Roseboro’s plans for the old First Citizen’s Bank building are still uncertain, since town leaders have been unable to serve papers on the owner, detailing the town’s intent.

The town’s Board of Commissioners decided last month to give Ransom Newkirk 21 more days to repair his building, located on Roseboro Street, before they would step in to do the repairs; however, since a registered letter addressed to Newkirk was returned, the town cannot move forward with any of its plans.

That word came from town attorney Bill Poole, who alerted members that the board could not move forward with plans for repairs to the property until Newkirk was informed of the plans, an action required by law.

“At first, we have to give him a note of what we plan to do, and then the board can make a decision on how much to spend,” Poole said during Tuesday night’s meeting.

Mayor Roland Hall advised the board that they would revisit the issue during the town’s planning session, set for Jan. 25 at the community building.

There was no further discussion, and no vote was taken.

In a interview after the meeting, Poole pointed out that the town had sought to serve Newkirk by certified mail. However, the post office box numbered provided had been closed, and the letter was put back in the town’s mail box.

Poole noted that if the town was unsuccessful in serving Newkirk by letter, then they would have to find another means of delivering the correspondence. The town attorney, however, did not elaborate on what methods could be used to get the message to the property owner.

Poole also brought up another issue commissioners will be faced with once the papers have been served — how to pay for those repairs.

“The town has got to consider how much to spend on repairs,” he said.

The board’s plans for how much the town can afford to spend on repairs, he noted, could be weighed at the planning session later this month.

Autumn Wind

Nursing Home Grant

In other discussion, Hall announced that the town had finished its application for a grant that will help bring a family care center to the Autumn Wind Assistant Living Facility.

During December’s meeting, the mayor said the town would be responsible for providing administration of the Rural Healthcare grant that does not require any town funding. In total, if approved, Autumn Wind would receive $480,000 to build the new facility.