Main Menu

Home
News
Email News Updates
In memory of
Opinion & Letters
The Times Forum
SLLA Blog
Download Current Issue
Download Back Issues
Search The Times Website
Browse Times Web Archive
Advertising in The Times
Deadlines
Contact Us
Links

Login - Register






Lost Password?
No account yet? Register
.
Registering allows you to participate in community discussions by posting comments on particular articles. Registered users also receive periodic email news alerts when new material is added to the website.

Times Newsfeed

County ramps up communication with towns
Written by Greg Hankins, Editor   
Thursday, 18 February 2010

    Moore County's Board of Commissioners seem determined to lay to rest charges that the county doesn't communicate well with the leaders of its towns and villages. At the end of their Monday, February 15 regular meeting, members of the Board took the unusual step of provided brief reports on meetings held with other local officials during the past two weeks.
Image     Commissioner Cindy Morgan said she, Chairman Tim Lea, and County Manager Cary McSwain met with Robbins council members and staff in a February 2 session that focused largely on Robbins' desire to bring its unused water plant online and sell water to the county. Robbins officials asked for a joint meeting between the full town council and Board of Commissioners to discuss the matter, Morgan said, adding that she and Lea had encouraged the council to reach its own consensus about what Robbins wants before any joint meeting takes place.
    Pinehurst was next on Morgan's list. She and Commissioner Larry Caddell met with Pinehurst Council Member Joan Thurmond on February 3 to bring her up to date on a variety of on-going issues between the County and the Village.
    Picking up the story, Commissioner Nick Picerno said he and Commissioner Jimmy Melton met with the Greater Seven Lakes Community Council on February 11, bringing the council up-to-date on the county's various water initiatives. "We did emphasize . . . that the Commissioners are in discussion with numerous entities for future needs, for not only the area in Seven Lakes but the area that our entire Public Utilities serves," Picerno said.
    On February 12, Lea and Picerno met with representatives of Sandhills Community College to dig into budget issues. Picerno said the "very informative" session was  "the kind of exchange or ideas we need to have, if they  are to understand . . . what we are trying to accomplish here in our task of trying to hold down our taxes and provide for good education." Picerno said the exchange of in-depth information would prove useful to the Commissioners as they prepare the county's Fiscal Year 2010-2011 budget.
    On the agenda going forward, Picerno said, is a February 23 meeting with the NC Rural Economic Development Center, the US Department of Agriculture, and Vass municipal officials to continue the process of seeking funding for the Little River Lift Station project, which will carry wastewater from Vass to the county's wastewater treatment plant in Addor.
    Commissioner Caddell then reported that he and Picerno had met independently on February 2 with two Robbins Council Members, Terry Holt and Clara Matthews, again focusing on water issues and concluding with the suggestion for a joint meeting of the two boards.

 

   
No to Summit
    One meeting the Commissioners will not be attending, however, is the regular session that brings local officials and other community leaders together under the rubric of the "Moore County Summit." The group was put together several years ago as a joint initiative of the Moore County Chamber of Commerce and the Southern Pines Pilot newspaper in order to foster intergovernmental communication and cooperation. The county has come under criticism for not participating in the process.
    The Commissioners' response has been to create their own regular meeting of local officials, but one that involves only elected officials as active participants. And the Board clearly plans to rely, at least for now, on that vehicle rather than participate in the summit.
    Commissioner Cindy Morgan reported that she and Chairman Lea met on February 4 with Chamber of Commerce President Patrick Coughlin and Moore County Summit Chairman Frank Zamaroni, who asked that the county begin to participate in the Summit.
    "We hopefully helped them understand that we were in agreement with what Commissioner Picerno had said at the municipality meeting," Morgan reported, "when he said 'We believe the elected officials are the ones in charge of making these decisions.' The long and short of our answer was, 'No, we won't be back to the [Summit] meeting . . . at this time. However, in the future it may be that we will bring it back to the table and discuss it again."
    
Fluid Flow of Information
    "When I count these up," Commissioner Lea said, after the meeting reports, "we've had some seven meetings, with all Commissioners and also staff involved at some level."
    "Having these one-on-one meetings — at least, every one I was involved in — and from what I have heard here tonight is that they have been very positive meetings, it's been great interaction from a communicative standpoint, and, the good news is, it has been a fluid flow of information."
    "We can only hope that good will come out of this as we move this process forward on a month-by-month basis,"  the Chairman concluded.
    The Commissioners' next group meeting with municipal officials is scheduled for March 4, with the towns and villages encouraged to present their top three goals. An April 15 meeting of the group will focus on fire departments and emergency medical services.
    
