Public comment at Tuesday’s meeting dominated by calls for accountability on emergency services, library director removal

By Miles Layton

COLUMBIA — Tyrrell County commissioners heard pointed criticism Tuesday over slow ambulance response times, the removal of a beloved local librarian, and inadequate county services, with residents filling the public comment period with testimony that at times drew direct responses from board members.

The board also appointed a new member to the Tyrrell County Library Advisory Board and approved a bylaws change to that body intended to address the timing gap that speakers said had left advisory members out of the loop on key decisions.

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EMS Response Times Draw Sharp Criticism

The meeting’s most extended and emotionally charged exchange centered on emergency medical services, which Tyrrell County contracts with Washington County to provide.

Raven Brown, a former Tyrrell County EMT who later worked as a 911 dispatcher, came before the board armed with a data packet documenting EMS response times for 2025 and into 2026. She said the numbers told a damning story.

“The farthest point in any distance in this county is at roughly 25 minutes,” Brown said. “The ones I’ve highlighted are just the ones that are 30 minutes and longer. Of course there are exceptions — weather, high call volumes, that sort of thing — but it’s unacceptable service to have to wait 48 minutes for a cardiac event.”

Brown described a personal connection to the issue, recounting a structure collapse at a house fire in which volunteer firefighters — including her husband — were injured.

“It took 27 minutes for EMS to get en route, 23 minutes for them to get on scene,” she said.

She told commissioners the problem had grown worse since Tyrrell County entered into its contract with Washington County, saying Tyrrell had consistently received inferior service and equipment under the arrangement.

“Since the contract with Washington County was initiated, Tyrrell County has always had the short end of the stick, to say the least,” Brown said. “We got hand-me-down trucks, equipment most of the time. The new equipment that Tyrrell County paid for was utilized in Washington County.”

Brown said she understood EMS was not a revenue-generating service but questioned whether Tyrrell County’s payment — which she put at $700,000 — was being used to prop up Washington County’s own system.

“Washington County has gladly taken our $700,000, but we’re not getting the bare minimum in return,” she said. “The ones who are going to suffer the most are our parents and our grandparents and our children, our friends and neighbors.”

She urged commissioners to pull EMS call logs periodically and review response times, warning that community members had begun driving themselves or loved ones to the hospital rather than waiting for an ambulance.

“It’s a sad day when people would rather take the chance and risk their lives and drive to a hospital than to call for an ambulance,” Brown said. “Our county deserves better than that.”

Commissioners Respond; Motion Fails

Commissioner Robert Thompson moved immediately after Brown’s remarks that Washington-Tyrrell EMS be required to send a representative to a future commissioner’s meeting to explain the situation and provide financial documentation.

“If I pay for some services and somebody don’t get it, I don’t give them the money,” Thompson said. “If I am not receiving a service, why are we continuing to pay the $685,000 when we’re not receiving the service by contract? Somebody owes us an explanation.”

Thompson added that the board’s concerns had persisted throughout his five years in office.

“Safety and security is our biggest thing, and we’re failing,” he said. “Taxes are going up, but I’ve heard a lot of people say it — we’re paying more for less. It needs to stop.”

Commissioner Darryl Liverman noted that the board had already been in discussions with Washington County officials and managers.

“I’ve been on the phone quite often with both Commissioner Everett and Commissioner Davis, and we met with our county manager,” Liverman said. “Commissioner Davis and myself met with the Washington County manager and two of the Washington County commissioners about the issue. Some 50 minutes — that’s not acceptable.”

Liverman said that a third ambulance had been stationed in Creswell at times since those discussions, but that the situation had not held over the Easter weekend.

“Like this weekend, I pretty much monitored my radio, and that was not the case this weekend,” he said.

Commissioner Nathan Everett, who said he had been involved in structuring the board-to-board discussion with Washington County, urged a measured approach.

“I believe you all are in a discussion with members of their board, the leadership of their board, and their manager,” Everett said. “I trust your judgment to bring back an option that we can live with by the next budget. And if we don’t, then we’ve got to do something different.”

Everett said the purpose of the board-to-board meeting had been to ensure Washington County’s leadership was receiving unfiltered information about Tyrrell’s concerns.

“If his information had been filtered, if his board had received filtered information, they would then know exactly what our complaints were,” he said. “And from what the two of you have told me, you made it very clear what the problems were.”

Chairman Jordan Davis, who said he voted against the motion not out of opposition to its goals but because he believed that work was already underway, noted the contract called for three units — one in Creswell, one in Plymouth, and one elsewhere — and that the county was not receiving that level of service.

“We’re not getting the three units per contract,” Davis said. “That is worse.”

