Roseboro mayor David Alexander is encouraging all citizens in the town to attend Tuesday’ night’s meeting with officials from the North Carolina Small Towns Economic Prosperity (N.C. STEP) grant organization.
Although officials were in town recently to participate in Roseboro’s birthday celebration, Alexander said Tuesday’s meeting, being held at 6 p.m. at the Roseboro Community Building, 206 NE Railroad St., would be the first official meeting where the public can share their input with officials.
“This is will be our first meeting with the public,” the mayor said. “We want to fill up the room with people who have ideas on where they want to see Roseboro going. I hope they come with a list of ideas because this is their town and they should want to have some say in where we are headed.”
Alexander said Monday that officials with N.C. STEP, who recently awarded Roseboro and the town of Garland with separate $125,000 grants, will survey the crowd and then have them divide into small groups where they can share and receive feedback from their ideas.
Twenty-five thousand dollars of the $125,000 grant will be spent on training, which should take about a year, Alexander explained. The rest of the $100,000 will go towards implementing projects that will improve the town, expected over another year’s time. During the two-year process, officials from the North Carolina Rural Economic Development Center will provide guidance and support as the town carries out projects throughout the 24 months.
“I want people to know that it (the grant) is not only for the downtown area,” Alexander asserted. “This grant is for all over Roseboro. In order to change things with this grant, we want people to come down and share their thoughts and ideas, that is what it is all about.”
The mayor said he hopes the Community Center building is standing room only.
“We are hoping to fill that place,” he asserted. “As a matter of fact, the grant people want to see a lot of folks there. We want people to have their lists ready and tell us what they think needs improving.”
Alexander pointed to the upcoming widening of N.C. Highway 24 and the support that will be crucial for the town even before construction begins in 2015.
“There are a lot of things that we need to improve in Roseboro before that highway gets put in,” he explained. “That highway will be going around Roseboro and we are going to need to have signs once that highway gets there so people can be drawn to the town. We want to continue to bring people in and let them see what we have to offer here.”
Which is why, Alexander reiterated, it is so important to get citizens to support the meeting with their presence.
“I will be straight up honest with you,” he said, “I just don’t want commissioners having to make these decisions. The citizens live in Roseboro; they need to be here and involved, giving us ideas on what they want us to do. This is their town. The citizens know a lot. They know what their neighbors want and they know how to improve things. This is the perfect opportunity for them to come down and share them with us.”
To reach Doug Clark call 910-592-8137 ext. 123 or email to sisports@heartlandpublications.com.
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