TANGIER — The Tangier Town Council met August 22, 2025, at the Town Office, where Vice Mayor Beth Thomas opened the meeting before a crowd of about 30 residents.
Mayor James “Ooker” Eskridge welcomed the public and stressed the importance of continued community involvement. The council unanimously approved both the evening’s agenda and the July 15 minutes.
Financial reports showed tight balances. Treasurer Tracy Pruitt reported the General Fund dropped from $5,484 in July to $3,692 in August. Kelly Wheatley noted the Wastewater Treatment Plant fund declined from $6,645 to $3,004, and announced the resignation of plant manager Chris Haynie.
Council members also discussed a $22,000 pending fuel bill for Tangier Gas, while grant funding is moving forward on projects including tank removal, new pumps, and dock reconstruction.
Residents raised concerns about ambulance access at the County Dock, the need for fire hydrant repairs, and ideas to boost tourism — including a proposed Halloween-themed cultural festival.
Council also heard updates on dredging projects, resilience planning, and efforts to secure financial aid through “distressed locality” certification.
Tangier Town Council Meeting Minutes
The minutes below have been APPROVED, as voted on at the meeting, on Wednesday, September 17th, 2025.
Thanks go to Barb Baechtel for compiling these minutes, which not only record what happened at Town Council but also become part of Tangier’s historical record.
Meeting Date: August 22nd, 2025.
Meeting Location: Tangier Town Office
Council Members Present:
• Beth Thomas, Vice Mayor
• Tommy Eskridge
• Anna Parks
• Tracy Pruitt
• Kelly Wheatley
• Normand St. Pierre
Approximately thirty adult members of the community were in attendance.
Call To Order:
Mayor James Ooker Eskridge
Vice Mayor Beth Thomas called the meeting to order at 6:04 pm and thanked everyone for coming and supporting the Town. She stated the meeting would be recorded. She acknowledged that space was tight in the Office, but hoped the public meeting could return to the school auditorium next month. She asked that anyone who planned to speak sign up and come to the head of the table so that it could be recorded clearly.
Invocation and Pledge of Allegiance
The opening invocation was given by Cook Cannon and the Pledge of Allegiance was led by Beth Thomas.
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 August 22nd, 2025, was made by Beth Thomas and seconded by Anna Parks.
Unanimous Aye. Motion Carried
Motion: To approve the meeting minutes of July 15th, 2025, was made by Anna Parks and seconded by Kelly Wheatley.
Unanimous Aye. Motion Carried
Financial Reports:
General Fund:
Tracy Pruitt discussed the state of the Town’s General Fund. She said that the General Fund balance as of July 15th, 2025 was $5,484.75. As of August 22nd, 2025, the General Fund balance was $3,692.92.
Wastewater Treatment Plant (WTP):
Kelly Wheatley began by stating that the WTP fund balance, as of July 15th, 2025, was $$6,645.21 and as of August 22nd, 2025 was $3,004.93.
Kelly announced that Chris Haynie had resigned from his position of plant manager on August 20th, effective immediately, and that the Town wishes him well in his future endeavors.
VDOT Report:
Kelly went on to say that she had been in contact with VDOT about the sink hole that has opened up on Factory Road.
They are aware, and will be sending a crew to fix it, date TBD.
Tangier Gas:
Tommy Eskridge stated that the Tangier Gas Fund had a balance of $32,868.56, with a caveat that there was a pending
$22,000.00 fuel bill looming.
He mentioned that Austin Pruitt had experienced a medical emergency and had been taken to the emergency room. He said that Austin is out of the hospital and doing much better. He acknowledged Steve Dise and Garmon Parks for their help in filling in while Austin was out of commission.
Tommy went on to explain that the DEQ grant project was moving forward. The Council had voted to retain the services of Source Well, a company that takes the responsibility of putting out bids for projects and hires contractors, as well as procuring permits for projects, without it costing the Town anything, and cutting the time and effort by more than half.
With money from the grant coming in again, all bills are paid and projects are in the bidding process – including removing 5 of the old tanks, installing new pumps, taking the current oil dock out, and constructing a new bulkhead.
He said that finding a place to dump dredge from the oil dock project had been problematic, so they’d been looking into shallow dredging options that may negate the need for involving the Army Corps of Engineers permitting process for dumping dredge. Rebuilding the beach with dredge spoils has been forbidden because of the presence of endangered Tiger Beatles. This issue is also affecting the Nassawadox Creek dredging that is supposed to come to Tangier.