The motion failed. When Brown asked whether the board might explore alternative EMS providers if the Washington County contract was not renewed, the response from the dais was direct: “Short answer, yes.”

Library Director’s Departure Prompts Calls for County Action

Two speakers addressed the recent departure of Tyrrell County Public Library Director Linda Mastronardo, whose removal or resignation — accounts have varied — generated a community petition with more than 400 signatures.

Amy Lowdermilk Odom, Friends of Tyrrell Library, asked the board to issue a formal letter of support for Mastronardo.

“She is still an asset to the community because she’s still a part of our community,” she said. “We appreciate everything that she did, the person she is, the programs she started. And we’re sorry that this county can’t control a personnel issue.”

An outspoken critic of what happened to Mastronardo, Nancy Lambert offered a more pointed critique of the process by which the change was handled, arguing that commissioners had more leverage over the situation than they may have acknowledged.

“You own the building, you pay the insurance, you buy the books — and it’s even rumored that you pay the salaries of the employees here, including the head librarian,” Lambert said. “If that’s the case, you do have leverage. You could freeze that position right now.”

Lambert also raised concerns about the sequence of events leading to Mastronardo’s departure, saying that members of the county’s library advisory board had not been informed that the position had been posted until the day before an advisory board meeting in at least one case.

“That’s very disrespectful,” she said. “The scheduling of the action by the administration was disrespectful because if these were grievances collected over a year, why did they have to be implemented against the librarian at a time when we were down two representatives on the regional board? The timing is suspect.”

Lambert said the advisory board had effectively been bypassed, with the regional library administration interviewing candidates before the advisory board had a chance to weigh in.

“How can they advise the regional board when the regional board has already acted?” she said.

She closed by pointing to the petition as evidence of community sentiment that commissioners should not dismiss.

“Four hundred-plus people publicly signed that petition asking for reinstatement — that’s amazing, really, for this community,” Lambert said. “So being representatives of the county, even if we had a lousy library and 400 people signed a petition, you would want to be concerned. But in fact we didn’t have a lousy library. We had a good library.”

Library Advisory Board Appointment; Bylaws Updated

In response to the timing concerns that had been raised, Commissioner Everett noted that he had initiated a bylaws change to move the Tyrrell County Library Advisory Board’s meeting date from the fourth Thursday of odd-numbered months to the third Thursday — specifically so that the advisory board would meet before, rather than after, the regional library board.

“It was because of exactly the complaint that Miss Lambert made — that the advisory board was meeting after the regional board met, therefore it was always a month behind with any concerns that we had,” Everett said. “The advisory board all felt it was a good idea, and the regional library is in agreement.”

The bylaws change passed unanimously.

The board also unanimously appointed Dr. Darren Rhym, an Alligator-area resident, to fill the one open seat on the Tyrrell County Library Advisory Board.

Other Public Comment

Joyce Fitch, of Ludford Road in the Alligator community, addressed two longstanding concerns: an infestation of flies and the need to clean out the Loughborough Road ditch and the Old 64 ditch, which she said had become clogged with debris and was contributing to flooding.

Davis acknowledged the county had advertised an insect control position for at least three years without receiving a single application, though the equipment to spray is on hand. He promised to add the ditch issue to the county’s list and said he would ask the state Department of Transportation to inspect the canal again.

Elizabeth Spencer, of Highway 64 East, asked for an update on a dirt pit near her home and adjacent drainage concerns. Everett told her that state environmental regulatory officers had recently visited the site and that the county had secured additional funds to clean out the ditch running behind the affected properties. He advised Spencer to file her own complaints with DOT as well, noting that property owners typically carry more weight in such matters.

Recreation Department Seeks Independent Status

Morgan Spear and a colleague representing the Tyrrell County Recreation Board asked commissioners to support transitioning the recreation department to operate independently from the school system, beginning with the 2026-2027 fiscal year. The group said it had already obtained an EIN, opened a dedicated bank account, and was close to finalizing its 501(c)(3) nonprofit application.

Everett told the group that a 501(c)(3) designation would need to be in place before the county could fund them directly and urged them to meet with County Manager David Clegg as soon as possible to discuss budget needs ahead of the May budget process.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Speaking of Clegg, I respect the man, so I’m going to give him the last word. Chairman of the Board for the Miss North Carolina Organization, Clegg led the moment of silence for former Miss North Carolina in 2024, Carrie Everett, 22, who died on Easter, April 5, following a battle with cancer. 

“Carrie brought a lot of energy to her platform of dealing with minority and socially marginalized people, and was a great advocate for social justice,” he said. “Would have been an incredible spokesperson if given the chance. But she changed a lot of lives in her very short time. As Miss North Carolina said, “During this moment of silence, I ask you to remember Carrie.”