Board of Aldermen - Regular Meeting

I'd like to call to order. Ricky, we're getting feedback, I think. Um, if you can do it. Um, alderman.

If we could please rise for invocation, please. Bless this town and may it remain a beautiful and friendly place. We pled that this board makes fair and informed decisions this morning, inspired by the passion and integrity of our late colleague and friend Larry Straw. We honor his dedicated service as an unyielding advocate for our coastline and reflect with gratitude on his life of leadership. We also pray that our police officers, firefighters, and members of the armed forces, including veterans like Larry, who served our country with distinction, remain safe here and around the world as they risk so much for our security. We also pray that the town is spared from hurricanes this season and all other natural disasters throughout the year and that everyone associated with this town remains safe and secure. Amen. Amen. Uh,

pledge of allegiance, Mark. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Um just just real quick quickly um Larry's wife is here. just wanted I know we're going to do a presentation in a minute, but we wanted to acknowledge you and um as soon as everybody sits down um and thank you for coming um and I know it's it's hard um but we love them and we miss them. So um with that um ask for a approval of the agenda. Do I have a motion? I make a motion to approve the agenda. Do I hear a second? I'll second. All in favor? I Thank you. Um, Larry, manager report, please. Thank you, Mayor.

Thank you, Mayor, members of board of alderman. Got a brief manager report I'd like to share with you. Um, first of all, we had several vacancies that were filled the last week or two in the police department. Uh, captain's position has been filled. Um, Don Jane accepted the offer and uh, she's got extensive experience, 10 years with the Surf City Police Department, 20 years with Ansel County Sheriff's Department in the uh, fire department. We also had a captain's position that was uh, filled and it was filled by uh, Austin and Torino. I apologize if I'm butchering either name. Um he's got extensive experience. Uh he's USLA certified, fire inspector 2 certified, and also has completed the driver and operator certification requirements. He's an EMT and has a number of other certifications and has uh seven years experience with the Morehead uh city fire department. Uh moving on, I'd like to share with you that uh Vitex treatments are expected to begin uh soon in North Topppsel Beach. Um the contractors begun treatment in Topppsel Island and Surf City last week. Larry, before you leave that this preceded you, you don't have to write this down. Um, if you remember, we had the issue at Villa about that because unless we unless there is a release in front of those buildings, they do not replace the Vitex. And so what happened some time ago is apparently uh the contractor went up and was doing stuff up here that he was actually supposed to be doing in Surf City. So just to remind people that the only ones that are going to be treated are going to be the ones that there is a a signed release for otherwise just so there's no clear you

remember this issue Lex. Yeah I was a big deal Lexi worked through reconciling um uh those releases uh earlier this week end of last week earlier this week and and so I think we're those that have been signed we've we've communicated. Thank you.

Okay. Um so next uh briefly uh US Army Corps of Engineers shallow water dredge schedule. Uh we met with um some of us met with staff representatives uh of the Wilmington district. The focus of the conversation was uh reconciling right of entry forms uh which is a document that the core uses as a precursor to depositing dredged sand. Um and so we're working through through that. The basic uh shallow water dread schedule is that we'll our staff will com complete the reconciliation of those forms uh by late July. Um the core expects to award the contract for dredging in August September and the contractors expected to mobilize in January of or February of 2027. Um in regards to the Ocean City Jazz Festival, we met with organizers last week to begin the planning and synchronizing of logistical support for 20 or so items. and they're the classic ones that uh the town has been involved with over the years. Nothing in particular new. Um uh we're we're prepared to provide support and assistance. Uh also as a note, mayors has or will be receiving invitation to offer welcomes uh to uh each of the days of that event.

It says July July 4th. I want to say it's July 3rd, fourth, fifth, right? kickoff party on the third. Sorry,

that's fine. Um, also, uh, I received a speed hump request, um, otherwise known as a traffic calming device. Um, uh, received a verbal request earlier in the week to approve the installation of speed hump on Seagull Lane by Mr. Mr. Anders, and he's, I believe, in the audience. Um, or was it? There he is. um uh he offered to install the device using donated materials and I instructed him not not to do so. There there's a number of of of items of for consideration revolving involving that. Uh I did invite him to send a written request to address to either myself or the mayor. um and um and that he could uh anticipate, you know, possibly a number of parameters to um uh follow to advance that request. Um uh I haven't found a town policy on speed humps, traffic calming devices. So, not not to try to make it complicated, but um um there's there are other organizations I've worked with. We've had some policies did a quick Google search and u found examples of others you at a high level. Happy to share those with you at this moment. Um some of the considerations and parameters. Um a big one is evidence of community involvement and interest that can take the form of a petition with so many of the affected property owners attesting to their interest for it. Um uh and I guess what's really critical on that is um if the smaller the level of support for a speed hump, the faster it'll be asked to be removed one, two, three, four, six months um down the road. So it's it's that's tends to be a pivotal pivotal item. But there also

some other items. You know, there's analysis in the form of a speed study. um traffic counts, accident analysis. Um from a policy standpoint and analytical standpoint, those are some vital ingredients. Um typically the installation of trafficcoming devices are on streets that have a a exceed a minimum width. Um also uh on streets that have a a posted speed limit of of not more than 25 miles an hour. Um and then there lastly there are design parameters that are important for safety and the mobility of emergency vehicles i.e. um a ladder truck. Um so there's um uh so I'm not asking for action now. However, if the board is so inclined, I I'd be happy to to draft a policy, bring it to the board for consideration. Uh otherwise or uh when the Mr. Anders formally sends in the request, I can we can refer it to the board for your consideration.

I mean, my initial reaction to that is we would need a lot more information before we put something in like that. You I not to be an as I've been on the DOT site about what they do, and I believe Seagull is ours, our property, correct? That's correct. We brought this up probably eight or nine years ago, long before the new developments got put in and uh it was basically, you know, no, no pun intended, kicked to the curb. Nobody followed up on it because New River Inlet Road can take more wear and tear with the uh we do have the the fire truck as well as a lot of large 18-wheeler commercial vehicles that do come all the way down to that end. And we would much rather New River Road get more out than Seagull.

Okay. Kip, you've you know, you you know, my my early stuff on DOT is when you put stuff in, it gets worn out and then you got because we would because it's ours, we would have the maintenance cost of this everything else. I mean, I I just like to get more information on it and maybe have the police department at least kind of in the next meeting give us their thoughts on it and then if Mr. Anders wants to send something in requesting it. Um I mean, I don't know. I mean, you could Google it today and find out how much they are how much they go in for because it it is not a state route.

That's correct. And and also it was brought up eight years ago for uh safety. There was a lot of children that are residents here that uh were playing in the street want to ride their bicycles or whatever, play basketball. And uh uh the way it's set up sometimes you have individuals that want to race one another to get around the get around and get in front of why that's just

I think those are valid. Like I said, they happen and it's my the way I work. I was looking at some of the stuff on crosswalks and why you put them in everything else. remember ours were okay and the studies and the things you have to go through. Um, and Kip, you're the public safety guy on this. It was like, how many accidents have been down there? How many people have been hurt? How many, you know, um, and when you start looking at that stuff and you peel it back, I'm just talking about the crosswalk piece of it, it's like, nope, nope, nope, nope, because there's no basis for it. And to your point, if it gets taken out six months later, I have an open mind to it. I just like to know how much it is, what the needs are, and what the numbers are.

I I agree completely. But I also uh also know from history we did have uh one vehicle that was trying to loot police and basically ran into the home at the very corner of Seagull straight off of New River Road. So there are some safety concerns and that's all the numbers. Did you want anything?

Yeah. The only thing I would say is uh you know I'd also defer to the fire department. Um because in my previous experience the design when you put notches in the middle of it to allow for emergency vehicles to pass over because obviously a truck filled with hundreds of gallons, thousands of gallons of water hits a bump, it sloshes and it becomes a safety hazard. That all considered, I think there's a lot of things to be considered, but I think that is probably a good one of the better spots in the town to uh consider that uh proposal. So, I I I like the idea of drawing from some of our neighboring jurisdictions to to keep consistent and we'll address it soon. Sounds like the consensus is, you know, take a look at it, see what you think, and come back to us next month with your without spending a lot of money on it. And then and find out specifically, you know, what what's needed because, you know, we're back to when we talk about the budget a little bit. It's all about priorities and what we can and can't do. And um you'll hear my lecture on the budget thing, which is everything that we do that costs money today means we can't do something tomorrow. Um and so it it becomes a priority. Doesn't mean everything's not important, but you know, as my buddy over there in the blue shirt likes to say, there's half twos and one twos, right? So, all right. Is that enough, Larry? Direction-wise,

yes, probably too much. Thank you. It's super. I would I would just add we're also looking at the related to the traffic calming uh idea is um I haven't gotten feedback yet from staff but idea of pulsing NC dot on the idea of maybe creating a four-way stop at that at the intersection as as an alternative or andor in addition to so I don't have an answer or recommendation but that's something because that might be the problem anyway

can I do before you leave because I want to I wrote down this and we're taking a break here on the dredging project I'm assuming I think Fran will talk about how much sand it is. I don't I don't know what the number is because we talked general. We didn't think initially they were going to do a dredging project and you know and for everybody that hasn't been here before that only hits up in the north end. One two it's not our project. It's not our money. Um Chris and Fran have worked with the Army Corps to try to get the sand where we want it but it's not our it's we are not allowed to direct them where to put the sand. Okay. And frankly it's not the same and you can weigh on this. It's not the same quality sand that we will do with a beach project.

Okay. So, um I'm sure Fran can address that. He'll have some idea. But I think didn't when Joanne was here, we talked about this that we didn't think they were going to do a dredging project this year. Right. Is that right, Connie?

Right. We didn't think they were going to do one this year. It's beneficial that we do however that they do it for us. However, it is not an engineered beach. It is not a beach project. It does not generally stay. However, it the sand does get into Yeah, it's free. The sand does get in the system and while it is put down at the north end, it does not stay in the north end. So, while the north end gets just a temporary benefit, the rest of the town generally gets a pretty good benefit from it depending on how much sand they put on there. Sorry, Larry. Go ahead. And that concludes my report. Okay. Um, thank you.

Do we have um open forum, Lexi? Yes, I have a few signups for this morning. Um, up first I have Gray Chapman.

Okay.

Oh, is it Greg? I'm so sorry. All right. So, I have Dave and then on deck I have Greg. So, thank you. It it actually also includes a passing zone that extends from the paid for parking parking lots and extends up to where the playground begins. And that for the people that live there is a very concerning issue because we see the basketball or volleyball sometimes leave the court and run out into the street and these people are speeding by. So this is a crucial issue and as you know our community has changed drastically in the last 5 years. the number of tourists that are coming down, the number of rentals that are available. U it's a drastic change that we've seen in in the numbers of people coming to our beautiful beach. A lot of these cars don't abide by the speed limit. Uh they're in a rush or a hurry and if they see a passing lane, they take advantage of it and they speed by. Um it's a very concerning situation. I per personally have witnessed several episodes of someone nearly being hit and I've been told from my neighbors that there actually have been people injured at this intersection because the congestion that occurs from the paid for parking area and the people trying to get out of that parking lot and people

coming around the corner because it's a steep bend. So many of us have a significant interest in getting this changed. is it's not just a few people that have had this concern over the last eight years or more. Um the cars travel over the speed limit every day. And I actually was out there one afternoon about a year and a half ago with Deb Hill. We were just standing there talking and this car just went by probably 60 miles an hour and it just blew us away. Um so this is again seen by all of us. Um, this isn't a matter of convenience and it's not a legal or political issue. We're trying to do what's best for the visitors and the residents that live here. It's a safety issue. So, the two concerns are the actual speed limit. It's the only road that is next to the beach in North Carolina that's not at 35 miles an hour. So, we'd like to see it lowered to 35 miles an hour and we'd like to make that a no passing zone for that small section that still exists. slowing the traffic modestly may not really change what people do and their behavior. So, I think it's important to take it to the 35 mph speed limit. I don't know if you know, but I have a car that has GPS and when I turn onto the road after leaving 210, my car actually shows it's a 35 mph speed limit. So, somehow my car knows what the state law is even though we may not. Um, I just would like to emphasize that this is consistent with what the community wants and the residents want. Uh, this has been discussed several times. We've had the NC DOT highway engineer present his materials twice and stated that that is the recommendation of the state to lower it to 35 miles an hour. So, thank you. I respect your time and I appreciate you listening. Um, thanks.

We we don't respond back. Would you do me a favor though before he leaves? Can you get his email address? I have got all the safety statistics on that. Yes. Um which you'll know when the hearings and stuff. If you can get if you can get his information, I'll send that to you. I'd be happy to because it's like it's like one accident every 10 million miles. So we have uh two other people that are going to just follow up if you wanted you want us to present all three and then have response. Is that your preference? I mean whatever you if you'd leave the information I've talked to Gray about this before too because not getting off the subject. The other thing that I talked to you guys about before was a simple one. If we put up the yellow 35 signs, people are going to slow down anyway. I thought that you wanted to do that. Nobody ever followed up with me because I would get behind that personally. I think that makes sense. We would gladly do that.

Okay. If you could just get their information, Gray, I think I've got your contact stuff. So, thank you. Yeah. Thanks. Appreciate it. Absolutely. Yeah. Okay. Um and then after her, I have Mr. Sam Ferrari on board. Hi, Greg.

Hi, Gray Chapman. 13 Osprey Drive. I live in Davis neighborhood. Um really I'm just asking to re-review with the new board the DOT data that um suggested that we reduce the speed limit to 35. I wasn't sure if all the new board members were aware that last year we had DOT come out and they did a study and they recommended formally to the town that we reduce the speed limit and um the recommendation was made after they studied like crash history, roadway conditions, residential density and traffic patterns. So, I think all those are important, not just like crash history, but like how many people are out there now. And the data presented included dozens of crashes over a five-year period with multiple rear end collisions. The roadway contains curves, turns, there's nowhere to pull off on the side of the road, and there's, as Dave said, increasing pedestrian activity with kids at the park. Um, we have more people coming here. More people means more traffic. So, just more opportunity for more accidents. Um, and we're talking about a difference of roughly roughly one minute of travel time if they reduced it from the entire link. That was a big concern last time. Is this going to slow down people from the north end trying to get down to the bridge? Um, and the DOT came back and supported that it was a 90 second well 60 to 90 second um increase in time. So, not that much difference in time. Um, that's really it. So, please reconsider it. And if I need to resend the proposal I sent last year, I'm happy to do so.

Thanks. Thank you. All right. I have Mr. Sam Ferry next. and Michael Tastino. Tashito,

you're not speaking. Okay. All right.

Good morning, Sam Ferrari 148 Seagull Lane. Um, here to talk about a special events issue. But before I do that, to follow up on the discussion that the manager had about Seagull Lane. Um the acting chief has had uh speed cams over there for several months and has data on it. So I think some of that work's been done. So I think there just needs to be some discussion between staff on that. But that that's excellent work. Um while the sign was there flashing 20 miles an hour, it worked. But as soon as they move the sign to another part of town, people go back to their old habits. But but I'm I'm really here to talk about um the special events and special event permit or lack of special event permits. Um I've lived here almost a year and um so I get a lot of emails uh try to participate in a lot of events happening around the community on the island. Um, not a lot in North Topsole, but I got one uh last week about a live pro wrestling match at Mark's place. And looking at the venue and the advertisement, I thought there should be a special events permit. So, I looked in the code, came to talk to staff about it. There is a special events application and review. Um, and I was here yesterday, Lexi, and you were out sick, I think. So I didn't know we couldn't find if one had been issued or not but there are different classifications and so I was first told it's not a public event so you don't need one but the application has four classifications A B C and D and D is um or C and D are for private or public and so part of it is really the safety of the event safety of the community um and

I just want to know if there was one this event this Friday. Uh items like um um uh stage stage building permits to build the stage, first aid facilities, event parking, temporary structures, trash and recycling, music, sound amplification, noise impact, alcohol beverage control, and and I'm not picking on the location, but I know and I did check with Surf City on their outdoor events, whether public or private, and they do have this they have the same thing. I mean, I think North Topsel just copied it when they became a town, but um I just want to know how those are going to be controlled. Um I know there's not a lot of parking. Maybe it's not a big event, but I think it's still a process that we should all follow and make sure for both the owners and participants and neighbors that everybody's safe and there's no obligation on the town, police, you know, presence, parking issues, those kind of things. So again, I'm just here to ask questions. Uh, I don't know the answer, but um hopefully there's a process and it's been followed and everything's good.

Okay. Obviously, we don't respond. Larry, I'm assuming you'll that sounds like something for you, right? But I'm we don't respond. You know, the protocol here is not respond, but if you guys could, you know, it's going to be handled, right? So,

all right. Um, next. K finger. Morning. How's everybody doing today? Kevin Finger, 17 Osprey Drive. First off, I want to I want to speak a little bit about Larry. It's terrible tragedy. Said see him go. He meant a lot to this island and contributed a lot. We're going to miss him. Um, talk about 35 mph speed limit. I really appreciate you putting the sign up. you know, the electronic sign up, show people what they're the speed they're going right now because when it went up yesterday, just watching the brake lights come on, it just makes people aware. So, let's start with that. I appreciate your efforts around that and continue to work through this problem because it is very much a safety issue in this area. And like was mentioned before by Dave, if all if most if not all of the beach towns are at 35 miles an hour, especially during the summer season. You know, a lot of them do on and off again limits and that makes sense. So anyway, once again, thank you for that followup and we'll see where it takes us. Appreciate it.

Um, last I have K. Wilkerson. How you doing everybody? Most of you know me, I'm Keith Wilkerson. I live at 149 Cal Lane and um I just want to talk to you about uh the access to the beach. Um it's always kind of a big discussion. There's no real a lot of well marked or well used uh places access the beach up at the north end. There's no place to park or anything like that except for by the um inlet. And I was wondering, I didn't even know. I've been here 12 years or so and I didn't even realize it till uh when the guy told me that there's another access in the Dolphin Shores development and which is right there. And I don't think anybody knows about it much. No, I never see anybody there. I ride my bike there every day. I never see anyone in there or going in and out. And it it's kind of I think because the the big summer house there is tried to claim the whole thing and I oh look a private little entrance but there's a camera sign. There's dog uh bags available. It's obviously a township thing. So, I was wondering is there any way we can is there any park there or get a golf cart in there or something or just make attention to it? It's like their own private thing and they say, "Oh, it's only for dolphins and it's guests. I don't know how they know who you are, but so uh I just was put that forth."

Okay. Thanks for everybody. Yeah, just u Larry um and I would think Deb probably knows this. This was several years ago. Um, and it started actually across the street from me because um, we thought that was one of our accesses over there and a guy built a house and said, "No, it's not." And so Alice went back out and looked and we How many did we eliminate? A lot. A lot of what we thought were town beach accesses that were not town. We actually had signs up and numbers on them. See what? So, you might even just ask her where that information is to get it started because this could be even a signage issue on on those type of things. But I know

I know I know in Dolphin Shores that the that the beach access itself is public. However, they own the parking. They own the they own the they have their own little uh beach house thing, but other than that, you can cross over there, but you can't park there or anything. It's just a public beach access. no public parking. And like I said, I would just ask Alice. I mean, she did a lot of work on that. It, you know, that's been a couple years ago at least, but we found out that there was a whole lot of stuff we didn't own. And that's why like the one across from me got reumbered by like 8 point eight numbers because that's how many we lost to get to it. So, just something to follow up on.

And I think that also applies to the uh pier behind the fire station. A lot of people don't realize that that's public. There was a lot of confusion over the last 10 years. That is all of our public signups. Going to move on to um frankly the toughest one

proclamation. Okay. Um, so this will be proclamation number 2026-01 proclamation honoring the life and leadership of alderman Larry Strawther. Whereas Larry Wayne Strawther was born December 8th, 1984 and hailed from Fagatville. Larry was a loving husband to his wife Lorie Straw of 8 years and an adoring dog owner to his doodle Dixie Ray. Larry was a devoted Christian and an active member of Sneeds Fairy Presbyterian Church. And whereas Alderman Larry Strawther attended East Carolina University and Methodist College, but gallantly withdrew from furthering his education to serve his country in the Vietnam War, Vietnam War as a Marine. As a sergeant, he was honorably discharged in 1970, adorned with medals, including the Navy Commenation Medal with Combat B for notorious service performed under combat conditions. And whereas Alderman Larry Strawther built a distinguished career as a hard-working business owner, leading his own real estate company, LWS Homes, Inc. with dedication and vision. He was president of Strawther Holdings and of the Homebuilders Association of Fateville, and was awarded the Pillar of the Industry Award. And whereas alderman Larry Strawther was also an unyielding advocate for the preservation and reourishment of Topsil Island beaches. Larry was an original member of the

beach inlet and sound advisory committee and served as the chairman from 2023 until his passing. While on the board, he was influential in establishing the 30-year action plan and the 30-year maintenance plan. Whereas beginning in 2023, Larry was appointed to the Topsil Island Shoreline Protection Committee and was vice chairman from 2025 and 20 to 2026. Larry sought to further his community, sought to further serve his community through his work on the North Topsel Beach Board of Alderman after being elected in November of 2025. While on the board, Larry remained focused on the conservation of North Topsel Beach beaches and sound leadership for the town. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the town of North Topsel Beach does hereby honor and celebrate the life of Alderman Larry Wayne Strawther, whose legacy of kindness and coastal advocacy will continue to live on through the community he so cherished, adopted this 13th day of May, 2026. He's such a good man. He's been a good friend. You know, a great advocate for this. And what people don't realize is how much time this guy spent. We were on the phone every day. Um he loved the beach. And the irony of this He didn't even live on the beach side. He lives on the sound side. Okay. And everything he did for us and for me. Thank you.

You already know. Welcome back.

Fran, you there?

