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n August commissioner Frank Roe announced he is resigning effective Sept 1, 2025… the Roe’s are moving to New Bern (an Oriental commissioner must be a resident of the town).

There is an election coming up in November. The new commissioners are sworn in at the December meeting.

This leaves an open seat for 3 months.

Filling this seat should be routine… it’s been done many times before. The remaining commissioners vote on the replacement. If there is a tie vote, the mayor votes the tie-breaker.

The last time was June 2021, when Martin Barrow relocated, vacating the position in May 2021. Sandy Winfrey, who had served as a Commissioner from 2013 – 2017, then as a member of the Planning Board, was nominated and confirmed as Barrow’s replacement at that June meeting, serving until 2023.

But what if you don’t like the rules?

A move to avoid the existing selection process appears to have been attempted this month, by calling a Special Meeting that would allow the outgoing commissioner to vote before their imminent departure. It didn’t work.

To get a better understanding of the situation, TownDock.net requested commissioner emails on the subject. Emails between public officials are public information. What follows is a summary of the events (emails are linked below).

A Special Meeting That Wasn’t

The week of August 18, 2025, according to emails, a special meeting was in the works: One item seemed routine enough, to meet with Sheriff Chris Davis to discuss police coverage for Oriental in the wake of an officer’s resignation. Another item was added to that meeting: determining the process for choosing the next interim Commissioner.

The meeting was being called by commissioners Crosser and Price.

Mayor Belangia and Commissioners Overcash and Litzenberger disagreed with the meeting, citing the Town Manager’s absence – she is the official head of Oriental’s police department and is out of the office for a family visit until August 28. They pointed out she should be at the meeting.

Mayor Belangia cancelled the special meeting until the Town Manager’s return.

Mayor Belangia says No, Mayor Pro Tempore Price says Yes

Commissioner Allen Price, who is also the Mayor Pro Tempore – a person who takes on the role of mayor in the mayor’s absence – ignored the Mayor’s order and sent an email calling for the special meeting anyway, to “decide the process for filling the vacant seat on the board.”

Except the Mayor wasn’t absent.

When Belangia protested the attempt at calling a Special Meeting, Commissioner Crosser replied, “You have the mayor pro tempore requesting the meeting. Also, two Council Members – Commissioner Price and Commissioner Crosser.”

Crosser and Price seemed determined to hold the meeting without the Town Manager and while Commissioner Roe still had voting power.

Commissioner Litzenberger called them out in her email.

“Why are you both in a rush to decide the procedure to fill a vacancy we don’t even have yet? It would seem to me that you are attempting to call a special meeting so that Commissioner Roe will vote on the procedure to fill his own vacancy which the lawyer has informed us is not allowed.”

What The Lawyer Said

Regarding a Commissioner voting on the process to find his replacement, Attorney Scott Davis wrote in his email:

“‘Out-going’ public officials have no say in determining their replacement as there is no vacancy until the ‘out-going’ member is actually gone. Likewise, until there is a vacancy, the governing body need not take up the issue. Again, the out-going member has nothing to do with the process as there is no process to determine until there is a vacancy.”

Can’t Be Mayor Pro Tempore and a Commissioner, Too

With the back and forth on email between Commissioners, Town Manager Miller (still on vacation) stepped in, citing the Town Charter on what determines a quorum. Miller’s email said, “the quorum is determined to include the Mayor. Quorum is the Mayor PLUS 3 Commissioners.”

This means even if a Special Meeting was called, Allen Price could not be both the Mayor Pro Tempore and one of the 3 Commissioners needed for quorum.

With this information, knowing Overcash and Litzenberger said they would not attend, Price cancelled the Special Meeting (that it appears he was not empowered to declare in the first place).

Upcoming Voting information

Elections for Oriental’s Town Board are this November. There are two incumbents – Allen Price and Bonnie Crosser – and nine new candidates in the running: Gregory Bohmert, Iris Cooper, Chris Moffat, Paul Fairbank, Paul Jordan, Don McGuire, Mary Ellen Ham, Bob Maxbauer, and Lou Ostendorff.

TownDock.net will send out a questionnaire in September asking the Candidates questions about their platform. TownDock.net and The Pamlico News are jointly sponsoring a candidate’s forum at The Old Theater in October.

Related Links

• Commissioner Roe resignation letter
• The long email thread between Commissioners and the Mayor
• Town Manager’s Response
• Town Attorney’s Notes on Procedures, Methods, and Voting
• Commissioner Litzenberger letter regarding the attempted special meeting
• June 2021 Town Board Meeting: A Returning Commissioner and Two Public Hearings.

Posted Wednesday August 27, 2025 by Allison DeWeese