Board of Commissioners - Regular Meeting

the first time where we had three women on the on the board. Good morning everyone. This the regular Wednesday, December 3rd, 2025 meeting of the Nags Head Board of Commissioners is hereby called to order. Um before we uh uh go into the agenda this morning, I would like to recognize a couple of folks who were here in the audience. We have former Commissioner Anna Sadler with us this morning and former commissioner Susie Walters is here with us this morning. Welcome. Um, and I do want to say u as we go into our moment of silence this morning, u many of you may know that Carol Muller, who is the wife of uh former mayor Bob Muller, suffered an accident in the last couple of weeks, a serious accident. She is recovering well and is expected home soon, but we ask that you keep uh the mowers in your thoughts and prayers. Um and uh Bob also he will be here at a later time but he asked that we do express our thanks to our first responders or police, fire and EMS who took such good care of them um in the in the moments uh and hours following that um accident. So with that in mind, 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.

I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. A note also that Commissioner Sears is asked to be excused this morning. This brings us to the adoption of the agenda and a motion would be in order. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. Have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I.

I. Opposed. Right. Thank you. That brings us to recognitions. Before we go into those, um I do want to take a moment of privilege and recognize former town attorney Tom White Jr. um who passed within the last uh couple of weeks. We were saddened to learn of the passing of Tom White Jr., a longtime public servant whose leadership and dedication helped guide the town of Nagsad for more than three decades. Tom served as the town of Nagshead attorney from January 1971 through September 2001. Throughout that 30 years in that role, he provided steady, thoughtful, and reliable counsel to the board of commissioners and town staff. His work was marked by professionalism, a deep understanding of municipal government, and an unwavering commitment to the best interest of the community. In recognition of his distinguished service, the board of commissioners adopted a resolution of appreciation in October of 2001. Commending Tom for his diligence, integrity, and constructive contributions to the town over three decades. This resolution acknowledged the lasting impact of his work on municipal governance and the community as a whole. Beyond his role as town attorney, Tom was deeply involved in the culture and history of the Outer Banks. He was a champion of the Lost Colony, serving on its board of directors from 1977 to 1997 as general counsel, vice chair, chair, and producer. And he also [snorts] served on the board of the Outerbanks History Center. In June of 2016, Tom was honored with the Nags Head Lighter Award, the town's highest recognition for individuals who have made significant contributions to the community. This award celebrates those whose time, talent, and dedication have shaped the image and direction of Nags Head. Tom White's legacy, if one, is one of true public service. His work strengthened our town, and his impact will continue to be felt for years to

come. We extend our deepest condolences to his family and all of those who knew him. And John, I understand you might like to make a comment about Tom.

Yeah, Mr. Mayor, thank you very much. I had the privilege of practicing law with Tom White for a few years. Uh [clears throat] I knew him before he uh joined my law firm. He was the senior partner in the Kellogg White Evans and Grey law firm going back to the 70s. And when my when I got married, my wife came down here and went to work with Tom White. She wanted to work with him. And um he was just a giant of the legal community. I don't know anybody who's had a bigger impact on uh the legal community, the law in the state of North Carolina, or this community than Tom White. I think it's uh very fitting that he was recognized and honored um back in 2016 that he and his uncle Martin Kellogg were both honored with the town's awards for the lightkeeper and the nag eter. And so I just hope that everybody will keep him in their him in their memory and and recognize what he's done for the town.

Thank you, John. That [snorts] brings us to a 20-year recognition and I'll call Chief Wells to the podium, please. [clears throat] Good morning, mayor and commissioners. I stand before you again for one of those 20-year recognitions. It seems like we've had a string of them this year, and we're very proud of that.

I would like to recognize engineer Richard Gibbons for 20 years of dedicated service to the town of Nagad Fire Rescue. Richard be began his career with us on October 24th, 2005 after being downsized from the Ford Motor Company where he worked in auto body design. Instead of stepping back, he chose a new path in public service. He earned his associates degree in firefighting and paramed and continues to serve as a licensed paramedic. Over the years, he has developed additional technical skills which he applies daily in support of our operations here in Nag. From his first day with us, Richard has lived our department values of courage, compassion, and commitment. He has steadily risen through the ranks through hard work, reliability, and genuine desire to help others. He is a man of strong faith, devoted to his church, his team, and the community he serves. There's something Richard asked me to include today. Richard [clears throat] is a cancer survivor and I mentioned that only because he wanted me to thank the town for the cancer screenings we conducted and the benefits we provided through the firefighter relief board. He also wanted to take this moment to raise awareness for the increased risk of cancer in our profession and to remind us why those protections matter. He approached his cancer as he does with all things with the same humility that he does calmness and faith.

[clears throat]

Richard is humble and gentle. When I interviewed him for this uh recognition, his only request, he said in a telephone call, 9:00 at night, [laughter] "Please, Chief, keep this short. It's not about me, but my service to God." While I could go on about Richard, and there are plenty of things I could say, I want to honor him in that way that also respects his wishes. He told me, "I love what I do, and I believe you without question." His actions show it. Richard's courage, calm, presence have carried him through some of our most usual, unusual, and demanding calls. He is highly skilled in large animal rescue, a specialty that requires a steady hand and a steady heart. He has used that skill many times, including the day he removed a seven- foot snake from under the backseat of a car. Thank you. [laughter]

His [clears throat] compassion for both people and animals is constant and his commitment to doing the job has never wavered. Richard is smart, kind, and dependable. He embodies the values we respect from every member of our department and he is a standard through his actions daily. He and his wife of 17 years, Linda Dial, live on a 10acre farm in Camden, a setting that suits him well, where he cares for others and animals. We thank Richard for his 20 years of service, his faith, his professionalism, and the example he brings to our department. Richard, we are so happy that you're with us. Thank you. [applause] And I'm going to ask the board, as is our custom, to come around to the front of the podium for a photograph. Thank you. Appreciate Our long-term employees do a great honor to the town. Frankly, uh we're very very fortunate to have so many people who do spend long careers with the town of

Nagad um and appreciate their love uh for their service to our community. That brings us to um recognition for an outgoing board member, Mayor Pro Tim Sears. Mike asked even his in his absence that I be brief. Um but I do want to to say three things about Mike. Um Mike had three uh strong values that I will always recall. Um he was a champion for the business community. He had a lot of contacts in the business community and often spoke up in the interest of u maintaining the viability of the business community of the town of Nags Head. Um he spoke up often for the taxpayers. Um he was a champion of sustainable projects and budgets. um and wanted to make sure that the town was always aware um that we were calling on our citizens to pay for the programs that we were that we were uh voting for and supporting. And he was a champion of our employees uh of both the compensation and that we uh value them uh very highly and he was vocal uh in that and all of those issues and was a um a positive in influence on the work of the board in those regards. And uh we do have gifts for Mike which we will present to him at a time of of his convenience and we greatly appreciate his service. Um that brings us to reorganization of the board and report on the results of the election and then I will turn this over to clerk uh town clerk Brittney Phillips.

All right. Good morning. Um we had three seats up at the election this time. The first seat, the mayor candidate, um, Ben Cahoun received 854 votes. The four-year commissioner seat, uh, Bob Sanders received 682 votes. Megan Vaughn 673 votes and Michael Sears 419 votes. The two-year commissioner seat, Molly Harrison received 656 votes. Uh CP Buster Nunaker III received 246 votes and Keith Sawyer received 69 votes. With that, I if we could start our oaths and we'll start with the mayor. [clears throat] [clears throat] I state your name.

I do solemnly swear soyly swear that I will support and maintain that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and laws the Constitution laws not inconsistent not inconsistent with and that I will faithfully and I will faithfully partially and discharge the duties discharge the duties imposed upon me as mayor imposed upon me as mayor of the town of Madison according to law according to law so help me out to help me out [applause]

[laughter] You don't have to support that I will support and maintain the lawsitution law of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and laws and the Constitution and law. North Carolina of North Carolina not inconsistent not inconsistent and that I will faithfully and I willfully and discharge the duties discharge the duties impostition of the town of the town according to the law

according to the law [applause] I doly swear do solemnly swear that I will support and maintain that I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and laws and the constitution and laws of North Carolina of North Carolina not inconsistent fair not inconsistent fair and that I will faithfully and that I will faithfully

and impartially andartially discharge the duties discharge the duties imposter as commissioner as commissioner of the town of of the town of according to law according to law so help me so help me out thank you [applause]

[applause] [clears throat]

I state your name. I'm justware [clears throat] that I will support and maintain that I will support and maintain the laws the law of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and the Constitution and of North Carolina. not inconsistent, not inconsistent, and that I will faithfully and I will impartial discharge imposed upon me as commissioner according [applause]

Good. All right. Thank you. Um, now that we've concluded the oaths of office, the uh board will take about a 10-minute break so that the new members may be seated and we can make our seating arrangements here. Uh, so the board will be in recess for about 10 minutes. Byebye. [laughter] I know where to find me.

All right, the board has uh been seated and returned to uh session and we welcome Maui and Megan to the board. Welcome. Thanks. U that brings us to selection of Mayor Pro Tim and that oath of office and so a nomination for Mayor Pro Tim would be in order. Um, I would like to nominate Commissioner Lambert. Okay. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second that. Okay. I have a motion and a second um to elect Commissioner Lambert as mayor pro Tim. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I opposed. All right. Thank you. Uh Britney, if you will administer the oath. I state I do solemnly swear tool that I that having been duly elected that having been duly elected mayor attorney mayor by the board of commissioners by the board of commissioners of the town of the town at an official meeting at an official meeting

held on December 3rd, 2025. held on December 3rd, 2025. I will support and maintain I will support and maintain the Constitution and laws the Constitution and laws of the United States of the United States and the Constitution and laws and the constitutional laws of North Carolina of North Carolina not inconsistent there not inconsistent there and that I will faithfully that I will faithfully and impartially andartially discharge the duties discharge the duties impost as of law

[applause] [clears throat] That brings us next to the um this board's adoption of the code of ethics resolution which you have before you um in your agenda packet. at the code of ethics for the board of the commissioners of the town of Nagshead, North Carolina, uh dated December 3rd, 2025. And I'm not going to read all of that. It's rather long, but a motion to adopt would be in order.

So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second to adopt the code of ethics. All those in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. Great. Thank you. That brings us to 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 to the board. Uh, this is not an opportunity for dialogue and the board rarely responds to public comment. But if you have comments that you wish to address to the board of matters of concern or interest, uh, if you will please, uh, go to the podium, start by telling us your name uh, and where you live and then address your remarks to the whole board. Also, we have a couple of public hearings on the agenda today. Uh, if you're here to speak on those public hearings, you can reserve your comments until those public hearings are called. But for anyone else, this is your opportunity to address the board. Anybody seeing no one at this time, we will conclude the public comment session.

Right. Thank you, John. That brings us to the consent agenda, item F, which you have before you containing five items. And a motion would be in order. So moved. I have a motion. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the consent agenda as presented. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Thank you. That brings us to public hearing starting with uh text amendments to the flood damage prevention section. And this will be handled by uh Joe Costello and John Lighty.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. At this time, we will begin the public hearing to consider an amendment to the unified development ordinance uh for the town as it pertains to the flood damage prevention ordinance requirements for elevation and freeboard. And we'll begin with a presentation of the staff's analysis presented by Joe Costello.

Hello. Good morning, mayor and commissioners. Um just a brief um sort of summary of what we're doing and why. Um we had a CRS audit last year around this time um and we recently got the results of that audit and one of the comments was we have one zone uh VE13 zone in town. Um, our current ordinance has a 9 foot base flood elevation um west of the beach road and 12 feet on the east side, but and then we have an 18inch free and clear um requirement, but in this one um BE13 zone, it's adjacent to about 14 houses. It touches four houses. They've long been developed. it hasn't had an actual um sort of impact on the ground, but we do need to make this um text amendment adjustment to always have one foot of free board including in this PE13 zone. Um and so that is the main impetus of putting forth this text amendment. There were also some minor changes and um clarity on definitions and um alignment between our definitions and our um flood prevention ordinance. Um so that's what's before you today. I'm happy to answer any questions. Okay.