Yes. Hello. Hey, Mayor Ford. Uh I mean I I will be up there next in north at town hall next week for that meeting with uh the county and we'll get in with that here in a sec. Let me uh share my screen and we will go through the the coastal update. Okay, here's the coastal update for North Topsel Beach for May 2026. Uh this is just kind of recent and upcoming projects. All these projects, you know, 2024, 2025, uh 2026, the phase five project. Here we have just an overview of of the town and the the beach, the phases or reaches of the beach. New River Inlet, phase one up there near New River Inlet down to phase five u on the surf city town limit. And you know all as as you can see there's there's nourishment activity either beach nourishment or dune nourishment almost you know the entire entire beach. Uh obviously there are some places where KMA does not let us do it but there those are small areas. Uh we're working on this on all the sections of the beach just kind of making sure that that uh we're trying to keep up with erosion. Hey, yeah, before you leave that, um, and I talked to you a little bit about this yesterday, and I think that, uh, at the BISAC meeting, Chris will talk about it again. One of the confusions in this is around what happened in phase 4 because people were saying, why did you do the phase four project, okay? And just a refresher, we didn't use town money for phase four. That was a state grant that we got and it was only because the it was adjacent to the phase five stuff with the permits and stuff in it. The other stuff that we've done, you're

going to talk about the DUNE project again is going to be FEMA money, not town money. So, I think it's important to remember that when we talk about more in detail at the BISAC meeting about the big project is the money that the town is putting towards stuff um going forward, okay, is a different project than things we've been able to do through KMA or or state grants and things like that because I think and you put the schedule I think together for me which maybe next month you could do again showing how much town funds were used for each one of those projects. I think that would be very helpful as well. Thank you. Sure. Sure. Of course. Yeah. It is a, you know, the town has been very successful at at getting uh outside money, either state grants or federal funds. Uh, you know, we're working really hard to make sure that the town is maximizing those benefits. But yes, there are restrictions to that uh in terms of what you said exactly. We can go through these. We'll just go through each of these projects really quickly and I'll build on kind of what Larry was speaking with earlier about the new river inlet and well the AIWW dredging and the placement in in phase one. This is that the the core this is core project navigation dredging and placement. This is usually up near, you know, the the it's it's inter coastal waterway related and but then they can kind of hit the the channel up to Jacksonville. Uh this typically does occur every every two years. And as you can see, last year they didn't put a whole lot, only about 77,000 cubic yards material. In 2023 was not bad. If you recall, they did were able to build a beach and they got down about half they got down to about building four on the Topsel Reef condos and then the town did come in with FEMA

money and they met that and kind of came down a little farther. the the sand it as as um Alderman Ple said the the sand it and the mayor Grant the it is a slightly finer sand uh even the the dredger used to call it the Marinex of Dredger used to call it sugar sand it's still very good sand very good color but it is slightly on the finer side and it doesn't stick around as much as that some of that truck haul sand uh but in this area is very dynamic that you know And we we'll get into the inland hazard area stuff later that kind of shows, you know, what the the state thinks and the state does think this is the most erosive area. But uh the plans are, you know, next winter and now that the state does have that shallow draft uh inlet fund, shallow draft dredging fund and the core can use that and that that happened about 10 years ago. They have been able to fund this actually before that that's sometimes the court just said we don't have any money. we're not doing a thing. But at least nowadays they are they are trying to do this pretty much every other year. Uh and then I as in terms of Mayor Grant I we will not know the volume uh until they they put it out. The volume changes every single time. Uh and then this is kind of one of the more recent this is the most recent one I I found uh on the miss this the Army Corps of Engineers puts this on their website whenever it's updated. U you can see here's where this is where that area where they will dredge and they will get material up at the inter coastal waterway in the channel in Jacksonville. This right here this is Cedar Bush cut. They they do not have authorization to to dredge this material. It does look probably about 50,000 cubic yards, I would I would

estimate. But uh and then out here is is where the navigation can be relatively treacherous. Uh, as you can see, there's a lot of red and red is that shallow and they're constantly updating this and the core does come through here and they either use that sidecast dredge or the shallow draft hopper dredge and they try to do this, you know, at least, you know, twice a year and they usually do have funding, but they don't dredge it too much. They only dredge it about 90 feet wide, eight feet deep. Uh, and and it and it can fill in pretty easily. You can see this this whole shaw feature that runs along that outer edge and that shaw feature uh just continues to to to move and it's it's it's very dynamic. Uh here's that the phase five. This is that FEMA mitigate mitigation and they did get a teeny bit into phase 4. Uh this was completed in 2024. Uh it has held up well. Uh here's that the and with this state grant it did it was kind of built on the fact that the it was built as an adjacent project. We had to there were some uh it it got complicated but yes as Mayor Grant was saying the phase four project we could link it to the phase five project and say it was one big project and that's how we could get money from the state to dredge this quite area and then we could kind of claim the phase four and phase project was all one project in terms of grant funding and and you know be being eligible for that grant. Uh and this project was finished in 2025. It has held up well too. And this is a beach nourishment. This is a disposal area 143 DA 143. And

this is that that area up near New River in Crossing and Cedar Bush Cut. This is the area and Chris Gibson, you know, he's been working hard on this. Mayor has been working hard on this too in terms of there's the permitting element and then there's the funding element. And this this is probably going to be the largest nourishment ever on North Topppsel Beach. Uh the largest one previous to this was 1.5 million cubic yards down phase five. But uh this one Chris Gibson is working on this one and he will have a bet an update at the BISAC meeting next week on this one.

Uh the FEMA PTC8 mitigation. Uh this was France. Yes. Excuse me. Yeah, previous slide. Yeah, sure. There you go. Yeah. So, uh there the TISPC, um Mayor Grant, myself, and Chris Gibson were in Raleigh yesterday, um up at the legislature building, and we talked to several of our representatives, our representatives and senators yesterday about this very issue. Um, so they are well aware of what is going on and are are I don't know what I want to call it little bit of a roadblock from fish and wildlife.

Um, and they all seem very positive in working with us to try to get through that. they um they were really listening, asking a lot of questions and really accepted the uh education we gave them and they they did seem very positive. Yeah, I would say particularly Senate Senator Lazara um who people don't know he is the Enslo County Senator. Um we met with him. Um we had sent him a bunch of information even before the meeting. Um we're working with his aid to follow up on that information. Um he's committed to help us. What we'd like to do is set up a meeting with the regulatory agency and have somebody from his office with his with us, which they're trying to do. That that should help us. Um, it's not an issue about that particular area is 100% filled. The Army Corps can't use it anymore. Our project, and Chris will talk about this more in detail in the BISAC meeting, is the irony of this thing is our project is to empty that, use that beach sand, put it on our beach, and now the Army Corps has a new place to dispose of sand. So, it's a win-win for everybody. Um, and the only thing we've gotten back so far is a lower level. We don't like this. um which doesn't make any sense. We're also he and he'll go in the bicect stuff. We're also looking at other things. There's the Army Corps's got an easement in there. There's all kinds of legal stuff. The issue is um and understand right now and we'll con talk about it later. Raleigh is a zoo in terms of what's going on as everybody can imagine right now with the budgets and everything else. So, we got a half an hour with these guys and we've already talked I already talked to uh his aids and to and to the senator about we need to have our own time with him to work through this kind of stuff and they have all the information um and and take him at his word. He's he is going to do whatever he can to make this work for us. So, um if you want to help just write to him and and thank him for his help because u he's going to be a real advocate. At least I I think so, Connie.

That's that's the message we got yesterday for we were just there yesterday. So, thanks Fran.

Sure. Yeah, and it sounds great. And and I do because this is kind of a state level, I think the town has a lot more influence than some of the federal level stuff. So, yeah, that sounds promising. This is a FEMA PTC8 mitigation. Uh we we did do 8,000 cubic yards in 2025, but we completed it in February couple months ago. The dune plant sprigging is planned for it's the cruise should start showing up next week in May and then they they will work May and June. It is almost about 200,000 uh plants the sea plants and they have to do it by hand because the it's on that dune face and the machinery just the the the dune face is a little too steep for their machine their machinery to that that can plant the material. So even with hand they do have you know they they've got the crews to do it. It is Coastal Transplants which is a local North Carolina company and actually the the they even when the sea oats are blooming in late summer they come and uh harvest the seeds of the sea oats from North Topsel Beach and then they'll take them back to their green houses and grow them. So you're getting actually a a native North Topsel Beach sea oat strain. what they're planting and it's more maybe just just tops island in general but it is it is that kind of a native strain of the sea oats which is good and that will start next week so you probably will see some crews there and then they are going to try to get all the way up probably about the St. Regis and that next week I I'll we'll go look and check it out. Some of those areas are a little scarfed already, but we are trying to get that everything uh everything planted as much as we can get those established. Uh coastal transplant will hook up into

a fire hydrant to kind of water the plants and try to give them a head start and they should start growing here. Okay. Just before you leave that, two things. I think you said that and maybe I missed it. It's about 200,000 plants that we're going to put in. Yes. And they're all going to be done by hand. So when when and we had this conversation with Chris because it's his company that does it.

We can say it's going to take four weeks, but if it rains or there's storms or whatever, it could be four and a half, it could be three. The other thing, this allows me to to correct something I made a mistake on. Alice, if you look at the title of this one, it says FEMA. When this started, it wasn't the FEMA project. Um and through her efforts, uh we got them to sign on to this because the board made it was this was an emergency type of thing. Um and she stepped into worked with FEMA and so now it's a FEMA reimbursement project which when we because it was such a disaster, right, that we had to do it anyway. Um and she worked with them for months at least to get this thing done. So we're going to get the money back. Thank you. Go ahead.

Go ahead, Franc. Yes, sure. And then just in summary, this is kind of this is to the general extents of the project down, you know, basically at at the as soon as you get onto the island and in front of all the structures. This is, you know, uh this is a FEMA project and they have rules about where we can put sand. KMA has rules where we can put sand. And then even the construction crew with those large dozers and everything there there are some restrictions where they they cannot play sand. And then the one thing that we did run into is is that there were a few areas where there was, you know, mature healthy vegetation on the dune. And this is the dune face. And so we couldn't put any material on the dune face. And then a lot of times, you know, land where the dune it's it's just too hard to get to. And there there there is, you know, usually healthy vegetation on the the back side of the dune. And we aren't allowed to cover that material. And it sometimes it isn't sea oats back there, but it is kind of shrub scrub shrub vegetation that is actually dune vegetation. It's not, you know, sea oats, but there there are there's more there's several different types of of dune vegetation that counts. And so, you know, obviously there's some restrictions there. We can't just go put sand wherever we want. Uh this is the next topic is uh inland hazard areas. Uh and then this is more you know focused on the phase one shoreline. The inland hazard areas they were first adopted in 1970s in the state. Uh the CAMADCM have tried to update these pretty much every you know 10 years. uh in the last uh coastal resources commission CRC April 15 meeting again they're trying to update the inland hazard areas the IHAS the IHAS's in these inland hazard areas

it's usually more stringent for us it's beachfront permitting there's a little more stringent beachfrust permitting and for homes and parcels uh new construction and rebuilds are can be affected by it uh and it says you know that the inlet hazard area. Here's some just definitions of what it is where where areas vulnerable to erosion, other impacts, proximity to inlets. And then down here, structure inlets, IHA's current versus updated New River inlet. The current IHA structures is 84. The updated one is 125. So that, you know, they are pretty much every time they try to propose a new IHA, it is a larger area. Uh here's the existing IHA and this has been around since the 1970s late 1970s. Here is the proposed and so the the existing stops at the Topsel Reef condos before the Topsel Reef condos. The the proposed is is you know significantly more going down to the St. Reges. Uh a lot of the rules are the same but obviously there's more structures affected. uh a lot of the towns we're still early on on this process and we don't know if this will get uh you know ultimately passed because they the last few times it has failed and usually there's a lot of push back from the local municipalities because they are they're always trying to kind of they they do seem to want to expand this IHA from the existing one. Um and then so here's where we have this is a setback factors and basically if your house is less than 5,000 square ft the setback factor is two times 30 so 60 feet from the the vegetation line. So two is you is the

minimum and that's usually that's not horrible and that's usually for most of the beach all the way down to phase five. But then and you can see that they they actually kept the inland hazard areas the setback factors usually around two the minimum and they but now they have the setback factors are are a lot higher now and this is just indicative of the the erosion rates u so this is the state and this is all the state this is nothing to do with me I'm just reporting uh but a lot of times you know towns like northel beach could consider writing a letter kind of in opposition to this. A lot of the coastal communities do do this, especially the ones obviously, you know, Surf City doesn't have, you know, dog in this fight since they have no inlet, but most of the the beach towns that do have an inlet are affected by these. Uh, again, this is early in the process. You know, they just had the CRC approval. They've got to do a fiscal analysis. They're going to do public hearings, minimum of seven. If everything goes the way they think it would be adopted here later this year, then the rules review commission and then the update and boundaries would occur in January 2027. We'll continue to follow these uh and I'm sure there will be a public hearing probably on Topsel Island somewhere. Uh but it is, you know, something that it's, you know, an important thing that does affect the uh the you know, you know, part of North Topsel Beach. Uh for just a overall summary, the new river inlet management master plan EIS that is moving forward. We have had some con the mayor and uh alderman ple we've had some uh positive conversations with the army corps of engineers about the process and it does seem like it is moving and it's picking up which is promising.

In addition to the new river inland management master plan and this is you know basically related to the terminal groin analysis we uh the the town and Larry and Mayor Grant we were approached by the county and they are doing a military installation readiness review MIRR and this is they're doing this with camp lune and the in this the new River Inlet is coming into focus and into play for this MIRR, the military installation readiness review. And it does seem like the county and the military base have now a new a renewed interest in making sure that inlet stays stable and na more navigable. And we will have a meeting next week at town hall to discuss this. And it does seem it is a promising development because previously the county and the military base did not seem to be very concerned with the new river inlet uh management or any kind of dredging, but now it does seem like they do have a a kind of a renewed interest in that and and you know our interest in in supporting North Topsel Beach. So that that is another promising development and you know we'll have more for you on the following meeting and next week's meeting should be productive. We're hoping.

Hold on. Connie had a comment then I had a comment too. Go ahead. Sure. Oh it's I wonder if it's the same comment. When we um saw Senator Lazara yesterday, you've probably read in the news and everything. He is um proposing legislation to allow or more hardened structures as the groin. Um we talked to him quite about bit about that. Um and expressed our interest in letting him know that if things came up, we're here for him, but I'm sure you're on top of that as well.

Yeah. And I think there was another one there that actually talked about like $850,000 for a study on these as well. So the legislation was basically to remove the obstacles to put in a putting in hardened structures i.e. groins which are now very restricted. So and beyond he did that out of the we were kind of we walked in there I I found it like the night before I'm like that was great. The other thing that you kind of glossed over on the army corps EIS thing my friend was and Alice was here. We got an an email from them a couple of months ago telling us that on the on the EIS groin thing that basically because this time had elapsed, they were going to stop the permit and start the entire process over again. Okay. Um even though we had been spending money with Dell Cordy, we had been doing all this other stuff. It came completely out of the blue. Um and this was one of those OS times that you talk about like you got to be kidding me. Um and then a week ago they said they came back and said, "Ah, we didn't mean it. Let's keep mo moving together." Um and and keep this thing going. And at the call that we had with them, you know, since I was the newbie on the thing, all I asked them for was you guys act in good faith to get this thing done as quickly as you possibly can to put them on the record. Um, and so we went from having to start this whole thing over again to now they changed their mind, Fran, and decided, well, we don't really need to do that and we'll be able to use a lot of the information you've already sent us. So that was we didn't even know where the first one came out of, right?

Yeah. Yes, definitely. Uh, right. that the the first email that that they said they were going to have to restart the entire clock was completely new to us and you know surprising and and not when we did not did not fill us with the confidence in the whole process and then they they kind of just re-evaluated it and said no we're going to keep going. So yeah, that was that wasn't good. And it does seem like uh everything is moving forward and and it we're you know on much better. Our timeline looks a lot better and uh and especially if we can get the the military base and the county to support this effort. Uh I I think that the project will be, you know, has a much better chance of success and a and and in the long term it will help it'll be very helpful. Uh,

thank you.

Sure. And then, you know, some of there is some groin stuff up on the Outer Banks where they're even trying to do get groins rebuilt that actually aren't even aren't aren't terminal groins and they're in the middle of the beach. The three groins that were built to protect the the lighthouse up there when then they just moved the lighthouse back. Uh, the the uh which lighthouse was it? The there there were three groins that were built, you know, in the 80s. Two of them are completely kind of in disrepair, but one they are rebuilding and it's not on the edge of an ina. It's not a terminal groin. It's a a groin in the middle of the beach. So, there does seem to be other, you know, other areas of the state that also are very interested in grow. There's a renewed interest in groins and and I do think that will be helpful for for this effort. Uh and then just just a overview of kind of the other stuff. The the uh PTCA project that was good. We there is another 12,000 cubic yards available. We'll see how this uh hurricane season goes, but we can place another 12,000 cubic yards um on that FEMA mitigation project next season. the DA43. We're going to get an update on that, the BISAC next week. And the state grant nourishment and the phase one project as we do not know what the volume will be, but as soon as it comes out, we we will be able to report the volume and hopefully that will be here. Well, it might be in in, you know, mid about July it might come out, but uh then we'll just continue working with North Top Beach staff on the funding, accounting, and reimbursements for the the FEMA projects. And then I did write down IHA uh comment letter from the town. The town doesn't have to act on that right now, but uh you know that is maybe something that the town might do in the next six months or so. And then we'll just continue with permitting

coordination. Thank you. Any questions, Mark? Great. Um is Chris on? If not, I'll give his update. Yeah, I think. Thank you, Fran. I do appreciate everything.

Yeah, you can hang for two seconds. Just Chris's update is come to the bicec meeting next week because we wore him out yesterday. Um people know he's got two prosthetics and we walked all over yesterday with him. Um and he does a phenomenal job um in explaining things. So, I told him I didn't have to come in today but be available if we needed him. But it's a stay tuned for next week. He's going to do a much more detailed presentation and Franny's talked to you and coordinating that kind of stuff too. So I think you're going to be there as well, right? Yes. So we'll get both of you guys there. So I would I would encourage people to please come to the BISAC meeting next week. Thank you. Connie, do you want to add anything?

Nope. I'm good. Thank you so much for all your information. It's always appreciated. All right. Uh move to a public hearing. council, we need a motion. Um, so for this and I believe uh Miss Hill has some information. Um, but we would need a motion to open the public hearing. Uh, and then I believe Miss Hill will ask you to continue it and give you a little more information on that. Okay. Do I hear a motion to open the public hearing? I make a motion to open the public hearing digital zoning map. Thank you. Do I hear a second? A second. All in favor? All right.

Hey, good good morning everyone. Since the most current official zoning map was adopted in 2010, uh we've received 17 resoning applications, 12 of which were adopted. On May 12th, I presented a report to the planning board for their discussion on paper maps versus digital zoning maps. The recommendation by a vote of 7 to zero uh to the board is to adopt the electronic zoning geo database maintained by Enso County GIS with a backup paper copy. Prior to requesting that this board continue this public hearing until your July regular meeting. Uh I wanted to request your preference between a consensus uh of your preference between maintaining the paper format or uh adoption of the electronic version.

We'll go around the room. Mark, I'm fine with adopting the electronic version. Okay. I attended that meeting and and saw your discussion and your display of the paper map that we're required to have currently or that we do have currently. Um I am fully in favor of switching to the digital version. Thank you, Connie. I'm in favor of switching to the digital version as well. Okay.

I don't vote, but I assume we're going to have to go to digital at some point. So, you know, it's not a matter of when, right? It's a m I'm not It's matter not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. And we have to keep the paper stuff anyway, right? It it's a it's really a preference, but certainly one of the advantages of having Enzo County geo database zoning layer as the official copy is that it's open to the it's available to the public at large and consistent with we can make it consistent and consistent and we have safeguards in place. I don't know if you read through my report,

but we can't, no one can, not an applicant, not me, can make any changes to that zoning map without the ordinance signed by the mayor and certified by the clerk. So, that's locked into place and to keep that, you know, balance to make sure that they make the changes that we ask them to make. staff maintains all of our records and certainly uh the the paper copy. This is this actually is the official uh town clerk's u I was I I I did I did I took a bunch of other stuff but I brought it back.

This chief page back there we have an issue. Yeah. This is the actual official zoning map for the town of North Thompson Beach and it remains it remains unless the planner needs to show it to you. Uh yeah, it remains in the town clerk's vault for safekeeping. Just so uh it's not altered. So I think I think the preference the preference is let's go ahead and move forward. I think I think um Miss Hills got the direction from this board to kind of move forward to formalize that adoption. And so to do that uh to effectuate that I believe the mayor will entertain a motion to continue this public hearing to the July meeting so that we can then look at adopting it in July. Okay. Kim, did you want anything first?

Yeah. Just last thing for for the community that is here or anybody that's watching, can you describe without unraveling the whole thing the approximate dimensions of that that map that we're required to have because we don't allow a digital yet? Well, I won't say that you're required to have this size. I will say that this size is prefer uh preferential uh to where that you can see the level of detail that a one by 400 foot. It's 1 inch equals 400 ft. So, when we had it when we had it down down here uh before Florence, it ran from like where that TV is back to the end of that photo. And if anybody's been in my office, I've got the same one hanging above my desk. That was working copy number two. That was working copy number one with the official one being locked in the vault with the town clerk.

All right. So, and and I would like to say it just really quickly because this is so special to especially for the planning director. Go ahead. Well, and for the planning board members that from 2006 to 2010 worked together to get the zoning map cleaned up and finally adopted on December the 10th, 2010 uh by by the board and signed by the mayor and certified by the clerk. So, uh, I I called one of the former board members just to let them know that we were actually thinking about digital. Is she in the back?

No, I didn't call her.

Yeah. Six 16. I think he's doing that on purpose. 16 16 years ago, I had offered to consider uh adopting the electronic copy and uh there was such a nervousness they wanted to hold on to the security blanket of having a uh paper copy. So, I applaud you for moving into the 21st century. Thank you. So, they all took out their Blackberries and got nervous. That's right. So I believe you're we're looking for a motion then to continue this hearing on the adoption of the digital zoning map which I now make to continue it.

Do I hear a second second from everybody here? Do I hear that for a second? Do we need to wait one minute? No, you it would be a vote in the affirmative, but the motion is to continue to the July meeting. Correct. That's all the motion. And so uh he was here at the beginning of the meeting. His absence is a affirmative. Do I hear any eyes? I. Any opposed? It's passed. Thank you. Thanks, De. Thank you.

All right. Uh, consent agenda. No, no, we're on item E. My bad. It's the bottom one. I think that's going to be you, Lexi, right? Um, yes. review of NCGS 168-63 vacancies in North Topsel Beach Code 2-16 vacancies. Um, I was I put this item on the board for the purpose of the public and for the board and staff to um talk about expectations and proceed procedures. I think I think you've got a schedule that you guys want to propose to us. Correct.

I did propose. I do have a proposed schedule. Um Ricky, if you will click on it. Thank you. Yeah, because I' I've had people ask me, "Are we doing it this meeting?" Right, Mark? Uh yes. Beautiful. Thank you. If you could zoom in a little bit just so the text is bigger.

