Weed control, town growth tackled in 2007

The Littleton Observer continues its look back at 2007 this week, highlighting the top stories of the old year.

The Lake Gaston Weed Control Council agreed that the contract for the 2007 weed treatment plan with Professional Lake Management would be signed at the end of the group’s meeting in April, the Observer reported May 2.

The council also took action after learning that Brunswick County, Va., had budgeted just $40,000 as its share of the cost of hydrilla treatment in the coming fiscal year, after allotting $116,000 in the current year.

After some discussion with Brunswick County officials, the council passed a resolution stating “that any county that fails to pay their appropriate share of their treatment will be prorated according to how much they do contribute.”

In that same edition of the Observer, the newspaper reported that the Littleton Town Board of Commissioners voted Monday (April 30) to approve the rezoning necessary for developers to go ahead with a new shopping and business center.

The property referred to be located next to Mordecai’s on North Carolina Highway 903 just north of Littleton. Charles Bennett of Warrenton asked the board to rezone the property from residential agricultural to commercial so he and his son, Gary, could buy the land to build a shopping center and business complex there.

The request had been held up because of questions regarding the property lines. The board went ahead and voted to meet the deadline that Bennett had set for approving the rezoning prior to his buying the land.

In the May 9 edition, the Observer reported the Warren County Board of Commissioners made several changes in the county’s policy for appointing residents to committees and boards.

The Commissioners eliminated the requirement that those seeking appointment to the boards and committees appear before the commissioners and opted to eliminate term limits for people serving on committees.

In the May 16 edition, the Observer told of the exploits of one area resident.

The Eaton’s Ferry Road AARP took time at last Thursday’s monthly meeting to recognize Addie Solomon on her eight gold medals from the Down East Senior Games. 

She won the 100 meter dash, the 200 meter dash, the running long jump, the softball throw, the shot put, and the football competition.

Jobs and taxes.

That might sound like the punch line of a bad joke (a la the only sure thing in life is death and taxes), but it is, in fact, what Halifax County Business Horizons touts as its reason for existence.

That’s what more than a dozen Littleton business owners, managers, and town officials learned last week, the Observer reported in the May 23 edition

Ronald D. Baker, executive director of the Halifax County Economic Development Commission, and Rick Gilstrap, past president of Horizons, was on hand to talk about Horizons, tell what it’s accomplished, and to solicit private funding through memberships from those assembled at the lunchtime meeting. The gathering was one of a series of similar meetings the group has been conducting in all the towns scattered across the county.

“Out goal is to help bring any company (to Halifax County) that creates jobs and puts more money in the tax base,” Gilstrap said. “We don’t start projects, but we help with projects the county or the economic development has already started,” he said.

The Lake Gaston Chamber of Commerce went hog wild on Saturday with its 15th annual Battle of the Barbecue, the Observer reported in the May 30 edition.

If you were not able to attend, you missed some of the best barbecue and fixings in the area. Fifteen teams began Friday evening and continued all through the night cooking and preparing the pigs for judging.

Team leaders were Danny Clapton, Terry Shaw, Bruce Daniel, James “Tommy” Turner Jr., Paul Santasieri, Earl Fowler, Mark Johnson, Thomas Lindsay, Steve Ivey, Mosley/Futrell, Russell Snider, Charlie Meeks, Joe Peterson, David Burke, and Leslie Deaton.

In the culinary competition Joe Peterson and his Down Home Cookers team out of Roanoke Rapids disproved the myth that thirteen is an unlucky number. This was Down Home Cookers 13th year entered in the competition and he was on site 13, but it was his first year winning the Battle of the Barbecue.

Second place in the culinary competition went to Leslie Deaton and the Carolina Cookers team out of Roanoke Rapids. David Burke and his The King Cooker team from Margaretsville took third, while Mark Johnson and his team finished fourth in this year’s battle.

Winners for this year’s battle for showmanship were first place to Steve Ivey of Zuni, Va., and second place Peterson.

It was a bright, comfortably hot day with only a light on again off again breeze as the Horace Palmer Jr. American Legion Post 308 held the annual Memorial Day ceremony in Littleton.

Post 308 Vice commander Richard Kohl was the speaker. Among his comments was the assurance that as we remember those who have gone before us we have done the right thing.

In Quinton Qualls, Post 308 commander, told those in attendance “We need to remember all those that have paid with their lives so that we have this freedom.”

