Aldermen, mayoral candidates jockey for public support during merchant forum

Candidates for Wrightsville Beach public office weighed in on the issues at a public forum hosted by the Wrightsville Beach Merchants Association at the Blockade Runner Resort on Tuesday, Oct. 20.
Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo, University of North Carolina Wilmington, moderated the two-hour panel which included mayoral candidates, Alderman David Cignotti and incumbent Mayor Stephen Whalen; with aldermen candidates Susan Howell Collins, Walter DeVries, incumbent Ed Miastkowski, Dr. Bill Sisson and James Smith.
When Wrightsville Beach voters go to the polls on Tuesday, Nov. 3, they will vote for one mayor and two aldermen.
Water quality, public safety and the town’s operating budget all drew equal attention from the seven candidates when asked what they thought were the most important issues facing the town.
The WBMA, who solicited input from other organizations like the Wrightsville Beach Chamber of Commerce, the Harbor Island Garden Club and the Surfrider Foundation, framed additional questions that allowed the candidates to respond to other hot-button items, like crime; recycling; town-subsidized sanitation service; the pros and cons of permitted events; the pros and cons of a trolley service to the beach; and support for the proposed bike path and the possible future of a skateboard park.
Several candidates seemed to gravitate toward the same responses. Mayor Whalen, Alderman Miastkowski and candidate Collins all voice opposition to a skate board park citing problems experienced by Carolina Beach. Candidate Smith noted that skate parks are huge and would require paving a large portion of the island, but candidate Sisson said local kids need something to do.
“What’s happened in other places is not necessarily going to happen here,” Sisson said.
Candidate DeVries favored advisory referendums allowing the residents to vote and Alderman Cignotti also favored public input.
Whalen, Miastkowski and Collins also sided over televised or Internet-streamed town meetings, each stating no; and were in accord again when they voted no to relaxed parking restrictions for businesses.
All favored increasing parking fees in already metered spaces; and all but Collins voted yes to increased litter fines and the enforcement of a smoke-free beach strand. Only Cignotti said maybe regarding the installation of surveillance cameras at Johnnie Mercer’s Pier; and Cignotti, Whalen and Sisson voted no to the idea of rezoning commercial property to residential.
These questions were asked early in the forum during a speed round that DePaolo said gave everyone an overview of the candidates’ positions.
Mayor Whalen’s position seemed to be grounded in the town’s achievements during his first two-year term, yet when given the chance to address a hypothetical situation: assuming the economy does not recover next year, what are your thoughts in raising taxes, raising parking fees, eliminating services and cutting non-essential town employees? Whalen said he did not have an answer.
“I think we have to address it when the time comes and understand that decisions that we make are decisions made by the board, they’re not made just by the mayor.”
Cignotti said he believed that a property tax increase was going to occur in order to pay the debt service on the public safety facility and that an increase in parking fees was already on the table.
“The elimination of services and non-essential employees probably could be on the table depending on what the budget looks like,” Cignotti said. He favored a budget review partnership with UNCW, neighboring beach towns and the county which receives 87 percent of Wrightsville’s tax dollars.
Other new ideas were expressed by Smith who advocated for the installation of bio-retention ponds near asphalt parking lots to mitigate windborne debris entering recreational waters, specifically cigarette butts. Smith also favored instituting a return on recycled plastic bottles to encourage residents and visitors to comply with new legislation banning the disposal of plastics into the landfill, and said he had discussed with Sen. Julia Boseman (D-New Hanover) the possibility of placing locks on boat bilge pumps. Collins said she had discussed with Rep. Danny McComas (R-District 19) the possibility of funding a discharge boat that would collect sewage from moored boats.
Only two questions were fielded from the audience. One from Keith Norris, owner of Vito’s Pizzeria who asked if the candidates perceived the downtown district as the bar district? The other from Tim Taylor, a downtown resident, asked what the candidates would do to address safety issues in the downtown area between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m.
Smith favored a task force; Sisson the involvement of all the stakeholders; and Miastkowski more police on foot and in plain clothes. Collins advocated for closing the bars at midnight and said the young people and visitors should not be running the town. DeVries stated the problem was alcohol; Whalen agreed and Cignotti favored the adoption and enforcement of a nuisance ordinance and stepped up communication among bar owners and town officials.
“If you’re thrown out of a bar, you’re put in a cab and sent off our beach,” he said.
The forum was videoed in its entirety and will be available on LuminaNews.com

Marimar McNaughton