The Clinton Main Street Program recognized its own, while making an accreditation announcement that puts Clinton in select company among the state’s communities.
The N.C. Main Street Center Award of Merit for Best Facade Rehabilitation and the Main Street Champion Designation were presented at the N.C. Main Street Conference in Morganton in March, and the City Council honored both recipients at its recent meeting.
The Award of Merit for Best Facade Rehabilitation Project for $15,000 or Less went to George Wilson and Wilson Realty for the Facade Improvement Project at 117 Vance St. Aaron Wilson accepted the award during the Council’s regular May meeting.
“There are only a handful of communities that are recognized across the state and we’re very proud of this,” said Clinton-Sampson Planning director Mary Rose, who serves as Main Street manager.
The 2014 Main Street Champion Designation was bestowed to Debbie Roberts by the Clinton Main Street Program.
“Debbie has been a great volunteer for our program,” Rose stated.
“She is truly a champion,” Mayor Lew Starling added. “She is a wonderful citizen. Not only that she got the Mayor’s Improvement Award (twice).”
Both Roberts, a Main Street Design Committee member, and Wilson, a member of the Clinton Development Corp. and a member of the Main Street’s Economic Restructuring Committee, were also honored with several others as part of a core group of individuals whose dedication allowed the Clinton Main Street Program to receive 2015 National Main Street Program Accreditation.
Planner Lyden Williams, Economic Restructuring Committee member Sherri Smith, and Beth Oglesby, president of the Clinton Development Corp. and Design Committee member, were also among those who flanked Rose as she made the announcement at the Council’s meeting.
“We have a great team and these are just a few of our team leaders,” said Rose. “The City of Clinton, for the first time in the history of our Clinton Main Street Program, has been recognized with national accreditation for 2014. Only about half of the 60 Main Street communities in the state of North Carolina received national accreditation this year.”
Clinton and 34 other N.C. Main Street communities earned accreditation for 2014 performance.
Each nationally accredited community must meet 10 standards in order to qualify for designation. The performance standards set the benchmarks for measuring a community’s application of the Main Street Four Point Approach to commercial district revitalization. Standards include fostering strong public-private partnerships, securing an operating budget, tracking programmatic progress and actively preserving historic buildings.
“With national accreditation we have to meet a number of standards,” said Rose. “We have to measure performance in our downtown, measuring statistics for facade improvements, number of new businesses and number of jobs within our downtown.”
She thanked the mayor and City Council for their leadership, and all involved who have allowed the Main Street Program to enjoy success.
“We just thank everybody for all they’ve added this year to our program,” she said.