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.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1454211
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM FEBRUARY 23 - MARCH 1, 2022 UCW 9 Cumberland County lifted the indoor mask mandate this past Sunday. is comes after the Cumberland County School Board of Educa- tion voted to lift their mask mandate earlier this month. e mask mandate for the county went into place on Aug. 27 when the Delta Variant of CO- VID-19 was rising in the county. However, the latest data shows Cumberland County's positiv- ity rate has decreased from 37.8% on Jan. 31, to 25.5% on Feb. 15. e Cumberland County De- partment of Public Health says that the number continues to decline. "e COVID-19 landscape looks different than it did two years ago. We know what works and what stops the spread of COVID-19," said Dr. Jen- nifer Green, Cumberland County Public Health Director. "Masks remain an effective strategy for preventing the spread of COVID-19. Despite the recension of this formal order, we continue to recommend masking in public indoor spaces, particularly and in settings with lower vaccina- tion rates." Masks will still be required in all Cumberland County government buildings, including the Cumberland County Department of Pub- lic Health and the Judge E. Maurice Braswell Cumberland County Courthouse. Residents should continue to comply with mask require- ments in businesses, healthcare and long-term facilities, educational settings, and other institu- tions as appropriate. e Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Order requires face masks to be worn by all people at indoor transportation hubs and while on public transportation, including school buses and vans, remains in place. City Council defers investigation to Ethics Commission Following backlash after City Council's last vote to not have an external investigation into the allegations brought up by former Councilwoman Tisha Waddell, the council revisited the idea Monday. Feb. 14. Councilman D.J. Haire, one of the council members that voted against the external inves- tigation earlier this month, brought the allega- tions back up. He motioned for the letter Waddell wrote to be submitted to the Ethics Commission to investigate. Mayor Pro-Tem Kathy Jensen said that the deci- sion change was from the audit committee inves- tigating it to the ethics commission investigating the allegations. However, Councilmember Yvonne Kinston clarified that the audit committee would never explore the allegations; instead, it motioned the council to discuss a possible external investi- gation. e City Council voted unanimously for the Ethics Commission to investigate the allegations. Mayor Mitch Colvin was not present at the meet- ing. For a full list of the allegations, visit UpAnd- ComingWeekly.com. Spring Lake reverts to old website to comply with ADA, losing $57K e Spring Lake Board of Aldermen discussed issues with the town's new website last week. After years of development, in December, Spring Lake moved to a new website, www.townofspring- lake.com. Alderman Raul Palacios addressed vari- ous issues with the website, such as grammatical errors, broken links and its not being compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act Compli- ance — a requirement for government websites. e town paid around $57,673 over the past three years on a "poorly developed" website that has yielded complaints from citizens, towns of- ficials and business owners. Palacios believes the previous board pushed through the new website without reviewing all the details. He reviewed sev- eral proposals from reputable web developers for municipal websites with costs averaging around $30,000 for a website. To renovate the town's cur- rent webpage would cost $3,000 to $6,000. Palacios and Alderwoman Sona Cooper sug- gested that the town cut its losses with Vision Quest Venture LLC, the current developer and go back to the previous website created by Biz Tools in 2006, www.spring-lake.org. is move will save the city around $3,600 an- nually. "e website has a lot of issues, we constantly get complaints about people not being able to pay water bills, complaints about not being able to sign up for rec[reation] events or programs," said Cooper. "I believe the best thing to do is to revert back to our old website." e council raised some concern about the $57,000 loss to the town. "In my opinion we should cut our losses and run," said Palacios. "We need a compliant website for Americans with disabilities." According to Attorney Catherine Bama, if the board wants to try to recoup any money, the town would have to take legal action. Fayetteville considers hiking trash fees Residents could see an increase in their trash collection costs as city officials are in discussions to increase the fee incrementally over the next few years. e current solid-waste service, which collects trash and recyclables curbside, costs $225 annually. e fee, which fully funds the operation, is included within the city's property taxes. City officials are proposing a gradual increase in the coming years — $245 in 2023, $275 in 2025 and $282 in 2027, according to city documents. is would result in an overall increase of more than 25% for residents over the next five years. e increase would allow for the city's solid- waste service to build up a positive balance to cover operating costs for 30 to 90 days, allowing for more sustainability during unexpected events, Fayetteville Budget Director Kelly Olivera told Carolina Public Press. "A modest increase in fees would create a situ- ation where the self-supporting solid-waste fund carries a balance that could support unexpected changes like natural disasters or threats to public health, welfare and safety," she said. "A positive fund balance would allow service de- livery to continue uninterrupted without significant impact to other city services and programs." An administrative report detailing the fee in- creases was presented to the City Council during a meeting Monday. e council unanimously voted to continue discussion of the possible increases at its next meeting. Two other municipalities in Cumberland County, Hope Mills and Spring Lake, provide trash collec- tion to residents. Both charge more than the current Fayetteville rate. Hope Mills bills $250.80 annually, or $20.90 a month. Spring Lake charges the most at $307 a year, well above the level Fayetteville is consider- ing charging its solid-waste customers after the proposed series of increases. Cumberland County mask mandate lifted by HANNAH LEE, JESSICA MAY, & BEN SESSOMS NEWS DIGEST