[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.