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uly’s meeting clocked in at two hours. Commissioners discussed the double-edged sword of the Green Waste dumpsters, fee changes for high water users, the potential for designated open container areas during festivals, and approved state required update to the Town’s Growth Management Ordinance.

A quorum was established. Present were: Mayor Sally Belangia, Commissioners Charlie Overcash, Allen Price, Frank Roe, Breena Litzenberger, and Bonnie Crosser.

Also in attendance were Town Manager Diane Miller and new Deputy Finance Director Lisa Millington.

TownDock.net records all meetings, and writes the report from that recording.

As the meeting began, Commissioner Frank Roe added several items to the agenda for discussion: formatting and reporting meeting minutes, discussions on a staff overtime policy, the green waste dumpsters, and an open container area for festivals.

Prior to approving the consent agenda – which contained multiple meeting minutes from close sessions, Town board and budget meeting minutes, and a request for the MS Bike Ride to use Lou Mac Park September 7-8, 2024 – Commissioner Bonnie Crosser asked three meeting minute reports be removed for discussion.

All requests and the consent agenda (without meeting minutes from May 4, May 7, and June 4 of 2024) were approved.

Green Waste Dumpsters

Oriental has two dumpsters at the Water Plant on Gilgo Road designated for Green Waste only – trees limbs, clippings and cuttings, yard waste, and the like. No contractors can use it, no household trash is allowed, and no waste is to be left on the ground. When the dumpsters are full, the Town calls for a pickup.

There are cameras on site, and around June 27, they caught one resident overfilling the dumpsters and leaving green waste on the ground. Town put out a notice including a picture of the resident, asking for information. They added the dumpsters would be out of commission until they could be hauled away.

The resident in question – James Parrish – spoke at July’s meeting.
Though he said he did not like the way the situation was handled, he wanted to make something good out of it.

“I’ve never been to those dumpsters when they weren’t above the rim,” said Parrish. And the decision to stop offering the dumpsters until they could be emptied was “very unprofessional.”

Parrish said he had experience with dumpsters, and offered his services to the Town. “I don’t want to be part of the problem, I want to be part of the solution.”

Town Manager Diane Miller said the dumpsters were emptied and back in service July 1.

Dumpsters fill quickly – and slowly
Weather often determines how quickly the dumpsters are filled, said Miller, as do holidays. “Everyone’s trying to clean up before holidays, everyone’s trying to clean up before hurricanes come in.” When there’s days of rain, the dumpsters only collect rain. Miller ad Parrish discussed a regular pickup schedule. It’s $170 each time. And if they’re not full, that’s money lost.

Parrish and Miller also discussed a third dumpster, said Miller. But there may not be enough room for a third dumpster, and access for the trucks to maneuver to pick up and drop off, she said.

“The whole point of [the green waste dumpsters] was to reduce the burning. We’re a community of elderly people with breathing issues. Reduce the burning and get the leaf and limbs out of the ditches, which is where the drainage runs. And we have been extremely successful at that to the point now that we’re overfilling.”

As for how to address the issue of not having the dumpsters available at all times, Miller said she did not know the solution.

Town calls to have them picked up when they are full. However, “it’s never [picked up] that day. Sometimes it’s the next day. Sometimes it’s two if there’s a lot of people in front of us. For instance, when a hurricane’s coming.”

Another issue at play: contractors using the dumpsters instead of going to the county transfer station on highway 306, and even non-residents using it for trash.

For example, several years ago, a piano was found in the dumpster.

Currently, Public Works has only three people. They have to remove any trash or items that should not be in the dumpster, said Miller, as well as pull out oversize limbs to cut down.

Be patient
“I think residents need to be a little bit patient,” said Commissioner Breena Litzenberger. “If it’s full, they need to respect that and then they need to go up to 306 and dump their green waste there. Or wait until we get it transferred.” She suggested making announcements when the dumpsters were full, and when they were returned empty.

“I’ve been a consistent proponent of getting out of the green waste business,” said Commissioner Roe. He suggested Town turn it over to the county – who had solved a similar problem by getting rid of their recycling and green waste dumpsters. Roe said he would work with Parrish “and he can find a smarter way to do it. And I’ll come back and report what I find.”

About two cents on the tax rate is going to green waste fees, said Miller. “It’s a want, not a need. At this point, it is a justifiable want for the advantages we get.”

