EDENTON — The Edenton Town Council will convene a special meeting and a committee meeting Monday evening taking up a slate of items that includes a voluntary annexation on the town’s northern edge, a mandated water supply plan, a housing authority reappointment and updates on the search for a new fire chief and the town’s recently installed smart-meter system.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 23, at the Council Chambers, 504 S. Broad St. Remote video access is available via Zoom at Meeting ID 252 482 2155, passcode 458434. Residents may also dial in at 301-715-8592.

Outside firm to help fire chief search

The Administrative Committee will give council an update on the town’s search for a new fire chief, being conducted by Mercer Group Associates, a Georgia-based executive recruitment firm.

According to a draft work plan included in the agenda packet, Mercer consultants conducted stakeholder interviews Feb. 17–20 and are working to finalize a recruitment brochure for town approval no later than Feb. 26.

Under the proposed project calendar, Mercer will conduct active recruitment Feb. 27 through March 27, with initial application screening to follow. A virtual semi-finalist approval meeting with town leadership is set for April 3, followed by on-site candidate interviews April 27. Contract negotiations are slated for April 28–30, with the new fire chief estimated to start no later than the week of June 1.

The new hire would replace Billy Bass, who has been fire chief since 2019. He started as a fire engineer with the agency in 1989 and was promoted to captain in December 2009.

The agenda does not list the cost of Mercer Group’s services during this process.

Annexation at 316 Old Hertford Road

Council members will consider Annexation Ordinance 26-01, which would bring 3.54 acres at 316 Old Hertford Road into Edenton’s corporate limits. The action is voluntary — the property owner submitted a petition under North Carolina General Statute 160A-31 — and the parcel is described as contiguous to the town’s existing boundaries.

The property, identified in Chowan County records as parcel 7815-13-22-2942, is historically referenced in deed records dating to the 19th century as part of the former W.H. Granby homeplace. Under the proposed ordinance, the land would carry an R-10 residential zoning classification consistent with the town’s Unified Development Ordinance, and the annexation would take effect June 30, 2026.

The property was previously reviewed by Edenton Town Council after a developer asked for approval to build several homes on the 3.52 acres in September. The annexation was also previously discussed and approved. If approved, the ordinance would make the annexation official.

2025 Local Water Supply Plan

Council members will also be asked to adopt a resolution approving the town’s 2025 Local Water Supply Plan, a document required under N.C. General Statute 143-355. Once adopted, the plan would be submitted to the state Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Water Resources. Under state law, local water supply plans must be updated at least every five years.

The plan was dated Feb. 3, 2026, and will be presented by Public Works Director David Myers and Roy Alons.

Nexgrid Smart Meter Update

The Utilities Committee will give an update on the town’s Nexgrid smart meter system and related best management practices. The Virginia-based company’s advanced metering infrastructure was approved by the town council in late 2024 under a 10-year service contract — done at the recommendation of ElectriCities, the nonprofit that advises municipal power systems across North Carolina — and installation began in 2025 across Edenton’s roughly 4,500 utility accounts.

The Nexgrid system gives the town real-time access to every meter in the network, allowing the electric department to detect outages and abnormal conditions — including high-temperature alerts at meter sockets — without waiting for customer reports. The agenda packet includes sample safety notices the town has developed for warning- and critical-level meter temperature events, along with maps showing meter status across the town’s distribution network and transformer-level load data.

The system also provides customers with access to their own day-to-day consumption data and eliminates the need for monthly manual meter reads. The update to the Utilities Committee is expected to address operational findings and procedures developed since the system came online.