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riental’s Town Commissioners met several times on the week of May 7-10. Money issues emerged, and not just at the budget workshop for sorting out the spending plan for the fiscal year starting July 1.

The Board met for its regular monthly meeting, as well as a closed session and a special session to discuss how they would advertise for the Town Manager’s position in coming weeks in order to replace Bob Maxbauer who said he’d be leaving on December 31. And in the public comment section of the Board meeting, three residents criticized the Mayor and Manager for a lack of responsiveness and for expanding the number of Town employees.

Oriental’s Town Board at a budget workshop at Town Hall. They meet around a table on the floor below the dais where commissioners usually sit during meetings.

Here, then, a wrap-up of what happened at the Town Board meetings May 7-10 in Oriental NC.

Closed Door Session To Discuss Land Swap Rights-of-way

The Board met with its attorney for almost an hour behind closed doors Tuesday night, May 7 to discuss the lawsuits brought by resident Dave Cox. Cox in late April appealed a Superior Court judge’s order to dismiss his first suit which claimed that the Board had no right to exchange the Neuse River waterfront right of way of Avenue A last summer as part of the land swap with Chris Fulcher. On top of that appeal, Cox has also sued the Town over the Board’s decision early this April to give up South Avenue’s harborfront right of way as part of that exchange with Chris Fulcher.

The Board took no action on emerging from that meeting. However, in a budget workshop later in the week, Commissioners said publicly that the Town’s Attorney, Scott Davis, estimated his firm would bill the Town $10,000 to $30,000 to defend the Town Board in the new lawsuit and $10,000 to $20,000 to defend the Town in the appeal.

Maxbauer Calls For Tax Hike, Blames Lawsuits

Town Manager Bob Maxbauer recommended that the Board raise property taxes by 3-cents-per-$100 valuation, claiming the tax was necessary to pay the Town’s legal bills in the Cox lawsuits over the land swap Maxbauer orchestrated. Maxbauer said his tax hike would bring in $63,000 — more than the $20,000-$50,000 estimates on what the legal expenses would be. (Each penny hike in the tax would raise $21,000.) The Board instead recommended a 2-cent hike per $100 valuation — with the proviso it only go to pay for the legal bills.

Oriental Town Manager Bob Maxbauer, who sought a 3-cents-per-$100-valuation property tax hike to pay for some anticipated legal fees in the lawsuit over giving up Town rights-of-way leading to the Neuse River and Oriental Harbor.

Maxbauer’s call to raise taxes for a particular part of the coming year’s expenses stood in contrast to assessments of the Town’s financial health that he and Mayor Bill Sage made on at least two occasions last week.

At the May 7 Board meeting, when some commissioners expressed concern about the Town’s reserve fund after Maxbauer spent $300,000 on the Town Hall renovation, Sage had said “everyone should feel good about the Town’s financial situation.” At a budget meeting on May 10, Maxbauer defended his expansion of the Public Works staff from 4 employees to 7 and commented, “we’re not in dire straits. We are in good financial position.”

Contacted away from the meeting, Dave Cox declined to comment when asked if the tax hike were a ploy to turn public opinion against his efforts.

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Work Begins On Hiring A New Town Manager

The Board discussed advertising for the Town Manager’s position and tentatively planned to place an ad for $20 with the League of Municipalities. Several commissioners spoke of seeking candidates from coastal NC because of their familiarity with regional issues. The salary range mentioned would be $35,000 – $50,000. Currently, the Town is paying Bob Maxbauer $56,000 a year (and $57,500 in the draft budget for the coming fiscal year starting July 1.) The Town also pays the full premium for Town employees health insurance, averaging out to $7,600 per employee, per year.

Maxbauer says he wants to stay on the job through December 31. That would allow retirement benefits at the highest possible level. (He turns 65 in November.)

The subject of hiring a new Town Manager also came up during the Board’s budget talks on May 10. The budget was unclear about how much the Town would have to pay if a new Town Manager were hired in the summer and Maxbauer stayed on the job through December. “Are we putting in the ad, “You can’t start til December?” asked Commissioner Barbara Venturi. No definitive figure was penciled in — and no tax hike was suggested to cover the extra expense.

