Fenwick has a tie on concessions vote

Despite a state of emergency and a ban on driving for all non-essential personnel, the Fenwick Island Town Council held a special council meeting last Wednesday to talk about beach rentals and investments.

There was a 3-3 tie vote regarding proceeding with getting bids for beach rentals. Mayor Serio, Todd Smallwood and Gardner Bunting voted to do so, and Bill Weistling, Gene Langdon and Diane Tingle voted against it. Council Member Vicki Carmean was not present.

Later, Carmean said she did not receive notification about the re-scheduled meeting.

“I got the message on my cell phone late Tuesday that the meeting had been re-scheduled for the following Wednesday, but that number has never been my primary number,” explained Carmean. She said she never went back out to her car, where she keeps her cell phone, and so she missed the follow-up message changing it to the following day – Thursday. And she said she never received a call on her home phone or an e-mail or any other contact.

She said having a meeting on a day where there is a state of emergency declared is “setting ourselves up for a FIOA complaint.”

“The meetings are supposed to be accessible by the public. It’s dubious whether it should have been re-scheduled.”

She explained that she did not believe it was done on purpose, just “not thought out very well,” and a “stupid mistake.” She has since written a letter and has contacted all but one council member to make sure they know her main contact information is not her cell phone.

She added that, had she been present, she would have voted against getting bids.

The vote that took place was simply about getting bids so they could get a better idea of what kind of revenue rental concessions could bring the town. Weistling said they were voting so they could get a “more accurate idea on how much money we may get specific to our town, rather than ‘guesstimates’ from other towns.” The plan was then to vote again on actually creating the concession, after getting the bids.

Weistling also said that the mayor had stated they should get a feel from the community since the vote was so close and, if warranted, hold another vote. Weistling added that he suggested any future votes happen only if all council members are present.

The other item on the agenda for the meeting was discussion on the town’s investments. Weistling said the town decided to contact its auditor and try to acquire his services or those of some other financial advisor he may recommend to aid them in determining the best place to put the town’s money, to make sure it meets FDIC protection limits.