Landfill Methane May Be Tapped
    If all goes according to plan, the county will soon be in the business of generating electricity. The Commissioners voted Monday night to sign a letter of intent with Green Energy Partners, a South Carolina-based firm, to explore tapping the county's landfill, closed in 1993, for methane gas.
    County Engineer Lex Kelly told the Board three proposals for tapping the gas were reviewed by both staff and experts at Appalachian State University, with the unanimous recommendation that the Green Energy partners proposal be selected.
    The letter of intent will allow the firm to drill test wells into the landfill, in order to determine whether it is generating a viable amount of gas. Preliminary estimates based on the size and depth of the landfill suggest it could generate as much as $90,000 per year in revenue for the county, Kelly said. The entire cost of installation and operation of the methane collection system would be borne by Green Energy Partners.
    He noted that the testing can be completed in approximately three weeks and will provide the data necessary for Green Energy partners to negotiate a contract to sell energy generated to Progress Energy. A final contract could be ready for Board approval within four weeks, Kelly added.
    
Pet Responsibility Committee receives grant
    The Commissioners Monday night voted to accept a $7,500 grant from Banfeld Charitable Trust that will support the educational efforts of the Citizens' Pet Responsibility Committee in county schools. Committee Chairwoman Angela Zumwalt explained that the Trust is affiliated with Banfield Pet Hospitals, a chain of veterinary clinics located in PetSmart stores.
    Zumwalt explained that the grant will be used to help defray the cost of presenting a Pet Responsibility curriculum to area fourth-graders, including covering the cost of copying materials for teachers and students, printing bookmarks, and purchasing pet responsibility books for the school libraries.
    Commissioner Melton, who serves as the Board's liaison on pet responsibility issues, said the grant will save taxpayer dollars while benefitting the county's animals. "What you all do is a great service to the county," he told Zumwalt.
    
Sewer Extension Benefits Manufacturer
    The Board authorized county staff to negotiate an engineering contract with Hobbs-Upchurch for an extension of the county sewer system to serve Atex Technologies, a Pinebluff firm that manufactures implantable medical fabrics.
    The $900,000 project will be paid for with a $585,000 Community Development Block Grant, $300,000 in funds from the NC Rural Economic Development Center, and $15,000 provided by ATEX. Brobst said that $15,000 could be rebated to the firm if other customers along the sewer line decide to hook up.
    
East Moore Water Hookup Assistance Closed Out
    The Commissioners on Monday night approved the closeout of a 2007 Community Development Block Grant aimed at helping low-income homeowners hook up to Phase 2 of the East Moore Water District.
    Public Works Director Dennis Brobst explained that the program was "very limited" in terms of both income standards and the requirement that funds be used only to help resident homeowners. Renters were excluded.
    As a result, though the county had hoped the grant would provide assistance to twenty-five families, they were able to find only eight who qualified. Closing out the 2007 program, Brobst explained, will allow the county to reapply for a new grant with less stringent requirements that could help more families.
    
Drug Free Moore County
    The Commissioners heard from Drug Free More County Director Darlind Davis during Monday's meeting that the group is planning a town hall meeting on underage drinking, which will be held Monday, March 29 at an auditorium in the FirstHealth Conference Center. The meeting is funded by a grant from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services.
    Davis said the goal of the meeting is to "unearth the opinions of the community" about the extent and severity of the underage drinking problem in the county.
    
Other Business
    In other business during their Monday, February 15 meeting, the Moore County Board of Commissioners:
    •    Were formally introduced to new Assistant County Manager Ken Larking, a graduate of Appalachian State University's program in Public Administration, who comes to the county with ten years experience serving various local governments in the state.
    •    Learned from County manager Cary McSwain that Bryan Phillips has been named Public Safety Director and Caroline Xiong has been named Interim Finance Director, replacing Finance Director Lisa Hughes, who recently resigned her post. The County is advertising for a replacement for Hughes, seeking an experienced Finance Officer who is also a Certified Public Accountant.
    •    Approved a rezoning request for a half-acre parcel just off US 1 near Vass, changing the property from RE-Rural Equestrian to B-2 Highway Commercial.
    •    Approved the renewal of a lease with State Employees Credit Union for an Automated Teller Machine on county property at the former Carriage Oaks Shopping Center at a rate of $200 per month.
    •    Approved a $42,000 contract with Hobbs-Upchurch & Associates for adminstration of the county's 2009 Scattered Site Housing Grant, which applies state funds to the rehabilitation of sub-standard housing in the county. Planning Director Joey Raczkowski noted that the contract provides for Hobb-Upchurch to train county staff so that, in the future, the county can manage the program internally.
    •    Asked the Planning Director to explore citizen concerns about a private shooting range located on property that is in the Town of Carthage's Extraterritorial Zoning Jurisdiction. It was unclear whether the county had jurisdiction in the matter.
    •    Appointed retired Southern Pines Police Chief Gerald Galloway to the ABC Board to serve out the unexpired term of the late James Wise, former Sheriff of Moore County.
    •    Heard from County Manager McSwain that the Moore County Airport Authority had asked to meet with the Commissioners to discuss grant opportunities for the airport. That meeting was tentatively scheduled for the Board of Commissioners work session on March 18.
 
< Prev   Next >
[ Back ]