By Josh Davis, Associate Editor

(Dec. 20, 2018) The Snow Hill Town Council and an attorney representing Toy Town Antiques said they’re working to resolve a dispute between the two, but the disagreement has ignited a firestorm among local business owners.

At the center of the controversy is a 2016 memorandum of understanding signed by then Mayor Charlie Dorman and all three members of the Town Council, as well as business owners Richard and Debbie Seaton.

According to the agreement, the owners of Toy Town had five years to complete certain renovations and would then take ownership of an empty building owned by the town. Now, however, the council is asking that some of the work be done sooner, citing safety issues.

There is also the matter of perception that Dorman was friendly to businesses, while the current Mayor and council are not.

Dorman resigned in November and was replaced by former Mayor Stephen Mathews, but on his way out issued a statement that said the town manager and council “disagreed with me on some of my tactics to draw new business to Snow Hill. Since then, I’ve become a figurehead only as the mayor, with no authority anymore. I then decided that I would resign.”

The Town Council, meanwhile, released its own statement critical of Dorman.

“Throughout Mayor Charlie Dorman’s administration, the Town Council had faith that he was making decisions that were in the best interest of the town and its citizens and that he was adhering to the regulations and guidelines of the Town Code … However, it came to light several months ago that there had been actions by the Mayor that we believed to be in violation of the duties of the Mayor as specified in the Town Charter,” the letter said.

Councilwomen, in the letter, went on to say Dorman made decisions for the town he had no authority to make, including entering into agreements with local business owners in which “Mayor Dorman directed staff to ignore the Code and laws, ignore the memorandum of agreement, and allow this business to open, fully aware it was in violation.”

They also said Dorman “has continually made negative comments about the Council and town staff in an attempt to gain public sympathy … As a result, community members and business owners have stated that they feel a divide between themselves and town government.”

All of this spilled over during a Dec. 11 Town Council meeting.

Several handouts were available at the front door that previewed the tension to come. One, a printout of a Dec. 3 post on the Downtown Merchant’s Association Facebook page, said, “We anticipate that ‘Toy Town Antiques and More – Richard and Debbie Seaton’ will be on the agenda again. They are being driven out of town by our town government. Please attend to show our support for this business. They are very important to the survival and success of Snow Hill.”

Also available was a copy of an Edward S. Lee editorial letter that ran in the Bayside Gazette on Nov. 29 titled “Snow Hill’s political dilemma,” along with a separate handout, a “Town Response” addressing several points in the letter.

Mathews began the meeting, “I realize that some of you may be attending tonight’s meeting in hopes of a discussion regarding Toy Town Antiques. I will not be caught taking any comments on that or entertaining any discussion on the matter, as it’s in lawyers’ hands and we’re talking.”

However, Mathews did address the Downtown Merchant’s Association Facebook post.

“I want to go on record by saying that this statement is not accurate,” he said. “The town has no intention of shutting down any business downtown. The town does have an interest, however, in the safety and well-being for those walking in and out of businesses, and around businesses in this town.

“We are working to make sure that everybody is protected,” Mathews continued. “The town is continuing to work with the Seatons on the issues with the building. There are a few safety issues that must be addressed and they are addressing them in a timely manner.

“As of now, since the Seatons hired an attorney and we are limited to the correspondence between their attorney and our attorney, we will continue to work on the issues and hope to resolve these issues,” Mathews said.

Mathews added the town put out a “fact sheet” in response to Lee’s editorial.

“The facts are what the facts are,” he said.

Later in the meeting, Diana Nolte asked to address the council under New Business.

“We can’t talk about Toy Town, so I’m going to talk about something else,” she said.

“Good!” Mathews said.

Nolte said she spoke with Councilwoman Alison Gadoua several months ago, and then had a meeting with Councilwoman LaToya Purnell and Town Manager Kelly Pruitt in her store, and later spoke with Mathews himself. In each instance, she said she “asked for one thing.”

“And that was to work it out. So, I will talk about working it out,” she said. “But, nobody asked me why I was the one standing up last month and why I’m the one standing up this month.

“And it’s because, when I talked to ya’ll, I heard things like, ‘None of your business.’ ‘Not your problem.’ ‘You’re not Dick Seaton.’ ‘You’re not Toy Town’ … ‘You just don’t know all the information. If you knew it, you would be fine.’ Well, no, I don’t,” Nolte added.

She went on to say she was told, “There’s nothing in it for you. Why are you bothering?”

“You’re right, there’s nothing in it for me. It might make the town a little healthier, but, you know, nothing in it for me,” Nolte said.

“At one meeting I said, ‘Well, you know, we’re all sort of afraid of Town Hall.’ Well, guess what? We’re not sort of afraid – we’re afraid of Town Hall,” she added.

According to Nolte, town officials responded to her statement by saying “You don’t have anything to be worried about … when have we ever not treated you well? When have you ever not gotten what you asked for?”

“And the answer is, never. I’ve always gotten along with Town Hall. For 17 years while I’ve been in business here, I’ve gotten along with Town Hall,” Nolte said. “I’ve done everything I’m supposed to, I’ve paid every bill I was supposed to ever pay, I filled out every form correctly and I’ve gone to ask people what the right way is to fill it out. So, yeah … there’s nothing in it for me and now I’m not a friend of Town Hall anymore. I get it. I’ve just joined a very long list, I guess.”

Along with running a local business, Nolte said she was the chairwoman of the Main Street organization charged with revitalizing downtown Snow Hill and felt very strongly about her role in doing so.

“And so, this is righteous anger you are hearing – and righteous anger is not going to go away,” she said, drawing loud applause from the full house in attendance.

Mathews replied that Nolte did not “name names” in her comments, adding, “I didn’t hear anything there that I told you, other than we’d like to work it out and I’m willing to work with you.”