AirBnB concerns… again

“Are you considering limiting the number of AirBnBs in our community?” Jane Davie asked Commissioners during public comments. Davie said her friends are very bothered by the number of cars parking at a nearby AirBnB, and the new crowds of people every few days.

“The music is loud. And I know that we have a lot of AirBnBs, and I understand that there are several more planning to come here, and I find it troublesome, personally.”

AirBnBs have been under discussion for a while. They are not allowed in R1 zones – neighborhoods of single-family homes. They are currently allowed in R2 and R3 areas as well as mixed-use residential and commercial areas.

Owners of a home at 620 Windward Drive were recently issued a cease and desist order to stop using their R1 home as a short term rental, said Town Manager Miller. “The lawyer is pursuing injunction at this point because [they’re] not responding to the certified cease and desist [letter].”

AirBnBs have been in front of Commissioners and the Planning Board over the last several months. Commissioners are not in agreement on whether to exclude them from residential areas altogether, to change the Special Use Permit process to limit them, or to leave them alone.

The issue is expected to come again at both Planning Board and Commissioner meetings.

Designated Drinking Areas at Festivals

Commissioner Roe asked for discussion on designated areas where people could drink alcoholic beverages while at large Festivals. “I don’t know the legal ramifications. I know they do it in New Bern, but I don’t know enough about it,” he said.

“Social District is exactly what it’s called,” said Miller. “When they do it in New Bern, the entire street is closed to vehicular transportation.”

Commissioners agreed to take a look at the General Ordinances to include Special Districts. A change to General Ordinances does not require a public hearing. They will take up the issue at their August Meeting.

Public Hearing: Growth Management Ordinance 160D Conversion

Oriental has a Growth Management Ordinance (GMO) outlining the ordinances related to land use, development, and growth. NC General Statute 160D was passed to unify the land use development statutes for counties and towns, making them more consistent with each other.

All municipalities having land use ordinances are required by law to bring their ordinances into compliance with 160D.

To help with the process, Town hired Carlton Gideon of the Eastern Carolina Council of Government. He was present at July’s meeting to discuss the update and answer any questions.

“I take a lot of effort not to make changes that are unnecessary or anything that is substantial,” said Gideon. “I want to keep it as close to how it was previously. I’m just trying to make things consistent with the new statute.”

Miller said the Planning Board and Commissioners present at the 160D workshop “asked him … every question that you can think of.”

Commissioners had no questions relating to the 160D updates. It was approved unanimously.

Manager’s Report

Manager Miller presented the end-of-year financials, with the caveat that several items are yet to be added. The fiscal year closed June 30, however the missing revenues from June will be added to the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

Missing items from the fiscal year report are:
• the last month of garbage and recycling fees.
• sales and use tax, federal and state tax on gas, franchising utility taxes – all the money the Town gets back from the state and federal governments. Miller said the state is “two cycles behind, depending on the individual tax. Some come monthly … some come quarterly.”
• the last month of occupancy tax. It “is already $5,000 more than last year total,” she said.
• two months of sales tax. The Town projected a total of $240,000 for the year. Miller said it should come out to about $280k. “For the economy we’re in, things are looking pretty good. And for the size of the problems that have popped up, it’s still looking pretty good.”

Fee changes
Oriental’s tax rate remains at 22 cents per hundred, said Miller. The County has increased its rate by 2 cents – they are now at 64.5 cents per hundred.

Water rates at the highest tier, meaning those using the most water, have increased.
• Residential rates for use of 5,001 or more gallons goes from $4.95/1000 gallons to $5.25/1000 gallons.
• Commercial rates for 25,001 or more gallons goes from $6.50/1000 to $7.50/1000 gallons.

Fees for tampering and breaking with water lines has gone up – only a licensed plumber or Town employees are allowed to touch the water meters. If residents break them, they must pay a fee.

Fees for Letters of Compliance increased to $350, major & minor plan amendments went up. Minor amendments increased to $100, major amendments to $300.

Pamlico Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan Survey helps lower insurance rates
Every five years, a new regional Hazard Mitigation Plan survey is released. Everyone is asked to take the survey, said Miller, not just residents.

There is a financial benefit, said Miller. “All of us, our insurance rates go down if we do this. Both for flood and for fire.”