Paying Maxbauer After Retirement

Once he is retired from the position of Town Manager, the Town could still be paying Bob Maxbauer at least $12,000 a year for working 10 hours a week as the Operator in Responsible Charge at the water plant. That prospect came up at the May 10 budget meeting.

To do the job of ORC, one needs certificates. Maxbauer has gotten at least one of those certificates by taking classes, on Town time, in the last year. He is planning to take still more courses away from the office this spring and summer, at the town’s expense.

Bob Maxbauer on May 10. Seated across the budget table from him are, in foreground, Commissioners Sherrill Styron and Warren Johnson.

Maxbauer To Get More Water Training On Town Clock

Maxbauer told the Board at its May 8 meeting that because of a new state requirement, the Town will have to run daily lab tests on the discharge which flows in to Whittaker Creek from the water plant. The water is currently not tested that often and is tested by an outside lab.

Maxbauer said the Town would set up a lab inside the Water Plant building at the intersection of Gilgo and Windward Drive and that he would do the testing. In order for that to happen, he would need another certificate, he said. Maxbauer, who is stepping down as Town Manager in December, informed the Board that he had enrolled in a five day course that takes place June 10-14 in Carthage, NC.

Maxbauer told the Board he would be he also will be out of town the week of May 13-16 attending a NC Rural Water Association class.

At the May 10 meeting Commissioner Michelle Bessette questioned the wisdom of Maxbauer going off to class. “Is anyone (else in the Public Works department) going to water school beside yourself?” she asked. Then, noting his December retirement, she added, “Since you’re not staying with us, we’re investing money and not reaping the benefits.”

That’s when Maxbauer told the Board he had “offered” to be the water plant operator under the next Town Manager. When a Commissioner suggested that the Board seek a Town Manager candidate who had those certificates and that training, Maxbauer said that he was the only Town Manager he knew of who had such certificates.

Oriental Town Manager Bob Maxbauer, in foreground with finger pointed, and Oriental Town Board at the May 10 budget meeting.

The Town paid for Maxbauer to attend water classes last year after he suggested he be trained in some of the water plant testing so that the Town could stop paying the more than $10,000 a year to a private operator, Terry Groom. However, though the town paid for that training and Maxbauer was certified last summer, Maxbauer did not take over the task. He said in the fall that he had too much on his plate with the Town Hall renovation. The Town has continued to pay the private-sector tester, Terry Groom, until as recently as this month.

Pesticide Training For Maxbauer

The subject of Maxbauer being gone from the office to take classes on town time brought a related question from Commissioner Warren Johnson.

Johnson asked about a pesticide application class Maxbauer had signed up for in Jacksonville in June. The Town already has a public works employee who has the necessary certification for spraying pesticides. So why was Maxbauer, with a half year left as Manager, seeking a duplication of that certification for himself? Because, Maxbauer told the Board, “I’m a hands-on manager and would rather possess the certification … as opposed to working under the license of an employee.”

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In other news from the Town Board meetings last week:

Update: Siren Behind Town Hall

Commissioner Warren Johnson reported to the Board that he’d attended a meeting of the Southeast Pamlico Volunteer Fire Department and was told the siren behind Town Hall should be functioning by June 1. A part had to be ordered for the switching system to send relays from the emergency dispatcher in Bayboro to the yellow siren 50 feet above Town Hall.

Bids Sought For New Town Dock On Harbor At Fulcher Swap Lot

In his Manager’s Report on May 8, Maxbauer told the Board he was seeking quotes from three contractors for the job of laying decking to create a dock out of the pilings off the harbor lot the Town received in the land swap with Chris Fulcher. One quote had come in, Maxbauer reported and he is seeking more.

The new dock planking will have to be made of wood. The spacing of the creosoted pilings will not allow for the placement of the cement hog slats.

The May 10 budget workshop meeting. There have been several such meetings this spring at which the Board adjusts the spending plan presented to it by the Town Manager.

