The Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen (BOA) will convene at 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 21 for a second quarter review of its 2009-10 fiscal year budget. Town manager Bob Simpson and finance director Peggy Jones will provide actual year-to-date revenues and expenditures. Updates on major capital expenditures and fund balances will also be updated. Simpson will also make his recommendations for budget considerations.
The first quarter budget review in October indicated that projected revenues and expenses were on target.
The workshop will also allow time for a preliminary discussions regarding the 2010-11 fiscal year budget, and the mayor and aldermen the opportunity to provide guidance to staff.
The workshop was announced at last week’s BOA meeting during which several new items of business were discussed.
A overhaul to the special events permit ordinance was unanimously approved in time for enforcement for the 2010 season.
It was decided by a consensus of the board that the role of Mayor Pro Tem, a position that Bill Blair was unanimously reappointed to by his peers in December 2009, should be expanded to encompass other duties and rotated on an annual basis among the elected alderman. Blair will serve as Mayor Pro Tem for 2010 and Alderman Lisa Weeks for 2011. Terms for both Blair and Weeks terminate in 2011. The sequence of the rotating chair to Alderman Susan Collins and Alderman Bill Sisson was not determined.
Board members were also drafted to serve on various ancillary boards, committees and commissions that interface with other government entities. These include the Port, Waterway and Beach Commission (Mayor Cignotti); the New Hanover County Tourism Development Authority (TDA); the Wrightsville Beach Marketing Committee (Weeks); the Better Business Board (Cignotti); the Cape Fear Council of Governments (Sisson); the Transportation Advisory Council (Blair); and the North Carolina Holiday Flotilla (Collins). A previous appointment to Keep America Beautiful held by Cignotti will be reassigned to a private citizen and all board members will rotate attendance to New Hanover County Commissions meetings and Wilmington City Council meetings when the agendas of those groups supports participation.
The proposed appointments are made in two-year increments. Mayor Cignotti’s appointment to the TDA has already been confirmed by the Wilmington Cape Fear Coast Convention and Visitor’s Bureau.
The BOA also heard public comments from North Lumina Avenue resident Tim Taylor advocating a non-smoking beach; Pelican Drive resident Jim Smith regarding issues for discussion for the upcoming board retreat; and from North Channel Drive resident Jonathan Rowe supporting an increase in paid parking fees, fines and meters.