A link to the survey is included at the end of the article.

Hodges Street Town Dock Limited to Two Hours, August – September:
In August 2023, fishing guide Bobby Brewer gave a presentation to Commissioners about the state of recreational fishing in Oriental. Along with explaining that Oriental waters are a prime fishing spot, Brewer asked Commissioners to consider limiting docking at one of the town’s free docks to two hours during peak fishing season.

Commissioners agreed. From August 1 to September 31, docking at the Hodges Street town dock is limited to two-hours.

“It is no longer an overnight docking area,” said Miller. “You can come in, you can go to The Bean, you can pick up people, you can drop people off, you can go eat dinner.” It’s also for the fisherman, said Miller, “to be able to come and pick up their clients and then take off.”

Other items of note:
• Dog tags for the dog park are up for renewal as of July 1.
• Public Works has a new member: Jerry Fessenden
• Public Works sprays the town for mosquitos on Thursdays, between 4-6a
• Town is seeking an estimate to clear trees from the lot behind the Water Plant. The lot faces Highway 55 and will increase accessibility to the plant.
• The County has cut the cardboard & recycling dumpsters at the Oriental Recreation Park from their budget. That service ends July 30. The alternative site is the Transfer Station on Highway 306. Manager Miller is looking into the cost of a cardboard dumpster and currently has two quotes. She is seeking a third.
• Oriental has joined a class action lawsuit related to PFAS – also called forever chemicals – in the water. “We have a legal team that is working on anything that would be connected to our water system for PFAS,” said Miller. “We have tested negative for all of those forever chemicals in our wells. That legal agreement is in place in case at some point in the future, it does show up in our wells.”
• Current Public Works director Daniel Early takes his final test in October (results come back in December) to enable him to hold all the state licenses needed to be Water Plant ORC (Operator in Responsible Charge). Town has already submitted him to the State to be designated as ORC. If they agree to the request, Town can let go of the interim distribution ORC and “reduce our cost to the contracted ORC. The sooner we do that, the better off we are.”

Formatting Town Board Minutes

Commissioner Crosser pulled meeting minutes from May 4, May 7, and June 4 2024 pulled from the Consent Agenda. She said she found inconsistencies in the minutes as a result of new transcription software, including incorrectly recorded numbers, strange consolidating and condensing of public comments, and unnecessary repetition.

“I didn’t feel comfortable approving them,” she said.

Town Manager Miller, who compiles the meeting minutes, said, “I am the first to agree with you that they are lacking. And I’d be happy to do more work to them, but this is as good as I could get them for this meeting.”

Miller had multiple sets of meeting minutes in the Consent Agenda, including regular Town Board meeting minutes, closed session minutes, and minutes from budget meetings.

“I think our minutes need to focus on actions taken by the Board,” said Commissioner Roe, “and move further away from a transcript.”

Miller said she could see both sides of the argument, but that previous boards had a difficult time researching recurring issues when old meeting minutes did not include more detail. “Whenever there is conflict, it is always in your best interest to take more minutes than less. That way, there can be a clearer record of what’s going on.”

Public hearings have to be transcribed verbatim, said Miller, “so I can’t avoid that, and we’ve had public hearing after public hearing.” Meetings in the past few months have included multiple budget meetings, which tend to run long, and town meetings that have exceeded two hours.

To keep tabs on the actions taken at each meeting, Miller offered to create “an action agenda after the meeting that says these are the items that you’ve voted on and where action needs to be taken or who is assigned what… it’s simply taking your votes yes and no on specific items.”

Detailed minutes are still necessary, however. Once the board approves a written set of minutes, said Miller, “that’s the official minutes and even the recording doesn’t matter anymore.” Recordings are only kept for a year and half, said Miller.

Commissioner Charlie Overcash suggested archiving recordings to backup storage instead of deleting them.

Commissioners and Miller agreed she would refine the current minutes for approval at the August meeting, streamline and better format future minutes, put out an action agenda of votes after the meeting, and store old meeting recordings on a backup drive.

Town Staff Overtime Policy

Commissioner Roe said he’d spoken with a former Commissioner that the Town had paid out overtime in the last year. Roe said he was unaware of that until the budgeting session. “I think we ned an overtime policy, which I have given all of you [Commissioners]. We don’t want overtime.”

From the conversation, it seems one of the Town’s Officers accrued overtime.

