By Miles Layton
The Tangier Town Council meeting minutes below, from the July 15 meeting, have been approved, as voted on at the meeting on Friday, August 22, 2025. Thanks goes to Barb Baechtel for transcribing these notes.
Here is a brief summary of that meeting, with the official minutes to follow. Worth noting, since July’s meeting involves the budget, here is a link to the budget that was approved.
Town Council met July 15 at Tangier Combined School, with Mayor James “Ooker” Eskridge and Vice Mayor Beth Thomas presiding over a wide-ranging agenda that focused heavily on finances, infrastructure, and community concerns.
Councilman Normand St. Pierre reported that the town is already behind in preparing its fiscal year 2025–26 budget, citing poor past recordkeeping as a challenge. He outlined plans to divide the budget into three sections — General Fund, Water and Sewer (one section), Fuel Dock, and Grants — with a preliminary draft expected soon. The Council is working to reduce expenses while raising some service fees, with a public budget meeting planned before final approval.
Financial pressures remain significant. The town recently retired a $15,000 insurance debt from last year, but now faces $52,331 in new insurance costs. As of mid-July, the General Fund balance had dropped to $5,484.
Infrastructure dominated much of the meeting. Thomas reported the wastewater treatment plant remains under a boil-water order pending state lab results. A replacement system is being pursued through federal energy programs, but residents were urged to continue boiling water. Meanwhile, Kelly Wheatley announced that VDOT has repaired sinkholes and finalized the Oil Dock deed, while reimbursement for airport maintenance is pending.
On fuel services, Councilman Tommy Eskridge said soil tests cleared the way for the fuel dock modernization project, which must be completed by 2026 to keep grant funding.
Public comments included a proposal to dedicate a new Veterans Park, concerns about sewer drains, and debate over a proposed 1% business tax.
The meeting closed with updates on grants and dredging projects. Council adjourned at 6:57 p.m.
Last thing — praise be to God for good leadership — Mayor Eskridge and Council — serving the citizens of Tangier.
Meeting Minutes From July 15, 2025
Council Members Present:
- Mayor James Ooker Eskridge
- Beth Thomas, Vice Mayor
- Tommy Eskridge
- Anna Parks
- Tracy Pruitt
- Kelly Wheatley
- Normand St. Pierre
Approximately twenty adult members of the community were in attendance.
Call To Order:
Vice Mayor Beth Thomas called the meeting to order at 6:03 pm and thanked everyone for coming and supporting the Town. She stated the meeting would be recorded. She thanked the Principal Loni Charnock and the Accomack Public Schools for the use of the School Auditorium.
Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance
The opening invocation was given by Elder Duane Crockett 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 encouraged people to keep coming out to support these monthly meetings. He stressed that there was a lot to cover.
Motion: To adopt the agenda of July 15th, 2025, was made by Beth Thomas and seconded by Tommy Eskridge.
Unanimous Aye. Motion Passed
Motion: To approve the meeting minutes of June 19th, 2025, was made by Anna Parks and Seconded by Tracy Pruitt.
Unanimous Aye. Motion Passed
State of the Town: Normand St. Pierre’
Normand St. Pierre’ stressed that the fiscal year started July 1st, so the Town is already behind schedule developing and approving a budget. He said that developing the budget was very difficult, due to the very poor record keeping in the past – making it difficult to know where to start. The Town budget will be divided into three categories, plus a separate section for grants. The sections will be: General Fund, Water & Sewer, Fuel Dock and Grants.
Citizens will be provided a copy of the budget, as well as the reasoning for arriving on those numbers.
The Council is working diligently to reduce expenditures, to balance the budget. There will be some increased revenue, due to increasing fees for water, sewer and trash. The budget will likely be amended during the year. Normand hopes to have a preliminary budget for the Council to go over, and is planning a meeting for next week.
After the Council discusses the budget, a separate special budget meeting will be held with Tangier residents. After citizen input from that meeting, a final budget meeting will be held, for a final approval vote.
VDOT Report: Kelly Wheatley
Kelly Wheatley talked with VDOT about paving the Oil Dock Road and Ponderosa. The Town also finally received the deed for the Oil Dock. She also stated that VDOT had responded out to Tangier, to repair sinkholes on Factory Road.
She also outlined a plan to recover reimbursements, owed to the Town, for maintenance of the Airport. She said the paperwork had been submitted and the Town is expecting reimbursement funds soon.
