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Page 4B Attempted break-ins reported by police The attempted break-ins at two businesses was re- ported by Kings Mountain Police this week. On Aug. 6 someone threw a brick through a glass door at Hometown Hardware, 110 S. Railroad Ave. . On Aug. 7 a window pane was broken at Dest Family Dentistry, 107 E. Mountain Street. Facility inspections Cleveland County Health Department inspected facil- ities Aug. 3-7 and included Italian Garden & Pizzeria, 9.5; Starbuck Coffee at In- gles, Shelby Road, 100; Subway, York Rd., 97.5’ In- gles Meat, Seafood Market, Shelby Rd., 98; and White Oak Manor, Sipes St., 97. Woman's Club to sponsor big yard sale August 15 Kings Mountain Wom- an's Club is sponsoring a big yard sale Saturday, Aug. 15, from 7:30 a.m.-noon at the Woman's club on E. Moun- tain Street. Clothing, household items and a wide assortment of items will be available. Proceeds will be used to From Page 1A “We are extremely proud of Mr. Latham and Mr. Put- nam for their heroic efforts on the practice field that day and we are extremely proud to present this award named for someone who has contributed so immensely to Cleveland County schools over the years,” said Dr. support the Sallie Southall Cotton Scholarship which is given to a student annually by the cl ub. The public is encouraged to attend and also donate items which can be taken to the clubhouse Friday eve- ning, Aug. 14. Brian Hunnell, the school disrict’s assistant superin- tendent of curriculum and instruction. In other school board news, Dr. Stephen Fisher told the board that teachers and other faculty are ready for the start of the 2015- * 2016 school year. The first day is classes is set for Au- The Kings Mountain Herald | www.kmherald.com Wednesday, August 12, 2015 What a healthy com- munity we have here in Kings Mountain! ‘Op- portunities to enjoy a healthy lifestyle abound. Today Cathey Noell and I had the chance to speak to and prepare a healthy, local meal for the “Lunch and Learn” crowd at the Kings Mountain YMCA. Lunch featured tomato sandwiches made from Lewis Farms heirloom tomatoes and sourdough bread from Bessemer City’s Ladybug Farms Bakery. Dukes mayon- naise and salt and pep- per were the condiments of choice! Also on the menu was an amazing pasta salad chock-full of fresh vegetables from Two Wives Vineyard. Sweet House Bakery of Kings Mountain pre- pared an assortment of Market Minutes with Margot . Market miniature cupcakes and cookie bars of all kinds. Cathey also prepared an amazing peach tea made Margot Plonk Foothills Farmers from fresh peaches, also from Two Wives Vineyard. It is refreshing to see people embrac- ing the shop local-live local- eat local life- style. By supporting local businesses and services, the money you spend locally has a great chance of being spent again and again right here in Cleveland County! If you support local farmers by shop- ping at the Foothills Farmers’ Market, it is a safe bet that you are helping to stimulate our local economy! Be sure to check out our new vendors and ex- citing activities! See you on Saturday! gust 24 at most schools in the county. Cleveland Early College began Thursday, Aug. 6. As is customary for the superintendent, Dr. Fisher will be visiting all 29 schools in the system that Monday. “They’re short visits, but they are great visits,” he told the board of an audience of about 50 who came to the school board meeting. “Already, there’s a lot of excitement with fall sports and band practice going on. Teachers are excited; stu- dents are excited.” The new year will see some changes in top admin- istration posts. KMHS principal Ron- HEROES’: welcome for two coaches nie Funderburke has been named to the assistant super- intendent for administrative services post for Cleveland County Schools. The high school’s top job will be filled by Julie Rikard, a longtime assistant principal at the Kings Mountain school. Hunnell left the assistant superintendent for admin- istrative services role over the summer when he was named to the curriculum and instruction job. In that role, he succeeded the late Dr. William Dixon, who died unexpectedly on April 24 after coming to Cleveland County Schools less than a year before. CITY: From page 1A the mayor to enter into an agreement with NTE as defined by “KME consent and agreement- water and wastewater services.” This is basically an insurance policy for both the city and financial backers represent- ing NTE,” said the city's Energy Services Director Nick Hendricks who made the recommendation, along with city attorney Mickey Corry, who reviewed all documents. Tuesday's action is also basically an insurance pol- icy that will benefit the city, NTE and NTE back- ers, Hendricks explained to the board at the city's public works department If NTE Energy