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Sylva leaders pass budget, approve Pinnacle Park policy
By Stephanie Salmons
Sylva leaders unanimously passed a $2.5 million budget ordinance for the 2008-09 fiscal year.
This action came at the board’s June 5 meeting.
Although board members had previously noted areas they would like to see changes in, such as the amounts set aside for community contributions and hazard abatements, no changes were made from the proposed budget and board member Maurice Moody moved to accept the budget as presented.
The budget ordinance sets the town’s tax rate at 30 cents per $100 valuation.
Although this rate is down from the previous tax rate of 42 cents per $100 valuation, Town Manager Jay Denton said previously that with recent revaluations, citizens whose property values increased by more than 40 percent would see an increase in their tax bill.
Board member Harold Hensley had been opposed to the 30-cent tax rate and said he would have liked to see it lowered.
“There’s a lot of things I don’t like about the budget but a lot that I do,” he said. “I would have liked the tax rate to go down to 28 cents, but that’s not going to happen. I will support most of the budget.”
Hensley had also previously expressed disapproval of the amount of community contributions, such as allocations to non-governmental agencies that request funding on an annual basis.
“I have fought a good fight, but I lost the race,” Hensley said.
During preliminary discussions, Hensley was vocal about the town’s support of the Downtown Sylva Association.
“The only problem I have with (DSA funding) is that it’s still not a citywide organization,” he said in March, after learning that the DSA had requested $12,000 in funding from the town.
The DSA does not promote the whole town, Hensley said then.
“I wouldn’t care to fund it if they made it a citywide merchants’ association. That’s been my complaint the whole time – there’s probably more businesses, as far as taxes go, along N.C. 107. It’s not that I have a problem with downtown, but, if (DSA’s) going to have it associated to themselves – like a club – then taxpayers don’t need to fund it,” he said.
Board members voted in April to fund the full amount in a 2-1 vote
Moody had also previously discussed the amount budgeted for hazard abatement, which was cut to $5,000 in the adopted budget.
He had said at a budget workshop last month that he would like the amount restored to at least $15,000.
“I hope to continue to work on hazard abatement, but I guess I’ll recommend that we adopt the budget as proposed,” Moody said.
Sylva’s total budget is for $2,554,499. Of that, some $900,000 is appropriated for the police department and $225,000 for the fire department. More than $300,000 has been designated for the street department and $117,000 for the sanitation department.
According to a summary Denton provided, increasing fuel costs have had a “substantial effect on the police, streets and sanitation departments’ expenses.”
The budget also includes a 2.5-percent cost-of-living adjustment for personnel as well as a 2.5-percent merit increase.
One major addition to this year’s budget is a new police officer that’s funded beginning July 1.
The budget also saw a number of decreases this year as well.
According to the summary, the contingency fund has been reduced from $50,000 to $30,000, the salary contingency has been reduced from $10,000 to $5,000 and funds for hazard abatement have been cut from $20,000 to $5,000.
Also June 5:
– Local attorney Jay Coward addressed board members on behalf of a number of local restaurant owners.
Restaurant owners are concerned after a police operation earlier this year aimed at preventing the sale of alcohol to minors, Coward said.
He was referring to an operation that Police Chief Jeff Jamison reported to board members in March, when he explained the protocol of such operations.
Officers checked 36 business that sell alcohol and issued eight citations, Jamison said three months ago.
The maximum age for volunteers who assisted officers with the checks was 19, and participants were required to carry their real identification cards and tell clerks their real age if asked, Jamison said.
The volunteers were equipped with a wire and were accompanied by an undercover police escort, he said.
Coward said he asked local restaurant owners to complete a questionnaire and read one response.
“We as business owners do our best by training our employees to prevent sales to underage (customers). For the most part we are pretty good at this and we strive to make our record 100 percent. Our point is that we do our part to do the police department’s job. The real criminals are the ones trying to buy under age. There’s no effort on the police department’s part to try and catch any of the underage people, but we are constantly trying to be set up,” Coward said one owner had written.
When a restaurant employee violates this law, the employee is criminally charged and pays any fines and costs assessed by the court. However, restaurant owners are responsible for large fines assessed by Alcohol Law Enforcement, Coward said. As a result of the recent police operation, 12 employees lost their jobs, and seven restaurant owners paid fines of $1,200, he said. Coward added that two businesses suspended alcohol sales for 12 days in lieu of the fine.
“In a time of recession where you’re trying to promote growth of businesses downtown, this is not good,” Coward said. “You need to address the issue of underage drinking; we’re not here promoting it. (Business owners) conscientiously try to abide by the law. I’m not sure that everyone recognizes that this kind of law enforcement can be a threat to a business.”