Thank you. Um so NCGS 16A um-63 and 2-16 vacancies for the code for the town. It says that there is not a requirement for the board to fill the position. However, um you are able to. Um so what I have conducted uh essentially follows what you would see on county or any other county in North Carolina follow since they have a stricter guideline set by the state. Um essentially today would we would announce that the um town is accepting applications. We would accept those applications the same way you would for any other board. They would submit them online. Um after all of those are submitted uh by June 21st at 11:59 p.m. or yeah PM so Monday May or sorry Monday June 22nd um applications will be given to the board. Um all the ones that have been received the board of alderman on Wednesday June 24th 2026 will announce the names that are going to be on the ballot. um that ballot does not have to be a list of everybody that had applied. It can be a list that the board has uh narrowed down to if you would like. Um say this would not be your primaries essentially. It would be your secondary, but uh and then come Wednesday, August 5th, 2026, the board would um vote the signed ballot to appoint a new alderman. they would not be elected um at during this time. Um these dates the mayor I've I've put it up for the mayor's decision of course

but uh the mayor and the mayor prom or the whole board um which would require quorum notice just FYI would um look through the applications and select people for the ballots.

Let me just add something real quick and you and I talked about it before. When I first looked at this, my reaction was, why are we waiting till August? And the answer is, and Kip and I actually talked about it this morning, between the 24th and the and August gives us time, which has been my practice to reach out to people that have applied and have a discussion with them. For example, Kip, when you first applied to the planning board, we met to talk and that has been my standard thing. It gives me time to reach out to people, try to do it in person, try to do it by phone. The reason that gap is in there is to allow the board to rather than just looking at a cold application to actually reach out to the people and talk to the people that are interested. So, does that make sense to you all in in terms of schedule? Because I think if we tried to do it in June, we're not going to have any time to reach out to people.

Yes. When I first um came on board, I was appointed this exact same way um after alderman uh Dick Peters passed away. same same way actually kind of the same time of the almost exactly the same time of the year same kind of schedule. Okay. And then and then just real quick and you correct me if I'm wrong because this was something else you guys were on this board. I think she was even though Larry had a four-year term under and you correct me if I'm wrong. You do not get a four-year term on this.

Correct. you are you have to run in the next election which would be 18 months from this period of time and it got filled. We had this happen before and ended up being a real screw excuse me a real mess up because we had everybody running at the being up at the same time and you had to clear the board. So the way that this works now and Trey tell me if I'm wrong you this person would get about 16 18 months something like that. Is that fair trade? Yes. Whoever is appointed to fill this seat under the general statute is required to run in the next city election. Well, the position is the person.

Yeah, they signed up and you only won 18 months. You're not stuck to the seat is open and will be on the next ballot. If the person appointed wants to run, they would have to run in that way you get a vote election would be. So the person that would be appointed 30 people and we encourage this and Mark has already reached out to me a couple of times because we were the concern from people was very simply is are we going to get together and do this now and I think the answer is I think we'd rather see as many people apply for this type of thing as we possibly can. The statute is extremely broad and gives you broad authority on how you want to fill the vacancy. As the clerk said this schedule follows the more restrictive um county requirement which you are not bound by. So, this is all between your choice.

Yeah, this this was put together like he said, you're not bound by the uh county's statutes, but it was based off county statutes just because that uh is very standard across the state. Um it's standard for every county obviously, but um for towns, it's kind of just nice to Does that make sense to everybody? I don't think we need a motion on that, do we? Or do we? Um no, you can give me a consensus or you can announce that we're accepting applications. Kip,

I I think obviously it's very important and we're trying to be very transparent to the community and allow whoever is interested in this because to to show the same level of dedication that Larry did to this board by running um his years of dedication. So I obviously fullheartedly support this and encourage anybody to apply. I agree. Okay, I'm good. Okay. With that being said, then for the um purpose of the public's knowledge, you are able to uh apply online as of today. You would do it just as you would any other application for the board. Um if you have any further questions, you are more than welcome to reach out to me. My email is a stanfield northtops beachnc.gov.

I I have a quick question for you, clerk. Oh, when we were looking at and I forget what position it was when people had submitted their applications, I'm gonna say it was for planning board. I don't remember. Okay. And I remember they said, "I want planning board. I want alderman. I want whatever if that was submitted, if I submitted a year ago, even though I might have been thinking I was applying for planning board, is that still valid for somebody?" I'm going to ask in this regard that

if you have applied in the past for an alderman position to reapply. This is a very different scenario where we have a passing of a member on the board. Um so if you have previously applied before, please reapply.

I I know this is a step that we don't normally take, but I'm going to go back to what Kip talked about with being transparent and stuff. Would you take a look? I don't think there's that many people that have done that that have applied before today for that position and I'm asking for a consensus. I I think it would be fair to reach out to those people to say, you know, understand your application is done. I went through this with the county on how the airport board, which I thought I was going to need. Um, is letting people know that, hey, I submitted one, what is today? The 13th. I submitted one on the 10th because I heard, you know, Larry was not there. that's no longer valid. I think it would be helpful for you to reach out.

Let me let me reiterate if they've submitted one since his passing, those are still accepted. Okay. My apologies. I thought you meant if you had applied in any other way different year, right? Okay. Yeah. No, no, no. If you've applied since Mr. uh Straw's passing, those are accepted. Yes. Is that is that okay consensus wise? Okay. I just want to make sure we didn't have a gap in this thing. So, thank you. Yes. Nice job. Thanks. Thank you. Now we want to go to consent agenda. Yes.

Do I hear a motion to and understand the protocol for everybody here on the consent agenda is we can approve the consent agenda. But if we have questions for individuals, whether it's uh police or fire or public works, we can actually ask those questions even if it's been approved on the on the uh consent agenda. Okay. So, do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? I make a motion to approve the consent agenda. Do I have a second? Second. All in favor? I. Now, does anybody have questions for town staff? Mark. Y.

Um, yeah. I'd like specifically uh the finance department um our one of our alderman who isn't present had a question as far as um the moving forward with uh outsourcing payroll to ADP and what is the progress in that regard.

I just want to make sure that it's public. Uh yes. So in regards to ADP, we um had a meeting with uh their uh implementation team. I believe it was last week. And when I say we, it was myself, Larry, Lexi, um and then the representatives on their side. Uh they kind of laid out what the process would be and the time that it would take. um you'd be looking at a total implementation probably close to six to eight weeks once they engage. Um at this point after um some discussions with Larry uh town manager and myself we spoke to them and like to start the process when we finish the budget just because there is going to be some time mostly myself but there'll be some time uh demands on the staff that their implementation team will need as far as pulling data or any personnel uh questions or information. So, as of right now, I actually spoke with ADP yesterday. Um, and asked them to be on standby to kind of kick off the implementation around the first part of July. So, that that's where we are. They're they're on standby ready to go. Uh, I just didn't want to divert uh too much of our time because it's largely going to fall on the finance department when we're in the middle of the budget process.

And and I'm not trying to add any added stress to you and your team. I I just wanted to this was one of our alderman wasn't present. So I'm relaying uh Alderman Oesky's question. Come on. You know that she was going to call in to ask this question if you didn't care. Right. The the next question that she had is um are we moving to doing AP check two times a month? If not, why? Um you can always do a manual check for a vendor as needed.

I don't have a set time as far as at this point. We we've had the discussion and I think it would make sense. Um I have not set a switchover date per se. Um which we can do. There were one or two uh different vendors that kind of require payment like immediately. So we just would have to be careful with those one or two. Um, but simple answer is I don't have a set switchover date, but uh, we've had that discussion several times and I think it would make a lot of sense and it may end up being, you know, first of the year is probably a good time to to switch that process.

Okay, that was all the questions that she had and um, my questions I believe the FEMA reimbursements still outstanding, right? Yeah. Actually, can I follow up on that since since he brought that up? That was gonna be my question. And I'm talking about the phase four stuff. Okay. We have been holding back making the payment to them of money that we know we owe them. Several million dollars because and and you might want to follow up with Deborah on that. Here's my concern. I think we've and maybe you can tell me what the number is. There's about $50,000 we've asked for, right, that they haven't signed off on, right?

Okay. The issue I've got on this, it makes me very nervous when I see cash on our balance sheet and we know that 2 point whatever million dollars is owed to the state of that amount of money and that we're not paying it because we're concerned about $50,000. I would like and Larry if you would take a look at this too. I would like like to figure out maybe we ought to just go ahead and take that off our balance sheet since we know we owe the money and maybe reserve the 50,000 or do something with it because if it takes them two years when I'm concerned that is when you go to that last section and you know I ask the question all the time where we are cashwise

not it is it is a very accurate number but it doesn't reflect the p the fact at the bottom number that we still owe them $2 million right

and so I would you know and I don't know what the consensus if you understand what What I'm saying guys, we owe them the money. What we just so everybody understands the issue with the phase four stuff very quickly is it was a reimbursement project, they decided to send us the money upfront. We used the money, most of it, but we were a little bit short in the project, a few dollars. We also, because the project didn't start for several years on that $10.5 million, we were getting investment income. So Alice wanted to make sure everything was kosher on this to make sure do we have to give the money back? Do we have to pay the So after like a year of getting them finally to answer they said we want the unused money back and we want the money that you invested back which we've been segregating for a balance sheet

but from a cash statement it's not there. Deborra Mack put together and said well how about this kind of stuff? Can we get this money back? And it was about what 50 grand is that right Wayne? I believe it's around that. It wasn't like a million dollars. Okay. What I get concerned about is it shows up each time as money we owe, but when you go to the cash stuff, it doesn't say, "Oh, by the way, yeah, we owe them this amount." I would ask you take a look as our finance guy and talk talk to Larry about it. Is

who's comfortable with just saying, "Can we pay everything back we know we owe?" Because every every month that number gets bigger because now we are paying we're collecting interest on $2 million that's not our money. So now the money that's going back to them grows and now it looks like now it's not offset in the cash stuff. I know it's a complicated thing, but could you took take a look at I just like to get that get that off our balance sheet. Does that make sense to everybody because it's it bothers me. And then back to your FEMA thing. It's gone down it looks like. So at the next meeting, could you have Deborah Mack give us a written status report? Um, everybody knows we did a fis fix fixed contract with them for her because she's the expert on the FEMA stuff to track that money,

right, for us and to follow up. And if you look at what Kip's question was, which is a good one, we are still owed as I was just pulling this up. They still owe us 11 million bucks. Correct. Big number. Um, and what would be helpful too is if as Doug Carter does our financial forecasting. Okay. Are we going to get the money back? How much we going to get? All those type of things because I believe right now we did our planning guys. We talked about since we don't know when that's coming in. We really can't plan that we've got that cash, right? Okay. So, it'd be good for for Doug to have that, I think, and for the board to have it.

What's the status of this stuff? Because I think as I understand, and she did a great job in that written report, is we have submitted everything. We're just waiting for that. Yeah. And I I suppose it's not us. This is everything's in. Right. Right. So the FEMA money um yeah totals to about 11.8 million um three different projects but it has all been submitted to FEMA. It has been accepted by FEMA. We're just waiting for them to issue the payment if they could stay open long enough. I guess um

waiting did you just tell us the checks in the mail? I'm pretty sure that's not a financial position to take on these things. It's frustrating. It has been accepted but they did not and will not give us a time frame on when the payment will be processed. Um so we're few more steps down the road but the check is not in the bank yet. So does that make sense to everybody because it's you know that's a big number to be owed and that was those are the only questions I had to find. Thank you.

And I and I feel will on the uh the state money um follow up with Mr. Hart over at DEEQ. We basically they said they would review allowing us to put on those additional administrative charges and it's been sitting with them to make a decision. Um and they also then would have to give me the information to transfer the money back to them because that's not normal process. So I'll follow up with Mr. Hart and Deborah Deborah I believe has been in touch with them and basically the answer is it it's still in their committees waiting to see if they'll approve the extra expenses. Ah, committee. We always look. Yeah, that's that committee thing. It's a lot of things disappear in committee. It's just that it's so fundamental to us. Yeah. With looking at this beach project to figure out how much money we have,

right? Okay. And it's been my experience. You can't cash an IOU from those guys. So, we're probably not going to be able to use it, but it would be really nice to know get some idea of when that money is going to come back. And I understand, look, it's not under your control or Deb's control. Yeah. Um, but I know we even talked about sending nasty letters, but generally my experience on that has been that's a good way to not get paid more. Um, so anything else kind you want to add anything? No. Thanks, Wayne. Okay. Thank you.

And next, if you don't mind, uh, fire department, I just had questions and looking at your stats, chief. Um, I see that, you know, from this time period, uh, 2026, you had 75 calls. Last year, 20 65. So, I'm seeing an increase in month-to-month comparisons. And I know it's not the most accurate way to do it and I know you've changed systems briefly, but my question in curiosity is two-part because I know there the room's probably interested about the fire station which wasn't really addressed and I know that there's some stuff coming later, but quickly what's your uh gut or what information do you have as far as mutual aid calls that are run by our fire department outside of North Topsel Beach? and and and how often are other jurisdictions coming into Enslo County or or Surf City coming into uh coming into North Hopsel Beach to provide mutual aid as well?

So for this year alone um we have responded to Turkey Creek uh 25 times. They have responded to us nine times. Surf City um was that year to date? Yes, sir. Okay. We're talking about month. I just want to make sure we're Yeah. Yeah. That's by month.

I'm I'm just trying to get a a grasp on how much mutual aid is going. I mean, for for the community that may not be aware, obviously, it's run as a mesh. It's it's seamless. You know, you ask, we're coming. We're not asking questions. We do it because we need to provide the the support and and public safety. Um, but I was just kind of curious as to what those numbers look like because the police department gives us their mutual aid numbers. I'm just curious on yours. You're looking for ratios. How much are we helping them? How much they helping us? That's fair comp. Surf City, uh, we've responded to them 11 times. They've responded to us one.

Um, Topsel, we've responded to them twice. They've responded to us zero. Um, let me see. Holly Ridge we've gone to four times. They've come to us one. And those are our responding agencies. Okay. just and I'm just emphasizing u that we obviously work together but I'm just trying to get a grasp as to how often we are helping other jurisdictions. So thank you chief just before you leave something that you filled me in on last week which I didn't realize and you'll talk about we we talk about this partnership thing. Nobody responds to rescues except us. Turkey Creek doesn't come over here with a fire truck to help you get somebody off the beach.

No, no, no. So um they go in like a standby mode if it's beach strand, right? um they don't respond now in the waterway in the inlet they respond because if our boat's going into water their boats going into the water is a safety thing and also we have Leune on that as well that way there's always two boats in the water. Yeah. And that's that's what you told me is that there has to be because I was like why do they respond and your answer is not that they're doing anything because we always got to have two in the water. Yeah. safety. It's a safety issue, which makes sense. And and I had asked and I and I don't want to take the town manager's thunder here. I know the room is waiting as anxiously as I am. How's fire station 2 looking?

They are projecting to turn over the keys the end of June. So we're 26. Yes. I went through this with Onasa. I'm getting that pump station in and I told you 26. Yes, sir. Um, and uh, Larry and I are already in talks about a grand opening and everything. Because of their delays, it has created some hiccups on our furniture. So, um, we're trying to navigate and work that stuff out. But, um, end of June, we're supposed to have the keys and we're supposed to be moving stuff in the end of June.

I mean, it's looking good from my block away vantage point. I just wanted the community to know. And as you heard a lot of sides of relief it sounded like that that's actually moving forward. So thank you for that update. And that's all I had from the fire department. Just chief remind you it's not called a ribbon cutting. What do we what do we call a decoupling? I thought it was a it's a decoupling. We separate two fire hoses. So it's a decoupling ceremony that and actually I didn't know that. Thank you. U make make sure when you get that schedule that you let me know so I can let the commissioners know directly. Oh absolutely. Yeah. There there's a lot of people that have to that have been, you know, uh helpful in this endeavor.

And one sitting in the back row there as well showed up today. Yep. So, thank you. All right. That was all the questions I had from the fire department. And I'm not trying to de labor this, but real quick, Deb, I think is was

okay. Um then I'll move forward real quickly just to the police department. Um, Chief, the same question I had as far as like mutual aid. I'm looking at an increase uh in 50% of total calls for service when comparing 2025 to 2026, 133% increase in reports, 114% increase in citations, and a 10% increase in security checks. The calls that I'm looking at look like you're obviously getting busier. I'm just curious as well what sort of mutual aid and you do list your mutual aid calls, but just to emphasize for the community what uh you're doing outside of the town as well as how busy you are and and whether or not you've got the staffing and how everything's looking so far going into the busy season.

Yes, sir. Good morning. Um so stats are a little bit misleading sometimes for the police department if memory serves me well, and I don't know that it does, but I think May of last year was a lot cooler than it is. Yeah, May this year. So that that could be some of the rise that you're seeing. Also, individual officers play a huge part in the amount of calls that we have. Younger officers tend to be much more proactive and they go find things, right? So um so that that plays into use the word aggressive. Did you notice that? Yeah. No, no, not aggressive. Uh was that did that answer your question?

Yeah. And and just curious again on the mutual aid, what's your uh it seems obviously from my experience during my short time that there was a lot of mutual aid being run to Sneeeds Ferry to to back up Enslo County. Yes. Um and having responded to the double shooting and serve city two years ago. So I'm just curious as to what your impression is as far as an increase in request for us to help support. And of course we we're willing to do that because that's what public safety does, but I'm curious to get your

Yeah. And and I'm not I'm not pointing fingers at anybody or or saying that it's a problem, but our mutual aid calls are historically unbalanced simply because we staff our ships. We make sure that we have personnel here. The sheriff's office doesn't have that luxury in the ferry. If they're short on the south side of Jacksonville, they take people out of the ferry and there basically is nobody there. Um, it's very rare that we call for assistance from an outside agency. And uh, I'm not entirely familiar with the fire department's procedures, but I think they have automatic mutual aid to where the dispatchers will send other agencies. They won't do that for us. We have to request them. So, we we go to the scene first and evaluate that.

Right. And I know you and I've talked about working with with Chris. I didn't realize and and you knew this that the county sheriff's office requirement is to is to staff the prisons before anything else. So they cannot put people on the road if they don't have enough at the prisons. So if they're short staffed there, they're pulling it. Is that fair? That is correct. I think you told me they're required statutoily they're required to staff the jails and they're required to staff the courthouse first. first. Correct. That they have no statutory requirement to take calls for service. A lot of sheriff's offices do, but Okay. Because I know you're working with Chris, too, ondeed mutual aid stuff and things like that, too. So, yes, sir.

And by the way, just uh as a compliment to you, I saw the emails you sent back in the last couple of days. I know they were sent to to you and Larry in very professional responses to those type of things. Yes, sir. And I have to admit, I didn't understand that was the rules of engagement with sending people out. So, thank you. Thank you, Chief. You're welcome. That was all I had from the police department. Thank you.

And and then lastly, Deb, I hate to put you on the spot because I know you're over here doing some work. Um but uh Alderman Oeski asked about um on your reports adding the uh the additional data, the spreadsheet, the date of receipt of the application, as well as when they were approved. All that information is if you look there's three different dates and those are indicated uh on the staff report that was included in your board package.

Okay. She she had sent that in an email the other day. So I don't know if she saw the board packet before that time but we'll double check. I just wanted to reemphasize that on her behalf. Um and I know public works I I'll spare you because you've got some stuff coming up later and I think most my questions will be answered there. But thank you. That that's all the questions I had. Should we go ahead and proceed? Should we take a break? What's the Because we're going to take a break later on. Um, we're probably going to go at least another 45 minutes, I would think. So, do we want to keep going?

I'd like to keep going. I I believe we have some people here that are doing presentations. I I think on beh on their time, I think we should push through. Um if the mayor if you would like what you can do is we can get through the rest of the parts that pertain to people visiting here to help us present. Okay. And then the public okay we can do open forum and then the reports and we can break before close session if the board. All right. So let's go to off

titty and I'm sorry education on this. This is something that Alice brought to us like over a year ago um relating to services that we were providing. So I guess you can just give us the if you can give us kind of an update and kind of what you this always got kicked back to you in terms of what's your recommendation how you want to handle it. So

yes sir good morning again. Uh so I don't mean to kick it back to you. My understanding was that my understanding this this this originated because GWI found some billing issues with the officing, right? That's what it came down to that how are we billing people for police.

And so the previous board voted to suspend those services until such time as we could get a contract in place. And so this contract, after speaking with the town manager, my understanding is that the attorneys have already assisted in drafting this contract by looking at other agencies and and putting some of North Tops Beach's needs into it. And so I'm presenting this contract as a starting point uh to reopen the discussion with the new board and to determine what your thoughts and desires are on in in this regard so that we can move forward. This is a service that every agency provides and uh you know with summer coming up on us we're going to have some requests for it. So

my view on this is you know I I don't know how you handled this. I I know and you and I talked actually Kip and I talked about this was a very routine you know up where I came from. I mean I think the issue on this one was frankly a financial and legal issue in terms of is there a contract not that everybody anybody was opposed to providing the service. Is that fair?

Yes. Uh, Mr. Mayor, this issue was brought up, as you said, about a year ago when we couldn't find any formal agreement for this. And so, this allows the exact same level of service they were providing. The agreement was an attempt from our office to formalize what they're currently doing and then just outline some rights, responsibilities on both ends. Okay. And your recommendation is what? My recommendation, I'm I'm content with the contract as it stands and I would move forward with it.

There is a motion listed on the agenda. Just ignore that one. Um, no. So, the contract on the agenda like you said is a just a generalized contract, but I in the moment had just taken the contract name. So my suggestion is to ignore the contract or ignore the specific action requested and just to instead maybe request a motion to authorize the town manager and town attorneys to finalize and implement the offduty contract. That's where I was going to go with this so we don't have I don't want to kick it down to another meeting if we're in favor of it. Does that make sense to everybody?

Why don't we just go for quick comments, Mark, and then we can go to our public safety. As long as all the legal gibberish is documented correctly, I'm good with it. Sorry, go ahead.

And obviously I support this. I think it's a necessary service. Uh my question to the attorney was um the do we need to include in in article three, do we need to include a public necessity or emergency recall type of provision whereby there's a unilateral recall, there's a major incident that occurs that the officer is pulled. I mean, it happens now, right? Our the officer's obligation when they're working this offduty assignment is to the town. Secondary is to the property, whichever property it may be. Do we need to include language about a unilateral recall right um and building protections if that is if that is implemented and an indemnification uh during that recall that they're obviously not responsible for whatever actions happen off of their property unrelated to that security. And then the only other question was the general liability question. There were two blanks in there. I think traditionally it's a million and two million a million uh per and two million aggregate. I just wanted to make sure that those are considered and that's the only thing. But otherwise I support this and would

Yeah. Just real quick on that. Um, Bill was talking about because I think the reason the board was okay with it generally is because the automatic recall that that basically because I think you even said that too in those meetings that because the question was actually Mark you might have brought this up. Um, it was about if I got a police officer down at St. Regis, right? Okay. And he's in uniform, he or she is in uniform and there's a call next door, it's automatic. And I think that was a concern and that and that's been the standard standard operating practice. Um, Mr. Attorney, you'd have to tell me. It looks like paragraph one covers recall in in article three. It would seem to.

