BY DEBBIE PAGE
David Saleeby urged the Troutman Town Council to allow installation of some type of speed calming measures near the J. Hoyt Haynes Memorial Troutman Library at the Monday afternoon agenda briefing.
Saleeby, who has lived on Brown Street across from the library since 1975, worries about the frequent speeding around the library area because of the large number of children and teens who walk to the facility for library programming, to meet study groups, or check out materials.
Saleeby said many youths are in the area on a regular basis, especially during summer reading programs, with some darting in street, and walk to the library from all directions. Saleeby urged the council to consider their safety, especially in light of the fact that many residents use the area streets as a cut-through.
Though some council members in the past expressed concerns about possible hindrance to fire trucks, ambulances and snow plows, Saleeby said Troutman Fire and Rescue Chief Wesley Morris had no concerns.
He also brought Iredell County EMS Director Blair Richey to answer council members’ questions. In response to council questions, Richey said the EMS ambulance drivers prefer the wider hump calming measures as less jarring to patients and equipment. The split ones in Mooresville are fine, which the drivers can straddle.
Country Boy’s Chris Cartner, who has the town’s snow plow contract, prefers the wider, gently rising speed humps with warning preview and exact location signs to alert plow drivers.
Saleeby reviewed different calming devices for the council, including narrow and jolting speed bumps, intersection tables (raised intersections with four-way stop) such as the one at Church and Brown streets, and marked speed humps, such as the one near Pellegrino’s Trattoria on Lytton Street.
He displayed engineering drawings to show hump elevations, grades, and widths. He also included drawings of signage, both warning signs and signage at the hump location. Saleeby noted that Mooresville has split speed humps throughout the city, with the cuts facilitating rainwater flow, such as those near Walmart.
Saleeby said these devices work at slowing drivers down and increase pedestrian safety. He said the humps can range from four to twelve feet and peak at a height of four inches, which does not cause vehicular damage nor interfere with emergency vehicles or snow plows.
He urged the council to take a proactive approach before someone gets injured or worse and concluded the presentation by asking for a calming device near the utility poles on Brown Street.
Town Manager Ron Wyatt spoke with the library’s branch manager, who recalled numerous incidents dangerous to kids and is in support of adding traffic calming measures in the area.
Wyatt also said the anticipated library expansion at some point will create even more traffic.
Mayor Pro Tem Paul Henkel asked how much the police department has been been involved in controlling speed in the area. Chief Josh Watson said no crashes have been reported in the area since 2010.
Henkel was also concerned if the town allows a calming measure in one place, it must be equitable to others who ask. Residents of West Avenue, also near the library, have asked for them asked previously.
“We don’t want to see anybody hurt, but we must see if it is true need and what degree of device do we need. We may have to fall back on officers and speed-monitoring devices. I’m looking for consistency — why do it for one area and not another?” said Henkel.
Council member Eddie Nau asked about moving the speed trailer to the area. Chief Watson agreed and said officers can also conduct a traffic study in the area.
Wyatt said a four-way stop and speed table on West Avenue may help. He also said a focus on issuing speeding and stop sign violations on Brown Street and West Avenue will help spread the word to slow down.
Mayor Teross Young agreed that these suggestions might be might be good first steps. He also asked for cost estimates for these calming measures.
Young noted the town needed to add warning and hump signs to existing ones to help slow traffic and warn snow plows of the humps’ location.
Wyatt is only aware of three humps in town now. He was not against adding more but emphasized the need need to be fair and consistent in addressing requests. He also suggested officers use radar guns to surprise speeders and work on reducing speeds.
BUDGET VOTE COMING IN JUNE
Wyatt reminded council members of the upcoming town budget vote next month. He said members could come in an hour early on Thursday night if they have any last minute questions.
Finance Director Justin Mundy is still crunching a few numbers before he can present the budget. He said only minor changes have occurred since the budget retreat, including the addition of exact instead of estimated insurance expenses since he once got the numbers last week.
