West Rowan News, Events, and Fun

  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 si...

  Tonight marked the official last town board meeting for town clerk/financial officer Cathy Payne who is retiring after 28 years. Payne was officially thanked at the board meeting by three previous mayors, the current mayor, and Nancy Brown. She was also given a plaque in appreciation of her many years of service to the town.  Since a new financial officer has not been hired, the board voted that Pat Phifer would fill that position in the interim so that checks can be signed. Phifer, Osborne, and Gabriel can sign checks. Gabriel was added to the town of Cleveland safety deposit box which is currently listed with Payne and Jim Brown.   The board approved the amount of $453,000 for the upgrade of the Brevard pump station refurbishment with a 10% contingency. This was approved by all board members. Per board member Gerald Osborne, this will complete the upgrades which have been in progress for eight years. Board members voted unanimously to have the town logo placed on two ...

  Town board of Cleveland, NC had a special called meeting today 8-27-2021 to vote on a barn quilt trail and for cube barn quilts to mark stops on the trail.  Mayor Pat Phifer said that the meeting was at 3:30 on a Friday, because Commissioner John Bradfrad was only available at that time. This did exclude Commissioner Bryan Little who was at work during the time of the meeting.  Phifer brought a map of the proposed walking trail which included mostly churches and old schools. Here are the locations on the map from 1 to 10 (which are not marked on the map). 1. Cleveland Town Hall 2. Old West Rowan Middle School/Old West Rowan YMCA 3. Old Rosenwald School 4. Third Creek AME Zion Church 5. Allen Temple Presbyterian Church 6. Cleveland Barn Quilt at Cleveland Post Office Bld 7.. Cleveland Presbyterian Church 8. Cleveland First Baptist Church 9. Park on School Street or West Branch Rowan Public Library (Old Cleveland Elementary School) 10. Library/Cleveland Community Fire Dep...

    Town board members unanimously approved getting started on sewer and water projects that have been on the table for months at the monthly board meeting for August 2021.    Board member Gerald Osborne has been the lead in looking at current needs and building a multiyear plan for the future.  Doug Chapman of McGill Associates was at the meeting to discuss the overall project which includes repairs/improvements as well as major upgrades. The major rehab, he said, would be cost effective (versus starting from scratch in a new location) and based on the old Brevard St. Station which was built 39 years ago. There would be a riser and new pumps added where the current pumps are located and a second chlorine contact basin. A new splitter box would allow the town to close off a basin and work on the extra one as needed.  Chapman said that the town needs to look at and consider capacities at this point. For example, Daimler (used to be Freightliner) has a capaci...

    Commissioner Gerald Osborne said he was not in favor of a tax increase for Cleveland, "not in any way, shape, or form." He said that the past year had been rough on residents and that many were living on tight or fixed incomes.  The town has accumulated $743,680 between 2009 and 2020, and Osborne said that he thought the town should tap into that rainy day fund. With the spending approved by the town board, the shortfall on the budget would be about $156,000.  All board members ultimately agreed to keep taxes at the current rate of 28 cents.  Some expenditures for the year were not on the table for discussion. Residents need water/sewer, and those are self funding. In other words, the charges cover the costs. With some big ticket costs coming up, the rate for water and for sewer will go up each by 5 percent this year.  Town Clerk Cathy Payne said that looking at a typical family and considering usage of 4000 gallons for a month for each service that the...

Cleveland, NC town board had a special called meeting tonight Tuesday May 18, 2021. The purpose of the meeting was to hammer out budget details for the upcoming year.  Residents of Cleveland should expect to see a 5.5% tax increase and 5% increases in water and 5% increases in sewer when the final budget is passed.  For property, the rate goes from 28 cents to 33.5 cents. Mayor Pat Phifer said that the average property in town was probably valued at around $150,000 so that taxes of $35 a month would increase to $41 month. Under that scenario, yearly taxes would increase for the average individual by $72/year. Town clerk Cathy Payne said that the typical water user would see the water bill increase $1.48 month and that the last water rate increase was in 2015. Water and Sewer in Cleveland Commissioner Gerald Osborne discussed the town's need to address water/sewer issues. The infrastructure is aging, and the town is at the point where a new water tower will be needed soon. An e...

