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MAGNOLIA — Last week the Magnolia town board reconvened for a special meeting in preparation for the board’s budget retreat scheduled for March 17, during which they will discuss the fiscal year 2025-26 budget.
One of the highlights of the meeting was an announcement made by Town Manager Charles Banks, who shared that Magnolia was awarded $6.9 million for water and infrastructure projects.
“That is going to be a big catapult to really get us headed in the right direction,” said Banks, with excitement. “I’m not gonna lie; I got a little teary-eyed. It is phenomenal that we got that.”
The five projects awarded grants totalling $6,964,570 include: $1,968,050 for sewer rehabilitation, $999,890 for the Newberry sewer pump station replacement, $980,000 for Wastewater Treatment Plant improvements, $634,855, for the automatic meter infrastructure project and $2,381,775 for the water supply well replacement project. Each of these projects contributes to enhancing the quality, efficiency, and reliability of the town’s water and wastewater systems.
Banks also announced that the town was able to recover a grant they thought was lost for the library, which will provide between $14,000 to $15,000 for improvements.
“We can do some flooring, put a new roof, do some things that we can make that space usable. And that is something that we can actually do pretty quickly,” said Banks.
He expressed optimism about the town’s future, especially with these new funding opportunities. Banks shared that while the town won’t have brand-new infrastructure immediately, these improvements will get the town much closer to where it needs to be.
During the public input session, resident Jess Melton shared her ideas with the board on how they could make the town better.
“The first thing that stood out to me is continuing to support the Christmas tree lighting in the same way that we did last year,” said Melton. “It felt like a really important event for the community, and I think it makes a lot of sense to continue to fund that. It really brought a lot of people together.”
Melton also suggested providing a dedicated space for activities at the community center, and spoke about how certain ordinances have raised questions among residents,indicating that they may require updates. She suggested the possibility of hiring someone to help identify which ordinances need updating.
Additionally, she recommended integrating more structured outreach efforts or activities for seniors into the town’s budget to ensure their voices are heard. She also advocated for initiating small improvements at the park by inviting community contributions while seeking larger funding.
“I know we’re hoping for funding someday for the park, but I think having that park space updated, even if it’s in small ways, where we look for donations of time or bushes … just to show that we’re starting to do something to that space and even just using that opportunity to bring people together to kind of put in some of the sweat equity into that space until we’re able to get greater funding,” said Melton. “The park plan that we have is beautiful and it’d be wonderful to get to someday, but it would be nice if we could start to do some of that … maybe a little bit of funding could get us started in that direction.”
The meeting concluded with Mayor Dawn Ward publicly thanking everyone who assisted with the grant applications and reminding the public that the budget planning retreat will be an all-day event in the conference room at the Duplin County Airport.
