a
go
A preliminary 1994-95 city bud-
get being prepared by Interim City
Manager Maxine Parsons will call
for an 8 percent hike in the water
and sewer rates and a four cent
raise in ad valorem property taxes.
The budget will also call for no
cost-of-living raises for the city's
160 employees and no merit raises.
Proposed budget includes property tax hike
The budget, as proposed, will in-
clude one week of overtime pay
and on® week's Christmas bonus
for employees and reduces the
city's cost from 45 to 40 percent
the share of employee insurance.
In recent work sessions, Council
slashed $500,000 from the budget;
including the elimination of 20 full
time positions which had been rec-
ommended in the budget for next
year. Department heads recom-
mended that the vacancies not be
filled. One person's job in the wa-
ter department was eliminated and
one meter reader quit. Friday night
Council closed the engineering de-
See Budget, 8-A
Although condemnation proce-
dures ‘are underway by the city to
build a.road over a man's property
at Moss Lake, Interim City
Manager Maxine Parsons says that
the city is probably in the middle
of a family property dispute that
probably won't be settled for some-
time.
Parsons said $30,000 for the
road is included in next year's bud-
get.
Council members say they have
concerns about the project which
‘began last October when Council
approved an agreement with Delta
Aggregates, a subsidiary of John
"Wood Jr.,
Jenkins Co. of Gastonia, to take
sand and silt from the lake at no
cost to the city except the right-of-
way to get the big cranes to the
site to haul out tons and tons of
sand.
In the agreement, the sand is free
to Delta Aggregates.
City planner Gene White said
the sand removal project could take
10-15 years.
In the meantime, Shelby attor-
ney Charlie Horne, said the city
has condemned a 60 feet right of
way owned by his client, Carver
on the northside of
Buffalo Church Road, Wood's old
homeplace that he currently rents.
He said the city has given Wood 60
days to remove his pine trees.
Wood maintains that an existing
road, once used as a cart path in
the 1920's and 1930's, is there and
he has no problem with the city up-
grading and using it to get to the
dredging area.
However, if the city moves
ahead with plans to cut another
road Wood's eight feet tall pines
trees along the 60x600 feet right of
way will come down.
"This is a big operation out here
and we don't want to hold the city
up from doing the dredging but we
Kings Mountain High Class of 1994 to graduate Friday
Moss Lake sand project results in property dispute
gineer
HOWARD
can't help but wonder if all this
was done for governmental purpos-
es only," said the attorney.
Gene White, city planner, took
the idea for dredging to former city
manager George Wood and'City
Council last October after he said
he had tried for some years to find
a way to remove the sand from the
lake the least expensive way.
White said he let the project out
for bids but the only bidders who
offered were Robert E. Lee and
Delta Aggregates: Lee had no
barge and Delta's &rangemeift, ac-
cording to White ad the presenta-
tion to City Council last fall, vould
Tom Howard, the city's en-
and Director of
Community Services, was giv-
en notice Friday night by City
Council that his job is termi-
nated on July 1.
The closing of the city en-
gineering department, which
also includes the position held
by Howard's administrative as-
sistant Ashley Chambers,
came on a 4-3 vote by Council
and only after a heated debate.
neering depart, i
"Ive been studying the city budge:
and it's obvious that no major projects will be funded
in the next year or two and I think it's in the best finan-
cial interest of the city that we don't need the
Department of Community Services and there is no
reason to employ an engineer and have an engineering
department,” said Councilman Jerry White in his mo-
tion to to eliminate the engineering department.
save the city big bucks.
Council approved last fall a 10-
year agreement with Delta to give
Delta the sand in return for the re-
moval from the lake but the agree-
ment. stipulated that Kings
Mountain would obtain the right of
way. ;
White said that officials of the
Department of Transportation
looked at the site and Carver
Wood's proposal and said that
heavy equipment coming out into
the road at Buffalo Church would
pose a traffic hazard. He said the
DOT recommended cutting a new
road instead.
City to cut gas rate for industrial customers
The three major gas customers
of the city - Anvil Knitwear,
Clevemont and Spectrum -- were
back on city gas Tuesday after the
city utility commission voted
Monday night to recommend to
City Council next Tuesday to
match the fuel charge that industry
said they could get at a lower cost
plus a six percent efficiency factor.
Under the agreement with the
utility commission and representa-
tives of five industries at the meet-
ing, Utility Director Jimmy Maney
sent meter readers to the plants
Tuesday morning to record read-
ings and turn on the pumps.
The proposal goes to council
Tuesday and is expected to draw
no opposition. A fourth member of
Council, Rick Murphrey, was at
Monday's meeting but only the
three members of the utility board,
Chairman Jim Guyton, Phil Hager
and Dean Spears, cast a vote.
Murphrey asked local.industry if
they planned to cut back on and
they agreed.
"This is good news because we
are losing $5,000 a day," said
Murphrey.
Representatives of Anvil,
Clevemont, KMG Minerals,
Spectrum and Ruppe Hosiery were
in attendance.
Utility Director Jimmy Maney
said he agreed with industry that
the city's gas rate is not competi-
tive with No. 6 fuel oil but said that
Kings Mountain can't raise the gas
rates to residential users to make
up the difference.