Mundy is still looking for looking for more money in the budget to save toward a future town hall facility. Wyatt hopes to set $1.55 million aside toward the future project, and Mundy is still $300,000 short of that goal right now.
Mundy said he will send a copy of the budget to council members tomorrow.
The budget will be posted on the town’s website and available in hard copies at Town Hall for citizen review before the June vote.
MAYOR RECEIVES AWARD
Henkel congratulated Young on his recently receiving the NC Retail Merchants Association’s Luther Moore Excellence in Governmental Relations Award. In addition to being Troutman’s mayor, Young is vice president for government affairs for Retail Business Services, LLC in Salisbury and advocates for both retail businesses and municipalities with N.C. legislators.
NCRMA is a non-profit association that was organized in 1902 to improve the business climate for retail merchants in our state. NCRMA’s membership include more than 25,000 stores from across North Carolina that represent more than 75 percent of retail sales in the state.
Young said he appreciated Henkel’s comments and the award. He thanked Henkel represented for representing the town in a video tribute at the awards ceremony and said he enjoyed working with the NCRMA at the legislature for a number of years.
NEW ORDINANCES COMING INTO EFFECT IN NEXT TWO WEEKS
Mayor Young noted the new sign ordinance regulating feather flags will go into effect soon. Town Planner Lynne Hair said those entities with the flags were notified of the ordinance in a letter several weeks ago, giving them 30 days to get a permit or remove them.
Young noted that he had seen many feather flags at residential developments, and Hair said the code enforcement officer will follow up at the end of the 30-day notice.
Food trucks were also notified of recent ordinance changes and have about two weeks left to comply. Hair said several have come in for the 90-day permits already.
CONCESSION POLICY ADDED TO THURSDAY NIGHT AGENDA
Wyatt added a concession stand policy to the Thursday night agenda for council consideration. He noted MOUs with youth athletic associations had expired expired. The town received a request to operate the concession stand from a retired law enforcement officer with a concession business.
Wyatt said the policy is a good foundation to start from but may need future tweaks. He noted that that part of pavilion will have to be left open for for public use even during rentals.
Council member Jerry Oxsher asked if the concession stand will have a regular opening schedule, to which Wyatt was unsure, saying the three-month contract will involve some trial and error depending on park use and inclement weather.
“We don’t want to handcuff this person and will post notices of hours as developed. We want this to be a service to citizens.”
Mayor Young reminded the council that this operator was not a town employee. Wyatt added that he must have his own insurance.
Council members added a prohibition of alcohol sales except during town events to the proposed policy and changed the $25 clean-up fee per employee per hour to a $25 fine if the park is left unclean by the concession operator.
UPCOMING THURSDAY NIGHT AT COUNCIL MEETING (7 P.M.)
Presentations
♦ Presentation of the 2023 Town of Troutman Citizen of the Year Award to Mary Starks
♦ Presentation of the 2023 Organization of the Year Award to Food Lion of Troutman
♦ Recognition of Austin Waugh as Town of Troutman Employee of the Month
♦ Proclamation 02-23 for the Zion Wesley AME Zion Church 145th Church Anniversary
♦ Proclamation 03-23 for May 2023 as Mental Health Awareness Month
♦ Presentation of Advanced Law Enforcement Certificates to Sgt. Jamie Benge and Sgt. Cameron Jones
Council will consider:
♦ An amended annexation agreement between the Town of Troutman and the Town of Mooresville after a public hearing.
♦ An annexation request by Cynthia Phyler of .57 acres.
♦ An ordinance to amend Town of Troutman Code of Ordinances to address overgrown vegetation.
♦ Approval of approval of the building elevation for a commercial building at 138 Houston Road as recommended by the Design Review Board.
♦ Approval of building elevations for a Food Lion multi-tenant shopping center recommended by the Design Review Board.
♦ Amendment to Town of Troutman Personnel Policy (Policy #54) forbidding an employee taking any type of paid leave during a disciplinary unpaid work suspension period.
♦ Approval to recodify the Town of Troutman Code of Ordinances.
♦ Approval of a Parks and Recreation Concession Stand Policy (Policy #63).