When Tangier Town Council met Thursday, Feb. 13 at Tangier Combined School, council unanimously approved the meeting minutes from the Jan. 28 council meeting.
Published below are those minutes — officially approved. Thanks goes to Barb Baechtel recording these minutes.
More about Thursday’s meeting will appear in a future article.
Tangier Town Council Minutes
APPROVED UNANIMOUSLY: Thursday, February 13th.
Meeting Date: January 28, 2025
Meeting Location: Swain Memorial Church Sunday School Building
Council Members Present:
• Beth Thomas, Vice Mayor
• Tommy Eskridge
• Sharon Haynie
• Anna Parks
• Tracy Pruitt
• Kelly Wheatley
Mayor James Ooker Eskridge attended the meeting via cell phone, for the first half. The
connection was lost, halfway through.
Approximately 50 adult members of the community were in attendance.
Call to Order:
Vice Mayor Beth Thomas called the meeting to order at 6 PM and stated the meeting would
be recorded. She thanked the Methodist Church for allowing the Council to utilize the
Sunday School building, as there were frozen pipes at the school.
She explained that Assistant Town Manager Jenny Parks has recently had surgery, so was
unable to attend the meeting, as she is recovering. Ms. Barb Baechtel will be taking
minutes in Jenny’s absence.
Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance
The opening invocation was given by Mr. Duane Crockett and the Pledge of Allegiance was
led by Council Member Tracy Pruitt.
Opening Statement:
Council Member Kelly Wheatley opened the meeting by welcoming everyone and
encouraging everyone to participate. She thanked the town for entrusting the Council and
pledged that the Council would work very hard to address all the many concerns of the
townspeople. She stated that pursuant to the bylaws and Robert’s Rules of Order there
would be no interjections from the audience unless granted permission by the Council. She
further stated that everyone who wanted to speak must sign up to make public comments,
and their comments would be limited to three minutes. She stated that speakers should
state their full name and address, and if there are any interjections or destructive behavior,
you will be asked to leave. She asked that we all work together.
Motion: To adopt the agenda of Jan. 28, 2025, by Beth Thomas and seconded by Council
Member Sharon Haynie. Roll Call: Thomas-yes, Haynie-yes, Wheatley-yes, Eskridge-yes,
Pruitt-yes, Parks-yes. Motion Passed
Reading of Minutes:
Beth Thomas read the minutes from the meeting on January 6, 2025.
Tangier Town Council Meeting Minutes Page #2
Motion: To approve the minutes of January 6, 2025 made by Council Member Anna
Parks and Seconded by Council Member Sharon Haynie. Roll Call: Thomas-yes, Haynie-yes,
Wheatley-yes, Eskridge-yes, Pruitt-yes, Parks-yes. Motion Passed
Financial Reports:
Council Member Tracy Pruitt discussed the state of the Town’s General Fund. She wanted
to make clear that the General Fund was in no way connected to the Wastewater Treatment
Plant (WTP), nor the Tangier Gas Dock.
General Fund: $8,382.92
Outstanding debt:
Light Bill: $3,659.71
Phone Bill: $596.00
A letter was passed out to all participants, from Mr. Normand St.-Pierre, which focused on
his volunteer effort to analyze the extent of the Town’s uncollected/delinquent real estate
taxes, owed by the townspeople. He estimates that, totaling monies tallied from 2023 and
2024, the town is owed $56,053.00, while also acknowledging that records may not be
entirely accurate, and that effort should be made by the Council to identify delinquent
taxpayers who may have to sacrifice basic needs to pay.
Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP):
Sharon Haynie began by thanking the volunteers that have come out to help. She
specifically thanked Normand St.-Pierre, Ms. Nina Pruitt and Mr. Austin Pruitt.
She handed out a printout on the WTP, indicating that, between annual operating
expenses, 3 large loans and one vendor that hasn’t been paid, the WTP operation owes
$881,300.41.
One loan is through the Department of Agriculture, with a 5% interest rate, initiated in
1987. So far, the Council has been unable to unearth the information pertaining to two of
the large loans, but they are continuing to dig into those records.
Tangier Gas:
Council Member Tommy Eskridge stated that as of January 5th, Tangier Gas owes Pep-Up,
their primary gas and oil vendor $171,845.50. Pep-Up is working with Tangier Gas to work
that debt down, and they have agreed to take 50% of the finance charges off. They are
considering Tommy’s proposal to forgive all of the remaining finance charges if Tangier Gas
works out an agreeable payment plan and pledges to stick to it and get the debt paid down.
He made a point to stress how fortunate the whole Town is to have found out the extent of
the debt when they did. Pointing out that, had it come to light any later, we would have
been cut off by the vendor, who had already decided to close our account, due to non-
payment. That would have forced the school, church, watermen and other crucial
cornerstones of Tangier to shut down, because of lack of gas and heating oil. This, of
course, would also have drastically affected individual homes heated with oil.
He also pointed out that Tangier Gas is not to be confused with Tangier Oil, which was
managed by Mr. Denny Crockett. The same vendor, Pep-Up, indicated that Tangier Oil had
a zero balance, when Denny Crockett retired, and the Town took the property over as
Tangier Gas. This debt has been generated since the turnover.
