Spruce Pine received an insurance check for storm damage last week, almost a year after flooding hit the town in September 2024.
Town Finance Manager Christy Young announced the payout for damage from Hurricane Helene (downgraded to a tropical storm after slowing down over land) at last week’s Town Council meeting.
“I’ve got good news — as of today, we received the $3 million that we’ve been waiting on for our insurance settlement for the Helene damages,” Young said. “It’s a long time coming.”
Public comment
Local resident Chase Thomas spoke during the public comment period. Thomas said he was concerned about new regulations keeping people from parking overnight on downtown streets, however, Town Manager Daniel Stines explained that the prohibition on overnight parking has been in place for several years, it just has not been enforced.
Thomas said that this is a problem because some Spruce Pine residents, such as his father, have apartments downtown with no designated parking.
Stines said that he would work with the Thomas family after the meeting to resolve the issue.
Police personnel
Police Chief Kasey Cook informed the council that one of his officers is taking a job with the Marshall Police Department. Cook has spoken in the past about the difficulty of finding and keeping officers.
“I am in the process of hopefully filling that spot,” Cook said.
Hellbender Festival
Downtown Director Spencer Bost reported that the first-ever Hellbender Festival went well.
“Vendors were really happy,” Bost said. “Multiple vendors said that if they brought anything hellbender-themed they sold out of all of it.”
Bost said that brick and mortar stores also did well.
“Treasures in the Pines had double their best day ever. Fox and the Fig had double their best day ever,” Bost said. “The Mad Hatter Pizza sold out.