TOWN OF NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH

REGULAR BOARD MEETING

February 1, 2007

7:00 P.M. 

PRESENT:

Mayor W. Rodney Knowles, Mayor Pro-tem Larry Hardison, Aldermen Richard Farley, Fred Handy, Richard Peters and Daniel Tuman, Bradley Smith, Town Manager,  Loraine Carbone, Town Clerk, Robert Kilroy, Attorney

QUORUM:

Mayor Knowles called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the North Topsail Beach meeting room and declared a quorum present.

INVOCATION:

Alderman Handy gave the invocation.

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:

The Board of Aldermen and citizens present recited the Pledge of Allegiance. 

APPROVAL OF AGENDA:

Manager Smith added a Resolution Requesting Legislation that NTB is Added to House Bill 845 (Local ATV Use) and House Bill 2027 (Golf Carts) to the Consent Agenda.  Mayor Knowles added a Closed Session after the Aldermen’s Report to discuss a personnel matter.  Alderman Farley requested that the Planning Board appointments be tabled until next month.

Alderman Handy moved, seconded by Alderman Tuman approval of the Agenda as amended.  The motion passed unanimously.

REPORT FROM ONWASA

Alderman Tuman noted that at their last meeting, Mrs. Leonard from Coastal Drive had a concern with the water line failures at the north end and conditions of the streets after repairs.  Alderman Tuman introduced officials from ONWASA, David Walker, Director and Frank Sanders, Director of Operations who would address these issues.

Mr. Sanders noted that a month ago he rode the area since he was new to ONWASA and he said it was educational to drive the streets.   He looked at the areas of Coastal, Marine, Oyster, Port, Seagull and a section of New River Inlet Road where water line breaks had occurred.  He reviewed the maintenance problems and he said that all the leaks have been on the service lines on the main to the meter, but not on the main lines.  He said it was easier to make repairs and it holds the costs down.   The problem with the service lines is that they have been put in like spaghetti and when pressure changes the lines move.   There are shells in the lines causing it to leak.  Mr. Sanders said it has become a maintenance issue for ONWASA on a weekly basis sometimes and it is a nuisance for them and they want to address it.  An aerial photo depicted the problem areas.  They want to replace all the service lines, go through where there are houses, and put service lines inside a larger plastic pipe to protect it.  The cost of the project is about $75,000.   The asphalt is $120,000 with a contingency of $30,000; therefore the total cost is $225,000.   The schedule is conservatively long and they will have to advertise once they have approval of the Board since it is not in the budget now and award the bids in 30 days.  It may take up to five to six months.

The problem is how the lines were constructed and the material used and the depth.  PVC pipe will replace the lines.  A Capital Improvement Project is planned with a pipe line that runs from Highway 210 to the Pender County line.  At present is a lower grade plastic than we use and there are problems with the slip joint which causes problems when there are storms.  They will replace that line with a new 12 inch line with fusible joints.   ONWASA shuts valves when a storm is coming, but this would change that with a better pipe line in that area.  They are looking at 34,000 linear feet or 6.4 miles of pipe, at 3.8 million dollars – to be funded in 2009-2011.  The water pressure should remain the same. 

Alderman Handy noted that the biggest issue here is the rentals on a seasonal basis, May through September, and he hoped there would be no interruption in service.  Mr. Sanders said they would try to do the repairs at night. 

REPORT FROM NORTH TOPSAIL UTILITIES

Danny Lassiter gave the following Report:

• It has been four months since Rick Durham and Eddie Baldwin last addressed the North Topsail Beach Town Board. (October 5, 2006) 

• A brief history of our corporate make up was presented and how NTU was acquired. Now owned by AIG, (Insurance Company)

• A brief history of the treatment plant was presented. Current approved plant capacity is 873,500 gpd/3.4 mgd at final build out in 2008.

• Roughly 6,000 additional taps will be available at build out.

• We are behind approximately three months on the plant expansion schedule.

• We plan to have the first phase ready for operation by March 2008 and the second phase ready September 2008.

Main Lift Station odor problems:

• Since the last update in October of 2006, we have been obtaining quotes and availability of units to scrub the exhaust air at the main lift station.

