Oak Island emphasizes education, meter monitoring as primary enforcement tools

Council members pressed staff on how the town will obtain compliance under mandatory restrictions; staff described a method that starts with direct education and monitoring and escalates to formal penalties only as needed. Staff told council the town runs daily reports on roughly 1,500 irrigation meters, tags doors of properties it suspects are irrigating out of sequence, and leaves literature to inform residents about restrictions and exemptions.

Town management framed the approach as prioritizing education. As one meeting participant summarized, "we're not trying to give people fines. We are trying to educate the public." Council members also requested a documented tracking method for warnings; staff said they are maintaining a spreadsheet of contacts and noted they will report back with counts and lessons learned.