BY STACIE LETT CAIN
The Mooresville Town Board recognized Cavin-Cook Funeral Home & Crematory for a century of service to the community on Monday, and Mayor Chris Carney honored the current owner for a lifetime of dedication to the town.
“Mike Cook is truly one of the kindest, most generous members of this community,” Carney said prior to the reading of a proclamation in honor of Cavin-Cook Funeral Home & Crematory. “I cannot tell you how much I thank you, I know the citizens thank you, this board thanks you. The Town of Mooresville is a better place because you are here. The respect you pay to everyone in some of their toughest times of their lives, making it easier on them — you are truly a great man and your staff is fantastic and we thank you.”
Cavin-Cook was established in 1925 by J.P. Cavin. Mike Cook was hired when he was in high school and began working there full-time in 1973. By 1995, he was the sole proprietor. Instead of changing the name, he just added his own to the legacy he hoped to continue.
“It’s been an honor to stand here today, and it’s been an honor to be a part of the Cavin organization,” Cook said upon accepting the proclamation. “It goes back a long way, but it’s been an honor to be a part of this community, having grown up here and doing what I truly believe God called me to do. I want to thank the board and the mayor for this honor. If nobody has told you today that they love you, I’m telling you that Mike Cook and my staff, we love you and we appreciate you.”
N.C. Main Street Conference
Town Manager Tracy Jerome updated the board on the recent North Carolina Main Street Conference, which was hosted this year by the Town of Mooresville.
“We want to celebrate the great success of the N.C. Main Street Conference,” Jerome explained. “It was an honor to welcome over 800 attendees to the lovely, historic Mooresville downtown. It was an amazing exchange of ideas and information. It was great to celebrate Mooresville and the importance of a downtown and what that means to a community and how we can continue to expand our efforts to grow as a community.”
During the conference, Mooresville’s Liberty Park won an the award for best outdoor space improvement. The award recognizes innovative projects that enhance preservation efforts, celebrate cultural heritage and create spaces that build community.
OTHER BUSINESS
In other business:
♦ Commissioners voted to update the town’s stormwater ordinance, combining two chapters to accommodate changes in N.C. state statute. Revisions include new language requiring escrow accounts for owners of Stormwater Control Measures (SCMs) instead of one-time payments and establishing civil penalties for illicit discharge of materials into stormwater drains. It also allows for not only a grievance procedure, but also adds a variance feature, which it did not have before. The board approved the changes unanimously.
♦ The board also approved a rezoning request for the property located at 171 W. Waterlynn Road, as well as the property’s annexation into the town limits. The property, slated to be a Prodigy Learning Center, was rezoned to Mooresville Conditional-Corridor Mixed (C-CM) from Residential – Low Intensity (R-LI).
No one attended a neighborhood meeting and the commission approved both requests, with Commissioner Gary West being the only member in opposition. The 12,000-square-foot building will be an early learning center that utilizes an educational philosophy that focuses on children’s potential for development and learning through exploration, interaction and collaboration, using the children’s interests, abilities and the environment to encourage their growth and learning.