today,
our Summer
2013 edition
ofj
Town Council adopts proposed 201344 budget
BY REBECCA BUNCH
Staff Writer
The town council adopt
ed its proposed 2013-2014
budget at its monthly meet
ing on Monday night by a
5-1 vote. Councilman Steve
Biggs cast the lone dissent
ing vote.
“I just could not vote for
this budget in good con
science," Biggs said after
the meeting.
Biggs said that he had a
number of concerns with re
gard to the proposed budget
but that the biggest one had
to do with what he consid
ers an excessive amount of
overtime being paid to local
police officers. He said that
he could not understand
why better planning was
not used in estimating the
amount of overtime that
would be required in a given
year.
As of May 31, he noted,
the department had accrued
$68,126 in overtime.
Biggs expressed con
cern that one officer alone
had been paid more than
$10,000 in overtime through
May 31.
The town’s budget year
ends on June 30.
“You could almost hire
two more police officers
with what is being spent in
overtime,” Biggs said.
Biggs said that he had sug
gested that option to Town
Manager Anne-Marie Knigh
ton. He said she responded
that with salary and fringe
benefits, the cost of hiring
just one new officer would
be about $45,000 annually.
Knighton confirmed that
in an email to the Chowan
Herald Tuesday morning.
“A new officer with ben
efits would cost $45,000,”
Knighton wrote. “We would
still incur and have the over
time expenses for all the
mandatory training, court
time and additional train
ing for each of our 16 po
lice officers ... a new posi
tion would help us reduce
overtime by $10,000 but we
would have to come up with
the additional $36,000 to
fund the positioa”
The mandatory training
to which Knighton referred
is based on , every officer
receiving 24 hours per year
of state-mandated train
ing as well as 40 hours per
year of additional training
and 48 hours of court time
— time the officers spend ,
See BUDGET, 2A
f
SPRUILL
Exercise
proves
valuable
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
Technology allows emer
gency response agencies to
stay almost as closely con
nected as if they were togeth
er in person, Vidant Chowan
Hospital staff learned dur
ing the regional emergency
response
exercise
earlier this
month.
Mary
Spruill, the
emergency
manage
ment man
ager for Vi
dant Chowan Hospital and
Vidant Bertie Hospital, said
the exercise conducted June
3-14 brought all the agencies
in the region together and
everyone learned a lot
“It went very well, I
think," Spruill said. “I think
it was very educational for
all of us.”
The hospital does two on
site drills a year and there is
also a community readiness
. drill each year, she said.
But this year’s regional
exercise, coordinated by
Albemarle Regional Health
Services, was especially
broad in the number of
communities and agencies
involved.
“This was a pretty exten
sive exercise,” Spruill said.
The scenario for this ex
ercise was a bio-terrorism
attack in Elizabeth City.
But because a real attack
in Elizabeth City would im
pact the entire region, other
communities in northeast
ern North Carolina and even
southeastern Virginia were
included in the exercise.
Spruill • said she feels
good about the hospital’s
emergency readiness. Over
the past four or five years,
partly spurred by Hurricane
Katrina, the state and the
. region have committed a lot'
of resources to emergency
preparedness, she said.
One of the biggest things
that came out of this exer
cise was a challenge to the
long-held assumption that in
an emergency of that magni
tude, all of the information
officers would get together
in one room at a central lo
cation, Spruill said.
“I think we realized that
in this day and time that’s
just probably not going to
happen,” Spruill said
See EXERCISE, 2A
©2013 The Chowan Herald
All Rights Reserved
Old Glory
STAFF PHOTO BY REBECCA BUNCH
American Legion Post 40 Commander Jerry DiNunzio throws another batch of flags on the fire during a flag
retirement ceremony held last Thursday evening. More than one thousand old, battered flags were burned in
a respectful manner during the annual event which officials said was the proper way to dispose of them. A
collection box for flags in similar condition is housed outside the Legion on West Queen Street.
Collection efforts improving
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
Chowan County’s new tax admin
istrator said the county’s tax office
has everything in place that’s needed
to continue improving an already
solid collection rate.
Hosea Wilson, who took the reins
in the tax office May 1, noted the
current tax collection rate for all
property is 97.18 percent. The col
lection rate for real and personal
property for the current fiscal year
is 97.88 percent, Wilson said.