Are there any questions for Mr. Costello? No questions. All right. Anything else, Joe? That's all. All right. Thank you very much. Um, is there anybody uh who wishes to comment on this proposed text amendment? All right. Um, does the board wish to receive any other information regarding this before you begin your deliberations? All right. If not, we will at this time conclude the public hearing and the board may begin its deliberations on the proposed text amendment.

All right. All right. Thank you, John. Thank you, Joe. Um this is something sort of in the nature of a technical correction to our uh ordinance uh which is uh seems necessary. Um and so u before we go into any uh questions or comment perhaps um we'll start with a motion. I'd like to make a motion that we approve the text amendment to the flood damage prevention section within the UDO ordinance. Okay. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second that. All right. I have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Y I don't have any discussion. Very straightforward. All right. Very good. Then hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

I. Opposed. Right. Thank you. Uh that brings us next to a public hearing to consider a vested rights special use site plan amendment for Nags Head Church. And this will be Mr. Lidy and Kelly Wyatt.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Um I want to point out that uh uh this is a quai judicial uh public hearing procedure. So um I have a number of remarks I want to make. First uh we're going to open the qua judicial hearing uh for the board to consider an application uh for a vested right special use permit and site plan amendment uh as presented um regarding the it's been submitted by Almorum Associates Limited on behalf of the Nags Head Church for expansion of the parking lot. A um qua [clears throat] judicial hearing is the process by which this board adjudicates how the general law applies to a particular situation based on an evidentiary record presented during the hearing. Your two key responsibilities are one to determine contested facts and two to apply the legal standards to the facts. You may apply only the standards that are already contained in the town's ordinance. You are not permitted to change or modify those standards during this hearing or as part of your decision in the case. In conducting this hearing, certain safeguards must be instituted in order to give the applicant a fair hearing. The applicant has the right to cross-examine witnesses and offer rebuttal evidence. The procedure of the ordinance must be followed. The the board members may question any witness at any time during the hearing. Questions from the floor will not be permitted except by cross-examination from any of these sworn witnesses who have been recognized to speak. Um, a member must not vote on this application if the outcome of the matter being considered is reasonably likely to have a direct and substantial financial impact on the member. If such a direct and substantial financial conflict exists, the member should disclose it and ask to be excused from consideration of the matter. Also, if any members of the board have had any contact with anyone prior to this hearing in which the particulars of this application were discussed or if you have received letters, email communications, phone

calls, or other contact from anyone concerning this matter prior to the hearing, you must disclose those communications. You must base your decision on this application entirely on the facts presented during this hearing and disregard the particulars discussed with the applicant or any other party. Also, a member must base uh his or her decision on the evidence presented during the hearing. Any member who has developed a predetermined opinion or bias on the outcome of this application before the hearing must not participate in the decision on this application. So, at this time, I ask whether anybody has a financial conflict uh that requires that they be excused from the matter.

All right. Uh next, uh has anybody received any expparte communications regarding this matter that they need to disclose at this time? No. No. And finally, does any member have a preconceived opinion or bias on what the outcome of this application should be? All right. Very good.

All right. Now, your decision must be based on competent, substantial, and material evidence properly entered into the record of this hearing. And by the way, that standard was developed in a town of Nagg case that Tom White won for the town about 35 years ago. Um, crucial facts used to determine the outcome of this hearing must be based on sworn statements made by witnesses during this hearing. While you may be presented before or during this hearing with copies of unsworn statements contained in letters, emails or such, um, such unsworn evidence can only be used to corroborate or supplement other sworn evidence presented during the hearing. Unsworn EV evidence such as letters or emails can never be used as the sole basis for your decision. Um, all right. So, at this time, uh, I will ask that the town clerk swear in the applicant and all witnesses who plan to provide evidence, uh, by testimony in this case. So, anybody who will be presenting evidence, if you'll please approach the clerk and take the oath. All right. Thank you. And now at this time, we'll begin the uh evidentiary pres presentation with the staff's analysis and uh testimony of planning director Kelly Wyatt.

Thank you so much. Uh good morning, mayor and board. Um, as noted, this is a request being brought forth by um, Knack Head Church. Albamoral and Associates is the applicant. Um, this is a vested right special use site plan amendment and it's for the expansion of the parking lot and relocation of an existing storage shed that's on site. The property is located at 105 West Soundside Road and um there is currently a um a church on site and I did include the uh site plan up on the projector so you um can see what we're talking about. Um for those interested, I'll use my cursor to sort of point out um here's the existing church. Um, you've got Southside Road to the north, US 158, uh, to the east, and then this is the area that we're talking about for the addition of parking. Um, and then as we move to the west, um, out here, you will see, um, proposed new storm water management measures. Um, with that said, the property is zoned R2 medium density residential. Um, and the surrounding properties are also zoned um, residential as well. The property is located in a um, X flood zone, but we do have a local elevation standard of nine. So, I noted in your packet, depending on the size of the shed, that shed may have to meet the regulatory base flood elevation of nine.

We'll make sure that's handled at permitting. Um, as far as the use goes, we do list religious complexes as a special use within the R2 zoning district. Um, we go on to talk about amendments to site plans, what constitutes a minor site plan amendment or a major site plan amendment. And because there was an addition of um over a thousand square feet of lot coverage in this case, that elevated it to a major site plan amendment, which is why it's before you today. Um, for lot coverage purposes, they're allowed to have 30% lot coverage, but they can increase that to 45%. um with storm water management facilities designed to infiltrate for the 2-in storm. Uh proposed lot coverage here is 22.9%. So um they are well within compliance. Um there is no uh structure associated with height or architectural design. So we can skip over that. Um for parking uh article 10 table 10.2 2 states that religious complexes shall be parked at um one space per four seats in the sanctuary. They have a total of 97 parking spaces on site and that is adequate for their seating, but they have noticed that due to an overlap in services, they do need some additional parking. And so [clears throat] this request would be um providing 42 additional parking spaces for a total of 138 parking spaces. Um the ordinance does require that when you are adding new parking areas that a portion of that be in a permeable surface. Um and they have provided really all of their parking stalls in a permeable surface. So they're compliant

in that regard. With buffering and landscaping, there's nothing being done um at this point that requires an increase in their buffering and landscaping. Um so there's no additional required vegetation that needs to be planted. Um however, the adjoining properties along the southern boundary that are developed residentially, um they have to maintain a 20 foot, is it 20 or 25? Um actually it's a 10- foot wide protective landscape buffer that has two rows of plantings adjacent to those residential properties. So a lot of their existing mature vegetation will suffice for that. Um if there are areas that need to be supplemented, staff will ensure that those do get supplemented, but that has been shown on the site plan. Um interior parking lot landscaping is required as well. uh they have to provide um that landscaping at a minimum rate equal to 10% of the total area of the new parking spaces. Um the minimum that would be required is 2,611 square ft of vegetation. They're proposing almost 3,000. So they're compliant there. Um as far as lighting goes, uh they have included a lighting plan. There will be some additional lighting shown. Um, and staff has reviewed that and determined that it is in compliance uh with the town standards in terms of the type of fixture um and the uh uh photometrics that were provided. There's no additional signage being proposed at the time. Um the Dear County Health Department has reviewed and approved this for septic capacity, traffic circulation, storm water management have all been reviewed and approved by the town engineer, the fire department. um has also looked at this and approved the

design would just state that um North Carolina fire prevention code would have to be complied um we would ensure compliance with that as well. Public services has looked at this uh the location of the front load dumpster is compliant. Uh so everything here has been reviewed by staff. uh staff analysis, we would recommend approval as it's been presented. And when the planning board heard this request, um they voted unanimously to recommend approval as it's been presented. And I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. We have Mike Moore with Albam Marl and Associates available as well as Pastor Terry Moore should you have any questions.

All right. Thank you very much, Miss Wyatt. Does the board have any questions for Miss Wyatt? I do not. All right. Uh, does the applicant have any questions for Ms. Miss Wyatt? I do not. All right. Thank you very much. Thank you. All right. At this time, uh, the applicant may present evidence in support of the application.

Good morning. Thank you for having me here and congratulations to our new commissioners. Um I look forward to working with you. Thank you.

The uh basically this this this project the church came to us back in early 2023. Um with what what Kelly had described is is exactly what the issue is. They've got they they they get a parking rush at a certain time where the first mass when people are are are left helping out uh socializing or whatever and the second mass they're coming in and they've done uh they've got a a a very efficient parking crew over there who's got a good process but you can only do so much with a limited number of spaces. Um, so we looked at where we could increase their parking capacities [snorts] and where where you where you see the new spaces are, that's actually where the storm water basin is. So it was a choice of okay well you can put parking over in I mean that property goes back that well over 1500 foot from from the point with the main what we'll call the main parcel the original parcel. Um that's obviously not a great place to put parking by distance to walk into the church nor it you know it puts it more up against the residential properties. So, we're taking the storm water basin and putting it back there. And [snorts] uh, you know, we we we work closely with with your planning staff in in making this all work. And, um, this is the exact same plan that was approved in May of 2023. There's it's it's not been changed at all. It's still got my my my 2023 signature and seal on it.

Um, I I'd be glad to answer any questions. Board have any questions for Mr. Mway? No questions. I mean, I drive out here on Sunday mornings sometimes, and I know I applaud you guys for looking at this parking and trying to take care of it. It's really good. My only concern would be to ma maintain as much of that natural vegetation between the residential properties back there. And I think Miss Wyatt has addressed that. So, That's my biggest concern.

Yes. [snorts] And we we we decided that when we stake out the area that would need to be cleared, we're going to see if there's if there's anything we can work around there that wouldn't totally disrupt the fat functionality of what we have going on. We do have I mean we've got a perimeter a buffer on both sides and we have over three acres of wooded area that's going to remain wooded behind there that they have no no plans for any future development. They would they would like to maybe put some some paths there that people can and not only their staff their their parishioners but the neighborhood can take advantage of. Thank you. Thank you.

Any other questions for Mr. Mway? No. All right. Anything else, Mr. Mo? Not at this moment. All right. Thank you very much. All right. Does the board wish to receive any other evidence before you begin your deliberations?

All right. If not, at this time, we will conclude the evidentiary presentation. I will point out to you all that uh in order for the board to approve this proposal um the board must find that the proposal is consistent with the applicable use and development standards as well as relevant land policies and you must make the uh five findings that are listed at the end of Miss Wyatt's staff report. All right, good. Thank you, John. Um thank you, Kelly. Thank you, Mike. uh appreciate that um presentation and uh let's start with a a motion and then we can have some discussion. I'll make a motion to approve this.

Right. Thank you with and with the findings of fact. With the findings of fact. Okay. Right. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Right. So, um we have a motion and a second. John, do we need to recite the findings of fact? No. as long as she's in that she's incorporating all five findings as I understand the motion. So, okay, that's sufficient.

Very good. Thank you. Um I don't have any questions. Um the concern about vegetation's already been raised and addressed. Um uh I commend you for your programming at a time when uh church churches are not all vibrant. I appreciate the fact that uh y'all are healthy and have this need and appreciate you uh addressing it uh in the manner in which you have. board. Any comments, questions? No questions. All right. So, we have a motion and a second. So, all of those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Thank you.

