The Town Council will hold its regular monthly meetings for the rest of the year at 1 p.m., instead of 5:30 p.m., as part of a six-month time-change trial that it approved earlier this month. The three remaining 2025 meetings will be held:
Tuesday, Oct. 7: 1 p.m
Wednesday, Nov. 5, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 2, 1 p.m.
The Council will continue to meet in the Kern Pitts Center behind Town Hall.
The meeting time change was approved unanimously by the Town Council at its Sept. 2 meeting as a six-month trial starting in October and ending with the March regular meeting.
Although Mayor Pro Tem Matt Neal, who is the only full-time working person on the Town Council, objected to the change, he did not vote against it.
Impetus for the time change came from Town Councilwoman Paula Sherlock and Town Councilman Rob Neilson.
Ms. Sherlock expressed a desire to schedule a meeting time when more staff members, such as Southern Shores Fire Department employees, could attend, as well as a concern for Town Hall staff members who must work late.
Mr. Neilson said that he thought younger people might attend the Town Council meetings if they took place when their “children are in school.”
It is our view that parents with school-age children have full schedules every day, whether they work outside or inside the home.
Ms. Sherlock pointed out that the Duck Town Council holds its meetings at 1 p.m., but there are only 742 people residing year-round in Duck, compared to 3,119 in Southern Shores, according to U.S. Census Bureau statistics for 2024.
Most Duck homeowners live out-of-town and can live-stream a meeting or stream the meeting later on You Tube. They also are kept well-informed by “recaps” of meetings that are posted on the Town’s website home page, by a very informative newsletter, and by regular 1 p.m. mid-month Town Council work sessions that also can be streamed.
Ms. Sherlock said she did not know when other towns hold their Town Council meetings, but we can tell her that the town commissioners of Kitty Hawk, Kill Devil Hills, and Manteo schedule their meetings at 6 p.m., and the Nags Head commissioners meet at 9 a.m.
During the Council’s discussion about the time change, Mayor Elizabeth Morey asked whether anyone thought “it was a bad idea.” Only Mr. Neal indicated, without pressing the point, that he did not like it.
There is no perfect meeting time, but we suggest that the Town Council dig a little deeper to find out why its constituents, for whom public meetings are intended, do not attend.
ALSO AT THE SEPT. 2 MEETING: Fire Chief Ed Limbacher announced that three of the four new fire-captain positions have been filled, and the Town Council, as expected, voted unanimously to spend roughly $201,000 more for design and permitting work for a 2027 beach nourishment project that it has not yet approved. (For background, see The Beacon, 8/31/25.)
LOOKING AHEAD: The fall bulk-waste collection–which we like to call the bulk trash pickup–will be held on Friday, Oct. 17.
THE SOUTHERN SHORES BEACON, 9/16/25
The Southern Shores Beacon 