Wilson said he has only been in
the position about 60 days, so credit
for that rate really goes to the other
employees in the tax office and oth
er county officials.
But Wilson, who worked six and
a half years as the tax administrator
in neighboring Bertie County before
taking the Chowan post, said he will
continue working to improve the
rate.
“The processes are in place to
. >*** i
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STAFF PHOTO BY REGGIE PONDER
Chowan County Tax Administrator
Hosea Wilson talks to a reporter in
his office, Monday.
continue in a very positive manner,”
Wilson said.
The collection rate for real prop
erty in the fiscal year that ends Sun
day is very close to 98 percent The
tax office is working hard this week
to get the.rate as close to 98 percent
as possible.
“It’s very good for a small, rural
county,” Wilson said of the collec
tion rate.
The collection rate not only deter
mines how much money is available
to provide services for citizens but
also affects the bond rating for the
county.
“There are reasons to get that rate
up and to keep it up,” Wilson said.
Wilson pointed out that state law
chaises the office with collecting all
taxes that are owed.
The county’s tax office makes use
of the debt set-off program through
the state Department of Revenue,
which deducts taxes owed to the
county from any tax refund the tax
payer would be due from the state.
“We used it quite a bit in Bertie
and we’re using it quite a bit here,”
Wilson said of debt set-off. “It is an
effective tool.”
Although foreclosures are an un
popular measure, they are necessary
in some cases and the office owes it
See WILSON, 2A
Heart
attack a
‘wakeup
call’
BY REGGIE PONDER
Editor
Craig Miller never expect
ed to have a heart attack
But when he began hav
ing chest pains one day back
in March, he wound up just
hours later being treated for
a heart attack at Vidant Med
ical Center in Greenville.
“It’s a wakeup call,” Miller
said. “I just never thought it
would happen to me.”
Miller, a retired health
care administrator, isT)y his
own description an “exercise
nut” who has been very care
ful about his diet and other
lifestyle factors because he
knew he had a family history
of heart disease.
He attributes his heart at
tack laigely to that genetic
predispositioR
“You can’t fight your an
cestors,” Miller said “You
can’t fight genetics.”
Miller told his story at the
Vidant Chowan Hospital “Fo
cus on Heart Health” event,
held June 20 at Edenton
United Methodist Church.
The men’s health education
al dinner included Miller’s re
marks and a presentation by
Dr. Gary Fontana, a Vidant
cardiologist
Miller told of the morn
ing he experienced terrible
chest pains. When he took
a couple of aspirin and the
pain persisted he decided to
visit Dr. Chris Perry, his fam
ily doctor in Edenton.
He pointed it was a good
call to seek medical help
for his chest pains. At the
doctor’s office, the staff pen
formed an EKG and Perry
sent Miller directly to the
Emergency Department at
Vidant Chowan Hospital.
Miller said he was treated
great at Perry’s office, at the
ER, and by the staff at Vidant
Medical Center after he was
See HEART, 2A
Vehicle damages apartment laundry room
From staff reports
A building at Wedge
wood Apartments in
Edenton sustained
an estimated $10,000
damage when it was
struck by a vehicle
last week, according
to the Edenton Police
Department
On Monday, a
Chowan County man
was cited for hit and
run in connection with
the incident
Officers cited Kay
sean Rome, 113-C Ry
ans Grove Road, Eden
ton, for hit and run and
driving while license
revoked, according to
Chief Jay Fortenbery.
The vehicle involved
was a 1993 Mercury
Grand Marquis 1993.
The damage occurred
when the vehicle was
backed into the out
side of the laundry
room at the apartment
complex, according to
police.
Information from an
anonymous tip helped §
solve the case, accord- F
ing to Fortenbery. ' |
The damage, esti- L
mated at $5,000 to a F
brick foundation and f
$5,000 to an exerior l~
wall, occurred some- |
time between 8 p.m.
on June 16 and 8:10
a.m. on June 17, police
reported.
The Wedgewood
Apartments complex
is located at 725 Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Ave.
: ' ;■>;
| PHOTO COURTESY
* EDENTON POLICE
i DEPARTMENT
This photo
j shows
. damage from *
I a hit and
! run at the
Apartments
about a week
ago.
rMrt.: ;
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