Yeah. So, I read article three, the last sentence that gives the town exclusive, right? Um, if we want to clarify to just say the word recall or something, you to that effect, but I I think what it's presented accomplishes that. Okay. I I'd like to I like it to be at our discretion. For example, if he's doing a cult, and I couldn't believe you guys said this, down in Topppsel, okay, and the guy is at the reef, it probably doesn't do much good to recall somebody at the reef to go to Topsel. So, I that's why I would leave it to me. That's a discretionary issue for you guys to to do your as as presented. It's the town shall have exclusive right to select, assign, schedule, supervise, and as needed, reassign, or remove town personnel performing the services. The services being this. So, and I believe

that's why I just wanted to make sure that it was I believe there's also a blurb in there about this may not get filled. This is voluntary and we may not have the staff to fill it because sometimes that happens. All right. So, do we have a motion to Why don't we do a motion approve and then we can talk. Oh, we're not going to It's a a motion to motion to authorize the town manager and town attorney to finalize and implement the offduty service contract. Motion for the authorization and implementation. implementation. All in favor? I Thank you. Thank you again. Thank you, Chief. All right. All you.

So, let's see. Yes, sir.

Make sure I'm in the right place here. So, uh, this is North Carolina emergency management DRM no tops beach flood improvement project. Um, the board of alderman are requested to amend the project budget for the flood improvement project by approximately $64,200 and award the bid and contract to Atlantic on-site development. A sample of the actual contract is included. However, at the time of this report's preparation, the contract was was in the process of being finalized. Thus, I would recommend uh if the board was so inclined to approve the budget amendments that award the contract contingent upon and subject to the final form being approved by the town attorney. Uh Ardura, previously known as Deput Dixon, has prepared a bid tab and recommendation which which also is attached uh just briefly. There were five contractors that bid on the project. The bid opening was March 10th. Bids ranged from approximately 1.1 million to 1.8 8 million. Staff explored several options before recommending an increase to the project budget which uh would be accomplished by transferring funds from uh fund 12 capital improvements to fund 60. Staff explored reducing the scope of work and requesting the grant agency NCDP uh department of public safety to increase the grant award. Uh however neither of those alternatives were feasible. I've attached some documents that provides uh further details of those options. Uh uh from Adura, Michael Horseman is present and available to offer remarks on the project scope, bid process, and contract award if the board is so inclined.

I'll just ask you the math question. Between the grant money and what we're talking about, what's the delta? How much more might 64,000 is what we're asking out of the total million dollar plus project? Yes, we're we're asking a change of 64. It's technically not a we're moving money around. So it's No, but my point though is we were going to be this was going to be a grant project that was completely covered. Now there's a few dollars because they won't change the grant project that we have to cover or is it all still covered by the grant? And I guess he can answer that question when it comes.

Um this this is in addition to I believe I would defer to Wayne. This is this is um addition to uh so this is town money. 64 that 64,000 question is that would be town money. That was my question. So why don't you give us uh Yes, sir. That's correct. We we would need an additional $64,000 of town funds. Sure. Uh just for the record, I'm Michael Tatino from Ardura, right? So I'm the project manager for this project. Uh in terms of size, I I believe the the bid was 1.2 two in change.

So it's basically 4% or four% change about 5%. Right. Okay. So that that's we're asking for to make sure we do the whole project. Correct. We we would put a few monies in besides the grant. Okay. Does that make sense? Right. Okay. Y questions. We need a motion, right?

Yes. A recommended motion um is outlined in your packet. I can summarize it if uh if you so desire. Um it's three-part motion. Approve the two budget amendments uh 2026-26.51 and uh 2026-26.52 as presented. The second item is award the contract amendment CA2026-2653.53 for Atlantic on-site development for uh the stormwater project construction project conditioned upon the satisfactory review and approval of contract documents by the town attorney. Third, authorize the interim town manager to finalize and execute all necessary documents needed to proceed with this project conditioned upon the satisfactory review and approval of contract documents by the town attorney.

Do I hear a motion for that along the lines of what Larry just said? I make I make the motion that we uh move forward with uh Larry's uh project. This is a house information. Do you want me to read it out and say motion? We we've got it written here. BA 2026 26.51 2026 26-52 and then the contract award 2026 26.53. I second. Beautiful. Thank you.

Any other discussion? Like I said, my only question is how much what are we paying? And this is a million dollar plus project for us. And and if you could um you all highlight that the contract award is being done to Atlantic on-site development due to their proven proven track record of success with two similar projects in Surf City, lowest bid, competitive pricing um and with their experience with coastal projects of this complexity. Right. Anything you want to add? Um, no. Other we've worked with them in the past. They've done great work and that's our recommendation.

And and their projects, as far as I can tell, look like they've been pretty successful when they put the fire truck out there and unloaded, you know, hundreds of gallons of water. Looked like it worked well. I see our public works director nodding his head in in agreement. So, yeah, I'm glad you saw the that video. I I just want to emphasize that a lot of thought has been there's a track record that is good track record and a lot of thought and there's monies grant monies this is in addition to to address flooding in right floodprone areas of the town. Absolutely. Yeah, you brought up that one that was also funded through the same grant. Um and yeah, you know, a lot of effort goes into that making sure that they're implemented.

Just you know so I can go on the record with this. my wife drove through Surf City the other day and it was flooded everywhere. Which has nothing to do with your projects, but Okay. They they brought up yesterday except for those projects. Except for those projects. No, but what what we saw yesterday was um with with the Surf City people, they got a lot more drainage stuff they have to do. They have a real drainage problem in Surf City. That's not You know, obviously you guys made a difference, but they were making the point they got a lot more to go, don't they? They have our number. We're happy to help. All right. So, all in favor? I I opposed. Thank you.

Yes. No, actually they're also here for an item. Um I uh item 10 F 10F town hall erosion and Oh, and deck and I and I hate to I know we've already approved the agenda. Can we move to item F? Is that permissible? We can yeah if if the board would like to um as a consensus have them go ahead and present their item while they're here. That's more than I just Chris we're running along and I don't if I could just get a motion to go ahead and hear item F from

I make a motion then to address item F uh from the agenda the deck uh restoration and erosion. All righty. Second second in favor. Thank you. Good. All right. Good morning.

Uh so last month we had uh discussed and identified a need to look into the erosion uh specifically regarding the maintenance and infrastructure around this building here at town hall. Um staff identified two primary areas requiring attention. Number one, erosion. Number two, uh the decking system around the facility. Uh for the interest of this report, we'll focus on the erosion condition. Uh pres presents a potential risk long-term structural stability. Uh while the decking and stairs represent a more immediate concern to safety and accessibility or daily use, uh an engineering assessment has been completed by Ardura to evaluate the erosion conditions and identify potential mitigation strategies. Uh so at at this point, oh, thank you Ricky. I appreciate it. I like to call up Mr. Horseman who conducted the erosion assessment and he can give you his findings and report.

Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Huckabe. And good afternoon, uh board members. So, I want to talk about something that's a little bit close to home here, perhaps under our feet. So, we could all take a tour downstairs if we wanted to. I'll just show you some pictures. Um but, uh Mr. Huckabe asked um the Aldura team to come and evaluate um some of the erosion happening underneath this building. So this presentation is a overview of our site visit and some potential directions we can head or just kind of outline um what we're seeing and just some things we want to address. So I believe I have to say uh and I'm I'm Mark Horseman. I'm one of the wershed services group leader for for Aldura. Next slide. So, as I mentioned, we were asked by Mr. Huckabe to come and um identify the potential causes of erosion underneath the town hall building. So, just we performed a site visit on Thursday, February 26, um when we climbed underneath this building here, took lots of pictures um and then also kind of walked around to understand how potential water flow is happening around the building and underneath it. Um so some of the things that uh published a report I want to just bring highlight to the report. So no matter what direction we had here are things I just want to bring to everybody's attention. Uh the first one we did notice some eroded areas around the block wall footing and support column that need to be addressed immediately to pro to prevent any movement of loadbearing supports. So I'm an engineer. I'm going to talk about some engineering gibberish here, but just I'm going try to keep it like high level.

Is that gibber the legal gibberish that Mark was talking?

I I cannot comment. Um so just as a reminder from from loadbearing footings or supports when engineers design those loadbearing supports, you know, we're looking at providing a force where the footing is going to sit on it, but also the soil around it as well. So the footing and the support both counteracts the point load of things acting on it and what we call a moment load or a torque with it shifting back and forth. So sometimes if you think like my mailbox I can I can wiggle it a little bit and then if I wiggle it more and more and more it kind of opens up that hole. Um when we look at um especially the support columns and eroding soil eroding away from it that there's a potential for that to happen. Keeping in mind all buildings shift a little bit. Even this building when high winds happen and you can have a little bit of shifting. So when you start having soil removed from the adjacent part of the footing, it's no longer acting as designed. So that's I just want to bring that to everybody's attention as we're as we're looking forward.

Just a background. That's the argument we made on the dunes. Why you don't build up next to the dunes.

That's correct. Yes. Um next uh next slide, please. So, just to just so we don't have to go downstairs, just want to kind of show some pictures. Right, we do have an eroded footing. We noticed um believe that footing is supporting the area right underneath the kitchen office area. Um that no matter no matter what we do, that somehow needs to be addressed because if if we don't address that, you're going to keep getting um undermining underneath that footing and that is a loadbearing I-beam you have right there. And then you're going to start seeing parts of that building sack. Oh, that is a big microphone. Okay. Second part. This is um probably the support beams underneath where we're sitting at right now. One of the support beams is having erosion eroding erosion happening um adjacent to it. And if that is not addressed eventually that will start like like the mailbox analogy kind of starts shifting back and forth. So um next slide please. So, we looked at and and again, we didn't do this when it was raining. We we did this after a rain event. So, perhaps next time it's raining, I'll come back and climb under and look at it. But, um looking at the evidence, there's three main in um causes working together for these to cause significant erosion. The first one is the poor drainage capacity of existing drainage pipes. You'll notice from the pictures, we have some existing drainage pipes. I will kind of go in a little bit detail on some of them have inadequate slopes, some that appear to be undersized and some of the joint failures that's causing piping issues around the pipe se segments. Second, uh significant runoff is coming from the damaged landscape geoexile right here by the front. Um and then you know we have some poor drainage pathways from the front landscaping areas which we'll kind of show some pictures of. So uh next slide.

All right, talking about poor drainage capacity pipe. So, one thing this this pipe really stood out. I'm going to give the engineering assessment here. This pipe is not allow requires a lot of hydraulic head for water to have to come up and over. And many times you have to have that high amount of hydraulic head backing up causing flooding to go up and over. In simple terms is water's not flowing downhill. Okay. Um you send an engineer down. I'm finding a vertical pipe or water's not flowing downhill. I'm going to let everybody know that's something that needs to be fixed. So, um, so that is the, you know, vertical installation issues is one thing that should be addressed. Uh, second, um, as I mentioned, yeah, he needs a lot of water to get up and over that fence.

There's not a pump on the other side. But does I mean, from the original person that installed that, isn't that negligent in and that their actions not recognizing that? I mean, it seems to me that's I mean, I'm not a engineer, although I did go to school for computer engineering. Different story. Um, but it seems to me that that's common sense that water doesn't flow uphill without a great amount of force. So, it looks like the pipes sagging there. It could be the support behind.

Yeah. Is there something we're not seeing in this picture? What Mark's saying is if the if the inside pipe had gone up like your drain pipe off your house, then something like that would work. What he's telling us right now is the configuration is you got basically a candy cane, right? I I I don't have a laser point. I'm just going to point. It's kind of hard to see. I know it's strapped on that side, too. Coming in here and it has to come up. Oh, you can't see that. Yeah. Yeah. So, basically, it's sagging right before it gets to the to the thing. Eric, it was installed that was it installed that way. I I I can't comment on negligence previous installation. I'm just here to evaluate what I see at that.

Sorry, I understand. We've spent a lot of money on this building after Florence. So, we understand where you're coming from. That's just for the viewers to know that we have spent a lot of money on this building and we understand that spending more money on this building is going to really frustrate some people. Go ahead. And I'm just showing you what I'm uh what did Fran say, Donna? Um, ne next uh next bullet point. Oh, you skipped it.

Hit it. Hit it again. Oh, keep going. Keep going. All right. Um, in addition, not as severe as a vertical pipe, but you will notice when if you go down there, there are a few outlet pipes that have, we like to call them adverse slopes or negative slopes. In this case, you can see when the water is going to come down, it has to go up just a little bit to drain out. That's again going back to the water flowing downhill component of it. Um, we're not getting full leveraging of that pipe capacity component. Okay. Next. Um, and then we, you know, we do need to be careful. We have pipes at the same diameter coming together. Um, in a full flow event, just like if you have traffic at the same size coming together, you're going to have water backing up from that. So again, please don't shoot in the messenger. I'm just showing you pictures of what I saw downstairs. All right, next slide. U on the front. So I got a chance to Our team climbed. I think Michael made you climb down there. Yeah,

they were there. You were there. Um significant amount of runoff appears to be coming from that front landscaped area. It appears there used to be uh geoexile installed to kind of prevent that water from posting out. That geoexile has been ripped. Um, so next, uh, and so if you climb underneath that first that front boardwalk, you'll see all that erosion happening coming from that landscaped area. So that and then you can follow obviously follow the path of that through underneath the building all the way down. All right, next slide. All right, so how can we improve the drainage capacity? Um, first next bullet. Um so one thing we can do and I you know there is it is a 4 inch black corrugated pipe. There's expos high uh rainfall high intensity rainfall events that happen here on the coast. We may want to look at and I would recommend uh installing 6inch pipes. So going back to that engineering mumbo jumbo um a 4in pipe has about 12.6 square inch cross-sectional diameter. A 6in pipe has a 28.3 square inch diameter. Just by looking at it, you can say, "Hey, that's that's almost double the floor capacity just from a cross-sectional area perspective." Um, next uh next bullet point. I would also recommend change the material from the corrugated plastic pipe to a smooth wall PVC or HDPE. While admittingly, it's probably a little more expensive, they're more durable, and a smooth wall will change what we call the interior roughness of the pipe. Um, for those who want to jump in, it's called the Manning's N value. The Manning's in value shifts from 0.0 023 from a from a corrugated pipe to a smooth wall is 0.009 which essentially allows about two and a half more times more flow through the through the pipe. Right? And then um the second the last bullet um let's let's have water flow

downhill, right? Let's put more of a positive uh positive slope on the pipes. Um and I we have a recommendation is at least 0.05% 05% to ensure that that positive drainage. So um next slide. I it's also helpful that we actually get water to the pipes themselves. There's a few instances we notice especially one in the back where the gutters gutter spout is not connected to the actual pipe there. So um instead water just kind of runs over the gutter and falls out and erodess out. Um, so my recommendation is adding new down spouts to missing connection points. Um, and then the other part about that is when we put in new pipes, let's bury the pipes. So sometimes when you have pipes that are exposed under high flow events as we I'll imagine you can have some mobilization of the pipe and then also we compact the area above the pipe well compacted.

It's likely some of them were buried originally. It is abs. It is likely that someone and that the erosion just took off the cover, right? Absolutely. Yes. Yep. Um that that that small the the black PVC plastic pipe, not PVC, but it will move a lot during this high flow events. And so,

right. So, um and then let's address let's find a way to address the um the upstream. So, I'm going to I'm going to talk through several options here. The first one is the most simple one. Let's just repair the geoexile fabric. Uh that will provide a short-term solution, but there's an opportunity for this issue to come up again as it might rip or over time. So, but I would say now or today that might be a good solution to look at. All right. Second, um, one other option I'm gonna I'm gonna go talk about the funding reason why I'm suggesting this, but one other option is to completely replace the landscaped area um, with a permeable infiltration based system. So maybe that's a permeable PA system. You mentioned with the fire trucks and how how well that was absorbing the water um or or biotentionary or something. Um what I would and if we do that I would recommend pinning a concrete wall along that front side of the building to prevent water from transitioning down to the bottom of of the building. Um next next bullet point. So in fact that was a picture of the permable papers that you just mentioned before. Um incorporating infiltration based practice will allow us to absorb a lot of the overland infiltration while matching the current aesthetics around the building. Second, it will add in a water quality benefit as we're infiltrating water. And I'm going to in a moment talk about why why that's an important component. Um, next slide. Okay. Uh, so to options, Mr. Huck asked me to kind of put together some costs. So talking to a few contractors and and pulling cost just to kind of pin in the new pipes because you'd have to come in and do hand labor to install these new pipes. Okay, you're

looking at I'm going to say plus or minus $34,000 $34,000. I'm going to let everybody on this board know these were costs that we put together in February.

I'm I have no control of economic factors. So, I'm just I'm just letting everybody know these were cost in February. Things have been happening. All right. Um that is of course if we're going to ask a contractor to come out and and do this um do this type of work and and assuming we're put in the new 6 in drainage pipes or the PVC or HDP. All right. The uh next slide. The other option here is hey, let's let's updo the landscaped area. Well, that's like $71,000. And the reason I want us I want to bring that up is that if we're pitting an infiltrationbased practice that opens the opportunity for grant funding. So for example, golden leaf funding really wants to have more infiltrates projects that have infiltrationbased devices that pro improve water quality on the coast. We have been very successful with your adjacent neighbors in leveraging Golden Leaf funds. And if we can leverage grants to help address this issue, you know, help address this issue, you're helping to provide grant funding for an otherwise would just be a maintenance activity. So that's kind of the three options I just wanted to outline. First one being let's not really do anything except for fixing the footings and and and adding more support. Second option is is let's repair the geoexile and p in the new pipes as we mentioned. And then the third option is let's explore maybe pinning infiltration based device with new pipes and leveraging grant funds to do that.

I I just have a question we'll open it up. So Larry has the authority as a town manager to spend $40,000 on his signature. I look at the erosion stuff under here as it ain't going to get better. 33 may become 34, 35, who knows? Big storm and everything else becomes becomes a problem. All right. So here's my questions. I I like the idea of going after the grand funding. On the other hand, if it takes us a year to get the grand funding and now we've got a problem with the erosion, we've got an erosion. So, I'm just going to ask a math question or a a structural question. If we decided to go ahead with that first that you've got the 33,000, which he could do today on his signature, and we were also laying out for the grant funding this project, are they mutually exclusive? In other words, can we can Larry go out and say, "I've got to do an emergency repair and get this thing done under my signature, okay, for $34,000. And at the same time, so we're not delaying this thing for six months to get grant funding, look and see if we can get a grant to do the rest of it. And then the board can decide if we don't get it, we still want to do it, right?" So you understand the sequence of stuff. I look at what's erosion and Mark, I was watching you and we're like, you got to be kidding me, right, on this thing. Um,

I don't like the idea of waiting a year to get this thing done. If we don't do something now, then we may be getting that new police department because if the whole building goes and it's condemned, then Well, I'm not going taxpayers are going to be really upset. I mean, is that you understand what I'm talking about? I don't I don't want to if at the end of the day is and I don't get the vote unless there's a tie, but at the end of the day, if you ask me today what I want to do, first off, I think we have the money in the current budget for this in public works or we can move money around to get a budget adjustment on this type of thing. I don't see this as something we want to kick out for six months to take care of. Okay? And so if we're looking at something this serious that is only going to get worse and more expensive, it makes no sense to delay it six months because we might get funding.

Does that make sense to you guys? Now my only concern is that's 34,000. I would assume, you know, with the economy it's probably gone up possibly another 10% because as long as it's still underneath his realm of being able to pull the trigger, I would think that we'd go ahead and move forward with it. But that's my personal opinion. I think Mark under that and I would ask Trey real quick and then I'll go to Kev. If if we said to him he has the authority to do it. If I'm sitting as Larry, I probably want to say, "What's your consensus on that thing before I go spend $39,874?" Right. You'd want to know what our feedback is and also like to get what your thoughts are on this, but this doesn't this this falls into the have to do Mark to me, not the want to do. Is that fair?

Yes. I mean, you're talking about building the foundation on sand and everything else. You know, this is our foundation. And if this building goes again, I mean, it was out of service for almost three years. And then a technical question for you. You're not going to look at French drains at all around the building. Um, you threw a couple questions. I mean, can I try to address them in the order you sent? So, one related to the grants. So, most of the grants that have a quicker time frame which are either funded by the state or by like like golden leaf, which is not will require you to put out something for public bid, right? So if you soul source somebody that that that effort would not be covered by that grant and I'm I'm speaking generally not not talking about spec specific

before you leave that that I go it's the legal part of me. If we decided not to go out for bid to do what I call the emergency stuff here to get it done and then we decided to put out forbid the other piece of it. Does that work? Correct. That would work. Yes. Question. Mark, could you clarify the the number that's shown on the screen right there? Seven. We'll say 71,000. Is that inclusive of uh option one's cost or doing this is all inclusive of all the costs.

So, so, so in other words, for clarification, if if if I went forward on the 34,000, that 70 goes almost to half. So we would be going for we would be going for a grant for approximately 40,000. Well and is that the math right not to play numbers game with it and to your exact point on the numbers we do the first project under your signature if we don't get the grant you still have the signature to do the second project because they're completely separate projects.

