The Wadesboro Town Council received state Sen. Tom McInnis and Rep. Mark Brody as guests during its meeting on Monday evening.
McInnis, R-Richmond, spoke immediately after a public hearing on renaming Salisbury Street and said that the public response to the hearing was encouraging.
“I’m as high right now as I’ve ever been on life because of the fabulous comments I’ve heard here this evening,” McInnis said. “I’ve not heard a mean-spirited word out of anybody’s mouth. Everybody here had something positive to say. Everybody here had an opinion that was valued. That’s what the basics of democracy are, and our great country was founded on, and I’ll tell you what. I thought I was coming here to a dull city council meeting, and I’m going to leave about four feet off the ground tonight.”
McInnis said that he and Brody both wanted to offer their help to the town, but not take over.
“We don’t want to micromanage your business,” he said. “You all know what you need. We’re up there in Raleigh, so if there’s something we can help you with, we’re interested in doing that.”
McInnis said both legislators are working on projects for Anson County, such as bringing in educational programs like a truck-driving school.
He also said he wanted to see Anson designated as a retirement community.
“We’ve got a lot of people that are sick of living in Syracuse and Buffalo and Cleveland and fighting that snow every year, but they’re sitting there 55, 60 years old, they’ve got a pension, they’ve got a good check,” McInnis said. “They’re not bringing any children down here. They’re not going to clutter our schools up and cause us to have to build new schools. But they’re looking for a place to live that’s got a good quality of life, that’s got good opportunities for recreation, hospitals.
“The most fabulous hospital is here, such a prototype that’s being looked at from all over the United States. But get these people to come in here. We’d sell them (homes) for $100,000 here that would cost them a half a million up there, and their taxes are $10,000 a year. So we’ve got opportunity here.”
McInnis acknowledged the town staff, telling the council that it had a “fabulous team.”
Brody, R-Union, said the new sales tax redistribution will begin soon and that it should help the town.
“I wish you success in how you go about handling that,” he said. “Of course if that’s not enough, please let me know, but I wanted to say that everybody is going to be curious to see what each individual town and county is going to do with it, so everybody will be watching everybody to see how that works out. I hope it works out well for you.”
Brody also encouraged the town to pass on any legislative requests that it has soon.
SEWER FINE
Town manager Alex Sewell said the town received a $880.03 fine from the state for its sewer overflows, which often occur during heavy rains.
Sewell told the council that he plans to appeal the fine if there were no objections from the council.
While he admitted that the town has been in “constant violation” because of its sewer overflows, Sewell said that he felt the fine should be waived as the town has been actively working on the problem.
“We’ve been working with the state regulators on this, keeping in constant contact,” Sewell said. “I was a little surprised that they decided to fine us. They issued a civil penalty in the amount of $880.03.”
The town has made an effort to fix the problem, and the money could be better used to help pay for sewer improvements, Sewell said.
The town already raised its sewer rates to pay for engineering studies to apply for grants, Sewell said.
“Any money that’s given to the state is going to be less money that can be used to fix the problem,” Sewell said.
RESOLUTION
The council passed a resolution in honor of former Mayor Bill Short, who recently died.
“Whereas, the citizens of the town of Wadesboro have been the beneficiaries of his leadership and his great sense of commitment to his community; and whereas, many civic, social and service clubs throughout the town of Wadesboro have benefited from his involvement, and whereas, we thank Mr. Short for serving this country in the U.S. Navy,” the town honored him, the resolution read in part.
The council designated April 4 as the town’s William F. Short Jr. Day.
Reach reporter Imari Scarbrough at 704-994-5471 and follow her on Twitter @ImariScarbrough.
