[0:21] like to welcome everybody out to the town council special call public forum

[0:25] meeting. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance.

[0:33] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the

[0:38] republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and

[0:44] justice for all.

[0:50] Again, thank you all for coming out this morning or this afternoon. Um, does any

[0:55] member of council have a conflict of interest in regards to anything on the

[0:58] agenda or an appearance of conflict of interest? sir is

[1:03] » no no >> no

[1:04] » no. >> All right, moving on. Public comments on

[1:08] agenda items only. If anyone would like to come up, please feel free to come on

[1:12] up and we'll get this started.

[1:21] » Hello, I'm Stuart Jones, 1410 Canal Drive.

[1:26] » Mr. Mr. Jones, will you move here? Yes. >> Is that that better? Yes, sir. Yes, sir.

[1:32] Go ahead. >> Thank you for adding a public comment

[1:35] time to this special meeting today. I'm a retired professional engineer and was

[1:40] on the parking committee. I also founded and with my wife ran a civil engineering

[1:46] firm in the Raleigh area for over 30 years.

[1:51] The council issued an RFP to analyze the parking situation on the island. The RFP

[1:57] was a request for a proposal that specifically asked for a price or cost

[2:02] of services. And yet, Bolton and Mink did not include a price for their

[2:07] services. Their proposal is an open-ended hourly contract to provide

[2:12] services that are negotiated with the council. The RFP asked for public

[2:18] hearings and a revised parking plan, but Bolton and Mink is only providing

[2:24] consultation with staff and will only provide written comments about their

[2:29] findings. It doesn't appear that the proposal matches what the council

[2:34] originally advertised for. Typically, a municipal offer for

[2:39] services requires a minimum of three responses, but as far as I know, you

[2:46] only received one. We think this contract should not be awarded due to a

[2:51] lack of response and an inappropriate response to the RFP.

[2:57] The island parking plan was developed by numerous individuals, including several

[3:03] professional engineers. These engineers are bound to a code of ethics to protect

[3:09] the public safety and provide the best solution for the situation.

[3:14] The majority of our island parking is within the rightway of DOT on Main

[3:19] Street and DOT engineers have been intimately involved in the design of the

[3:25] parking spaces on Maine. To spend tens of thousands of taxpayer

[3:31] dollars to review parking spaces that have been reviewed over and over seems a

[3:36] waste of taxpayer dollars. Remember what our island parking looked like two years

[3:42] ago with no designated parking and cars parked haphazardly everywhere?

[3:49] Now that we have a detailed parking plan, designated parking spaces, and a

[3:54] substantial improvement in pedestrian safety, you're still not satisfied and

[4:00] want to spend maybe $50,000 on this proposal.

[4:05] Enough is enough. Let your public works staff work with DOT and Brunswick County

[4:11] Public Utilities to work on your areas of concern.

[4:16] Please do not award this contract. >> Thank you.

[4:20] » Thank you.

[4:31] » Good afternoon. My name is Richard. My wife Joy and I live at 406 Dolphin

[4:35] Street. Thank you for providing the opportunity

[4:39] to speak to the council regarding the proposed study of the paid parking plan

[4:42] for Sunset Beach. After reviewing the information provided in the link to the

[4:47] agenda for this special meeting, I have a few comments and concerns. First of

[4:51] all, I want to thank those who have been involved in the original parking

[4:55] coordination implementation of the current parking plan. Given the amount

[5:00] of time, effort, and money that has already gone into the parking project, I

[5:03] do not see a need for a further expenditure of time and resources for

[5:07] what is nearly a completed and implemented parking plan. Any required

[5:11] tweaks or changes could possibly be addressed as needed going forward and

[5:15] would not be cost prohibitive. It would appear that the council is prepared to

