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Sylva's town board to hold planning retreat

By Lynn Hotaling
Sylva's town board will hold a planning retreat at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, at The Library in Cashiers.

Board members will discuss a variety of municipal issues regarding the town of Sylva, said Mayor Brenda Oliver.

"It will be a real work session," Oliver said. "We thought about a facilitated retreat, but we decided instead on a work session. We'll sit down and determine which direction we want to go."

One thing Sylva board members will do Saturday is take another look at an organizational report they received in October, said Oliver. A number of changes were recommended at that time by municipal evaluator John Maxwell of Arlington, Va.

One of the report's main recommendations ­ that town board adopt a manager/council form of government - has received little discussion to date. Board members decided in November to do research into governmental structure of similar-sized towns before making any decision. The town's current organization does not clearly delineate where administrative authority and decision-making rests, said Maxwell, leading to his recommendation for the change.

Sylva presently has no provisions in its charter regarding the administrative authority of either the mayor or town clerk. The town's Code of Ordinances specifies a purely parliamentary role for the mayor, including calling meetings, presiding over meetings and maintaining order at such meetings as the mayor's sole duties.

Under the Code of Ordinances, the clerk is charged with establishing bookkeeping procedures and negotiating with Jackson County and other county municipalities for financial support for the Sylva Fire Department.

Sylva leaders have for a number of years allowed the town clerk to function almost like a manager in that the person in that job has had supervisory authority over other employees and responsibility for implementing decisions of the town board.

The council/manager form of government is the superior choice because it separates policy-making from administration, according to Maxwell's report.

In addition to revisiting the organizational report, a number long-range concerns that will be brought before the board, Oliver said. These will include the town's marketing strategy. "We need to decide where we are and where we want to go," she said. Board members voted last month to spend some $850 on 500 lapel pins as part of the effort to "market" Sylva. Another focus Saturday will be to review the list of goals from last year's retreat and determine how much has been accomplished towards meeting those goals.

"We need to review the list from the last retreat and determine what's changed and where we want to go," Oliver said.

Town board members will also discuss the town's planning board and the direction it should take with regard to extraterritorial jurisdiction.

Greenways, a topic of special interest to Oliver, are also on Saturday's agenda. Sylva leaders hosted a meeting last month of other local government officials to begin planning a system of trails to connect Jackson County's communities. A task force was appointed at that time. Representatives of Webster, Dillsboro and Forest Hills boards attended, as did county commissioners.

Saturday's agenda will also include a discussion of a proposed contract between the town of Sylva and Jackson County Rescue Squad, future capital projects and the possibility of a farmer's market for downtown.

No action will be taken at Saturday's session. The next regular meeting of Sylva's board will be tonight (Feb. 3) at 7 p.m. at Municipal Hall.

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