We we that's a delicate dance. I I'm aware of that and and I would want I would want to be transparent, but I'd want to be transparent and not and not whether myself or successor be accused of seek sequencing stuff to to to to move around the authority piece. I mean Larry my only point on that is if we've if unless and again I I would look for feedback from people. If you tell me in your prof me as one person here in my prof in your professional opinion we ought to do the whole thing because it's a safety issue and if we only do the 33 we're still going to have issues going forward and it's just going to get worse and the only thing that we're jeopardizing is not getting a grant for 30 something thousand dollars. You I don't know about you guys. My my thing would be let's fix the stupid thing before it gets worse. Especially if we get any kind of those hurricane type of things coming through here and this isn't done. We got a big problem. Kip

um I I think what I'm also hearing is this needs to be done sooner than later like yesterday. Um and I don't want to delay that. But I also want to knowing from our previous town manager's request giving her giving Larry uh explicit direction as to what what we want. You're saying this needs to be done today and I think to shore it up. It also it also depends on you know the the you know the rain rain tomorrow or whatever we get which knock wood it's been pretty dry but

moving forward I think we need to do it sooner than later and I would say my opinion is clearly the manager uh has the has the authority to do the 40,000 and I think that let's get it to that point and then I but I also like this uh integration of the concepts that we're moving forward. I'd like to see that. However, we need to open it up to do it best, but I also agree with the mayor in that there's no need to wait for an additional $30,000 if we have to spend an extra $30,000 to save $200,000 of repairs once the foundation collapses. Not to mention that it it cripples the police department for the entire time that they don't have a home. It's also already

if we don't act sooner than later. I appreciate your your uh opinion on this. I think we're all of the same mind here. Um, a little while ago, which was a year or two, uh, the board did go underneath in tour. It was it was bad back then and I don't think we need to belabor it anymore. I think we can move on and

I mean, Larry, would I mean, as a recommend, if if you want if you're what I would do is how about this? We do as a resolution give him the authority, okay, to move forward with the project and give him the authority if in his judgment that um we need to get this all done or the other half in his judgment and working with your people. Other words, give him the discretion to do the project as he thinks, you know, with the help of your professionals and stuff, Larry. I mean, what what do you you you want a green light? And I don't know whether you want a green light on 70,900 or 33 because it's going to end up being 70,900 at some point. If we don't take care, it'll be more from February. It would have to be a new

Mr. Huckabe appears to be approaching and wants to provide information. I' I'd be I'd yield to his expertise as well. I think he's willing to do the work on the weekend by himself. I don't Yeah, thank you. Um, so, so just looking at my analysis of it, we we have the finances to accommodate the 70,900 estimate. Um, right, right now, and again, I don't want to dig too deeply, but ju

just for clarification. Um, not to belabor the point, but but fixing the outflow as as Mark identified is huge to the whole system, but but from my perspective that the front side of this building is the culprit in terms of the wash out that we're seeing. So, if my fear is if we only do the 30,000 or so mitigation and and do it again later,

it's going to it's going to wash out again. Um, so so grant money being an option is definitely an added bonus to this. Um ha having looked through the current fiscal year funds under uh M&R buildings and grounds we do have uh the variance to cover it. Um the only constraint at this point in time is the time constraint against the fiscal year uh termination point. So I've I've already reached out to three uh contractors received responses from two. Uh the one the one that adhered to the scope of work that was based off of our Dura's findings that the 70

um well the 70 was was based off of this report independent of any entities. Um the one that's responded that's fell within scope has again come back and said given the need for the uh concrete wall at the front of the building. Their only ask would be if if Ardura or if we could work with Ardura to provide design for that wall because it would need to be engineered and then that company would tack that cost into their bid uh to to mitigate this issue. Okay. Let me ask a legal question. We don't have to put this out for bid, do we? So based on if it's an emergency thing, do we have to put this out for

bas I mean based on the threshold it would be informal bidding but it sounds like what uh your public works director said he has already gone through that process by soliciting three different I mean you know she already knows where I'm going with this we got to put this out for business 45 days we just blew the whole thing getting this thing done as quickly as exact that was going to be my question is how does the board get out of the way of moving this forward because I don't have a can kick until February of next Yeah. Or another no offense, but another firehouse. I agree. Well, you know, look, how about this is a suggestion for us to consider.

You give him We give him the authority to get the project done. Okay. Um, if we want to put a top number on it, that's fine. 100, you know, it's going to come in under a hundred, we would think. But I think what you're recommending is don't break this into two pieces. Because when you do that, what you're going to do is if it takes you two months to do the second phase, you're going to have more erosion in the second phase. Now, we're gonna have a different project, whatever. As long as we don't have to formally bid this thing out, then we can move this quickly. I don't think we can move this quickly if we try to formally bid this out. I mean, it is is under the threshold for formal bidding. So, but you it is above the threshold for the informal, which he's already done. So, he's it sounds like he has done based on the scope of work. Is that Yes, sir.

Okay. and then he would work with the town with you, Larry, to figure out the best option. Okay. So, I would I would ask for a motion that authorizes the manager to to uh commit funds up to a number 100,000. Uh what we would wind up doing is we would initiate, you know, like today. uh and and and uh we would I would work with Wayne to encumber the money to carry forward what isn't spent this fiscal year into the next fiscal year. So it may the budget may look a little wonky if you look into in the details next fiscal year. Uh but uh but that that would be that would be an approach as opposed to as opposed to delaying.

Okay. And the the other reason I just threw out 100,000 is I don't know what the number is. We don't if we told him, "Oh, it's 70,900 and it comes in at 71,000. Do we really want him coming back to the board to get approval for that?" I understand you guys are going to use your best efforts to get the best price and the best project. Does that make sense to everybody? And I think we're being transparent to the community. Uh Arduro has presented a very compelling case for moving forward with and providing us with a I don't call it baseline, providing us with a number so we know whether it's $5 or 70,000. So I appreciate that and I appreciate your input as well, Chris. Um And I just real quick that that is the one the board that's the project we want them to pursue that case. Correct everybody?

All right. So do you want a motion please? I would like to make a motion to give Larry the authority to spend up to or put $100,000 to the side towards uh uh the foundation and the erosion and the uh water runoff project as as presented. as presented. Okay. As an emergency, right? As an emergency informal bidding process. Okay. Do we have a second? I second. All in favor? I I Nice job. Thank you both. Thank you both. I would I would add, mayor, board members, I mean, we'll we'll in in the interest of transparency, we will be providing you updates as this as this proceeds. You may stumble into it, so be careful on the holes and so forth, but

I thought your updates are going to be pictures. Thanks, Larry. And thank thank you Chris and uh Mike and Martin. Thank you. Do we want to continue on with our items or did the board want to have anybody else here that's going to be presenting? Um I do not believe so. I believe everybody else is staff. Take a break. Yes. I make a motion then for a quick uh to go into recess to go into recess for if you'd like. You can take your recess now. You don't have to take it later. You can make a motion to take your recess. You can take just do that now. Or you can take multiple, which I'm sure staff would love. All right, that's fine. So, just take Do you want to recess for 30 minutes or do you want to set? Um, why don't we take a 15inut break? That way you guys can get just a little bit of a bite to eat in.

So, 15 minutes. I'll make a motion to 15-minute recess. Do we need a motion or a consent? Yeah, we we can recess back. We'll be back here at um Oh my god, math. 1:35. We don't need a motion for that. We just do it. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you.

Rick, we ready? Oh, I'm sorry.

Hey All right, we're back in we're back. Let's go back to the agenda. Item A. What's that? Item A of new business. Thank you. Under new business. Yep. Um Alexis, you have you have this on here. Um we don't have to send the new one is in June. the new um on your schedule, correct?

Yeah. So, it's just adding the June meeting that the board had agreed at a previous meeting. Just adding it to our regular schedule. Okay. This helps staff by one, I don't have to issue a notice anymore. So, that takes that off. Okay. Um and obviously this schedule, should it be amended, would be placed on our website, and the bulletin board and on social media for the public's knowledge. Okay. what I'm going to talk about. We get to the budget meeting. The reason I'm asking this is I I think we're going to need another meeting. I'd like to have Laura here um for for another one. So, I think you told me is it two days notice if we wanted to have another meeting? Yeah. If you would like to hold a special meeting, I need to have at least 48 hours to notice that.

Um do you know did did Laura She's not here. My I don't want to exclude her from two separate meetings. So, as long as we can add a meeting, um, another one if if we need if we decide by consensus to do another budget meeting, I'd rather have her weigh in. Does that make sense? So, if you'd like, you can adopt this so that the meeting is on the schedule and then you can do a special meeting at any point. That works for all of your schedules. Is that okay with you all? I mean, that that's fine with me. I just don't want, you know, I'm I'm going to talk about I think I would like another another meeting to follow up on a couple of things before we get to there because we're going to get jammed up at the end of June, right? So, we've got to have that stuff come out and you will guide us to make sure we don't blow the schedule.

But if we need another one, as long as we can do it in two days, I'd rather have her feedback after she sees what we're doing now and then decide they have another meeting or not. Is that okay with everybody? So, we can do a motion to approve this and as long as we're all comfortable that we can change it, then I'm fine with it. All right. So, I would make a motion then to approve an amendment to the regular meeting schedule to include a meeting date of Wednesday, June 24th, 2026 at 9:00 a.m. located here at North Beach Town Hall. All right. Do I have a second? A second. Okay.

Just real quick, an item of discussion and we can approve this is I was also approached about time differences in meetings and stuff like that. We can also change if we wanted something. Not not this one, but yeah, you can. So you can set your meeting at any time. Okay. I'm just saying for for future to think about it, it's not even about the days and stuff. My experience at the county has been there's an 11 o'clock in the morning and there's a six o'clock in the morning and it makes no difference because nobody shows up for either one. And we've kicked around the idea of having maybe a meeting on a different day every month or two months or something like that. So just just to consider it before we vote. Is that all right? All right. Do I hear an I? I. Any any opposed? All right. Thank you.

Thank you. B. Uh B is appointment of check signatory. Previously uh we had Larry Strawther as one of our check signitories uh with his untimely passing. That does leave a third spot blank. Um that kind of puts uh staff uh at a disadvantage because with uh especially the summer season up, members are out of office, which means we're having a harder time getting signatures done.

I mean, I had I had mentioned to Connie, I didn't know if anybody else was interested and she's willing to do it. And then I think what we're going to have to do maybe when Laura comes back and we get into the next year, one of the things we talked about, particularly for our new members, is to take a look at what's going on after six months or so and decide how we want to handle those things going forward. Does that make any sense, honey? What do you think? Yeah. Who else is uh Laura, you and Laura? Yes. Does anybody else want to do it? It doesn't matter to me one bit. Personally, I kind of command being the mayor, the mayor prom. All right. Okay, congratulations. All right. I don't think that's the word, but okay. All right.

I mean, it's just consensus, right? For us and then and then a signatory. Yeah. Just give me a motion of who you'd like to appoint. I I move that uh Mayor Prom Ple be appointed the third signatory for the board of alderman. Okay. I second. Thank you. The only discussion is are you going to show up when they do it? Because I really get tired of having to drive over here every time Wayne sends me something. I don't have anybody that can sign. Can you come over? Is that what you do? You do. Do you just call or text or he text me all the time? I do not. I um I will send out I have a schedule that's got a calendar invite and it'll be on your calendar on your phone. Pop up every three weeks.

You have to understand what Wayne does. You get a text from Wayne. Just wanted to let you know the checks are ready. Wayne will also text if you forgot. Okay. So, you're saying don't give Wayne my phone number. He'll he'll text you to remind you the checks are ready, which is a really nice way of doing that. So, thank you. Thanks. All right. Um planning board.

Yes. Um so, we currently have a um position coming up for reappoint that would be for Miss Terry Ward. Um she has an excellent attendance record at the planning boards. She um is highly spoken of by the planning director as far as um being interactive on the planning board. She has good reviews from her additional u board members as well. Her application is attached for review. Um should the board reappoint her, it would be a regular um position, a regular member um and it would be for three years. I only have one comment on this and Connie already knows what this is going to be. Okay.

When we put in the notice stuff that you had to have a certain day's notice go out before we started doing appointments. At the first meeting that we had after the board, we appointed somebody that was not we didn't posted for the 45 days and only one person had posted before the meeting of like six days. Do we have have we posted this? No, this is she's reapplying for her upcoming term to expire. Like her current term is still active. Okay. She's put an application in to be reappointed. My only question for the board, and I don't have a strong opinion on this, are we okay with reappointing somebody without re without appointing I'm sorry, without noticing that we've got an opening. And and look, I think the world would terry,

don't get me wrong. I mean, if it was up to me, I would do it today. I'm asking for the protocol because I have been working with the county now for two years and they do not post anything on this stuff. When we redid our planning board stuff, didn't we also um put in something about the length of time you could be on the planning board or did we not? No, you know, I think about I do not believe that there is currently uh term limits for

the preference at the time was in the past we had had the same people on there at all. And so if it came down, I'm going to use Mark and Kip as an example. So Kip had been on the planning board since Dirt was new. All right? And Mark wanted to apply and Kip was also on the board of adjustments. Okay? Okay. And what we said is we really need to have more people participating. And so to the extent that we can not have didn't have two people on on both the board because we had a problem. This predated all of us and even Alice, we didn't have people apply, right? We were still a pretty big problem across Did you make calls last time? I did. Yeah, I did make calls. Yes.

Okay. Look, I have no problem with Terry and and as long as we're okay with it, that's fine. But I think we have openings. um play playing the devil's advocate. Um I know like working with the state people were like you know I can't advance unless somebody dies or retires and it was very it was very uh difficult. So then a lot of people did not put in um I love Terry. I think she does a great job. She asked some very great questions. Um she also understands people are viewing from home and she asks questions that she thinks that they may be wanting to ask. Uh but with that being said, uh you know, it would almost be like an election process. You know, we can't just say because Conniey's mayor prom this term when she comes up for election in 18 months that she's automatically mayor prom again.

Oh, I wouldn't use that. Well, you know, you know what I'm saying? Absolut 100%. So I I think you know and that's maybe another way to get people that just say, "Well, there's no sense in me applying because they're just going to reappoint the same guy anyway." Right. So, I mean, I I I hate to play devil's advocate because, you know, I I really enjoy seeing Terry ask questions and be uh influential on that board, but uh I just actually realized something that I forgot to ask Lexi. When does her when does this expire for her? Um I believe her term was to uh expire. It's this week, I believe. Um do this. It's either the end of this week or beginning of next. I can't remember the exact date, but I

here's the problem we got. If we go out for 45 days, we are going to have an open planning board seat for somebody that attends every meeting. Her term ends May 15th. All right. So, she's done two days from now and we have an we basically are going to have an open seat for months. Um, we moved it to seven because we were having an attendance issue, right? Um, I believe we I'm not we filled seven but was not. We had a long time. I'm not sure um why you may have expanded the board in the past. That was before my time.

All I can say is we did recently um a few months ago do applications and that that was a process and that did take a lot a effort. Um do we have any do we have any of the alternate slots still open? I think we just put applicants in those positions and that that's another thing. If it does have alternate slots, then that an alternate may may want to be in that 45. If the board would like, I can absolutely put this out. Well, here's my concern is I don't want to I don't want to have an open seat for a long time. If if the standing orders today are that we can do this, then we can do this and then the board can re-evaluate going forward with the next.

I'm probably okay with it. I I just think that she has been you could also perfect perfect for attendance for everything that she's done for the town and everything else. And so my concern and again you guys have to vote. My concern would be it's a horrible message to send to Terry after what she's done here to tell her we're not reappointing her. I I agree 100%. And and that's why I'm saying I'm just playing devil's advocate. And uh if if if the standing orders are now that we can reappoint with no legal ramifications. Nope. Not gibberish. no gibberish or ramifications.

So, so I'm fine with that. But as a board moving forward and wanting to set what we ran on election as far as transparency and threeyear and fiveyear plans, I I would like to maybe review that or put it on an agenda and I agree there's it it's it's much longer process than it sounds like. I really what we need to do is go through and by we I mean me but go through each board and and look at when their terms are up because if you stagger your boards correctly you don't you're not supposed to run into these issues and um you know if if your stuff is coming up at the same time you are going to see

and that would help us also is is showing the town that we're trying to be better planners and looking at the future. Well, I think you know in your point as well, I was actually I'm glad you you brought that up because the point that I was going to make in this is if we have an opening that's going to happen in August, make sure that we open it up at least 45 days before you have to make the appointment and maybe a little bit longer because even on those things, I like to talk to people that apply before they before they at least have try to have a phone call. Well, that's where you could do like 60 days since it's an easy number. Two months, right? 60 days before. Okay. So, we have a motion to appoint reappoint her. We has it hasn't been made yet. I would like to make the motion to reappoint Terry so that she doesn't go after me for being the devil's advocate. She knows where you live. Mark, do I hear a second?

Second. Okay. In my discussion on this, I agree with your devil's advocacy because I think it sets poor precedents. Um, in the past we have had Are you going to gabble me? It did appear like he was going to gabble you. It did. No, it wasn't. Um, it's okay. Go ahead. say whatever you want. In the past, we have had people that continued in their pos position after their position had already expired, but it was accidentally and voted. Um but and and given everything with Terry, I I really think she should um stay on because this was not her fault. This was

this was us. Well, but in the future I I Yeah, I will say there are many places um with that you are allowed to continue to serve on your appointed board until the board makes a new appointment. Sorry, I don't know what's going on. Um but you they can continue to serve until the board makes a new appointment. So you guys could allow Terry to continue to serve until you've made an appointment if you would like to make that your motion instead. Well, we have a we have a motion in a second. Yes, that is true. So, you'd have to wait for that to fail first or resend. Would So, you have three eyes. I think that I think the point is My question is, are we doing the 2029 or do we want to uh that would be up to the board

align the 2028? Because I'm looking at the number of of board members. We have one, two, three, four that expire May 15, 2027. Um, yeah, we have Yeah, one that expires 2028. The terms are three years. So these were appointments from 2024. What she's saying though is you have to point the appointment is for three years. Do do you have to reappoint for three year or we can reappoint? So their their terms are three years and that was a term set by the board. Um

I I believe to just to interject board in in order for you to change the term I believe it's in your ordinance. So you would have to do either an ordinance amendment or at minimum a policy amendment. Um the clerk is correct that the default rule is when there is a vacancy or not vacancy but when your term is up you continue to serve until the board makes an appointment either by reappointment or appointing someone else. Uh but as just as a as a point of order there is a motion in a second um on how about all in favor? I do think the question was still on the table that they were wanting right you were answering that. Okay. 29. Okay, never mind. Having a small

mess up. And Terry, we Thank you.

time talking about somebody everybody likes.

Somebody wants to sell some stuff.

Good afternoon. Ladies and gentlemen, uh we have a Z920M is a zeroturn mower in public works. Was purchased around 2016. Um has a engine failure and the the cost of repair exceeds by far over 65 70% of the end item itself. Um so this is just a formal request uh to treat it as surplus and begin the disposal process and pull it off town asset listings. Motion. I make a motion to declare the John Deere Z920M mower as surplus and authorize the town manager to proceed with disposal in accordance with applicable policies and procedures. Do I hear a second?

Second. Any other discussion? All in favor? Motion carries.

Go ahead

to the next item. Uh so this is a a change order request uh specifically for MRM construction regarding the beach crossover located at uh uh what used to be beach access 40 before everything was reumbered. Um long story short, the original scope did not include things such as visone certificate survey and engineered design to the scope that they currently are. Um that was in part due to the Enslow County uh public dedication on the plot. We've since we've since received the uh deed of easement from the county. Um and these are just a change order reflecting the administrative costs to MRM construction in order to begin the permitting process.

Was that what was that cost? So, from from MRM's uh invoice, uh that cost was I don't for some reason it's not pulling up in front of me, $6,000 approximately. The change order that I submitted uh was basically adding 10,000 on and an additional 10% in case any unforeseen incidentals or additional scope creep continues to to pop up. um with with that amount that would bring the original contract which was not not to exceed 60,000 up to 77,000. Uh I don't anticipate that total cost being the final invoice. Uh but it gives us a buffer to work with ultimately.

It's basically a change order, right? So with that, I would make a motion to approve the change order and contract amendment 2026-26.49 from 60,000 to 77,000. Do I hear a second? I'll second. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. All right. Yes, sir. All in favor? I move. You don't have to go to the next one. There's one more. Even Even skipping that one. There's one more. All right. Oh, no. I was looking at F. We already took care of F for you.

G. G now. Yep. Go ahead. So G is a a request for the purchase of of an a higher tier mowing capability for the town asset under state contract 2210 Bravo. Um this is quality equipment providing the the uh estimate under that state contract. what what this capability gives to the town ultimately. Not only does it enhance our our mowing capabilities, um gives us an asset that that has very good warranty coverage given the purchase of it, uh but it comes with additional attachments to include street sweeping capabilities. So, we would get two different decks of different widths for mowing along the rideway. Um, this mower does have a closed cab, so it does give you some climate control uh to to the operator, which can go a long way given the summer months, and that's our heavy cutting season. Uh, but it's not a piece of equipment that'll just sit for that one functional area. Uh, that that street clearing and sweeping capability gives us something where we can utilize it year round in addition to if our street sweeper, our single street sweeper that we do have goes down, then then this would be a backup. Um, so I've I've included in in this uh three different options. There's a replace by like item for the zeroturn um that we're disposing of. Uh there's a there's a midterm option and then the the uh model option that I included in the summary. The font's just really tiny. I apologize. I can't see it. Let's see. One moment. I apologize. the terrain cut 1585 is the is the primary option, the one that I'm I'm requesting. Uh but when and if we go the other options, we could still make that work as a department.

Okay. So, I'm I'm looking at the sheet because I was confused because you've got them at the end of this thing. Can you walk you've already described the different ones as I'm looking at I'm trying to figure this out. I'm sure you guys have it on your schedule as well. is Chris. I'm looking and saying all right so one mower is under the John Deere is a 70,000 correct is that the Cadillac that one? Yes, that's the top option. The one that you're that you said is the replace in kind is the 45. No, that's the mid tier. The the replace kind would be found all the way at the towards the bottom of the document. Okay,

that's what I was looking for. I couldn't find it. Hm. Do all three models have the cab? No, the only cab option is is that 1585 terrain cut. That's the the target for for this recommendation. Uh the mid the mid tier similar cape set. You can't switch attach attachments. So, you'll get cutting but no street clearing operations, open cab. And then the basic model is what we have now in our fleet, the Z920s. I I couldn't find the basic. I found the 70. Somebody else can direct it to me. I'm looking at the one that's 45 total. I'm looking at the one that's Are we still open for discussion as we're

Yeah, this we're we're talking I'm just personally for the viewers at home and people that are here uh my personal opinion is uh we need a cab. One keeps the dust down, keeps any silica from getting in the lungs, street sweeping, yada yada safety. Um the other reason is air condition control. Uh they keep the water on them. Uh a lot of times when they're mowing, they don't have water accessible to them. Now they can stop their mower, they can drink their water, they can continue on, they'll be more productive, it'll be safer. Uh my personal opinion is uh we need to take care of our staff, especially when it's going to be 110 degrees here in about another month. But that's me.

Okay. Okay. I I still like the I can't find the numbers. I I found the SE. So the inind place is how much money? That one at this point I want to say it was 14,000 roughly was was the the bottom end what we currently have in our fleet. We're going from 14,000 to 70,000 there. The capability different. You're talking about No, I heard you but I was just Yes, sir. That's just that's just strictly open. That gives them an opportunity to be a street sweeper as well as just a lawnmower. Correct. In in addition to the closed cab feature and other things. It's and with the closed cap feature, you're actually going to have somebody that wants to get in it, wants to use it, and is going to keep grass beautifully. I'm just I'm just looking at the numbers. So,

was was there a similar This sounds familiar. Was this similar in one of the budget requests for the upcoming year? Correct. Is this going to circumvent I mean this going to remove that item from the future budget and put it in this budget? Correct. Okay. We we currently are we getting two. So, no, I I just thought if we're if we're if we've already been considering it on the budget side of it, I want to make sure that Yeah, this this currently is funded um under 1056074 capital outlay. It was 75,000 that was originally budgeted for a wet dry vacuum truck. Okay. So, just I'm going back to Kip's comment and Mark's comment in the current budget.

