City Council to discuss program to combat child hunger locally
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on March 2, 2015 1:46 PM
Goldsboro's City Council will kick off March with a discussion about a program that is expected to help ease the problem of child hunger within the county.
A program to combat child hunger in the community will be launched following Monday night's meeting, if the council's consent agenda is passed.
At one of the council's October 2014 meetings, Community Development Administrator Shycole Simpson-Carter revealed to the council that a staggering number of children go hungry in the community every day.
According to a study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a total of 32,750 people in Wayne County have "food security" problems, meaning no meal is guaranteed.
Of those, more than 8,000 are children.
The city is considering an option to tackle the problem head on by partnering with the non-profit A Lot of Direction, Love and Affection, Inc. (ADLA) of Mount Olive to implement a feeding program from March 14 to June 7.
The city launched a request for proposals from various organizations at the start of February. Three organizations submitted proposals for how they would work with the city to curb hunger, and ADLA, Inc., was selected.
Dillard Middle School and Wayne Academy will be used as feeding sites for the program; no child under the age of 18 will be turned away or denied a meal.
The program will cost $65,440 and will be financed from two separate funds: the general fund and the community development budget. More than $26,000 will come from the community development budget, while more than $42,500 will be allocated for the program from the general fund.
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Also on the council's consent agenda is the approval of funds for the renovation of Goldsboro Country Club, after the council approved the purchase of the club at its last meeting. The agenda item -- if passed -- would allocate $400,000 from the general fund for renovations. This is $75,000 less than the city originally thought would need to be spent on renovations.
City Manager Scott Stevens said the main renovations needed inside the country club are new paint and new carpeting in several rooms.
The city would not use the existing kitchen as a full-service kitchen, but would cut the area in half and make a portion of it a warming kitchen for catered events and the other half a locker room for the golf course.
At the last city council meeting, council members said they hope to have the club up and running by June.
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The council is also expected to approve site design plans for the new W.A. Foster Center location on South John Street at Mina Weil Park.
Portions of wooded areas, scattered trees, tennis courts, a paved parking lot adjacent to the exiting swimming pool and a sand playground will all be demolished. Two ball fields, the bathrooms, the picnic shelter, the swimming pool and the House Street parking lot will all be retained with the building of the new site.
The plans, if approved, would authorize a 25,191-square-foot building to be built on more than 21 acres.
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There are three more items on the agenda dealing with approval of site design and building plans, calling for the approval of plans for the Wayne County Satellite Jail, an addition to Rhodes Funeral Home and the recombining of two existing sites to make a Kangaroo/Pantry gas station.
The jail would have frontage on North William Street and Stronach Avenue, covering more than 14 acres.
It will be a 34,885-square-foot building, holding up to 221 inmates.
The Kangaroo/Pantry gas station will combine the two existing locations on the west side of Wayne Memorial Drive between U.S. 70 and West Lockhaven Drive.
Combining the two locations will create a gas station of more than 5,600 square feet, with the entrance facing the adjacent private drive that is across from the Memorial Commons Shopping Center.
The addition to Rhodes Funeral Home at the corner of Wayne Memorial Drive and Eighth Street is for a 2,700-square-foot, one-story brick veneer building.
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The last two items on Monday night's consent agenda deal with events happening downtown.
One item calls for the approval of selecting art to be placed in the roundabouts that will be constructed downtown as Streetscape comes to an end. The recommendation to the council is to lease each piece of art for one year at a time at the cost of $2,000.
The Public Art Steering Committee will be provided with 10 to 15 options for art, and narrow the choices down to six options. Then, the city and Downtown Goldsboro Development Corp. will post the art options to their respective Facebook pages to solicit public comment before finalizing their art selections.
The city council will select the final two.
Lastly, the council will approve a request to close several streets downtown on March 14 from 3 to 5 p.m. for The Flying Shamrock's first annual Kilt Fun Run.
The street closing request is as follows: John Street beginning at 115 North John Street, north to Mulberry Street, east on E. Mulberry Street to William Street, south on N. William Street to Walnut Street, west on E. Walnut Street to John Street, north on N. John Street to 115 North John Street.
Additional closures/detours have been recommended by the Police Department to manage traffic flow, which are as follows: Traffic on North John Street traveling from Ash Street to Mulberry Street will be required to turn west on to East Mulberry Street, traffic on North William Street traveling from Ash Street to Mulberry Street will be required to turn east on to East Mulberry Street, traffic on East Mulberry Street traveling from Patrick Street to William Street will be required to turn north on to North William Street, traffic on East Walnut Street traveling from Patrick Street to William Street will be required to turn south on to South William Street, Ormond Avenue at East Walnut Street will be closed, traffic on John Street traveling from Chestnut Street to Walnut Street will be required to turn west on to East Walnut Street, traffic on Walnut Street traveling from Center Street to John Street will be required to turn south on to South John Street, traffic on Mulberry Street traveling from Center Street to John Street will be required to turn north on to North John Street.
The run will begin at 115 N. John St.
The work session will begin at 5 p.m. tonight, and the regularly scheduled council meeting will begin at 7 p.m.
The agenda has less than 10 items listed, and there will be no public hearings or items requiring individual action.