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Water, sewer
rates rising in Pittsboro
By Bill Willcox
Pittsboro
Town Manager Bill Terry advised the Town Board Monday that a water
and sewer rate increase is needed to compensate for a substantial
shortfall in anticipated revenues.
The Town
Board deferred voting on his recommended rate increase until the
next meeting but the hike could go into effect as soon as Nov. 1.
The hike is
needed to compensate for a projected shortfall of $337,000 in the
enterprise fund for the current fiscal year, if the rates are not
adjusted.
Three months
ago, the Town implemented a rate increase and a rate structure
change. The new rate structure was changed from a declining block
rate to an ascending block rate to reward customers for conserving
water.
But the
changes made it difficult to predict how much additional revenue
would be generated, and Terry told the Board he would look at the
first-quarter numbers and advise if a rate change was needed.
Now, after
the first quarter, the enterprise fund is showing a 67% shortfall in
actual revenues, versus projected.
Revenues were
$84,400 less than budgeted.
The manager recommended
keeping a rate structure that would minimize the impact on small
users.
more- See Thursday, October 16,
2008 edition
Downtown Siler
City soon to have new trees
By Milburn Gibbs
Soon,
downtown Siler City will be refreshed with the planting of 27 new
trees and 24 new bushes along several sidewalks.
The new
plantings will be along East and West Raleigh St, North and South
Chatham Ave. and East and West Second St.
Siler City
public works director Terry Green said in a recent interview that
the town has been preparing for the plantings by grinding out stumps
where the old trees had been planted.
In February,
town crews removed Bradford pear trees from downtown. Because the
trees grew quickly, crews had to trim them often to keep them from
reaching and interfering with power and telephone lines.
In February,
town manager Joel Brower said the trees, when first planted, were
believed to be "dwarf" trees which would not interfere with overhead
lines. The trees were planted in the late Eighties.
It was the
public works department’s job, following the removal of the Bradford
pear trees, to get the old stumps out any way they could.
In the months that followed,
town officials met with Extension officials and an arborist with
Progress Energy to research plantings that would not interfere with
power lines.
more- See Thursday, October 16,
2008 edition
County
purchases property
By Randall Rigsbee
Chatham
County is buying a building in Pittsboro which once housed an auto
racing team and is the current home of the YMCA.
The
Performance Building at 964 East Street, also the site of the
Flamingo Restaurant, will be purchased by the county.
Officials say
the 33,000-square-foot building will be used to consolidate a number
of the county’s various offices currently housed in rental
properties in Pittsboro.
The
building’s purchase price is $3.4 million, according to Rene
Paschal, assistant county manager.
"We’re
getting the building for less than its appraised value," George
Lucier, chairman of the Board of Commissioners, said in a Tuesday
interview.
The building
was appraised recently at $3.7 million, county officials said.
Commissioners, in a meeting last week, agreed to the purchase, which
they’d been considering for several months.
more- See Thursday, October
16,
2008
edition
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Some school
building needs may be delayed
By John Hunter
What impact
will the current economy have for the Chatham County school system’s
capital improvement project?
George
Lucier, chairman of the Chatham County Board of Commissioners, met
with members of the Board of Education Monday night to discuss
current challenges concerning funding.
Lucier
informed school board members that, because of the national economic
situation, some Chatham County Schools’ projects will be delayed.
"We’re not
going to be able to do some of the things as fast as we thought we
would," Lucier said.
"We’re
victims of the economy," Superintendent Robert Logan said.
Lucier said
that some of the smaller ticket items that are funded through taxes
and local money will be able to be completed.
However,
funding for large ticket items, such as renovations to Northwood
High School, the planned new high school and the new middle school,
will be more uncertain.
Lucier
accredits the lack of money within banks for borrowing for the lack
of funding.
"This is not because of the
county’s credit rating, which is quite good," said Lucier. "It’s
because the money is not out there."
more- See Thursday,
October
16,
2008
edition
Thousands
convene in Silk Hope for four days of music, fun at Shakori Hills
festival
By John Hunter
Cloudy skies
and slight drizzles did not prevent thousands from across the
country from flocking to the 5th Annual
Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival in Silk Hope.
The four-day
festival featured food - ranging from hamburgers to gyros to crepes,
crafts, as well as various demonstrations and workshops.
Roy
Underhill, host of the PBS program The Woodwright’s Shop was
on hand demonstrating traditional woodworking techniques by using a
spring pole lathe and a shaving horse to make chair legs.
"You never
know when the kids will get a chance to do this in their lives,"
Underhill said.
"They’re
learning that there was life before electricity and that you can do
these things," Underhill said.
Underhill
believes that the traditional technique overlaps with the grassroots
sentiments of the festival.
"Look at
where the energy came from," Underhill said, pointing to the man
operated machine.
"This is
local work, local wood, local power and local craftsmanship,"
Underhill added. "Folks are getting a sense is that they can be
craftsmen and not just consumers."
However, the
main attraction of the festival was the music.
Bands lined
up on four separate venues on the grounds – the Meadow stage, which
serves as the main stage, the slightly smaller Grove stage, the
Dance tent and the Cabaret tent.
Singer/songwriter Atsiaktonie
kicked off the festival Thursday afternoon with his brand of
self-proclaimed "Native American folk rock."
more- See Thursday, October
16,
2008
edition
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