Coward also pointed to some inequities in law enforcement.
The Sylva Police Department has not offered training for businesses like the state’s Alcohol Law Enforcement does, and there is not a uniform system of enforcement from one jurisdiction to another as far as police departments go, he said. According to Coward, the ALE is a consistent, statewide organization that communicates with business owners and addresses underage drinking.
Sylva police don’t do that, Coward said.
“I think everyone in all the restaurants know they cannot sell to underage people,” Coward said. “The people that have done it no longer work there, the restaurants have suffered pretty severe financial strain and everyone is getting carded and that’s a good thing we can applaud,” Coward said. “I think it would be a good thing now if the town and police department could work on some education, follow up, and some reassurance with restaurants that (the police) are not trying to trick them into violations but trying also to concentrate on the kids who are actually doing underage purchases.”
Jason Kimenker, owner of Soul Infusion Tea House, asked town leaders during the meeting’s public comment section whether they would consider sponsoring a “responsible sellers” program, since it’s been three years since the last one. Town Manager Denton said he thought such events were sponsored by the ALE.
Mayor Brenda Oliver said the town and its leaders are proud of the local restaurants.
“I don’t think there’s anybody on this board or on the police staff that has any remote wish to change that,” she said. “I think the focus is to prevent underage sales. I don’t think there’s any vendetta. I don’t think there’s any ulterior motives. I think they’re just trying to do their job as they see it.”
Coward said that response would be appreciated by restaurant owners.
Coward said he would be willing to attend the board’s June 19 meeting that Jamison is scheduled to attend.
“I think it would be good if you come back and I think it would start the lines of communication and clear up some misunderstandings,” Oliver said.
– Board members discussed new rules to be implemented in Pinnacle Park.
The town acquired the Fisher Creek watershed in 1912, and it served as the town’s source of drinking water until 1992, when the Tuckaseigee Water and Sewer Authority was formed. TWSA continued to use Fisher Creek to supply its customers until the authority’s Cullowhee water treatment plant was completed in 1997.
The new rules, which were approved 3-2 with Hensley and Ray Lewis voting no, state that the park will open 30 minutes before sunrise and close 30 minutes after sunset and camping will be allowed by permit only and in designated areas. Cutting and digging of trees and plants are prohibited as well as alcohol, hunting and firearms. Motorized vehicles are also prohibited.
Previously firearms, camping, open fires, motorized vehicles and digging and cutting were on the “prohibited” list.
If camping requires a permit, Moody said he would like to see the cost kept minimal and added that requiring registration would offer advantages to emergency personnel.
A fire pit could be included in the designated camping areas which would allow for open flames, Moody said.
“I don’t envision enough people camping where you couldn’t do it in a designated area,” Moody said.
Coward, who has also served as head of the Pinnacle Park Foundation, said that if camping is going to be in designated areas, those areas need to be built, and that careful consideration is important when selecting the sites.
“We don’t want to build designated campsites close to water, we need to be able to get water or take it in, but if we start building campsites right next to the creek, degrading the creeks will be much easier to do,” he said.
A few potential camping sites have already been identified, Coward said.
While the original rules prohibited firearms, board member Stacy Knotts said that she was “uncomfortable” allowing any type of weapons and suggested the rules say “no hunting.”
“I think with the heavily used areas and trails, we probably don’t want bows and arrows,” Knotts said.
Lewis said that thought the area has been used for hunting previously.
Hensley asked Coward, who was also head of the Pinnacle Park Foundation, if hunting was ever allowed there.
The ‘No Hunting’ rule became official policy after the Foundation got the lease, Coward said.
“I think if the goal is to continue to build this as a park that is accessible to our residents, I absolutely discourage hunting,” board member Sarah Graham said.
While Moody said he didn’t have a problem with hunting, he recognized that it does make some people nervous.
“With that in mind it might not be a bad idea to exclude it,” he said.
Since the foundation is no longer leasing the park, the policy needed to be readopted by the town and made part of the town ordinances so it can be enforced outside of the city limits, Coward said.
– The board unanimously adopted new procedure policies from the book “Suggested Rules of Procedure for City Councils” from the Institute of Government. The new rules no longer require motions to have a second.
The board had previously been loosely following Roberts Rules of Procedures, Oliver said.
– Officials unanimously approved the closure of Eighth Avenue, which is located near Savannah Drive, and borders Mountain Gap Properties, owned by Art Pohl, and property owned by Mark and Jean Leonard.
Planning board members recommended the road be closed, but that the town retain a 10-feet greenway easement. The Board voted April 17 to act on the recommendation of the planning board after a public hearing that one neighboring property owner attended but had no objections.
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