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The month of February is always a short one, but this one seemed even shorter with snow days and time out of town. Four of my regular meetings were snowed out, and I was in New York City during the third week of the month due to a death in the family.
It was a busy month, nonetheless, and we passed a major milestone: establishing our goals for 2010-2011 at the Annual Planning Retreat. The theme this year was from Proverbs: "A people without vision will surely perish." Please click on the tab marked, “Council Updates” for the list.
While I heartily endorse each and every goal, there were two or three that are near and dear to my heart. Please be sure you read to the end of the list for insights on those particular goals.
I was so, so pleased to meet George Kuhn, COO of the Harlem Children's Zone. I have been a fan of this program for years. Both George and the program's founder, Geoffrey Canada, are in high demand around the nation. George was helpful, insightful, and wise, and we appreciated his making the time for a city as small as ours.
During the retreat, we heard updates from each of the City’s departments. We had a presentation from Mr. John Sofley, Director of Management Services, regarding our budget and current level of spending. It should come as no surprise that our City’s income is down as a result of the recession, and costs are ever-rising due to inflation. It will be another tough budget year.
At the community luncheons, we heard from Mayor Anthony Foxx from Charlotte, and Dr. Chuck Ambrose, president of Pfeiffer College.
City Council meetings sometimes have routine motions, consent agendas, and normal, day-to-day goings-on. Here are a few actions we took that you might want to know about.
BUS SERVICE TO LASH DRIVE. Last year, a group of citizens got together and requested bus service to their area. Several senior apartments are there, and at the time, they had to walk over a mile to the mall to catch a bus. At the time, they were told they’d have to wait. I am pleased to report the bus service has begun. This 6-month pilot project provides a mini bus on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:30am to 6:30pm, which connects to the regular buses at Salisbury Mall.
The Transit folks met with the neighborhood to develop this plan. Fliers have been distributed to get the word out, and special ads are running on Access 16, encouraging use of the bus. If ridership warrants, the pilot will develop into a regular service. Stay tuned.
PRESERVE AMERICA. On 02.February, City Council unanimously voted to apply for membership into Preserve America. This organization provides grant monies to qualified cities for preservation of historic structures. Once approved, we may apply and also incorporate their logo into our materials. This helps in our "branding" as a destination for folks who care about history.
FIRE INSPECTION FEES. We reversed a previous action to charge businesses for fire inspections. Until January, 2010, they had not been charged for this service. A small group of local business people heartily disagreed with our charging and brought their case to us. In light of the country’s economic times, we agreed to discontinue this fee and to refund the fee to those who had already paid it.
POLICE RETIREMENT. We recognized Sgt. Paul Johnston, who retired after 30 years with the Salisbury Police Department. As is our custom, we gave him his badge and sold him his firearm for $1. Sgt. Johnson will be sorely missed by our community. I heard many stories of his wisdom and his patient mentoring of our newer officers.
MAIN STREET AWARDS. Salisbury is recognized for our downtown revitalization, and the NC Main Street Association awarded several of our citizens and businesses for their heroic efforts in this area. We recognized them at City Council for having received these awards at the state level. They are:
Ted & Cheryl Goins: Best Adaptive Reuse Project
Geof & Christine Wilson: Best Historic Rehabilitation
Barbara Perry: 2009 Main Street Champion.
In addition to regular City Council meetings, we were busy this month with a host of other meetings.
On 17.February, we met with Rowan County Commissioners as well as mayors from every city and town in the county to discuss continuing the Rowan Reads program this summer. You may recall that last year, the Council, Commissioners, and Mayors visited every library in the county (and Cleveland Elementary School, as they have no public library there) to read to children and encourage reading. The events were quite spectacular! Every child who attended received a free book. Library Director Jeff Hall reported more than 300 library cards were issued at the events, and attendance exceeded 1,500.
At the meeting, the group enthusiastically endorsed a repeat performance this year, with some tweaks and improvements along the way. Details are not in place yet, but I’ll share them soon as things are firmed up.
On 18.February, I attended the Community Appearance Commission’s biennial awards ceremony. Awards were given to those businesses and individuals who presented the best facades to the city.
On 19.February, representatives from the city of Highpoint, NC, visited Salisbury to see how to build a thriving downtown. Our City Council hosted them at a luncheon where our mayor presented “before” and “after” slides of our many lovely downtown buildings.
Finally, on 24.February, I was pleased to attend the Elizabeth Duncan Koontz Humanitarian Awards Banquet and present awards a pastor, a nurse, and an educator. As I mentioned in my remarks, who best exemplifies the spirit of servant leadership than these three professions? The deserving honorees are Pastor Bill Godair, lead pastor of Cornerstone Church; Mrs. Emma Archie Hunter, who recently retired from a 30-year career at Rowan Regional Medical Center; and Ms. Linda Kaye Stoner, who retired from our school system after 33 years of service.
I continued to work on the Shober Bridge issue while awaiting word from Norfolk Southern Railroad as to whether the bridge must span a new 3rd track, or can continue to span only 2. I have called each neighbor in the area who has not already spoken with me, and asked them if they’d like to meet and share their thoughts. I also met 3 times with our City Engineer for a total of 7 hours. I admire his patience.
In February, I returned 26 calls, communicated via 127 emails, attended 16 meetings (although 4 were snowed out), and had personal meetings with 8 individuals.
Here’s what I learned in February: Resolutions are rarely as simple as they appear at first glance.
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