TOPSAIL BEACH — “Steve left us in pretty doggone good shape,” newly appointed Mayor Morton Blanchard told the community and his fellow board members last week. “We’re gonna stay that way.”
READ MORE: Topsail Beach mayor passes away
Formerly the mayor pro tem, Blanchard was appointed unanimously as the town’s top leader after former Mayor Steve Smith unexpectedly passed away Sept. 13. Smith was serving his second term, first appointed in 2019 and was re-elected in 2023 to serve another four years.
One town resident, Kim Mcgahey, took to the dais ahead of a special called meeting on Friday, Sept. 27, to ask where community input would come in.
“What do we as residents and registered voters have in that process?” he asked.
Nancy Thomason spoke during public comment, commending Smith’s giveback to the community at large, particularly his compassion.
“Whoever fills his shoes, it’s going to be very hard shoes to fill,” she said.
Thomason mentioned one elderly resident with mobility issues desired to sit near the shoreline and hear the ocean in recent years. Smith stepped in to help.
“He said, ‘Well, we’ve got beach wheelchairs. We’ll get you one here,’” Thomason recalled. “I don’t think everybody knows what he really did in the community, helping people falling through the cracks.”
She hoped whomever was slated to replace Smith would be someone in tune with the community — who knows its history, the obstacles faced and needs of constituents. Thomason called it “a steep learning curve” and urged the board to look at their own experience as a guiding north star.
“You have the knowledge and hopefully the fortitude to step forward and take this role,” she said.
Topsail Beach Board of Adjustment Chairman Ed Broadhurst, a licensed attorney and real estate broker, also pleaded his case before the board. He laid out his skillset of already having government experience and therefore understanding hearings and board processes, not to mention his familiarity with Topsail Beach’s needs from a closeup and bird’s eye view.
“I’ve negotiated and worked on a daily basis with the federal government, state governments, municipal governments,” he said. “I’ve worked with law enforcement for 35 years. I’ve treated everyone with respect and carried myself with honesty and integrity that town would be proud to have my face behind.”
Before commissioners voted in Blanchard, the mayor pro tem clarified the town would follow procedure. There are three years left on Smith’s term, since he was just re-elected last year. The appointee would serve a year and by the 2025 municipal election season, the mayoral seat will be back on the ballot for constituents to vote on.
“It’s not fair to the voters [for us] to appoint for that full length of time,” Blanchard said.
He noted the town changed its bylaws in 2019 to address these measures, after Tom Eggleston passed away in August 2018. Frank Braxton was appointed to serve the rest of the term through November 2021 and was then re-elected, but in October 2018 the commissioners decided the town statute should align with the state.
The General Assembly approved the changes in June 2019 and 2019-44, section four, indicates “if a vacancy occurs in the office of the mayor or commissioner, it shall be filled by a majority of vote of the remaining members of the board” to serve only until the next election cycle. Then the community will cast their ballots on who they think should hold the position.
Since the mayoral seat is a four-year term, whomever is elected in 2025 will only serve the remainder of Smith’s two-years. In 2027, the town will be back on track to voting on a four-year mayoral term.
Commissioner Tim Zizack questioned if the commissioners had to rush the decision-making of the mayoral replacement. He thought they needed someone in place for budget season — workshops begin in February.
“I just want to solicit my fellow commissioners their thoughts on rushing to fill this position,” he said, “as important as it is to the town.”
Topsail Beach attorney Steve Coggins clarified bylaws dictate the mayoral position would be filled within 30 days of the vacancy. He pointed out a claim Blanchard made earlier in the meeting about the vacancy only having to be filled by a current board member isn’t true.
“It can be from members of those who are eligible voters in the Town of Topsail Beach,” Coggins said, “and certainly commissioners may appoint somebody from the board.”
The attorney went over the rules, including the board needing a quorum to vote, and also identified how statutes ask the board to clarify its procedures. So there is the possibility that, if the board wanted to go past 30 days in deciding its new mayor, it could — but it would need two-thirds of a vote to deviate from the rules. This would apply to the commissioner replacement as well.
“Apparently, the town fathers, when they amended the charter, they felt that it was important not to let the issue of a vacancy in the mayor for too long, feeling the 30 days was was sufficient, and the way it’s written now is that there is a bias towards that the appointed person not serving very long, given the fact that you want the electorate to be involved in that as much as possible,” Coggins said.
