Giant step for the citizens of Wrightsville Beach

Dear Readers,

I am happy to announce a "giant step for the citizens of Wrightsville Beach"

Late afternoon yesterday, at the Town of Wrightsville Beach Special Meeting called by the Board of Alderman to discuss recruitment of a new Town manager, a local resident and advocate, Neal Briggi took a long awaited step. He had bought a 32GB SD Card for his phone over the weekend. He came to this meeting (he is a regular attendee of the town meetings) with his kitchen stool and extension cord,. He plugged in his phone, set it on the stool in the front row and positioned it towards the Board. As the meeting started he hit record on the phones video camera.

Frustrated with the Boards recent line item budget cut for a previously approved and funded/earmark for video streaming  of the Town Meetings, he took matters forward. This issue has been raised numerous times in Town Meetings and covered by Lumina News in their reporting including Letters the Editor. The contentious issue here has been an ongoing voting block of three Alderman Collins, Mills and King (Mills and King being new to the BOA) vs. veteran Town Officials Mayor Cignotti and Alderman Sisson

Mr. Briggi has advocated video streaming as a means to increase the engagement of the WB Citizens especially property owners. He has also publicly stated and written about the need for greater transparency and the lack of reasonable explanation given for actions by the voting block,  "All our elected officials owe the citizens an explanation for why they vote the way they do, their rationale, they owe us to be prepared for items on the agenda and to engage in round table discussion of the issues, to find the common ground and sustainable solutions for our town.... it can't be left for just a few board members "  according to Briggi, this current Board has taken big steps backward and they are not working together, nor do they seem focused on a strategic agenda for the town.

When asked about the Video Stream, he stated "I am glad it's done... we can move forward and see what the future brings, there is no turning back, I won't apologize for the quality of the video.. it is what it is, my mobile phone sitting on my kitchen stool... which as you will see was a bit too short... oh and the acoustics in the room combined with Alderman with poor microphone etiquette makes for some tough to hear spots".

When asked about the mood of the meeting he added, "In the end there are no contentious moments, or votes that hijacked the future of WB, like at the budget workshops. Everyone seemed to be compatible and the important thing is they agreed on a process to find a top notch candidate to fill Bob Simpson's shoes."

When asked about the future..."I hope to be able to get some other helpful citizens to be part of video streaming, I hope to see more people engage with the town issues and participate at the town meetings... I hope a greater understanding of what's happening, what needs to be addressed, what's critical and to compel my fellow citizens to be involved, we can't bury our heads in the sand at the beach... which BTW will be needing renourishment."

As regards finding a new Town Manager he hopes to see the BOA use a similar process as was used in filling the Police Chief role, which was an open house with the final two candidates. "It was a great opportunity to talk with the candidates, pepper them with questions that help to surface their experiences and to understand ways they expect to approach their role, priorities, solutions etc. as an example, our new Chief Dan House was very easy to connect with and he has proven that in his reaching out to citizens in a dialog. That will be no less the case with a new Town Manager who is a first and foremost link to the citizens by our government and town staff... I hope they work the process this way... it should be a part of the measurement of the candidate, their desire and ability to engage with citizens."


With Permission from Neal Briggi an important local advocate for open and responsible government, hereby below is the link to the TOWB BOA Aug 27, 2012 Meeting.

Thanks for reading,  Noah

http://youtu.be/5QRC7j3rFtk

highlight link above, right click, select go to http at the bottom of the drop down menu