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County leaders approve capital improvement spending plan
By Derek Hodges
Jackson County officials voted Monday (Oct. 17) to approve a spending plan for physical projects over the next two years.
The plan includes roughly $9.5 million for work on expansion at Albert Carlton/Cashiers Community Library and Smoky Mountain High School.
The library project is slated to cost $3.96 million, including construction and furniture. Work at SMHS will require more than $5.5 million to relocate utilities, relocate bus parking and clear the Jones property in advance of planned school expansion.
The money is scheduled to come out of the budget during the 2005 calendar year, rather than being pulled from the fiscal year budget, county Manager Ken Westmoreland said. The county will need to secure funding from BB&T to complete the work, he said.
“As long as you can assure me we’re not going to have to raise taxes, I’ll agree to it,” Commissioner Roberta Crawford said.
“I’ll do my best,” Westmoreland said.
The spending plan also calls for $8.2 million for capital projects in 2006. That includes $1 million for the Cullowhee Recreation Center, $4.5 million for a proposed recreation center in Cashiers, $1.2 million at the new Webster Complex and $1.5 million for construction of kindergarten classrooms at Fairview School.
In other business Oct. 17:
Crisis housing
A proposal to accept money from state and federal emergency management agencies for recovery from last year’s hurricanes proved contentious.
Westmoreland told commissioners the county has been awarded more than $1.6 million for work on 30 houses in the county damaged or destroyed by flooding from Hurricanes Frances and Ivan. The number of houses that need the assistance was calculated using applications for assistance submitted to aid agencies, he said.
Commissioner Eddie Madden expressed concerns that there may not be 30 homes in the county that need repair.
“Personally I am only aware of one home that was totally destroyed,” Westmoreland said.
Crawford expressed what seemed to be an opposite concern, that there may not be enough money to do the necessary repairs.
“If we run out of money, does this commit the county to finishing that work?” she asked.
Westmoreland told her the agencies would supplement the funding if the need were to arise.
Commissioners voted to accept the money, which also includes some money to hire an outside firm to handle the repair process.
Qualla VFD
Commissioners approved a request by the Qualla Volunteer Fire Department to use county-owned property as collateral in a loan agreement.
County officials recently gave permission for the department to enter into a loan agreement for approximately $700,000. That loan would allow the VFD to construct a new substation on recently-purchased land in Holly Cove community.
After being approved by a local branch of BB&T for a loan using the Holly Cove property as collateral, department officials were told by the bank’s Charlotte office the land would not be enough to secure the loan, Westmoreland said. The department then requested that the land they currently occupy be put up as additional security; commissioners had to approve using the property because it is owned by the county.
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