Utility bills catch town by surprise
By Maurice Emery
Editor Emeritus
Monday night’s Littleton Town Board meeting started off with Mayor Mason Hawfield informing everyone present the Halifax County Board of Commissioners had agreed to sign a contract earlier in the day that would make the Window Fashion Resources Inc. project virtually a done deal in the town.
The mayor also expressed gratitude to the town’s economic development director, Don Willis, for his work on the project. (Please see “Window Fashion a Done Deal,” top of this page).
After the mayor’s remarks the town board heard from Commissioner Betty Willis that Billy Matthews could not be at the meeting but he wanted to let the board know that he is working on getting the sidewalk on Halifax St. fixed. She also related that Matthews was continuing to get prices and information on refurbishing the street signs.
Willis reported that she is still waiting for bids on fixing the gutters on the town hall. She said the problem in finding bidders is because they are commercial gutters not regular house gutters.
The mayor then reported that this month’s higher than usual water bill and telephone charges were not expected. He said the telephone and Progress Energy bills were a real shocker.
The town had 1,271,600 gallons of water that was unaccounted for. Before the meeting was over it was learned that hydrant flushing, leaks in the water lines and water theft all played a part in the unusually high water bill of $9,321.80. The higher phone and power bills were for the lift stations as part of the upgrading of the waste water treatment. The bills amounted to slightly more than $3,000.
During the citizens concern portion of the meeting Sylvia Alston briefed the board on conversations she had with the mayor and town clerk regarding permission by the town to develop a town web site. Her second point was her continuing effort to get lots mowed and cars being removed. The third topic was regarding the town board members duties in reference to reviewing the current town ordinances.
Alston said that she and Diana Parham would develop and maintain the web site at no cost to the town of Littleton. She was asking the board to endorse the idea and allow the site to be the official one for Littleton. The board agreed to allow them to develop the web site and it could be the official web site for the town, as long as the town had final approval for what goes on the site. Alston agreed that they would have final approval.
She reminded the board that she had provided them a petition, signed by 144 town citizens, requesting the town enforce current ordinances,, strengthen current and adding new ordinances for junk and/or nuisance vehicles.
Littleton Police Chief Mike Suggs commented that the town had pursued her suggestions to try to have people remove the unsightly vehicles. Suggs commented that 18 letters had been sent out to remove the cars, about four of them were removed.
Alston commented that two of the vehicles had just been moved to a new area of town. Suggs said that one of hose areas was on privately owned commercial property that the no control over.
The town ordinance regarding overgrown property should also be enforced, Alston commented.
Suggs replied tat he has given for overgrown lots. He also revealed that when they demolished the run down house on Mosby Avenue they found two more abandoned vehicles in the overgrowth of trees and weeds.
“We have a responsibility to each other to maintain some rules and regulations we can live with,” Parham told the board regarding the abandoned vehicles problem. She also told the board that she has seen big rats on Mosby Ave. due to the abandoned vehicles.
The town then went on to approve a ten year lease agreement with Time Warner Cable. They also approved a request by Williford “Buddy” Isles to delay filing a suit for his past taxes until Sept. 2.
They then decided to reschedule the September board meeting until Sept. 4. The regular meeting was scheduled for Labor Day
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Aug 8, 2007
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