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n the course of its relatively short (one hour) March meeting, the Oriental Town Board voted to set up a Harbor Planning Committee and held off on spending several thousand dollars to repair the small boat launch at the end of Midyette Street until at least a second bid came in. Among other things, the Board also heard a report from the Town’s police captain that another $1500 was needed to outfit the new police car.

In attendance were Mayor Bill Sage, Commissioners Warren Johnson, Sherrill Styron, Barbara Venturi and Larry Summers. Commissioner Michelle Bessette was not present nor was Town Manager Bob Maxbauer.

Here’s the wrap up:

Public Comment: Request For Town Employee Numbers, Take Two

During the Public Comment segment at the beginning of the meeting, resident Missy Tenhet expanded on a the question she’d asked at the February Board meeting. Back then, she asked how many employees worked for the Town and was told the figure was not readily available.

While the new Oriental Town Hall was being built, the Town took on several more Public Works department employees. The number working in the Town Hall office has grown as well – at one point there were five administrative employees in addition to the Town Manager. At the March and the February Board meetings, a resident has asked Town officials for town employee figures. No official stated a figure at either meeting.

At the March 5 meeting, Tenhet told the Board that she’d like to know who the current town employees were , what deparatments they worked for, what their salaries were and how much the Town as paying in employee benefits such as health insurance. Mayor Sage said that info would be provided “within a reasonable time.. 24 hours or so.” (Tenhet says she was provided the information on Friday, March 8)

Committee For A Harbor Plan

Commissioner Barbara Venturi sought approval for setting up a Harbor Waterfront Committee to develop a plan for the harbor. She said they’d have a report by October 31. Venturi recommended that the committee be made up of 7 people: she and Commissioner Larry Summers and one person each from the Parks & Rec Committee, the Tourism Board and Planning Board. Two other seats at the table would go to “residents of the Town of Oriental.” No criteria or method for applying to be on the committee was mentioned. Noting that one of the Town Board members would be the chair, Venturi said, “that would be me.” The Town Board approved the formation of the committee unanimously.

How To Rent Out Town Hall

Commissioner Summers suggested forming a committee to figure out what to charge – if anything – for groups that want to hold events at the Town Hall. Among the things to be worked out, he said, was whether there would be a different prices for groups that were non-profits, and those that were for-profits. Also, whether taxpayers who rented it would get a different rate from those who didn’t pay taxes in Oriental. Another consideration in determining rates would be setting up and cleaning up. “We need something fairly quickly,” Summers said, as the staff is already getting inquiries. Summers suggested he meet with a staff member, “two members of the general public” and the Town Manager. The Board approved that.

Boom For Harbor Update

Bill Hines, an Oriental resident with the Neuse RiverKeeper Foundation said that the Southeastern Pamlico Volunteer Fire Department had agreed to store a boom when it wasn’t being used to surround oil and fuel spills on the Oriental Harbor. Hines said he’s started raising funds for the $3,600 purchase.

The pink goo that seeped and spilled from the Lady Barbara (toward back of photo) after she sank in January. A member of the Neuse Riverkeeper Foundation has started a campaign for the community to buy a boom that would contain such pollutants and keep them from spreading far from a spill site. .

The Town Board pledged to contribute $1,000 if the other $2,600 came through from other sources. The Mayor said that $1000 would come from the Occupancy Tax money that the Town absorbs every year. There is currently $171,000 in that fund, which is set aside for waterfront improvements. (It was this fund the Town was planning to tap in order to build the new Town Dock at the end of South Avenue before the land swap was proposed last winter.)

Hines said he was also recruiting volunteers to help with the 11th Annual Neuse Cleanup Day on April 6 in which the local creeks and waterfronts will be targetted for litter pickup. Mayor Sage read a proclamation noting the cleanup day comes on the 41st anniversary of passage of the Clean Water Act.

Police Captain: New Car Needs $1,500 To Be Primary Police Vehicle

Police Captain Dwaine Moore told the Board that the newly acquired Dodge Charger should be the Town’s primary police vehicle but that about $1500 more had to be spent on it to make it ready. In particular, Moore cited the radar equipment that remains in the older police vehicle, the Durango, which has 100,000 miles on its engine.

Speeding is “one of the biggest” law enforcement issues in town, Moore told the Board. “We’ve got people flying down the road.” Logging their speed is key, butut with the Town’s radar equipment, “in the Durango and not the Charger,” Moore said, the new car is “irrelevant for monitoring speed in the Town of Oriental.”

As seen recently on Church Street, Oriental’s older police vehicle, a Durango, and behind it, the newest, a Charger. Police captain Dwaine Moore says the radar unit for catching speeders needs to be moved from the old car to the new one. In all he says, about $1500 in outfitting still needs to be done.

In answer to a question from the Board about whether the radar equipment could be switched back and forth between the Durango and Charger, Moore said that the cables attached meant it was “not something easily moved from one vehicle to another.” In order to use the Charger as the primary vehicle, it needed to have the speed monitoring radar installed permanently, he said.

Moore said that the $1,500 covered more than the radar. The new Charger needed an equipment tough box for rifles, he said, as well as a first aid box, power converter for the laptop computer, and a spotlight, too. Having those things, Moore told the board, would “put the Charger in the primary policing mode.”

