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County, town OK suspension of Southern Lumber loan payments
By Justin Goble
Both town of Sylva and Jackson County officials will allow Southern Lumber to suspend revolving loan payments for six months.
The county’s decision came Monday night (Aug. 20), when commissioners unanimously approved a request from Southern Lumber owner Tom Stovall. That action mirrored one taken by Sylva town board members during their Aug. 16 meeting.
Stovall asked county leaders to suspend payments on his $218,000 loan for six months, which would allow him time to advertise his land and building for sale. If and when the business is sold. Stovall said he would use the money to repay the revolving loan.
“Our business has really fallen off,” Stovall said. “All of the revenue has to go to operations now. Before I get behind with all three of my lending entities (Macon Bank, the town of Sylva and the county), I thought I would come before them and try to figure something out. Once the transaction takes place, I can take care of all the debt.
“Anything the county can do for me in these troubled times will help,” Stovall said.
Commissioner Tom Massie said he appreciated Stovall asking for help before he got behind on his loan payments.
“The fact Tom is here tonight says a lot about his integrity as a businessman,” Massie said. “I appreciate the fact that he grabbed the bull by the horns. He came to us with an alternative before we had to come up with one ourselves.”
Stovall borrowed $218,000 from the county’s revolving loan fund, according to county finance officer Darlene Fox. She said he has been up to date with his payments and to date has repaid around $68,000 of that amount.
He also borrowed $500,000 from the town of Sylva’s revolving loan fund. His current balance is $355,400, according to Lynn Bryant, Sylva’s finance officer.
Stovall was also present for the town of Sylva’s meeting last Thursday and made a similar request.
“I’m not asking for anything to be forgiven,” Stovall said. “I’m asking for a suspension of payments until business improves or we cease operations at which time the loan will be paid in full.”
Sylva’s board also voted unanimously to suspend Southern Lumber’s payments.
In other business Aug. 20.
– Commissioners discussed creating one full-time position out of two part-time posts at both the Cashiers staffed recycling center and the Cashiers building inspections and planning department.
According to Westmoreland, the county had ran advertisements to fill two part-time positions at both places. However, there was little response to those ads.
There are currently no candidates for the post at the building inspection and planning office, which Westmoreland said would prompt county leaders to start advertising the position. He did say there was a part-time employee ready to fill a new full-time post at the SRC.
Though commissioners unanimously approved creating the clerical position for the building inspections and planning department, Massie had some reservations about creating a post at the SRC since county leaders seemed to have already chosen who would fill it.
Because that position would not be advertised, Massie said commissioners would be going against their own hiring policy.
“Our policy states that we advertise the job for a week in-house, then advertise with the general public (if no one wants the job). We need to follow our own policy. If we’re going to have a policy, then we don’t need to fill a position arbitrarily. This person may be the most qualified, but we don’t know right now.”
Westmoreland said the Cashiers SRC is understaffed at the moment and adding another full-time person right away would help the facility. Commissioners Mark Jones, William Shelton, Joe Cowan and Chairman Brian McMahan agreed with that assessment. When brought to a vote, the measure was approved 4-1, with Massie casting the lone “no” vote.
– Jones requested county leaders consider creating an ordinance that would ban registered sex offenders from all county parks.
The request comes after a sex offender had been spotted at the recreation center in Cullowhee, which Jones said caused some concern among the people he had spoken with.
“In the end, it turned out he was going there just to catch a ride,” Jones said. “He was asked to leave, which he did. But it got me to looking, and I found that we have no ordinance dealing with this.”
Jones said Sheriff Jimmy Ashe had given him a sample ordinance used in many towns and requested county attorney Paul Holt review the document and suggest changes to make it suitable for Jackson County.
“I think we need to look at this, revise it, then set a public hearing to get an ordinance in place,” Jones said. “We have 28 registered sex offenders in Jackson County. It’s something important we need to cover.”
– Commissioners agreed by consensus that Westmoreland should estimate the cost to build a temporary barrier between the planning and finance offices in the Justice Center.
Westmoreland told county leaders that with the new subdivision and steep-slope ordinances in place, many more people are visiting the planning department. Instead of waiting in the reception area, though, some people enter the back way through the finance department.
“A lot of people want the ear of Linda Cable or Robbie Shelton, but they just don’t want to wait,” Westmoreland said. “We could do something as simple as setting up a row of chairs or a rope. A permanent barrier would cost around $8,000, since it would require a double door that would need to be wired to the alarm system. It also creates problems with our heating and cooling system.”
Herald Editor Lynn Hotaling contributed to this report.
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