Member
North Carolina Press Association
Vol. 108 No. 5
Gas expansion on
Utilities Supt. Jimmy Maney got
the green light from City Council
Tuesday night to proceed with en-
gineering plans and take bids for a
major gas expansion in South
Kings Mountain.
"We either move or some other
gas system will," said Maney who
said that Phase I of three could take
in as many as 364 customers and
the project when completed could
ultimately target 1,000 customers.
Maney said that revenue bonds
would be needed to complete
Phase II targeted for the Oak Grove
area where the city already has a
trump line.
City Council
okays audit
The 1994-95 city audit was
okayed Tuesday night by City
Council by 4-3 vote.
Councilman Phil Hager's motion
to postpone action until next month
so the board could study the audit
further failed after Councilman
Rick Murphrey offered a substitute
motion for approval and was joined
by Councilmen Ralph Grindstaff,
Jerry White and Dean Spears.
Voting against were Hager,
Jerry Mullinax, who seconded
Hager's motion, and Norma
Bridges.
Earlier, former council member
Jim Guyton questioned several
items in the audit, including a
writeoff of $257,000 in the gas de-
partment, variations in landfill
costs and late payment of retire-
ment benefits and penalties on
sales tax
Reading from the audit, Guyton
said that nine of 83 invoices could
not located and property sold at
auction was untagged.
“We are hiring unqualified peo-
ple and then sending them to
school," he charged.
Finance Director Maxine
Parsons said a personnel problem
in her office resulted in late pay-
ments and lost invoices. She said
that auditor Darrell Keller received
a_ letter from an attorney from ic
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission who advised the
writeoffs in the gas department.
"That amount was never a con-
sideration in the 1994-95 budget,"
she said.
Mayor Scott Neisler called it
"incredible" that the city would
Councilman Ralph Grindstaff
said the city needs to spend be-
tween $75,000 to $100,000 to
bring the gas system up to par and
called for a survey of the projected
areas before the city starts spend-
ing money for expansion.
"We need to know what the
costs are before we obligate our-
selves," he said.
Maney said the city needs to
spend $113,000 for operational
needs included the hiring of two
people to repair underground leaks.
"You are talking about paving of
30 streets and the underground
leaks need to be repaired before the
Thursday, February 1, 1996
streets are paved," he said.
Maney said that several con-
tracts are being settled with two
gas suppliers that can result in
money for the first phase of the
project.
"We're looking at a six year pay-
back for the Phase I project," he
said.
Councilman Phil Hager made
the motion, seconded by Jerry
Mullinax, that the city go ahead
with bids for Phase I and look at
available funding.
Councilman Rick Murphrey
asked for a detailed report of the
survey results on the project and a
oO
plan on how the city would pay for
it.
Grindstaff reiterated his concern
for repairs to the existing system.
The city has 3200 natural gas
customers. With anticipated dereg-
ulation of electricity, Maney said
the city needs to focus on gas sales
because the electric system will
soon take a back seat.
"We can't sell power cheaper
than we pay for it and it will be
very competitive in the very near
future,” he said.
In a related action, the board
See Gas, 5-A
Quay Moss, Joe Smith, Mary Wade Smith and Postmaster Bob Howard, right, demonstrate new state-
of-the- art mail processing equipment at Kings Mountain Post Office.
Post Office gets new processing equipment
Kings Mountain Post Office is the first area post of-
fice to install new state-of-the art mail processing
equipment.
Postmaster Bob Howard said that similar equipment
is in use in Charlotte. Gastonia plans to put in a similar
system in March.
Howard and his staff demonstrated the equipment
for 40 members of the Kings Mountain Rotary Club
Thursday.
Automated mail processing involves the optical
scanning of a mailpiece's address block, the applica-
tion of a corresponding barcode and high speed sorting
of the mailpiece based on the information barcode and
high speed.
cuts down not only time but gets the mail man on his
route quicker and the mail to the customer," said Quay
Moss, veteran postal employee.
The equipment includes computers.
Howard explained that the CSCCS (Carrier
Sequence Bar Code Sorter) takes the mail. The mail is
run through the machine three tines and on the third
pass puts all the letters in delivery sequence.
It cuts out several operations. The clerk used to sep-
"It only takes about an hour, from 5-6 a.m., and it
Kings Mountain People
arate the mail for each carrier and then the carrier
would case it up before he was ready to get going on
his route. Now, the mail comes off the machine in
record speed and it's ready for street delivery.
See Post Office, 2-A
By ELIZABETH STEWART
Of The Herald Staff
Modie Parker Houston loves life
and takes pleasure in everything
she does. :
Perhaps that's the secret of her
good health and longevity.
At 81 Modie rides her bike at a
least a couple of miles on sunny
days and also takes it with her to
Hilton Head Island to visit rela-
tives.
And she drives herself, making
trips as far away as Rochester,
New York several years ago for an
antiques show. ;
A visitor to the Houston hom
on S. Watterson Street is warmly
welcomed by the lady of the house
and finds her paintings on the
walls a reflection of her exuberant
personality.
As active as she is in Central
United Methodist Church, area
bridge clubs and gardening, Modie
always finds time for her art and
uses her imagination to create
beautiful oil paintings. An unfin-
ished painting is her Victorian
Village which she works on in a
renovated drawing room of her
house. Her art pieces run the gamut
from seascapes, animals, trees,
people and roosters and hens, her
favorites.
At 81, Modie Houston
not about to siow down
An accomplished artist, she has
shown her works in several states
across the. southeast and won nu-
merous awards.
