BELHAVEN — The Belhaven Board of Aldermen called a special meeting Friday morning, in which it voted in favor of preparing a state of emergency declaration, in an effort to protect the hospital building.

All those present voted in favor. Alderman Ricky Credle was not in attendance.

Before the state of emergency is declared, the town attorney must first prepare the legal documents.

Mayor Adam O’Neal said the board’s action is a step to ensure Pantego Creek LLC, which owns the Water Street property, does not tear down the building.

O’Neal said hospital supporters have been on edge after seeing unfamiliar vehicles around the property. The small encampment in front of the property is still up and running, as some residents have pledged to keep watch over the building themselves. As part of the pending declaration, the board will also ask the Belhaven Police Department to patrol around the hospital property.

“Are there any souls in Belhaven who wouldn’t benefit from the hospital reopening?” O’Neal said at Friday’s meeting. “Would you yourself stand in the way of 15,000 people having a hospital?”

A municipality may declare a state of emergency in the event of a threat of “widespread or severe damage, injury, or loss of life or property resulting from any natural or man-made accidental, military, paramilitary, weather-related or riot-related cause,” according to North Carolina General Statute 166A.

O’Neal also displayed a box containing a dead squirrel Friday, with its head covered by a medical glove. He alleged that those in opposition to the hospital left it at his office as a threat, although that could not be confirmed.

Plans for the declaration are another development in a years-long battle to reopen Belhaven’s hospital, formerly Vidant Pungo Hospital, which was closed in 2014 due to deficits. To secure a $6 million United States Department of Agriculture loan to help cover the costs of reopening, the Town must first obtain the property, a requirement that has yet to be met.

Belhaven also has a limited amount of time before a renewal of the certificate of need, which is essentially a license to run the hospital, is also required.

Pantego Creek LLC’s lawyer, Arey Grady III, said in a statement that the LLC managers stand where they always have on the issue.

Grady said if the declaration comes to fruition, it is possible the town would be in violation of private property rights.

“If this is in fact the case, we believe these types of actions by the Town would be illegal and would violate the statutory authority allowing local governments to act in true emergency situations. We do not wish to see the elected officials of the Town of Belhaven who vote for such measures subject themselves to potential, personal liability for these types of actions, particularly where this seems to be a situation of a ‘solution’ in search of a problem,” he stated.

Grady said in past interviews that the four Pantego Creek managers would not tear down the building without authorization from a membership vote.