Mariel Williams
editor@mitchellnews.com
Dozens of Mitchell residents came out for a community meeting in Bakersville Thursday, to hear updates on hurricane recovery.
The gathering, billed as a “town-hall” meeting, answered questions that community members had submitted previously, rather than having members of the audience step up to ask questions as in a more traditional town-hall meeting.
A number of local government and business leaders were available to answer the questions, including Spruce Pine’s Interim Town Manager Richard Canipe, Mitchell County Building Inspector Dillon Phillips, Gary Hyatt (overseeing debris issues for Mitchell), Jennifer Bennett of Duke Energy, County Manager Allen Cook and Jeff Harding, chairman of the Mitchell County Board of Commissioners.
Kelly Jones, director of the Tourism Development Authority, served as moderator of the event.
Communications
The first question Jones read related to the current status of Frontier Communications repairs. Many Frontier customers in this area still do not have phone or internet services at their homes, a particular problem in an area where there are a lot of cellular service “dead zones” even during good times.
Frontier did not send a representative to the meeting, but Jones read a statement from the company in response to the question, stating that the company hopes to have major repairs done by the end of January.
Debris
In response to a question about debris, Sonny Sims of Southern Disaster Recovery clarified that private property debris removal has not started in Mitchell County yet, but there is debris removal happening in gated communities if — and only if — the community in question fills out paperwork allowing the debris workers to come in past the gate.
Hyatt noted that if property owners are in a hurry to clean up debris and have the means to haul it out themselves, they can still take it to the landfill for free.
“Nothing has changed at the landfill … [there’s] no tipping fee,” Hyatt said. “But when this private property debris removal comes, you’ll have to fill out forms.”
However, Hyatt noted, the landfill is not taking logs and brush, only trash and remnants of demolished buildings.
“Put all your woody … debris on the state [road] right of way,” Sims said.
Scams
Cook warned audience members to be wary of scam artists coming into the county offering to “help.” He recommended working with volunteer organizations registered with the state as Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster.
Cook estimated that of the volunteers coming into the region, “90 percent have a heart of gold.” However, he expressed concern that the remaining 10 percent may do a lot of harm.
Cook suggested that those who need volunteer help contact the county’s Volunteer Reception Center at (828) 660-0818.
Phillips suggested that, even when dealing with volunteers, storm victims should only accept skilled labor help from contractors and tradesmen licensed to work in North Carolina, because they will be more familiar with North Carolina building codes and more likely to do work that will pass local inspection.
High emotions
In closing remarks, Harding encouraged all present to be gracious to each other in hard times.
“We … faced a situation that no one has ever seen in our county — total devastation,” Harding said. “I know a lot of you are frustrated — I am frustrated. I’m frustrated from the personal side, I’m frustrated from the business side.”
Harding said that he was initially optimistic that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would help local business owners reopen, but he was later disappointed to learn that most business assistance would come in the form of low-interest loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Harding noted that for older business owners, a long-term loan — even with very low interest — will commit them to staying in business past retirement age. On the other hand, younger business owners frequently already have as much debt as they can handle.
Harding said that there is a need to find a way to get Mitchell’s business community back on its feet by the time tourist season starts in the spring.
“We realize that this is going to be a long recovery, but it can’t be a long recovery,” he said.
Harding encouraged community members to keep helping each other throughout this process.