The Hope Mills Board of Commissioners held a special meeting at 5 p.m. Monday ahead of their regular meeting at 7 p.m. The special meeting was for the newly seated commissioners to receive an overview of municipal finance and municipal law from the town’s finance director, Drew Holland, and town attorney, Dan Hartzog.
It was the first regular town hall meeting for the newly elected commissioners and the last board meeting of 2025.
During the regular meeting, the board honored former Commissioner Joanne Scarola. Scarola was absent from the previous meeting due to illness when the board honored the outgoing commissioners.
Scarola told CityView she definitely plans to run for office again.
“I’m not going anywhere. I’m still going to be involved in the community. I just have to wait two years to run again,” Scarola said.
After a presentation to the board by Faith Hatton, associate publisher and editor for the Greater Fayetteville Business Journal, the board voted unanimously to purchase a half-page ad in the Journal’s yearly publication for $1,497.
Also during the regular meeting, the board swore in three new police officers: Lauren Lockart-Peoples, Tony Tyndall, and Kimberly Wilhoit.
Under new business, the board considered and approved budget amendment #13 for the Parks and Recreation Department in the amount of $25,000. The funds were for the purchase of Brightly Asset Management software to handle management and work orders related to routine maintenance, facility repairs, and fleet management.
Mayor Jessie Bellflowers told the new board members that this budget item for Parks and Recreation had been agreed upon during their budget retreat in April 2023 but was inadvertently left out of the final budget due to an error.
“We had a lot going on last year, and it was a very difficult year with the budget. Hopefully it won’t be as difficult this year,” Bellflowers said.
Before the vote, Parks and Recreation Director Lamarco Morrison informed the board the reason for the amendment.
“For whatever reason, the $25,000—though it was approved—was not put into contract services. So, before we have a deficit in that account, we just want to make it right and put $25,000 into that account to pay for what we are already using. The good thing about that is we are not dipping into the general fund; we are taking surplus funds we have already made in revenue on top of what our targets were,” Morrison said.
Morrison also informed the board that staff have found a new company with work-order software for $12,000. “So we’ll cut that in half for next year’s budget,” Morrison said.
The board’s next meetings are scheduled for Monday, January 5, in Town Hall: a special meeting at 5 p.m. where commissioners will hear presentations on planning, zoning, and code enforcement, followed by the regular meeting at 7 p.m.
