The Spring Lake Board of Aldermen will discuss how to give residents advance notice of utility work at their Monday work session.
Aldermen will also look at proposed resolutions regarding community development and outdoor recreation at the work session, which begins at 6 p.m. Monday in the Grady Howard conference room at the Spring Lake Town Hall. Here’s a look at what’s ahead:
Discussion on resident notification for utility work in neighborhoods
Alderman Raul Palacios will lead the conversation on town-issued encroachment permits to lay fiber optic lines in the Deerfield subdivision and other neighborhoods. He said he has gotten numerous complaints from residents in Deerfield about not receiving advance notice of the work.
“My understanding is that this utility installation in the Deerfield neighborhood was approved by the state and permits issued by the town,” Palacios said Friday. “The installation had begun in October and I immediately started getting complaints from property owners on social media.”
Palacios said as the installation moved through the yards of property owners, he continued to receive complaints, primarily about a lack of notice when digging would occur in residents’ yards.
“Some citizens state they go in about six feet into their yard, some state the cables block their driveway, one citizen said she almost approached the installers with a gun, but all of them state the main problem is a lack of notice,” Palacios said.
He said the point of discussion was to create awareness about the issue and assure citizens they were being heard.
“I’d like to see if there is a notice requirement we can implement into permit issuances,” Palacios said.
Discussion of proposed policy amendments and resolutions
Another discussion will be led by Mayor Pro Tem Sona Cooper, who serves as a regional director at large for the National Black Caucus of Local Elected Officials (NBC-LEO) with the National League of Cities (NLC). She has served with the NBC-LEO since 2018 and was elected in her current position in 2021.
Cooper will introduce three resolutions as a part of her work on NBC-LEO’s board of directors.
“We are encouraged to create policy amendments and resolutions for the NLC policy handbook and part of that process is to have the resolutions ratified by one municipality,” Cooper said.
The process for getting a policy amendment or resolution published is to have it adopted by a NLC member-city municipality, submit to the NBC-LEO, and then, if it goes through, to submit it to the appropriate federal advocacy committees, Cooper said. Examples of the advocacy committees include youth, education and family, as well as human development.
Two of the resolutions being introduced fall under the Community and Economic Development Federal Advocacy Committee, which an agenda document says refers to “a formal decision or statement made by a government body, such as a city council or a state legislature, regarding initiatives or strategies aimed at improving the economic well-being and social infrastructure of a community.”
One of the resolutions support resources for community navigators to assist local entrepreneurs in accessing credit and Small Business Administration-backed loans, while another resolution supports a national agenda to invest in housing opportunities and end homelessness.
A third resolution is under the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Federal Advocacy Committee, which covers issues related to energy consumption, environmental protection and the sustainable management of natural resources, according to Cooper.
“The third resolution is for the support of the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Program, which improves parks, particularly in low income or disadvantaged areas,” she said. “We are asking approval for Outdoors for All, which ensures that outdoor recreation is accessible and inclusive for everyone.”
Other items on the agenda include a proclamation for Black History Month and a Special Olympics fundraising update from Sgt. Mack Utley of the Spring Lake Police Department.
To keep CityView Today going and to grow our impact even more, we’re asking our committed readers to consider becoming a member.