Miller said the overtime happened closer to the end of the fiscal year because of ‘calls for service’ for an officer when the second officer was “obligated to other things” or “already guaranteed time off or was going someplace.”

FEMA will not allow Town to make an overtime policy “that says it always goes back in comp time except for an emergency,” said Miller. It was the first year they’d had overtime with the current officers, she added. “The requests for service are overrunning our normal hours.”

Roe said overtime needed to be authorized by the Town Manager, and reported to the Board of Commissioners monthly.

There is an existing overtime policy. Miller said she would incorporate the reporting requirements and bring it back to the Board at the August meeting.

Employee Credit Card Policy

Commissioner Bonnie Crosser introduced an employee credit card policy.

Manager Miller explained the current system. Town employees have credit cards with $500 limits. “That’s gas, ice, gatorade, water, bits and parts, and then they also have a charge account at the hardware store.” The receipts are then brought back to Town Hall.

Cards for the Town Manager and Finance Director have a limit of $9,000 each. Said Miller, “I don’t like to take it anywhere, but there are times when, especially Public Works ,has an emergency. They need a $7,500 pump. That’s the fastest way to get it there.”

All receipts are checked and go through multiple office staff for verification, she said. There had been an incident two years ago, Miller explained, when her card was fraudulently charged while she was at a hotel for continuing education. The fraud was caught when staff reviewed the receipts.

The new policy says all employees must bring in a receipt on the same day as the purchase, or within three days if they are out of town. Personal expenditures with reimbursements are not allowed.

Commissioners approved the new policy.

Manager’s Yearly Goals

Every year, Commissioners discuss a list of goals for the Town Manager for the coming year.

This year, the following goals were set for further discussion at the August Meeting:

• Aggressively pursue grants that benefit Oriental
• Internal Controls – to include cross-training staff and reconciling bank statements
• Aggressively seek means to get the town’s roads paved
• Publish a drainage and road repair schedule
• Have Manager Miller attend a management course

Police Report

Officer Blayney could not be present for the report; he was out of town for training. Manager Miller gave the report. “We had no business alarms, assaults, domestics, damage to property, larceny, breaking and entering at all last month.”

There was a lot of assisting other agencies, she said, “most of that was due to fires. A lot of fires started by cigarettes flipped out windows.”

Auxiliary Board Reports

Tourism Board Chair Marsha Paplham invited local businesses and non-profits to attend the Tourism Board meeting July 18 to meet with a digital marketer. Paplham said her board is planning a fall campaign that coincides with the fishing season and the fall cruising season.

“We’re gonna do the fall campaign and get a reading off of it, see how it goes. If it ends up being what we feel to be very successful for what we’re investing, we will turn around and do a spring campaign.”

Water Advisory Board Chair Commissioner Crosser said the engineering firm they’ve contracted with has digitized the Town’s paper maps of the water system, and is validating them against the system the County uses.

After that is complete, “they’ll be able to start testing and doing some modeling. They look to present to us the whole design and some initial modeling at the end of August.”

Manager Miller explained why they wanted to do this. The engineering firm “will put things into a virtual model and it will tell them where the problems are – if that is indeed the problem that will show up.” With the virtual model, engineers can swap out different solutions – like changing pipe sizes or adding booster stations – to see what would work best in a given scenario.

Town has not yet received funds from NC DEQ and will use general funds to subsidize the project until the state releases the funds. Manager Miller sent a funding request announcing the water project is moving ahead.

Harbor Waterfronts Committee Chair Jim Blackerby said there is maintenance on the piers and fencing that needs to be done, and the committee is working to do that.

Blackerby and committee member Dan Allen went out to Whittaker Point to assess the condition of the land, in case of having to report damages to FEMA when there is a storm.

They are also in talks with the Coastal Federation for grants for shoreline erosion near the small fishing pier on Midyette Street at the Wildlife Ramp.

Dates to Know

The next Town Board Meeting is Tuesday, August 13 at 6p.

Related Information

• Pamlico Sound Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan Survey
• July Agenda Meeting
• Revised Consent Agenda
• Manager’s Report
• 160D Growth Management Ordinance Update
• Meeting Schedule
• Credit Card Draft policy
• Police Report
• Auxiliary Board Reports

Posted Tuesday July 16, 2024 by Allison DeWeese