Seven Springs board considering Snyder for town manager's job
By Bonnie Edwards
Published in News on February 9, 2006 1:49 PM
SEVEN SPRINGS -- Charles Snyder might be returning as the Seven Springs town manager.
Seven Springs Mayor Jewel Kilpatrick said Snyder has offered to help the town with moving its library back down into the town from the hill above town and with building a picnic shelter in the town park.
The Town Board met Wednesday night at the new Town Hall and is expected to call a special meeting in the next week or two to talk to Snyder about the town manager's job.
Board member Danny Carter said he wants to evaluate the situation after 12 months to see if Snyder's $200 a month salary would be well spent.
Board member Rodolph Adams said it might take more than a year for Snyder to finish helping the town through the projects.
Snyder, who has lived about a mile from town for more than 30 years, retired in 1996 after 28 years working with Wayne County as the county environmental health director. He became the Seven Springs town manager in 2000 and resigned in 2004. He had expected his position to last about a year but stayed longer to help the town recover from Hurricane Floyd. During his tenure, he helped the town get grants, build a community park and negotiate the buyout of flooded property.
But the town is still recovering financially. Board member Steve Potter asked how the town would pay Snyder's salary, since it was not in the budget for the current year.
Town Clerk Deanna Grady said Snyder's salary from March to June could come out of the town's reserve fund. She said the town usually has to dip into the fund, which is currently $35,000, to balance the budget. But she said the town usually ends up with more income than anticipated at budget time.
"We haven't had a normal year since the flood," she said. "I remember when we only had $5,000 in the checking account. But nothing was going on in the town."
Potter said it would not take long to go through the reserves taking out a few thousand every year.
But he said he thinks Snyder is an asset to the community.
"I'd like to have him, and I'm willing to prioritize some things to get him back," Potter said. "Two hundred a month is not much, and it is good to have somebody handle that job."
"Any grant he brings will be more than we're spending," Potter said .
In other action the board voted unanimously to accept Wayne County's suggested two-foot base line elevation for building construction in the town's flood ordinance. The county's ordinance places the base line elevation at two feet. The town's previous ordinance placed the base line elevation at one foot.
Mayor Jewel Kilpatrick appointed Steve Potter mayor pro tem after the four board members present tied in a vote on nominations for the job. Board member Elizabeth Quinn was absent from the meeting.
Rodolph Adams nominated Steve Potter. He and Potter voted for Potter to be mayor pro tem.
Allen Cash nominated Danny Carter. He and Carter voted for Carter to be mayor pro tem.