Saturday fund raisers to help
children with Batten’s disease
Term electio
Kings Mountain citizens will go to the polls June 13
to decide the question of whether terms of the mayor
and City Council will be shortened to two years.
City Council voted 5-2 Tuesday night to call the
election but only after a lengthy debate led by
Councilman Ralph Grindstaff who asked to see the pe-
tition.
“I am comfortable with the affidavit from the county
board of elections that 10 percent of the registered vot-
ers have signed it and you must by statute call for the
election,” said City Attorney Mickey Corry, opening
the discussion.
Corry explained that the schedule is tight to meet
the statutory requirements. The election must be pre- ~
cleared by the U. S. Justice Department.
"You might have a two or three weeks window to
play with," said Corry, responding to Grindstaff's
ARR
KMH, CMC
to extend
agreement
Kings Mountain Hospital's board
of trustees voted unanimously
Tuesday night to extend the hospi-
tal's management contract for six
months with Carolinas Medical
Center.
The action came during a meet-
ing of the executive board followed
by the full board of directors meet-
ing after a dinner meeting.
The action was taken without
discussion with Chairman J. C.
Bridges, Ernest Rohm, Bill Davis
and Robert Suber voting for the
proposal announced by Hank
Neal, administrator.
ness office and joined the
Charlotte- Mecklenburg Hospital
Authority as the regional
Controller for the Carolinas
Hospital Network in August 1994.
Prior to moving to Charlotte, she
was with Ernst and Young in
Syracuse, NY four years. As a se-
nior accountant, she had audit
clients in a variety of industries
and her health care clients included
a hospital, four nursing homes, a
clinical laboratory and a home
health agency.
Zarins has a Bachelor of Science
degree in Accounting from
LeMoyne College in Syracuse,
New York. She became a CPA in
New York State in November 1992
and has recently been licensed as a
CPA in North Carolina.
Zarin reported that revenues and
expenditures were down during the
month of March but that the March
census showed improvement in
both the acute and psychiatric fa-
cility.
Neal said the hospital is com-
pleting negotiations with two
Canadian family doctors who are
expected this summer, one of
whom has signed a contract, and
with a woman internist who is buy-
ing a residence in the area. In addi-
tion she said two more doctors are
expected for interviews.
Bridges said that the woman in-
See Hosnital 2A
in the October general election was
Kings Mountain People
claim that what the board was doing is illegal if the pe-
tition is not before it.
1 have a problem with something that affects all of
Kings Mountain when I'm reading in the statutes that
we have to have the petition in hand," said Grindstaff.
"I'm not trying to stall," he said.
Corry said the law is very clear on the timetable.
He cautioned if the board delayed that it would miss
the fall election deadline.
"You've been throwing this up in our face and I want
to see the whole thing," said Grindstaff to retired city
planner Gene White, presenting the petition.
ment.
E SEASON -
left, and Wendell
‘white and yellow daffodils.
5 AS ng has :
Petty, city employees,
Councilmen Jim Guyton and Rick Murphrey also
asked to see the names of the petitioners.
But White said the elections board certified the peti-
tion as valid which was the necessary legal require-
the signs
weed one of t
he seven entrances the city
each member.
: 1 see no problem with setting the date of the elec-
tion tonight," said Mayor Scott Neisler.
I see no reason why you would want to hold this
up
ed $3,000.
"Debra Blanton is the Cleveland County elections
officer and if her word is not good then our whole
Spectrum hot over news report
City Manager Chuck Nance
apologized Monday to Spectrum
Dyed Yarns Inc., the city's biggest
water and gas customer, in a letter
to Jim Roark, Vice-President,
Finance, after he said a story ap-
peared in The Gaston Gazette
which reported that the local com-
pany got "adjustments to its utility
accounts from the city and bounced
checks."
Spectrum officials strongly deny
the allegations.
"Spectrum is a good industrial
citizen. We have not, will not and
have never bounced checks, know
nothing of meter changes and al-
ways pay the bills that we receive,"
said Hubert Johnson, corporate en-
gineer.
"For the newspapers to print
things like this without an indepth
study is beyond anything that I can
comprehend," he said.
"T feel the city, city auditors and
other contractors working for the
city should be held accountable for
information coming from City
Hall," Johnson said.
