The Spring Lake Board of Aldermen discussed requiring giving notice to town residents ahead of utility installation work at its regularly scheduled work session on Monday night.
The board also discussed a pay study for town staff to make vacant positions more comparable to other similar municipalities.
Discussion on resident notification for utility work in neighborhoods
What happened: Town staff and aldermen have received numerous complaints since October about the installation of fiber optic cable in the Deerfield subdivision. The complaints were mostly related to a lack of advance notice, according to Alderman Raul Palacios.
Palacios brought the matter to the board for discussion as installation work is set to begin by Lamberts Cable Splicing Company LLC in other neighborhoods. Project Supervisors Randy Thompson and Ethan McLamb were in the audience to answer questions.
Thompson said that their company had permits approved by the town, but they were not required to inform residents of the work in their yards.
He also said that in the past, employees installing cable have experienced threats of violence when they’ve attempted to inform residents about upcoming installations.
“We’ve had guns pulled on us. We’ve had people threaten us. We’ve had people call the law to us. We get a lot of backlash by hanging door hangers [that inform residents of the work],” Thompson said.
He added that one Spring Lake resident had threatened them to not come onto his property, which halted the project for his area of the neighborhood.
Mayor Kia Anthony, who lives in Deerfield, said residents were likely looking for courtesy and notice, citing her own personal experiences and desire to be informed.
She said the installation work’s weekend and evening hours added to her concerns.
“No one wants to hear banging and clanking on the weekend,” Anthony said.
Thompson said that most of his crew workers are from out of the state and out of the country, and had been staying in hotels, so the crew wanted to work seven days a week.
Interim Town Manager Jason Williams said the permits issued were for a year and Thompson needs to tell the town where and when the crew will be working.
“I don’t know how many phone calls she got, I got, they got, about tearing up people’s yards,” Williams said referring to his office, the town clerk and the board. “It was crazy. We like you being here. We want to work with you. But we need to know where your crews are and what they are doing. That way PD [the police department] knows what is happening and we are all on the same page as a town.”
Palacios said while the step was not required in the permits, it would be appreciated by residents.
Why it matters: The change regarding installation notice will lead to faster Internet service in Spring Lake, Thompson said. Town officials asked that all work be communicated to town staff and residents.
What’s next: Lamberts Cable Splicing will be installing fiber optic cable in the remaining parts of Spring Lake and Fort Liberty. The Deerfield subdivision has been completed, but the work has not started in other neighborhoods, including Woodland West, Holly Hills and Laketree.
Discussion of proposed policy amendments and resolutions
What happened: Mayor Pro Tem Sona Cooper introduced three resolutions as a part of her work 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 explained that the resolutions, which need to be approved by the federal advocacy committees, must be ratified by at least one member municipality — in this case, Spring Lake — before it can be submitted for the NLC policy handbook.
Two of the resolutions fall under the NLC’s Community and Economic Development Federal Advocacy Committee. One of the resolutions supports 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 falls under the Energy, Environment and Natural Resources Federal Advocacy Committee, which focuses on energy consumption, environmental protection and natural resource management issues, according to Cooper.
Why it matters: The benefit of the town passing the NLC resolutions would be to support community and economic development as well as outdoor recreation — and possibly open funding on a national level for the town to request at a later time.
“I am so glad that you brought this to our attention,” Anthony said. “We have not had a position focused on economic development for two and a half years. We are a distressed community and have lost a lot businesses before and during Covid. Until we are able to staff that position, we can support this [effort] on a national level.”
What’s next: The resolutions will go before the board for adoption at their next regular meeting.
Audit committee update
Spring Lake police department fundraising update
The next regularly scheduled meeting will be at 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 12, in the Grady Howard conference room at the Spring Lake Town Hall.
Jami McLaughlin can be reached at jmclaughlin@cityviewnc.com or 910-391-4870.
