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...

    Town board of Cleveland, North Carolina met today Friday 3-25-2022 at 3:30 p.m. for a special called meeting. No one was present other than board members, the town clerk, and this writer from West Rowan News, Events, & Fun. The meeting started at 3:37 and lasted less than 40 minutes. Items on the agenda included four expenditures which required town board votes. Two were approved unanimously, and two will be held over. The first item up for vote was $5000 for a line item to the budget for Miller/Davis which is a PR firm out of Salisbury. The company built the town web site to replace the existing one. The $5000 was added to cover training and maintenance. Maintenance would include adding items to the web site or making changes.  Last February, the board voted to pay $7800 for set up of the web site and $4664 for maintenance at the monthly town board meeting.  The second item on the agenda was the electronic/digital town board sign which will replace the exist...

  Cleveland, NC town board met tonight 3-14-2022 with things more like our old "normal." Commissioners were back at their desk, citizens were in rows with no spacing, and no one wore masks after many, long months of Covid precautions.  The town welcomed new hire Financial Officer Rebekah Brown who started at the last meeting as an observer. She joins Kelly Rodgers at Town Hall. Brown grew up in the area as did Rodgers. In other employee business, John Ritchie's contract was extended at full-time through June 30 due to medical concerns in the wastewater treatment department. After June, he will shift to part-time status per the last town board meeting.  The town voted for a new contractor for chemicals at the wastewater plant. The change results in a savings of $5237 per year per Commissioner Gerald Osborne who said that commissioners should be looking at annual cost savings in all areas.  The mowing contract for the town was approved for this year. The town voted to ...

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...

  Commissioners discussed the use of Covid-19 funds at the September monthly Cleveland, NC town board meeting. Possible expenditures with the government funds include a $25,000 walk up window at town hall or an $80,000 drive up window. The amount of funds in total granted to Cleveland is $61,619. Town employees have purchased laptop computers with some of the Covid-19 relief monies. The town plans to apply the rest of the funds to payroll pending decisions about how to spend the money. Board members indicated that they needed another meeting to make decisions and iron out details.  Car Canopy at Town Hall Commissioner Richard Taylor brought estimates and drawings of awnings for a carport area behind town hall. The lower estimate was for 28 feet of covered parking while 32 feet of parking coverage would cost twice as much coming in at $7000. Taylor said that Mayor Pat Phifer prefers the more expensive option. Phifer was not present at the meeting. The initial reason for purchas...