At the most recent town hall meeting on March 11, department heads provide council members with operational updates.
Recreation
Parks and Recreation Department detailed their work in beautifying local parks, including efforts to clean up pinecones and the completion of a new archway at the entrance of Mineral City Mile at Brad Ragan Park. Trail builders are currently developing the new trail between the baseball field and shelter number 4, aimed at hikers and mountain bikers, which will feature a 6-foot wide, smoothed natural surface. Additionally, a new slide has been installed at the pool.
Directional signage for various recreational facilities, including walking trails, pickleball courts, and the dog park, will soon be installed.
Mitchell Giving Gardens at Riverside Park has seen the start of volunteer activities, with an open invitation for compost contributions.
Law enforcement
Spruce Pine Police Department reported a total of 333 calls in February, welcomed the acquisition of new vehicles, and announced the arrival of a new police dog, Thor, a black lab, set to join the force by the end of March. Each officer now has their own vehicle. Addressing government officials, Police Chief Kacey Cook expressed his confidence in the capability of his team.
“I just want you to understand that I have all the confidence in the world in the police officers we have,” said Cook.
“I’m very, very proud of the officers we have, the guys that work underneath me are very professional, they have the training, we make sure of that, but you know I don’t want anybody to lose confidence in them, because they do the job, they do it the right way.
“Everybody we got. And I’m very confident in that. I know right now it’s up and down but just know that we’re going to do our job and we’re going to do it the right way and I’ve got full confidence in every one of them,” he said.
Budget requests
Budget requests have been made to funded external agencies, including the Chamber of Commerce, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Mitchell County Animal Rescue, and the Spruce Pine library, with responses due by April 19.
Water and sewer
Water and sewer updates included the maintenance of two pumps at the river to prevent service disruptions. The public works department reported addressing 131 water calls and completing three water leak repairs.