• A unit should be purchased and installed by the end of April of 2007.

• NTU is continuing to upgrade existing pumping stations at the rate of 8 per year.

• NTU wishes to continue to strive to improve its facilities and to work with the North Topsail

• Town Board to make this community a safe and pleasant place to live and work.

Alderman Tuman requested that North Topsail Utilities (NTU) notify the manager when they have completed the submission of plans for the expansion.  He noted that last February, when AIG was acquiring NTU, the estimate was the first expansion would be in operation May of 2007 and now it is March of 2008.  Alderman Tuman said that their progress affects the progress of NTB.  What was recommended was a good faith agreement, but one year later, it is a concern and we will monitor where you are at.  If we continue to see further slips we will go back to the Utilities Commission and ask you to respond why things are where they are.  

Alderman Farley asked how many taps have been requested and Mr. Lassiter said there were 400 on the list originally.  Alderman Peters noted that he went to their office to sign up for a tap and he was told that the list is not applicable at this time.  He was told that the first 80 will be honored and thereafter it would be first come, first served.  Mr. Lassiter said that total list will be honored and once the plan is updated then that list will be null and void.  Once there is availability you will be entitled to hook up.  Alderman Peters questioned the 80 on the list and Lillian noted that the 80 have already been assigned and they will pick up where they left off, but we are not taking anymore names to put on the list.   The taps will go to who has waited for years.  She said to check back in September and they would have a better idea of allocations.  Mr. Lassiter said that they stopped taking names because it was unmanageable and now it is first come, first served.  Some tried to sell taps and tried to swap them and it became a nightmare.  Lillian noted that the prepaid taps have always been on record and the new list is people who have signed up to get taps now. 

Alderman Farley asked if there were any procedures implemented to take care of the little guy and Mr. Lassiter said that individuals will pay standard fees and developers will be asked to help pay for plant capacity.  Alderman Farley said that he didn’t want the taps to all go to developers.  Alderman Tuman thought that one of the agreements was to avoid situations that gave rise to complaints by individuals that someone bought a lot of taps when availability was scarce.  The agreement was anyone requesting taps would only receive 8 taps at one time in advance.  Once the new capacity comes online, anyone with a prior reservation will be asked to utilize this within so many days and if he is not ready he will lose that tap.  Mr. Lassiter said that was correct.  Once the reserve tap period is ended then they have the opportunity to tie on, but if they are not ready they lose their guarantee status.  We are tripling the size of the plant and an additional 6,000 taps will be utilized.  We are making plans for future plants.  Alderman Farley asked if a developer wants to come in and subsidize the cost would they get a number of taps and Mr. Lassiter said the 8 taps are for the 400 on the list.  Once we have 6,000 taps they could get as many as they want. 

Alderman Peters said he was told to call back in 3 to 4 months, but how can he get a tap right now and Mr. Lassiter said to call to see the progress of availability.  Alderman Peters asked what their progress was in fulfilling the 400 and Mr.  Lassiter said once the first phase of the plant is completed – about 14 months.  Alderman Peters said for 14 months he would be in limbo.  Alderman Farley said he was still concerned with the little guy not getting taps and there will be 900 new homes on Old Folkstone and that could be 1/6 of your allocation.  Mr. Lassiter noted there were several developments and they are not providing service since they are treating waste water on site.  Alderman Tuman said that the Stump Sound area is an area of big growth with demand for water and sewer.  ONWASA has a plan for satisfying the Sneads Ferry area and over the next year or so they will finalize a plan.  NTU had an aggressive plan and he hoped they could do that, but they are slipping now.   Mayor Knowles said that the odor is there every day and Mr. Lassiter said that they have a plan to correct that.

REPORT FROM THOMAS BEST ON INSURANCE RATES

Why ?

• To maintain the towns' current ISO fire rating of class 6.

• To continue providing substantial savings to the Citizens on fire insurance rates.

• To explain that this is just one part of the DOI Inspection that will impact the Citizens of NTB on their fire insurance rates.

• To enhance the protection of our Citizens Property.

