Tangier Town Council minutes from June 19, 2025 — thanks go to Barb Baechtel for providing them!
The minutes below are APPROVED as voted on at the meeting, on Tuesday, July 15th, 2025.
Meeting Date: June 19th, 2025
Meeting Location: Swain Memorial Methodist Church – Sunday School Building
Council Members Present:
• Beth Thomas, Vice Mayor
• Tommy Eskridge
• Anna Parks
• Tracy Pruitt
• Kelly Wheatley
Approximately twenty adult members of the community were in attendance.
Call To Order:
Mayor James Ooker Eskridge
Council Members Absent:
• Normand St. Pierre
Vice Mayor Beth Thomas called the meeting to order at 6:37 PM and stated the meeting would be recorded. She thanked the Methodist Church and Pastor Parks for the use of the Sunday School building.
Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance
The opening invocation was given by Pastor Chuck Parks and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Tracy Pruitt.
Opening Statement:
Mayor James Eskridge welcomed everyone. He thanked everyone for participating in the meeting. He restated the Council’s dedication to transparency. He made special mention of thanks for the current hard-working Council, for all they’ve done and continue to do, and was pleased to announce that this meeting would include some good news.
Motion: To adopt the agenda of June 19, 2025, was made by Beth Thomas and seconded by Tommy Eskridge.
Unanimous Aye. Motion Passed
Motion: To approve the meeting minutes of May 23, 2025, was made by Anna Parks and Seconded by Tracy Pruitt.
Unanimous Aye. Motion Passed
Financial Reports:
General Fund:
Tracy Pruitt discussed the state of the Town’s General Fund. She said that the General Fund balance as of May 23, 2025, was $10,789.12. As of June 19th, 2025, the General Fund balance was $8,260.18.
Tracy also said that the Council has been working on putting together the Town’s budget for Fiscal Year 2026, which begins on July 1st, 2025. She stated that, due to financial difficulties early in the Council’s term, the creation of the FY2026 Budget had been delayed. Normand St. Pierre will be working on it. She acknowledged that getting a Budget put together was a top promise for this Council, and they were committed to having the Budget drafted by the end of July.
At that time, there will be a public hearing on the FY2026 Budget, which will include a time for public comments.
She went on to discuss the Town’s Insurance debt for FY2024/2025, which currently stands at $15,000.00, with a payment expected to be made on June 20th, and the balance due on July 1st, 2025. She said that the Town was discussing the possibility of selling the old town office, to mitigate that debt. No decision has been made yet.
Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP):
Kelly Wheatley began by stating that the WTP fund balance, as of May 23, 2025, was $3,505.56 and as of June 19, 2025, was $9,306.42.
She said that she had been in contact with Chris Isdell of the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). During that conversation, they discussed the Town turning over responsibility of the Gas Dock Road to VDOT, so that they could pave it. Ponderosa Road was also discussed. This prompted some public comments about the progress that had been made to convince residents of that area to allow an easement for paving on that road, which would slightly impinge on some property lines. Kelly said that Chris Isdell was on vacation, but expected to return on June 23rd, at which time she would continue the talks with VDOT, as the Town wants to expedite maintenance and paving of Town roads.
Tangier Gas:
Tommy Eskridge stated that the Tangier Gas Fund balance was right at $16,000.00, as of June 19th, 2025, after paying $10,000.00 toward the Pep-Up debt that started at $170,000.00 but had been paid down to $140,000.00 as of this date.
The $50,000.00 loan from the Methodist Church has been paid down to a debt balance of $35,000.00.
Regarding the clean-up initiative, Tommy said that he was still talking to Michael Stillman, in Cape Charles, about the logistics of getting the trash on the slab and large debris, old vehicles and the like off of Tangier. The offloading dock is set up, and the equipment and machinery are ready, so that the effort could start any time.
He added his thanks to James Eskridge and Amanda Parks for their effort in cleaning up and maintaining some of the derelict yards. He said they are looking very good. He said that the money the Town expends to clean up these properties would be added to the tax bills of the property owners responsible.
On the Food Bank, he said that it went well, and that the new procedures worked very well. He said that they offloaded the food and put it straight into the Gas Dock building, in the air conditioning, and that everyone loved it. He expects that procedure to continue.
Regarding the dock project, Tommy said that the grant money is on the verge of being restarted, so that soil sampling and other tasks can be completed and the project can move forward. He said that DEQ and other partners on the grant are very happy and more comfortable with the situation as it stands, with venders being paid back, and everything getting back on track.
Response to Public Comments from May 23rd, 2025 Meeting:
Tommy Eskridge addressed Margaretta Pruitt’s concern from the last meeting, about a 3’ to 4’ hole that had opened up in her lane, endangering her cart. He said that he had gone out the night of the last meeting, and covered the hole with plywood, and has replaced that once since then, while Denny Crockett waits for the aluminum he has ordered, to make a more permanent cover.
