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News 1 Wednesday, November 11, 2015 • page 2 Elon water tower gets a makeover Upgrades to promote safety for maintenance workers, increase cell coverage Elizabeth Kirkhorn Senior Reporter The Town of Elon’s water tower is being reconstructed to bring the design up to industry standard. This means increased safety and efficiency for the util ities employees who man the tower as well as increased cell coverage for Elon’s citizens. The tower received its last update in 1990, according to Scottie Wilkins of The Elon Department • of Public Works and Utility Services, who recent ly spoke at a Board of Alderman Council Meeting. To keep the tower’s tank running smooth ly, Wilkins said it needs to be re-coated and re-insulated. Last year, ice storms prompted the Town of Elon Department of Public Works and Utility Services to bolster the water tower with increased insu lation and support beams, but Wilkins and the rest of depart ment believed that the tempo rary protective adjustments made can only last the tower so long. It would benefit from a total redesign. Such a redesign includes reinforcing the cables that root the tower to the ground and working on the welding of the tank, which Wilkins refers to as “improper” in its current state. Once these changes are made, utility services believes the water tower will have a much longer MALI TAUXE 1 Pfioto Editor The Town of Elon water tower is getting some upgrades to meet industry standards and improve safety for workers and cell service. projected lifespan. One significant structural change is being made to the cellular service antennas, owned by AT&T, currently situat ed around the handrails of the water tower. The design was functional when it was built, but maintenance workers have found it increasingly difficult to navi gate the tower to monitor water quality, according to Wilkins. The placement of the anten nas is currently obstructive, making navigation around the “catwalk” of the tower potential ly dangerous. Wilkins also said the apparatus which transports workers up and down the tower is hindered by any and all cellu lar antennas there. Utility services and the Town of Elon are currently in the pro cess of building what Richard White, town manager of Elon, refers to as a “corral.” This cir cular structure will provide a new basis for the cellular anten nas atop the tank, so they are no longer trouble for mainte nance workers. Other munici palities in North Carolina who have adopted this construction include Burlington, Gibsonville and Mebane. “I wouldn’t call what the tower has ‘issues,’” White said. “The addition of a corral just makes it more structurally sound. This will make the tower even safer.” The tower needs to be repainted as well, since it has been two decades since its last paint job. “The construction of the cor ral allows us to rearrange cables that go up the water tower in such a way that makes it easier for the painters to actually work on the tower,” White said. AT&T, who operates the antennas that moderate cell cov erage from the top of the tower, is undertaking this project in conjunction with the Town of Elon and the utilities depart ment. The corporation provided the majority of the funds for the corral and the repositioning of the antennas to the peak of the tower. Meanwhile, the rest of the funds needed to repair the tank are being managed by the util ities department itself, accord ing to White. Wilkins told the Board of Alderman that AT&T predicts a higher position of the antennas will mean a stronger cellular signal throughout Elon. But increased coverage for mobile phones and safety for Public Works and Utility Services employees are not the only changes coming to Elon’s water tower. The new paint job includes a redesigned logo, which features a sharp, contem porary letter “E” against a teal background. This logo is dis tinctly unlike the picture dec orating the tank currently and contrasts all traditional designs representing the town and Elon University. White said the idea for a new logo was created as a part of the “downtown mass division plan,” and was drawn by private consul tants prior to his appointment as town manager. He said that this plan is intended to rebrand the image of downtown Elon and that the modernized logo is one of the steps is doing just that. The branding will cost the Town of Elon around Si,500. Construction on the water tower has already begun. White confirmed that the corral is almost completed. Work on welding, cables and outdated features of the tank will continue into the month. Elon alumnus elected Burlington mayor Ian Baltutis V8 won election, hopes to continue open communication Emmanuel Morgan Senior Reporter Ian Baltutis was as con fident and poised as he had ever been during election season. But when the Elon University 2008 gradu ate heard he had won the Burlington mayoral elec tion, one word came to his mind: disbelief “We knew that we had done tremendous work across the community and heard positive feedback from our volunteers stand ing at the poUs,” Baltutis said. “But it was almost unreal seeing those numbers Baltutis, 30, triumphed over Burlington City Councilman Jim Butler by 378 votes. The satisfying feeling of beating anoth er politician was incredibly new to Baltutis. For the past three years, he failed to win an election, but by laboring vigorously, he garnered a large following of support ers — something he said aided his victor}'. “Something that reallv helped was the culmination of all the previous campaigns that we’ve run,” Baltutis said. “We had volunteers and community leaders behind us and donors and the whole support network across the community gun ning for our victory." The mindset of Baltutis throughout the election was to reach as many voters as possible and personal ly engage with them. This entailed going door to door to speak with prospective voters and distribute yard signs. The newly elected mayor hopes to continue this suc cessful practice of open communication throughout his term and aspires to cre ate jobs in Burlington and beyond through proactivity and personable collabora tion. “The biggest thing that we want to do is contin ue to be very visible and very active,” he said. “We want to continue what we’ve started and talk with teach ers, business leaders and church leaders across the communin' and talk with them about having more involvement with the mav- oral office.” Baltutis added that he thinks job creation is a priority for the future of Burlington. “[Job creation] will rely heavily on my administra tion to work with people with an entrepreneurial mindset,” he said. Another aspect Baltutis hopes he can alter is the stereotype associated with youth. By defeating some one who was 20 years older than him, Baltutis hopes to influence younger individ uals to chase their dreams despite inexperience. “We really view this elec tion as a pivotal moment to inspire people across our community,” he said “So often, people will tell us You’re not old enough to be a leader.’ I wanted to break dovm that barrier and really make sure that folks are not turned off by that kind of comment. “I’ve seen incredible students come out of Elon and out of our high schools and if they want to start a business, I want them to know that they should start investing in that now and they will have support all throughout Burlington.” PHOTO SUBMnTED BY IAN BALTUTIS Ian Baltutis, an Elon alumnus, is Burlington’s new mayor. Lost the Burlington
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