"It seems that we all live in the
same community and should work
together, rather than working with
outsiders to destroy the integrity of
our community."
The utility consultant credited
with making statements in the arti-
cle says he was "quoted out of con-
text" and "burned" by the newspa-
per.
Nance said the city did not initi-
ate the article which said that "from
September 1990 to March 1991
that Spectrum's water and gas bills
had been changed 25 times" and
quoted a consultant auditing the
Kings Mountain utility billing sys-
See Spectrum SA
Election Board request tabled
A proposal by Elections Board
Supervisor Becky Cook for the
Cleveland County Board of
Elections to run the city elections
was tabled for more study by
Kings Mountain Council Tuesday.
Cook also made the recommen-
dation that ward lines be redrawn
after the year 2000 census and that
‘Kings Mountain change its elec- |
tions to. nonpartisan plurality and
delete the election runoffs.
"In the last 10 years the runoff
election never made a difference,”
said Cook, noting that the winner
front runner in the November
runoffs.
She also suggested that if the
board decide to call for a change in
the methods of elections that it
consider setting the municipal elec-
tion the same time in November as
the school board election to get a
better voter turnout.
Cook said that it is possible that
by 1997 it will be mandatory for
county boards of election to run
city elections.
She said the county currently
handles the registration and she
spends eight hours each month up-
dating city records.
Cook said the city board of elec-
tions would be abolished under the
plan, noting that the city's equip-
ment is in bad shape and the coun-
ty already has the necessary tabula-
tors and voting equipment. Since
the city does not operate a full time
elections board office, the city does
not permit absentee voting but this
would be permitted if the county
runs the city elections.
"The only drawback is that we
vote in wards and we need to do
See Elections 2A
Grindstaff asked the cost of a special election and
City Elections Board Supervisor Becky Cook estimat-
Daylight Savings Time
Begins Sunday. Turn
Clocks Ahe: ~ !
Hager.
rr June 13
Corry said if the board didn't want to take action
Tuesday night it could hold a special meeting on
Friday and ask White to produce copies of the petition
but reiterated that the schedule was very tight.
Guyton said he thought the Council could set the
date with the stipulation that the petition be handed to
election process is in trouble," said Councilman Phil
"We're mandated to call the election.
"We're arguing a moot point. It's the law."
Murphrey then made the motion to call for the refer-
endum on June 13, a week earlier than White had re-
quested on June 20, seconded by Councilman Jerry
White. Also voting to call the election were Council
LGC:
members Norma Bridges, Jim Guyton and Phil Hager.
Voting against were Grindstaff and Dean Spears.
Corry said it was his understanding that the Kings
Mountain Board of Elections will handle the special
election and Cooke concurred.
Cook said registration books will close three weeks
prior to the election but that new voters and those who
need to change their addresses may do so with her or
at the Mauney Memorial Library.
Mayor's proposals
would weaken finances
Deputy State Treasurer Robert
M. High turned down Mayor Scott
Neisler's budget proposal Friday,
saying the plan reflected " a lack of
understanding of sound financial
planning and governmental ac-
counting principles."
"Further, as it now stands, the
overall proposal would cause fur-
ther deterioration of the city's dan-
gerously weak financial condition."
High said the city barely had
sufficient unrestricted cash in the
general and enterprise funds at
January 31 to make the debt ser-
vice payments coming due in the
next 60 days.
"Failure to heed the warnings
court cgligen WTO
mayor, City Council
Chuck Nance, Finance Director
Maxine Parsons and Auditor
‘Darrell Keller in a 12 page memo-
randum which included a financial
analysis of the mayor's proposed
plan to amend the 1994-95 budget.
High maintained that the may-
or's plan to implement a tax cut and
a reduction in residential water and
sewer rates won't wash.
He said the city must put itself in
a position to pay its vendors on a
timely basis which has not been the
case in the past and handle down-
turns in revenue, especially electric
and gas, and emergency situations
that can and do occur.
He recommended the city con-
tinue the measures currently imple-
mented and take further actions to
restore the financial stability of the
city.
Briefly summarized, the memo-
randum from the Local
Government Commission points
out five weaknesses in the mayor's
plan:
+ Reductions in expenditures
and assets are double-counted fre-
quently.