[5:20] move forward with an outside firm to further review the parking situation

[5:23] without input from the residents who will be funding this unnecessary

[5:27] expenditure. The RFP to provide an additional study

[5:30] for the SSB parking plan that was sent out by council seems to have been

[5:34] answered by a single firm. In my experience, it is customary to get at

[5:38] least three quotes in most situations involving a substantial cash outlay. I

[5:43] have seen only the single proposal from Bolton and Mink. Then this was attached

[5:47] to the agenda and it may have been updated because I did see this morning

[5:52] that the total cost of the project is estimated not to exceed $45,000

[5:57] for a 5 to6month proposed timeline estimate. Previously I did not see that

[6:02] in there and I thought it was an open-ended contract with simply rates

[6:05] ranging from 70 to$1350 or so. The attachments to the RFP are

[6:12] evidence of the amount of work that has already occurred and represent a

[6:15] significant expenditure outlay. As a result,

[6:19] the council has stressed judicious use of taxpayer dollars.

[6:24] If we are willing to spend nearly an hour debating decorations for the 4th of

[6:27] July, but wish to proceed with this costly and unnecessary project without

[6:31] further input and discussion is not consistent with that stated objective.

[6:36] Thank you very much. >> Thank you.

[6:46] You know what else? >> Yes, sir.

[6:54] Jersey, but I have two properties on the island. My name is Roger Sang.

[6:57] » Okay. Thank you. >> 1607 East Main Street and I own the lot

[7:00] behind my house as well on Canal. >> Okay. And my concern is about safety and

[7:06] the way this is done. And I would encourage any of you to come to where I

[7:11] live, park where the park I was, was first of all I was told on the one side

[7:15] was going to be one parking spot. Sight lines are going to be better by my car

[7:19] rules. There are two. They are right up to the driveway to the next driveway and

[7:23] then on the other side there's another one. If you have an SUV and any any type

[7:27] of vehicle, you are not going to see a 5-year-old kid on a bicycle, a jogger,

[7:32] anyone there. It is my concern is safety. The rocks that are on there, did

[7:37] you ever drive a bicycle and have those rocks get kicked all over the place? You

[7:41] pull out, they're there. You know, the rain washes them into the road. A kid

[7:46] riding a bike, anybody, an adult riding a bike that hits one of those rocks is

[7:49] going to fall into the rope. There is going to be someone is going to get

[7:53] seriously hurt. And a lot of these spots, I look at them and it's I'm not

[7:57] trying to I want safety. All right. I was told if there was one spot, it was

[8:02] in the middle. Okay, maybe I have better sight lines. But when you have cars

[8:05] packed up and you cannot even see coming out of your driveway, it's dangerous.

[8:10] And my concern is that I just want I'm not the money situation. I'm not

[8:15] familiar with that with spending this money. But if it makes it safer on the

[8:20] island, to me, this is all about It seems to me it's about money and and

[8:26] safety is the afterthought. I want safety. I want this, you know, you can't

[8:31] see people coming or going and that was my main reason for uh seeing because

[8:35] I've had people parking, people look also

[8:39] theft. People are looking around. They're I've sat on my porch, watch

[8:43] people look around and they go in somebody else underneath somebody's

[8:46] house and take showers. People are using the showers of people. I've seen it on

[8:50] my porch. Somebody had a bag on his top of his car and I'm on my porch and I'm

[8:56] like, "Hey, you got a bag on your car?" Well, I got the middle finger and told

[9:00] me all this stuff. So, I said, "All right." He left the bag on his car. I

[9:02] said, "Go ahead, you jerk." So, I tried to help out, but people I've had things

[9:07] stolen from underneath my house. It's that's just my concern. Okay. I'm sorry,

[9:12] but never done this before. >> You're good.

[9:15] » All right. Would you give your name again, please?

[9:17] » Rogers. I'll spell my last name. S T E I G I N G A. You'll never be able to say

[9:26] it. >> Thank you.

[9:28] » All right. Thank you. >> Thank you, sir.

