West Rowan News, Events, and Fun

One of the biggest decisions at the monthly Cleveland, NC meeting for October 2020 was to spend $128,000 on street lights. The lighting issue was not on the meeting agenda and was introduced by Mayor Patrick Phifer.  The lights discussed would be a lamp style similar to the lighting in Faith, NC. The lights would have an option to hang decorative flags. Phifer said that he had seen flags in other towns featuring military heroes and notable community members. He noted that the county would help pay for flags in an effort to help in "branding" across the county.  The cost of new lighting could be spread out over ten years, but it would be more costly to make monthly payments. Per Commissioner Richard Taylor, the payment plan option would cost the town $75,000 more than paying up front.  In addition to the purchase cost of the street lamps, monthly power costs would increase from $830 currently to $1377.  In a unanimous vote, town board approved the new lighting. Phifer...

  Discussions about food trucks and wine/beer town regulation guidelines continued tonight 8-31-2020 at the scheduled Cleveland, NC zoning and planning board meeting. Proposals on these topics were requested by the Cleveland Town Board, and guidelines hammered out by the committee will ultimately go to the Board for review and possible adoption. Alcohol Sales (wine/beer only) The board agreed tonight on a definition of a restaurant which may seem pretty straightforward but can get complicated.  Members of the committee also were in agreement that beverage sales would be limited to beer and wine with liquor being excluded at restaurants in the town.  From there, things got more complicated. The sample copy reviewed allowed for 49% of restaurant sales to be alcohol, but board members weren't keen on sales of beer and wine being that high. Member Jim Brown suggested that the sales limit be at 35%, and board members agreed.   Committee members discussed the sale of ...

The Cleveland, NC monthly town board meeting was held as scheduled and was inside for July. Board members and residents in attendance did wear masks due to coronavirus concerns. Cleveland has had a number of open town positions which is rather unusual in a town of this size. Openings were filled in maintenance and the police department. More details will be available tomorrow, so be sure to check back. Changes were made to current job descriptions. The major change was an addition to include "equivalent law enforcement supervisory experience." This was added to the portion that addresses educational requirements. It would balance education with experience on the job. The big ticket item on the agenda for the month was a lift truck. The truck would be used to put up flags at the 4th of July (and Christmas decorations etc). There were safety concerns about the current way of putting up town decorations. Cost of the truck which was approved was $25,500 for a used truck which was...

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...

It's nice to turn on a faucet or flush a toilet and not give it a second thought, but Cleveland, North Carolina is growing and waste water is becoming a key concern. The current  water and sewer systems have some mileage, and as the town becomes more populated, the needs get greater, including the need for more water and removal of the water that is used. The town board invited Mike Koser of Withers & Ravenel to the March 2020 monthly meeting 2-9-2020 to update on the current waste water treatment study for Cleveland which has been ongoing. Currently Cleveland is at stage two of a four step process to guide the future of water and sewer in the town. The first two steps included a request to the state of North Carolina to make changes or upgrades, and the second step involved documenting the need to upgrade water/sewer. Requests have been made, and new houses and the new elementary school prove the need for more infrastructure. More studies and concrete information a...

Cleveland, NC town board members voted last night to send a request to the zoning committee for beer and food trucks within town limits. Current zoning laws in Cleveland disallow the sale of alcohol at restaurants and also for having food trucks in for events. As Mayor Patrick Phifer pointed out, the old ice cream trucks with the loud, clanging bells that senior members of the community may recall were not legal. Of course, things were much different years ago. Linda Dillard, on behalf of Frankie's (new Cleveland chicken restaurant), asked the board to go over the process for getting the sale of beer in town. She noted that patrons of Frankie's would like to have a Michelob with chicken. She said that food sales would remain the bulk of sales and that the restaurant planned to limit beers to "one or two." This may sound odd to people outside the area, but another restaurant in the zip code area does have a policy of not more than two beers per patron which has...