County will eye shelter contract
By Matthew Whittle
Published in News on August 19, 2007 10:09 AM
Beginning with their briefing session at 8 a.m. and formal meeting at 9 a.m., the Wayne County Board of Commissioners will be faced with a decision on the future of county's new animal shelter Tuesday.
The building, which is planned to be 11,500 square feet and completely state-of-the-art, was estimated to cost about $1.6 million. The lowest bid, however, came back last week at $1.88 million. It was submitted by Daniels and Daniels Construction Co. Inc of Goldsboro.
However, the $200,000 difference could be offset by the $500,000 in private donations received by the county for what is being called the county's new animal adoption center. The rest of the funds, county Manager Lee Smith said, are already in the budget for this year.
If the commissioners vote to accept the bid and move forward with the project, he hopes that construction could begin at the Clingman Street location sometime within the next 30 to 45 days.
Also on the agenda is a presentation from Wayne Opportunity Center, which took over the county's recycling business in mid-July.
Wayne Opportunity, which has had a recycling program for the last 20 years, came to the arrangement with county as a way to help increase its own revenues -- possibly by as much as $30,000 a month.
But the partnership also was expected to benefit the county, which had been hauling its recyclable goods to Clinton. By working with Wayne Opportunity, the county is expected to save approximately $50,000 a year in transportation costs, while gaining approximately $6,000 a month in shared revenue.
The new arrangement began on July 11.
Wayne Opportunity is a non-profit agency that works primarily with the mentally handicapped and developmentally disabled, teaching job skills and providing job training, as well as its own limited employment.
In addition, the commissioners will hear a summary of the Stoney Creek Local Watershed Plan, which was sponsored by the North Carolina Ecosystem Enhance-ment Program to improve the water quality, hydrology and habitat of the Stoney Creek Watershed in the central part of the county.
According to the letter sent to the county from KCI Associates of North Carolina, a Wilmington engineering firm, the watershed includes 50 miles of streams and 50 miles of agricultural and stormwater ditches, and has been classified as impaired because of its poor fish and benthic macroinvertebrate communities.
Included in the report are the reasons for the poor rating and what steps can be taken to improve it.
And finally, the commissioners are expected to schedule a public hearing be held on Sept. 18 to consider changing the name of a section of Nahunta Road that was cut off during the construction of the U.S. 117 bypass. Residents in the four homes remaining on the road are asking to change its name to Hoss Lane. The request is coming to the commissioners with a positive recommendation from the county Planning Board.