Financial Reports:
General Fund:
Tracy Pruitt discussed the state of the Town’s General Fund. She said that the General Fund balance as of June 19th, 2025 was $8,260.18. As of July 15th, 2025, the General Fund balance was $5,484.75.
Tracy also said that the Town previously had an outstanding debt of $15,000.00, from FY 2024/2025, for insurance.
After making several payments, paying the debt down little by little, the final payment was made on June 30th, 2025, the last day of the Fiscal Year, retiring that debt.
As of July 1st, 2025, the Town owes $52,331.00 for the current Fiscal Year’s insurance payment. It is due in four quarterly payments of $13,083.00. The Council is exploring ways to reduce the insurance burden.
Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP):
Beth Thomas began by stating that the WTP fund balance, as of June 19th, 2025, was $9,306.42 and as of July 15th, 2025 was $6,645.21.
There are two USDA loans, a payment on one of which was paid on July 6th, 2025 for $1,324.00. On the second loan, a payment is due on July 19th for $2,170.00. The Town is currently up-to-date and in compliance with both of those loans.
A third, and much larger loan has a payment due in October of over $8,000.00.
Last month, as part of the ETIPP Project, officials from the Department of Energy toured the WTP and are currently working on securing a state-of-the-art system to completely replace the Town’s current WTP system.
Regarding the boil-water order, a sample was taken and submitted yesterday to the VA Department of Health laboratory in Richmond. We should know the results of those tests in a day or two. The Town needs two consecutive negative tests, to lift the boil-water order, so a second test will be performed on Thursday, and sent to the same lab. For now, please continue to boil drinking water.
The County Director of Emergency Services said that a pallet of drinking water was going to be sent to the Island. The elderly and immuno-compromised will get priority in water distribution.
Tangier Gas:
Tommy Eskridge stated that the Tangier Gas Fund had experienced a setback about 3 weeks ago. He stated that the Town was current with Steven Thomas’s bill and with the Pep-up bill, but that he hadn’t been able to apply any extra to the outstanding Pep-up bill this month. He expected to have everything back on track next month.
He went on to say that the very important soil samples that had been collected had tested negative for soil contamination, which is great news, and gives a green light for going forward with the Fuel Dock project. There will be new bulkheads, new tanks, a new fuel dock, dredging and automated systems that will make everything easier and more efficient. Now that the missing money has been restored, the Town is back in good standing with the DEQ grant, and creditors who have been waiting to be paid will finally be able to be reimbursed. The entire project has to be finished by the end of 2026, in order to be fully funded. Any projects not completed by that time will not have access to the grant funds, so it’s imperative to get the whole fuel dock project completed quickly. All the partners in the project are very enthusiastic, now that the deficiencies have been cleared up. Tommy will be in contact with three contractors who have voiced interest in being chosen to remove the first 5 fuel tanks, to make way for the new platforms and tanks.
Tommy clarified a misunderstanding about Will Crockett’s employment with the Town. He said that the Council had discussed re-directing Will’s job at the fuel dock, to a job painting for the Town. When this proposal was presented to Will, he was encouraged to set his own days and hours when he wanted to work. This idea was presented to both Will and his wife. The Town at no time fired Will or took his job. He is still an employee of the Town, just in a different capacity.
From now on, fuel deliveries will be on Tuesdays and Fridays. Any delivery outside of the normal delivery days will incur an additional fee. He reiterated that, as long as this Council is making the decisions, there will continue to be Kerosene made available.
Public Comments:
Rob Baechtel outlined a plan to expand the firepit area at the end of the runway and dedicate it to Tangier’s Veterans. He explained that the original firepit was temporarily constructed for use by the Freedom Hunters, when they visited for their annual fishing trip a few years ago. It has ended up being such a success, for Town residents and visitors alike, that the Mission Team was kind enough to put in a new, permanent firepit, about 100 yards further south. It has since been joined by two large picnic tables and a commercial park grill. It has turned into a nice spot. The hope is to dedicate the park with a formal unveiling of a sign at the next Freedom Hunters visit in the fall, as “Veteran’s Park.” He felt this was fitting, since the park is directly behind Jack Thorne’s house. Rob will donate signage and a drape.
Spencer Johnson stated that the questions he had about the wharf had already been answered. He took his time to thank the Mayor and Council for the amazing job they have been doing, under enormous pressure and a huge undertaking.