Yes, sir. Um, that brings us next to reports and recommendations from the planning board and the de planning and development director, Kelly. Thank you. Um go through this pretty quickly. Um, at the planning board's last meeting, November 18th, there were no action items, but we did discuss um the process moving forward with two of our planning board members being elected to the board of commissioners and how our December planning board meeting would be um operated with our vice chair megwin um functioning as chair at that time. Um, in the coming meeting for the planning board, which is December 16th, uh, we anticipate two sketch plan review submissions. Um, one is for the vacant property that, um, is immediately west of TWW's Bed and Tackle and is under the same ownership [clears throat] as TWWs. And the other sketch plan would be for um a proposed detached two-story hotel addition to the Tar Hill Motel which is located at 71 South Croatan Highway. Um there were no applications for the board of adjustment in November 2025. um the septic health advisory committee. Not a whole lot of updates there, but I did want to point out that um with the updated social media with the real that our intern did um as well as the NAGS

headlines newsletter and some other things that occurred, uh our environmental planner, Connor Twitty, has really been inundated with requests and questions. So that's great that um at the time that I wrote this, we probably had um 20 inspection requests that were specifically tied to the new outreach, but it's been consistent. I would say we're we're up to 40. We're double at this point. Uh and I believe it's two new loans.

So anyway, um that was exciting to hear that the the new outreach was working. Um Estrin Shoreline Management Plan. Um, as far as the two sites with Soundside Road and Nagad Woods Road, those are just steady progressing. Um, not a whole lot to report at this time. Uh, but with the Harvey uh, tracked Estrin shoreline um, living shoreline that we are doing in conjunction with the Outer Banks Visitors Bureau. There has been some progress there. And I did want to note uh that on November 24th, I believe it was, we had representatives from um DEEQ, uh Division of Coastal Management, North Carolina Crant um here in the town of Nags Head doing some promotional activity and looking at the Harvey tract. Um so that was very exciting. um anticipate there being more detailed updates um on the ESMP in total um in January and February as we pick back up. The uh sand relocation and dude management cost share program is underway. Um that opened up on November 17th. Uh when we wrote this report, we had 71 sand relocation applications which is very high. um to start out with um and I imagine those are um from the storms that we've received lately. And talking with Connor Twitty and her planner Greg Daisy, a lot of these applications um are for filling in escarments and um not as much what we're used to with trying to get the sand back out onto the beach, but just filling in incarments that have um eroded over time. Um and the dune management cost share

program. We have we had 24 applications. I know we have notably more at this point. So both are doing um really strong. They started out very strong this year and I imagine they'll stay that way. Um so I think everybody appreciates the board allocating um the amount of money. I think it'll get used this this go round. Um lastly, the Dowy Park events, farmers market, and art and culture update. Um the committee for art and culture did meet on November 12th. Our event coordinator, Paige Griffin, um provided updates on um the season and where we were at with our holiday events. Um would go ahead and note that our winter food markets will start in January. They'll go through April. Um they'll be on the second Saturday of the month from 9 to noon. Want to recognize um that the Outer Banks Women's Club celebrated the grand opening of the free little art gallery acronym flag at Dowy Park and um that has been um people have really appreciated that as well. And I I just want to take a moment to give a a huge shout out to everybody that came together to make the um holiday market on November 29th as well as the tree lighting that evening so incredibly special. Um I can't say enough about Paige Griffin. She was in here earlier. Uh but she really brought everything together. Uh public services working on all of the lighting. Uh Bruce Ericson in particular. Um, huge, huge thank you to him. [clears throat] Um, the police department made sure that our elf sprinkles got there safe and sound. The fire department brought in Santa. Um, Mano High School Musicians and Chorus, Ascension Music, um, this

board for allocating the money and showing up and and being there and supporting staff and and really all the staff. It was just amazing. And so I just want to publicly thank everybody that made that happen. And that's all I have for you today.

All right, Kelly. Uh, a couple of things if we could um maybe at the midmon meeting or the next meeting. I would be curious to hear the breakdown of the permits, the sand relocation permits by reach. I think just to sort of so that we can get a correspondence between where those things are happening and sort of sort of what's happening on the on the beach. Um, and the other thing is I'll just add my uh appreciation to all of the staff for um everything um connected with Dowy Park and all of the all of the events there um this summer and and for the holidays. The the park really looks looks pretty spectacular driving by uh early in the early in the morning. So, uh, with that, I will, uh, ask board members if they have any qu questions. Commissioner Harrison,

I do not. Okay. Commissioner W., no questions. Commissioner Sanderson, no questions. No. But thank you. Beautiful. Appreciate it. Commissioner V. No questions. Great. All right. Thank you very much, Kelly. Thank you so much. All right. That brings us to um old business tabled from a previous meeting and um presentation of proposed changes to our crowd gathering and group demonstration ordinance. I understand we understand there have been a number of conversations about this and some updates and so um Andy if you would please bring us up to date.

Oh sure. Thank you. So uh we presented this back at your November meeting. Um, at the time we asked for a month to get feedback on the ordinance, uh, to make any changes we we learn about and bring it back to you uh, this month for consideration. Obviously recognizing that, you know, we have a change in the board, we want to make sure that everybody is aware of things, has a chance to study it, and is comfortable with what's going on. U, we were able to have several productive meetings with different groups. We met with the DARE Democratic Party. Um some of those representatives are here today. We met with the organizers of the St. Patrick's Day parade and we also met with the Dare County Tourism Board. Also got a phone call from um Steve House who u organizes some of the events at the event site and um we tried to listen and address their concerns. We said it last month that it's hard to write a perfect ordinance the first time and we found that out and and we um we heard some great suggestions and so we tried to incorporate those into what you have before you and [clears throat] I won't go through it in too much detail. You've got a summary in your summary sheet. Um we we heard that we needed to give a little bit more flexibility uh for some of the things that you have to submit uh when you apply. Obviously that for a large event like a tier three event, it's requiring a 90-day application deadline and some of the things are just hard to get that that far out and and especially things that you need from other agencies like the health department or ABC or insurance. And so we provided some additional flexibility to provide those things later on. As long as you got your application in um you could you could submit that later. Um, we provided some some flexibility to how the parade operates based on some feedback from from that group. Um, one

of the things was the uh order of of the entries. We we just want to make sure that we know who's in the parade, what kind of vehicle they're they're driving or trailer, making sure that it's safe, and that's the main thing. So, we we provided a little bit more flexibility with making them tell us what the order is going to be. Logistically, that's going to be hard to do. Um, article two of the ordinance talks about group demonstrations. You know, obviously these are speech events. We've had some recently. Um, you know, I think that the concern there was the length of time. You know, being able to uh know about an event 90 days ahead of time is going to be difficult. Sometimes these things are coordinated not just locally but nationally. And nationally, they may not know about an event that far out. So, um, we decided to reduce the time submitt for that. And so, the way it works is if it's a 100 or or fewer persons, then, uh, there's no crowd permit required, just a group demonstration permit, and that's a 72-hour notification. Um, for anywhere from 100 to 250 people, it would be a 15-day notification. And then for anything above 250 people, it would be 30 days maximum. So, it wouldn't be like the tier three where it's 90 days for a regular crowd gathering event. Um, and then we reduced the the maximum fee for a group demonstration um to $100. It was 300 for tier three. Um, so obviously anything below 100 persons doesn't require the fee. Anything above 100 persons would require $100. Um, [snorts] we added something to the Dowy Park use policy. um basically establishing a priority system just to acknowledge that certain events have been occurring at Dowy Park um for several years now and we wanted to establish a system of

priority for those events and so we added some language there. Um one of the things that came up just recently in the last few days is uh insurance requirements. Obviously, for a group demonstration, I mean a crowd gathering event like a concert or a festival, um it requires insurance. Um but for a group demonstration, we added some language previously about the ability to wave the insurance requirement, but Commissioner Harrison talked to me about this. Perhaps we should make it more clear that for a group demonstration, we're not going to require the insurance. And so, um, I would suggest adding an additional sentence to section 4-6B that basically states that, uh, for a group demonstration as defined in article 2, uh, there be shall be no insurance requirement. And so, if the board is inclined to make a motion on the ordinance today, please add that to your motion if if you agree. Um, so essentially that's the summary of what we've done. Um, we hope that we came up with a good good ordinance that addresses the concerns that we've heard and helps us manage all the things going on. I will point out there's one thing the board does need to make a decision on in in the policy for Dowy Park. We left it optional. Maximum of two or three events per month in the shoulder season time frame. And so, um, you may want to discuss that and and come up with the final number for that. But other than that, that's the ordinance that we have for you today and happy to answer questions or take more feedback.

Okay. Right. Thank you. Thank you, Andy. Um appreciate that staff's approach to this has been um you know, the goal here is um equity for all the users, uh safety for the public, and protection of town assets. and and um you know that to the extent that we can do that and then still provide as much flexibility and free use of the park as possible. I think that's our that's our goal here. Uh and keep keep folks safe. Um so I will I think perhaps before a motion in this case since it's um since it's still a little bit of a new ordinance and um and there are perhaps a couple of suggested tweaks. Um I'll ask if there are any comments. I'll start with uh Commissioner Vaughn.

Um I appreciate all the work on this ordinance as well and I I feel it strikes a nice balance between public safety which of course is critical and important and still uh a welcoming situation in Nags Head at all our public places and I I like the fact that we're definitely considering group demonstrations, speech issues so that it's a place where people feel free to come and and express themselves. Um, so I I feel pretty good about it. I I I would like to say since you mentioned the um time limit, um I think or the number of events, you know, now non-Town events in the offseason, I think three, that's that's just my opinion. Um so allow as many as we can if it's within reason for for us. And the only other thing I mention is the um also [snorts] for group demonstration perhaps even reducing the fee a little further or eliminating the fee for group demonstration in the interest of um speech and people expressing themselves but I'm not you know um it's not a make or break for me but I throw it out there for discussion.

Okay. Very good. Thank you Mr. Sanders. Um, I can't add a lot to what Commissioner Vaughn said. I mean, I kind of agree with what she said and I also agree with the number three. So, and I'd kind of be in favor of the free speech being demonstrations being not a fee. So, I don't know. Okay. Very good. Thank you, Commissioner L.

I'm going to echo Commissioner Sanders comments about Commissioner Bone. I agree with that. I do like the number three and I do like the idea of not having a fee for the group demonstrations. That does, you know, we want to encourage people to speak up and putting a fee on it might discourage that and I don't want to do that. Um the three I like that idea, but I'm wondering can we revisit that down the road if we realize that we can squeeze in more or less and stuff, but I'm fine with three now, but I just want to make sure we're not Yeah, I think I can. Yes.

Yes. Down park again. And I appreciate the ordinance, too. I think it's done a really good job of of fulfilling the needs of the town and the the people who would be wanting to have events here. So, um I agree with three events in Dowy Park that are in the in the season. Um with group demonstrations, I have I had concerns. I just feel like um we should wave the insurance policy or the insurance requirement for group demonstrations. I mean, I I would like to hear everybody's opinion on that and I've heard four of you, but um also the fee I I was curious, Andy, like the fee that we have in place, $100 for a group demonstration. I mean, is there something that's that's necessary for that within the town that we would need to keep that fee or is it okay to reduce it? Can can you respond to that? Well, we had a a fee for crowd gathering permits um prior to this ordinance of $100, and that's obviously for anything over 100 persons. Um the fee is the attempt is to try to cover some of our administrative costs for reviewing the application.

You know, that's why we increase the the fees for the tiers for the crowd gathering events for the new ordinance. Mhm. But in light of the number of group demonstrations that we have, you know, and the amount amount of fees we would be collecting, it's very nominal

with respect to um our time or covering our expenses. So I wouldn't have a concern about reducing or eliminating the fee for group demonstrations. Um you know, it it becomes a policy question for the board. I mean, as was stated, you know, is the philosophy to encourage free speech to to make it a nice open place for people to be able to speak. And so, eliminating the fee sort of speaks to that policy um perspective of the board. And so, it's really a board preference in that case. Okay. And the insurance waving the insurance is sort of the same of the same thought process.