+Terms such as surpluses, cash,
fund balance and fund balances
available for appropriations are
used interchangeably and incor-
rectly.
+Budgeted surpluses are as-
sumed to be fully realized, even
See Proposal SA
|Council refuses
Mayor's request
A divided City Council refused to
permit Mayor Scott Neisler to in-
clude his written response to the
Local Government Commission's
turndown of his proposed budget
amendments to be spread on the
minutes Tuesday night.
The vote was 5-2 with only
Council members Norma Bridges
and Phil Hager siding with Neisler.
The mayor pushed during the
lenghty meeting for his letter to be
included in the minutes after the
ity Manager
Commission
suggestion to repeal the city's re-
cent tax hike and water and sewer
rate increase to residential cus-
tomers.
"We have over $1 million in the
bank and the letter from the LGC
was written before we made the
last bond payment and I can prove
we have the revenues," he said.
But Councilman Rick Murphrey
insisted that only the LGC's letter
be included in the minutes because
the board had authorized the mayor
six weeks ago to send his proposal
to Raleigh.
Councilman Ralph Grindstaff
made the motion that City Manager
Chuck Nance read the LGC's cover
letter to the full board and audi-
ence.
On several occasions, the mayor
reminded Murphrey that he had the
floor. He said his response to the
LGC showed "the flaws and some
of the erroneous conclusions.”
On several occasions several
members of Council were talking
at the same time and Attorney
Mickey Corry finally threw up his
hands in an effort to restore the
board to the original item on the
agenda.
Although there were no shouting
matches, the emotional undertones
were evident.
See Council 5A
~ Government|
| opposed recommen-
dations of the mayor for budget
amendments and the mayor's
7
mm;
SARAH MAYSE
Mayse keeps KM swimmers in the water
For Sarah Mayse Neisler
Natatorium is a dream-come-true
for the community.
The popular doctor's wife
worked for years behind the scenes
as the unofficial coach of the
championship Sharks, shuttling her
kids and neighbors’ kids to Shelby
almost daily for practice and swim
meets and encouraging kids who
didn't know how to swim to learn
the sport, not only for good health
but for enjoyment.
When her husband, Dr. Scott
Mayse and retired KM Hospital ad-
ministrator Grady Howard took on
the ambitious project for an indoor
swimming pool on July 22, 1985
Mrs. Mayse was the chief cheer-
leader and staunch supporter of this
community's biggest-ever fund-
raising effort.
The community raised $800,000
to build what is now a $1 million
facility on the campus of Kings
Mountain High School and it's
heading down the home stretch
with the final payment next month
of $44,000.
"People probably thought we
were working so hard because
there were four or five of us fami-
lics who drove back and forth to
Shelby for our kids to swim," said
Sarah, always modest about her
part in the huge fundraising effort.
Now the Mayse family can
point with pride to Nathan, 16, a
junior at Kings Mountain High
School and a star swimmer on the
high school swim team which won
two straight state championships
in 1993 and 1994 and placed sec-
ond this year.
.Non-swimmers can be chal-
lenged by this young man who did-
n't like the water and sat on the
sidelines while mom and dad and
his sisters played. He has been
swimming now for 10 years and
has won numerous regional events.
"Since Nathan had never swam
at all he had no bad habits and he
was easy to teach,” said Sarah who
says that swimmers often have to
unlearn their bad habits to really
excel at the sport.
Next school year Nathan will be
the lone member of the major
crowd of swimmers returning to
the team because all the others are
graduating this June. Some of the
divers are returning next season.
The high school team has 20-
plus members and is the only co-ed
sport at the high school. Men and
women don't compete but they
practice at the same time in six
lanes. At times divers can be at the
far end diving off the board at the
same time others are Lap swimming,
in the lanes.
It takes discipline to be a good
swimmer but Mayse says that most
of the swim team includes students
with good academic averages.
Students who swim must learn how
to budget their time.
Marie Mayse. 19, an education
major at Lenoir-Rhyne College.
and Elise Mayse. 14, an eighth
grade middle school student, start-
ed swimming as small children and
participated in the summer pro-
eram run by the Sharks at the Deal
Street pool.
"By then we were all hooked
and four families kept driving back
and torth to Shelby.” said Sarah, re
See Mayse ITA