“One more chance,” Nolte said.

Purnell recalled speaking with Nolte and said “I believe we gave you as many facts as possible.”

“And your response was, ‘I don’t care,’ Purnell said. “What really, really … irritates me now – because now it’s an irritation – is I came to your business. You told me that you was gonna rally up the business owners and we were gonna have a meeting and try to work this out. Since then, all I’ve heard is chaos. When we ask them where it’s coming from, it’s all filtering back to you.

“It’s hard for me to sit here and just allow you to first of all attack Town Hall … because they didn’t even have to come and talk to you, but Kelly decided to come with me and talk to with you,” she continued. “You sat down there, you explained everything to us. We listened to you. Since then, what has happened?

“You told us not to go to social media. You told us not to go to the reporters. You told us not to do those things – and then you turn around and do it,” Purnell said.

Nolte tried to interject, but Purnell cut in, “no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no … can I finish? I let you finish.”

“I don’t understand how it’s OK for the community to lash out, but it’s not OK for Town Hall and the council to lash out,” Purnell said. “We’re trying to give the truth, but you don’t want to hear it. Your words were, ‘I don’t care.’

Purnell and Nolte continued to tangle verbally, while Mathews tried to restore order.

“To us, you all are town government, whether you’re Charlie, the town manager, a town councilor, whoever you are – it’s all just town government,” Nolte said.

“When I tried to explain what was going on, you told me you didn’t care. At that point I could have walked out of your shop – and I chose not to. I chose to sit there and talk to you,” Purnell said.

Nolte then held up a copy of the Toy Town MOU.

“This is why!” she said, slamming down the document. “You signed that – you signed that! It’s a five-year agreement,” Nolte said.

“Who signed that? I wasn’t here to sign. I wasn’t here to sign. I wasn’t here to sign. I wasn’t here to sign,” Purnell said.

Purnell was elected in 2017 – a year after the agreement was signed.

When Mathews said, “We’re not going to discuss this,” a member of the audience cut in and said, “I thought you said we’re discussing this at the next meeting – you lied!”

According to Nov. 13 meeting minutes, “Mayor Mathews informed the audience that there was a change to the agenda. Toy Town will not be discussed, as a meeting was held earlier tonight with the attorneys and everyone is working toward moving forward together. A report will be presented at the next town meeting.”

“I did say last month that we were gonna discuss it. It’s still in the lawyer’s hands,” Mathews said. “I apologize for saying that, but … I will more than admit that I make mistakes. And that was a mistake in saying that we would discuss [the matter] at the next meeting, because I was hoping that we were gonna be able to resolve it – but we haven’t.

“So, it’s still in discussion and we can’t discuss it in an open meeting. I apologize for that,” he added.

Nolte again said, “You all signed an agreement.”

“I didn’t sign anything,” Mathews said. “We are not going to discuss Toy Town. It is in the lawyer’s hands. Thank you for your comments, thank you for your concern, but we cannot discuss that.”

Jill M. Odierno, an attorney representing the Seatons, said they asked her to attend the meeting “because we did think that this would at some point come back up.”

According to Odierno, Snow Hill Code Enforcement Officer Jon Hill and a company related to Toy Town helped to produce a report on certain repairs.

“There was a timeframe that Mr. Hill put in his letter for certain issues to be remedied. The timeframe … is completely unrealistic. However, we’re in the process of coming up with some bids and some proposals in order to get the work done,” she said. “It’s slow going and, plus with the holiday season, it’s hard to get people out here.”

Odierno said she spoke with Town Attorney Kevin Karpinski on the matter.

“And I said as soon as I have something, I’ll definitely let Kevin know,” she said. “I know that there were some other meetings this week between Mr. Hill, Mr. Mathews and Toy Town. I wasn’t present [and] I don’t know what happened at those meetings, but we are working on this.

“It’s in progress. I can’t tell you where this is gonna to end up, but we’re doing everything we can to try to work this out, so that Toy Town remains in Snow Hill – where they want to stay,” Odierno continued. “I believe that that’s the council’s position as well, because that’s my understanding.

Nolte asked Odierno why the Seatons were “being expected to do one single thing that’s not in that” MOU, but Odierno said façade repairs were listed in the agreement. Among those, upstairs windows at the shop were said to be a safety concern.

“When it comes to safety issues, the Seatons are not interested in operating a business that’s unsafe … so, we’re gonna do everything we can to make that the building is safe,” she said.

Odierno added there might be grant funding available for some of that work, “but we haven’t even gotten to that point yet.”

“So, there’s your answer,” Mathews said.

Gadoua asked to address the Downtown Merchant’s Association Facebook comments, which she attributed to Nolte.

“I get passion. I get being fired up for people that you love and things that you are passionate about, so I’m not [trying] to shut anybody down,” she said. “One thing you did say was … ‘I’ve been doing this with the town for 17 years and I filled out my things and I’ve done my things and I’ve never had an issue.’ And that’s great to hear.

“I think my message to you would just be … let that have a little more weight,” Gadoua continued. “Maybe there is a little bit of benefit of the doubt to the town as to what is transpiring and what is going on.”

She thanked Nolte for stepping up with the Main Street program, adding, “I hope that we will be able to mend that relationship, because that role is a very important role.”

“Posts like that on Facebook … it’s not helpful in my eyes,” Gadoua said.

Nolte said that page “was a closed group … for a discussion between downtown business owners about our hours, our promotion, our future, our worries, our concerns.”

“My feeling with that is … it’s spreading a message to the rest of the business owners that is your truth, from what you believe, from what you’ve understood,” Gadoua said. “And it’s not my truth and it’s not a good representation of the town and the work that we are trying to do.”