Several months ago, the Board had allotted $25,000 for the purchase and outfitting of the Charger. The Town Manager Bob Maxbauer purchased a vehicle for $21,500 and chose to use the remaining $3,500 for what he described then as “lights and lettering” Captain Moore’s report on the additional needs for the Charger appeared to come as news to the Board.

Commissioner Johnson said that “the Town Manager has a budget to work with.” Mayor Sage said that it was a “matter of fitting it in with the budget” and that “the Manager has the ability to make it happen.” The Mayor said that the police captain should approach the Town Manager about the $1500 for the Charger. (Maxbauer was not at the March 5 meeting. The Mayor said he was ill.)

A commissioner asked what brand new radar equipment would cost. Captain Moore said the price ranged from $2,500-$5,000. A dashboard camera system, bought new, ranges from $2,500 – $4,000. Commissioner Johnson said that that the camera would be a “major safety factor” on traffic stops, and also as evidence in a courtroom. Johnson told Moore that some commissioners “put that very high on the priority list.”

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First Budget Meeting Date Set

Beginning July 1, the Town enters a new Fiscal Year. Before then, it’s up to the Town Board to work out a budget for that year. After receiving a proposed budget from the Town Manager, the Board typically meets for several budget workshop sessions in the spring. The Board has set Wednesday April 3 at 8a as its first budget meeting. The Mayor said he expected that first meeting to be shorter than later sessions which have historically run for several hours. All the budget meetings are open to the public.

On Town’s Accounting Being More Specific

Commissioner Johnson said that “up until very recently” the Town’s Financial Statements showed between $8,000-$10,000 in Miscellaneous Expenses. Johnson said he worked with the Town Manager and Office Manager Heidi Artley and “been able to sort them out.”

Johnson outlined some new line items. One was for “South Avenue Professional Fees” which showed $2,600. Also, he said there was a line Item for “Litigation-So.Ave” for the Cox-v-Town Of Oriental lawsuit. (Johnson among others had been saying the cost could be $20,000. The statement shows $3,210 spent on legal fees, so far and Johnson commented that “that number is not as bad as I thought, but it could still grow.”) He said there is also now a line item for “Insurance Claims Denied.” Johnson said that in one instance, a windshield was cracked by a rock that flew up from a job the Public Works Department was doing. The claim was denied and the Town had to pay $400. Another Town vehicle was involved in an accident, said Johnson. In all, the General Fund Accounting for February shows that the Town paid out $1,344 for “Insurance Claims Denied.”

Earlier in the meeting as the Board was going over and approving minutes to previous meetings, Commissioner Venturi noted that she had asked the Town Manager for a line item list of the costs associated with the Town Hall renovation. “I want to note I don’t have that yet,” she said. The Mayor said that was something to be discussed later, but it did not come up again at the meeting.

Tree Board and Parks & Rec Committee Can Now Accept Contributions

The Board voted to set up line items for contributions made to the Tree Board and the Parks & Rec Committee. Commissioner Venturi noted that some $80 in contributions had come in to the Tree Board recently. ($25 from one resident, $50 from another in exchange for two trees that the Town Manager had removed from the lawn of the Town Hall during the renovation, and $5 given by a cruise ship visitor after Grace Evans took the group on a tour and touted the work the all-volunteer Tree Board has done in recent years in planting and or tending to hundreds of trees in town.)

Bidding Ado: Midyette Street Small Boat Launch and the Cost of Repair

As he had done at the recent Board retreat, Commissioner Summers, noted that the small boat launch at the end of Midyette Street was in “pretty bad shape.” He said that the Town Manager had gotten an estimate of $3,997 from a local contractor to repair it. In addition, Summers said he wanted to see a kayak launch added – a Yak-A-Launcher developed by local inventor Al Privette – for an additional $800. He moved that the Board approve that spending, but ran in to resistance from the three other commissioners present.

The small boat launch at the end of Midyette Street. The boards on the floating dock have wavered and need replacing, as does other hardware and the pier railings. Commissioner Larry Summers wanted the board to approve the first and only bid that was sought for the repair job. It approached $4,000. The other Board members said they wanted to see more bids first.

Fellow Commissioner Sherrill Styron said that the Town “should have gotten more than one bid.” He added that with the one bid now made public, it was a disadvantage to that contractor because other bidders could underbid him. Still, Styron said, “I don’t want to take one bid and go with that.”

To the questioning about the lack of multiple bids, Larry Summers responded, “I don’t know what the policy is. I don’t know that we need a second bid.” Commissioner Venturi asked, “Wouldn’t we always want a second bid?” Venturi, Styron and Commissioner Johnson voted against going with that $4,797 bid.

Commissioner Johnson asked if the job of repairing the dock could be given to the three additional people hired in the Public Works department who until recently had worked on the Town Hall renovation. “See what the lumber and materials cost” for the dock repair, Johnson said, “Something tells me they could do it for less money.”

Mayor To Resident: Time To Speak Has “Come and Gone”

In the audience at least one resident raised her hand to speak on the matter. Mayor Bill Sage did not allow that, saying “The Comment Time has come and gone.”

The agenda for the meetings puts the Public Comment section at the opening of the meeting. Spurred by the Mayor’s refusal to let a member of the public speak at the end of the meeting, at least one resident said afterward said she’d ask use the Public Comment period next month to ask the Board to allow public comment at the ends of meetings as well. That way, residents didn’t have to wait an entire month to comment to the board about something heard at a meeting.

Posted Saturday March 9, 2013 by Melinda Penkava