[9:30] » Anyone else on agenda items on

[9:37] » Sir? Yes. >> This is all on Monday's

[9:40] » Yes, sir. Anything that's on anything on Monday's agenda is what what this

[9:44] original part was for, too. Yes, sir. >> John Corbett, 1313 Canal Drive. I think

[9:51] you heard compelling arguments about uh parking that's been done. Uh what Mr.

[9:57] Roger S said is one of those things that could be a tweak that you go in, you

[10:02] look at it, and you make adjustments as it's needed rather than paying 45,000.

[10:06] But my comment that I want to put on is on the item on the on next Monday's

[10:11] agenda dealing with uh meeting times. Um

[10:18] meeting times been in the evening quite a bit with the idea trying to get people

[10:23] in the community who work to be able to come to the meetings and go to that. If

[10:28] we go to a uh afternoon meeting, I think it's going to have a major impact on

[10:34] people who who are working and it's not going to significantly increase the

[10:39] number of people who could come. Uh the question about saving money, our

[10:44] department heads are the ones that mainly come to this

[10:48] meeting other than m Miss Riggsby who takes the notes. She's an employee that

[10:54] can get overtime. the department heads can get flex time where they get

[10:58] compensated. They take time off uh for being up late. Sometimes their jobs are

[11:04] very demanding and they don't get to use flex time. That kind of goes with the

[11:08] responsibility of the jobs that they have. So uh I don't think the uh idea of

[11:14] making it easier on staff is is a compelling reason because the staff

[11:19] doesn't have to come to these uh come to the uh evening town council meetings.

[11:25] So, with that in mind, I'd say don't change it or if you do change it, may

[11:29] move it down to maybe 6:00, maybe maybe 5:00. There's flexibility in there, but

[11:34] not in the middle of the afternoon. Okay. Thank you. And uh I wish you all

[11:39] well. >> Thank you.

[11:40] » Thank you. >> Anyone else? Yes, sir.

[11:50] It wasn't I wasn't planning on speaking, but uh anyway, my name is Steve Streiny.

[11:55] I'm at 7645 High Market Street, and I would I would vote for five or six:00

[12:02] for a time for a a council meeting. I think that's a good compromise for the

[12:08] employees and for the people that may want to attend.

[12:11] And um I would hope that if you guys do decide to spend 50 grand on a parking

[12:18] study, that wouldn't preclude the possibility of getting a tax rate

[12:22] deduction for the year 2027. Thank you. [laughter]

[12:32] Anyone else? [clears throat]

[12:39] All right, we don't have any more. We'll move on now to the island traffic

[12:42] parking study staff report. I'll start this one.

[12:53] » Thank you, Mr. Mayor. >> Yes, sir.

[12:56] Before you and included in the agenda packet is the

[13:00] proposal from Bolton and Mink. And I don't I'm not going to read through this

[13:04] line by line, but as they highlight concerns that they

[13:09] want to touch on are liability, concerns for personal safety and ADA regulations,

[13:14] safe and convenient access or loading zones for vehicles, driveway access and

[13:19] visibility, maintaining access to existing utilities, efforts to maximize

[13:24] potential parking areas rather than right sizing. uh driver behavior is one

[13:30] of the areas that they want to focus on as well. There were a lot of good

[13:33] comments that came from the audience today and I appreciate those. I'm sure

[13:37] the council does as well. Um if I could just touch on a few of those before I

[13:43] give my recommendation or what I think uh I feel we should do. Um this study

[13:50] that was done by the committee previously and and one of the comments

[13:55] was that we could tweak spaces. Excuse [clears throat] me. And we have tweaked

[13:58] spaces. We found some things that uh that we're concerning and we've marked

[14:05] some of those spaces off that they're not going to be used for parking or

[14:08] we're going to determine what they're going to what their use is going to be

[14:11] and perhaps we're going to repurpose those. I don't like the idea of waiting

[14:15] until a problem exists to then say, "Oh, we should fix that." Um we need toident

