Fremont changes meeting time
By Joey Pitchford
Published in News on July 21, 2016 1:46 PM
FREMONT -- Meeting times and trash can collection were a few of the issues the Fremont Board of Aldermen tackled at its monthly meeting Tuesday night.
The board began by formally adopting a resolution closing two railroad crossings in town that had been deemed dangerous. The crossings at East North Street and East South Street are to be closed permanently at no cost to the town. At a previous meeting, the board discussed how the steep angle of the crossings had caused multiple tractor-trailers to become stuck while trying to get over them, and it was through sheer luck that none of them had yet been hit by a train.
The board then passed a motion which changed the time of board meetings to 6:30 p.m., moving them forward an hour from their regular 7:30 time slot. The proposal to move the time was originally brought up at the June meeting by finance officer Shameshia Fennell, who told the board that she and several other town staff members who lived in Goldsboro were having a difficult time with the two-and-a-half hour waiting period between getting off of work and coming to the board meetings. That time frame, she said, was too short to justify going home before the meeting but also long enough as to be a nuisance for the staff. She asked the board to consider moving the meetings up to reduce that period of down time.
Alderwoman Annie Lewis made the motion to change the time, saying that she was concerned for the safety of the women working at Town Hall. She said that even living in Fremont she did not like driving at night, and wanted to cut down on risk for the town employees who live out of town.
Mayor Pro Tem W.T. Smith voted against the motion, citing concerns that some people would not be able to attend the earlier meetings because of work responsibilities. Smith, who owns and operates the Capitol Cafe in Fremont, said that he himself would likely be unable to attend a meeting every so often due to being needed at his business.
In the end, the motion was approved 4-1.
The board also discussed a complaint related to a local farmer hooking a hose up to a fire hydrant to water his crops. The board clarified that the town sells water to farmers and installs meters on the hydrants they use, so no illegal activity had occurred.
Lastly, the board discussed the growing problem of garbage cans being left in the street after garbage pickup. Town ordinances state that garbage cans must be returned to the home after pick up, but several board members said that they had received complaints of cans being left in the road. In one case, cars had to swerve around a can left close to the middle of the road, Alderwoman Joyce Artis said.
The board considered options such as citations and fines for those who fail to return their garbage cans, but decided that letting Fremont police speak with people if their cans are not returned would be a gentler approach. If that does not solve the issue, fines and citations could come into play.