Yeah. And so, you know, I brought that up during the presentation, you know, to address that. I suggested adding that sentence. And so, if I think that would accomplish what you're suggesting. So, if if we want, you know, when the board makes the motion, we could just go ahead and add that sentence to the motion. Okay. One one thing if I could add especially when we're talking about the fee and the insurance that really jumps out at me is I think about our youth and like someone for the first time choosing to do a group demonstration. It's scary and it's always daunting and to eliminate or add steps that make it more daunting for someone to want to do that. That's right. I appreciate the comments.

Thank you. Um, John, does the law have anything to say on charges for events and free speech?

It's permissible to charge a fee for the permit application and processing so long as it's not prohibitive or designed to uh prevent people from applying. And I think the $100 fee would be permissible. I think if it was a $1,000 fee, that might be different. Um, but you're not required to charge one. and you the policy uh issues y'all are raising about, you know, not having one are exactly the considerations to have. And would would you would it facilitate people applying if there was not a an application fee, a permit fee? Um that's that's certainly possible, but it's up to the board. That's a policy issue for the board. But I I'm comfortable with the um $100 fee that's presented. Um also comfortable with that being reduced or eliminated.

Okay. Thank you. I'm not I will say this. I'm not aware of any other municipality that we represent that does not charge some kind of fee. I think in Elizabeth City, that's the only other one that I've dealt with in the last few years. I think theirs is like $25. You know,

if I may, I'm weighing in last here. Um I I appreciate all all of those concerns and the changes that have made been made. I'm I'm all in favor of uh waving the insurance for the kinds of events we've talked about doing that. um and also reducing the fee. I do think that there is a value to some fee to make it a thoughtful consideration about holding an event, organizing an event, and using the park and at least having a token $25 fee or something to that effect that at least makes it a a thoughtful consideration about using the park. And

are in the park or on the Well, that's what I was just going to say. You know, Britney actually just pointed this out, but you know, there is there is a separate fee for using Dowy Park. Yes. In the fee schedule that we're suggesting. Okay.

And so, we just need to make make it clear what we're talking about because if you eliminate or reduce the fee for group demonstrations, that's for the permit application. But if obviously some of the group demonstrations we've had recently were in the right of way and and we have had group demonstrations at Dowy Park. So would we still charge a park use fee even if we didn't charge a group demonstration permit application fee? And I think that's something we need to clarify. Um, as it stands now, if we made this change and eliminated the group demonstration fee, it still doesn't change the the park use fee for park. So, that would still apply, right?

And I think we would be less inclined to wave that because they're using the park and it creates an impact on the park. Sure. Um, so just want you to clear make make sure it's clear distinction. Yeah. So, I I still maintain my my same comment. I I think a token fee at least of $25 I think is I agree. Maybe reduction in what was was it a hundred? It was 100. It was 100. It was 100. So if we make it 25 that's at least consistent with one other municipality that we're aware of. Well and if we took the park fee away then someone could just every time they want to use the park. So it's a demonstration. But if you're having a larger thing at at the park then you pay the park fee.

Keeps a park fee. Yes. demonstrations, we wave demonstrations in the rightway. We wave insurance and we reduce the fee. Yeah. 25. Y that's what I'm suggesting. Okay. I like that. Me, too. Okay. Sounds good. All right. In which case, uh, someone is welcome [laughter] to make that motion. Well, I can attempt it. [laughter] So, y'all correct me. Um, I'd like to make a motion that we adopt this ordinance as presented with the changes to the group demonstrations in waving insurance for group demonstrations and reducing the fee for group demonstrations in the wider way.

Okay. To $25. Very good. Is there a second? Second. All right. Any further discussion? Thank you all for that very thoughtful discussion and thank you staff for being for all of that work and thank you to those of the public who offered input um on this to make this better. So thank you. Thank all of you. Uh we have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I I opposed. All right. Great. Thank you very much. Did we leave the amount of events on that? Yes, we did. Did Did we leave it?

Did we leave Did we miss something? Well, not in the motion, but they want to go ahead and the motion to include three as Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. And I I did not frame that. So, um can you amend your motion to Do I have to start all the way over? [laughter] No. No. I think just amend it to I would like to amend my motion to include um allowing only three events in Dy Park in the offseason. Yes. Nontown event. Nontown events. Nontown events in the offseason per month. Per month. Per month. All right. Is there a second to that amendment? Second. All right. Um, all in favor signify by saying I. I.

I. Opposed. Great. Thank you all very much for that. [clears throat] That brings us to uh new business and uh committee reports. And I understand some of us may not have committees yet. [laughter] So, I'll start. Uh, Commissioner Long, I don't think you may have a committee yet. Mr. Sanders, I have nothing to add to what Miss Wyatt said earlier.

Okay. All right. Very good. All right. Thank you. Um I believe I reported on the last meeting that we had uh for Janette's peer. Um and um I will say I will go ahead and say at this point um that I had taken that over after uh Commissioner Brinkley's resignation and uh given the fact that we're going to have some new committee assignments and whatnot. If the board is willing, I will just maintain I will stay with that. I'd hoped to get rid of it at some point, but uh but it but it's but it's not a burden. Um and it's a it's a it's a good cause. And so if the board's okay, I'll just remain um there. That's fine with me. All right. Very good. Thank you, Commissioner Wbert.

Yes. Um I don't have any up we haven't had our government education access channel meeting. We will be this next month. Um so I don't have any new updates for that and Miss Wyatt gave a great update for Septic Health Committee. But I also want to echo um congratulations um and thank you to Connor and Kelly and staff because getting the popularity up with the septic health program is definitely one of the biggest challenges and to hear it double from when she wrote that. I'm just sharing on the sidelines. That's awesome. Um and also a special thank you to Isabelle, our intern, who did that reel, that definitely helped the popularity too as she finished her work. So congratulations and thank you. All right, Commissioner Harrison. I believe you have a committee yet. So,

I don't have

Yeah. [laughter] All right. Very good. Um, that brings us to discussion and consideration of traffic signals at Lakeside and the Soundside event site. Andy, we've kind of combined a couple different things together here. So, um, at these things are happening at different times. Um, but everyone recalls the discussion we had about the traffic signal at Lakeside in 158 when we were approving the hotel at various times. The last time the hotel came before the board, um, they wanted an amendment to their site plan to to modify their turn lane. Um at that time we had talked to DOT about um relooking at the traffic study for the signal at that intersection and after reviewing the report that we had prepared they agreed to consider a traffic signal at that location. And not just based on the traffic volumes, but also the need for pedestrian improvements, recognizing that um pedestrians will try to cross there, especially with the hotel there, and also the distance to the nearest traffic signal north and south of that location. It's probably the greatest distance in the town for a particular neighborhood. So I think all those factors um were considered and they they said they would agree to um warrant or permit a traffic signal to go there. And so I think at that time the expectation was established by the board that we would pursue a signal there. And so we've been working on that. The second item is the soundside event site. For years, our police department has been working events at the event site and setting up a traffic checkpoint um to allow pedestrians to cross the road during during events, especially the seafood festival and the larger events. Um that's not an ideal solution. They've been asking for some improvements there

to to help with that. Um last year we sort of toyed with the idea of putting up a pedestrian signal there. We applied for a grant to the tourism board to do that. They uh they were willing to consider it but in discussions with DOT it became problematic in placing that pedestrian signal directly at the entrance and so the DOT wanted it to be offset from the entrance. We felt like that was going to diminish the effectiveness of that solution. So, we sort of stopped pursuing that. And they did agree, DOT did agree to uh approve a traffic signal at that intersection as well, which would be a more of a four-way uh signal with a pedestrian crosswalk. Um obviously, the signal wouldn't there's not a lot of traffic east, west, and that that intersection, so um it would really mainly operate during large event. So anyway, we're essentially requesting that DOT um begin the the U design and procurement process for the signals. And so we have to figure out a way to pay for those. What what typically happens in this situation is that there would be a reimburseable agreement uh with the town. Um essentially we would agree to uh reimburse them for the cost of these improvements. um and they would go ahead and and construct the signal, design it, and basically become responsible for the maintenance of it. It would be their property since it's their roadway. Um we've discussed with the tourism board the possibility of cost sharing the signal at that location. You know, we we uh had budgeted $30,000 last year for the pedestrian signal that we had asked the tourism board for. we've we've essentially carried that money over to this year. So, if uh the tourism board agreed to pay for twothirds of the cost of that signal, you know, essentially they would be paying for about $230,000

of that and we would pay $120,000. And as as I just said, we already have 30,000 carried over from last year. So, we'd have to come up with the other 90,000. Uh during this this current budget year, we uh included $175,000 to go towards the signal at Lakeside and we were going to work with DOT to try to find some funding through DOT to help with the cost of that. We've had several meetings with them. We've had several meetings with test judge and uh we we've encountered some difficulty getting um some direct funding from them. They do have grants available for for things. Right now, we've applied for two two grants that could be used towards either one of these signals. And essentially, it would would the idea is that it would cover the pedestrian components of these these improvements. And so, we're waiting to hear about that. We probably won't hear about that until the springtime, but we're told that that wouldn't prevent us from moving forward with this. If we if we receive those grants, that would just reduce the amount of funding we owe them in the end. And the actual cost for this wouldn't be determined until these things are actually designed and constructed and put out to bid. So right now we're just doing all of this based on an estimate. So essentially what we're asking for is to go ahead and get these things underway. This is going to take a considerable amount of time to do. They're going to DOT is going to have to procure the design and and put it out to bid and and do the construction. And so we just don't want to delay that any further. So, we're asking the board to sort of agree with this whole concept of what we're presenting and authorize us to enter into this reimburseable agreement with DOT conditioned upon agreement with the tourism board um that they um agree to the funding scenario that we've outlined. And so, um just wanted to provide that with to the board as an update and to um get your comments and

consideration. Okay. All right. I'll start down with Commissioner Harrison. Any comments or questions about these? I'm in agreement with this plan. Y I can't think of anything I would want to change about it. Okay. All right. Very good. Commissioner Wamber Commission Harrison's comments. Yep. Same. Commissioner S. Yes. Agree. We're all in agreement. All right. Then let's um formalize this

with a motion. I think would probably be most appropriate since we're giving guidance to staff on a financial issue and John's shaking his head. So, um a motion uh to proceed with this reimbursement plan um and the pursuit of uh this the work and the financing subject to the um expectation that visitors bureau will agree to the uh cost share effectively. I'll make that as a motion. Is there a second? Second. A second. All right. Any further discussion then? Uh, hearing none. All in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Great. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you, Andy. [clears throat] Um, that brings us next to consideration and appointments to um a board or committee, and that's the planning board. And uh we do have two former planning board members sitting with us this morning. And [snorts] so we uh understand that that those folks uh those positions need to be filled on that board so that that board can continue to do its good work. And we understand there's quite a bit of activity in the town and um and that they have quite a bit of business coming to them. So there's no reason to to delay this. And so we need um we need uh two recommended planning board members. I would ask that we do this separately as two nominations and that we have first um a nomination um for for one of the seats. And so I open the floor here to a nomination.

Um I move that we would appoint uh Bev Spear, please, to the planning board. Okay. Right. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. Head. Excuse me. I just read speech somewhere else. Head. Pardon me. Okay. Bev head. All right. Thank you. And and I had a second to that. I believe I had a motion, a second to that. Any further discussion? Would you say a little bit about uh what you know about Miss Head?

Well, I know that she's been in town. She's owned property in the town for quite some time, 20 over 20 years, and has served on numerous boards and committees in her community, which is the village at Nags Head, including president of the homeowners association there several times. and other activities committees. She's involved with the links ladies and things like that. And she expressed an interest in her application in broadening her approach to her involvement in the town. She's shown a willingness to be involved and I think it's great that she wants to branch out. Very good. All right. Thank you. Uh having a motion and a second, all those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Right. Thank you. And we need a second nomination.