Houston took up the brush in the
early 1970s. She had never had an
art lesson until that time and began
with a teacher at Charlotte's South
Mecklenburg High School. From
there she moved on to nine teach-
ers and taught a beginners class for
a while.
"I like to help other people get
started in art because art has
brought me so much pleasure," she
said.
Houston likes to paint a variety
as the walls of her cozy home at-
test. Hung around her home are
oils of everything from flowers to
chickens. She doesn't like to paint
- portraits. Her floral porch scene
and "Hen and Chicks" are eye-
catchers.
Though she enjoys competing
with other artists, Houston said the
most fulfilling event in her life as
an artist came when she was living
in Camden, SC several years ago.
Houston said a curator from the
Mint Museum in Charlotte was in
Camden and saw her work. From
among her collection, the curator
chose two of her pictures to travel
See Houston, 2-A
MODIE HOUSTON
ce 1889
Kings Mountain, N.C. » 28086 * 50¢
= SOUTHSIDE
NATURAL G
PHASE TWO
Ad hoc committee says
tax, utility hikes possible
The mayor's ad hoc committee
on the disputed 1994-95 budget
predicted Friday that tax and utility
rate hikes are in the future for
Kings Mountain citizens.
And the panel agreed in its last
meeting as an appointed board that
the Local Government
Commission has the last word.
"Even if we could have trans-
ferred money, we still needed to go
to the state Local Government
Commission and get their opinion,"
said Joe Smith, Chairman, who
said that two independent accoun-
tants reviewed at no cost the city's
current audit recently prepared by
auditor Darrell Keller and did not
agree on how much money in utili-
ty profits could have been used to
cover shortfalls in other areas but
did agree on the bottom line.
"The LGC has the final word,"
said Smith, who said he talked with
a representative of the state agency
for 30 minutes before the meeting.
The LGC, said ‘Smith, is an of-
fice of the state treasurer that over-
sees how cities finance the money
they borrow by selling bonds to
make sure the cities can repay the
money, protecting the city's and
state's credit ratings.
City Auditor Darrell Keller said
that only City Council has the au-
thority to shuffle money to boost
reserve funds and probably could
have done that but Finance
Director Maxine Parsons said that
would not have been a wise deci-
sion.
See Ad Hoc, 8-A
LGC reviews
- 1 =
city's audit
As expected, the City of Kings
Mountain received a letter from the
Local Government Finance
Division of the State Treasurer but
it was only 2 1/2 pages long and it
was toned down from letters
Council had received previously.
Under date of January 24, Craig
M. Barfield, Director of the Fiscal
Management Section, wrote Mayor
Scott Neisler and thg full City
Council commending them for the
improvements in the city's overall
cash position since June 30, 1994
but noting concern of the city's low
fund balance.
While the percentage of fund
balance available for appropria-
tions in the general fund improved
from 6.14 percent June 30, 1994 to
5.11 percent June 30, 1995, the
1995 percentage is still significant-
ly below the recommended 8 per-
cent minimum.
For cash flow purposes, Barclay
said that the level of available
fund balance in the general fund
should not be allowed to drop be-
low 8 percent of total general fund
expenditures at any point during
the year, which is equal to one
month's average expenditures
Barclay said that without consid-
ering restricted Powell Bill Funds
of $340,272 in the calculation of!
fund balance available for appro-
See LGC, 8-A
Citizens address Council
A recently-inaugurated "citizen
recognition" portion of City
Council's regular agenda drew
brief remarks from three citizens,
Gary Joy, Gene White and Clayvon
Kelly Tuesday night.
"This is the first time we've done
this and everyone is reminded they
can sign up before Council meet-
ings to speak three minutes and if
they want to speak longer can sign
up at City Hall to be placed on the
agenda," said Mayor Scott Neisler.
"Do we have the cheapest gas
rate in the state?" asked Joy of Gas
Supt. Jimmy Maney, showing his
bill from the city and comparing it
with a bill from a Belmont friend
who buys his gas from another dis-
tributor.
"My friend's bill for the exact
amount of gas I used in December
was based on a rate of .604 which
is lower than Kings Mountain's 66
cents," he said.
Maney said that Kings
Mountain's rates are calculated on
a base rate plus the variable rate, or
cost of gas tracked month by
month on a declining block
through the meter.
"The more usage, the cheaper it
is," he said.
Maney compared Joy's bill of
$91.17 for 135 cubic feet of gas
and said Joy realized a savings.
"If a customer buys this same
amount of gas from Public Service
the cost would be $92.56; from the
City of Lexington $94.50; the city
of Bessemer City $94.50 and the
City of Shelby $98.23.
"Kings Mountain is one of the
lowest, if not the lowest, in the
state and two rate studies back up
this statement," said Maney.
"There might be two months in a
year that Kings Mountain's rates
may be higher because of fluctua-
tion but on an annual projection
Kings Mountain is by far the low-
est," he said.
Retired city planner White
called for Council to hire a perma-
nent city manager. He questioned
why city officials wrote off
$237,000 in 1994-95 when the city
hopes to receive it from its gas sup-
plier.
"Would you write off accounts
when there were reasonable
chances of collection was the ques-
tion I asked officials in Shelby,
Grover, Gastonia and even the
LGC and all said no," said White.
White charged that the permis-
sion to write-off accounts should
have come from Council.
Kelly commended the board for
its "fine decision on gas expan-
sion." He said water expansion is
also needed but a big priority
shoud be annexation. Kelly said
that some areas close to the city are
not annexed and the city should be
getting the tax money instead of
the county.
"You talk about annexing out-
side the city and we have areas
such as the golf course and
Country Club which has not been
taken in," he said.