[14:21] identify that first. uh when this parking study

[14:25] um I wasn't asked much about this parking study. In fact, it wasn't even

[14:29] proposed to me until the day of the council meeting when it was going to be

[14:33] proposed to council. I was not on the committee. No members of the police

[14:36] department were on the committee. The people that are out there every single

[14:39] day seeing the issues that go on with parking on Main Street and all about the

[14:43] island were not included on the committee. I would rather identify the

[14:47] problems first and make a correction before we open those spaces up to

[14:52] parking. I think that Bolton and Mink through their proposal, through their

[14:57] references that they show, they've shown that they've they've done this for sim

[15:01] for other communities, they've done something similar. Um there's a lot of

[15:05] residents that that are concerned about the parking spaces. I met with Mr. S in

[15:12] the back there, I'm not going to try his name either, with Roger and his wife. I

[15:16] I spent some time at their house and pulled into their driveway and I can see

[15:20] the concern and I asked him I said we're going to wait and see what the council's

[15:24] decision is on this parking study and if this is not approved then we'll make a

[15:30] recommendation of what we're going to do with those spaces. Um I don't know

[15:34] everything. I'm not going to sit up here and tell you that I do. And I'm sure

[15:37] Bolton M will tell you the same thing that they don't know but they're

[15:40] professionals and this is what they do. Um, I think it's a wise use of taxpayer

[15:46] funds. If we're going to put a $45,000 price tag on the life or the safety of

[15:52] one child on a bicycle, then it's a no-brainer. Let's spend the $45,000.

[15:58] My recommendation to the council is that we enter into the contract with Bolton

[16:02] Bank.

[16:07] Council, any questions? I don't have any questions, Mr. Mayor,

[16:12] but I'm agreeing with the chief here. Um, you know, we we need another set of

[16:17] eyes. We need to look at every aspect of this thing, top, bottom, front, back,

[16:21] and it's not not a knock on anything or anybody that's been previously done.

[16:26] It's not about that, but we need to make sure this thing is right, particularly

[16:30] along Main Street with the spaces that we're getting ready to start utilizing.

[16:35] Um, you know, like like the chief just said, Yeah. somebody uh somebody could

[16:40] be walking or jogging or riding a bike and there could be a large vehicle

[16:44] that's blocking somebody's uh sight distance,

[16:48] you know, we don't want to take that chance and uh it's a big step and it's

[16:52] $45,000, but I think for a piece of mind, we really need to think hard about

[16:56] doing something like [clears throat] excuse me, doing something.

[17:03] » Mr. Arnold, I um agree with you. um want to make sure that everyone knows that

[17:09] the expenses for this will be taken out of the parking plan. So the people that

[17:15] are putting in that are paying to park, they're the ones that are paying for

[17:18] this. A parking study should have been done. Um we found several errors. Um a

[17:26] parking study would have offered the error could have been identified. Um but

[17:34] we know that the current parking plan is erroneous. Um unfortunately the public

[17:41] was misled. Um we were told that the post office

[17:46] authorized moving mailboxes. We all know now it's been published that the post

[17:53] office did not opine at all. They didn't offer an opinion because they knew

[17:59] nothing about our parking plan. So now we have to move those mailboxes. That's

[18:05] an expense that the current excuse me that the past um council had for us. Um

[18:13] the staff person that moved the mailboxes was told by a council member.

[18:18] That council member didn't have the authority to move mailboxes. We have to

[18:22] fix that. Um we were also told many times that um

[18:27] North Carolina DOT gave their blessing and we have since

[18:32] found that North Carolina DOT did not give their blessing. They gave their

[18:37] blessing on a few areas particularly at the intersections.

[18:43] Um you know as leaders we have found this out and it's hard to say this um

[18:50] but it's the truth. Another truth is we have public utilities out there with

[18:55] manhole covers that we've been told now that Brunswick County

[19:01] has opined that they do not want us to have a parking place over that access.

[19:08] Um, yes, the parking plan did have a committee.

