Mariel Williams
editor@mitchellnews.com
The Mitchell County Board of Commissioners appointed Jessie Presnell as County Tax Collector and Sandra Burleson as Deputy Tax Collector at a recent meeting.
Commissioner Brandon Dean Pitman nominated Presnell to serve as tax collector, and Commissioner Steve Pitman nominated Burleson. Both were approved unanimously.
The board also reappointed Allen Cook to his existing position of county manager.
“Everybody’s so happy you’re still here,” Board Chair Harley Masters said after the reappointment was put to a vote.
Mavis Parsley was also reappointed as finance officer, and Blair Hyder was reappointed tax assessor.
“I’ll stay if you stay,” Cook jokingly said to Parsley after her reappointment.
Playground at Gouge Elementary
Masters said that members of the community have expressed concerns about the playground at Gouge Elementary School. Cook said that county employees checked out the playground equipment and determined that it should be replaced.
“Probably in the next two months you’ll see a new playground out there, folks,” Cook said. “So your kids will not have any rusty spots that they might get tetanus off of or anything.”
Cook said it was a “very good call to bring that to our attention.”
Duke Power easement revision
The board approved a request from Duke Energy to revise an agreement to allow the company an easement at the Mitchell-Yancey Landfill. Cook noted that the landfill is located in Yancey County but Mitchell County shares ownership of the property.
“Duke Power’s moving their lines through that property to better serve clients,” Cook said. “They moved it closer to the roadside rather than take it across the middle of the property.”
Cook noted that he and County Attorney Four Eggers had had some concerns about Duke Energy’s proposed use of support wires at this location.
“The proposal you have in front of you does allow them to place guy wires outside of the easement area,” Eggers said. “The width of this easement is a 30-foot-wide easement and it allows them to have guy wires outside that 30-foot area. As I understand it that’s generally a cost factor for them that allows them to use a longer but cheaper gauge wire as opposed to a more robust yet shorter wire to secure the poles.”
Cook recommended approving the revision.
“I think the benefit far outweighs anything that would be a detriment,” he said.
Commissioner Steve Pitman initially made a motion to approve the revision, but Commissioner Brandon Pittman said he might want to take more time to consider the issue.
“I have a little bit of hesitation,” Pittman said. “Has Yancey approved this already?”
After Cook said the Yancey County government has already approved a similar revision, Pittman seconded the motion which was approved unanimously.
Later in the meeting, Cook noted that a number of people in the county have struggled with power outages and he has been discussing the problem with Duke Energy representatives.
“We’ve got a lot of power outages and they’re coming to the table, bringing an engineer,” Cook said. “If you have issues with Duke Power, let me know and I’ll voice them.”
Masters said Cane Creek in particular has had problems with power.
“Yes, they already gave me the discussion points for the Cane Creek area — a tree had fell, and then it fell again,” Cook replied.
Employee of the Month
The board also honored Shana Jenkins as the county’s June Employee of the Month. Jenkins is the adult protective services supervisor for the Department of Social Services.
“Shana always steps up to meet the needs of the agency even though that means extra work for her,” Cook said.