• To Enhance the Life Safety factor for our Citizens and Firefighters.

Life Safety/Protection of Property and Firefighter

Safety

• Ability to conduct life saving operations upon initial arrival on scene.

• Currently we will have to wait for additional firefighters before conducting life saving actions.

• Ability to conduct initial fire attack on arrival to reduce substantial property damage.

• Currently we will have to wait for additional fire companies to show on scene in order to conduct property protection operations.

• Ability to follow NFPA standards of 2 firefighters in 2 firefighters out on fire operations.

• Currently we will have to wait for additional personnel to show on scene.

ISO

RATING/PERSONNEL

• Currently a Class 6

• Inspected Nov 10 2003 by DOI for minimum rating of 9S, did not meet minimum requirements due to shortage of PERSONNEL. (Still short on personnel as of 18 Jan. 2007)

• Due to high transient population hard to maintain a full roster any length of time.

• Currently have (25) on roster but out of the 25 take away the paid staff (5), out of the (20) left take away (15) of the volunteers who can not show up on every call and we have (5) volunteers who normally will if in the area respond to the calls.

• We have (7) volunteers not military that live in other fire districts.

• We have (8) Marines currently on our roster, (1) is currently deployed and (3) more will be deploying this spring.

• Town does not have a big pool to recruit from, average age of citizens 40 to 70, Marines make up 50% of the department.

Insurance Savings

• Due to class 6 rating, home owners are paying less on their fire insurance rates

• If we cannot maintain the class 6 rating all home owners will have an up to 49% + increase in their fire insurance rates.

Maintaining Equipment

• The town has a major investment in each piece of apparatus it has purchased.

• Paid fire fighters would enhance the maintenance and general up keep of vehicles and stations alike.

• Fire apparatus has to be operated on a continuous basis to be in a good operational state.

• In the very near future one of our first out engines will need to be replaced due to being over 20 years old and starting to have maintenance and lack of needed seating for firefighters.

• Currently the Chief and Assistant Chief handle the daily maintenance and weekly checks along with the paid staff and volunteers.

Summary

• It was only a matter of time before we were to be inspected (The 10 November 2003 inspection was to ensure that we were meeting the minimum requirements for the 9S rating.

• It will be only a matter of time for us to be inspected for our class 6 rating (been told that all Onslow County fire departments will be inspected in 2008).

• Home Owners will be the ones who will have to pay more for insurance due to loss of class 6 rating to a 9S or class 10 unprotected.

• The town is continually growing, it may not be commercial growth but the residential is enormous and the structures are 3 to 4 stories with 3000 Sq Ft or better.

• We need to realize that we have been fortunate enough not have had multiple structure fires with in the town but we need to be prepared to provide our citizens with the proper protection.

• In all honesty we can not give them the maximum protection they require at this time.

Fire Marshal Best noted that they were put on probation because of the lack of personnel.  Jean Miller asked if he has recruited high school seniors and Mr.  Best said that during the summertime they don’t want to be here.  A paid firefighter counts as 3 volunteers.  Alderman Peters noted that at budget time they have asked them for more personnel and Mr. Best said they would again.  Manager Smith said that they are trying to recruit volunteers with cook outs, etc.  Mayor Pro Tem Hardison asked if one paid firefighter accounts for three volunteers for inspection purposes and Mr. Best said that they have to be on a roster that they responded to a fire.  If we can get to 10 and augment it by volunteers we will cover it with no breaks.  Alderman Handy said that one problem we have is the number of Marines since they are deployed more often.  Manager Smith said if it’s a fire during the day a Marine still can’t help us.  There is training on March 10^th and Cherry Point is bringing a simulator to do a burn of a partial aircraft. 

Recognition of Buddy Godwin:

Mayor Knowles recognized Buddy Godwin for his achievements and that the American Society of Mechanical Engineers awarded him the 2006 Safety Codes and Standards Medal.  The Mayor also thanked Mr. Godwin for his contributions to the town in promoting beach nourishment.

COMMITTEE REPORTS:

Beach Nourishment – Dick Macartney

The beach nourishment committee held its regularly scheduled meeting on January 17^th.

