Cleveland NC town board meeting 6/12/2023 - Town to object to ETJ rules.

 

The Cleveland NC town board met tonight Monday 6-12-2023. All board members were present. 

Proposed Changes to ETJ Control by State of NC

Town zoning/planning chair, Bryan Little, addressed the board and asked that a letter be sent to the state of North Carolina objecting to changes in the ETJ rules so that the board would have time (an extra week) to draft an official protest resolution concerning the changes to ETJ. 

ETJ is extraterritorial jurisdiction and is a one mile radius around the town of Cleveland. The town makes the rules as far as land use in the area around the town, but residents are not in town limits and do not vote on town issues and do not pay town taxes.  

The state of NC wants to eliminate ETJ for towns in counties of under 50,000 people which is 51% of NC counties per Little. Control would shift to the counties versus small towns like Cleveland in less populated counties.

Mayor Pat Phifer said that the proposed changes to ETJ "doesn't preserve our town." He explained that a business could come in the ETJ area, right beside houses in town limits.

Little said that this is a nationwide trend and that the only ones to benefit were developers who buy up land and then put four houses on one acre. He said the change is billed (per bill title) to help public servants (and first time house buyers) but that was not what was and would happen.  

Approval of Town Expenditures

Several bills were presented at the meeting and approved by the board. They included:

Auditor contract for $4350 for the town audit. The town has used the same auditor for years with excellent service. His bill has not increased since last year. 

Brent Parks contract approved, also for the audit. 

Spectrophotometer for sewer treatment plant.

Republic services contract.

Sewer ORC contract. This is for ORC training for town employees. 

Portable sampler for water/sewer $9,500 and with batteries etc $12,000 and portable pH meter $2,000.

Dancing on Depot - Extra Date

The Entertainers were not able to perform in May at Dancing on Depot due to cancellation of the event due to weather. The band can come August 5, 2023 to make up the date. This will fulfill promises to the sponsors for a set number of concerts. The town approved an additional payment of $4000, because bands contract rain or shine and can't control the weather. This is standard in the industry.

5K Run September 23, 2023

Marnie Carriker of Spencer signed up to address the town board about having a 5K run in Cleveland in September. Carriker is a three year cancer survivor, and she is checking with Wallace Cancer Center about selecting three women who will hopefully speak at the event and then be gifted the proceeds of the event. 

Carriker said that she thought the sponsors of the event would pay any overtime by Cleveland police officers for the event. Mayor Pat Phifer said he thought he could get that covered.

The board approved the run with proof of event insurance which Carriker said she would purchase.

Police Chief Jon Jessop reported the following for last month (May 2023):

72 calls for service

31 traffic stops

17 citations

14 warnings

1 warrant with 1 arrest

1 traffic accident

The board extended overtime for police officers three months due to a manpower shortage.

Maintenance added a new position and will advertise with salary dependent on experience. 

Cleveland had a water leak of 72,000 gallons on Railroad St. which has been fixed.