Park in the middle of January, and it's another to have 99 people show up on the 4th of July next to other planned activities. And the ordinance applies to both of those things. And I I just as we talk about the numbers and what kind of regulations you want to have, I just I would encourage you to keep in mind that um sort of like your parking ordinance, you know, your your parking ordinance tends to take into account the the busiest day of the year. And I think that your uh this kind of ordinance since it's it's a police power ordinance, it should also consider, you know, the busiest time of the year and the times when there's going to be the most people around.

Okay. Very good. Right. So board, I think we've heard the attorney's opinion that that we're we're doing something that's constitutional that there is some some latitude in the number uh in terms of you know whether it's um you know material difference in terms of response for small events and you heard the manager say that you know the the fee itself is not um doing much for the town. So if we want to differentiate a free speech event in some way with regard to that then we could do that. So let's start Molly. Um okay. Well I would like to raise the number that we allow um from 15 to at least 30.

Um and my preference is just for spontaneous free speech events to eliminate the fee but to still have the permit process where they need to alert that they're doing it and communicate with the staff.

Okay. Um, I agree. I agree. And um, do we need to look at the 72 or 48 hours or just give you discretion to give town manager discretion to, you know, if somebody comes up at 48 hours and you talk to the chief and think it's okay or do you want you guys want to keep it at 72? is that um that 48 or 72 hours that's not business days. So in other words, if it's if somebody comes in on a Friday and wants to do an event on Monday, they've met the 48 hour.

Yeah. There's no The ordinance doesn't reference. Okay. Just purely just purely okay. Yeah. Okay. But then I guess it's a practical matter. There wouldn't be anybody there to issue a permit or to Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah. I mean that's why I'm thinking there is sort of a minimum amount of time if somebody comes in on a Friday. I mean you want to give staff has to have time to sort of process that. So I mean it seems like the the 48 is a reasonable sort of number.

Yeah. If I if I may, the um the current ordinance does it requires that the permit application be filed not less than 72 hours. So there's no discretion to accept one or to authorize one when it's not applied for properly. So um I would not recommend that there be that the manager or the chief exercise any discretion to grant a permit when someone hasn't complied with the terms of the ordinance. So um so if you want to reduce the time that would be one thing but I wouldn't I wouldn't want to provide any discretion because the issuance of the permit should be a clerical matter uh you know so that there's no accusation or no basis for someone to think that that uh a permit denial or or approval may be based on viewpoint

um I I mean, I personally I don't have a problem with raising the number because it's not that big a deal. I don't have a problem with with there not being a fee um for for free speech events in particular, um protest events in particular. Um I do think we ought to keep the time limit on there for for a permit though for the events that require them of 72 hours because that just gives us adequate time for staff to do what they need to do. I mean, I think if we cut that much shorter, it really does kind of give them time to have the conversations they need to have, make sure that things are squared away. I would like to say too that um this is such a big topic that's bigger than I ever thought it would be and it's it's constantly changing and I hope that the town people will give us grace and like we may make changes again like

we may come up with you know things that need to be changed in the next few months again yeah and continue to engage with stakeholders if you will. Yeah. Can I ask one question? So the $25 fee the way I understand it is only if you meet the 100 100 people. So even if you have to fill out the group demonstration permit right now at 15, you don't pay the fee until you hit the 100 because the crowd permit if it's not a group demonstration the fee is $100

tier one. But we took and originally put that if you did meet the 100 it would be for group demonstrations only that it be 25. So there's no fee for any group demonstration if you have 15 or if you raise it to 30 and you going to have 32. We just want the the application to put out so we know that if I need to bring in additional staff or etc. So the fee only hits if you do 100 and then it's reduced off the tier one to 25. Correct. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Everybody got that? So that's fair. I mean I Yeah, I'd be inclined to leave that the way it is. Okay, first one I don't So we want to leave the fee?

Yeah, I would I would do that. So let's let's um let's adjust the number. I mean it it seems reasonable and John, we didn't advertise a change. I mean this was on the agenda, but we could make this change without it being advertised. That's correct because it's a police powers ordinance. Okay. All right. Very good. So a public hearing is not required. Okay. Then then I think perhaps a motion would be in order to uh to change that that number from 15 to 30 is what that's what I would I think so I'm good with that.

Okay. I mean I would like 50 but but 30 is fine. I mean, when you're riding by not counting specific people, is it easy is it easy to tell what's 30 and what's 50 and what's 40 and Yes. being in this business for a long time, you learn how to count and you section people out and count and go by numbers and you can be within five or 10 large groups. Okay. Um, but I don't stop and go two miles an hour and count. You ride by and you get a visual and you learn how to count with one eye and the other eye on the road. So Okay. All right. Well, the board is agreeing 30. I'll go with that.

All right, then. Can I get a motion? I move that we change that number to 30. Okay. Do I have a second? Second. All right. I have a motion in a second. Any further discussion then? And again, this is this is a fluid situation. So if uh if we have advice from the chief, staff, attorney or input from stakeholders, you you know, as appropriate, I think this board is uh is willing to deal with that. So have a motion and a second. Uh all those in favor signify by saying I.

I opposed. Right. Thank you. Thank you everybody. Um, and I and I do, you know, we we got a note of appreciation um for the for the work that staff was doing to be communicative. I think that's probably the most important thing regardless of what we put in the ordinance is that staff um communicates with them uh gives feedback when when feedback is asked for and um and uh try try to keep everybody on the same page. Uh, that brings us to the board of commissioners agenda and I think I'll start with Commissioner Harrison. Anything to bring to us today? Nothing else. Okay. Commissioner Sanders. Nothing else. Thank you, Mr. Vaugh. Not today.

Okay, great. Thank you. Um, and I also do not, unfortunately, my uh trip to DC with the league was cancelled because of the weather. Um, so hopefully there'll be other opportunities to take care of concern about FEMA reform and other topics um to to them at another time. Um so that before we go to close session um so that we people know whether they need to wait. Is there any other business to come before the board?

I see none. So that would bring us to um close sessions. Um do we need to modify this, John? Do we need to add anything to this? All right. So, um I move that the board, um go to close session to consult with the town attorney regarding matters protected by the attorney client privilege and to preserve that privilege to include the Cherry Incorporated litigation pursuant to general statute 143-318.11a3. So moved. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Right. The board will be in close session.

Thank you. Okay. The board has returned to open session. Uh Mr. Lighty, will you please report on the closed session? Uh yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, the board did discuss matters that are protected by the attorney client privilege, but no actions were taken. Very good. Thank you. We addressed other business before we went into close session. So, and we do not need a midmon meeting. So, a motion to adjurnn would be in order. I'll make that motion. All right. Do I have a second? I have a motion and a second to adjurnn. All in favor say I. I. Opposed. Thank you.