Graham’s city council members, who include a new councilman elected in November, as well as the new mayor who defeated the former one, held a daylong retreat Tuesday, hoping to reach a consensus of sorts on priorities for the future.
Through a series of “team-building” exercises which then evolved into brainstorming about various long-term, shorter-term, and even more urgent overall issues and projects, the council members ultimately arrived at two priorities that all council members “voted for,” by putting little stickers of endorsement on some of their final ideas that could/should be implemented over the next 12 to 18 months.
Those priorities were to begin work on a revision to the city’s unified development ordinance (UDO) and to begin the funding for the backlog of utility projects (i.e., water, sewer, and stormwater lines).
It was noted that some of the city’s water and sewer lines are more than 75 years old, and members frequently voiced the view they wanted to fix them before individual sections fail.
The runner-up, with four votes, was to explore ways to finance the construction of a new fire substation. Land has been set aside at the city’s Graham regional park on Jim Minor Road for such a station. City leaders have talked for more than 20 years about adding a second fire station on the south side of the city.
While an earlier council bought property between Moore Street and Rogers Road, off South Main Street, the current council seems to be gravitating toward the location adjacent to the regional park.
Other issues which gained a majority (three stickers) of council endorsement:
- to install crosswalk lighting at the four intersections around Court Square (the council just voted to designate $84,000 of funding for that purpose at its meeting last week);
- to prioritize (increase) fire department staffing (both to overcome a perceived shortage and at least partially in anticipation of needing additional staff for the future substation);
- to begin renegotiation with the city of Mebane over that city’s portion of the capacity available through the Graham water plant (Mebane is currently suing Graham over the controversy);
- to finalize funding for the move of the Sesquicentennial Park (the council voted last week to move it from its current location on the northwest corner of Court Square to behind the Graham Historical Museum); and
- to receive a financial/funding report and implement council-approved options.
It was noted that the council will hold another special meeting, on Monday, February 9, between 1:00 to 3:00 p.m., in which the Davenport company will discuss various financial options with the council.
