Cleveland NC April Town Board - Push for Recycling and a Crack Down on Speeding

 

Cleveland town commissioners met tonight (Monday 4-11-2022) at 6 pm for the monthly town board meeting. All board members were present as well as both town clerks/officers, the police chief, and four town residents. 

The board approved a proclamation to honor Ruth Wood of Cleveland who turns 103 years old on May 13. Wood was born in 1919. 

Residents Tommy and Velma Knox were present to see if town commissioners had checked about the light removed from the end of their driveway. They were at the last town board meeting and had not heard back. Mayor Pat Phifer and commissioner Travis Summitt had checked the location. Phifer asked commissioner John Bradford if he had checked the location, but he had not. 

When the new decorative lights were installed, the street light at the end of the Knox driveway was removed, leaving the entrance/exit to their property with low visibility. Phifer said that the standard now in Cleveland is that decorative lights will go along all sidewalks in the town. He said that he would like to see a sidewalk on the Knox side of the road, but the houses are too close for an ADA sidewalk which requires five feet width. The sidewalks on W. Main St., for example, are on state right-of-way land, so there was more room to meet current governmental guidelines. Also, W. Main St. land did not require signatures from residents impacted which would be required with the houses closer to the road on the east end of Main/Old 70. 

Commissioner Danny Gabriel said, "The lights are street lights." He said that any benefit that comes with lights is just a nice benefit. He said the new light project is just a "turn of bad luck" for the Knox family but that they could have and pay for a light through Duke Power. Power pole lights turned inward toward properties are covered by residents while those turned outwards over traffic are paid for by the town with tax dollars. Knox said there were exceptions to that standard currently, and Phifer said that when the light project is complete, all lights will meet the new standards. 

Plans currently are to add decorative lights next to W. Main St. where the new sidewalk was installed and to add lights to School St. beside the new town park and library. Phifer said the town would also need to think about lights alongside the old junior high/ YMCA, because that stretch also has a sidewalk which he had forgotten about. 

Commissioner Richard Taylor said that lights at the park would be nice. Phiefer said that solar lights would be really great, but he said that the last time he checked one solar light was fourteen thousand dollars.

Taylor said that Peggy Phiefer had spoken to him about vines that have grown over her fence and on to her shed. The vines are on the Freighliner (Dahlemer) side of the fence but impacting on her property. Summitt said that he would follow up on that. Board members noted that Freightliner has previously been really good about working out any concerns.

Town Tractor/Bush Hog

Commissioners approved buying a new, larger tractor for maintenance at the last board meeting. The new tractor would have a twelve foot swath which would "save our maintenance guys time," said Summitt. The bigger tractor would also be used for clearing snow off the town roads if needed.

Since the cost of the new tractor went over thirty thousand dollars, the purchase requires at least a second bid. All purchases over $30K must have two or more bids.

"All the pieces that go with it [the new tractor]" run $29,991.55 so do not need an additional bid per Phifer. So, accessories will be purchased, and the tractor will be purchased (or ordered) once another bid is secured. 

These purchases will go in next year's budget. Due to delays with deliveries on equipment, orders need to be placed way ahead of time.

Contracts for Services

Several contracts were approved at the April meeting. 

Eddie Carrick has done the town audit for years. His price is $4350 and approved. Prior to the audit, Brent Parks works with town employees to get records in order, and his price will "not exceed $3000" according to Phifer who said the price might be a little higher in order to work with a new employee and get her up to speed.  

The BSS trash contract was renewed with an increase of $1 per trashcan. The last increase was five or six years back per commissioners. 

Commissioner Gerald Osborne noted that only about half of town residents currently recycle. He suggested that those who do not participate may be charged a fee in the future for not recycling. He said that maybe a $5 extra charge would be appropriate. He said there really needed to be a push to get everyone recycling.

Phifer ran some calculations and said that if the numbers flip-flopped with more people recycling and less trash that the savings would run around $828 per trash run. Trash pick up is weekly, so the savings would be large over a month, year, and so on. 

Commissioner Reports

Summit said that heavy trash pick up was complete and that maintenance was down one employee so part-time help had been brought in. 

Commissioner John Bradford said, "I guess the sidewalks are done."

Osborne said that an ad for water tower work bids would go out this month. 

The safety shower approved last month had arrived but had not been installed at the wastewater treatment facility pending a decision on where to locate the safety station. 

The board had voted to change suppliers for some chemicals at the last board meeting. Osborne said that the big truck used by that company was not able to get in to the facility. At this time, the old supplier will be used and paid as before. 

A water leak on Old 70/Main, just outside town limits, "sprung a leak." Considerably more water was pumped by the town last month than had been sold to residents. The leak is thought to be the culprit for the discrepancy. 

Taylor reported progress at the town park. Pressure washing is complete and most staining is complete and required multiple coats. The contractor used dark stain on the outside of the shelter and light stain on the inside which Taylor said looks really nice. Picnic tabletops were stained and metal table legs spray painted black.

The deadline to move the playground equipment from First Baptist Church Salisbury to one of the Cleveland town parks is mid-May. 

No one has shown any interest in working the ball-field at the park, so there are no bids to consider at this time. 

Ant killer has been put out on the huge ant hills that are in some areas of the park. 

A local Scout working on his Eagle project plans to work on the nature trail in the wooded area of the town park. In addition to working on the trail, the Scout wants to make an arched sign with a name for the trail. Commissioners said "Nature Trail" would work for the name. The plan also includes tagging trees with the names of the types. For example, there are Pawpaw trees close the creek which could be tagged so residents would know what they are.

Gabriel did not have anything to report for this month. 

Police Report

Police Chief Jon Jessop said that he and Summitt had discussed the issue of speeding in town which was brought up at the last town board meeting and that traffic stops and tickets were increased for the previous month. 

Jessop said that he had borrowed a speed radar box to check the speeds in various areas so that the police force would know the specific problem areas in town and times of day for speeding. He said that, with that information, he could assign officers to spots of concern and at the times when speeding was a problem. He should be getting that information soon.

Summitt said that maybe Cleveland could invest in the equipment - radar with sign reading and data box to process the information. Jessop said that the equipment was very expensive. The sign would be around $5000 and data box would be $4-5000. Summitt said that they could check on grants and perhaps get some help with a purchase. 

Jessop brought the cost of $2245 for body cameras before the board. The cameras had been approved by the board, but the cost was over $2000 so required a vote which was unanimous (all voted yes). 

Jessop provided his monthly service numbers as follows:

Service calls - 50

Traffic stops - 181

Traffic citations - 88

Traffic warnings - 101

Warrants/Arrests - 2

Check points - 4

Other Town Business

Phifer said that Rowan County wanted to have a West Rowan coalition with staff and offices in our area.  

The town hall sign approved last month at $24,500 has gone up to $25,335.

Taylor noted that the three mailboxes in the sidewalk on W. Main St. will be moved soon. 

August 9 will be National Night Out coordinated by the Cleveland Police Dept.