Holden Beach Terminates Stephanie Missert After Two-Year Engagement

Why It Matters

The Town of Holden Beach, N.C. terminated its lobbying contract with individual lobbyist Stephanie Missert on April 28, 2026, ending a two-year engagement that began in April 2024. The LDA termination lobbying filing, recorded in the second quarter of 2026, reflects the conclusion of a relationship that generated $20,000 in total compensation for Missert across the engagement period.

Holden Beach was one of three North Carolina coastal municipal clients that made up Missert's entire practice. On the same day she filed the Holden Beach termination, she also filed terminations for the Village of Bald Head Island, N.C. and the Topsail Island Shoreline Protection Commission, each of which had also paid $20,000 over the same period. The simultaneous termination of all three clients effectively ends Missert's lobbying practice as it existed.

Holden Beach has maintained two other lobbying relationships that remain active. Ward and Smith PA, which employs lobbyist Mike McIntyre, has been paid $30,000 per quarter since the first quarter of 2025, totaling $150,000 over five quarters. Ferguson Group LLC has been paid $10,000 per quarter over the same period, totaling $50,000. Both firms continue to work on the same core issues Missert was hired to address.

Broader Context

Missert's work for Holden Beach centered on federal appropriations for Army Corps of Engineers projects, Lockwood Folly Inlet navigation dredging, stormwater infrastructure, FEMA mitigation programs, and National Flood Insurance Program reauthorization. These are not abstract policy concerns for a barrier island community of roughly 900 residents that has received tens of millions of dollars in federal disaster reimbursements following hurricanes Florence and Dorian.

The policy landscape on several of these issues has shifted considerably. The Trump administration has moved aggressively to cut FEMA mitigation programs. The Flood Mitigation Assistance grant program was not accepted for 2025. The Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program was canceled in April 2025, prompting lawsuits from twenty states. The administration's fiscal year 2026 budget proposed removing all funding for climate and nature-based solutions programs. These are the very programs Holden Beach had been lobbying to protect.

On the appropriations front, H.R. 6938, the consolidated appropriations bill that includes Energy and Water Development funding, became Public Law 119-74 on January 23, 2026. That law provides Army Corps civil works funding, though project-specific allocations, including for Holden Beach's Brunswick County Beaches General Reevaluation Report, are still to be determined through the Army Corps work plan process.

Flood Insurance Remains Unresolved

The National Flood Insurance Program, a central concern for any barrier island community, remains in a precarious state. The program lapsed during the government shutdown in late 2025 before being retroactively reauthorized. A longer-term reform bill, the National Flood Insurance Program Reauthorization and Reform Act of 2025, has been referred to the Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management but has not advanced further. Short-term extension bills have been introduced in both chambers but remain in committee. For a town where property owners depend heavily on flood insurance, this is an ongoing concern requiring active federal engagement.

Dredging Continues on a Recurring Cycle

Lockwood Folly Inlet dredging, another issue Missert worked on, is set to proceed in the near term with the bulk of costs covered by state grant funds, though a local match is required from Brunswick County, Holden Beach, and Oak Island. Dredging is a recurring infrastructure need, not a one-time legislative fix, meaning the issue will return in future appropriations cycles regardless of what happens this year.

The Bottom Line

With Missert's contract ended, the town's federal advocacy now rests primarily with Ward and Smith PA and Ferguson Group LLC, both of which were already working on overlapping issues.

Ward and Smith's lobbyist on this account is Mike McIntyre, a former Democratic congressman who represented North Carolina's Seventh Congressional District for seven terms before leaving office in 2013. McIntyre served on the House Armed Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee during his tenure. His familiarity with North Carolina's coastal communities and his relationships built over years of congressional service are the primary assets he brings to Holden Beach's federal advocacy work, particularly on Army Corps and appropriations matters.

Ferguson Group LLC has focused its work for Holden Beach on natural resources funding, including the Brunswick County Beaches General Reevaluation Report, federal navigation channels, including Lockwood Folly, stormwater infrastructure, and disaster relief. The firm specializes in representing local governments and public entities on federal appropriations.

The consolidation of Holden Beach's lobbying into these two firms, rather than three representatives, comes at a moment when the federal programs the town depends on are under significant pressure. The Army Corps work plan process for fiscal year 2026 is still live, NFIP reform remains unresolved, and FEMA mitigation funding has been substantially curtailed. Whether two firms can cover the same ground as three remains to be seen, though the town's total lobbying spend with Ward and Smith and Ferguson Group already dwarfs what it was paying Missert.

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