were to go under for any reason, the inves- tors could continue funding the project. “We want to make sure that if anything happens with NTE, everyone's cov- ered, we're covered and the banks are covered and the project moves on," said the mayor. Hendricks said the city does not anticipate any- thing happening to NTE but he said it is always im- portant to set up cautionary measures on major projects. "When you' re dealing with a project of half a billion dollars you have to assume that anything could hap- pen.” “I think the fact that the banks have signed on to take part in this agreement speaks very well of how strong the whole concept is," At large commissioner Keith Miller said. “They feel so good about it they want to keep moving even if something should happen to one of the players.” The water and waste water agreement addresses the assurance that if in fact NTE defaults, the bank will move forward with the project and the City of Kings Mountain will agree to move forward as well. This is tied to the agree- ment that NTE will reim- burse the city 2.2 million in water and wastewater IS covering its bases needs. For example, Hendricks said "if NTE defaults on their reimbursement pay- ments to the city, the bank will step in to insure that we receive such payments and the city will insure that we will continue to construct the necessary water and wastewater infrastructure without NTE being a part of the project. Also, if NTE defaults, the banks can be- come the party at hand to insure they purchase water and wastewater from the city at the same agreement as NTE had in place. Of course we do not anticipate this at all but every avenue and/or possibility must be addressed," Hendricks said. In November 2014 the city of Kings Mountain signed a 20-year contract to make NTE its energy provider beginning in 2019 and the Kings Mountain Energy Center recently held groundbreaking at the site off Dixon School Road. The city expects to save between $8-$10 million dollars on energy annually with NTE. City officials point to savings for elec- tric customers each of the 20 years of the contract. Hendricks said the Kings Mountain Energy Project is just one of many progressive and mon- ey-saving projects the city has accomplished in recent years. “I've never been in a project that wasn’t finan- cially sound and we have had success in all projects because of a team effort." “We are very blessed," Hendricks said. Hendricks said after the meeting that “this is a strong project that has been in the making for over two years.” 'It has been a busy time for staff," said City Man- ager Marilyn Sellers after last week's council meeting. She said the mayor and several members of staff have talked to civic orga- nizations in the community about the project and many documents have been re- viewed with the assistance of city attorney Mickey Corry. “We're very excited not only for Kings Moun- tain but for the other three municipalities that have also signed on: Concord, Greenwod, SC and Winter- ville NC," said Sellers. Hendricks, who has been with the city 29 years, the mayor and Mrs. Sellers are excited about what the new power plant will mean for Kings Mountain in jobs, the economy and quality of life. “This is the largest pub- lic/private partnership in the region and NTE asked for no incentives and its fi- nancial partners are among the largest in North Amer- ica," said the mayor. At NTE's recent ground- breaking, NTE vice presi- dent Mike Green said that a majority of new jobs will be filled by local people. The company plans to hire 25 to 30 full time employees to operate the plant at annual salaries between $60,000 and $80,000 and 250 to 350 during construction. Appli- cations are being taken on the company's web site. Seth Shortlidge, presi- dent of NTE, also said the jobs will be good-paying jobs and the kind of jobs that build strong commu- nities. He said he expects the construction jobs to last around two and a half years from now into the begin- ning of 2018. Contractors and sub-contractors were among those attending the recent groundbreaking at the 290 acre site off the access road at the Dixon School exit at I-85 south. The plant will occupy a portion of the site and an in- dustrial park is planned in the future on the additional acreage. Why did the city choose NTE? Once completed ~ with a time table of January 2018, the Kings Mountain Energy Center would be capable of powering 400,000 homes. NTE will be the city's biggest water user — over 2 million gallons of water per day. The new plant has asked for voluntary annexation which would significantly expand the tax base to over $2 million dollars per year. Gas generation, cleanest and most efficient source of energy. New rates provide cost savings which means savings for the city and savings for power custom- ers. The 20-year deal with NTE came about as the city weighed options for the past four years - stay with Duke Energy, build the city's own gen- erator plant or find a new supplier. After comparing various contracts and how they would impact the city over a 10-year period Hen- dricks recommended mak- ing the switch to NTE and the mayor and the seven member council favored and signed the agreement officially on Nov. 13. 