Cleveland Town Board Coronavirus Edition 5-11-2020

The Cleveland Town Board met tonight 5-11-2020 for the regularly scheduled town board meeting. The meeting last month (April 2020) was cancelled due to coronavirus concerns. The meeting tonight was closed to the public but broadcast over a loudspeaker due to coronavirus.

Residents of Cleveland, NC (or other interested parties) are allowed by law to attend town board meetings, and those wishing to attend tonight could park in the parking lot at town hall and listen to the meeting over a loudspeaker at the front door of the building. There were four people who attended the meeting - three in cars and one on foot. Three stayed for the duration with the meeting ending around 8:19 p.m. with a temperature of 55 degrees outside. 

Someone checked the speaker about 7:28 p.m. and raised the volume for the 7:30 meeting. The sound did not carry to the parking lot. It was possible to hear Mayor Pat Phifer if standing or sitting on the sidewalk, and it was possible to hear the town clerk most of the time and a word here and there from town commissioners. Gerald Osborne was audible during his commissioners report at the end. Much of the audio was garbled, and music cut in at one point.

Much of the Monday night business did pertain to operations during coronavirus.

Phifer said that town hall needed to look at a quote from Tarhell Safe & Lock to install a new system so that the assistant town clerk would not have to get up and down and unlock the front door during the coronavirus. The company might also install a drop box, since some residents of Cleveland pay in cash in the not-so-secure box currently in the parking lot.

Related was a discussion about a drive through window at town hall. In order to have drive through service, the town would need to add curbing and a window or extend the building to the current parking lot. Phifer said to get some prices on that project.

The governor had put into place measures to protect residents during the downturn in the economy, and the town can't turn off water or charge late fees currently. Someone pointed out that the decree does not include small businesses. It was brought up that four small businesses in town have not paid for water and could be disconnected. One business was named, but the other three were not. The board voted to extend the policy to include small businesses, so none will be penalized prior to July 1, 2020. That includes defaults in February too.

Since the big trash pick up was cancelled, the town will have a big trash pick up on June 8. Phifer said that some people still had their trash outside from the pick up scheduled last month and cancelled due to coronavirus. When precautions were brought up, gloves and masks were mentioned for the sanitation workers.

A spring/summer town street dance has been scheduled for May. The board agreed to wait until June to have a street dance. This was a program started last year on Depot Street once per month. The plan is to have a dance in June at $580.

The town park was closed in Cleveland due to coronavirus per Phifer as the "easiest thing to do." There was some discussion about opening the park up with Phase II. Concerns were expressed about residents stealing toilet paper and having to clean the bathroom if it was opened. The final decision appeared to be  that the park would be open once orange construction mesh was purchased (if the town does not have it on hand). There were some comments about the cost of the mesh to wrap around the playground equipment The mesh runs $30 for 100 feet, and the town likely needs 200 feet of mesh.

Other business involved budget transfers and approving payments like for garbage and recycling pick up as well as adding notes to the town letter to let residents know that the town will be moving forward with penalties for junk cars and dilapidated buildings.