Yes, sir. when it was put in there was basically for the item that is the $70,000 item. You told me there's $70,000 in there. So, it must have been for the closed cab. No, it was for a wet It was for a wet drive vacuum truck only. Okay. So, and and my recommendation was to not go in that direction. This this will replace that that capability in addition to mowing operations. Going back to Kip's point. Yes, sir. You're not going to ask us for a wet dry truck next year if you get this piece of No, sir. That was my Is that what you were asking? I'm like because if we're going to look at a $70,000 wet dry in three months, that was my question as well. So, this is

you're switching. This is replacing not only the mower, it's also replacing the wet dry truck. That was correct. Now, now, okay, that that's what I was going with. It will not have to to the point it will not have wet dry vacuum capabilities, but the street clearing capabilities that this model has will take care of will will more than take care of the the need. I want to I want to say to you though that I appreciate very much that you came to us with three different options and how you laid it out on here. I that was that was excellent. I I really appreciate that because this gives the board

options options to look at as well as giving our towns people who are watching I was going to say from here we got a couple from here but or from home um to see that there were options you weren't just giving us what' you say the Cadillac correct of all of them you gave us choices and I appreciate that very much okay so what we're looking at just so I understand it and I think do we have a motion already I have a motion all right so let's do this real quick do I have a motion to approve this so I make a motion to approve the purchase of the John Deere 1585 terrain cut and commercial front mower in the amount of $70,4528. Is that correct? Yes, sir. And necessary.

He's actually got a bid for it. And necessary accessories uh for quality from quality equipment under state contract 2210B for the public works department and authorizing interim town manager to execute all necessary agreements to proceed. Okay. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. And then I believe again for the for the public, you've removed an one item that you're asking for. So this isn't an additional $77,000 that's coming out of our budget. It's already been allocated for something else. We're just saying instead of this, we're buying this. Yes, sir. I would look at it as you as the public works director have made the decision that if we're going to spend this money, this is a better use of that money than the money that was allocated for something else.

And that's in this year's budget, correct? No, for this year for this year's That's excellent. I didn't want to say anything, but it's on a trailer out there. He was getting out of and and Mr. Mayor, this is under a state contract, so it's We know what it is, right? Yeah. The the discount is about 22% total cost. So, good. All right. So, all in favor? I.

All opposed. Thank you. Thank you. Mayor and board members, I've asked Chief uh Chad to provide the board with an overview of fire services as it relates to the fire apparatus, i.e. ladder truck the standards that a ladder truck assists the North Topsel Beach to meet in the relationship it has to um so-called community rating system uh envisioned under ISO and department of insurance and also um um illustrated amorization schedule versus an allcast purchase chief floor is yours

all right so we're going to discuss the ladder truck um going forward um so the PowerPoint is going to show budgeting financing ing just a light hit of it because Wayne and his department did a great job and they've got a more indepth version.

Yeah, I just want to make one comment at the beginning of this. I hadn't clicked on this before and I was going to propose and I wanted I'll do this at a different meeting about when we have large items that before we ever approve anything, we get something like we just go in front of us so that we have a document laying this thing out. So appreciate you know you putting this thing together because I it it's my view for any and I I don't know what that number is board for any out of the out of the normal large purchase we should have this type of presentation with a plan with all kind of stuff in it so that we have a document so that everything isn't done anecdotally and this takes the anecdotal of what you told us before and put it in a document. So, thanks, Chief.

Sorry, he muted your microphone accidentally. This guy um about to walk away.

Um, so like I said, the budgeting and finance I'm just going to touch on because Wayne and his team did a great job and they've got a more in depth. Um, I'm going to talk about our current ladder truck. I'm going talk about our regulations and standards, our ISO and a requested replacement. You know, the understandings. Um, so the budget, the original budget ask, uh, next slide. Sorry. You don't have control of that, mayor. Um, was for 600,000.

Was for the 600,000. And so what Wayne did uh was he put one together. It showed a 4% for 18 1.8 for 10 years and the payment of that would be roughly $18,000. Or if we qualified again for that red leg grant for the 0% how it would drop it down to 15 $15,000 payments over 10 years and at 0%. Um, but like I said, Wayne's got a a lot more in depth on all that information and that's that's his world. Um, and then this just repeats the same thing, showing it broken out the details with the 4% and the 0%. Um, the difference in the payments and the 10-year terms versus all three. Um,

you didn't put this together, right? No, sir. This is all Wayne. I I was being Wayne is different than the chief I'm putting together. Yeah, that right there.

That right there is all Wayne. Um, so just touching on that. So this is our current ladder trucks. 27 plus years is 1999. We bought it. It was actually a demo. And what that means is the manufacturer, the manufacturer built it for the sales dealership and then they tooured it around the state and the country and then we got it delivered after they had gone on a worldwide tour with it. Um so it had mileage on it when we got it. Currently it sits at 586 idle hours. And why are idle hours important? Because idle hours translate to mileage. So for every idle hour, it's roughly 25 to 30 miles that are added to the engine of the truck and the chassis and everything. Um, so if you break that down with the actual mileage, we're sitting at 98,000 miles roughly. Um, it has a 75 ft ladder built on top of it, all hydraulic. Um, the water tank's 300 gallons. It has a 1500 gpm pump capacity. And when we bought this demo in 1999, the town paid $350,000 for it.

So, you're saying you can't find another one for that same price. I think if we gave him 400,000, that should be sufficient. Chief, I'm sorry. What's What's the make? I just want to Google real quick. Sutin. That's the name of it. Yeah, it's a sutin. All right. So, we're going to talk about the the bodies that govern the fire department. NFPA, ASHA, and Office of State Fire Marshall. If you don't know what NFPA is, it's a global organization established in 1896 and is dedicated. Sir, yeah. No, I'm still on this screen. Thank you. Um

um anyway, it was founded in 1896 and they were dedicated in reducing death, injury, and property loss from fire and electrical and related hazards. Um since then, they've developed over 300 evidence-based consensus codes and standards that guide fire department and operations. Um, their main ones are safety standards, NFPA 1500. It they established the gold standards for firefighters health and safety that deals with our clothing, our turnout gear, and uh, everything we do on that side of the fire. Our operational guidance to codes define minimum staffing for staffing minimum standards for staffing and training or and responding to emergency in incidents as well as NFPA1901 which governs us on apparatus and equipment um for fire engines, gears, tools, ensure they function reliably under dangerous conditions.

Ju just real quick when I did that because Mark sent me the stuff because I couldn't find it. The NFPA stuff is not a statutory requirement. It's guid guidance from the fire people. 100%. Yes, sir. It is a it is a guideline, but I was confused. Yeah.

Nope. It is a guideline, but um so we'll get to that. Um and then um NFPO 101 does life safety code and others. You know, there's the NFPA70 that does electrical code. So they run a gambit of codes and standards that municipalities, jurisdictions and codes have adopted which you'll see with Asha. So the next one um ASHA 29 CFR1 1926 uh regulates that every day our trucks will be checked. They're capable of supporting the maximum load. Uh so the ladder, the weight, the equipment, the people in the truck, and everything that goes with it. Um they'll have 85 ft of ground ladders attached to them. So not just 75 foot on top. We are required to have 85 foot of ladders attached. That's why you see all the ladders on the side of the truck because of this Asha standard. um they must, you know, one extension ladder, straight ladder with hooks, a roof ladder or an attic ladder. You know, it doesn't matter how we get to 85 feet, we just have to get there. And if you'll notice, Asha references NFPA standards.

So, just just a quick question for you on on the I think the OSHA stuff on the aerial device, I know nothing about ladder trucks. Is the LA is the one that you're looking at the standard design for like are there they're there bigger ones in bigger cities, right? Is the fire truck that you're looking at right now one is I guess it's similar to one we've got now in terms of Okay. And is that is that the normal I have no idea. Yeah. No. So, you know, is it 60? Is it 90? Is there

Every every municipality has a different uh need. So, like Surf City, they have a 100 foot platform which has the bucket hanging on front of it. Um, and that's what we had where I came from. You've got uh Sunny Point Fire, which is down in Brunswick County. They have a 300 foot bronto skylift and it articulating boom that goes down in these ships because they bring in ammunitions and stuff like that. So, everybody has a different kind of truck based on where they need. Wilmington's got a tiller, you know, it's a tractor drone engine with the guy in the back that drives, you know. Um, so it's just based off the need of your community, what kind of truck you're looking for. What is our tallest building? It would that be the St. Reges, the St. Mar? Yes, ma'am.

Do you know right off hand about we reach to the roof? So 75 foot. Okay, very good. Thank you. So just just real quick. So when you're looking at this, this is basic I'm going to use the word I know you can't do it for 350. It's basically an inind type of thing. And I think you just got that was a question I was going to ask. So this is sufficient to get what you need to get done in terms of the ladder height and stuff, right? Yes, sir. Okay. It it meets the requirements for the need of our town. That's my question. Absolutely. Okay. You know, Mark is going to keep looking at me because Mark, I don't know this stuff. So, it's good good question. No, it's a good answer.

I appreciate the questions because for that reason, you know, um I would rather you ask and and understand it than not ask and walk out of here not understanding. Um so NFPA1901 chapter 9 lays out the aerial advice devices um 85 foot of ground l you just saw these in Asha and so that's what I was saying earlier all the standards they've created the other agencies that we're governed by have adopted their standards um minimum water tank size 300 gallon minimum pump cap pump capacity of a thousand GPMs ours is 1500 which is the standard for fire trucks you Um so though NFPA is a recommendation, everyone has adopted their recommendations.

Yes. Um for our size for right. Yeah. Yeah. Um does it work in New York City? No. Um

so you can go to next slide. 1900. Yeah. There you go. So NFPA has some strict recommendations on apparatus and trucks in general. Um these were adopted in 2024. Prior to that they recommended 30 years of service for an apparatus. In 2024 they changed their standards to 15 and 25. Um that works in really large cities, right? Because they can take a truck at 15 years, move it to a slow station and consider it a reserve. We don't have that ability. We don't have that kind of pocketbook. So we have to run ours. We have to squeeze the juice. Right.

Right. Um so they recommend at 25 years it it's retired. Um and and and that is because technology has changed, right? The the equipment on the truck has changed, the electronics have changed, everything in 25 years has had a major change. So that's why they're recommending the 25 years. Um, we you'll see that bottom when it says apparatus exceeding 20 years should pass rigorous annuals test. We put our truck through that rigorous annual test every year. We bring in a third party company and you'll see them at the fire station with a huge tank flowing all kinds of water. Then when they get done with that, they uh test all the hydraulics. They pull fluid out of it, send it off to a private company for testing of the fluid. they put the ladder under stress and everything else. So, we're already doing that just because we have we're past the 20 years. So, I want to make sure that our guys are safe on the truck we're using. Um, so then we move into ISO. What is ISO? Well, ISO is basically the state being big brother and making sure that the fire department is doing what they require to make sure your insurance rates are low. Um, so they come in, they do a full an analysis of the fire department. Um, and give us a report card basically saying, "Hey, this is how they're performing. We're going to increase your insurance or we're going to decrease your insurance." Um that number is rated 1 through 10. Um 10 is a failure, one is a. We are currently a four. We barely missed it, which you'll see on the next slide. Um but that's essentially what ISO is. Um

it goes in and talks about ladder company operations, staffing, training, equipment, deployment analysis. Um that we do the water supply, the fireflow categories between a res residential that's the minimum required fire flow and residentials versus commercials and all that stuff. So we have to meet all those ISO requirements to get a good grade for the town. Um, chief, if you could maybe delineate between the with emphasis the things that are somewhat under our control from a a rating. I was going to read. Yeah. Okay. Next slide.

Yeah. Next slide. Um, so the things we control is the fire department. We're worth 50% of that grade. So, and that's based off equipment, training, um, apparatus, leader. Yeah. Leadership. I mean, um, tools and equipment and and all that, um, our our fire suppression skills, how quick we get out of the station when we get a call. Um, all that stuff is analyzed by the state. Um, uh, how much how many That's every year, too, right?

No, sir. It's once every five years. So, and what they'll do is they will send a letter to myself and the town manager and the county fire marshal with a date on it. So, when that letter arrives, we have to go back one year from that date of records. We don't get to go forward. They from that date, we have to go back one year because that's what they look at. You can't change it.

No, sir. Nothing can be changed. And I know y'all heard me talk about our software and how the federal government has added things to it. That's so they can actually see if something's been changed or edited. Um, so um, trust but verify is exactly right. So our apparatus equal 10 points of what we're doing in our grading skill. Um, a new ladder truck obviously would receive full credit where we're not getting full credit at this time due to the age and the the issues with our truck. And what's the delta on that, sir? What's the delta on that? How does it change the ratings when you put the new

How many points is that? Because you got a slide that tells we're right against the top. Yeah, four points. That's my question. So, it would pop us over in theory. Yes, sir.

Um, sorry, I lost my spot. Um, but it would also help with our, and it's not just because of the truck. The truck would help with our fire flow ratings that they're calculating us on and um our response district and stuff like that. So it's not just the truck. Um so then water supply is 40%. How much water is available in the hydrants versus our tankers and our trucks. You know the last fire pumper we bought, we increased the tank size on it. That was part of the reason we went from a 500galon uh fire apparatus to a 2,00 a600galon tank. So that and that's the that's the logic behind doing that stuff. Um so some of that stuff we have control over like we do all the inspections of our hydrants and maintenance and stuff like that. So we get credit, we make sure we maximize that credit, but then the fireflow and all we have no we have no control over. Right. That's ana. So had he threw that in there.

Um, for the record, I'm on the ona board. That's why he threw that in there. I've been pushing for a water tower since I got here. Um, that's still being planned. I know it's on the north end.

So then we're 10, our last 10% is based off the 911 center. Something we have zero control over. how quick they take calls, how quick they dispatch calls, um all their updated equipment, if they've had updates, their communications network, the telephone lines. So, there's a lot we have control over, which we try to maximize, you know, training. I have control over my guys training. So, we maximize those training deployments. That's why y'all hear me talking about the budget sending the guys to these classes. That's that's part of it. They've got to have those class

before before you leave that and I know you're going to hit it with the other thing we're talking about. I did not know this until I talked to you the other day when when you and I were together. How are your how are your people trained in terms of of being able to go out and life safe? Uh we we do it all internal. I mean

Yes, sir. I mean they were out swimming this morning. I mean Yes. We we we put them through the Yeah. I mean, we we're getting in the water. We're the ones coming. Um, so you go to the next slide, Ricky. So, this is North Topsel Beach's ISO and where we fell. Um, in the ISO class, we fell at a four, which is good because anything below four, 3, two, and one, that affects commercial. So, we have maxed out the residential with our current situation of everything we're doing. Um, and if you notice, we barely missed a three. Um, but if you also notice, our biggest deduction that hurt us the worst was uh the water supply system. We got a score of 17.42 out of 30 points. Um, again, I have no control over that. And you know, so we mitigate everything else. So to to counter that,

when was the last ISO rating and when are we due for our next 2021? We're due the first of 2027. Thank you.

Y All right. Thanks. So all this why why why do we want to replace a 30-y old truck? Um as you know, fire trucks are not a good investment. I'm not going to argue that. they lose 50% of their value in the first five to seven years. Um, you know, it's is it's the old adage, is the juice worth the squeeze? Um, maintenance costs over the last two fiscal years have cost us roughly $50,000. Um, I can tell you for a fact right now the ladder truck was broke down for the last three weeks and we just spent $36,000 trying to get it back in service. Um, so It is costing us more yearly in maintenance um due to the age of it.

No sir. No, we're we're constantly plagued with electrical issues given our environment. So just given the within the last year, how many how many months has it been out of service? Uh total probably two and a half. So two and a half months out of service out of 12 months in a year. Yes sir. Um so the downtime you know basically once a quarter is making it less reliable uh for us as a department before you leave this. So you don't need this for another 350 years. Is that right? You said this year 20416 2416 2416 is the

No no no that's the number of the truck right. I'm like this year 2014. I'm like, "Okay, let's put the money away for that one. We need about five bucks a month for the next 300 years and we'll be fine." Yeah. I apologize. Okay. Yeah. That I looked at that the first time I saw it. I'm like, "This year 2416?" Yeah. No, no, that's this year the fire truck will have a value of Yeah, that that's the number of the actual apparatus. Um,

so the equipment failure, it's not an acceptable risk, right? because not only is it putting the guys lives in jeopardy, it's also putting the residents lives. Um because we don't know if it's going to go in pump gear from time to time because of the electrical issues. I So we're, you know, but we're doing the best we can in maintaining. Um it's got antiquated equipment and technology. Um everything has evolved to create safer operating operating apparatus. So the new apparatus are designed so they cannot hurt themselves if that makes sense. there. Everything's computer controlled. So the ladder can't come down and crush the body of the truck. Can't crush the cab. Can't hurt someone. It won't go below a certain point. So unless it's set up properly. So those are st safety operations that our current truck does not have. Um and so how can a new apparatus Thank you Ricky. Assist a town. um greater rei reliability um operational improvements faster deployment you know um when we hit the starter now it's it's an old engine she turns over for a few minutes um improved reach and access and and what I mean by that 75 foot is 75 foot right um and that's from the bed of the truck but they're so much lighter now that these new 75 ft uh apparatus are coming on single axles where ours is a double ax tandem axle. So we got extra cost and tires and everything else because when we turn we're dragging wheels. Um so the reach and access enhanced safety of the equipment for the firefighters, better water flow capabilities because the pumps now are better engineered than they were back in 1999. So they're actually doing more volume with less RPMs. Um

so it'll help with the impact on the ISO rating uh for DOI. Um we'll get the equipment credit. Uh we'll lose that age and condition. What's the equipment? It's it's just the equipment for new equip. We have new and updated equipment in the ISO rating. So that that's Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Yeah. Oh, no. Chief tax credit. Hey, chief. Question. I mean I if we were to start to order today and I'm just posing hypothetical if the ISO next rating is in 2027 would we be able to meet that deadline? Would it benefit us? So

no uh 3 to five years and ironically I didn't even know this. a friend of mine sent me uh apparently a bunch of news media ran with a story a week ago saying that there's shortage on fire trucks and that's three to five years out because the manufacturers cannot keep up with the de demands of what the needs of the fire service are. Um so yeah 3 to five years they they don't take into consideration that it's in the process. They no they will they look they do look at that but we're not going to get points for it because we don't have it you know I think that's the issue, Kip, with that look back. They don't want you going up and saying, "Uhoh, I better go fix this stuff because now I can go forward and show you this stuff." They're saying, "That's that's exactly right.

What are you doing now?" Not exactly right. But what you're also saying, too, is we have a 27y old engine that if it takes 3 to 5 years, it's going to be 30 32 years old by the time we get a replacement. Correct. Thank you. And with them changing the NFPA in 2024, there's no uh grace period or anything on any of this, is there? No. No. Um, so it'll have better response capabilities. Um, you know, with the three stories and better better tools and equipment and that's that's the whole PowerPoint. Is this would it be based at the fire station one? Yes, sir. Because that's where is correct. The majority of our highrises are um that that's why it's stationed there.

I didn't know if it wanted to live in a nice new firehouse down here on the south end. I mean we we can any questions presentation. Yeah, great presentation. He's got to do the money. Wayne's going to do that in the next meeting. One more page of of benefits. Go ahead. Yeah. How can new apparatuses? You probably addressed some of it. I thought there was a I printed mine out. I swear I thought I had a slide at the end about money. Oh,

I think that's in the online the the agenda packet that the clerk sent us has it. Well, thank you. I know we really appreciate it whenever you can educate us on all this stuff. It helps us to make up uh informed decision not only just for the fire department but also for the residents of the town for the taxpayers

as as well as letting us know sooner than last minute. So that's huge. And I think the other thing I mentioned at the beginning is what I like is this is and I'm assuming we go through some of the other steps, we talk about some other stuff, you'll be giving us updates on here's what we're doing, here's we're going through, you know, to Kip's point about having it available. You don't know. So if one slips off the line or something like that, the question is, you know, where do we do and those type of things, which we'll talk about, we get to the stuff with Wayne about financing and putting money aside and things like that. Well, we don't want to miss an opportunity if something comes up a little bit earlier either.

And Trey t spoke on a little bit like so we've got to design a spec, right, of what the town's needs are and then that's got to go out for bid because this is such a costly Oh, yeah. truck. So, I mean, yes, there is time as that's going to you have to evolve um to make this happen. And just one real quick for you, you got basically no resid value on this site. When you get rid of it, you're going to keep it. Um, is there any I mean I'm not telling you to spend $50,000 a year to maintain it, but if it's only worth $50,000 and you can maintain it for5 or $10,000 until that happens, you still got a backup.

That is a that is a conversation to have because we do get credit in ISO for a reserve ladder. Um, and we do have the facility now to house them. Um, but you know that that's going to and this this truck would never be able to be used in the fire system again. It only be like somebody that's commercial that's trimming trees or something like that. Oh yeah. So, well, no, not necessarily. I mean, cuz like

they want a ladder truck. Um, so the gentleman that just bought our fire apparatus that we just sold, he was refurbishing it and he was taking it to a third world country to sell. Um, so it could do something like that. A lot of departments will donate to like Cuba and stuff like that when they're done with them. Um, Virgin Islands. Uh but we we but as a reserve thing you could in an emergency you could pull some Oh absolutely. Look and you you and Mark know a lot more about the fire stuff because of your background. I just look at it and said if if if we're getting $50,000 for this, okay, unless it's going to cost you a bunch of money to maintain it, you are going to have breakdowns. Oh, absolutely.

And the question is, you know, you know, if you're getting points for it, that's fine. But to me, it's just more a redund a little bit of redundancy. I think you've maintained it. Well, not only that, I mean, like we've said before, you can what if a situation to death, you know, if our ladder trucks in needs fer city and heaven forbid a fire break out of Regis. So, that's just something we can put on the back burner and think about whether we want to sell it or hold on to it. Yeah, because I'm going to the the fire apparatus we just sold, I think it went for $10,000, but that's kind of, you know, I mean, there there's no value in them selling them. So, we don't do parades. Thank you. Thank you, Chief. Absolutely. Thank you.

Just to close it. Thank you, Chief. But this is this presentation was just for information. It's a it's a it is a budget item in the propo in the draft, excuse me, draft budget for fiscal year ending 27. So, we we'll you'll see it again uh number-wise. Thank you. Nice job. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you, Larry. Do I just stay here for the next topic? Yeah, you go ahead. Go ahead. It's not as bad as what's underneath us right now. I can't fix it as fast, but I like how you set the agenda. Thank you. All right. So, now we have Oh, can I do a little prelim on this thing?

