Council approves recyclables contract; pays architect
By Anessa Myers
Published in News on February 5, 2008 1:53 PM
The Goldsboro City Council approved the sale of recyclable paper, plastics, glass and aluminum cans to Wayne Opportunity Center and Goldsboro Iron & Metal Co. at its meeting Monday night.
The council authorized the public works department to enter into a one-year agreement for the receipt and processing of the recyclable materials. The original agreement said that Wayne Opportunity Center, a non profit organization that gives employment to special needs individuals, would reimburse the city 35 percent of the market sales for plastics, mixed paper and glass, but after discussion, the council agreed to allow the center to keep the 35 percent of the market sales. The hope is that the money will help the center grow and employ more people.
"I think we have an obligation to do anything we can do to help them," Councilman Chuck Allen said. "I think we should do it .... I think it's a huge thing to help them out. The money, in the grand scheme of things, doesn't mean a lot to the city of Goldsboro, but it means a lot to them.
"To me, it's a no brainer to try and do everything we can to make it a first-class operation. We need to help them grow."
The other council members agreed.
"They serve a population that not a lot of people serve, and they need to be served," Councilman Bob Waller said.
Michael Headen commended the center and said he also hoped the money would help it add employees.
"There are other citizens with special needs and mental deficits that other corporations won't hire," he said. "We need to give this to them to allow them to expand."
Goldsboro Iron & Metal Company will still reimburse the city for the sale of the materials as it is a commercial company.
The council also approved $825,000 for the architectural firm of Pearce, Brinkley, Cease & Lee for work on the proposed Community Recreation Center. The firm has already received $457,320. The remaining $367,680 will come from community development block grant funds. The near-million-dollar cost is 7.5 percent of construction costs.
In other business, council members approved the condemnation and demolition of the Days Inn, which was destroyed last year by high winds during a storm.
The structure will not be torn down right away, Chief Building Inspector Ed Cianfarra has said, but he noted that he is hoping the decision will urge the owner's insurance company to make a move. Cianfarra said before Monday's meeting that hotel owner Daley Investments has cooperated with the city in an effort to clear the site.
Mark Daley, president of the company, said in a telephone call before the meeting that he will try to do what the city wants him to do with the remains of the structure.
"We have worked closely with Ed," Daley said. "I think everybody's been very helpful and cooperative. We are at the very end of the process with our insurance company."
Other action taken by the council involved several site plans.
Council members denied a site and landscape plan requested by A.H. Investments for property on the northwest corner of North George Street and West Grantham Street. The council asked the applicant to come back with more landscaping and fewer modification requests.
The final subdivision plat for the Borden Manufacturing Co. buildings was approved, with councilman Chuck Allen being excused due to his business interest in the Borden Loft Condominium project.
The plat approval allows for the project to move forward by permitting the developers to separate the historic areas from the newer parts of the buildings so that condominium buyers can receive historic preservation tax credits.