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Serving Princeton, Rosewood, Brogden, E. Johnston Co., W. Wayne Co., North Carolina |
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Princeton Board takes over inspectionsBy Barry Merrill 8 August 2007 — The Princeton Town Board voted to “take back” some work they have been contracting out Monday night. In the one split vote of the night, the board voted to cautiously begin running building inspections, with a target date of January 1. The board also voted to take on some of the minor water and sewer repair work that the town had been contracting with Envirolink for. On the inspections issue, Town Administrator Marla Ashworth offered a proposed budget for the costs and revenues which suggested the town could easily cover the additional costs adopting the current (county) rates for building inspections. Commissioner Billy Sutton voiced objection, as he felt the town was trying to take on too much. When asked, Mrs. Ashworth shared she was concerned that the staff could effectively add those responsibilities with the other priorities. When asked for a date when she felt they could be ready, she volunteered January 1. Commissioner Walter Martin shared that he was also concerned about the staff being ready to add the responsibilities. Brenda Williams is the part-time clerk whose hours would be increased to handle the additional responsibilities. She is expected to attend classes so she can effectively administer the paperwork on inspections. Mr. Martin suggested another town employee also attend the classes. Commissioner Eddie Haddock asked how inspections would be covered when C.P. Thompson, who the town expects to contract with for the actual inspections, is on vacations or sick? Mayor Don Rains offered that the Town of Four Oaks, who Mr. Thompson also contracts for, was given another name recently when Mr. Thompson was on vacation if they absolutely needed an inspection while he was gone. Mr. Sutton suggested that they wait until the questions were all answered, but Mayor Rains countered that they had time to work out the problems, and suggested if the town staff was not comfortable with the January 1 date further into the preparations the board could always delay implementation. He also lobbied strongly that offering that service locally would be a major boost to making Princeton “growth friendly” and enhance the services offered by the town, one most citizens expect the town to offer. One of the board member asked if for some reason they decided they could not handle inspections in the future, would the county take the inspections back? The mayor said the county had to provide inspections, and noted for some time Selma was not able to do inspections and the county had taken the function back until they re-established their inspections department. Mr. Martin and Mr. Haddock voted in favor, while Mr. Sutton voted opposed. Commissioner David Starling was away on business and did not attend the meeting. Mr. Sutton also expressed some reluctance about taking on the water and sewer repairs, fearing the town staff could not handle them, but with assurances from Envirolink representatives, he agreed to try the arrangement. Mrs. Ashworth had negotiated an agreement with the contractor to reduce their contracted services to the town that cover the chemicals used for sewer treatment and for water and sewer line repairs. The town will reduce their contract payments by $50,000 annually once approved. Mr. Sutton said he was not comfortable with the town taking on responsibility for major repairs and town crews being on call every weekend for problems. Jeff Whitley from Envirolink assured the board that his firm was fully expecting to continue to handle any call for repairs at any time, and would respond as they have in the past despite changes to the contract. Rather than being billed for handing any and all calls, as under the current contract, they would bill the town individually for performed services as requested. Mr. Haddock said that he expected that new town maintenance worker James Sutton could handle many service line repairs, but major supply line repairs would still be contracted with Envirolink. Mr. Whitley also assured the town of their confidence in Mr. Sutton, who is a former Envirolink employee, and said he could use their equipment they had available, and could use their inventory of repair parts if needed to assist. Mr. Martin questioned whether the town staff had discussed the possible contract changes and changes in responsibility with Mr. Sutton, and suggested that should be done, but Mr. Whitley’s offering that his firm would do however much asked seemed to satisfy concerns. The measure passed unanimously.
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