Anna Parks addressed Nina Pruitt’s comments from the May 23rd meeting, concerning Town Ordinances. She said that residents could visit the Town Office for copies of the Dog ordinance and the meal tax ordinance. She said that she had an unsatisfactory email exchange with the Town Attorney regarding firearms, and the sale of alcohol on Tangier, that wasn’t very productive, but that she would follow up with him, as she is concerned that the Town Ordinances are not complete. She remembers ordinances from her previous time on Council that she hasn’t found in the current book. She says that once she hears from the Attorney and finds out about the ordinances that Nina was concerned about, she will provide copies of any ordinances that are pertinent.
She said that the Mayor and Council have been discussing the firearms issue – specifically shooting on the beach. She related a story of Mayor Eskridge being out at his crab floats, when a bullet hit one of the floats. She said that if there is not an ordinance, the Council will work on enacting one, to prohibit shooting on the beach.
Tommy Eskridge proposed a 1% Business Tax, for any business that buys a license from the Town, in answer to Nina Pruitt’s May 23rd question on meal tax. He believes that it is a much fairer application of taxation, rather than targeting restaurants and AirBnB’s with a higher tax. He encouraged public comments on this issue, at the next public meeting.
Public Comments:
Eugenia Pruitt suggested a Town Ordinance, requiring proper dress, when leaving the beach. She stated that there are people walking through the Town, when coming from the beach, who are nearly naked, with their entire buttocks exposed. She was emphatic that this is a family neighborhood, not a resort area, and that people should respect that.
Grants Report:
Anna Parks had no new news on the National Fish & Wildlife Federation (NFWF) grant with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF). She said they are currently working on a Request For Proposal (RFP) going out to the engineering firms.
She said that she and Beth Thomas had a meeting with two people from the office of the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts last week. To support our claim of being a distressed locality, they answered an in-depth questionnaire and discussed the plan to move forward with a request for relief funds and financial experts from that office. She said it went very well and hopes to hear more within the next couple of days.
Discussion on Energy Technology Innovation Partnership Project (ETIPP) Workshop:
Anna continued by outlining a very successful energy workshop, held June 16th through 18th. She said that the members of the ETIPP group, our Mayor and Council and the Steering Committee met, in person, to discuss energy projects pertaining to Tangier. She stated that it was a very productive meeting and that the U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Lou Hrkman, and his assistant, Sherry Stout, participated in the workshop on one of the days.
She was happy to report that one of the many exciting projects that was discussed was our Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP). It was discovered that our plant, when installed in the 1980’s, was meant to serve a community of 12,000 people – entirely too large for our community, at the time, but certainly now, with less than 350 people. This would explain why the plant is such a huge, disproportionate drain on the Town’s finances. Deputy Secretary Hrkman proposed that the plant be replaced with a modern, efficient “Package Plant” which is a modular system, where each package, about the size of a semi-trailer, serves 100 homes. This is a system that is currently in place for Smith Island, Maryland. He asked Ms.
Stout to have a proposal to get our plant replaced on his desk ASAP. Ms. Stout is very versed in helping small island communities, and other remote localities update and modernize their water and sewer works.
Mayor Eskridge related stories of his time with Deputy Hrkman and Sherry Stout, when he brought them to the plant.
Their inspection was enlivened by spirited and colorful admissions and stories from Trevor Pruitt.
Anna Parks and Tommy Eskridge addressed a rumor that has been circulating about the alleged improper spending of ETIPP funds. They explained that there had been a major miscommunication at the time that the new Council was just first getting on their feet. Just prior to the time of the current Council’s inauguration in January, approximately $47,000.00 was transferred from the General Fund into a Money-Market savings account, held by the Town. It’s important to note that nobody knows the original source(s) of those comingled funds.
The Council, at that time, assumed the money in the savings account was General Funds money, and used some of it to pay debts, to avoid looming bankruptcy for the Town. They had heard there was to be a $50,000.00 gift from ETIPP, but Leo Radkowski, our consultant on the ETIPP grant, assured the Council that it had not yet been presented. It was only later discovered, in March of this year, that the gift had, in fact, been presented in November of 2024. Since then, it has been brought to the Council’s attention that those funds were most likely meant to cover ETIPP expenses, such as the recent workshop. The balance of that savings account currently stands at $15,000.00. With this new understanding, the Town has agreed to cover ETIPP expenses until that $50,000.00 mark is met.
Mayor Eskridge asked Rob Baechtel about the status of the Airport Maintenance Project. Rob said that the application and letters were due at the end of June, and that the RFP would be put out to the contractors at that time. He expects that the project will begin as early as September, so the contractor can take advantage of the heat, for adherence of striping paint to the runway and parking pad.
Since there was no further business; the meeting was adjourned by Beth Thomas at 7:34 p.m.
The next public meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 15th, 2025.
Tangier Island, Virginia 