Roseboro town clerk Drenda Ammons, left, talks briefly with mayor Roland Hall. In the meeting, Hall read out loud a letter clarifying the town board’s point on giving back the town’s recreation programs to the county rather than continuing to fund them. Also pictured is mayor pro tem David Alexander.
In the meeting, he read a letter that he and town clerk Drenda Ammons had composed and sent to interim county manager Rick Moorefield and assistant county manager Susan Holder on March 3, after their meeting with them on Feb. 25. In that meeting, he and the town clerk expressed to county leaders that the town was facing some difficult economic decisions.
In the letter, Hall wrote, “The impact of the recession is requiring us to take a close look at all program areas.”
The two main areas that Hall’s letter addressed were Roseboro’s recreation programs and the county’s use of the town’s community building for the nutrition program.
As for the recreation program, he explained, “the town has been paying an annual fee of $26,500 and providing the insurance and cost-sharing of the maintenance expenses of the park and recreation building since 2002. We are requesting the county accept the transfer of the property and responsibility for all expenses for the park and recreation program, beginning with the next budget year.”
In the letter, he also addressed the prospect of the county paying to have its nutrition site at the Roseboro community building.
“The town has been making the community available for the senior center and nutrition program since its beginning, at no cost to the county. The county program operates out of this building five days a week. The cost to operate and maintain the building is $7,900. We are requesting that the county contribute $3,800 towards these expenses, beginning with the next budget year,” Hall remarked.
Roseboro’s mayor also clarified that the town has every intention of moving forward with its donation to the Western District Park project that is currently being created.
“We programmed this amount ($25,000) in our current budget and will pay the first installment,” Hall commented. In the meeting, he elaborated that the town intends to pay the two additional installments in the following budget years.
As the mayor finished reading his letter, he pointed out that he and Ammons had met with commissioners John Blanton and Jefferson Strickland, who represent the Roseboro area, to discuss a possible negotiation concerning these programs.
He then added, “We will meet with them and talk with them again. We are not the bad guys, and the county is not the bad guys.”
The issue regarding the Western District Park and Roseboro recreation programs came to light last week at a commissioners meeting, when Moorefield told board members that Roseboro was reneging on its contribution to the Western Park.
Hall, however, told The Independent a day later that it was, in fact, the rec programs and the nutrition site that Roseboro officials wanted financial assistance with in the next budget cycle.
Katie Holland can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 136, or by email at silife@myclintonnc.com.
THESE CHILDREN NEED A NEW SCHOOL!!!!!