And one unincorporated area, Seven Lakes, threw in its support and submitted a check to the county prior to the meeting at the Agriculture Center in Carthage.
County Manager David McNeill Jr. said that Dave Kinney, president of the Seven Lakes Civic Group, had presented the county with a check for $1,500, representing Seven Lakes’ commitment to participate in the project.
After the meeting, Kinney told The Pilot that the $1,500 includes contributions from individual Seven Lakes property owners as well as the civic group.
Southern Pines, the largest municipality in the county, again expressed unwillingness to participate. Town Manager Kyle Sonnenberg said that five towns in the southern end of the county have already contracted with the N.C. Department of Transportation to develop a Southern Moore County Transportation Plan. He said the town sees no need to participate in another plan.
Aberdeen Town Manager Tony Robertson suggested that the group take a “wait and see” attitude toward the Southern Moore County proposal before taking other action.
Carthage was the other municipality to indicate reluctance to participate.
Financial Difficulties
Melissa Carter, Carthage town clerk and zoning administrator, said it would be difficult to persuade the Town Board to go along with the proposal if two of the larger municipalities are not joining. She added that Carthage faces a difficult budget situation right now.
Carter told The Pilot after the meeting that town commissioners are concerned about possible duplication of services and would like to see the NCDOT plan for the southern end of the county before making a commitment.
However, representatives of the village of Pinehurst said the village wants to participate, although it is one of the entities involved in the NCDOT contract for the southern Moore plan.
Pinehurst Mayor Steve Smith said the towns cannot live in isolation from each other when it comes to transportation planning. Smith said he sees the county as a type of umbrella to gather all the varied interests together.
“Furthermore, we believe the more people are involved the better we can plan,” Smith said. “The quality of the results will be in direct response to the quality of the representation.”
The village is willing to support the project financially, Smith said. He suggested that the smaller municipalities be encouraged to join in the effort by paying a nominal amount.
He said towns should not be given “a free ride” but should not be excluded because they don’t have the money.
“You’ll be involved whether you want to or not,” said Jimmy Melton, chairman of the Moore County Planning Board, in reference to the results of the plan.
County Commis-sioner David Cum-mings came to bat for the rural areas and small towns when he pointed out that travel on rural roads has an impact on urban residents as well. He said it is a safety issue when urban motorists find themselves on rural roads behind slow moving farm equipment.
“We need to figure out a way to work the smaller towns into the plan,” Cummings said.
Cameron Mayor Mack Womble said his town is interested in participating but has financial concerns.
“Let’s be creative about getting people to participate,” Smith said. “We want them in, and it’s important that they be in.”
McNeill suggested that perhaps the plan could be designed to span a couple of budget years as a means of alleviating the financial questions of the smaller towns.
“The critical thing is getting everybody involved,” said Pinehurst Village Councilman George Hillier.
McNeill wrapped up the meeting by suggesting that the town representatives take their ideas back to their respective bodies for further reaction. He proposed that another meeting be held in late September “to refine the plan and our scope.”
The group suggested that someone from NCDOT, perhaps a professional planner, be invited to the next meeting.
The county has received a letter from NCDOT in support of the proposal to contract with a private consultant, County Planning Director Nancy Roy said.
Countywide Plan Needed
The idea of developing a countywide plan arose last year when the county Planning Board consulted with state transportation department officials about updating the county thoroughfare plan. Planning Board members came to the conclusion that it would be difficult to design a plan based only on county data and county concerns.
From that idea, the county commissioners proposed that all 11 municipalities be invited to join in a cooperative effort that would work to the benefit of all parties, not just the county or just one or two municipalities. Because NCDOT does not have funds or sufficient staff to provide this type of service, it was decided to hire a private professional highway consultant to work with the county and the towns to develop a suitable plan.
A committee composed of Roy and planning directors from Southern Pines, Pinehurst and Aberdeen met to determine a plan of action. It is expected that the consultant’s service would cost $75,000.
The county has offered to pay 50 percent of the cost and suggested that the three larger municipalities pay $10,000 apiece, with other municipalities paying the remainder of the cost.
This created some problems for all of the municipalities, some of which complained that their 2001-02 budgets have already been adopted and most are financially strapped. Questions arose about financing at the last joint transportation meeting, held in June.
Representatives mentioned a variety of methods of arranging payment for the proposed contract, and this is one of the issues to be discussed at the September meeting.
Taylortown and Pinebluff were the only municipalities that did not send representatives to the meeting.
