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2019-20 Budget Negotiations – Round One

The Board of Commissioners met at the new Ramseur police department headquarters on Thursday, 16 May 2019 at 6 p.m. for the first round of negotiations on the 2019-20 fiscal budget. It was an interesting meeting in several ways.

For one thing, the typical contempt and discourtesy some members usually direct at their peers  in public was conspicuously absent. These people acted as if they like each other and know how to work together like adults, something we rarely see at better attended meetings. The video below runs about two hours and forty minutes, and covered budget requests from every department that our tax dollars fund.

Mayor Shaw began by pointing out that we currently have a fund balance of 1.5 million dollars in the bank. The proposed budget of just under $745,000, prior to any changes made during the meeting, would leave a little over 50% of the fund balance untouched. Continue reading “2019-20 Budget Negotiations – Round One”

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Can The Venue For A Public Meeting Legally Be Changed Less Than Six Hours Before The Meeting Is To Take Place?

The following message was sent out by email from the Town Clerk at 12:30 p.m., Thursday, 16 May 2019.

Good Afternoon,

RCC has expressed concerns for class this evening. So to work with their schedule, we will be holding our budget workshop at the new Police Department. Meeting time is 6 pm see you then.

Thanks,

Bobbie Hatley
Town Clerk/Finance Officer Continue reading “Can The Venue For A Public Meeting Legally Be Changed Less Than Six Hours Before The Meeting Is To Take Place?”

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“Half Facts And Truths Cause Misunderstandings”

After my last post, about the Highway Forty-Nine water line project, Mayor Shaw saw what he must have thought was a golden opportunity to shame the Watchdog.

I omitted some information I did not have, about where the proposed pipeline will end near Old Staley Road, about two miles north of Eastern Randolph Road. With all the talk about looping the water line at the high school during the recent board meeting it was an easy thing to overlook, if it was mentioned at all. I appreciate clarifications.

click to enlarge

Since the mayor brought it up, let’s talk about the total lack of official information readily available to the pubic about this project, which was proposed at least three years ago.

Why isn’t there a map of this proposed pipeline on view at the post office, or the library, or the municipal administrative office? Why hasn’t the mayor’s administration posted anything anywhere in town over the last three years about this project? Continue reading ““Half Facts And Truths Cause Misunderstandings””

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Proposal To Extend Water Services Studied

At the monthly meeting of the Ramseur Board of Commissioners, held this past Thursday, 02 May 2019, Randy Welch from SERCAP, and Lynn Whittington, USDA, addressed the board regarding a proposed water line project that would extend water Ramseur’s water distribution system from its current termination at Eastern Randolph High School west to NC Highway 49.

From there the proposed pipeline would be built southward and tie into the current of the main distribution line near town limits. This would create a loop in the distribution system that would insure that the high school almost never need lose water service due to line breaks or maintenance. More important the project would make clean drinking water available to people living along NC-49, but it’s far from a done deal. Continue reading “Proposal To Extend Water Services Studied”