By Miles Layton
PLYMOUTH — The Washington County Board of Commissioners recognized an outstanding county employee and received detailed presentations on drainage, conservation, and energy assistance programs during its regular meeting Monday.
The meeting opened with recognition of Christal Watkins, who was named Washington County Employee of the Year for 2025.
Commission Chairman John Spruill praised Watkins’ career progression and commitment to public service while announcing the honor.
“Crystal Watkins, delinquent tax collector, was named Employee of the Quarter in March 2025,” Spruill said. “She began her career with the county as a tax clerk in 2020 and was promoted to delinquent tax collector in 2024.”
Spruill noted that Watkins continued to take on additional responsibilities while excelling in her primary role.
“While continuing to perform the duties of the tax clerk, in December 2025, Ms. Watkins was appointed by the commissioners as deputy tax administrator,” he said. “Ms. Watkins consistently goes above and beyond to ensure the office operates as smoothly and efficiently as possible.”
Spruill said Watkins’ efforts have not gone unnoticed by county leadership.
“Her dedication, professionalism, and strong work ethic are greatly appreciated,” he said. “Join me in congratulating Ms. Crystal Watkins as your 2025 Employee of the Year.”
Subscribe — it’s free!
Following the recognition, commissioners heard an extensive report from Soil and Water Conservation Director Chris Respess, who outlined a year’s worth of work addressing drainage, aquatic vegetation, wildlife control, conservation practices, and long-term waterway management planning.
Respess began with an overview of state funding secured for stream restoration.
“This past year I had the opportunity to obtain what they call STRAP funding,” Respess said. “This is Stream Restoration Appropriated program.”
He explained how the funds were used to remove vegetative debris from waterways throughout the county.
“STRAP funding is pretty much what we got from the state allocated for us to remove vegetative debris from our waterways,” Respess said. “On the total we were awarded $256,000, and out of that $256,000 we utilized $253,936.80 on around 10 miles, about 10.4 miles, of waterways in Washington County.”
Respess said the projects focused on major drainage canals across different parts of the county.
“These were all completed on major drain waterways,” he said. “These were all waterways within Plymouth, Roper, or Creswell, trying to spread all of it.”
He described how projects were prioritized based on inspections and blockage assessments.
“I traveled down each one, did inspections, counted blockages, potential blockages, tallied them all up, had a spreadsheet, looked at them, then labeled them red, yellow, and green as priority, red being priority and green being good for now,” Respess said.
Respess said the work moved quickly due to the scale of the projects.
“This was about $4.86 a foot,” he said. “So you can imagine 10.3 miles, it did not take long to encumber that money.”
He also highlighted maintenance work along Maul Creek in Creswell, a major drainage canal serving the town and surrounding areas.
“Maul Creek is a service right of way that we maintain with the drainage budget in Creswell,” Respess said. “It helps us pretty much if any trees were to enter the stream, be able to access them easily and efficiently without having a lot of input costs.”
Respess said mowing the right of way was a cost-effective maintenance approach.
“It was a total of 6,336 feet at $1.89 per foot, so a total of $12,000 just to mow that right of way,” he said.
He explained that mowing is intentionally infrequent and designed to protect the waterway.
“We usually wait two to three years to mow it,” Respess said. “Every other year we try to mow it.”
Respess said a buffer was left intentionally to stabilize the banks.
“I left a three to five foot buffer strip because right on the other side of that hedge is degraded soil that has fallen into the waterway due to hydraulic pressures,” he said. “We left a little bit of vegetation to cause a riparian buffer. That riparian buffer will hold that root system and that soil in place long term.”
Another ongoing challenge discussed was beaver activity.
“To date there has been $9,030 spent on beaver control this year,” Respess said. “That is a total of 10 beaver colonies.”
Respess explained the scale of the issue.
“A colony is usually four beavers,” he said. “And then 12 dams were blown or removed by hand depending on what the scenario was.”
He said the work is difficult due to limited access.
“Every dam that our wildlife control agent does is unaccessible by a tractor and is either hand removal or explosive use,” Respess said.
Respess said six new sites have already been identified for future work.
He also discussed aquatic weed treatment efforts contracted through Opterra Solutions Inc.
“We have 24.4 acres of aquatic weeds in waterways that has been contracted out by Opterra Solutions Inc. to be treated at $530.03 per acre,” Respess said. “This is a total of $12,932.73.”
The work focused on heavily used canals.
“These areas are A Canal, Old Canal, and 30 Foot Canal,” Respess said. “These are all major flowing waterways that get backed up with yearly aquatic debris.”
Respess showed photos of invasive species affecting local waterways.
“This is alligator weed, quite prevalent in all of our waterways and a very invasive species,” he said.
He also described other vegetation.
“At the top right is parrot feather, another invasive species that is intermingling with alligator weed,” Respess said. “At the bottom right is pennywort. That is our native species of aquatic plant, and that is what we are trying to keep here to keep our ecosystem thriving.”
Respess said unmanaged debris can cause serious flooding issues.
“That makes water sit on the hill and flood agricultural land, houses, septic tanks, things like that,” he said.
The presentation also covered state cost-share funding for conservation practices.
“There is about $42,000 in state subsidies that were used on best management practices such as land smoothing and cover crop,” Respess said.
He explained how those practices work.
“Cover crop is establishing vegetation in a field before the winter months in order to hold onto nutrients and reduce degradation to soil and water,” Respess said. “Precision land forming is me going out, shooting before and after surveys of elevations and sending a crown in the center of a field.”
Respess also highlighted a new initiative he described as a personal priority.
“This brings me to the seed library,” he said. “This is my passion, my thing that I am really happy about.”
The project is a partnership among several county entities.
“We started a partnership with Washington County Extension Office, Library, and Soil and Water District,” Respess said. “We are putting together a seed library for Washington County residents that will provide seeds and infographics on how to plant, grow, and process seeds.”
He said the program encourages sustainability.
“This will require participation with citizens and dedication to a sustainable tomorrow,” Respess said. “This program promotes best management practices that benefit soil and water quality.”
Respess closed with a discussion of long-term data collection and monitoring.
“Data collection based on the resource concerns needs to be prioritized as a first step towards maintaining these waterways,” he said.
He said analytical data would guide future decisions.
“These devices could measure turbidity, temperature, and rate of flow,” Respess said. “They are expensive, so it is a long-term plan of how we need to start implementing monitoring devices.”
Respess said understanding ecosystems before intervention is critical.
“All these aquatic plants do what is called phytoremediation,” he said. “They reduce nitrates and phosphates within your water, which is pollution.”
He said future management will require patience.
“This will take time, data collection, management, and each project will paint a clearer picture of the outcomes of our actions,” Respess said.
The meeting also included a presentation on the North Carolina Energy Saver Program by Shauna Brown of the Center for Energy Education.
“I serve as the administrative director with the Center for Energy Education,” Brown said. “I am also a retired educator with 31 years of service, so I understand the importance of meeting people where they are and providing resources that truly make a difference.”
Brown said the program targets households struggling with energy costs.
“It is a statewide initiative designed to help low and moderate income households reduce energy costs, improve home comfort, and increase energy efficiency,” she said.
Brown explained the two programs offered.
“There are two rebate programs under the Energy Saver umbrella,” she said. “The Homes Program and the HEARS Program.”
She said eligible residents may qualify for no-cost upgrades.
“Through these programs, eligible residents may receive no-cost energy efficiency upgrades for their homes,” Brown said.
Brown emphasized the broader impact.
“By lowering energy usage, families can redirect those savings toward food, medication, and other basic needs,” she said.