White Lake administrator position nets two resumes so far

WHITE LAKE — Town commissioners were updated on the search for a town administrator and the lake’s health as they moved through a modest agenda Tuesday evening in their monthly meeting.

The board met via the internet application Zoom, as it has since its April 14 meeting because of the coronavirus pandemic. Unlike previous meetings, Mayor Goldston Womble did not do roll call votes as required by state law.

The board had no controversial discussions. Votes were taken on nine administrative matters and three ordinances.

Cliff Hester, the town’s legal counsel, joined the meeting late and was present for only the last four votes.

“The first thing I thought of was, we need to do this the correct way,” Hester said. “I heard them vote four times, and each was unanimous, but that’s not what we were instructed to do.

“What I’m going to tell them to do, is tell them to revote on everything. I failed them.”

Womble, in a Thursday interview, said he stated what the result of the votes were after each and there were no “nay” votes.

“Quite frankly, I think it’s putting form over substance,” he said.

In May, the General Assembly passed and Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law the COVID-19 Recovery Act. It is in effect concurrent with North Carolina’s state of emergency for the pandemic, and requires all votes in meetings held by telephone or video to be taken by roll call.

Womble is a practicing lawyer with a firm in Elizabethtown, and also serves as counsel to the town of Elizabethtown. Hester said he thought perhaps the open meetings law changed and Womble was aware and he wasn’t.

Amanda Martin, legal counsel to the N.C. Press Association of which the Bladen Journal is a member, confirmed Wednesday the law is in place concurrent with Cooper’s state of emergency for the coronavirus pandemic.

“While I was fairly understanding about the difficulties public officials faced at the beginning of the pandemic and whether they would comply with the mandates of the (original) open meetings law or the governor’s ban on large groups, I am not at all sympathetic to a violation such as this,” she wrote in an email to the Bladen Journal. “There is no reason — legally or in practice — for a departure from the statutory requirements.”

Among the items in the meeting of less than an hour, in addition to the town administrator search and the lake’s health, was the demise of a contract with other entities in the county and the N.C. Department of Public Safety for use of inmate labor.

Advertisements have drawn two resumes thus far for the newly created town administrator position. The deadline is Aug. 21. Tuesday’s meeting was adjourned to Aug. 27, when the board is planning to reconvene and go into closed session to discuss the candidates.

Dr. Diane Lauritsen’s report on the health of the lake indicates a reorganization is being made of the White Lake Technical Advisory Committee into a Science Advisory Group. There were no alarming trends in monitoring of fecal bacterial levels, aquatic vegetation, algae, pH, turbidity, rainfall and lake level; turbidity is higher than last year, and the lake level is higher corresponding to more rain this year, while algae and pH are similar to a year ago at this time.

The inmate labor pact died when Elizabethtown, Clarkton, the N.C. Forestry Service and the county all pulled out. White Lake had a budgeted share of $14,661.03 for 2020-21, but would have had to assume the entire amount of $73,277.80 had it continued.

A part-time position may be created by the town that would work with the Street Department, Fire Department and Public Works Department.

The budget ordinance amendments were linked to White Lake’s wastewater fund, the general fund for engineering services in the second phase of the multi-use path, and the general fund for training and education expenses.