Led by Maney, the group looked
at a tier rate which would price gas
at $3.65 for the first 2,000 mcf
through the meter. For a small in-
dustry this would mean that if it
used 2,194 mcf's in a month's peri-
od that 194 mcf's would be billed
at the fuel oil cost. Using this for-
mula, the city would lose about
$108,000:
Interim City Manager Maxine
Parsons said a facilitation charge
Michael Bell, President of the Kings Mountain High Senior Class, welcomes worshippers to baccalaure-
ate service
commencement exe
Sunday night at Barnes Auditorium. The KMHS Class of 1994 will receive diplomas during
reises Friday night at Gamble Stadium.
would comprise the 6 percent cost
Kings Mountain will impose but
she was not sure how the gas engi-
neers would structure the rates.
‘Maney said the advantage of a fa-
cilitation charge is that if an indus-
try turns off the gas the industry
would be charged.
Maney said the staff had no clear
cut recommendation. He said the
city needs to cut the transfers from
the utility funds to the general
fund to keep the losses down.
"That's not your problem," he
told industry leaders.
Councilman Phil Hager said he
didn't like the idea of penalizing
the small users to benefit the city.
"Smaller users who didn't burn
3,000 mcf's a month would not
qualify for the tier package," he
said.
"There's a gamble any way you
look at it," said Maney but he reit-
erated that the rate increases could
not be passed to other classes, such
as commercial and residential, and
noted that Spectrum, which spends
over $1 million with the city for
gas during a year's time, planned to
revert to fuel oil the week of July 4
and had turned off the gas a week
ago, following Clevemont and
Anvil Knitwear which turned off
Sée Gas, 8-A
|
1e time
"We won't be doing engineering because we won't
be able to spend any money anyway," said White.
See Howard, 8-A
Run-off
is Tuesday
Kings Mountain voters will re-
turn to the polls Tuesday in run-off
Primaries which election officials
predict may see a light turnout of
voters.
The polls open at 6:30 a.m. and
close at 7:30 p.m.
Voting places are: East Kings
Mountain at the Community
Center; West Kings Mountain at
The Armory; Grover at the Rescue
Squad building; and Bethware at
David Baptist Church fellowship
hall.
Joyce Falls Cashion of Kings
Mountain, a Democrat and the first
woman to sit on the Cleveland
Country Board of Commissioners,
is being challenged by newcomer
and Shelby businessman R. Pat
Spangler Jr. Cashion fell 59 votes
of a clear majority and was forced
into a run-off by the third place fin-
isher in the May Democratic
Primary. The winner of this race
will run with Ralph Gilbert against
Republicans Robbie Morgan and
Johnny Short in November.
Former Charlotte Mayor Sue
Myrick and State Representative
David Balmer face off in the
Republican run-off for the seat that
Congressman Alex McMillan is
vacating in the 9th Congressional
District. The winner of the race
faces Democrat Rory Blake in
November.
A third race to be decided is the
race for Judge, Court of Appeals,
between Elizabeth C. McCrodden
and John M Tyson, Democrats.
Cashion, in a letter this week to
No. 4 Township residents, remind-
ed that 20 percent of Cleveland
County's people live in this area.
She said she has been criss-cross-
ing the area and seeking a heavy
vote in Grover, Bethware and
Kings Mountain.
Myrick says that Cleveland and
Gaston Counties supported her
heavily in the May Primary and
she is counting on their support
Tuesday. Myrick was in Kings
Mountain Thursday for a crime
prevention seminar at the
American Legion building and on
Tuesday night for a drop-in hosted
by supporters at the Woman's Club.
The Cleveland County Volunteer
Fire Department will be posting
election night results.
One stop absentee voting will be
See Election, 8-A
Williams to lose Chamber job
Lucille Williams,
the "Girl Friday" of the
Kings Mountain Chamber
of Commerce for 31 years,
is leaving her position June
Directors of the
Cleveland Chamber have
phased out the office man-
ager position effective with
a move of the Chamber into
new offices on the second
floor of Kings Mountain
City Hall.
WILLIAMS
King Mountain Chamber was merged with the
Cleveland Chamber effective April I.
Peggy Bridges, President of the Cleveland Chamber,
said that a member from the Shelby staff will probably
work part-time in this office and also part-time in
Shelby, primarily on membership, and that tie-in tele-
Williams, a Kings Mountain native and daughter of
the late Mr. and Mrs. Doc Camp, cut her teeth on filing
and making credit reports as an assistant to the late Ida
Joy in the old Merchants Association office in 1963.
Williams had worked briefly for lawyer George
Thomasson and it was while working in the law office
on the second floor of the Thomasson building down-
town that she met Mrs. Joy and other tenants of the
BM office complex. She said those businessmen were
1 among the first members of the Chamber.
Quickly, she was on a first name basis with local
merchants and it was natural for her to stay in that po-
sition after Mrs. Joy retired. When the Chamber of
Commerce merged with the Merchants some years ago
Lucille continued to. work for each organization. She
moved with the Chamber to the Lynch building and in
recent years has operated out of the red caboose at the
Depot Center.
phone lines from the branch office. to the main office
will provide easy communication for local people.
"I've done it all from bookkeeping to credit reports,
to answering the telephone, ete.” said Williams, who
said she was disappointed and had assumed that she
See Williams, 5-A