Public Comments:
Rudy Shores offered his commendation to the Council for all of the hard work and transparency. He asked the Council to please continue help turn the Town around. He acknowledged that this Council has kept Tangier from almost certain bankruptcy. He would like to see the day when the citizens of the Town were able to see and understand the whole picture of just how close to disaster we were, and see those individuals who allowed us to get that close held responsible so that we don’t repeat the past.
Michael Parks wanted to mention that the fire hydrants would be inspected and repaired or replaced very soon. He underlined that the Fire Department is still having issues with people parking at the County Dock, making it difficult for the Ambulance to make it to the dock with a patient. He said he appreciated the new boards on the stalls decks, but asked that the old boards get screwed back down. He announced that they were in the process of acquiring a fire boat.
He also shared that the fire trucks were all scheduled to be re-hosed.
Rob Baechtel suggested that the Town pursue a Chesapeake Gateway Project grant, to help rebuild the tour boat dock, as it is in need of repair or replacement.
He went on to outline his idea to get a $25,000.00 grant from the National Park Service, earmarked to put on a cultural festival. He would like to apply for that grant to haunt the Island for Halloween. Have the tour boats bring 100 kids over every weekend in October. The crew could dress as pirates and make the kids “walk the plank”. The Island could sell
Halloween-themed novelties in the shops, serve creepy snacks in the restaurants, have everyone dress up in costumes, tell ghost stories and pass out candy. He thinks it could be a money-maker for the Island, since other communities get $100 per person for haunted corn mazes. He believes it would make a name for the Island and would get Tangier some good press.
He also mentioned a PBS documentary crew that is coming to the Island to film a documentary on the Island’s connection to the War of 1812. They are planning on diving on the wreck of the British fort Albion, and are working with the Park Service to provide the Town with signage and displays outlining the history of the Town having to do with freed slaves.
On behalf of the Museum Board, Beth Thomas thanked Chief Parks and the Fire Department for getting the museum new fire extinguishers. She also thanked William Eskridge for painting the shutters and staining the decks, and Jared Parks for framing the new Town Office Sign.
Grants Report:
Anna Parks outlined the meeting that she and Beth Thomas had attended regarding the Nassawadox Creek dredging project. They had been told that a surveyor had been out to Tangier to survey different potential sites for dredge dumping. The beach, the ballfield, the north end of the airport, and a place near the WTP, as well as a site between the stalls and the railway were mentioned. Most of those sites were deemed wetlands, during the survey.
She mentioned that the dredge from the oil dock project may be used on the ball field. They were also looking at the area between the houses and the airport on West Ridge, known as “the mud” may be a good place to dump dredge spoils.
She and other members of Council had also met with the Coastal Resilience Team, from the Governor’s Office and had a very good meeting. She said the head Resilience Officer is known to Tangier, having been a representative from the Army Corps of Engineers, before retiring and going to work for the Governor’s Office. The Team was very responsive and said that they could help with other resilience projects, and had already been in touch with the Department of Energy project representatives to partner with them to help replace our Wastewater Treatment Plant.
They mentioned using the Uppards as a dredge spoils dumping site, to rebuild that area and are working on permits to make that a reality.
She and Beth Thomas met to discuss the APA process to find out if the Town is responsible to repay $360,000.00 to the Department of the Treasury. They still do not know.
The process to have the Town be certified as a “distressed locality” is moving forward and has reached the Governor’s Office. They expect a financial accounting team will be sent to Tangier to get everything straight. She said the team they are working with is very eager to help and are keeping up with the whole process. They hope to have the financial aid approved shortly.
New Business:
Normand St. Pierre was concerned that there was $4,000.00 allotted as revenue in the new budget that was supposed to be a business goods and services tax, but since no decision had been made on that, the Town is going to have to come up with $4,000.00 in revenue some way or another. Anna Parks suggested that, since Accomack County had asked for the Town to designate the latest real estate tax, that the Town raise the tax from the current 0.4% to 0.45%, to generate the shortfall in revenue. That would bypass the need for a new resolution for a new tax. Normand stated that it was a great idea, but would have to be put on the budget for the next meeting and voted on. Anna said she would call Jenny.
Normand also briefly outlined the new budget and the challenges we’re facing.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned by Beth Thomas at 6:56 p.m.
The next public meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 17th, 2025.
Tangier Island, Virginia 