He wanted to make sure to thank Mr. Juke Marshall and Mr. Steven Thomas for their
patience in getting their outstanding debts repaid. He thanked Barb Baechtel for agreeing
to take the minutes of the meeting. He also thanked Mr. Rob Baechtel for his help in
helping the town retain the services of a grant writer. He gave a warm thanks to Jenny
Parks, who has worked tirelessly to help the Council as much as she can, without access to
the Town’s computers or email – even right up until her surgery. He also thanked Sharon
Haynie and Beth Thomas for jumping in to work in the Town Office, while Jenny Parks has
been out.
Sharon Haynie wanted to make sure the entire Council was recognized for foregoing their
$100.00 monthly salary.
Dock Project:
Tommy Eskridge discussed the status of the dock project, whereas the first bulkhead has
been finished, and the plan is to have some soil tests done, to see if it’s feasible to demolish
both existing docks, and instead dredge and build another bulkhead, so that the gas and
oil distribution facility that is currently utilized by the watermen could be moved onto land,
and boats could pull right up to the bulkhead. However, If the soil test comes back as
contaminated with petroleum products, the contaminated dredge would have to be barged
to Chesapeake, Virginia, for disposal – which would make that plan cost prohibitive.
He went on to mention that the Town was in negotiations with Steven Thomas to clean up
the slab.
Discussion on Auditor:
Beth Thomas cited VA code Title 15.2. Counties, Cities and Towns » Subtitle II. Powers of
Local Government » Chapter 25. Budgets, Audits and Reports » § 15.2-2503. Time for
preparation and approval of budget; contents, which states:
“All officers and heads of departments, offices, divisions, boards, commissions, and
agencies of every locality shall, on or before the first day of April of each year, prepare and
submit to the governing body an estimate of the amount of money needed during the
ensuing fiscal year for his department, office, division, board, commission or agency. If
such person does not submit an estimate in accordance with this section, the clerk of the
governing body or other designated person or persons shall prepare and submit an estimate
for that department, office, division, board, commission or agency.
The governing body shall prepare and approve a budget for informative and fiscal planning
purposes only, containing a complete itemized and classified plan of all contemplated
expenditures and all estimated revenues and borrowings for the locality for the ensuing
fiscal year. The itemized contemplated expenditures shall include any discretionary funds
to be designated by individual members of the governing body and the specific uses and
funding allocation planned for those funds by the individual member; however,
notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, general or special, an amendment to
a locality’s budget that changes the uses or allocation or both of such discretionary funds
may be adopted by the governing body of the locality. The governing body shall approve the
budget and fix a tax rate for the budget year no later than the date on which the fiscal year
begins. The governing body shall annually publish the approved budget on the locality’s
website, if any, or shall otherwise make the approved budget available in hard copy a
needed to citizens for inspection.”
She went on to discuss the process of finding an Auditor that was willing to come to
Tangier. The Virginia Municipal League finance department was finally able to track down
a willing Auditor, Ms. Connie Barns, who has an impressive resume’, including an MBA in
Accounting, and two Master’s degrees. She is currently the Director of Finance for the City
of Franklin, VA. She has worked for several towns and jurisdictions in their financial
department.
Once contacted, Connie Barns gave Beth Thomas a full set of instructions on what the
Town needs to do, to organize before the audit. Those preparations are in progress.
Motion: To hire the Auditor Connie Barnes to come to Tangier, to audit the Town’s
finances was made by Tommy Eskridge and seconded by Tracy Pruitt. Roll Call: Thomas-
yes, Haynie-yes, Wheatley-yes, Eskridge-yes, Pruitt-yes, Parks-yes. Motion Passed
Tommy Eskridge wanted to thank Beth Thomas for graciously allowing the Tangier Gas
dock to use the internet connection at the Tangier Mail & Freight office to run their credit
card payments, until the Tangier Gas dock can get internet installed.
Public Comments:
Nina Pruitt thanked the Council for their extensive efforts in the month since they were
sworn in. She said that the reports were discouraging, but if the Council wasn’t giving up,
that she wouldn’t either, and would stay encouraged.
Pruitt thanked Mr. Miles Layton for his work on the website and mentioned that she enjoyed
the tidbits of good news and being able to keep up with the accomplishments of the
students who have left to go build their lives.
Pruitt said that she would like to know, for the record, if the Mayor plans to give up his
salary. She recounted a memory from 1988-89, when the sea wall was proposed, and how the town
pulled together to organize fundraisers to meet the Town’s required matching funds, and
how something like that would be welcome today, considering the Town’s financial
situation. She said, particularly with grants, that the town, showing that they are willing to
do the hard work to help themselves, went a long way toward securing much needed funds
from outside entities.
Ms. Lynda Clary was concerned that the Town has large loans with no idea who we are
indebted to. Sharon Haynie explained that the only reason they didn’t have that
information is because there is a vast amount of information to get through, and they
simply haven’t tracked that information down yet. She assured everyone that the
information will be provided when it is sorted out.