The new business for that meeting was the election of leadership for the coming year and formulating recommendations to this board of aldermen regarding the topic of beach nourishment.

The committee did unanimously re-elect the chairman and vice chairman for 2007.  That means that I continue as chair and that Becky Bowman retains her position of Vice Chair.

After much discussion relative to the motion made and seconded to ban the beach nourishment committee we did have an open discussion as to our advice to the Board.

Succinctly put it would be to make the care and future of the town’s beach resource the top priority for town planning and direction. 

The rationale for this is that there is no other topic that fills this meeting room as does the issue of beach nourishment.  It is apparent that the town has not satisfied either the 80% of its residents and owners who want beach nourishment or the 80% of its voters who do not want a $34,000,000 tax levy for it.  So what to do?

Our committee consensus is              MONEY FIRST PLAN SECOND.

In other words this board needs to find outside funding for a private beach nourishment project to correspond with the federal project already being planned. Given that Federal funding is not available because of the CRBA designation for much of the island that leaves state and county sources for the outside funding.  Last month we reported that Ms Cox has submitted a grant to the state for slightly over $10 MM dollars.  That is a start… but the glaring deficiency in our funding picture is the Onslow County reluctance to address our town problem.  So the plan to address that must be the first issue for the Board retreat next week.

After money comes prioritizing the planning.  Do we scale back the plan to nourish the beach the full length of the town?  What do we do about the New River Inlet and the erosion its constant dredging is causing down drift?  How do we keep the federal project moving forward given that the local portion of the funding required will be substantial given the initial construction cost of $75 million?  What do we do about the need to continue the permitting process if we want to keep our options opens? What is the decision relative to the consulting firm we have retained for the past several years to give recommendations about coastal engineering issues?

But most of all how to we convince our property owners, residents and voters that we are capable of protecting their properties, and the town infrastructure?  Are we looking into alternative erosion control technologies? Are we properly taking stands about the Inlet dredging?  Are we properly laying claim to the tax dollars that our town is contributing to Onslow County?

Yes board members there are many facets to beach management.  Our committee feels that is indeed incumbent upon this board to direct their beach nourishment committee in the scope and direction you want the town to take regarding its beach.  So we are looking forward to your decisions, hopefully soon, about the strategy and tactics for the overriding issue for our town. 

Mayor Pro Tem Hardison said that he received an email that Mr. Macartney sent to Shelia Cox and in it he mentioned that he didn’t expect we would be dissolved, but it would be nice to have our Aldermanic Liaison defend us rather than to concur with Mr. Farley since he is now the Vice Chair for the Topsail Island Shore Protection Commission.  Mr. Macartney said it was his duty and he used “aldermanic” as an adjective.  Mayor Pro Tem Hardison said it had quality as a “maniac” and asked why Mr. Macartney would copy him on that email.  Mr. Macartney said that he thought it would be nice if he came to their defense.  Mayor Pro Tem Hardison asked if he heard his preference as to his vote for dissolving the committee and he made it clear that his vote was not for or not against the committee but against the leadership of it.  Mayor Knowles suggested that they take this issue up at a later time.  Mayor Pro Tem Hardison felt it was not appropriate and it was important.

Planning Board – Paul Dorazio:

Paul Dorazio said that the following is a report that Chairman Mike Yawn prepared since he was out of town for the meeting:

Planning Board met 1/11; went over the proposed private bridge process, and made suggestions to Ms. Hill.  Looking at fire trucks and cement trucks that would have to access the bridges.  Also had discussions on the zoning maps prompted by citizen input.

Land Use Plan team met 1/11; went over the 72 pages plus maps in the existing conditions section. We had a number of changes for Holland and Associates. Will revisit these on 2/8 at 5:00 pm. After that they go to the state, just to show that we are progressing.  Will be sure to get the BOA .pdf files at that time.

They held a workshop with the Board of Aldermen on 1/12; topic was the zoning maps. Several changes were suggested.  Plan is to have Holland and Associates update the map and the Planning Board will hold a public hearing at their March meeting on the 5 to 7 properties that are felt to need rezoning due to vague motions by past Boards of Aldermen. Then the BOA can hold hearings on April 5th and formally rezone these within the proper process.