I would nominate um Valerie Nch. Okay. All right. Thank you. Is there a second? I'll second it. Okay, we have a motion and a second. I think Miss Nech is well known to to all of us. Um and uh so if there is no um discussion, um having a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I opposed. All right. Great. Thank you. And uh Britney, you'll prepare letters to them for my signature. Thank you. Um that brings us to consideration of recommendations of appointments to Dare County boards. Um uh these were previously held uh by Commissioner Sears. Um and the visitors bureau is also requesting uh the county is also requesting a nomination to the u to the tourism board. Um I understand that we have a commissioner who is interested in serving on the tourism board. So, um, let's go to that one first and let's have a, um, a nomination for that position.

I'd like to nominate Megan Vaughn for that. All right. Thank you. Do I have a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. Um, Commissioner Vaughn, I am so sorry, Commissioner. Okay. Thank you. [cough] Excuse me, Commissioner Vaughn. I take it that you're willing to serve. I am. All right. Very good. We appreciate your willingness to serve in that position and having a nomination and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

I. Opposed. Great. Thank you. Uh the other is the Dare County Land Transfer Tax Appeal Board, which is a little bit of an odd animal. Um, and uh, I I don't know that there's great urgency to that, but I understand that that's not that's a group that meets rarely um, if ever. Um, and so I will I am willing to throw myself on the sword here if the board is [laughter] willing um, if the board is willing to nominate me. Uh, so we have that position filled. So moved. There a second. Second.

All right, we have a motion and a second. All in favor signify by saying I. I opposed. All right. Great. Thank you all so much. Um I think that it being now almost 10:30, uh let's take a 10-minute recess.

Well, that's cool. All right, the board has returned from its uh recess and so we will go to item K. Uh items referred to and presentations from the town attorney. Note that we do have a couple of closed sessions. Anything else, John? Other than the close sessions? No, sir. All right. Very good. Thank you. Uh, that brings us to items referred to and presentations from the town manager and a financial update and, uh, finance officer and deputy manager Miller.

Good morning, mayor and commissioners. Congratulations to our new board members. Um, I want to say please stop me and ask questions if you don't understand what I'm talking about. I know we have some new board members. I'm trying I try to make this a little bit more specific, but um, balancing your your time with trying to explain this. So, please stop me if you have any questions or Andy, please feel free to interject if you have anything to add. Um, so we're going to be doing this quarterly. Now, this is the second time we've done this. Um, so I'll start talking about shared revenues, which are sales, occupancy, and land transfer taxes. Right now, we're projected to be about $70,000 over budget. And this covers the first quarter of 2026. And they're called shared revenues because these taxes are distributed to the six towns by Dair County and proportionate to the amount of adorum tax levied for the prior fiscal year. So, it lags one year behind um from this current fiscal year. the the levies from fiscal year 25 are the what we get for fiscal year 26 if that makes sense. Um and they're collectively called shared revenues because of how they're distributed. And these taxes are very important. I went back and looked at the manager's message in the budget and they generate about $400,000 more than the adorum tax. So these are very important. So that's why we like to kind of keep everybody updated on that. Um, land transfer tax is actually 14% higher than this time last fiscal year. Sales tax is the same and we are lower on occupancy tax, 2% lower. So we'll keep you updated with those. Um, for adorum taxes, we've collected about 77% of our budget. We'll have a big wave coming in at the end of December, beginning of January because that's when the penalties will start

hitting. Um [laughter] so, um the the first wave is is over. Um and this is tracking in line with our collection percentage last fiscal year and every month in your packet you'll see more detailed information about our tax collection rates, our valuation, and our levy. Um and it's on the consent agenda. So, if you ever have any questions about that, then um I'm happy to answer that. But we do provide that monthly. Um for water sales, we've collected about 55% of our budget, and that's the same as last November. So, that's good. Um and same with tipping fees, 45% of our budget, which is the same as last fiscal year. Um beach nourishment, um I'm not going to talk about that today because we're going to have a midmon meeting that with our financial adviserss in December. And so, um, we'll be talking about fund balances and things like that with with our project that, um, we received bids on. So, we'll we'll talk more about that in the midmonth meeting. Um, we have a capital investment fund. Um, and I'll tell you about that, uh, what that means. There's about $3 million in there currently and the fund balance for November. And this is a capital reserve fund that we can only be used for capital purchases and debt service. Um there's no activity in there. It's just basically a holding tank for money. Um it's funded through an annual appropriation from the general fund. Um and this fund will carry a balance that can be used uh to cover years with greater expenditures that exceeds the town's annual contribution. And um just to kind of let this board remind this board that um this fund has a fund balance policy. um it's 20% of expenditures and with this budget um we did budget it in line with our fund balance policy but just a reminder that

our general fund also has a fund balance policy of 35% um of expenditure. So if if we um if our fund balance hits above 35% of expenditures then that money goes into the capital reserve fund. So we really monetize that money um if we do have excess of 35% fund balance. So um that is kind of something I don't um it's kind of an added bonus if that happens. So we do put um excess fund balance above our policy in the capital investment fund. Um and I know David's going to talk about some of our capital projects, but just did want to let the board know that we are closing on the public service complex. we still have about $200,000 left to spend that we have to actually spend spend it um by the end of February and we have some ideas on that. I know David's working on a few things that that um we need to fix and um but other than that we're planning on spending the rest out and closing out that escrow account with the money that we borrowed. Um and that's pretty much it. We appreciate your confidence. um happy to answer any questions. We're going to be uh the deputy finance director is actually working on a a a monthly report that I think will be more helpful to the board that you know will help you make decisions rather than just kind of give you numbers. Um and again happy to answer any questions and or follow up with any information you would like to know about. [laughter and clears throat]

Commissioners questions. No questions. question. Thank you. Okay, great. Thank you. Appreciate that. Um, CIP project updates,

David. Good morning, mayor and commissioners. I think uh Andy and I are going to go ahead and tag team this one. And uh what's uh what I'm going to bring up is a uh a map overview of some of the project work that we have ongoing here within the town of Nagad. Um what I've got uh up on the board is a overview of the town of Nagsad. It's broken into three different segments. The top segment is the northern half that goes from Ace Street um all the way down to about Dearing Street. Um the middle segment spans from Dearing Street to just south of Wellbone Junction and then the bottom portion spans from Wellbone Junction down to the southern corporate limits. Um in 2425 we had a lot of largescale projects where we have a continuation uh through this fall and I'll go ahead and I'll cover those first. One of the uh larger projects was the combined storm water water and street resurfacing project on the north end of town. This was primarily focused within the South Memorial Avenue um corridor. And so uh for the water main work that was focused up here on the northern end on Ario Street, Albatross Street and Atlas Street um along with this section along South Memorial Avenue. And that was a replacement of our asbestous cement uh water manes in this area. um that's been a focus of trying to go ahead and eliminate uh the AC lines that we have here within the

town of Nags Head. In addition to that, uh there was some drainage uh replacement work that happened along this corridor. There were seven different locations where we replaced and upsized uh drainage to include the intersection of Bittern Street, Bonnet Street, uh Abalone Street, Gallery Row, Driftwood, Atlas, and Albatross. In addition to that, uh there were some areas where we uh seized the opportunity to go ahead and extend some of our existing network and that includes Bittern Street, Bonnet Street, and also up around Gallery Row through South Writesville Avenue. Um that project was started this past spring. Uh we had completed all the water mane work um earlier in the year and then most recently we finished up with all the drainage improvements and the street resurfacing. Here's a photo of the the recent um street resurfacing work that was done. And uh at this point we are about 99.5% complete. There's just a couple different punch list items um that are currently being addressed and uh we'll be able to go ahead and close out that project. Another project uh that we started earlier in the spring and will continue here in early 2026 is the resurfacing of the South Virginia Dair Trail multi-use path. Um here's a photo of some of the work that was completed earlier this year. Um that work was completed from Janette's Pier all the way up to Epstein Street and then from Epstein Street all

the way through to about Dune Street. So what remains is this segment continuing from Dune Street and spanning up somewhere in the proxim proximity of Hollowell Street uh and Kuru Street is where we expect that termination to be. Um one of those areas that we will address is there there's an outfall near Southside Road. There's a significant depression there. So, we're going to go ahead and rework that area uh to make that a little bit more pedestrian friendly. Um there was also two large scale uh drainage projects down in South Nags Head. Um the northernmost project uh known as project area number 13 uh spans from about Hard Grove Street down to Todd's Drive with the installation of a uh storm drain collection system with connectivity to a pump station um a forest main that's routed to an infiltration area uh that has been created just north of fire station 21. Uh most all of the components uh for this project are in place. Uh the only thing that we're really lacking at this point are some of the electrical components. And uh there's been some supply chain issues with the delivery uh of those components. Uh which I've been told that we should receive here within the next week or so. Once we have those components in place, uh we can get the system energized, do some testing on the system. um prior to going ahead and uh releasing that um for full-time operation. Um we also have a uh separate project um down uh in the proximity of James Street down to Junko Street. Uh this is a

similar setup where we have a storm drain collection system along the east side of South Old Oregon Inlet Road that's routed to a pump station and then disposed of uh within the the the Dune area there at the Junko Street beach access. Uh that project uh is about uh 40% complete. Uh the contractor um went ahead and pulled off during the summertime. They've reinitiated work here within the past couple weeks. Uh they've done some work down at Junko Street. Here's a picture right now with removal of the parking lot. Um maintaining the drive aisle and access through to the beach uh in preparation of the install of the remaining collection system and pump station. Um we expect the construction time frame for this project to extend through um early spring, probably uh the late April time frame is which we're looking at um system startup for this project. Uh that pretty much covers the fisc year 2425 projects. Oh, I don't want to leave out Wellone Park and the recent pavilion that was uh constructed there. Um I've got a photo. Oh, excuse me, wrong one. Here we are. I've got that up on the screen. This is the recently completed pavilion at Well Bone Park. Uh this was managed by town staff uh primarily public services who did an outstanding job seeing this project through to completion. Um this park uh recently opened to public here within the past 30 days. So we're glad to see this new

addition um to uh Wellone Park. All right. So continuing on through uh some of the more recent project work. Um, we've got right now in the planning stages, this is pro known as project area number four. This is storm drain improvements along um South Writesville Avenue be behind the Nagad Elementary School um which is a pump system which uh then collects and pumps through to the Bonnet Street beach access uh underneath the parking lot. Um that currently is in design. We recently uh submitted permits to the various permit agencies and also submitted our design development documents to the grant agency for review. We anticipate this to be under construction um in late 2026 um after we go through the grant review process. Um a little bit closer to home is the new wellness center which is under construction. Uh we've got a photo right here. Um last week the poured was slab the the slab was poured uh for this structure and here uh within the next couple weeks we'll start to see the erection of the exterior walls. I know there's material delivered earlier this week. So we'll start to see um this construction go vertical very shortly. All right. Um we also have um several dune walkovers uh that we are going to replace. Uh we've got one at Gulfream Way, one at June Street, and also there

is one associated with the project area number 12 um construction um where that Dune walkover will be replaced. Uh the two uh walkovers at June and Gulfream Way. Um they the plans are in the process of being finalized and we anticipate those to go out to bid um hopefully by the end of this week. Uh in addition, we also have another project that was uh recently designed and that is the water main extension which spans along South Croatan Highway from Driftwood Drive um just to the north side of the shops at 10 and a half. Um this is to go ahead and uh fill in a gap within our water distribution system and create a new looped connection. Uh these plans were recently designed uh permits applied for and uh this project should be out uh to bid here within the next week or so. Um we anticipate that to be in early 2026 construction so we can be uh done well in advance of the summer season. Um, we also have several sidewalk projects uh that we have on our list. Uh, we've got one scheduled for Admiral Street um which spans between South Writesville Avenue and South Virginia Dare Trail. Uh, we have one over off of Wind Jammer. Um, one uh scheduled along uh Bay Meadow Drive between Meadow Green and South Crowitan Highway. And then we have another one scheduled at Grow Street in between South Cro Croatan Highway and

South Virginia Dare Trail. And I believe that covers a bulk of the work. Uh there is one other thing that I wanted to mention. Um we do have some other planning work that is taking place. Uh the storm water master plan which we recently had a storm water workshop for. Um we received some uh citizen feedback. Um there was some additional data collection as a result of that feedback which is now being incorporated in some conceptual plan development um which will be carried forward um and presented to the board um at your next CIP workshop in early spring of 2026. And uh Andy's or anything else that I I left out in our list?

