By Blake Proctor
Although he was present as an observer at Bladenboro’s June 29th called meeting, new Town Administrator Oryan Lowery attended his first regular meeting in an official capacity last Monday, July 13th. All Board members were present except Rodney Hester, who attended telephonically because he may have been exposed to the Covid19 virus and had self-quarantined.
After Mayor Rufus Duckworth gaveled the meeting to order at 7:00 pm, and following the standard invocation-and-Pledge routine, with no one asking to be heard by the Board, the Commission quickly approved a three-item Consent Agenda and delved into Old Business.
First up was a consideration to rescind the award to CG Jackson Construction to prepare the McLean Park softball field; the company had accepted the award, but then requested an immediate change order to spread seed in the outfield instead of laying sod. The Board denied that change request and the company then withdrew from the contract. The action Monday night ratified that withdrawal.
In a related action, the Board approved the town administration’s request to negotiate a contract with Zyvek Civil from Pinehurst to prepare the softball field for $41,236. As of the publication date, positive contact had not been made.
The Town has received an additional $50,000 from the State to install a final generator at the last well to provide continuous power in case of an electrical outage. The Board unanimously approved two contracts with LKC Engineering out of Aberdeen: one for $5,000 for grant administrative services and the other for engineering services at the nominal Rate Fee.
Under New Business, in a standard housekeeping procedure, the Commission unanimously approved a resolution to name Oryan Lowery as the Compliance Plans & Fair Housing Officer.
In another housekeeping measure, the Board approved the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) Agreement with Bladen County to receive their portion of state funds that were being distributed by the County. The funds coming to Bladenboro will amount to $20,000.
Continuing with the theme of the June 29th special meeting with County Economic Development Director Chuck Heustess, a partnership between Bladenboro, Bladen’s Bloomin’, and other local economic development non-profit organizations has generated a plan for the development of new downtown commercial facilities along a portion of the west side of South Main Street from West Seaboard to West Railroad Streets.
In furtherance of this plan, the Board adopted a resolution in support of those planned downtown revitalization activities. The Town’s commitment to the project is the use of the $200,000 granted by the State Legislature in the current State budget for the demolition of those downtown buildings.
Police Chief Will Howell and Mr. Lowery presented a Bladenboro Whistleblower Policy for the Board’s consideration. Following a presentation by the Chief, the Commission approved and adopted this policy; a copy of this policy is available for inspection at Town Hall.
Mr. Lowery presented a plan to upgrade the Town’s current Gov.office-provided website to make available ADA and mobile compatibility and to afford residents the ability to pay their taxes and utility bills online. This plan was unanimously approved.
Mayor Rufus Duckworth requested approval for the Town to pay to extend electrical drops on light poles along East MLK Drive for the future placement of Christmas decorations. As additional decorations are undoubtedly needed along this underserved area, the Commission endorsed his request unanimously.
Mr. Lowery requested that the Town add a cell phone to its Verizon account for the Administrator’s use so that he need not provide his private number for Town business, and again, the Board approved the request.
In a final comment before adjournment, the Administrator reminded the recently-elected members of the Commission that State law requires attendance at Ethics training within twelve months of their election, even with the pandemic; but, he said, on-line training is now available for those new Commissioners to take advantage of.
After an action-packed thirty minutes, the meeting adjourned at 7:30 pm.
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