So, um I was given a heads up by Alice and by the chief that there was something on the county agenda about them establishing what was what was the name? A fire safety position. No, I'm sorry. a beach safety position on the beach. Um, right. And so I had a conversation with the two of them and and the concern was how many people were going to be on the beach doing fire safety. Um, and so um, we have a very good relationship with Enslo County. We reached out to the board. We got it taken off the agenda, not even discussed at the meeting. Okay. and we agreed uh to work together to figure out ways we could work together for two reasons. one uh we can do it better together and two we can do it cheaper together because they were budgeting money basically to repeat to repeat is that the right word duplicate what we were already doing on the beach and so um Connie myself chief and Larry we didn't have anybody else there right just the four of us um had a meeting last week with three of the county commissioners with their county manager the assistant county manager and what's the title of the safety guy,

the emergency manager. Emergency manager and we had had discussions with them structurally. Um chief did a briefing as to what was going on in the beach. They now fully understand that we are their beach. I would say that's fair now and uh very good meeting. Um and uh the three commissioners were there were very supportive of us. Um, and without getting into all the details that you're going to get into, I remember one of them at the end of his presentation we talked about he says it was basically you guys got to take care of the beach. What can we do to supplement and to help you and to fund things that need to be done to keep the beach safer? All right. So, Larry, go ahead.

Yes. So we um as a result of that meeting, we uh chief and I uh took the uh task to uh build just a a preliminary draft what if budget um basically incorporates um equipment, materials, supplies, staffing. Uh there was some thought of of creating uh stands. I don't believe this this version uh doesn't include stands. It's not a it's not a significant expense. Um but u but that would be an additional cost and um so I would invite Chief I think he's got handouts that we can provide. I don't know if there's a slideshow. No, no handouts. No handouts. Can you at least use hand signals? We did.

Okay. Interpretive, right? But but I think something we've talked about this for a while is is that we have a very very good relationship with Enslo County right now. Um, and I think we experienced that while we were there. We were actually there for the the swearing in of the clerk, too. Uh, which was good. But the support that we got, you know, and chief, you were there. The support we got from those three commissioners was significant in terms of their commitment to us and their understanding of this town. stand up.

Yeah, I think the biggest the biggest part to them was the educational piece because they had no clue what we were doing on the beach to begin with. Um, so I think once they got the educational understanding of we're already providing the service that they didn't need to duplicate it.

And and by the way, I did take that little note off the slide, put I had a slide that said you need we need to educate the county people. Okay. and I printed it out and then realized that probably was not a good slide to have presented to them. So we we changed that one and you didn't know and I think that they you'd had that discussion before chief with them and and also we I spent a lot of time with especially with Tim with the with the chairman on that and it was um they are very supportive of us right now and um um we didn't get in the weeds but so the preliminary budget you might want to back we decided not we had we had a strategy discussion before we wanted to make sure they understood per your discussion as to what we do right

all All right. Why we do it, things that we talked about about, you know, how you guys get your people being trained and all that kind of stuff they had no idea about.

Yeah. Correct. Um, so but you know, I appreciate them taking the time to listen and understand what we are doing. So they didn't duplicate it. Um, so as y'all know, we we provide the beach rescue for our beach, right? our our guys are trained. They get in the water, PD assist, you know, um they beat us there sometimes and they're halfway in the water or vice versa. We are the first responders for our beach. Um so what what we did is we put together a preliminary budget. I thought he was pulling it up. Anyway, um it basically had one full-time position, which would be a captain rank, um who oversaw the implementation of all the policies, uh the procedures, ordering the equipment, the stands, training, and everything that would go forth with providing an ocean rescue service to the beach. Thank you, Ricky. Um, so this is a just a preliminary quick look we threw together.

Before you get to the numbers though, would you you know and again I had to be educated on the stuff that you were doing too and how you respond to things about whether you know seeds and all that kind of rescue stuff and the training and stuff. So when you're talking about this person, you might want to explain and I think you are what that person would do, why they why would they would be part of the structure of what we're talking about is he we would have the control of rescue and things on the beach and that the control would not be seated to the county in any in any manner at all. Is that fair? 100%.

That's the structure we wanted. Um, that's the structure we wanted because even if the county is providing the ocean rescue portion of the beach, we're still having to respond for the medical side. So, it makes no sense for them to do it and then us to still have to respond. It's either all or nothing. So this this position would be not only training of the ocean rescue staff, it would also be training the fire guys as well, keeping their proficiencies in water, jet skis, the boats, and all that stuff. So it's not just like they're going to come in, they're waiting for people to show up for June through a October. um they have duties year round, you know, maintenance on vehicles, the you know, the UTVs, the four-wheelers, all that stuff. And offseason, they have to keep their certifications up. And it's not just we're going to we're just going to start an ocean rescue program. If we're going to start it, we're going to be USLA certified. We're going to we're going to train and go to a certification level that one is protection of our department, the town, because we are training to a standard, which is what we're using at the fire department for our guys. So, um I think that's very important. We're not just throwing people on the beach. They are train being trained to a standard and a level that is a nationwide standard. So, um that's what the full-time position would do. Um from there, uh we've spitballled all kinds of numbers. Uh we're we're looking at how to break up the beach, right? Do as the town, do we concentrate on the heavy areas, the parking lot?

Hang on. describe to them the structure that we're talking about, the vehicles and things like that because that's that was a new thing. So, if you can walk through that.

So, that's what Yeah. Um, so as a town, we're you know, we're looking at this holistically. Do we just concentrate on the heavy areas where the parking lots are? Well, no, because we still have a ton of beach, right? We So, what we were looking at was more of a mobile uh program, something like Surf City kind of does, uh just more robust. Um we're looking at four UTVs to break the beach the beach up with two two ocean rescue personnel per vehicle. Um and then we're also looking at four four-wheelers for the drive on beach. And the reason for the four-wheelers is because that area gets so saturated with four-wheel drive vehicles, the four-wheelers can get between the trucks and actually get to the water where they need to be where the UTVs will not be able to have that maneuverability. Um, so then we talked about stands. Um, stands are very important. I know nobody likes to see a lifeguard stand on their beautiful beach, but the lifeguard stand is important because one, our beach is flat. So if they're sitting at the same level as all the umbrellas and the people on the beach, they cannot see the water. So the stands elevate them to where they can see the water and actually be proactive instead of reactive, which is what we currently are. We're a reactive beach. We wait for the 911 call to come in. This program would be proactive. They would be out there educating people on rip currents. They would be educating people on holes in the beach that their kids are digging with their 12oot shovels. Hang on before before you leave that though, an important thing. You just said we're reactive and not proactive. That's not technically true

because what do you do during high times and where do you put your people knowing where the hot spots are?

Yeah. Well, so Memorial Day, July 4th, and Labor Day, I have extra staff that comes in. They patrol the north end. You'll see them ride up and down the beach depending on the tide and the pickup truck. Um, we staged the jet skis, one at the north end and now we have another one we'll stage down here at the south end as well. Um, we used to put the boat in the water. Um, Miss Dixon used to let us park it at her house. Um, but since she left, we kind of lost it. Um, but we we staged the boat as well. Like we we're proactive, but you know, I've got two people in a pickup truck and I got 12 miles of beach. So, inevitably, as Kip, as you know, being in law enforcement, when you get to the north end, the call is going to be at the south end. So, um,

you have you have set up to be as proactive as you can with the resources you have. Absolutely. Yeah. Um, and just for clarity, I know you guys were talking about county and us and us and county for a while. Are these salaries and everything coming out of the North Topsel Beach budget? That's that's we're going to talk about that in a minute unless you want me to hit it now. That's one of my issues with the whole thing. The county says, "How can we help?" And they want to help us and then all of a sudden we have over $700,000 that their help is going to cost our taxpayers. I don't like that at all. And I will never ever vote to approve lifeguard stands ever. And I told Larry that right in the beginning.

That's why it's on the budget. And that's and this whole thing. I like the idea of beach safety. I like starting off as baby steps. I do not think in this tax season when if we're spending $700,000, especially with salaries, I can think of some positions that we could and and the police chief has already come to us and told us that he has positions that need to be raised to certain levels, which we're going to do a study on. But I am just thoroughly not happy with the county saying, "How can we help you?" And it's not going to help. And safety wise, it may help our citizens. Uh, but it's all of a sudden costing our citizens a lot of money, and I don't like that.

As a surprise, one of the things he knows that I've been very much focusing on is the cost. So, this is the first time we've seen what the costs are. understand where we are with them. We are only in a conceptual phase that they are saying to us. Okay? We are willing to help you on the beach. All right? They have not seen these numbers. They don't know what these numbers are. Okay? And frankly, you already know my view on this. I don't care what they call the money they give us. They can call it for bananas as long as we can use the money to do the things we want. We have not presented this to them. We've also talked about whether you do a phase in on something like this and does it have an impact because the the cost of this thing is and and Paul was really good about the commissioner because one of the things I said to him I said look we want to work with you. We want to be cooperative in the things we've got. We cannot be in a position where we've got vehicles and all this other stuff and then I didn't use the term you guys walk away with us in year two and now we're stuck with all of these expenses. They don't know what this looks like. They've not seen this. What they've said is you guys have to own the beach. What can we do to help you? So, this is a first run. And and frankly, what I'm looking for, we've talked about this chief from the board, is conceptually. All right. We like the concept of working with them. We've also talked about staging it in. You know, maybe we do this for, you know, we have half the vehicles or we have whatever because you also have the issue is the part-time salaries are lifeguard trained. I hate to use the word lifeguard. What's the right word?

Ocean rescue. Ocean rescue train changed people. One of the things we talked about is kids go back to school. You know, you got them to work in the summer. Um, and so all this stuff has got to be flushed out. He just wanted and Larry wanted to bring to us conceptually. All right, forget the numbers for a second. Um I would be very concerned and I don't I think they're off the issue of they're going to do this. The other issue about this thing is Tim was told this is going to cost them $200,000. So we can get them off that issue too. They have what's the tax? I'm got the my brain recre

tourism money. They have tourism money that needs to like we do with our accommodation tax. It's got to go into certain things. What we're trying to do and a good job putting this together is conceptually we want to build a partnership with them. All right. Trying to figure this money back. The issue on salaries and stuff is not just a money issue is that I think collectively we do not want this to be a county employee. No. Right. Well, that was my big question was who is the employee? Is it a North Topsel employee or accounting? Because it would I'm hoping that it would fall underneath your umbrella and not be a whole another department with another department head where you guys are on scene and people are butting heads where

there needs to be one man in charge. That's how that was your education for them though too, right? Yeah. Because I asked him I said does turkey no who responds to a to beach stuff? Us Turkey Creek goes on standby. Why why does Turkey pe when you put a boat in the water? Why does Turkey Creek put a boat in the water? For safety reasons. They have to have two in the water at a time. It has nothing to do with them doing what these boats are. You know, you need more than one boat. And and remember the what's been explained to me and I appreciate the education. The boat's not out there for rescue. It's too late.

Boat is out there trying to find something. Okay? And then then you'll get the Marines out there and everybody else. So what we're trying to do on this conceptually is this would take time because we don't want to do any of this without anou. We want we want an agreement about how it's going to be funded. We want all those type of things. We need to have council look at this thing to make sure we're doing it correctly. Okay. And I think the earliest you said you could even do anything. It's going to be July or August no matter what. So the only question I would ask from a consensus standpoint is I would like the ability to continue for us to have these discussions with them to flush this thing out. Okay. Um, and you support you support this piece of it too, correct?

Oh, absolutely. Um, it it'll So, my guys are busy and we already run a minimum staffing. So, we're already running medical calls and literally they will come out of the water from a rescue, jump in the truck soaking wet, covered in sand, and go to a medical call. Um, and they're still going to respond to the the the water rescue, right? because they're the medical side of it. Um, so they're still we're still involved. And if you look at ocean rescue programs from Florida to Cape Maine, they're all under the fire department umbrella because we do rescue. So, it makes sense for that person to be under the fire department.

Yeah. I mean, look, Mark, my concern is, and you you and he know a lot more about this in the public safety than me, is I don't like split command anything. Okay? I don't like the idea of of two people being out there directing people. Well, you made it clear that's not the way this thing works, right? And I think the control issue is where your biggest concern on this is. I got somebody else on the beach with me, okay, running around in an ATV or whatever they think they're going to use.

Well, you know, uh, like I told the mayor is one, they have nowhere to do this down here. So, they're going to be off the island responding onto the island with all this equipment. um which creates another hazard for us to deal with and the police department to deal with because it's going to cause traffic issues, right? Depending on where they're going. So if we can if they can even get here, right? If they can even get here. So which means we're going to go anyway. Sir, and look from a money standpoint to Conniey's point, this is the first time I've seen it. Anybody's seen this,

there will be nothing in this year's budget for this because we don't know what this deal is with them and we're not going to get this thing done in the next month or two. I mean, it's going to take time. It takes forever to get us through them anyway, right? But the other thing that we explored county attorney, not so he is.

I'm sorry. What did you call his work again, Mark? Okay. But the other thing that that we did kind of as an oh by the way which we had talked about beforehand is they have a grant person that they've hired. All right. What grants are out there that they and they said they'd be willing to consider having their grant person work with us to look for money since we do not have a full-time grant person. And I think it took them Alice a year and a half or two years to find that grant person. They're just not out there. I mean I think I think this is a a a great idea. Yeah, I'm just looking structurally structurally

um because it it does matter to the county. I can't tell you how many times I go inland and people say, "Oh, you got a place at the beach?" Yeah, down in North Tops. So, I'm not going there because it's dangerous. There's rift current somebody, you know, two two or three deaths a year. So, this is this is great to try and eliminate that uh bad publicity to get more people to come out to our beach. But we do have to educate them and you know like we've done before as far as signs in English and in Spanish or whatever it takes to to warn people to stay out of the inland. No, and that's a good point. I mean, look, I want to hear what Kip has to say and Connie on this. The idea behind this is we are at the very infancy stage of this type of thing. These do not come together.

But having an infant, it's a it's a commitment time to like having an infant though. It is a commitment. It is not, like you said, a two-year deal and say, "Ah, it's not working the way we wanted to. We can't afford it. See you guys later." Well, we don't want, you know, and this per I asked the other thing I asked him is, "So, this guy, what's he what's this per not this guy, this person going to do?" He said, "They'll do all the scheduling, everything else, and they're going to have to take care of the equipment, too." So, Keip, what do you think? What's your vision as far as year round coverage? Are we thinking obviously peak season um and then in the off- peak season? Is that usually that's the prime training time for police department? And I assume the same for the fire department as well. Is is is your vision, you know, busy busy busy recovery in the offseason? What's your vision?

So you mean for that person or the whole program? The whole program. You might want to tell him this. He was talking about seasonal because you can't even get the lifeguards here. You're not going to get those people here 12 months of the year. I know we're not talking about lifeguards. I'm just curious is what your vision is as far as year round just so we understand that this isn't just a we're going to do it for six month four or five months we're going to shelf it not do anything with it and then pick it back up you know week before um that was a good question

yeah obviously the the seasonal staff is Memorial Day through Labor Day correct um the full-time position is year round training you know they've got USLA meetings they have to go to all up and down the coast They've got the training they have to keep up with through USLA. They've got to be uh CPR certified so they can teach the staff. Um and then in the offseason they're breaking down equipment, cleaning it, maintaining it. Also, they're going to have to do fire classes as well because they can't just specialize in USLA. They've got to be multifaceted. Um fortunately, before I retired, this was my job. So my last five years before I retired, I was the rescue captain for Carolina Beach. And so I did I scheduled all the training for the fire guys, all the medical training plus did all this. So I mean we had 42 full-time seasonal and 40 part-time seasonal. Um so there was 82 plus another 22 for the fire department plus the volunteers. There there's plenty for that person to do. Well, not only that, but with offseason and paid parking year round, everybody's going to look for the free parking in the offseason. Those areas and surfers as well are still going to be at the beach,

you know, and Larry and I had that conversation, you know, because there's two weeks of training they have to go to. There's 48 hours they have to meet to meet USLA guidelines. Um, leading up to the season and after the season, obviously, it's going to be the fire department responding again. Um, and that was to try to cut down on some of the cost to get the program up and running. So, two two more. Go ahead. No, go ahead. Two more points. Um, since we were talking about ISO ratings, how does this help our ISO rating? This does nothing for nothing. Then lastly, question,

the police department implementation. As we move into the peak season, you know, as well as beach ambassadors, there are beach patrols on with the rock sore. Um, how have you envisioned or how did you do it in Carolina Beach as far as implementing um a more robust uh network of public safety whether law enforcement and the fire department? So, how do you vision that

from from that from that standpoint? We didn't have beach ambassadors down there. It was uh we had beach patrol from the police department and then we had the ocean rescue program for the town and they were the ambassadors. um the PD was stopping and getting out with people that were breaking code violations or the ocean rescue would stop and try to educate them. If they would get unruly, they would just call police officer um because we all had the same radios. Um so that that's how that all worked out.

And I mean because listen, I've taken the rocks are on the beach and when it gets crowded, you're heading up here to the beach county beach access. You can't get through there. No. Now with an ATV, it's going to be a whole lot easier to get people to move out of your way and to to maneuver that safely. I can tell you driving the rocks or through the crowds was actually, you know, 100% your point. That was the point that he made. He's like, you can't take these things. I mean, if you don't have an ATV, you can't move through those things. Yeah. And this this guy's got to go to turtle school, too, right, Tom? That's right. Absolutely. Well, that's another thing about putting extra stuff on the beach. Turtle safety.

You know, we had turtles down there. We work great with the turtle program because you know here where y'all rake it out smooth, they actually dig trenches down there for the turtles when they're hatching. So when they would get close to hatching, we would divert how we went through that or if we had to go through it, we would stop and dig it back out. The state doesn't let them do that anymore. Oh, really?

Yeah. There they have so many more rules and regulations. I'm not I although it may appear that I am opposed to this, I'm not opposed. Anytime we can work with the county especially, but I do think if it is implemented, it should be baby steps, very small baby steps. I absolutely do not like that they have offered to help us and then we're going to saddle our taxpayers with hundreds of thousands of more dollars in expenses. And in some ways, I'd rather not have it at all than have to saddle our taxpayers with that. However, working with the county mind.

Yeah. I want to stay open-minded about it. I And I love that the county wants to partner with us anytime that that happens, it's beneficial for us. It's beneficial for them, beneficial for the residents and visitors. But um baby steps, baby steps is because it's always easier to go up and add more than it is to somebody said it implement a whole lot and then say no, we we can't do it or the next board says what are we doing with this? We're going to we're going to scale everything back. I would rather start little um have a couple more a ATVs down at the down at the very north end either for the police or for the fire and have a little bit of patrols. I I don't know. It's just it's an awful lot. I have an open mind about it, but um I'm a little resistant as well as you probably noticed. No, but I think no, it's it's a good point because the other thing too is since we have never presented numbers to them. All right, if they see this level of numbers, the message is going to be we don't have the money for this. Is there a different structure you want for those type of things? Now, what you did miss is what was the one bone of contention we had that they refused to do that I asked them to do?

Get rid of paid parking. Do you remember that reaction? Yeah, he did ask him to get rid of free parking. Free parking. That was another that was kind of I was hitting them at the end of this thing and they're like that is never going to happen. Man, that did not go over well. Thank you. Any other question? I mean, just from a consensus standpoint, nothing's nothing's done with this. Nothing's baked with this. I think it's good feedback to get. Everybody chokes on the numbers right now, right? Because that's the first time we've seen them, but they they haven't seen any of this yet. So,

well, it will be an education process, too, because everybody that comes to the beach that's never been to the beach, never seen a dune and everything else, they see a huge lifeguard chair, and they say, "Well, I can't go in the workers. They're my lifeguard." So, there's going to have to be a ton of educational information that's put out. And Mr. Bow Tai has got to give us advice because we were told not to use what word? Lifeguard. That's why I said ocean rescue. That's the one thing they said. You cannot, you will not, you you will not use that word because people get a false sense of security. And do our residents want this? I mean really our responsibility is to the residents. Do the residents want something like this?

And I think as we've always said, our town is the beach. Beach is in the name. and for us to provide a safe environment. We don't want to lose any kids, anybody on the on the inlet. Tragically, you know, we we keep our fingers crossed. We hold our breath every year that we don't have to face those tragedies and anything we can do to help show our commitment to our beaches and our visitors and our homeowners and our taxpayers. Absolutely. I I I agree. Um but I do like your presentation. I thank you very much, Chief. Well, and and back just real quick to your to Conniey's comment, you stage your stuff now.

And so the first step may be staging these things in the areas that we think that they're necessary,

right? And so it's it could be exactly what you're doing now, but on a different scale. Well, and it's like you and I discussed and Larry on the way up there, our program identifies hot spots and and we we have hot spots identified on the beach that we know we're going to respond to because of rip currents and time of day and everything else. So, um there are ways to roll it out softer, but yeah. Thank you. Thanks, John. Thanks, Larry. Appreciate it. I'll go first.

Okay. Because I'm going to start way back. Um on April 21st, as part of the Top Sale Island Shoreline Protection Commission, I traveled to Washington DC to meet with congressmen and officials to discuss the different issues regarding North Top Sale Beach and Topsale Island as a whole. Uh we were with our lobbying firm, the the Ferguson Group and TISPC met with Congressman and legislative members, including those from Senator Ted Bud's office, Representative David Rouser, and Representative Greg Murphy, as well as different agencies such as the Army Corps of Engineers, US Fish and Wildlife, and the Office of Management and Budget. The issues we discussed, some of them were um islandwide cooperation in disaster recovery in FEMA. Um maintaining funding for the new river inlet and top new top sail inlet as well as navigational dredging. Amending the bo the uh amending the boundaries for the coastal barrier resources system in North Topsale Beach. Of course, that's the big one. Overall, the meetings were quite productive as it appeared to me that the people we spoke to were interested in our issues as evidenced by all the questions they asked and the back and forth dialogue that we had. Um, I was unable to actually meet make the meeting with US Fish and Wildlife to discuss Cobra, but North Topill was represented um at that one by TISPC chairman Will Snider and an Duran of the Ferguson Group. I was briefed afterwards. They when they met with the leadership, they raised uh the the leadership raised technical questions and they did as well about the assessment and our lobbyists are now currently having constructive dialogue with them with follow-up meetings to come. I was actually um in contact with an this morning and the mayor and I will

likely be having a meeting with her in DC with them all in the DC in the future. Um it was real quick on the end thing. Did she tell us that we have now did she tell us that we have now provided because some of they didn't have all the information? Is that right? I wouldn't at the meeting but yes that so they had um back earlier this year they had actually at the end of last year they provided us with a proposal that we 100% agreed with and even if it wasn't 100% we were willing to pull

pull that trigger and take that win and then in February um their staff came back out and basically gave us the same the same stuff that they always had had it just a different date on it. So, the new head of fish and wildlife, he was the one um that that we needed to have the meeting with who was needed to direct his staff and to relook it over again. They did not have all our our information about the infrastructure that was already in place. We already had water lines in place. We already had electrical roads were already there. Um, also I quickly um emailed Lexi and Larry and said, "Hey, I need some I need some information. How much of our town is actually in conservation zones?" And

I was not in office. Oh, you weren't bra but Brady got right back to me and he gave me a whole bunch of information that I provided to the senators and I said if you're if you're concerned about keeping the town uh or the concern used to be to keep the town in a con in more of a conservation area so that it would not be developed and I said but 57% of our town is actually zoned cond not just as a board but our residents also are so in involved with the environment. I happen to mention that I was with the turtle group and said so we are not

I'll get to that in my report. It's not a competition but uh anyways they they seemed very impressed that the town was uh wasn't just trying to bulldo through everything that we are very very environmentally minded. Before you leave that too, the other thing that we didn't understand when this started is the original stuff that we were pushing for was actually going to take like wetlands and stuff out of the Cobra zone, not just the stuff that we that was built along the town that we had infrastructure. So, we were asking for this much when we only needed this much.