[19:14] Appreciate and I've gone on record numerous times. appreciate those folks,

[19:20] but none was an expert in parking. None was an expert in

[19:27] traffic. Um, I want to make sure that we all

[19:33] $45,000 is nothing in comparison to if someone

[19:38] were to lose a life. Life is precious. Life is priceless.

[19:45] Quality of life is priceless. If someone gets injured and their

[19:51] quality of life is altered,

[19:56] $45,000 that comes from the parking plan is

[20:01] nothing. If someone is injured to the fact that they die,

[20:08] that's priceless. We can never get that back. So, um, Mr. Mr. Clayr and Mr.

[20:15] Arnold, I I agree with you both. This is something that needs to be done. I I

[20:19] regret that this is laid on us to do. Um, but we need to do the right thing

[20:25] and we need to do what is right for the safety of our citizens that come to

[20:31] Sunset Beach. Thank you.

[20:36] » I'm not going as far as what has been said. I mean, uh, I'm going to go a

[20:41] different area and I'm concerned regarding the timeline.

[20:45] They're going to start this in April or actually March. April is the second

[20:51] meeting. May is their third meeting, but we don't get a final report till July.

[20:56] That's halfway through the the parking season. I think they should they should

[21:01] get pushed to move that much closer to Memorial Day than July. I mean, we're

[21:06] already losing two months that way. I I may be able to speak a little bit on

[21:09] that. Uh Miss Bachelor and I just got off the phone um with each other talking

[21:15] about this. Um when we met um to go over what we wanted, we had identified that

[21:23] surveys had already been completed for Main Street um and that they would not

[21:28] have to do that for us. That that was already identified as something that we

[21:33] could bring to the table. So that would move up the time frame because we were

[21:36] concerned as you are and it's a very legitimate concern um to to push them

[21:42] and I pretty sure our interim town administrator could could work with them

[21:46] on um trying to get the timeline to move up.

[21:55] » Absolutely. That's something that can be accomplished.

[21:59] » Thank you. I would like one other concern and then I'm looking at their

[22:04] contract. I noted they said that any kind of reports they put out or maps or

[22:08] anything else we have we can get a copy but we can't use it for anything else.

[22:13] Uh we're paying $45,000 for their report that report and all the things we should

[22:19] be able to use for whatever we want. And I think our lawyer should strike that

[22:23] from there saying that we're going to share it's ours as well. I mean, I

[22:27] didn't pay $45,000 to look at pictures. >> Agree.

[22:33] That may not been the intent. >> Well,

[22:35] » the intent of what they put in the contract.

[22:40] » I agree. The study should be done. Safety comes first.

[22:46] » Um, yes. Um, Mike, on the timeline theme you mentioned, um, great point, and we

[22:52] did address that with them when they were here on site a couple weeks ago. um

[22:56] and discuss I believe Ken it was they were going to get us something before

[23:01] Memorial Day. Was that correct? Like high incident area. I don't have those

[23:05] notes in front of me but um they were going to look at getting us stuff

[23:09] sooner. >> It's in this proposal.

[23:11] » I do recall that that draft memo date is likely where they're talking about. So

[23:15] they'll have a draft to us um and then with the final product expected later.

[23:20] » Right. And we did discuss the maps because I feel like that's something

[23:23] we've been lacking in everything from engineering forward. We need a upto-date

[23:28] maps to do so many projects and we've been missing out on those. Um and we

[23:33] need those from our engineering firm or any project that's done here at town so

[23:36] that we have up-to-date maps. Um uh regarding this study, I would like to um

[23:44] appreciate the parking committee and the work they have done. Um, you know, as

[23:48] many of you know, this has been going on for years discussing parking, and we're

[23:52] still here discussing parking today. Um, I would like to thank everybody that's

[23:57] taken a role in this over the years. Um, we do have lots of data to go off of

[24:02] that has been collected at various points along the way. I know I've

[24:07] personally read every bit of that and, um, we've shared some of that with this