Um no, nothing nothing that was left out. I would just mention a few or add a few things quickly. Um I just wanted to again thank Nancy and Public Works for their work at the Whalebone Park. Um sort of an experiment. We we contracted that. We acted as our own general contractor for that project. And our goal was to do something nice for the town, but also save some money because, you know, um we wanted to see how well we did with that. It was a fairly simple project, although there were some complexities to that that weren't aren't quite as apparent when you see it. But that structure is floodproofed.

Um it it is three feet below our base flood elevation. And so obviously elevating that to the BF would have been problematic and and made the facility less useful. So we decided to try and flood proof it and we went through that process. And uh you might see some steel plates on each side of the doors when you go to that and that's so we can install the floodgates if there's ever a flood and and that's how flood proofing works. And then the the um the building's also sealed all the way down through the foundation so that up to above 9 ft, you know, water's not supposed to be able to penetrate the the enclosure. And so, um we estimated that that particular addition to the construction was about $40,000. But, um overall, we we we calculated we spent about $250,000 on that facility. the architect who designed it initially told us we'd probably spend about four to 400 to $500,000 if we hired a general contractor. So, we do see it as somewhat of a success. Um, it it took a little bit longer than we thought or we hoped, but I think it was part of part of the learning process and we also had some of our staff performing the work on certain things. So, overall I think it turned out pretty well. Um recently, you know, when we were um discussing Dowy Park and some of the things we wanted to do uh for the holiday festivities, you know, Kelly sort of asked about whether we could do certain things. Um we actually did some additional electrical work at the park um to be able to install the lights along the wavy walkway in the dune area that you saw recently. And then uh we had some money um from last year's budget left over for maintenance money for Dowy Park. And so um so we are looking at some things there that we might bring back to you. U one of the

items would be irrigating the western field. U so that that western field has really been underutilized. You know, it was wasn't sided like the rest of the park. And so we think that irrigating that area would um en enhance the grass in that area. We're also considering adding sod to that area. So, those are two things that we we'd like to bring back to you at some point. And there years ago, there was a plan to add a sidewalk around the western edge of that that field u just to create an additional walking path. And so, that's another thing that we'd like to try and bring back to you at some point for consideration. One of the one of the things we could do um if you're not opposed to this is um get some bids for that when we go and get bids for the rest of the sidewalks that David just mentioned. And we had already had some plans drawn up for that years ago. And so that's something we could probably do and then you know we could do it as an ad alternate and you could decide later on whether you want to pursue it or not depending on available funding. So that's that's one thing. Another thing that we are are looking at in addition to some of the landscape enhancements at uh Dowy Park, probably doing some additional things at Whalebo Park. And so that's something we'd like to come back and talk to you about. Maybe doing some additional landscaping and irrigation there just to enhance that now that we have the new structure there. So I'm just throwing that out there. Um, one big project um that we've got coming up uh in the next few years would be the multi-use path uh in front of Jockeyy's Ridge that would connect Sounds Hide Road to Hollowell. Uh we were just awarded a fairly large grant from the visitors bureau for that $750,000 and uh we also have a grant uh for the design of that facility um with the state and so that's going to get underway soon. Um, our hope is to get topographic information of that area,

particularly the area from the pedestrian signal south to Soundside Road and then work with the state park staff to try and come up with a plan to sort of lay that dune back and allow that path to go in there and that would serve multiple purposes. It would also obviously allow the path to go in, but it would reduce the maintenance that DOT currently does to keep that sand off the road and keep the water from from standing on the road, which you see throughout the year.

So, um, our goal would be to start that design within the next month or so and then hopefully have something that that is designed um by summertime hopefully and then we'll see how we can proceed from there. A lot of it's going to depend on the ability to move sand and get permits to do that. And so that's going to require a little bit of a assistance from the state parks. So, um, just wanted to throw that out there. I I think that's for the most part what I wanted to add to this whole thing. So, thank you. It's a lot. It is. [laughter]

It's a lot. Appreciate you, David, keeping up with with all of that. um and and and making progress on all of those. Um is the um the south the southernmost drainage project in South Nags Head you mentioned completion probably in April sometime. Yes sir.

Is that significantly behind what we had anticipated going into the project? Um [clears throat] it it is not I think with that project uh because of the environmental permitting that we could only conduct construction um with a dune infiltration system outside of the turtles nesting season. So that's kind of the constraint that we're dealing with there.

Thank you. Thank you. Um, the only other thing I would ask and and I don't know if um and I I don't need to know today um if uh perhaps arts and culture um and staff have considered um what what might be done now that we have a nice park at Whale Bone in terms of appropriate scale programming. Obviously, it's a different park from Dowy. Um but it is a nice asset. It's in a great location. Um and so some things that you appropriate scale of activity and when we're thinking about decorating for holidays also to do something of an appropriate scale there um would would be hoped. Um so commissioners commissioner Harrison any questions comments?

No. Great. Commissioner Lambert no questions but just a lot going on and very impressive. Um and I also love Mayor Khan's comments about Whale Bun Park. I think that's a hidden gem and it's nice for parents that it's hidden because they like to do it, but there's a lot of parents that don't realize about it and a lot of people that would love to enjoy it. So, yeah. Okay. Very good, Commissioner Sanders. No, thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you. Agree about Whail Bone as well and I'm glad to hear the mayor's comments about how much is going on. It's not just newbies that are saying, "Wow, [laughter] that's a lot. That's that's a lot." Great. Thank you for the update. And and I think the most important thing, it's not just focused in one area. Um, as you can see from the map, it's covers all over town.

All over town. Everybody's getting something u which which is good and and I think um you know, we'll talk a little bit later about retreat and and goal setting and that sort of thing, but um um my sense already is that that is a lot. But um that this board will want to continue the progress that town's been making on uh infrastructure and maintaining our assets and um and and doing as much as we can for our citizens uh for for access and and mobility and and um so great. Thank you very much, David.

Thank you for the updates. It was really helpful for us new. [laughter] All right, as well. All right, David, you're going to stay there for a beach nourishment planning update.

All right. [laughter] All right. Um, I thought it would be helpful first to just go ahead and cover what's happened so far to date. So, um, just to go ahead and give an overview and I've got it up here on the screen for a beach nourishment timeline. um what we've done to date and what our plan is in moving forward. So, uh back in um earlier this year in May of 2025, we submitted permit applications to uh division of coastal management, US Army Corps of Engineers uh with permit applications. Um back in June, we had an industry day with potential biders um on the project to try to go ahead and garner interest. uh in September 2025, we received uh the the permits uh for the project and then um at the back end of September, we went ahead and advertised for bids. Um as part of that bid process, we had a pre-bid meeting in midocctober and then we received bids um on November 13th. Um, so in so today we're going to go ahead and just review those bids that uh that we received uh back um a couple weeks ago and then at your midmon meeting we're going to go ahead and review the results of the fall survey which that survey has been completed. Um it's now that data is now being analyzed and a uh permit will or excuse me a memo will be generated by the consultant and presented uh at that midmon uh workshop. We'll also have an opportunity to review and discuss the bids in greater detail. And then as Amy

had mentioned earlier, a presentation and discussion on project financing. And then um at your January board meeting, there is an opportunity for the board to go ahead and considered um the bid to be awarded um to the lowest responsive responsible bidder for the project. So just wanted to go ahead and cover that first. Um the bid structure that we had for the project um gave biders the opportunity to bid over multiple seasons. So we had a bid A which was for a summer construction of 2026 and then we also had a bid B for uh construction of um beach nourishment to occur within the 2027 summertime window. We had received three bids uh one from Manson Construction, one from Great Lakes uh dredge and dock company and one from Weeks Marine. Um Manson Construction did not submit a bid for the 2026 window, but did go ahead and submit a bid for the 2027 season. Uh both Great Lakes and Weeks Marine submitted bids for both sum for both summer seasons. All right. U just to give an overview of the bids, uh they were broken down into 12 different elements. Um the the base bid um there were eight different elements consisting of mobilization demobilization um the beach fill portion of that dune planting sand fencing uh there's uh relocation trollling beach tilling and then suspension of work uh that was

broken out for hopper dredge and a hydraulic dredge and then there was two ad alternates um and Those ad alternates were for the placement of an additional 100,000 cubic yards each. Um, and the base bid, the amount was 2,236,000 uh cubic yards of uh base bid beachfill. So, the low bid that was submitted for 2026 was by Weeks Marine. And I've highlighted some some key numbers um here within their bid in red. Um the mobilization and demobilization price was $8.5 million and then the unit price submitted for the beach fill was $11.40. Um, and then for each one of the alternates, the unit price for field placement was $9.50. Um, and so the total amount for the base bid was $34,934,100. Um, for each one of the additive alternates, it was $950,000 each. And so the total price is $36,864,100 when considering both the base bid and add alternate pricing. Um there for the uh other bid submitted by Great Lake, the uh all-in price was 43,44,554.

The engineers estimate for the project was 44 million uh42,490. So you can see that from the engineers estimate to the low bid for the 2026 season uh was significantly less. And so we got a pretty good competitive uh pricing for the 2026 season. For the 2027 season, we had received uh the three bids. Uh Mansion Construction had submitted a bid uh for the base bid of $42,14,950. Uh for each one of the ad alternates, they had $1.4 million. for a total uh all-in price of 44,946,950. Um, Weeks Marine, uh, their bid was $ 38,454,870 for the base bid and then $1,50,000 for each one of the ad alternates for a total price of $40,587,870. um as compared to the low bid for the 27 season which was submitted by Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company. Um the base bid amount was 37,280,751. Each one of the ad alternates was1 million25,000 for a total allin price of $39,362,551.

the difference in pricing from the uh week's marine price for 26 to the Great Legs Great Lakes uh price for 27 was $2 million498,451. So just under $2.5 million difference between um constructing in 2026 as compared to 2027. Um, I will note that we're we're not asking for any decision to be made today because we wanted to go ahead and give the board a comprehensive look at everything to consider the fall survey and the financing which um we'll discuss more at your uh midmon workshop. Um but just uh in looking back at some of the pricing we had received in the past um from the 2011 project was which was the first project that we had we've seen 102% increase in cost from that project. From our last maintenance project in 2019 we've seen a 40% increase in cost from that project. Um the big drivers in the cost for these projects are mobilization and demobilization. Um from this project to our 2019 project, there's a four [clears throat] $4.5 million increase that we've seen. And then also the Beachville placement. Um we're looking at the low bid of $11.40 40 as compared to about $85 uh for the last project. So, we're starting to see some pretty significant increases for the cost of these large scale projects. I'll be glad to answer

any questions that you have. My only question was going to be the yard price, the price per yard comparison. You just addressed that there at the there at the end of the remarks. Um and um so uh you know fortunately you know despite the fact that we have significant increases we pretty well anticipated them. And so um her her budget pretty nearly matches what we're going to what we're going to be spending here which is good. I mean it's a little less the number I've been carrying around in my head for about a year was about 42 million I think. And so we're we're better than that which is which is good.

