Cleveland, NC Town Board Oct 2021 - Water/Sewer Projects Underway - Officers Out with Covid

Tonight 10-11-2021 was the monthly town board meeting in Cleveland, NC. A number of topics were covered, but most were ongoing business or items requiring follow up. 

Two items on the agenda will require public hearings, and those will be combined with the next town board meeting in Nov which will be at 6 pm. Town board members voted to move meetings from November 2021 through March 2022 from 7:30 back to 6:00, because it is getting dark sooner now and Standard Time will go back into effect next month. 

Items to go up for a public hearing:

1. Zoning text amendment so Leo White (our local barber) can use the second floor of the barber shop as a single family dwelling/apartment. 

2.  Amendment to current zoning pertaining to electronic message boards so that the town's new message boards will meet zoning. 

A discussion of an electronic message board for the town of Cleveland centered on an estimate in hand that was over the limit for brightness. More estimates will be sought at the correct light levels to meet zoning. 

There were a few requests from residents discussed at the nightly meeting:

1. One resident signed up to speak during a three minute spot for residents. She requested permission on behalf of her church to hold a community meal on Sunday at the park. The church would bring in a large grill and clean up and dispose of any oils etc.

The town voted unanimously that the church could have the worship meal at the town park. 

2. There was a request for sewer services for two lots in Fiber Acres. 

Town commissioners decided that hook up would be okay if the lots connected on to water with the Salisbury/RoCo pipes already in place. There was a concern about hooking to the town sewer with a well. There may be follow up depending on what the owners of the lots decide. 

3. Real estate agent A. W. Myers requested to address the town board at the end of the meeting [and was not signed up for public comment which is close the start of every meeting]. He discussed land that the town  might sell and said that a real estate agent can't do an addendum. A lawyer is required for an addendum. 

Town board members just nodded in reference to this item which was not on the agenda.

Police Chief Jon Jessop had a request from the police department. Last year, someone in the back of the police car made such a mess that the department had to pay $250 to clean the back seat. Also, a resident gave $250 as a donation to the police department. Jessop requested that the total of $500 be moved to the police budget. Commissioners had to move the cash to a general budget and then over, but there were no objections to the police department getting the money moved as indicated. 

On the maintenance side of the town, the board went into closed session and decided to increase the pay of the maintenance department director from $21.85 to $24.35 per hour. 

The Miller/Davis bill to the town was discussed again tonight, and the board decided that no payment will be made until an itemized statement is provided. An itemized statement has been requested for two months now per Mayor Pat Phifer. 

Phifer said that he had asked Miller/Davis to do additional work on the web site, but he did not know that the contract had run out. He also said that he needed a set amount of money allocated by the board so that he could have work done on the web site as needed. When questioned about additional work, Phifer said he needed more work on the calendar and "nick-pick." Commissioner Travis Summitt said: "We need to know what we want done." Summitt explained that they [the board] needed a list (or something) that said: "We need this." And, "How much."

With the web site at a stall, Phifer said that business listings on the town web site would be on hold. He said that project would have to wait "until we get numbers and know what we're dealing with" [in terms of charges by Miller/Davis].

Commissioner Gerald Osborne reported that water and sewer projects were coming along. There are some delays due to shipping which is impacting nationwide. Designs have been finished and other work like taking care of a stuck pump last week have been successful with no extra charges. 

Jessop provided numbers from the police department for September:

42 service call

12 traffic stops

5 citations

7 warning tickets

2 accidents

Also of note, two town officers have been out due to testing positive for Covid. 

 


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