Tommy Eskridge indicated that the Council’s hands were essentially tied, due to not being
able to access any digital records.
Lynda Clary went on to ask what was going to be done about $1,000,000.00 in debt being
concealed from the townspeople. Tommy Eskridge assured her that the Audit was geared
toward uncovering those answers and that if wrongdoing was uncovered it would be
pursued to its rightful end.
Teresa Tyler opened by saying that she had no idea that the town was in so much
financial trouble. She said that we can’t afford to lose any more and should fight to keep
as much as we have left as possible.
Tyler went on to say that she was very concerned about erosion on the Beach. She
recounted that her visits to the beach showed massive erosion, with sand being completely
gone from most of the beach, including the iconic Tangier “fishhook”. She is concerned
that the ATV/UTV traffic on the beach is accelerating the loss of the beach and suggested
that a ban on vehicle traffic on the beach may save the beach for the use of the town and
tourists, and possibly property on the south end of town. She volunteered herself and her
husband for anything the town needed.
Beth Thomas pointed out that the Council cannot move forward with any initiatives until
after the Audit.
Grants Report:
Anna Parks reported that the National Fish & Wildlife Bayland Grant has a $28,000.00
matching fund requirement. In a recent meeting, she was informed that the Chesapeake
Bay Commission and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation have both offered pro-bono in-kind
services to cover our matching funds requirement, so the Town is now relieved of that
burden. That grant is meant to fund a study that is geared toward identifying areas where
more grants could be applied. Even though it is “just another study”, this one is different,
in that it is a door to qualifying Tangier for many more grants that could help the Island a
great deal.
Even though the Island’s $28,000.00 requirement has been satisfied, Ms. Jen Merritt is still
planning to pursue an Eastern Shore Community grant, to hopefully get funds to put
towards advertising, tourism and promotion, which would benefit the entire town and
generates taxes for Town revenue.
Parks went on to discuss that $75,000.00 of the dock project grant is supposed to go towards
the Town working with a firm to draw up an all-encompassing 5-year Vision Plan. She
pointed to Smith Island United’s 5-year plan which was over 35 pages long and is very
impressive.
With the Council working so hard on the Town’s financial situation, it was
decided to develop a steering committee of Town residents, to work with the Council to
spearhead the work on the Vision Plan. She and Tommy Eskridge are working to identify
people to include in this committee and she encouraged everyone to pitch in, when called
on to help with initiatives.
Parks said that the former survey replies have not been unearthed yet and anticipates a new
survey going out to the townspeople. She encouraged everyone to participate and to be very
honest in their replies.
Report on Office Relocation Project:
Beth Thomas said that the office relocation project is coming along, and quite a bit of the
building is in good shape and shouldn’t be too difficult to get usable. She thanked Mr.
Trevor Pruitt and Mr. Chris Haynie for all the hard work they’d done to get stuff hauled out
and cleaned up. Tracy and Richie Pruitt have been over at the building to help organize.
The Council plans to move Jenny Park’s office over shortly, to occupy the area renovated by
Mr. Joe Hayes, when he was here to become our police officer. Mr. William Eskridge has
agreed to come over and check out the heat and electrical system. She was grateful for this
little bit of good news.
New Business:
Tommy Eskridge wanted to thank Mr. Andy Parks, will and Ms. Claudine Eskridge for their
help at the Tangier Gas dock.
He went on to address recent difficulties on the Island and how everyone needs to band
together to make sure the Accomack County Sheriff’s Office is alerted whenever something
of a criminal nature is observed. He said that if anyone was uncomfortable going to the
Sheriff, that they could bring their concerns to him, and he would call the Sheriff’s Office.
Sharon Haynie announced that the Town Office would be closed on Wednesday, January
29th, due to there being nobody to open it. She must leave the Island for the day.
Tracy Pruitt announced a meeting with the Army Corps of Engineers representatives on
Thursday, January 30th, at 1:00 pm, at the school auditorium. This is a very important
meeting, and everyone is encouraged to attend and give their input on the oyster bed
recovery project.
Nina Pruitt asked, since this meeting was out of sequence, would the regularly scheduled
meeting still happen? The Council assured everyone that the regularly scheduled meeting,
on the 2nd Thursday of every month, would still happen in February, on Thursday,
February 13th. They stated that this meeting was just to have an official vote on hiring the
Auditor, so that they could move forward with that as soon as possible.
Anna Parks concluded with thanks to the people who have stepped up to help from outside
of the Island community. She specifically thanked Mr. Rob Bloxom and Mr. Robert Dale,
plus several senators and the Municipal League, who haven’t charged the Town a cent yet,
even though the Town has not yet paid their dues to rejoin.
An unidentified participant asked what the Council planned to do to recover the unpaid
taxes, outlined in Normand St.-Pierre’s letter. The Council deferred discussion on that
issue until the next meeting and indicated that they hadn’t even had a chance to discuss
ideas for resolving that topic. They assured the participants that they were dedicated to
transparency and that nothing would be done in secret.
ADJOURNMENT:
Since there was no further business; the meeting was adjourned by Beth Thomas at 7:06
Tangier Island, Virginia 