Yeah. We only want um areas that are already developed. We don't want to take anything out of cond. We're happy with with our conservation zones. So, um, so there's ongoing talks as we speak. There's still ongoing talks. Um, and I I would have had a real good feeling about it around January. That kind of went downhill a little, but now I'm starting to feel real good and positive about it again. Um, and just to point out our Larry and my reaction and your reaction to that second letter was not a very pleasant situation to be in when we were talking to our people up there

in terms of who dropped the ball in this on this thing. Why did this happen? And how did how did they say how did Annne say that they this the new guy described his staff as Go ahead, you can say it. basically old hippies that have been in the position forever. So, so that I really do feel positively about that. We'll find out.

Yeah. And our our representative lobbyists with the with the Ferguson group, they were they're pretty amazing in the knowledge that they have about our town, about our situation, about the history of our town. Um and Duran is the one that is really in with us. But there were several lawyers. We have um Congressman Mike McIntyre, former congressman.

Former Congressman um took us all around, spoke to everybody. It was really um it was it was really good. And oddly enough, you would come across people up there, staff members and stuff that were have either vacationed or have had relatives that had homes on the island. Which leads me into in this part I'll let you mostly take over at the yesterday at the state level the mayor Chris Gibson and I went to Raleigh as part of the Top Sale Island Shoreline Protection Commission and we talked to Representative Carson Smith, Senator Michael Lee, Senator Brent Jackson and Senator Lazaro. And up there we met several people

including senators. They had senators that would come up to us and say, "Hey, I have a house on North Top Sale." They also had him in Hampton Colony. One of the senators got a house at Hampton Colony, which is which is the phase 4 beach that got done. He was very happy with that. Yeah. So, that was really crazy. Um, we had different issues we spoke to with them. uh possible moratorium on shellfish leases, shallow drift inlet funding, use of sand from the spoil island in our uh for our beach project, advocating for reoccurring and increasing funding for coastal storm damage and mitigation fund. Um all these all these discussions were generally positive and it was

the one shellfish guy. Yeah, it was um some of them were very actually knew our issues had really but others needed to be educated on them. I thought that that went really well and I'll hand the rest over. Okay, I mean if I can just real quick go ahead again. I I know we've been singing Larry Strawther's praise through throughout the the day. Um, having worked with Larry on Tispach, the Topsel Island Shoreline Protection Commission, um, he obviously worked diligently to bring these issues and to keep them, whether shellfish every day, every day. And and his dedication to really put us in the position that we were in to do this lobbying.

Uh, I mean, his presence was sorely missed because of that knowledge, but he put us in such a good position by the work that he did prior to his passing. I just want to interject that and stress that to our community. Oh, and I should put in there that I just didn't elbow my way into his position, which I'm sure nobody thought of until I said that out loud. Um, yeah, you could have kept that one. Yeah. Before uh years ago, not that many years ago, I was the citizen representative on on the Top Sell Island Shoreline Protection Commission. And then when I when Dick Peters passed and I was appointed, I was on the You were involved in a beach a lot.

Yeah, I was on the board for Tisk as Larry called it for um for He called it Back too, didn't he? Was it deep Back and Tispack? So So I have always kept really up to date on all this stuff even when I was not on um involved as a board member. Um, and I will point out right now, someone does need to be nominated to be to be on take Larry's place or his position. What we talked about is let's wait till Laura comes. Yeah, we'll wait till she's going to go ahead and go to the meeting with you guys next time just to figure it out because she's got a lot of beach knowledge

because we can have um we can have two board members and we can have a third person. We haven't had a um we haven't had a citizen representative in a while, but we probably should. But I think the other thing too is we need to think about this and Kip, you and I talked about when you interview people is half the job is showing up. Okay? And if we got people that sign up for stuff and they're not going to show up. We were talking about Terry before. Terry doesn't miss meetings,

right? And I think one of the things on on a lot of this stuff is this is not a negative. When Steve Smith was running TISPC, it was very driven for their town. That's the way these work. The other thing I found out yesterday from somebody is that we'll talk, it's not in the budget right now, but we'll talk about a little bit is um Surf City has their own state lobbyist, not just through TISPC. And I know as a board we've had this discussion a lot about, you know, I mean, we have to decide how important these issues are to us because and and I'll take the the COBRA issue is millions of dollars to our citizens, right? Okay. And some of these other issues are the other thing that we were very careful about yesterday. Um, and we had a precall and a lot of this stuff is we were asking the TISPC people to stay on issues that are all that are important in to all three and not be looking out for other stuff. It's my we want our own pie kind of stuff because we've already talked to and I talked to Mike Lazar as we were leaving again trying to set something up to get him to get legislation that says North Topsel Beach. I sent him Chris sent me some stuff on said Oak Island. And I always want to confuse those two. That had gotten a $20 million matching grant a couple of years ago. I sent him that. We sent him a bunch of information to No, I put it in. Mike, this is to educate your staff, of course. Okay. Sent him a bunch of information on that. We're going to try to do a follow-up call with him. He was very positive. So, yes, we did bring up things like filling the shallow draft fund, but for example, Surf City was making a big deal out of the Army Corps project for them and doing those type of things. You got 20 minutes with these people. you can't fire hose them. And so the key for us in this thing, the other people were basically especially the shellfish stuff that that that was TISBC's big thing,

which is not quite as big an issue to us. I mean, it's nice issue, but we'd rather have money. Uh and so when we're working with them and working with with um Senator Lazaro on stuff, it's to get him to do legislation for us. We also found out because I happened to be looking at it before we went down there is he actually has put in legislation about um uh getting rid of the the limitations on um harden

hardened structures which is the groin that's actually he's got that he brought that up in our conversation and also some other funding for stuff. He's a real advocate for us um and um an important part of it. I thought that was very positive. But but Connie and I and and Chris does a great job when he's explaining this stuff up there. It's unbelievable is we picked the issues that we wanted to hit with them that were important to us. Okay, we would let and and William did a nice job. I didn't talk about shellfish leases. All right, I'm not that I've seen them. Whatever. I know that the response to that. We got into funding stuff. We made sure it was important that when we left with them that we were asking for something else as well. And one of the issues that we brought up consistently was on the shallow draft fund. Chris did a great job on this is people look at that fund and it's got $70 million in it like oh we can spend that someplace else. All right. And the answer is one project can take out half of that and those type of things. And so made that he made that point very well. Um I forget you brought up a couple of things while we're in there that I didn't know about. Remember her background in the media those hated media people. um was very good. No, it was I think it was a very good meeting, but keep in mind um this is asking to somebody to marry you on your first date with some of these people. Um you got to go in, you got to pick the stuff that's important to you, the priorities and stuff. And when we talked about it before going up there and with Chris is the important stuff for us is trying to get money for our beach project, try to get shallow draft money,

okay? Getting at least something in the budget because something's better than nothing. And uh we'll talk to Lazar again trying to help us with

trying to help us with this. Oh, and that's the other one with Yeah, the other one was this issue we've had. She was talking about on the um on the on the the sand the spoil island we were talking about. Um I'm pretty sure we can get somebody from Lazaro's office not only to help us make sure they stick to a meeting this time, but to actually show up at the meeting. and having a senator's aid there at a meeting with staff, I think, is is gonna help us because the other thing that Chris pointed out to me, which I did not know, um that he told us is right now the equipment that we would use for this project is being underutilized. It's one of the best times this winter to go get that stuff. It's going to be a lot cheaper even though we think the forecast could be if we can get the done get this done quickly. So, that'll be something out that Doug's going to be modeling for us as well. So that that was Chris has got so much knowledge about what's going on in this industry that it's when when you can get three hours with him, it's very educational. So any questions on that? I think it was a I think it was a good meeting, but again, these meetings are 20 minutes long sitting in their office. Um Lazarus staff, head of staff owes us now because they set it up for 12:30 and then u he got caught up in other stuff and so it was 2:45 when we sat down with him.

Yeah. Okay. Okay. So, when I was walking out with Adam, I said, "Just remember this. Now you owe me, man." You know, um, well, and they seemed like they might come out to the cops to K9. He was very interested in the police,

right? I gave Larry a heads up on that because So, when I was walking out with with uh with Larara, I said, "So, I'll see you on Friday." And, you know, at the cop thing, he goes, "I don't know. I'm like this." I said, "Well, Adam pointed to his Adam says, he says, well, he's got the master calendar. So, Adam's going to let us know if he if the senator's going to come." And Larry and I talked about that before because, you know, you can give him one of those little fake badges or something, right, Chief? Just make sure we're taking you'll take care of him, right? We just want to show this guy a lot of love for the beach, too. The other thing, too, is the knowledge that that man has of the stuff in this town and where, you know, where this flows and that flows, uh, is amazing because remember, he's really from um, Sicily.

Well, he's from Polmo, Sicily, which is my opening comment with him. I didn't know he was born in Sicily. No. Oh my god. Where's John D? Where was John Davis? The mayorans. Swansboro. He was from Swansboro. So anyway, good good meetings, good people. We'll keep you in the loop. And uh if you'd like to go to a fundraiser, let me know. I'll be going. Um all checks appreciated. So no, but he's I think he's going to be a very good advocate for us. A really good advocate. Don't you? Thank you. Okay. Open forum. I have one sign up. Okay. Uh Mr. Anders

after late afternoon I'm Curtis Anders 136 Seagull. Couple things Keith brought it up today. We've talked about it for over two and a half years. Rusty Walker started about two and a half years ago looking for access in North Tops. You've got the petition. I think there 170 people now have signed on that petition. Um, one thing that's come up over and over again, we seem to get nobody wanted to look into it is the Dolphin Shores parking lot and bathrooms. Um, at one time I've researched it, they we were going to buy it, the town was, and one person in the HOA said no. So, they had to turn it down. Why don't we look at leasing that parking lot and bathroom paying their town property tax every year, whatever the better agreement would be, taking over it, make it into one of our parking lots and let our contractor charge the people that want to park there. And that will probably ease a lot of the tension that's that's going on right now with golf carts and people being able to get to the beach, plus having a bathroom right there and I have to walk so far. The other issue has come up is last year we've got like five people got online North North Carolina DOT port hole got the bridges patched up. Okay. Um Jamie at at DOT called me and said hey we can't get to Peter's Park because it's too cold run out of this this and the other. We readressed it again this year with the port hole which everybody here and everybody online can go on that port hole and put more pressure on DOT to get it done. They come back and said oh it's not necessary. It's not needed. And I'll be like, "Yes, it is." I said, "Peter Park bridge is terrible." So, we need a little bit more pressure from everybody just to push them to say, "Come and fix Peters Park on and off bridges right there." Um, the the good news that comes out of some of this is we have had some people come back and let me know and other people around the neighborhood, they have had actually success with Enslow's reappraisal of their houses. Okay? And so, that is happening. Make

sure you you put your your request in online telephone call and get you a meeting with the board. Bring your paperwork because we have had some people success. Okay? So, don't turn it down. Last thing I want to talk about real fast is um there's a certain lady that came here and grabbed this town by the bootstraps and ran with it and changed this town while she was here. Um, her legacy I think with the people that I've all talked to, it's all we sit around and have our little senior conferences and talks and breakfastes and stuff. Her legacy I think is going to end up being and I told her this today is the people that she hired here and put in positions here in our staff that are absolutely great people. Um, so I want to say thank you from myself and from all the rest of the people I've talked to in this town from Alice. We will miss you dearly. We thank you for grabbing us by the bootstraps and pulling us forward. And we also thank you for leaving the Lexus, the three sitting in the back room back there, the fourth one in the corner over there, the ones upstairs, the nameless,

and the two that she hired that we've never had before here. Okay, these are these are very very very good people and hope y'all stay. We do. Okay, and I just want to make sure that we haven't said it enough that Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Alice.

Do we have anybody else? Lexi, that is all.

Okay. Um, attorney's report. very brief um and on topic with praising all of the work of Senator Lazara. Um as you all know, our office with a group of other municipalities and law firms has been working on the downzoning prohibition and you all passed a resolution last year that we sent to Senator Lazar's office. Um he has worked with Senator Brenson to introduce a bill that would essentially exempt Enso County and some other counties and the municipalities within those counties um from that downzoning prohibition to give you all more um flexibility when it comes to zoning. And so I just wanted to give you that update. It has been introduced and we'll um hopefully it will pass. I will keep you updated as that goes through the legislature.

Can I just ask you one quick question on that? Why did that why did that h I mean what what again this is that you know it was probably on Facebook that it was a special deal that somebody got pissed off um around Raleigh and and this was done as a favor to them because they didn't like something that happened. It is my understanding in the local government scuttlebutt um I I do not know this for a fact but it's my understanding from hearing folks is that there was a property owner in Durham that wanted to have a gas station um took some steps for gas station to to have a gas station and it was next to a residential area and uh Dur I think it was Durham County uh reszoned the property so that it couldn't be a gas station and the property owner had some friends in the legis That's I didn't I didn't know the details, but that's basically that, you know, because that got snuck in is what people have

that was snuck in on the last page of the hurricane Helen Recovery Act. Yeah, because I was talking to Oh my god, the senator in byways about that when it first came out. He says that's dead and it ain't dead yet. Thank you, Mark. Uh, basically we keep basically keep it short and sweet since uh we're 40 minutes into the budget meeting. Uh, thank everyone for coming out. Uh, I'd also want to express my condolences to the Larry's family and I hope that our board and all the future boards in this town can uh strive to try to achieve the goals and objectives that uh, Larry had fought so hard for. Thank you.

Oh, you got to add one other thing. resurfacing. Oh, as far as resurfacing the roads, yeah, remember you followed up on that. Thank you.

Yeah, I followed up on that and uh basically I think I mentioned it last alderman report that uh the they got back to me said that New River Inlet Road had been uh inspected and it was not on the 5-year resurfacing plan and that its current condition was good. So, uh, and my personal opinion is, uh, the bike pathways are going to have to wait. Um, but that's my personal opinion. Uh, we're still working with Jumpo on a lot of other topics as well as crosswalks and other things. But, uh, and we will try and bring up what the individual brought up today as far as, uh, the first section of New River Inlet Road.

Yeah. And just so people the the history on this, Mark, and thank you for doing that. We talked at the last meeting for you guys at that meeting. The reality in that is we first looked at the bike path, it's because it was going to happen when the resurfacing happened and so we were only going to pay a fraction of the cost. Nobody builds a bike lane next to a state highway for five miles. Okay, I'm not even sure they would approve it, but putting that aside and now they told us at that time because Fred was working, right, was Fontana. They told us we were in their three-year window to get it done and now we're not even in their fiveyear window. Well, with that being said, also I think we've discussed this before that if you try to put a bike lane now against the pavement that's already there, it's just going to crack and uh fall apart and become more of a hazard than a help.

Nobody ever do it. Thank

I won't be as brief. Sorry. Thank you, Mayor. Um uh I'd like to begin by reporting my uh by addressing my absence during a majority of this past month. Um, as many people know, I was out of the region, out of the country on a scheduled family cruise. However, uh, when I learned on uh, Sunday, April 12th uh, of Larry's passing, um, I was deeply saddened to receive that news. It's a tragic loss for our town, our community, his church, and his family. Um, I deeply regret being out of the area and unable to attend the celebration of his life. Larry was a man who truly understood that our shoreline was more than just sand and water. It was it is the heart of North Topsel Beach, a source of livelihood, beauty, and connection for generations of residents and visitors alike. He was unwavering in his commitment to protecting our shoreline and had a profound love for his community, and I know we u all are better for his tireless work on behalf of our island. On a personal note, I'd like to acknowledge Larry's incredible impact beyond this deis. Uh as a project manager for the Sneezed Fairy Presbyterian Church Fellowship Building, Larry poured his time and talent into creating a space that has become a true pillar of our area. This structure has served our community well, acting as a recent home for the Fairy Tales Youth Theater. I'm pleased to share that uh from May 28th through the 30th, the theater will be performing the musical Matilda. And it's a wonderful opportunity to highlight the incredible talent of our community's youth and the many volunteers who come to put on such an amazing performance. I encourage everyone to come out and support them and do that in Larry's memory.

The 20th, I'm sorry. The 28th to the 30th. I want to make sure I put that on my calendar. Yeah.

Right. Um, and as we head into the busy summer season, uh, we have several important dates, uh, on the horizon. This Friday, uh, May 15th, our police department is hosting the Cops and K9's event from 4 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. And I hope to see many of you there. Coincidentally, May 15th is also Peace Officer Memorial Day, a day in which we honor the loss and sacrifice of law enforcement officers across the United States. This year, we honored 363 officers lost, 109 who made the ultimate sacrifice in 2025. While I miss being in Washington DC for National Police Week to stand with the families of fallen heroes and support those in uniform, I believe it's vital that we continue to highlight the dangers and sacrifices facing our public safety officers every day. We also recently honored the National Fallen Firefighters Memorial Weekend on May 2nd and 3rd, remembering 204 fallen firefighters, including 97 that were lost in 2025. We owe a debt of gratitude to all who serve and protect us. Looking ahead, as we approach Memorial Day, the unofficial start of summer, um I want to encourage our residents to keep the spirit of service alive. As we've discussed today, the board is now accepting applications for the seat vacated by our uh alderman Larry Stru. I strongly encourage any resident who has a heart for this town and a desire to contribute to our future to submit this application. Service to our community is a cornerstone to what makes North Topsel Beach the incredible place that it is. And that concludes my report.

I'd like to report on the turtles. I mean, sorry. Um, you've probably heard me talk enough today, so I'll keep this pretty brief. Um, Mark and I had a parking committee meeting. Um, we're keeping the parking rates the same as they have been. There's basically no no changes. Um, we are going to have uh the the the ordinance codified that that surrounds that also. So, um, what was the what, uh, the amount of money that was brought in was about was it about 700,000? I have it somewhere in my notes, but I've been on the road and don't know where I put it. So, that was that was about what we brought in this year. Also, it is turtle season. There is there there have been

We're not keeping score.

We're not keeping score. Although, Surf City did get the first nest this year. We got one the very next day. So, so we're tied. There's two turtle nests on the island. North Top Sale was second. We're just We're letting them have a little bit of bragging rights this year. Don't forget to turn off your oceanside lights interior and exterior. Pull your blinds. Um, the town does have some turtle paraphernalia out there, beach mats, lighting, all that. We will be starting turtle talks here on Tuesdays at at nine o'clock in the morning um starting the first week on June. So that's it on the turtles and and the only other thing was I did want to offer my condolences to Larry's family and to uh fire chief Chad's family as well.

So thanks everybody for coming. I also know why Keip had to write down the tribute to Larry because I couldn't get through it if I had to if I if he hadn't written that's why I couldn't even read the thing. I mean it just you know how close the three of us got. And people don't realize how much time he spent on the things of this town. We were on the phone every single day on this. He followed up with an he followed up with everybody. Um Larry was a guy that could sit there and say, "Rick, that's a stupid shirt." I'd walk away going, "Wait a minute." Um he had that way about him. he made that he made people feel good about themselves. Um I was lucky enough and thank you Lexi for helping me. Uh they asked me to do some comments at that um and uh it it was hard and then that parking lot was completely full and the things that he did. You you mentioned the churches um when they talked about him the things that he put through the you know all the work that had came in. You know, it's like if if he got onto something, he got onto something and he he saw everything through. Um there's a big hole in terms of um I know our lives in this town from from from what he did. Um and it and it was tragic and uh I also wanted to thank uh police department um when you let us know what's going on. I actually went down there, but I didn't want to go in the house and I think the you had fire people down there too, Chief. Right. And there were policemen and stuff down there. Um, the other thing I wanted to thank, uh, and I don't know if you, Larry, did it or the chief did, having the fire truck there at the service, um, and having, uh, I think Captain or Chief, you were there too, right? Yeah, we had people there for the service. We had, uh, we pulled up, the fire truck was there. Um, and, uh, really appreciate the effort that everybody did to put that together. He was Larry was something else. Larry was very was very unique and uh his love for this town um

was was incredible. And like I said, the irony of the whole thing is Mr. Beachman lived on the sound side, okay? And it didn't matter to him. Um and one last anecdotal thing, uh two things that I said actually that I said many times. if you're around Larry. Um, and we used to meet periodically for that coffee place that that I'm trying to think of the name of it, uh, in Surf City. And he would walk in there and just hand him his cup and he got a Larry. He always got the same coffee and everything else. Um, and everybody knew him where wherever you worked at. And I said if the guy ran for office in Surf City and 400 people voted, he'd get 600 votes because he'd find 200 other people to find him. As Kip and I know, he refused to go on social media, right? But he knew everybody. He didn't need to be on social media and he refused to get on social media. And then my final antidote with him and the love that he spread around, which is hysterical. I was literally in Jacksonville at a HomeGoods and I was looking at some sweets up on the shelf and a young woman turned to me and she goes, "Aren't you a friend of Larry's?" And I'm in Jacksonville at a HomeGoods. Everybody knew him. Um and u the funny stories that he told about he and and and one of the stories real quick that I didn't even know the love between him and his wife. They were not even married at the time. All right. And apparently she saved his life. They were dating and apparently she had been married to a cardiologist or something, right? And the story is she looked at him and said, "We got to take you to the hospital." And he had surgery that day or he would have died. and uh she had 10 years with him and an incredible woman and an incredible man, an incredible gift to this town. Um and he will sorely be sorely be missed. So, love you, Larry. And uh with that, are we going to take a break now or are we going to go straight to budget? Do you want five minutes to get the budget stuff together?

Oh, going to close session. given given the time. Um I mean the only issue for close session I think is not timely and so we can push that so that you all can get to your budget. Okay. Is that all right? Is that right? Unless unless you I want to go into close session but I just I was going to recommend we push it to the end if if it needs to be addressed today. I think okay that's a good idea. So we want to go straight to we don't need do we need to recess? Um if it would be okay just allow staff that need to get anything from upstairs to go and grab that. Just like a fiveminute recess. That's fine. Just do that. That's fine. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks everybody.