Repairs To Small Boat Launch Off Midyette Street

Maxbauer said the job for fixing the small boat launch at the end of Midyette Street has been awarded to IBX which had the lowest bid, at $2550. The replacement of all the hand rails was not included in that amount, however. The Board voted to allow up to $3,000 to be spent. That’s less than the $5,000 Maxbauer had sought for the project after entertaining two higher bidders this spring, until Commissioner Warren Johnson urged him to speak with the lowest bidder, IBX.

Lupton Park Tennis Court Renovation

Maxbauer reported that quotes for widening and smoothing out the tennis court in Lupton Park (at Third and High and Mildred) ranged from $40,000-$60,000. The Town had budgeted $22,000 – including a $7.000 donation – for the job. Maxbauer said he would have the Public Works crew start the job in coming days.

Police Report: Secure Your Stuff

Captain Dwaine Moore delivered the monthly Police Report and beseeched residents to “secure your stuff.”

“We’re coming in to that season that the ‘snatch and grab’ thing is going on,” Moore said. In particular, he cautioned that residents secure boat motors, kayaks, dinghies, as well as other “boat items they might leave unsecured in the backyard.”

Moore said there were 7 arrests in April.. more arrests in one month, he said, than in most of last year. Five of the arrests stemmed from two break-ins.

Deputy Town Clerk Leaving

When it went in to closed session on Tuesday night, May 7, the Board said it would also be discussing a personnel matter. After the meeting a Commissioner revealed that Deputy Town Clerk Sandy Johnson-Clark would be stepping down, though no date was given for her departure. Johnson-Clark started working in the Town Hall office in February. At a budget meeting, Maxbauer said a woman named Jane, “with a deputy clerk background” would be starting on Monday May 27. He said Johnson-Clark would be training her but did not say when Johnson-Clark would be leaving.

Sandy Johnson-Clark is the 5th member of the Town Hall staff to leave in the past 15 months. (A 6th, Heidi Artley, retired this spring but now works part time in the Town Office.) Commissioner Warren Johnson commented at the May 10 budget meeting that “It’s new people all the time.” By the time they grasp something, said Johnson, “they’re gone again.”

Accounting Of Comp Time For Town Employees

In the Commissioners Comment period of the May 7 meeting, Barbara Venturi asked that the payroll information prepared for the Board each month include a column showing how much comp time employees have accrued. That way, Venturi said, the Town won’t be surprised when it has to pay out accumulated comp time when an employee leaves.

Her request for that accounting touched on another query that has arisen among some residents lately. Venturi told her fellow Board members, “It has been a little frustrating to not be able to answer a question, ‘How many people work for the Town?’ This might make it a little bit clearer.”

On Spending, Number of Public Works Employees

At recent meetings Maxbauer has declined to answer directly when asked how many employees the Town paid, in particular in the Public Works Department. It eventually emerged that there are 7 employees in the Public Works department in this town of 902 people. That represents almost a doubling of employees there from just a few years ago.

The budget Maxbauer proposed for 2013-14 called for spending $148,800 on Public Works salaries (as well as $12,900 for FICA tax, $37,500 for health insurance and $9,773 for retirement or almost $209,000 on Public Works employees out of Maxbauer’s proposed $1.2 million dollar spending plan.

Commissioner Warren Johnson, who takes issue with the expansion of the Public Works Department from four to seven employees.

In its review of the budget proposal, the Town Board said it wanted to spend less on the Public Works payroll, knocking the salary section back $20,000 to $128,800 (and FICA back to $9853.) That could mean one less employee there.

At the May 10 budget meeting, that prospect prompted Maxbauer to speak at length about Public Works being “the boots on the ground” and stating that talk of reducing the payroll spending had created a “phobia” among employees that one of them would lose their job. Defending the expansion of Public Works to include more employees, Maxbauer said, “you might call it expansionary spending. It’s investing”

Commissioner Warren Johnson still questioned the wisdom of expanding the number Public Works employees in the small town. “We used to have four,” said Johnson, “and the town was happy with four.” To that Maxbauer retorted, “There was a time we rode horses. Now we ride cars.”

