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WARSAW — The Town of Warsaw held their monthly meeting on July 8. After the approval of the consent agenda, Mayor A.J. Connors swore in Commissioner Al Searles. He will fill the vacant seat left by the late Commissioner Russell Eason until the 2025 municipal election.
Warsaw residents, Christine Dewitt and Marzella Morrisey, signed up for public comment.
Dewitt addressed the board about code enforcement. She said it was good the town is looking to hire a code enforcement officer and asked the board that the businesses in town be held to the same standards as residents are when it comes to code enforcement.
Morrisey expressed her disapproval for how the town’s budget was handled, stating that she felt the citizen’s opinions were not considered.
“You did not allow any citizens’ input… It was as though we didn’t exist,” said Morrisey. “We are citizens of Warsaw, Duplin County, North Carolina, but we were not allowed to ask for a dollar to improve anything. You made it so we couldn’t speak during the budget, that we could only speak at the end once you had made a decision.”
Morrisey also reiterated her request to establish committees so the people of Warsaw can get actively involved in helping the board improve the town. Morrisey has been persistent in her desire for the board to establish committees — a subject that has been brought up at about every town hall meeting for several months. Morrisey shared she is aware that commissioners have other responsibilities in addition to serving the town and feels having citizens who can volunteer in committees would be beneficial for everyone.
“When you have good committees working with you, you can get more things resolved. And we have a lot of citizens here in Warsaw that have been here all their lives or have moved away and come back, and they see that the town is still the same and there could be some changes,” said Morrisey.
After public comment closed, Town Manager Lea Turner, presented a request from Bryan Kennedy to approve a resolution for street dedication. This would extend Victoria Street and add Addilyn Circle as new streets to the Town of Warsaw.
“These streets would be added to the Powell Bill so that we could receive state funding for those streets,” explained Turner.
According to meeting documents, Kennedy purchased the land on Victoria Street and added Addilyn Circle to build more homes. “He has previously asked for the town’s assistance in paving his newly added street. He was told that he would have to complete the construction and dedicate the street to the town. He has now completed the subdivision and is requesting a street dedication.”
Commissioner Ebony Willis-Wells excused herself from the conversation per Mayor Connors request due to a conflict of interest.
The board discussed whether the improvements were to the Powell Bill standards.
“It’s all rock road at this point and it’ll be included on the Powell Bill as rock, and any improvements made after that point would be up to the board to vote to pave,” explained Turner. “Some of you may remember when Scotty (Summerlin) was town manager, the Kennedys did ask that we pave the street for them, and they were told that construction had to be completed before paving could be done. But the town did agree that if they dedicated it, at some point it would be paved. And at this time, construction is complete, and they are requesting the dedication.”
The town manager shared they are working on maintaining streets now that they are fully staffed and have a paving project open on Victoria Street for which they are waiting on quotes.
“Victoria Street is for the simple fact that it was torn up so bad, especially around the manhole where they replaced the sewer,” said Turner. “We have tried to do the crushed asphalt, but it is not working around those manholes. It is going to have to be rebuilt and paved.”
Commissioner Willis-Wells returned to her seat and addressed the public in attendance, stating that she wanted to be fully transparent with the public.
“According to GIS statutes, the town is responsible for roads that are within the town’s city limits. …Victoria Street is within the town’s city limits,” said Willis-Wells. “I just want to have adequate access to my property… I just want equality for myself as a citizen, just as I fight for each and every citizen that elected me as their commissioner to serve them. So, I just want to make that clear to everybody… When I ran for this position, I ran for total transparency. So, if any citizens want to see any of the statutes of limitations or anything regarding this matter, I will be more than happy to go over that with anybody.”
The board approved the resolution to accept Victoria Street and Addilyn Circle as new streets to the town.
In other business:
Turner reminded the board to review ordinances, so they can be sent to American Legal Publishing for legal review.
“I do need you to be reviewing those diligently and preparing comments. We have to send a response back to them by Sept. 1… At this time, I am not requesting a special meeting, but I do think that we will need at least one special meeting to discuss just the ordinance portion. What I am seeing so far is a legal review. This is not adding to any of the ordinances. This is not changing the ordinances. It’s just making sure that they are legal and valid as they are presented. Also prior to full adoption I do think there needs to be a public hearing on these ordinances as well,” said Turner. “If you see changes that need to be made during this process this is the time that you would bring those changes up and this board would have to vote on any changes to the ordinances.”
Turner updated the public about the sewer issues on Cross Street
“I do want to advise the public that we realize we have an issue on Cross Street. We are going to do our best to keep it where it is safe for travel. Please bear with us,” said Turner. “We do have an RFP out for an emergency sewer repair.”
Turner told the board that she did not have an exact amount for the budget amendment yet, but the RFP is out for bidding. “Bids will be coming in hopefully within the next two weeks so that we can go ahead and get this work done immediately.”
Mayor Connors provided various updates and shared about a drainage problem on Frisco and Hill Street.
“One set of contractors have looked at that and there’s some areas in there where it’s starting to cave in and have some problems that they are looking at,” said Connors, adding that they may have to work on it soon. “As you proceed down, it is East Hill Street and make a left on Frisco, it is the very first drainage area there. It has been there probably since the 1950s or early 1960s and it is deteriorating greatly.”
The next town hall meeting is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 12 at 6 p.m.
