Fremont board takes up trees, wastewater, personnel issues
By Matt Caulder
Published in News on August 21, 2013 1:46 PM
FREMONT -- At the town Board of Aldermen meeting Tuesday, changes were made to the police chief and public works director positions changing them over to salaried positions.
Town officials say the change will allow them to better control their personnel costs while also being able to better utilize their administrative leaders.
"It's a good change for the town and myself," Police Chief Paul Moats Jr. said. "I'll be more available without worrying about managing hours."
Public Works Director Tim Howell also said he didn't care much either way about the change.
"If I get called out in the middle of the night they're really supposed to pay me and this way they don't have to," he said.
In other business, the town held a public hearing in accordance with the policies of a Community Development Block Grant the town received to make improvements to the town water system.
The $750,000 grant is funded through the North Carolina Department of Commerce and requires a local match of $39,800 from Fremont.
The funds will be used to replace water lines, remove rusty connections and upgrade fire hydrants to a 5-inch connection to better serve the fire department, Town Administrator Kerrie McDuffie said.
The project will cover areas from Goldsboro Street to North Street.
A resolution was passed at the meeting to apply for a state Department of Environmental and Natural Resources grant that would allow the town to make improvements to its waste water lagoon that have been required by the state by 2017.
The improvements include a new liner on the spray field.
Whether that funding will be available is unclear at this time, but McDuffie said Fremont was encouraged to apply for the grant anyway.
The board also looked at a list of trees that are a priority to be cut to avoid possible falls on power lines. The list was requested during the July meeting and was accepted into the record with the understanding that no funds were currently allocated for the removal of the trees.
The matter was brought up after a citizen requested two trees in her yard be cut due to the danger they posed to the lines.
However, Howell said that the trees in question were not a great danger and that other trees were in more need of cutting.
The board then directed Howell to compile the list of priority trees.