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Public Comment at May 7 Meeting

Three residents spoke. Art Tierney said “two of the most dangerous turns in town” were at Windward Drive’s intersections with Gilgo and with Whittaker Creek Road. He said that “we’ve always had double lines there” but they are not visible now. “We’ve got some local residents who cut the corners and marina people who definitely cut the corners,” said Tierney. “If those double lines are not put back, we’re going to have a real serious head-on collision at those two intersections.”

Tierney also said he’d fielded phone calls from other residents asking why the Oriental Sailing banners weren’t hung up from the utility poles in time for the Boat Show. Tierney noted that he’d collected $4,000 from the public a few years ago, and that $2500 had gone to buy the banners. “We’re supposed to have a little over $1500 in the kitty.”

Finally, Tierney said that he’d been approached “by numerous old-timers” which he defined as people like himself who’d been living in Oriental at least 20 years. Back then, he said, the Town Hall had one administrative employee — Heidi Artley.

Noting that the Town’s population had grown by only 30-40 people in two decades, Tierney said, “the people want to know, what is going on with the Taj Mahal here (referring to the new Town Hall) and all the people they’ve hired?” He called on the Board to explain “why it is necessary to have all these additional personnel.” While budgets across the country get a lot of attention these days, Tierney said, Oriental seems “to have an open budget in town.”

The second speaker was Barbara Stockton who complained about Town officials not responding to residents’ “questions that have never been answered.”

“Don’t you realize you have a responsibility to answer questions put to you by your constituents?” She continued that “always being on the defensive and never addressing concerns makes you appear rude, irresponsible, arrogant, and in general sets a hostile environment.”

Stockton claimed the Board’s “reckless actions of the past year have depleted precious resources.

In regard to the Chris Fulcher land swap, Stockton asked why the Town Manager was allowed to negotiate the contract and why the Town Attorney did not counsel the Board to first conduct a feasibility study. She asked further why the Town’s website didn’t make the meeting notes available on line and whether letters submitted for the record were part of the record.

Last of the residents to speak was Missy Tenhet (who at a previous meeting asked that the Board let the public ask questions before the end of the meetings.)

“Since I can’t ask questions any more,” Tenhet started out, “I’m just going to make a statement this month.”

“As I listened to the Town Board meeting last month I was struck by the fact that the focus seemed to be on tourists and business.”

“Oriental needs to pay attention to its citizens. We’re the ones that keep the local businesses going in July as well as January. We’re the ones that encourage our friends and families to visit and relocate here.”

“Seems to me the town government has forgotten Abraham Lincoln’s quote, ‘Government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from earth.’ But it seems to be perishing in Oriental. I did not hear any discussion at last month’s Board meeting about how to reach out to taxpayers and voters. I did not hear requests to spend money to improve the town’s website or to increase communication between Town government and the taxpayers and voters.”

“Communication’s getting worse. My impression is the Town government does not want to share any information. Does not want to ever be questioned. And would like us to shut up and go home. In a town this small, I don’t understand why we cannot have a more transparent and accessible government. “

“Thomas Jefferson said, “Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. I wish we were having elections next week as our only recourse seems to be our vote.”

(As recently as a few years ago, Oriental residents in the audience at Board meetings were able to raise their hands to speak up during Commissioners’ discussions. Currently, and especially since the renovation of Town Hall put commissioners on a dais 18 inches above the audience, the public has been restricted to speaking only during a Public Comment period at the beginning of the meeting. The Board has taken no action on Tenhet’s request for a Q&A before the Board adjourns.)

During the Commissioners Comment period on May 7, Larry Summers said, “If you look at Roberts Rules of Order, there is a distinction between the assembly – a body of people who assemble – and the meeting itself, the event people assemble for. “

Reading from a paperback version of Roberts, Summers stated, “A member of the assembly in the parliamentary sense is a person entitled to full participation in the proceedings,” Summers said, “that is, the right to attend meetings, make motions, speak in debate and to vote. That is the difference between the two sets of things.”

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Next meeting for the Town Board is a budget workshop on Friday May 17 from 4-6p at Town Hall.

Posted Friday May 17, 2013 by Melinda Penkava