Up & Coming Weekly

December 26, 2018

Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.

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DECEMBER 26, 2018-JANUARY 1, 2019 UCW 19 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Hope Mills News & Views Meetings For details about all meetings and activities, including location where not listed, call Town Clerk Jane Starling at 910-426-4113. Most meetings take place at Town Hall or the Hope Mills Parks and Recreation center. Until the Parks and Recreation building has been repaired following damage from Hurricane Flor- ence, some meetings may be moved to Luther Meeting Room at Town Hall at regular dates and times. ose meetings are noted with an asterisk below. • Board of Commissioners Monday, Jan. 7, 7 p.m., Town Hall, Bill Luther Meeting Room • Festival Committee Monday, Jan. 7, 6 p.m., Town Hall, Front Conference Room • Lake Advisory Committee Tuesday, Jan. 15, 6 p.m., Parks and Recreation Center* Activities For more information on these activities, contact Meghan Hawkins at 910-426-4109. • Hope Mills Area Kiwanis Club at Sammio's, second Tuesdays at noon and fourth Tuesdays at 6 p.m. For details, call 910-237-1240. Promote yourself Email hopemills@upandcomingweekly.com. CALENDAR Here are the top ten sto- ries from Hope Mills this past year as voted by a panel composed of Up & Coming Weekly staff and selected members of the Hope Mills community. 1. Hope Mills Board of Commissioners rejects bid by Lone Survivor Foundation to build facility for veterans on town property. Lone Survivor Foundation, an organization with a national reputation for offer- ing assistance to veterans recovering from issues like post-traumatic stress dis- order, made repeated overtures to the board of com- missioners to purchase town property and build a retreat for the many veterans in the Cumberland County area. Board members became suspicious of the way the offer was presented to the town because it involved a presentation in closed session from Teddy Warner of the Fayetteville Cumberland County Economic Development Corporation. Warner is the son of Hope Mills Mayor Jackie Warner. After multiple attempts to try and con- vince the town to sell the land, the bid by Lone Survivor was rejected. 2. Hope Mills Lake refills early in the year after the long-awaited restoration of the damaged Hope Mills dam. Heavy rains early in the year quickly restored Hope Mills Lake to its former glory after years of sitting empty following the failure of the previously restored Hope Mills dam. 3. Attempt to change term limits for town offi- cials is defeated at polls. Hope Mills Mayor Pro Tem Mike Mitchell led an attempt to increase the term limits of members of the mayor and Hope Mills Board of Commissioners members from two years to four years. During the November election the effort was soundly defeated by a vote of 2,618 to 1,972. It was a resounding indi- cation that Hope Mills will have higher expectations from its elected officials, a good thing for the future. 4. Restored Hope Mills dam survives encoun- ters with two hurricanes. It wasn't long after the Hope Mills dam was restored that it faced a couple major tests to its strength. Hurricanes Florence and Michael struck the town, with Florence in particular leading to dangerously record-high water levels in the lake. To her credit, Mayor Jackie Warner made regular visits to the lake during Florence and posted video updates on her Facebook page to keep town citizens apprised of the dam's status. When the storms were gone, the only major problem reported was damage to the dam's eel ladder. 5. Hope Mills approves, then cancels, an agree- ment with Up & Coming Weekly. Up & Coming Weekly newspaper publisher Bill Bowman, working in conjunction with town management and the 2017 Hope Mills Board of Commissioners, endorsed and won the board's unan- imous approval of a $28,000 partnership that created a local Hope Mills newspaper, community awareness and an initiative to showcase, market and promote Hope Mills throughout Cumberland County. In spite of the weekly publication's acceptance and success, the newly elected 2018 board later soured to the idea and voted unanimously to cancel the pro- gram in spite of its $225,000 advertising value to the town and its people and businesses. 6. The restored Hope Mills Lake hosts variety of events. It did not take long for the town of Hope Mills to celebrate the return of the new lake. In addition to lake traditions like the Fourth of July celebration, events including Church at the Lake and a jazz festival were held. 7. Hope Mills dam wins national award. A Seattle, Washington, organization that recognizes outstanding work in dam building and architecture presented a national award to the restored Hope Mills dam. Town manager Melissa Adams traveled to Seattle to receive the honor on behalf of the town. 8. Mayor Pro Tem Mike Mitchell and Commissioner Meg Larson lead opposition to Mayor Jackie Warner. Mayor Pro Tem Mike Mitchell and newly-elected Commissioner Meg Larson consistently team up to lead a negative coalition of votes against the lead- ership efforts of Mayor Jackie Warner, including attempts to limit Warner's authority as the elected leader of the town. They are continually questioning her motives, which was demonstrated clearly when Lone Survivor Foundation attempted to purchase land for a veterans retreat in the town. 9. Hope Mills Golf Course opened to public despite safety concerns. Commissioners vote to open the former Hope Mills Golf Course to town citizens as a walking trail despite multiple reports indicating town residents don't really desire a new walking trail and evidence that the golf course property is both undeveloped and potentially dangerous if certain areas aren't made safer before the public begins using it. 10. Geese, bacteria create problems at newly- opened lake. The newly-opened Hope Mills Lake isn't without problems initially. Geese have quickly congregated near the lake, and their feces is a likely cause of high bacteria levels when the town has lake water tested. The town temporarily banned swimming in the lake, but allowed it to resume when additional testing indi- cated the bacteria levels dropped to safe limits. Plans to use border collies to help chase the geese from the lake were briefly considered but eventually rejected. Top 10 Hope Mills stories from 2018 a STAFF REPORT Many of this year's top stories involve the newly restored Hope Mills Lake (left, photo by Trey Snipes) and the Hope Mills Board of Commissioners (right).

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