The Spruce Pine Town Council voted last week to approve a resolution asking the North Carolina Department of Transportation to keep N.C. Highway 226 in Grassy Creek on the list for its State Transportation Improvement Program.
Council Member Beth Holmes noted that having a broad base of support from the town, Mitchell County, and members of the public is necessary to stay on the list and avoid being bumped to a lower ranking, and that this resolution will make clear that Spruce Pine is in favor of making the highway wider.
“We’re number 9 on the list for a three-lane from here (Spruce Pine Town Hall) to the (Blue Ridge) Parkway,” Council Member Rocky Buchanan said.
Holmes said the county government and the Mitchell County Economic Development Commission are both working on garnering the support needed to demonstrate to NCDOT that making 226 wider is something that the Mitchell community wants.
S&W Services contract
The council voted to approve a contract with S&W Services.
The contract mainly deals with services already rendered to the town of Spruce Pine in the wake of Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm after slowing down over land). Town Manager Daniel Stines said that the most significant assistance provided by S&W was water pumps used to fill in gaps in the town’s damaged infrastructure.
Stines said that there will likely be a number of other occasions when the council needs to approve contracts for services that have already been performed, owing to the chaotic nature of disaster recovery.
Having these contracts executed correctly could help the town with obtaining reimbursements from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
“There’s going to be a little bit of a trend here, because there were a few of those done under the exigent circumstances periods with the storm, and these are more or less going to be housekeeping measures to just make sure we’ve got things (correctly settled) not only for procurement/state reasons but also FEMA reasons,” Stines said. “So it’s a little retroactive cleanup, but it’s still for the good of the town and the good of being up and legal.”
At this point in the meeting Mayor Phillip Hise interjected to point out that in the aftermath of the storm, he had issued a proclamation declaring the town to be in a state of exigent circumstances, allowing it to conduct business more quickly to address the emergency, and that declaration was never rescinded.
Town Attorney Chad Donahoo said that he would make sure there is a resolution for the council to vote on ending this state of emergency at a future meeting.
Fall prevention
Buchanan announced that the High Country Area Agency on Aging has secured funding to help elderly people avoid falls in their homes.
“If you know of someone that could possibly fall — the only stipulation is that they be over 60 years old — it doesn’t matter if they’re renting (or owning) a house,” Buchanan said. “That will help them to stay in their house longer.”
Buchanan said the agency can spend up to $5,000 on improvements to a home for fall prevention.
“It could be nothing more than bringing their pots and pans down to the handicap level,” he said.
The High Country Area Agency on Aging can be reached at (866) 219-3643 or (828) 265-5434.