[24:12] possible vendor that we may um, end up working with. Um, I've received hundreds

[24:18] of comments from people from the mainland and the island while

[24:22] campaigning, while in office. Parking is still the hottest discussion topic out

[24:28] there is what what I'm being talked at. Um, we've received 51 portal comments

[24:34] alone on parking. Um, we've had many people come and speak at meetings. We

[24:39] appreciate everyone's feedback on this. Um, we've heard lots of issues regarding

[24:45] 7th and 11th Street, the half side streets where um, roads have been made

[24:50] from um, oneway and um, spots have been added. Lots of concerns there from

[24:56] residents, from safety on forward on sighteline issues been brought up.

[25:02] Pedestrian and bike safety has been brought up. Where do people's mailboxes,

[25:07] trash cans, and recycling bins go? because like Roger S. said, there's

[25:11] nowhere on his property for some of that stuff. Um, since some of these have been

[25:16] poured, especially on the south side, I know um Mr. Claymer as well as public

[25:22] works have been very busy um talking to residents about their concerns on that.

[25:28] Um I I think I support what's been said so far that the safety issues and li

[25:34] liability issues we we do need to look at this further with um experts in this

[25:39] um area. I know that's not what everybody wants, but from what I've

[25:44] heard, it's definitely more the majority do want that. So um that's my take on

[25:48] it. >> Mayor, one more thing.

[25:51] » Yes, sir. Go ahead. Uh I heard all the comments made regarding the post office

[25:56] and whether the the mailbox should be on one side or the other and I recall and I

[26:01] can't exact what meeting but there was discussion made with the post office the

[26:08] postmaster general postmaster of Sunset Beach I don't know if one that's here

[26:13] currently or they changed and the assistant that there was a discussion of

[26:18] of moving them to to post uh mailboxes from one side to the other in front of

[26:24] the houses. Now, like I said, I have to I'll have to I'd have to go back to a

[26:28] lot of notes to find it, but I remember that that was a discussion made at one

[26:31] of the town council meetings and it was brought out to everybody. Now, does the

[26:36] post office does the postmaster change in the wind based on what what

[26:44] administration goes to them? I don't know. But I don't think that we I really

[26:49] believe that somebody had spoken with them and I really don't believe that uh

[26:55] that was done on a whim. I think it was done with some advice and consent from

[27:01] the post office and they they may have changed their mind.

[27:04] » They don't have a record of that. >> Well,

[27:06] » so they they post office they make records of things like that. So, even if

[27:11] another person would have assumed that role, um, nobody spoke with them. They

[27:17] don't have a record of it. >> Well, I'm going to go back to my notes

[27:20] only because I I'm not sure, but I thought I saw that a letter was sent to

[27:23] them and I just wanted to see if the letter was sent to them. Maybe maybe

[27:28] their mail delivery was incorrect and never got one, but I want to make sure.

[27:32] Okay. >> And if you and if there's a record of

[27:34] that, I'm sure you have that in your notes. I have to go through it. Um,

[27:39] » I didn't expect this to bring up so I didn't I didn't

[27:42] » No, no worries. >> Okay. All right. Anybody else on camera?

[27:46] Not what's pleasure in regard to department study at fee $45,000

[27:53] not to exceed $45,000. What's the pleasure of council?

[27:59] I make a motion that we accept the offer of $45,000 from Milton and not to exceed

[28:06] $45,000. >> All right. Do I have a second?

[28:10] » I'll second it. >> All right. Any more discussion?

[28:15] All in favor? >> Any opposed?

[28:20] That should be it in the meeting today. A second. There's nothing else. Do I

[28:27] have a motion to adjurnn? >> Like to make a motion to adjurnn the

[28:31] meeting. >> Do I have a second?

[28:32] » Second. >> Any more discussion? All in favor? Bye.

Town Council - Special Called/Public Forum 02-24-2026

Transcript