After a procedural error caused a re-vote for the North Topsail Beach Board of Alderman to fill one of their empty seats, a different outcome emerged from the first vote held on May 10. During another special meeting, on Thursday morning, Richard Grant was selected by the Board to fill the vacant seat. The last meeting held by the Board contained a vote to fill the open seat but after review it was determined that the vote for Robert Swantek, who was sworn into office in the time since, was not valid for lack of signed ballots and an improper breaking of a tied vote. North Topsail Beach will have to do this all over again, soon, to fill Jerry Heid’s seat. Heid stepped down from the Board after the last meeting, citing “embarrassment” as to how the last vote was conducted. It now looks like the whole board and Mayor will be up for election in 2021, due to the shortened terms of everyone who was just elected in 2019. Both members who were voted into office in 2019, during an open election for 2 seats, have stepped down. Heid’s resignation from the Board of Alderman was the second such this year as Mayor Mcdermon also stepped down from the Board in March. She won a write-in campaign for Mayor while simultaneously running on the ballot for Alderman. She declined the Alderman seat after a challenge to her candidacy for Mayor was dropped, and she accepted the Mayor’s office.