SURF CITY — Richard Vessov is running for one of three contested seats on Surf City Council, joining fellow newcomers Kathleen Sumner, Dwight Torres, David Gilbride and incumbents Donald Helms and William “Buddy” Fowler. Councilwoman Nelva Albury is retiring from her seat.
Current sitting councilman Jeremy Shugarts is challenging Mayor Doug Medlin for the mayor’s seat. Town clerk Stephanie Hobbs pointed to two scenarios that could play out if Shugarts wins the mayoral race and vacates his council seat, as described in an article published by the UNC School of Government.
One, in an open meeting, a council member may make a motion to appoint an individual to fill the vacant seat. If the motion receives a majority of affirmative votes, that individual will fill the vacancy. If it does not, a new motion is in order.
Also in an open meeting, board members can nominate citizens to fill the vacancy, then cast individual votes. The person with the majority of votes would fill the vacancy. If no person receives a majority, another vote between the front-runners would be in order.
Note: Candidate interviews are published largely without editing (besides minor typographical corrections) and without limits on length. All council candidates received the same questions, which appear in bold with answers in italics below.
Describe your background and platform.
I have had various experiences over the years. I was in production and product development in a machine shop in southern California. Our client base was in everything from aerospace to medical companies and oil tool developers. I worked closely with customers identifying expectations in production and product quality. I have worked in the I.T. industry doing structured data cabling, security cameras, and controlled access.
My platform focuses on our beach by engineering and maintaining it. Growth needs to be monitored closely making sure infrastructure can accommodate the needs of the community. Communication needs to be improved in everything from hurricanes to public communication with the council and city hall.
Growth: How will you approach the balance of keeping Surf City a “small and quaint beach town,” which is how we have heard numerous residents and town leaders describe it, while properly planning for growth?
Keeping Surf City a small quaint beach town is more dependent on the residents. People need to have a strong sense of community and pride in where they live, after all that is why many of us chose to move here. We need to make sure we have family-friendly development — parks, entertainment facilities, and safe beaches with an infrastructure to support it.
What is your approach to beach nourishment, and how do you feel about the beach push last spring, a $300,000 operation some experts called ineffective in the long-term?
I live across the street from the beach. I personally feel the beach push was the proper thing to do because we would not have had a summer tourist season had we not brought the beaches back to a useable state. I have seen sand building up on the beach. The stairs going down to the beach where I live have been buried. Dorian brought sand up and it looks way better. No, I do not believe this was a long-term fix because we need to proceed with a nourishment and engineering program, and we need to work in conjunction with neighboring cities and communities to make this more cost effective.
Development is spreading along the coast — apartment complexes, mixed-use developments, etc. How has the town handled such development? Would you change anything?
Development is now mainly on the inland portion of the city. We need to look at roads, schools, and parks. We need to first and foremost get our infrastructure up to speed with our sewage treatment facility that is almost at capacity. This is an issue that should have been addressed years ago so now it is urgent. We need to work in conjunction with our surrounding communities as to not overwhelm our resources.
Hurricane Florence brought up issues with emergency planning, particularly communication with residents. Some have said communication had improved during Hurricane Dorian. What will you do to continue this improvement in future storms?
Communication in Dorian was remarkably better; however we still have room for improvement — not everybody is on Facebook. The Code Red system has been improved. I would like to see a publication go out to the community outlining contact information and procedures before, during, and after a hurricane or other disaster. I was totally unaware of so many things when Florence hit, such as key cards and what to do with hurricane debris, etc.
Some candidates at the PCD forum suggested the town was not communicating enough about its 25-year land-use plan. However, it is posted on the town’s website. What is your stance on this?
The Surf City website needs to be revised to make information easier to find for the average community member. I did look on the site and I found a plan dated 2005, so this would indicate it has not been updated for 14 years?
When you have a growing town, you have to plan for it. What would be your plans for keeping infrastructure on pace with a growing population?
First, we need to catch up on our sewage plant capacities. Juniper Swamp has been a hot topic for quite some time. I questioned our capacities in May of this year. There are 2,200 acres purchased with the assurance that we could spray the effluent on this property, and it would handle our needs for years to come. We are only able to use about 180 acres of this property, so why is the company that surveyed this property not been held accountable and who was this land purchased from? Plans for future growth are fine but we need to have responsible and competent experts. The city has not had anybody in a planner position since October of 2018.
Parking is becoming limited in Surf City. Would you consider a form of paid parking to help fund things like beach nourishment?
I would like to see some kind of paid parking in Surf City to help offset the use of our resources and infrastructure. Residents and property owners could have a parking sticker allowing use of lots for free. We would have to study this as to not have people parking in driveways, residential streets, businesses, etc.
The Atkinson Road fire brought up some residents’ concerns about house setbacks and a limited availability of water. What would you do differently, if at all, to be better prepared for structure fires on the island? (i.e. Would you consider a fireboat?)
Water, as I understand it, was not an issue. Being able to get at the fire was the biggest issue — the emergency vehicles were not able to get past the fire because of the narrow streets. Wind-driven fires are very fast moving and consume fuel quickly. Better access to streets and multiple accesses would be ideal, but that is not what we have here. The response time of the fire department was well within requirements and as far as a fire boat, I don’t believe that in this case it would have helped. I do think we need to be vigilant in looking at building codes and at educating residents about fire hazards and the proper storing of flammable liquids.