Alderman Farley questioned the amount of bridges and Mr. Dorazio said that they could foresee that because the property is so valuable.   Fire Marshal Best said that people are talking about it and there are 167 lots on the two islands. 

MANAGER’S REPORT:

1. I have spoken to Ginger Booker with the Piedmont Triad COG concerning the revisions of our Zoning ordinance.  Ginger will be here on the 8^th of February at the Planning and Zoning meeting.  I encourage each Board member to attend this first meeting. 
2. I attended the Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Meeting on 23 January.  Projects are still on schedule.  The Committee also voted to send Mike Curley to the national conference.
3. I did not attend the Planning and Zoning meeting due to attending the COG meeting with Alderman Peters.
4. Board of Adjustment training was held for 2 members by me last Friday afternoon.  This brings all members having attended training for Board of Adjustment. 
5. I will be attending the NC City County Manager’s Association annual meeting in the Triad between February 7-9. 
6. The annual retreat is set for Tuesday 6 February starting at 8:30 am.  Larry Moolenaar will be the moderator to keep us on track and on point.  I will finish the agenda tomorrow and email it to each of you and Larry at the COG.  Items that need to be discussed are beach nourishment, land use issues, recreation opportunities, recycling, green spaces, dune protection, an annual festival, and anything else that any member of the Board would like to see discussed.  Please get with me immediately so that I may finish the agenda for the retreat.
7. I grilled out for the fire department on 6 January.  Alderman Farley was present.  We discussed ways to get more volunteers and to get better attendance at fire calls.  I will be doing this again this month to continue the dialogue between the fire department and management.
8. I attended the Beach nourishment meeting on the 17^th.  Dick Macartney has already reported on this.
9. I attended the Four Town Meeting in Surf City on the 18^th.  Mayor Pro Tem Hardison, Aldermen Handy and Peters were in attendance.
10.   The Mayors’ meeting was held in Richlands on the 24^th.  Mayor Knowles and I attended.  The presentation was given by a local SBI agent on computer crimes and meth labs.
11.   I would like to attend the ASBPA 2007 Coastal Summit in DC on March 21^st -23rd to help in lobbying efforts for beach nourishment assistance from the Federal Government and to lobby for CBRA designation changes.
12.   I will be attending the NCBIWA Conference in Pine Knoll Shores on February 22^nd and 23^rd.

Alderman Farley asked if the manager researched a sand hole ordinance and Manager Smith said that he did have some examples to show him but he did not have them prepared for this meeting.

Alderman Tuman noted that at the last meeting the CBRA zone designation of River Road was discussed and Manager Smith said he was following up on that. 

Alderman Tuman requested that the manager have the Town goals for the retreat and the CBRA designation.  Alderman Handy requested that septic tanks be on the agenda for the retreat and Alderman Peters said he wanted growth in the Conservation District areas addressed. 

OPEN FORUM:

Gene Graziosi said he had noticed the amount of ConD areas in this town and there were more in 1982.  One reason you were designated CBRA was because you didn’t have land that was developed.  You were punished because of that, good argument or not.

CONSENT AGENDA:

The consent agenda consisted of the January 4^th and 12^th, 2007 Board Meeting minutes, Department Head Reports, Benefit Accrual Report and Budget vs. Actual and a Resolution Requesting Legislation that NTB is added to House Bill #845 and House Bill #2027.  Alderman Farley asked when using an ATV is there any liability with officers when not wearing helmets.  Manager Smith said he would have to look into that, but that he would require that on the road.  Alderman Peters noted that a couple of years ago the Turtle Hospital asked to take an ATV on the beach and they were declined.  The Mayor said that this is just for the police department’s use.  Fire Marshal Best said that Jean Beasley has used an ATV recently on the beach. 

Alderman Handy moved, seconded by Alderman Peters approval of the Consent Agenda as amended.  The motion passed unanimously

NEW BUSINESS:

Budget Amendment #1: