The town of Wadesboro recently won the Region of Excellence Award for the Greater Charlotte Region in the category of “Controlling the Cost of Government” for its renovated Wadesboro Police Department project.
Centralina Council of Governments bestows the award annually on a local government that has been “creative in implementing a new or innovative program or initiative that is effective and delivers the most value with public funds.” A panel of impartial judges reviewed the nominees and selected the town of Wadesboro as its top choice.
Mayor Bill Thacker accepted the award for the town.
“It’s an honor to accept this award for our community,” Thacker said. “The town’s goal is not to gain recognition, but to serve our citizens. Still, it’s always encouraging to know we’re on the right track. A big thank you to all town employees who helped make this possible.”
The award ceremony guide indicated that the town faced an initial estimated $2.2 million price tag for a new police station. In being creative, the town established a new police station by purchasing a building in its uptown area and renovating it for approximately $355,000.
In December 2016, the Wadesboro Police Department moved into its new home without any debt. The town accomplished this through an innovative mixture of community donations, cost savings through town staff doing work — such as police painting and utility staff doing plumbing work — federal seized asset funds, and town reserves.
“This was truly a community-wide effort,” Alex Sewell, the town’s manager, said. “Thank you to the town council for being willing to think outside the box, our town staff for doing so much great work, our police department, led by Chief (Thedis) Spencer, for doing whatever it took to make this project a reality, and our amazing community for being so supportive.”
“It’s an honor to win such an award, and I’d like to thank the citizens, police officers, and other employees for their support and patience,” Spencer said.