City Council to discuss demolitions
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on June 15, 2015 1:46 PM
The Goldsboro City Council will cover about 20 items at tonight's work session and regularly scheduled council meeting -- everything from demolition of dilapidated houses to a proposed new solar farm.
The discussion of the solar farm is one of two public hearings. The location would be on the north side of Belfast Road between Salem Church Road and Interstate 795. The property has a frontage of more than 1,000 feet and a depth of nearly 3,000 feet.
Plans show the construction of a 20-foot-wide, 700-foot-long buffer facing Belfast Road.
No action is to be taken after the hearing regarding the matter tonight. The planning commission will bring a recommendation before the council at its July 6 council meeting.
A second public hearing will pertain to the city's Neuse River Basin regional hazard mitigation plan for 2015. Federal law requires local governments develop an all-hazards mitigation plan to be eligible for hazard mitigation grant program funds.
The city has reviewed the policy and updated it for 2015, and the city's engineering department is recommending the revisions be adopted at tonight's council meeting.
The first item on the council's consent agenda would authorize the demolition of 12 dilapidated structures within the city limits.
The twelve structures to be demolished are: 102 Bright St., 724 W. Chestnut St., 401 Creech St., 1107 N. George St., 1108 N. John St., 1304 N. John St., 215 Olivia Lane, 330 Piedmont Airline Road, 605 E. Spruce St., 613 E. Spruce St., 501 E. Walnut St. and 220 Wayne Ave.
These structures have been condemned. The city provided legal notices to the owners of each property and no action has been taken by the owners.
Also on the consent agenda is an item to authorize the Goldsboro Police Department to accept $24,470.37 from the federal government -- money collected because of the police department's assistance with federal authorities on several drug operations.
An update will be made to the city's general fund balance to reflect the increase in funds, if the consent agenda is approved.
Also on the consent agenda is an item to authorize the city to allocate $1,050,000 from the utility fund to pay for underground sewer and water improvements associated with Streetscape. When construction began, the city was not sure exactly how much the improvements would cost, which is why funds have not been allocated until now.
Next on the council's agenda is an item to accept an offer from The Pantry, Inc., for $630,000 for the sale of more than four acres near 808 W. Grantham St. The company made a bid deposit of $31,500 during the bidding process of the property sale.
Also on the agenda is an item authorizing an extra $82,000 to be allocated to the city's Berkeley Boulevard widening project. This is for the purchasing of 1813 N. Berkeley Blvd., which sits along the widening project route.
The city initially offered the property owner $78,000 for the property, but has negotiated with the owners for a final price of $160,000. The money will be allocated from the general fund.
Also on the consent agenda is an item to adopt the city's recent revision to its nepotism policy.
Prior to the policy change, the city's policy read that the employment of any person into a permanent position who is immediate family of the city's mayor, mayor pro-tem, a council member, the city manager, finance director, human resources director, city clerk or city attorney is prohibited.
The revision to the policy prohibits the hiring of any immediate family member of the aforementioned positions, but removed the prohibition on hiring relatives of the city's finance director and city clerk.
The revision also removed the requirement that if a family member of a current employee of the city is elected to the city council that the family member would have to resign within six months of his or her family member being elected to the council.
The policy, even with updates, still states that no department heads can hire family members into positions where they would need to supervise their family members.
The city council's work session begins at 5 p.m. in Room 206 of the city hall annex. The regularly scheduled meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the council chambers.