Lenoir City Council issues proclamations, approves agreements
May 8—The Lenoir City Council issued a series of proclamations and special recognitions during its Tuesday meeting on May 7. The council also took the opportunity to a prove of a number of agreements and orders, and to list the candidates for mayoral appointment and reappointment to be approved by the council on May 21.
Mayor Joseph Gibbons began the meeting with three proclamations, the first being the week of May 12 through May 18 as "Peace Officers' Memorial Week" in honor of all police officers who are killed or disabled during the execution of their duties. The proclamation was given to Police Chief Brent Phelps, who offered some brief remarks about the service of Lenoir's police and the recent shooting in Charlotte that resulted in the loss of four police officers and the injury of an additional four.
Gibbons proclaimed the week of May 19 through May 25 as "National Public Works Week" to "pay tribute to our public works professionals, engineers and administrators and to recognize the substantial contributions they have made to our national health and welfare," according to the proclamation. Public Services Public Works director Jon Hoban received the proclamation.
The week of May 5 through May 11 was proclaimed to be "Celebrate Drinking Water Week" for the city of Lenoir, to draw attention to and recognize the essential labor of those who produce and transport drinking water and those whose essential labor maintains the infrastructure that makes that service possible. Public Services Public Utilities Director Jeff Church received the proclamation and spoke about the department, its divisions, and its laborers, and how each was essential to the provision of safe drinking water. Church cited a recent major leak where, upon discover of the leak, workers were able to swiftly and decisively repair the damaged pipe and restore water service before customers even noticed it was down.
The council also approved of a proclamation to commemorate the national League of Cities' 100th anniversary and celebrate its contributions to local governments.
The council accepted a certificate of sufficiently and deferred a public hearing for a contiguous annexation petition until Tuesday, May 21. The petition regards the requested annexation of a private property within a Lenoir Extra Territorial Jurisdiction.
The council approved a resolution for a planning grant application for a study on the feasibility of a trail along the Caldwell Railroad connecting county municipalities and Hickory. The grant will be for $100,000, with a local match of $25,000. Lenoir will be providing $3,575 as its portion of the match.
The council approved of two agreements, one to provide up to 1,500,000 gallons of drinking water per day to Caldwell County at the wholesale water rate. The Agreement will go into effect on July 1 2024 and expire on June 30, 2034. The second agreement allows for the consolidation of 911 services into a joint agency to provide emergency public safety communication services within Caldwell County. This agreement is made in compliance with state requests, and is expected to remove a slight delay in emergency response time, according to Phelps.
The council approved of two orders of abatement for a pair of adjacent properties on 501-A Stage St. and 510 Stage St. NW. The order will eventually result in the properties' demolition.
Before adjourning the meeting, Gibbons announced a list of individuals to be appointed or reappointed to the City authorities, boards and commissions. These appointments will be considered for approval by the council on May 21. A comprehensive list of proposed appointees, and other details from Tuesday's meeting, can be found through the May 7 agenda packet on the City of Lenoir's website.