The monthly Cleveland, NC town board meeting was by Zoom tonight. The signal was not good, so it was hard to get a connection, and then there was no audio until around 7:54. Pat Phifer said that there was no audio, because the commissioners were in closed session to discuss personnel.  Zoom visitors messaged about the lack of audio, but there was no response. I drove up to town hall to let them know about the audio problem, but they were not answering the door. When the audio was turned on, the commissioners were asked if they had any reports.  John Bradford did not have anything to report. Richard Taylor indicated that the ball will be rolling soon on the park. He gave some details which were not loud enough to make out. Travis Summitt gave the police report. There were 44 somethings, 3 arrests, 43 stops, and 68 citations. There was a question from someone about the number of stops. It seems like citations would be a lower number than stops. I'm not sure due to poor audio on ...

  A public hearing on amendments to zoning (related to alcohol sales and food trucks) held at the beginning of the Cleveland, NC town board meeting tonight Monday 12-14-2020 did not draw a crowd. In previous years, meetings that included decisions on alcohol drew more attention in the Cleveland, NC area. Two individuals signed up to speak to the issue of alcohol sales in town limits. Linda Dilliard (Frankie's Chicken & Ribs) said that she really needed the income from alcohol sales to stay in business. She is open only three days per week now due to Covid-19. Another restaurant, China Garden, which is across the parking lot, just closed shop due to the economic challenges with the coronavirus. The Asian restaurant featured a buffet (and shifted to by-the-plate for a period) which complicated seating, spacing, and limits on numbers of customers.  The second speaker was the brother of Dilliard, and he seconded the request and need for another sales revenue.  Changes in ...

  Cleveland, NC town commissioners covered a lot of ground Monday 11-9-2020 at the monthly meeting. Several items on the agenda involved wrapping up items for the year and/or shifting funds around due to some incoming coronavirus grant money previously.  Some items will become projects for the new year - 2021. Downtown Lights Project - Expand and Hurry   The decorative lights project which was approved during the last monthly meeting will be moving forward, since the board voted to invest in lighting at the last meeting. Commissioner Gerald Osborne said that he thought the town should commit to the entire project and not just with lights down to the bridge. His reasoning was that with changes over time and with different board members coming and going, the full project could never come together.  "If we're spending that much money, we need to do the whole thing," said Osborne.  Mayer Pat Phifer said that he agreed with Osborne but that the project had to b...

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...

  The bulk of the August monthly Cleveland, NC town board meeting was spent discussing how to spend $61, 619 in government funds allocated to the town for coronavirus related expenditures.  Mayor Pat Phifer said that it was critical to make decisions and get a preliminary spending budget turned in. He noted that the town was not required to decide on specifics at this time and could make spending decisions in the next few weeks. The pressing matter was to get the request turned in. Gerald Osborne, commissioner, asked questions about assistance for individuals and small businesses in town. He questioned whether it might be possible for some funds to be spent for grants or subsidies. Specifically mentioned were small businesses in town that had not been able to (or were not required to) pay water bills during the economic downturn associated with coronavirus. All are now paid up or have arranged payment plans. Commissioner Travis Summitt said that the county usually handled gran...

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...

Tonight was a busy night at the Town Board Cleveland, NC with a large number of issues addressed and voted on. New Mayor Pro Tem Travis Summitt was nominated and approved as Mayor Pro Tem of Cleveland. Light Around Town Cleveland will be getting signage and decorative lights soon as well as LED lights in town buildings. Signage in Cleveland will be paid for by the county and will have a Rowan County theme. Signs specific to the West Rowan or Cleveland area will be unique and may be color coded with Cleveland having a light blue  color like the West Rowan High School color and signage. The project is in progress through the county, so it may take some time to get specifics. The town of Cleveland will be paying for decorative lighting for the key business areas or areas with sidewalks. The lights will be put in by Duke Power, and it is expected that Duke Power will include more lights on poles than are currently installed. The town is planning to do the lights in two...