Cleveland, NC Town Board July 2022 - Map Changes and Bills to Pay

 Cleveland town board met tonight 7-11-2022 for the month of July. All board members and the mayor were in attendance as well as town hall employees and the police chief. A few town residents were in attendance, but no one signed up to address the board.

Town May Be Getting Rid of Some Road Easements 

Board members discussed eliminating easements in town. The agenda specified the easement on N. Depot St; however, mayor Pat Phifer said that several easements needed to be removed from the town map, because there is not enough land to run roads, and the town is not planning to run any roads in the areas of the easements. He mentioned a couple of other easements including one from Cemetery St to the pump station and behind the Lion's Club.

The easement on N. Depot runs through the woods to the next road. There are two houses going in at the end of N. Depot and to the left. If the easement is in place, only one more house can go at the end of the road, but if the easement is eliminated by the board then three more houses can go at the end of the road. 

 

Two houses are currently being built at the end of N. Depot St to the left side. 

 

 

 Here is the end of the road with an easement to cut on through the woods. The pasture land there could hold three houses if the easement is eliminated. 

The board did not take any action concerning any easements at this time. It is likely that such a consideration would go before the zoning board in Sept and then to the elected board with a public hearing. 

If the easement is eliminated and three houses go in, Gerald Osborne said that the town might need to run sewer lines. At this time, the town is going to run larger water lines on that part of the road so that standards are met to add a fire hydrant and so that pipes can be looped up and around to Academy St which is one street over. The town only needs to run sewer lines if the current lines do not touch the lots in question, and no one knew whether they did or not. Osborne will get estimates on sewer along with water in case that becomes a need.

New Zoning Board Member

Phifer said that Gaye Shelton would be taking a seat on the zoning board. She is currently an alternate and will now be a regular full-time board member. Phifer also noted that she was the "only person we had." Openings on the zoning board were posted on the town Facebook page, but other town members did not apply to serve.  

Paying Bills

A number of bills were approved for payment including:

Shelton will be paid $11,200 for sidewalk repairs in town. Commissioner John Bradford said that the grate that had been ordered had come in. Another commissioner asked if that was covered in the bill. Bradford said, "I guess." 

Mountain Highway (which is the band for Dancing on Depot for July) will be paid $2,500 for the music. 

The tractor that the town approved buying for maintenance will not be in stock until Sept, but the company has a larger tractor (upgrade from 65 to 75) for around $2000 extra. Board members approved paying the extra to get the tractor now instead of later and to get the extra horsepower. 

Smith Brothers will be contracted for $7,685 to clean, coat, and stripe the town hall parking lot. There was one other quote for the work which was around $9000 higher than the accepted bid. 

Upcoming Expenditures

Phifer said that the he and Commissioner Danny Gabriel are looking at the town paying for murals on the Masonic Lodge and on Richard Taylor's shop as part of the Cleveland "rebranding" He does not have estimates at this point, but he said that he had some sketches that included angel wings. Phifer has been talking with Jenny Booe who did the flowers on the window beside the post office sponsored by Lil' Shavers.

Board members discussed replacing the carpet in town hall with vinyl. They had an estimate for $18,135 from Empire and decided to get at least one other estimate before taking action.

Loose Ends on Town Park Beside Library

Osborne said that Jim Green told him that the town park beside the new library is not official at this point. The land needs to be surveyed and the deed put in the town's name. The county will cover those costs. Taylor said that he would follow up on that.  

Police Report for June

Police Chief Jon Jessop said that the local station would be participating in and sponsoring national Night Out on August 2 from 6-8 at the Cleveland Town Park behind the old West Rowan Middle School/old YMCA. He said that they had a bounce house lined up, balloon maker, child ID kits, and ice cream and hot dogs already, and plans are still in the works. Resident Jeanette Rankin is helping on the project, so you can touch base with her if you would like to pitch in. 

Jessop asked if the asphalt would be moved or stacked in another place before the event.

For June, there were:

65 calls for service

73 traffic stops

54 traffic citations

37 traffic warnings

1 warrant

6 arrests (the warrant and 5 from traffic stops)

1 accident

1 check point

Other Town Business

Commissioner Travis Summitt said that maintenance has been working shorthanded and that interviews for another employee start tomorrow.

Osborne said that the playground equipment from Salisbury First Baptist Church would be in Cleveland by the end of the month and needed to be installed soon so that nothing went missing or got broken sitting around. 

The Cleveland Fire Dept found two leaks that were "pretty good size." Osborne said that may take care of the issue with the water usage variance of 18% which usually does not vary more than 10% month to month.