From the minutes of the March 10, 2009 Oak Island Town Council Regular Meeting;
"Consideration of Bids Received for the New Town Hall Project. Per Mr. Walters' recommendation Council Member Ensminger made a motion to award the bid to Paragon Building Corporation in the amount of the low base bid and contingent on approval of financing from the LGC, with Council Member Ramsey seconding............................."
Council then went on to schedule the public hearing for the application to the Local Government Commission for approval of the financing.
Though it is not included in the official minutes of the meeting, Town Manager Jerry Walters and the Council mentioned they were pleased that the
bid from Paragon Corporation for $2,570,174.00 was much less than the formerly estimated $4 million dollars for the new Town Hall.
In the March 25th, 2009 issue of the State Port Pilot,
they even asked if anyone had an opinion about whether the Town of Oak Island
should finance building a new Town Hall for $2.5 million dollars
as shown in this pdf copy of that article...........................
EVERY PERSON WHO SPOKE AT THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS OPPOSED TO BUILDING A NEW TOWN HALL FOR $2.5 MILLION DOLLARS. ONE OF THOSE PERSONS WAS A FORMER COUNCIL MEMBER; EVEN HE DID NOT REALIZE THE PUBLIC HEARING WAS FOR APPROVAL OF FINANCING ALMOST DOUBLE THE $2.5 MILLION DOLLARS AWARDED. NO ONE FROM THE PUBLIC SPOKE IN FAVOR OF THE PROJECT, BUT IT TOOK THEM LESS THAN 5 MINUTES TO DO IT ANYWAY !
UNLESS A PERSON KNEW TO ASK FOR A COPY OF THE APPLICATION TO THE LGC, THERE WAS NO WAY TO KNOW THAT THE FULL AMOUNT FOR BUILDING OUR NEW TOWN HALL, WITH INTEREST ON THE DEBT, IS
$6,738,593.00 !!!!
The State Port Pilot missed it, the Wilmington Star News missed it,
and every person who spoke at the Public Hearing missed it...............
THAT, IN A NUTSHELL, IS WHY I'M RUNNING FOR MAYOR
EVERY ISSUE CONSIDERED BY COUNCIL SHOULD BE COMMUNICATED IN FULL, WELL IN ADVANCE OF ANY MEETINGS AT WHICH ISSUES ARE CONSIDERED, AND THE COUNCIL SHOULD LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE WHEN THEY SPEAK !!!!