Yeah. And and I think with the bid framework that we have, we give the companies the greatest flexibility by giving them the option of doing it over multiple years. Um, back in 2019, we saw a savings of six million, $16 million between the two projects. Um, this one we're looking at just under $2.5 million between the two years. But um that does give the greatest flexibility and we've talked to some other people in the industry and they think that this is a better way to get the most competitive pricing. Very good. Thank you. Commissioners, Commissioner Paul, no questions. I look forward to the midmon meeting and learning some more.

No questions. Thank you. No questions. Thank you. I have a quick question. If um if mobilization and demobilization is so expensive, does this include all the potential mobilizations? Like if there's a lot of storms during this season, does this include all those breakdowns and moving in and outs or could they possibly tag on more for the mobilization if there was a lot of storms? So, so the mobilization and demobilization is um going ahead and staging that initial equipment [snorts] and then going ahead and pulling off the job site. Um but I think what you're referring to is suspension of work

um if we have some weather conditions. And so that is covered here in the in the bid documents um with a price that's given. So, does it cover it? It covers a certain amount, but it it probably may not cover everything that we could uh incur during the course of the project, if that makes sense. And then do do they have insurance that covers storms like that for if they have to move all their equipment and come back or do does the town cover that? I'm just curious.

So, um so there there is a suspension of work and and they did go ahead and give a pricing for that. And typically what they'll do is if the sea conditions exceed a certain wave height and I think from what I recall it's about 6 feet or greater then they have to pull off their operations because it's it's no longer effective for them to go ahead and operate within those. So um the past uh projects they've pulled off to Norfolk. um this case I think for instance weeks marine may have a different location that they may go to down in Wilmington where they could go ahead and pull off in that case and then yeah if there is a significant delay in work then yes those costs will be incurred um but we do have those amounts so it it won't be fluid

okay so those are 7A and 8A those those suspensions of work that are part of the total order but in in past projects we've not and charged extra for any any suspension of work um for the 2019 and 2022 projects. Yes, we did not have incur any additional costs. Um we can't speak to 2011. There's a lot of significant last question.

Thanks. But I I think the timing of the summer construction window um we've seen that those are the best conditions for them to be able to operate. Um the time frame that we have spans from April to about December and typically what they like to do is work within that beginning of May and try to get out by mid to late August. Okay. Thanks. Okay. Great. Right. Thank you, David. Yeah, thank you appreciate that. Look forward to the midmon month.

All right, that brings us to a um discussion of potential safety improvements in the Nagit elementary school zone and Chief Hail perhaps Andy.

Well, we were going to tag team. I just something we wanted to bring to the board's attention. Uh we were contacted by a Nagad resident who has a child that attends Nagad Elementary School. Um there was a recent event where they were using the crosswalk at Bonnet Street and someone ran a red light and the way they described it, it was a near miss and so they were very concerned about safety in that area. Uh they sent us an email with some suggestions for us to consider and we then talked to NC DOT about the suggestions and wanted to bring this to your attention. There are a few things that we might be able to consider. And so Perry's done a little bit of research on this and maybe can kind of just go over. There's one one item that we could probably get some DOT to help us with and another that would take a little bit more work. But um Chief,

good morning, mayor, commissioners, and congratulations to newly elected commissioners. Um after this, uh call that Annie and I received um I started trying to throw some ideas together. Um, and one of the ideas that came to me, um, that in my mind would seem kind of easy would be a a signal before we get to Bonnet Street. In my opinion, Bonnet Street is is a very busy it's probably our busiest intersection. We've got the YMCA, we've got Dowy Park, we've got Nag Elementary School. So, if you don't have people at the park, you might have people at the Y. And then after school, um, being that there is a daycare across there, a lot of children do cross each day. Um our officers are uh given directives to uh sit in the school zone for speed violations um and also monitoring our red light violations as well. Um calls dependent if we get calls um they will leave uh to assist with other calls but uh mornings and afternoons they have directives to sit in the school zone. Um and we do occasionally um catch some speed violations. Um, usually the first weeks when school starts back, there's chaos and everybody forgets the school's on the end, even though the lights are flashing. Um, but then after that that routine gets back down, it sort of calms down where the speed violations are not um as uh problematic. But the if you if you've been up to Kittyhawk um basically since last year, I believe they've got a a signal that alerts you be prepared to stop right before you get to Kittyhawk uh road. Um, to me that would be very appropriate for Bonnet Street being the why the the park. Um, I've reached out to Madison Phillips uh one of the uh senior u electronic uh supervisors that handles lights and um any additional um electronic signals that go up around those. um he is uh from speaking to him

he is already starting the process for this to see feasibil uh feasibility and cost of this um to be able to put that up um I do know that there are some new lightings uh that they are recommending to use now would hope that that would be on um signals of this as well if you've been through mano recently for that pedestrian crosswalk at the new COA um those are not the standard uh just yellow uh flashing bulbs like we have it at Nagad Elementary School in the school zones now. They're called a more of a a rapid ready flash, I believe it is. It does draw your attention uh to it a lot more than just a a single flashing light. To me, it's basically a yellow light just like a blue light. It's just flashing back and forth very very fast. It does draw your attention. Um so, I'm waiting for Madison. Um I don't know how long that will take from last talking to him. I emailed him um I believe it was about three and a half weeks ago. um and he was going to start that process. Now, with the holidays coming up, we don't know um what that was, but I will stay in contact with him. We do have a a very good working relationship uh with the engineers and those at DOT um from the law enforcement side. Another suggestion um that kind of came up that I mentioned to to Andy was it just recently passed uh on Senate Bill 391 um that came into effect in October. Um I'm interested in it. um also have uh some concerns of um cumbersome how it's going to be on a small department, but it's you remember we've talked about red light cameras before. Um they just passed a law um to use electronic speed measuring devices in a school zone. Um the law went into effect in October. It's like I said, it's recently uh passed. I reached out to DOT to get their thoughts on this process. They would have to come up with a policy on it. Um the town if enacted would also have to draft an ordinance and a policy.

Um you can have some cost sharing with the school. Um within the uh law that was written um it does require sworn law enforcement officer to review them. So it is deemed a noncriminal um complaint. It would be a civil violation. The state has already set the fee though, um, which would be $250. Um, I've talked to some agencies, um, obviously in other states that this is allowed. Um, their civil fees are around $100 and they have to bring in people that have recently retired or had to add positions to monitor and review each one of those because you have to be one under the the general statute. It's going to have to be calibrated each year just like our radars in our car does. So, it's going to have to meet the standards of general statute for speed measurement uh instruments. Um, and then like I said, a sworn officer has to review that. And the amount that it would come in, we don't know what that volume would be to have somebody dedicated to just doing that. With that, it would only be operational during school hours. So you'd have 1 hour in the morning, 1 hour in the afternoon, and then any time during school closures, if they closed for weather, um any inclement weather, we'd have to, you know, mark that um to make sure that it was not on a day that school was actually closed. School does have to be in session with it. It's interesting. I want to find some more u information out about it. Um, I'm going to reach out to the Association of Chiefs of Police with North Carolina to see if anybody is starting to look at this or has implemented yet to see what kind of issues that they might be running into or how uh productive it might be. Um, but um it's fairly new, so I don't know if anybody has actually uh um put it in place yet.

You mentioned cost potential for cost share with the school. Uh, where do the fines go? The fines will go through the school from reading the the the statute and I might need some assistance from the town attorney because reading general statute sometimes where a lawyer writes it is uh takes a lot to get through. Um, but it does mention cost sharing. Um, I don't know how much would it be that you could get back for the equipment or could you get cost sharing back for an officer that has to review it. But being a civil fine, my understanding is going to go to the school. Okay. Um, with that, even though it is a civil fine,

the the citation would have to be issued within 60 days. Um, it has to have part of the ordinance that is drawn up of an affidavit that if your vehicle comes through, Mr. Mayor, um, and you lent your vehicle to me on December 3rd at 5:00, then you could fill out an affidavit, present to the town that the vehicle was in possession of me. So then that ticket would be voided and then you have to provide all the information who you lent the vehicle to. Then the citation would be issued to me. Then there has to be an appeal process. The

appeal process can go through is through the town and then it can eventually end up in the courts. But if everybody fails to pay, DMV is contacted, then you can't renew your vehicle registration. Okay. So it's it's pretty lengthy. Um, I've dove into it a lot and um, I'm waiting to talk to some other agencies throughout the state. Um, and we have our chief's conference uh, in January uh, coming up uh, the annual chief's conference. So, I'm hoping uh to definitely speak to some people uh, face to face about it if uh, I can't get any responses through emails reaching out to some chiefs around the area. Great. Very good. Thank you. Questions, comments, Mr. Harrison?

I like the idea of the the flashing light. I think that would be um a first step for sure and I'm glad you've already initiated that. So, and looking into that sounds like a good plan. Commissioner, I like both of these um just I'm sure we all have seen cars run red lights up on it streets. I don't turn into that intersection unless I make sure cars actually stop, not just because the light says so. So, I'm all for this and I really appreciate the concerned citizen reaching out. Yeah.

Great. Thank you, Commissioner. So, we all know where the police presence is during the school hours. I'm sure you've given some consideration to maybe moving that up to the light, but there's probably harder to get out if you're if you're catching somebody in violation, but putting the police presence actually at that stop.

Yes, sir. We also do uh red light enforcement. Um, we created a code in our reporting system, um, that, uh, when this came up a couple years back that we can specifically pull numbers that how many intersections we do red light enforcement actions at. Um, so we do during the school zone, we're there for obviously the the speed violations and also monitoring the uh, lights as well. Um, but all throughout the town, they do sit at different lights um, off on the side streets to monitor those so it's easier to get out. Yeah. But my question would be helpful to put presence there at that light during the during the school time. During the school time? Yeah. Other than the officer that is sitting there. They have a crossing guard that's that stays there that's provided by the school.

There's a crossing guard there. Yes. Yeah. But obviously he was probably there when they blew through the right light, right? Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I mean, yeah, I'm talking about police presence there. I don't know if that's something depending on calls for service and how everything goes. Um we have three out on the day and you know calls are up and down. Um but they do monitor all that area. All right. Thank you. Uh the monitoring you said would occur just during school hours, not for the um speed enforcement for the electronics. Yes. Yes. It's only during school hours.

Okay. And then the um officer monitoring it has to be a sworn officer. That is that in real time or that can be done? No, the the the way that I understand these is is you a company has these devices, so has to be procured through the company. I'm sure they're getting some type of um monetary off of it as well. Um but then once they're mailed in, I guess they would be mailed or either we would log into the system and have to print them out, but they have to be um monitored and reviewed by a sworn law enforcement officer. So once that citation is issued, the civil citation, it would have a sworn law enforcement's name on it that is

approved to enforce speed limit violations in the state. And so um school hours or couple how many hours are we talking about? So we should be able to figure out how many roughly how many hours it would take to it's one hour in the morning and then one hour in the afternoon. So two hours a day during the sessions of school, right? I have one other question. Um I forgot to ask. When you said um the fines would go to the school, does that would that be Dair County schools or Nags Elementary School? Fair County School itself.

And I'd have to study this, but the um ordinarily the under under the North County Constitution, all fines and forfeertures have to be paid the clear proceeds of those have to be paid to the board of education. And there's been a lot of litigation over various kinds of programs like red light cameras um and municipalities trying to find a way to be reimbursed for the cost of those programs so that the proceeds that go to the board of education um are um offset by the those expenses and there's been mixed success with those cases. Typically special legislation has been required to to enable that to happen. This may qualify. I haven't studied it. So, I'm not sure, but um ordinarily what we've said before is that you should assume that for most of these programs, it's a safety device and you may have to pay for it and the proceeds may just go to the board of education. But this could create an exception that there's been, like I say, there was there was one from there was a case from Pit County a couple years ago that upheld special legislation, but there was leg uh case from Goldsboro that was very similar that struck it down. So, it's it's kind of up in the air as far as I know.

