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/1468000
WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM MAY 18 - 24, 2022 UCW 17 information from the commission. • October 5, 2021, after being under investigation by OSA for several months, the LGC voted to finally take over Spring Lake's finances. e LGC cited concerns the town may default on November debt service payments totaling $221,385. e action came two months after the July warning. • March 24, 2022, LGC appoints deputy finance officers in the wake of staff turn- over. • April 6, 2022, e LGC issues a letter to Spring Lake Mayor Kia Anthony and the Board "expressing deep concern over possible lack of compliance with state laws and reluctance to work cooperative- ly with commission staff." Last month, the town hired Joe Dur- ham as interim town manager. For the past eight years, Durham has operated an executive coaching and recruitment service for local governments. Before that, Durham spent years in local govern- ment leadership roles, including deputy manager of Wake County. Spring Lake hired Durham to recruit a town manager after the termination of its last manager, Daniel Geralds. Dur- ham said recruitment was looking bleak. "People were staying in place," he said. So, Durham put recruitment on hold and agreed to step in as the interim town manager until October. His goal, said Durham, is to get the town back on its feet and help the town regain its credibil- ity regarding administering its finances. "e town is in the process of updat- ing many policies relating to financial management. is will represent a com- prehensive rewrite and will be conducted over many months, with items going to the board on a regular basis. e existing policy on credit cards is no town employ- ee has a credit card in his /her possession and must make a request to the town manager each time there is a document- ed need detailing cost and purpose." He goes on to say, "e town has policies and procedures that will have to be developed in response to the audit." Durham said the board created an Audit Committee that will go through each of the audit's findings and recommenda- tions and work to resolve them. e Audit Committee will make monthly reports to the board, the LGC, and the OSA on its progress. e Audit Committee currently consists of two board members and himself, and he suggests perhaps including a citizen or two to enhance transparency. ere is no date or timetable for the LGC to turn over finances back to the town. "We discuss this on an ongoing basis," he said. Once a strong finance director is in place, Durham believes the town can regain control of its finances by the end of the calendar year. COVER STORY As a two-tour combat veteran, Kia Anthony says the one adage that reverberated throughout her seven-year military career was: "If not you, then who?" Anthony never wanted to be a mayor, much less a politician. Seeing what was happening in her adopted town and her desire to be a public servant pushed her to seek political office. She prayed about it and was given the go-ahead, she said. Also, as Anthony explains it, her mother – who often fed and clothed the less fortunate – instilled in her the DNA of public service. e Flint, Michigan native joined the Army in 1999, right out of high school. First, the Army sent her to Korea, then to Fort Bragg's 44th Medical Brigade. Despite her multiple deployments and temporary assignments to other places, Fort Bragg and Spring Lake became her home. She knew little about the details of Spring Lake's finan- cial woes before running for town mayor in 2021. "I knew to the extent citizens were allowed to know," she said. "And that was one of the reasons I felt I needed to run." Although a newcomer to Spring Lake politics, she ran against two strong incumbents: former Alderwomen Fredericka Southerland and Jackie Jackson. Anthony said she didn't have to do too much convincing because the voters were ready for a change. Anthony says she never directly ran against Souther- land and Jackson; instead, she ran against the status quo, and her campaign message promised a "new standard" in town government. She placed campaign signs both in and outside Spring Lake town limits to ensure name recogni- tion. Anthony officially became a Spring Lake resident in 2004. "I bought my house here." She has seen the town's decline, in part because citi- zens played a minimal role in the town's governance. Anthony said she has multiple goals that could help revive Spring Lake's economic vibrancy. "e main thing is to tackle our finances. We've made extreme headway in getting our finances in order. e budget is actually looking good," Anthony said. Anthony chairs the Town's Audit Committee, which is tasked with triaging the recommendations from the 2021 State Auditor's investigation into the town's finances. Other members of the committee include Alderwoman Sonja Cooper and Alderman Raul Palacios. Staff mem- bers on the committee include Interim Town Manager Joe Durham and a Town Finance Department employee. Anthony may add a citizen as an ad hoc member. e meetings are open to the public, she said. Anthony said other goals include relating to younger citizens. Spring Lake's median age is 24.9, and Anthony be- lieves it necessary to reach that demographic stratum through citizen engagement. She also listed business infusion, calling Spring Lake a "diamond in the rough" that is perfectly positioned. Another goal for Anthony is getting Spring Lake's infra- structure up to acceptable standards. "We can't bring in a movie theater, or a bowling alley, or even another housing develop- ment other than the two we have coming in right now. Our water and sewage can't sustain that kind of capacity." Recently, the state Local Government Commission, which currently oversees the town's finances, approved the town's application for a grant to rebuild its water/sewer infrastructure. "Once we do that, we can think about revitalizing our main street," she said. Before thinking about becoming mayor, Anthony said she worked to re-establish the Town's Chamber of Com- merce. She calls that project "critical in injecting life into the business community." e departure of Pope Air Force Base and the undertak- ing of a North Carolina Department of Transportation bridge construction to facilitate I-295 crippled downtown Spring Lake. "We lost almost 40 businesses during the creation of that bridge. is also divided Spring Lake traffic. It devas- tated us here in Spring Lake," she said. e town also lacks affordable housing. Anthony explained that a current housing development on Odell Road consisting of 122 new 2023-model mobile homes is a start. As one of three military veterans on the board, Anthony believes Spring Lake lacks proper military engagement. "at is huge for us here in Spring Lake. We are very con- nected to the military. We have a high veteran population, and we want to make sure they are serviced, and not only veterans but also active duty military and their families," she said. "We don't connect with Fort Bragg as we should even though Spring Lake is the gateway to Fort Bragg. We should be proud of that, and we should capitalize on that," she said. Finally, Spring Lake needs to work on its appearance, she said. e town has an active Appearance Committee chaired by Southerland. "We are all working diligently cleaning up Spring Lake. It's a priority of all of the board members," she said. Now what? A conversation with Spring Lake Mayor Kia Anthony by JASON BRADY Kia Anthony, Spring Lake Mayor (Photo by Jason Brady) JASON BRADY, Staff Writer COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomin- gweekly.com 910-484-6200.