Commissioner John Gunter brought forth a motion for Mayor Pro Tem Blanchard to step in until an elected successor is voted on by constituents in November 2025. Braxton seconded it with further discussion opening on the floor.
Zizack asked to make a motion to nominate every commissioner on the board as mayor. Coggins interjected that with the first motion made and seconded, discussion had to take place. No one expressed interest in speaking so Zizack attempted to make a motion a second time to nominate all board members.
“We have to take care of the first motion first, then you can make a motion,” Blanchard said. “I’ve never heard of two motions at one time.”
“If this motion fails, then, yes, you can make another,” Coggins said.
Blanchard as mayor pro tem not only presides over the meeting in a mayor’s absence but holds power as a voting board member. He was able to vote on his appointment as well, which passed unanimously with a show of hands.
Commissioner appointment and mayor pro tem
In addition to the appointment of mayor, procedures on addressing the vacancy of commissioner and office of mayor pro tem were addressed. Mayor pro tem nominees must be a commissioner and Blanchard suggested the board wait to vote on it after filling the now empty commissioner seat.
“We need to decide on procedures on when and how you want that to take place,” Coggins said.
The board agreed to open applications with a due date first floated for Oct. 5. Commissioner John Bell thought they should have an expanded window, adding the livestream of the meeting wasn’t working due to an internet outage. He felt like a week wasn’t enough time to get the message out for the public to apply.
“I don’t see any harm going a little extra time,” Blanchard said. “We get that a lot: ‘I didn’t know about it, I didn’t know about it.’ We do our best. And some people just don’t do their best on their side of things.”
Coggins reminded them that by two-thirds vote they can suspend the rules to vote on a commissioner in 30 days and allow for more time. Otherwise, they would have to agree by Oct. 29 on who would be the replacement. Added to the tight timeline was a conflict of scheduling among many board members, due to planned vacations in October. The board agreed it would vote on the commissioner appointment instead at its regularly scheduled November meeting, to give more time to assess applications.
Zizack wanted to ensure the board had at least two weeks to look over candidates and speak with them as needed.
Braxton put forth a motion to have applications due on Oct. 18 instead and suspend the 30-day period so the board could vote at its Nov. 13 meeting on the commissioner replacement. It was seconded by Bell and unanimously approved, sans the mayor; Blanchard now would only vote in the event of a tiebreaker.
“I feel like I lost some power here,” he quipped. “I gained a position but lost some power.”
The board also decided they should speak with applicants internally first. The town will make the applications public and commissioners said they would speak with finalists in the November meeting, but how many would present publicly also had to be decided upon.
“Up to five?” Gunter suggested.
“If we have that many,” Blanchard said.
“How about a quarter of the applicants?” Zizack recommended.
Coggins reminded them they didn’t have to lock themselves in: “Suppose you only get one application and don’t like it?”
Bell suggested asking for feedback from the community about how they’d like to see the commissioner vacancy pan out. Betsy Johnson, also a former Topsail Beach commissioner, expressed a bit of fatigue from people complaining about lack of knowledge on changes in government.
“But for something this important,” she added, “it might behoove you to put a call out to everyone who is a registered voter or on the sunshine list.”
Johnson leaned on registered voters, particularly, being pressed upon, as she was concerned some sunshine list emails go overlooked or to spam.
Gunter disagreed that putting “undue burden” on staff and the board of elections was necessary, but touted the town’s communications team for improving and strengthening messaging in recent years.
“I believe what we have is adequate,” he said, with staff adding the commissioner vacancy application available on its website, social media and in the town’s weekly newsletter.
The board also had to vote on moving its October meeting and a public hearing on a flood ordinance due to making a quorum, as some board members would be out of town; it’s now set for Oct. 17.
One constituent, Alex Arab, suggested the town move the application deadline back as well and use the Oct. 17 meeting to assess with the public how the process is going. Commissioners worried they wouldn’t have enough people apply, and if it came true, this would give them time to assess if they should reach out to people personally.
An amended vote for the application deadline was made to Oct. 14.
“My tenure is starting out as a mess,” Blanchard quipped, due to all the motions and movement.
“Congratulations, Morton,” Gunter said.
“You can take on the Christmas parade now,” Braxton added.
Blanchard praised the board for working together closely, also noting he is well aware he can’t take the place of Smith.
“We just want to make our town better for everybody who lives here,” he said, before adjourning.
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