Mount Olive Mayor Kevin Talton sets the ground rules for the public comments portion of the town board’s Aug. 8 session. Talton reminded public forum speakers to focus comments on town business going forward and not for “any kind of political rhetoric or campaigning.” (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
Louis Pate, third from left, former Mount Olive mayor and state senator, was honored for his years of service during the Mount Olive Town Board’s Aug. 8 session. From left are Mayor Kenny Talton, Pate’s wife Joyce, Pate and Commissioner Vicky Darden. Darden started the recognition program several years ago. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com)
The Eastern Wayne High School band was recognized during the Mount Olive Town Board’s Aug. 8 session for participating in the town’s Black History Month Parade. From left are Kevonte Mitchell and Latifah Manley, representing the band, Mayor Kenny Talton and Commissioner Vicky Darden. Darden started the recognition program several years ago. (Steve Herring|mountolivetribune.com).
Speakers during the public comment portion of the Mount Olive Town’s Board’s Aug. 8 meeting did not appear too upset over the recent town-wide water cutoff.However, they had questions as to how long the town had known about the water cutoff before it happened and why the town had not done a better job of letting residents know about it.
The water to all of Mount Olive was cut off from about 8 p.m. Sunday, July 30, to early Monday morning, July 31, to repair a major water leak in front of Roberts Machine Shop on N.C. 55 West. The cutoff included the Smith Chapel and Southern Wayne Country Club areas.
Initially the town had thought the shutoff would affect only the western part of town. However, it was discovered that the shutoff value for the line had been paved over forcing the town-wide water cutoff.
Katherine Hansen, manager at Burger King, said she did not learn of the shutoff until Monday night, July 24.
“I run a business that depends on water,” she said. “At that time it did not even affect our house.”
Hansen said she called the town on Tuesday, July 25, to confirm the shutoff.
“I immediately called the Health Department because there is a lot we have to do if you are going to cut our water off — not just for the business, but for people’s safety,” she continued.
Hansen said she later learned that the shutoff would affect homes, but that she understands that the town has to get the water system right.
Despite the issue, Hansen said she decided it was time for people to “shut up fussing about what is right and what isn’t right and start standing up and helping and be a part of the solution.”
“Not everybody has access to the internet,” she said of the town’s online notice of the cutoff. “I do, but I don’t check the town website every day, and that is, I guess where it was posted. I don’t know if it was posted anywhere else that there was going to be a water shutoff.
“We need to find a way to let people know besides the internet. Again, a lot of people don’t have access or people don’t have the ability to go on there and look for it.”
Also, a lot of things on the (town) website are not updated, she said. For example, the website shows the August meeting scheduled for Aug. 15 and not Aug. 8, Hansen said.
The website needs to be updated regularly and for issues like the water shutoff, the public needs to be notified by a piece of paper or something that can be passed around, she said.
For example, once the town received notice that the water was fine to use without boiling, Hansen said she had a letter in hand Tuesday morning, Aug. 1.
Joe Hatch questioned how long the town had known beforehand that the water would be cut off.
An email about the cutoff was sent out the Tuesday before it happened, Town Manager Jammie Royall said.
“At first they (repair crew) said they would come on Thursday (July 27),” Royall said. “We had a few problems so we had to wait.”
Mayor Kenny Talton asked who the email had gone to.
Royall responded it had gone to mountolivetribue.com, Goldsboro News Argus and TV stations and was on the town website, too.
Hatch said he had seen it on television that Saturday night (July 29), but did not hear it anywhere else.
With only a limited number of restaurants in town, they could have been sent emails alerting them, Hatch said.
“I do want to apologize to everybody,” Royall said. “A lot of this stuff was not planned. We had to take care of it.”
The water line was an ongoing problem, and the town had waited until it couldn’t wait anymore, he said. Royall thanked the town’s water department and Utilities Director Jeremy King for their work on the issue.
People had called in suggesting the town distribute flyers, Royall said, however, the town has about 2,500 water customers, and it would have been difficult to hand out that many in just three days.
“We are working so that this won’t happen again in the future. We have some things that we are looking at.”
Residents can sign up for town alerts on the town website, https://townofmountolivenc.org/subscribe, he added.
She said her mother called her about 9:30 p.m. Saturday night, July 29, and told her she must have misunderstood because the water already had been turned off.They checked and discovered that a water line in front of her neighbor’s house was leaking, leaving residents on her street without water.She called the emergency number listed on the town website, left a message, but did not receive a response.
Hansen said that is when she called Commissioner Tommy Brown, who came to her house about 10 p.m.
Brown called in a town crew that worked until about 1:30 a.m. to repair the leak and restore water service, she said.
“How many of your commissioners do that for you,” she asked. “He called me on Sunday afternoon knowing we had the water issue coming up on Sunday night and that we won’t going to have any water for a while.
“He called to make sure everything was OK and that we had water and everything was good. I just want to commend him. He went above and beyond what any commissioner I have ever known has ever done.”
Public forum
Talton prefaced the opening of the monthly session by reminding public forum speakers to focus comments town business going forward and not use it for “any kind of political rhetoric or campaigning.”
Also for the second time in as many months, the agenda did not conclude with comments by the mayor and commissioners.However, that did not stop Commissioner Delreese Simmons from signing up to comment during the public comments portion of the meeting.
During the board’s July 11 session Talton explained his decision to pull board comments from the agenda.
“We had some behavior at our last meeting that was inappropriate,” he told the Tribune at that meeting. “We had some inappropriate action take place at our last meeting. We had some members that were out of order. After consultation with the town attorney, I felt like it was best to talk to each individual member of the board, collectively or individually, to try to go over the rules of conduct when it comes to their position as an elected official with the town
“I have not had the opportunity to speak to some of the board members about that behavior and not knowing what was going to be said tonight because we had not addressed those concerns by my office to the commissioners, I felt it was best to preserve those comments for a later commissioners’ meeting.”
Talton reiterated that sentiment to the Tribune prior to the start of the Aug. 8 session.
During the public comment section, Simmons said he knew that everyone was upset about the water and the trash that had not been picked up on time, adding that he had received a lot of phone calls and that people had gone to his house to talk about the issues.
“I enjoy people coming and talking,” he said. “I can’t get political, but I can say it won’t happen again. I can guarantee you that much.”
Simmons said he alerted people about the water cutoff by posting the information on social media and in doing so alerted a lot of people.
The water had to be cut off to fix the problem, or people would have lost water a lot longer than what they did, he said.
Rescue Plan funds
In other business, the board approved using $71,000 in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to purchase a new dump truck to replace the town’s old, worn-out one.
The board agreed as well to use federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to provide one-time $1,500 bonuses to all town employees.
Commissioner Vicky Darden presented certificates of appreciation to Louis Pate, former Mount Olive mayor and state senator, and to Eastern Wayne High School for providing a band for the Black History Month Parade.
Following a brief public hearing, the board unanimously agreed to make the 400 block of Nelson Street one-way traffic only going east.
Board members agreed the street is too narrow for two-way traffic.
The board rejected a request from Wayne County commissioners to approve an upset bid of $5,000 for the sale of property at 125 and 412 S. Center Street.
The county initially thought it owned the property and went ahead with the procedure, Town Attorney Carroll Turner said. However, the county discovered both parcels are jointly owned by the county and town.
Commissioners voiced concerns that the town and local residents had not known about the pending sale and had not had the opportunity to bid.
Rejecting the county’s request, the board instructed Turner to contact the county and re-do the advertising and bidding procedure.