Yeah. I know when we've discussed this before, I mean, the percentage on on the uh clear proceeds was so high that it really we couldn't justify we really couldn't justify a red light program uh under that under the constitution other than as a simply a safety measure that you are going to pay the cost of. Right. That's right. Right. Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Chief, and appreciate you looking into that. We look forward to an update when you have more information. Yes, sir. Thank you. Very good. That brings us to a Dare Housing Foundation update. This is Andy.

All right. Thank you, Mayor. Um, we're blessed to have Donna Cref here with the Dare Housing Foundation. She's actually now the president of the foundation. So, you can certainly get up and correct me. [laughter] I was just going to provide a really, really brief update. You know, obviously, you know, I was appointed to the Dare County Housing Task Force along with former mayor pro Tim Mike Sears. And now that that organization, one of the primary recommendations of that working group was to uh move towards a nonprofit organization that would carry out the recommendations of that study. And so, uh, that's why we now have the DARE Housing Foundation, which is now, um, formerly the Dare Housing Task Force. I I think the intent is to sort of um migrate the activities over to this new organization and no longer continue with the original task force.

So now we have a a group that's been appointed to that um from each of the towns and and various private entities throughout the county and um I was appointed to it. Um we had our initial meeting back in November on November 13th. Um, I know Donna has been working really hard to set up everything that you need to have in place for a nonprofit. You know, we've got a bank account. You know, we've got bylaws and articles and corporation and, you know, she's working with an attorney on all of that. Um, working on a location for us to meet. um haven't not sure if that's been finalized yet, [laughter]

but I I believe we we are looking at um a local bank, town bank has has donated a location for us to meet, including a conference facility for us. Um the the meeting we had uh in November, we elected officers and Donna was elected as the president, Malcolm Fearing's the vice president. I am the secretary and Matt Neil with Southern Shores is the uh treasurer. And so um that's the list of officers. Um several committees uh were created and various members of the group are on each committee. One to deal with uh fundraising activities, one to deal with financing and another to deal with project development. Did I get that right? And so I am I'm on the project development committee. I didn't want to have anything to do with finance or fundraising. So I appreciate that. And so um you know we'll be meeting uh again in December, I believe December 16th to continue our activities and and as we progress we'll get more into the the nuts and bolts of what we're going to be trying to do. But essentially we've gotten the the meeting the group established. we've gotten it off the ground, working on getting some of the things in place and then um we we'll continue to meet and update the board on on any progress um that the nonprofit is making.

And that's it. Great. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Andy. Appreciate you continuing to serve there and serving in in an officer role as well. Uh that brings us to our board of commissioners agenda when uh commissioners have discretion to bring up any topic that they wish. So I'll start with commissioner B. Nothing today on the agenda. Nothing today. All right. Nothing today.

All right. Very good. Thank you. Um that brings us then to the mayor's agenda and we have um we have a few items. The first would be consideration of the 2026 uh meeting calendar which you have before you. Um and you also have a budget calendar. Um those are those are two separate uh documents. Um the meeting schedule is typically um you know first Wednesday and third Wednesday. Um we don't often use the third Wednesday but we always keep those on our calendars uh in case we need them. Um and then we have the the budget calendar which has been subject to some work over the last few years and we have found this approach to be very efficient um and to get the board um a lot of information in a timely manner uh the whole [clears throat] the schedule of development of this has been refined and um and so we have found this to be uh helpful for working that into the budget. Um, and so if u if we may, I would ask for a motion to approve the 2026 meeting calendar and the 2627 budget calendar.

I'll make that motion to approve these calendars. All right. Thank you. Is there a second? Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor signify by saying I.

I opposed. Great. Thank you. Uh the next item is the request for uh lightkeeper and nags header award uh nominations. Uh we ask that those nominations be delivered to the town clerk's office by April 15th of this year and those nomination forms are available on our website. I trust that social media will also get this information out. Um see Robera shaking her head. Um so the NAS header um we have two awards. We enjoy uh giving these awards. Uh it's a it's a really great day in the occasion in the in the life of the town and in the life of this board. It's always a lot of fun and very meaningful uh to see those folks come in and be recognized. Um, so the Nags Head Lighter is to honor persons who have shaped the image and direction of Nags Head, making significant contributions to to the town through their time, actions, talent, and dedication. Nominees shall be outstanding individuals who've been involved in community service such as boards, commissions, task forces, agencies, volunteer organizations, or community groups, and shall have demonstrated a sustained commitment to our community. They should be perceived by the citizens of Nags Head as leaders. They may have been active in local, county, or state government. Um, they may have served to influence decision-making on issues and demonstrate through their involvement how the quality of life in their community has been enhanced. The Nags Header Award recognizes a special deceased person who has made a difference in the town and who has shaped the culture of Nags Head since its incorporation in 1961. Um those awards are made uh to fellow me to family members um when when those are

awarded. So, I commend those to the town um to the to our citizens and ask that um you bring those nominations in u by again by April 15th. Uh the next item on our agenda is a discussion of the fiscal year 2526 retreat. Um and so we have a new board and um and so we've we've talked about this a little bit. Um, I think I talked with new board members briefly um, uh, after your election about the notion of a retreat. Um, and um, I think Andy may have some observations about this, but what we have done in the past is something on the order of a two-day retreat um, where we have uh, department heads present uh, so that we can cover uh, progress on board initiatives and we can refine our board initiatives. Um in that meeting we have uh typically worked with a facilitator um and they've been very effective the last couple of uh the last couple of retreats in [snorts] um structuring reports on our progress on our initiatives and um and sort of providing a a goal list um that's helpful to us and to staff. Uh so that that's been very effective. Um, I think one of the thing a couple of things that and I'm I'm opening this for ideas and request from uh from board members which you don't necessarily need to present today but we do need to be thinking about them. Um, when I first came on the board uh eight years ago um a good bit of our discussion was about our expectations of one another as board members about the board's expectations of the mayor about the mayor's expectations of of board members. Um, that was a very useful

discussion. Um, I think it sort of clarifies everyone's roles and and I I found that so helpful. I I had cut it out and for the last eight years it's been sort of stuck up over my desk. Um, just the expectations of the mayor so that I always kind of had those those in mind. Um and so uh we do need to resolve dates and I think what we've done if [snorts] we are generally um thinking that sometime later in January or in February is when that would be appropriate is to find dates that facilitator um the facilitator would be available. Typically these have been the Thursday Friday uh kind of full haven't they Thursday Friday kind of a full day um exercise for both of both of those days and um so Andy anything you would offer and then I would ask any board members if they have any thoughts and questions and anything that they'd like to see happen in the retreat. Well, the um you know, we talked about that retreat years ago where we established the expectations and so I think that's a great suggestion. Um you [clears throat] know, how we're going to work together. Uh I remember there was a a retreat we had where John Lighty had given a presentation to the board. Oh yeah.

About uh legal and ethical issues and serving on the board, right? And so it may be good to have a session like that. Um you know there may be a time where we bring in staff maybe not for the whole thing but for part of the retreat and sort of talk about strategic planning and then I thought it might be good to do some touring of the town as a board which is something that we really haven't done before. um sort of a walk and talk or you know yeah would be great put your eyes on things and it really helps generate ideas and talk about where we are and what we've been doing where we're headed

so um all those things are good suggestions and you know I think what we would normally do is reach out to the facilitator obviously try to hone in on dates that they're available and then what we'd like to do is have them interview each of the board members individually to get [clears throat] some ideas about what they'd like to talk about and then that will help them formulate an agenda, you know, um in conjunction with us. So, um that's what I would suggest. Okay. All right. Thank you. Commissioners, any any initial thoughts? Um Andy's referred a couple times to the facilitator. There is a facilitator that we use.

Yes. Um and we've used different ones over time. I think I think the last two at least the last two it's been the same facilitator think and so we just kind of go go to that person automatically. We don't automatically have to do that. Right. I'm just curious and and then so we would start with their calendar and then yes figure out how we all fit in. Yes. I could send you some information about who we've used in the past. Um, you know, there's certainly other companies that do that. If we want to look at doing more of a, you know, roundup of who's available, what their qualifications are, and get the board to kind of come up with selection of that, then we can try to do that, too.

I I think since it's fresh, maybe at least the last couple that we've had success with would be would be probably good share with with all of the board members, right? If the board has uh experience working with individuals, then we'd welcome those suggestions. Um get a little bit of information about who's available.

Yeah. Yeah. This the ones that we've used the last couple of times um how they had a huge client list of municipalities in North Carolina, which was which is really appealing to me. not just a meeting facilitator but someone who understood town government uh and how boards work was really a huge asset to to have. So we would whoever we get I think we want to look for that and I definitely like the idea of having the town attorney there if he's willing and able I know that Miss Wamble made a presentation to the planning board not long ago was very helpful

to all of us. Yeah, I'll be happy to to do a session uh for the board on on anything you're interested in. I Andy and I did discuss that and I I felt like uh either something on um you know on boardsmanship types of issues andor public records and open meetings laws issues. Those are I know that there's a lot of experience already amongst the new board members, but those are always good topics from my perspective. John John always has some interesting stories about how some [laughter] about how some other boards have operated. really exams are but not the big caution sign. Yes. Right. [laughter] Don't take a swing at anybody.

I like the idea too, especially with new members to give them opportunity to look at the facilitators especially if this one's going to be more geared not more geared but it's definitely going to have more be a new team right approach. Yeah. More team building. So that would be great. Yeah. And I think it field trips would be great. I think spend a little time on it anyway, right? [laughter] Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we saw that big list of uh of of capital improvement projects and it would be really nice to go go look at them. Absolutely. See how they are because [clears throat] one might be online. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Very good. Okay.

Is that enough direction, Andy, to Yes. get that ball rolling? Okay. Very good. Thank you. Um and then um finally uh from from the mayor um uh this time of year we also consider an employee Christmas bonus. Uh uh we this I believe we've gone from gift cards to now this is a direct deposit um approach when the board approves this. And so what I would like to put forward for your consideration is a Christmas bonus this year for employees of $200 for each full-time employee and $100 for each part-time employee. And the board needs to act on that. So I make that in the form of a motion. Is there a second?

Second. All right. Any discussion? Good idea. I think it's great. All those in favor signify by saying I. I.

I. post. All right, great. Thank you all very much um for that additional recogn recognition for staff. Uh [snorts] so before we go into close sessions, um is there any other business to come before the board so that folks don't have to come back when we come back out? Uh I hear none. Um uh we will uh recess when we come back out. Um, Roberta does want a at least a temporary board picture. So, we'll assemble ourselves after we come after we uh recess the meeting um here in the room for Rober and get a picture. Um, so that brings us then to close sessions and um I move that the board go into close session to consider a personnel matter pursuant to 143-318.11a6 and to request uh to consult with the town attorney regarding matters protected by attorney and client privilege and preserve that privilege to include the Cherry Incorporated litigation pursuant to general statute 143-318.1183. Three. I so move. Is there a second?

Second. I have a motion, a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. All right. The board will be in close session.

Okay. The board has returned to open session. Will you report, Mr. Lighty? Uh yes, sir. Mr. Mayor, the board did uh discuss uh confidential personnel matters um and u litigation matters and other matters within the attorney client privilege. Uh some action was taken, but nothing else needs to be reported at this time.

Okay. Very good. Thank you. uh we dealt with uh other business. Uh remember that um after we recess that we want to uh let Robera take a picture and then that we have representatives of Shosan here uh in case we need help with our um verification on email. So, um, there being no other business come before us, then a motion to recess to the midmon meeting at 9:00 a.m. on December 17th. Be in order. Motion. Is there a second? Second.

Have a motion in a second. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. I. Opposed. Great. Board is in recess until December 17th.