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even candidates are running for the five Town Commissioner seats on Oriental’s Town Board: all 5 current members – Charlie Overcash, Larry Summers, Barbara Venturi, David White and Sandy Winfrey – and 2 challengers – Gwendolyn Gibbs and Allen Price. There is one candidate, Sally Belangia, running for mayor.

The makeup of the next board will be determined on Election Day, Tuesday, November 3. But Oriental voters may also cast ballots early. The early voting period began on October 22 and runs thru October 31.

Over the past decade, TownDock has organized candidate forums in advance of town elections and early voting. While it was not possible to put together a public forum this year, TownDock.net thought hearing the candidates’ views and responses to queries might benefit voters, both in early voting and on election day. On October 19 we emailed a list of 11 questions to candidates and received responses from all 8 by the October 24 deadline.

The responses are here. They are in a forum format so that at a glance, a reader/voter may see the breadth — or similarity — of the responses to a question from all 7 Town Commission candidates. The candidates are listed in alphabetical order of last names and then staggered so that a different candidate’s response starts the subsequent rounds, just as is done at the live forums.

Since Sally Belangia is running unopposed for mayor, her responses are on a separate page from the Commissioner candidates. (See page 7.)

Here then, the virtual forum of questions for the seven candidates.

1. Besides wanting to serve, why do you want to run for a seat on the Town Board?

Gwendolyn Gibbs: The Board needs a diverse point of view that will incorporate the views of the entire town community before issues are voted on.


Charlie Overcash: To help Oriental to continue to be a gem location in eastern NC.

Allen Price: I would like to serve to be a new voice on the board with fresh ideas. I am ready to learn from, listen to, and respond to our citizens’ concerns.

Larry Summers: I love Oriental and Pamlico County. I desire to make it better without changing the nature of the town.

Barbara Venturi: I think “wanting to serve” is a very good reason to run for office. It is after all just volunteering to help my town (there is no pay of any sort for being a mayor or commissioner in Oriental). However, the main reason I serve, is that I am creative and very hard working, and feel by brinGing those aspects of myself to the community, I can help it thrive.

I sailed into in Oriental during Croakerfest, July 1984. After being in town for twenty-two years, in 2005, I thought I knew enough about the people here and the community to be on the Board. I had an agenda: 1) more public dockage at the harbor (done); 2) a better and more serviceable town hall (done); 3) a long range vision and plan for the town (done – but needs updating). I was first elected in 2005 and have served as commissioner for four terms since then.

I am still hoping that the town will establish a long-term plan to build on the best of what we have and minimize the effects of our limitations. I’ve been a problem-solver all my career and believe that my experience, now including a decade of service to the town, can help chart a course for the town’s future. One of the problems the town had then, as I think is has today, is a lack of a clear vision for how it should develop. The first thing I initiated was the development of a Town Vision. We’d never done it before, so it took quite a while. In fact, I think it would be good to renew that vision, since the last effort was a decade ago.

David White: Oriental is an outstanding place to live. My wife Jean and I have found a wonderful community here and we are proud to call Oriental our home. We have been property owners since 2000 and started construction of our home in 2002. If there is something I have found to be true over my life, it is that change is inevitable, and I very much want to be a part of helping to manage change (whatever it may throw at Oriental) and to ensure that Oriental maintains its sense of community and quality of life for all.

Sandy Winfrey: As I mentioned in the forum 2 years ago, I felt like it was time for me to pay some effort back to the town……and stop just complaining and do something.

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2. What is Oriental’s biggest challenge?

Charlie Overcash: Running the town with the limited funds available in our budget.

Allen Price: Oriental’s biggest challenge is maintaining and increasing its tax base to support the needs of the city. This does not mean a tax increase but rather increasing the base that will increase revenues coming into the city. Increasing the base would be achieved by recruiting new businesses, increased business for current merchants, or annexing new areas. We must support our current businesses. We cannot afford to lose anymore. Most of our businesses, with the exception of Walmart, Dollar General, and West Marine, are locally owned. They are owned and run by our friends and neighbors. We all need to support them.

Larry Summers: Balancing the inevitability of change while maintaining the history and tradition of a unique small town.

Barbara Venturi: Sustainability.
The most important thing in governance is the sustainability of your charge.
Like many retirement destinations, we do not have a multi-generational community. Most who move here move away at some point. The only thing they hope the town will do for them is help maintain their property value. For these residents, when it’s time to move nearer to healthcare or children, they hope to sell their property at a reasonable price in a reasonable time. Oriental, since the 1960’s, has been attracting boats and retirees. The boat owners do add capital to the local economy and the businesses benefit. Unfortunately, most who’ve been raised locally head out into the wider world to make their living and raise families. Only a few industries support opportunities for a living wage locally.

I have invited representatives of ECU and the Wood’s Hole Marine Biological Laboratory here to Oriental hoping to inspire them to develop an inland marine science institute here, in Oriental. (Thanks to Sherrill Styron who hosted ECU at the Garland Fulcher Seafood property when ECU came looking). I hope to help the town attract a business, science institute, museum, or other enterprise that would create somewhere between 40 and 80 good local jobs. This would establish a broader, multi-generational economic base and hopefully attract add-on enterprises that would support and expand the function of the first.

David White: As with many small cities or towns, Oriental is faced with a limited budget from which it needs to fund all of Oriental’s activities, such as: current and future infrastructure; hurricane and storm preparation and recovery; storm water drainage issues; Town employees; day to day administrative work; the Water Plant; and debris, recycling and waste pick up services, just to name a few. It is very important for the Town to rank and pick the right set of activities to focus on in order to ensure that Oriental continues to function as effectively as it has done in the past. There has been excellent work done on Oriental’s Long Range Plan developed under previous administrations that needs to be referenced when discussing budgets to ensure the Town is on the right track. Additionally, each year the Town engages in a planning session, which is open to the Public, to review the Long Range Plan and budget considerations and to set the Town’s priorities. All of these items are continuous challenges.

Sandy Winfrey: Balancing multiple needs with limited funds.

Gwendolyn Gibbs: Attracting and retaining younger, working families.

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Posted Monday October 26, 2015 by Melinda Penkava