One of the largest crowds in recent memory turned out for the June Littleton town meeting, the Observer reported June 6.

The crowd consisted mainly of Littleton business owners showing strong support for a request for the town to adopt a resolution in support of an application to participate in the North Carolina Small Town Main Street Program 2007-2008.

Jack LaFoon of Main Street Station introduced the Main Street Program concept to the board. In his presentation LaFoon highlighted the four-point approach the program uses.

Among those points are organizing to build partnerships among various groups; promotion to create a positive image of the town; to spur improvements to the design of downtown buildings and facilities; and strengthen the town’s downtown existing economic assets while diversifying its economic base.

After all the presentations, the board unanimously adopted the resolution.

Warren County Board of Commissioners found a way to keep the county’s tax rate at 84 cents during the budget work session on Monday afternoon (June 11), the Observer reported June 13. 

The board sliced three cents off County Manager Linda Williams’ proposed tax rate of 87 cents.

While keeping the tax rate at 84 cents per $100 of assess valued will make the citizens of Warren County happy, some departments and all of the county employees stand to lose out, with potential cost cuts from Jones proposed budget.

First on the cut list were an administrative assistant’s position and two computers for the solid waste department.

Included on a potential list of cuts prepared by County Manager Linda Jones was the 2 percent cost of living increase for county workers, which was reduced to 1.5 percent.  However, most Warren County employees received raises of as much as 15.5 percent due to a reclassification study conducted by Roger Scott of Springstead, Inc. several months ago.

Other agencies that saw reductions from Jones’ original spending proposal included the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe, the sheriff’s office, the Department of Social Services, the county school system, and a number of nonprofit agencies operating in Warren County.

Although Littleton area residents may have noticed some work being done outside the Window Fashion Resources plant, Halifax County Manager Matthew Delk said a contract for refurbishing the building has not been inked, the Observer reported June 20.

Delk, however, said he hopes that action is close.

The county and town of Littleton had assembled a funding package of $776,150 for renovating and upgrading the building through a combination of grants and state money. Whatever the cost of the work, the county would apply that money toward it, and the rest of the tab would be picked up by Window Fashions.

The board of commissioners in January approved spending the money, and since then the county has received architectural and engineering studies to show work is needed, and received bids on the project.

“We got a low bid in, and it was more than the $776,150,” he said, though Delk said he could not release the actual bid. “We’re in a negotiating process between the contractor, the county, and the owner of the company. I wish I could say more than that, but that’s where we are right now.

“We’re very close … it’s close and we’re trying to come up with a project that will be satisfactory for all involved.”

The Halifax County Board of Commissioners on Monday (June 18) adopted a $40 million budget for fiscal year 2007-2008, representing a 4 percent increase over the current budget, the Observer also reported June 20.

Although total county expenditures will rise only slightly, some taxpayers living in the Lake Gaston region of the county may find they are footing a higher percentage of the bill despite a 21 percent drop in the real estate tax rate.

The new tax rate is 68 cents per $100 of assessed value, a steep drop from the former rate of 86.5 cent. The reason for the drop, however, is that the county completed a reassessment of real estate property in 2006, with the new values taking effect this year.

Because the county had not done a reassessment in eight years, some property values – particularly those on and around the lake – more than doubled. Property in some other parts of the county saw only a slight increase in the assessed value.

Only one town resident spoke during last week’s budget public hearing on the 2007-2008 budget conducted by the Littleton Board of Commissioners, the Observer reported June 27.

After the hearing, the board voted 2-1 to approve the $566,555 budget, which includes a real estate tax rate of 61 cents per $100 of assessed value. That represents an overall increase in taxes paid by town resident, though the rate is lower than the present 65 cents.

That is because Halifax County conducted a reassessment of property values this year, and the tax rate would have needed to be dropped to 58 cents to have been revenue neutral for the town.

Commissioners Terry Newsome and Betty Willis voted for the budget, and Alfred Cooke opposed. His vote came after he asked for more money to be set aside to take care of the town cemetery.

Sylvia Alston was the lone member of the public to address the board during the hearing, asking if the proposed budget had money set aside to pay for weed and grass cutting on overgrown property, to remove inoperable vehicles from private property, and money set aside to demolish condemned properties.

She also asked if the budget included money to cover legal expenses if the town opted not to do any of that, but tried to force the private land owners to do the work through court action.

Mayor Mason Hawfield said there was no money specifically set aside, and what action to take during the year would have to be determined by the board as the need arises.