Claudine Eskridge wanted everyone to acknowledge the intense pressure the Mayor and Council, along with their families, are under. She stressed that she didn’t want Tommy to be on the Town Council again, because she knows, from past experience that he would take the job very seriously, and work intensely to do what was right.
She was disheartened by the infighting between friends and families on Tangier and the decline in participation at meetings and functions. She reminded everyone that we are a Christian community and should stop tearing each other down.
Steve Dise related concerns he has about the water and sewer infrastructure and his feeling that those issues need to be addressed before a new WTP system is put into place. He feels that there needs to be critical work done, to cap off open drains at vacant properties, so that the new system isn’t trying to pump out the Bay, just like the old system is being forced to, when the tide is up. He thanked the Mayor and Council for the efforts they’ve made to get Tangier back on track and praised Claudine Eskridge for her common-sense comments.
Tommy Eskridge addressed Steve Dise’s concerns by saying that the Town is actively looking for, and capping open drains, when they find them, and encouraged people to report open drains and leaks when they find them. Steve acknowledged that Chris Haynie and Trevor Pruitt have been doing a great job capping some of the drains off.
Anna Parks added that she had been in active communication with the people in charge of the WTP system replacement project and that everyone is aware of that problem, and they are looking at options to deal with it, before the new system is installed.
Andrea Crockett spoke about her concerns surrounding the proposed 1% tax, imposed on any business who is licensed on Tangier. Her concerns centered around who would collect the tax, what it would be used for, how it would be paid, and who would have access to the information. She feels like her income is private, and should not be shared. She is also concerned with adding yet another tax, when we are all overburdened by local, state and federal taxes, already.
She suggested that, rather than a tax, that they raise the cost of the business license to cover whatever they feel would be fair to the different earning tiers on the Island. For example, a grass cutter shouldn’t be burdened with a $300 business license, or even a 1 cent tax – as they are out there making very little money, for toiling in the heat.
Tommy Eskridge pointed out that any tax collected would be of benefit to everyone on the Island and that it was the Council’s responsibility to make sure the Town stay solvent. He and Mayor Eskridge also assured her that there would be more time at the next meeting to further discuss the proposed tax and thanked her for her input.
Grants Report:
Anna Parks opened by asking for thoughts and prayers for the Town’s Grant Administrator, Jen Merritt, who lost her father last week.
She went on to share that the surveyor for the Nassawadox Creek dredge project had visited Tangier last week to survey potential sites for placing dredge material. She said that they’d clarified that there was money in that grant to clear the slab and get all the debris moved to the mainland, in order to prep the site for offloading of dredge material. She and
Mayor Eskridge have been included in meetings with county and state lawmakers, along with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, talking specifically about the use of beneficial dredge material from Nassawadox to Tangier. CBF would like to share a bit of the dredge material on Port Isobel.
She also had a meeting with the office of the U.S. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), plus consultants, engineers, our wastewater operator and our consultant on the wharf project – to discuss the overhaul of the wastewater treatment system. They discussed all the issues with Tangier’s current system and how to fix them, so that a package could be submitted to the funding authority in the EERE. They are requesting information on all the old loans that are still active debts for the Town, so that they can work on getting those debts cleared before the new system can be installed. She has that information and will be getting it to them.
She said that she had sent an email to the office of the Virginia Auditor of Public Accounts to get information on the status of our claim of being a distressed locality, and what the next steps will be in the process. She has not heard back yet.
She shared that there had been a mix-up, where she got late word about something she thought had to do with joining the National League of Cities, and according to the VA Municipal League it wasn’t anything the Council needed to deal with. It turns out, that the email instead had to do with the quickly approaching deadline to submit supporting documentation, proving legitimate use of the federal COVID relief funds.
By the time they figured out the mistake, the deadline was hours away – and no extensions would be granted. If the paperwork was not submitted on time, the Town would owe the federal government $360,000.00. She and Beth Thomas scrambled, in the single hour they had left, to pull canceled checks and receipts together. They were finally able to submit the paperwork only 3 minutes past the deadline. Thankfully, the submission was accepted by the IRS. They are waiting to hear the outcome of that issue.
Mayor Eskridge shared that he had been encouraged to find, during his meeting in Wachapreague on the dredge project, that there were people in the state government who kept tabs on what was going on with Tangier – even though Tangier was not in their area of Virginia.
Since there was no further business; the meeting was adjourned by Beth Thomas at 6:57 p.m.
The next public meeting will be held on Friday, August 22nd, 2025.
Tangier Island, Virginia 