Board conducts limited business

With two commissioners and one mayor missing, the Havelock Board of Commissioners conducted limited business at its meeting on Monday night.

Mayor Jimmy Sanders and Commissioner George Liner were both on vacation for the meeting, while Commissioner Bob Priesing was attending to his father, who is recovering from heart surgery.

That left Mayor Pro Tem Danny Walsh and commissioners Jim Stuart and Will Lewis Jr. to hear presentations on which no action was taken.

Havelock Police Chief G. Wayne Cyrus updated the board on the effort to create new graffiti regulations aimed at curtailing what he said was the growing problem of midnight artists defacing property in the city.

Cyrus said that approximately 85 percent of the vandals are under the age of 16. These are estimates based on arrests that the department has made and information received from citizens.

A revised version of the proposed rules would hold the parents or guardians of underage youth caught painting graffiti accountable for their children’s actions.

Another provision could hold business owners responsible for removing graffiti on their property within a period of time or be held civilly liable for reimbursement if the city has to undertake costs to paint or repair a graffiti-damaged area. The new draft removes any criminal penalty from business owners who elect not to clean up their property.

The partial board asked city staff to table the discussion for the full board for either December or January at which time a public hearing may be scheduled to consider the final draft of the rules.

On other matters, the board heard from:

- Dan Harbaugh, public services director, on the effort to find financing to make drainage improvements along Joe’s Branch, a finger of Slocum Creek that runs under seven city streets on the city’s east end. Harbaugh said the project to replace culverts through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was not funded and a U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development funding source was very slim.

Harbaugh said the city may have to complete the project with its own money. Previous cost estimates have been $500,000 to replace aging stormwater culverts under Hollywood Boulevard, Fairview, Pineview, Bryan, Nunn Street and Speight streets, and Karol Drive.

- Dave Harvell, assistant city manager, on the progress of the new West End Fire Station, which he said was more than 60 percent complete and ahead of schedule. The general contractor, he said, has not given an official date to turn over the facility to the city.

- Scott Chase, city planner, on the efforts to replace the Church Road Bridge. Chase said the N.C. Department of Transportation has agreed to construct the bridge’s replacement, including a pedestrian and bicycle access, but the bridge is not scheduled for construction until 2015.

Chase said there are also plans to redesign the city main intersection at Main Street and Miller Boulevard. The changes may include a left-turn option for traffic exiting Miller to West Main Street.

- Harbaugh on the possible cutbacks of the Community Work Program run by the N.C. Department of Corrections. The inmates have in the past performed duties including litter collection and ditch maintenance in Havelock. The change means the possible loss of 3,200 hours of work for the city.

- Chase regarding a proposed change that would allow chickens to be kept at residences within the city limits. “It’s a big movement, back to raising your own food,” Chase said.

The issue will be taken up by the city planning board with a presentation on the subject by Janet Hatfield, a city resident who prompted consideration of the change.