Who will be the mayor of North Topsail Beach?

NORTH TOPSAIL BEACH, NC (WWAY) — Joann McDermon is the mayor-elect as a write in and she won a seat as an Alderman. But, Mayor Daniel Tuman is calling it an illegal election and taking action.

According to Patrick Gannon with the State Board of Elections, the town is awaiting the decision of a superior court judge on whether or not to accept a stay. He says Tuman is claiming that there may be evidence that this election wasn’t legal. Gannon says there was a hearing on Monday and the judge took Tuman’s appeal under advisement and the judge will issue the decision soon.

Gannon says Tuman first filed an election protest to the Onslow County Board of Elections and it was dismissed. Tuman then appealed it to the state board and it was also dismissed.

Gannon says, if the judge does not accept the stay, certificates will be issued and Joann McDermon will be sworn in as mayor.

Gannon says certificates of election cannot be released until all appeals are resolved.

WWAY reached out to McDermon and Tuman. McDermon told WWAY that she’d prefer to comment after the judge makes a decision. Tuman agreed to a recorded phone conversation with WWAY and hung up the phone on our reporter. WWAY attempted to reach out to Tuman again, but did not hear back.