Up & Coming Weekly

May 16, 2023

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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8 UCW MAY 17 - 23, 2023 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM e Spring Lake Board of Alder- men has applied for a rural trans- formation grant to revitalize Main Street, the board said at its May 8 meeting at Town Hall. Mayor Kia Anthony also an- nounced that the N.C. Local Government Commission is in full support of the town seeking the funding and that the town is capable of properly overseeing the award for downtown development. at is a turnaround from when the commission took control of the town's finances amid concerns of budget deficits, fiscal disarray, and missing money. "As you know, we are under Local Government control, and we have been since October 2021. While we were writing this grant (applica- tion), we needed to get approval from the LGC to apply for funding. Not only did they give us approval, but they also gave us a glowing let- ter of support," said Anthony. Susan Edmundson, secretary of the Local Government Commis- sion and a deputy treasurer of the state and local government finance division of the Department of the State Treasurer, submitted the letter of support on behalf of the Local Government Commission. In the letter, she wrote that the commission has worked closely with the board and town officials to improve the town's budget disci- pline and business practices. Edmundson reported that the town is in a much better fiscal posi- tion and the finance staff is working toward a positive audit, expected to be complete by late summer. e town is seeking $478,000 for downtown revitalization efforts through the North Carolina Depart- ment of Commerce. ose efforts include curb and gutter improve- ments, pedestrian walkways/side- walks, gateway signage, landscape improvements and moving utility lines underground. e project is expected to take two to five years to complete and will have multiple phases. is is the initial application for the first phase. e town plans to submit more applications over the next few years to complete the project. New police officers In other news, Police Chief Dysoaneik Spellman introduced four new police officers including Detective Antoinette Hurtt and pa- trol Officers Cornell Causey, Malik Passmore and Paulo Paulo. "We have been filling vacancies and slowly but surely have been chipping away at it," said Spellman as he introduced each officer to the board. Interim Town Manager Jason Williams, who also is the town's fire chief, lauded Spellman for hiring the new officers. "People are feeling safer in Spring Lake," said Williams. Williams added that the town is working with national phone service T-Mobile to mount cameras to help with crime prevention and record illegal dumping. e board also gave unanimous support to create a special events committee to work with depart- ments including fire inspections, medical services, police, vendor permits, traffic services, solid waste, street maintenance and health inspections. One of the first events the com- mittee will coordinate is First Friday on Main Street. e town is also planning two more events through the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee. e Spring Lake Veterans Day cer- emony will be held at 11 a.m. May 26 at Spring Lake Veterans Park at Main and Ruth streets. Alderman Marvin Lackman said the committee is looking to host a Veterans Day ceremony to serve the community's growing veteran population on Nov. 5 at Spring Lake Recreation Center. He said the com- mittee is seeking veterans service organizations to participate. e next regularly scheduled work session of the town board is scheduled for 6 p.m. May 22. Spring Lake board pursuing Main Street revitalization by JAMI MCLAUGHLIN, CityView Today NEWS JAMI MCLAUGHLIN, CityView Today. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly. com. 910-484-6200.

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