2014. Other statements made by city officials and NTE: "As long as I have been city manager, my charge to staff has been to bring me projects that will produce additional revenue and/or savings to the city, but I also wanted assurance that our service to our custom- ers would remain reliable and dependable," city man- ager Sellers said at the Nov. 11, 2014 work session. Both the mayor and NT'Es Shortlidge said at the agreement signed Nov 13, 2014 that the Kings Moun- tain Energy Center was a win/win situation. " The mayor and Nick Hendricks were our stron- gest advocates," Shortlidge said at the signing ceremo- nies Florida-based NTE is building plants in Ohio and Texas but its first ground- breaking was the Kings Mountain Energy plant on July 28, a $450M facility and the largest development project in the city's history. “In 30 months I hope this plant will be opera- tional," -Shortlidge said at the groundbreaking. BIG UPGRADES: for city’s water plant From Page 1A Lake, the T.J. Ellison Water Treatment Facilities plant will see an expansion over the next year that will in- crease the number of filters from four to six. ° The Harper Corpora- tion was awarded the water treatment facility contract, which amounts to about $12 million. As it stands now, the city provides about three million gallons a day to its custom- ers, including residential, commercial and manufac- turing. Residential water services accounts for about 35 to 40 percent of total usage, officials said. NTE Energy, which is expected to go online in 2018, is alone expected to draw about three million gallons a day from the city’s water services. Kings Mountain City Manager Marilyn Sellers told the audience of about 50 people who attended the groundbreaking that the improvements to water services is instrumental in attracting new industry to the city. “The lake is one of our greatest assets,” she said. “We use it to promote eco- nomic growth and to secure large companies like NTE Energy. We are second to none in terms of quality.” She lauded water re- sources workers and other city leaders for their vision in looking ahead for what’s in the best interest of Kings Mountain. “Being proactive brings opportunity,” Sellers said at the groundbreaking cer- emony, which included a lunch catered by Smokin’ Mountain Boys BBQ. “Op- portunity brings revenue.” The city’s Water Re- sources Director Dennis Wells echoed those thoughts in his comments. “We knew we had to make some changes to meet the needs of the commu- nity,” he said, adding that the way the city collects, processes and pumps water to its customers is not fun- damentally changing. ‘This is a goal we’ve been eyeing for some years. Working with the N.C. ‘Dept. of Environmental Re- sources in the last several years has meant that Wells and other city officials have made around a dozen trips to Raleigh to iron out the plans and funding. He said that N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore played a key role in helping the deal get put together smoothly. Monday’s announced upgrades for the water treat- ment facility are the third part of the overall water ser- vices improvements. A downtown waterline rehabilitation project that was completed last year saw the replacement of several miles of antiquated water pipes. Before that, workers fin- ished a transmission line replacement that swapped existing 24-inch pipes with 36-inch pipes. Transmission lines are the main source lines that connect the city’s reservoir tanks with the city’s water grid. “The bottom line is these improvements and enhance- ments prepare us for the future,” Mayor Rick Mur- phrey said at the ground- breaking. “The city is growing and attracting more business all the time and we have worked hard to make sure our (infrastructure) is world class.” Currently, the city’s top water customers are the Town of Grover, Steag Energy Services, Che- metall Foote, Firestone and CVG-Mayflower. When it becomes operational, NTE Energy will take over the No. 1 spot. The city this year announced a new part- nership with the energy pro- vider. It will replace Duke Energy as the supplier of all the city’s electricity, which the city in turn supplies to its residents. The NTE En- ergy power plant, which is located between Hwy. 161 and Dixon School Road on I-85, broke ground last month.
The Kings Mountain Herald (Kings Mountain, N.C.)
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