INSIDE ▼ Useful Father's Day gifts for aging dads PAGE 1B Friday, June 17, 2022 • Vol. 15 • No. 23
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County trims bond asks by Justin Vick justin@cmgweekly.com
MONROE – Union County intends to add two school bond referendums to the 2022 election ballot: $134,405,000 for Union County Public Schools and $32,725,000 for South Piedmont Community College. Commissioners have to complete a few steps to get the bonds on the ballot, including holding a public hearing on Aug. 1 to get feedback from the public, according to Beverly Liles, county finance director. County commissioners trimmed
a combined $20,615,000 from UCPS and South Piedmont’s requests during their June 6 meeting. UCPS had requested nearly $149.3 million to move forward on eight projects, including the construction of replacement schools for Forest Hills High and East Elementary. Commissioners were fine with the Forest Hills High and East Elementary projects but were not so keen on financing the other projects at this time. Those included design work on four buildings, including repurposing Forest Hills for a replacement
school for East Union Middle, Parkwood High School, a new career and technical education school, and administrative and warehouse facilities. UCPS also wanted to use bond money to design and build fieldhouses and central plant additions for Marvin Ridge and Porter Ridge high schools. School board member Gary Sides encouraged commissioners before the June 6 decision to “let the people decide.” Sides said the district approached the county with the same bond proposal in 2020, but commissioners
instead formed an ad hoc committee to create a 10-year capital plan UCPS and South Piedmont. Sides said the plan hadn’t received much feedback from commissioners about individual projects. “We will continue investing in areas of this county that have older inadequate facilities of an age that approaches as old as me,” Sides said. “So I ask for you to vote yes to place this on the ballot this November.” Commissioners had already appropriated $4.9 million toward design costs of Forest Hills High and see BONDS, Page 5A
Graduation 2022
Mavericks charge forward by Justin Vick
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Taking off
Collins Aerospace opens manufacturing center MONROE – Collins Aerospace has opened a new additive manufacturing center as well as expanded maintenance, repair and overhaul capabilities at its Monroe campus. The company completed a $30 million expansion of the site in 2021 and has invested an additional $15 million as part of incentives from Monroe and Union County. The new facility will join the company’s network of additive production centers in Iowa, Minnesota and Singapore, and additive research centers in Connecticut and Poland, to support the next generation of aircraft with state-of-the-art systems and optimized designs. “Through a process of joining materials layer upon layer to make parts from 3D model data, additive manufacturing offers several key benefits compared to traditional manufacturing,” said Kevin Myers, vice president of operations for Collins Aerospace. “By using additive manufacturing to produce aircraft parts and components, we can help reduce weight, cost and time to market, and provide more sustainable solutions for our customers.” Collins maintains a global network of 75 maintenance, repair and overhaul sites.
Monroe Mayor Marion Holloway said the city is excited about the success of the firm, its local investments and its commitment to residents. Photos courtesy of Collins Aerospace
Its 160,000-square-foot Monroe site serves more than 300 customers across the aerospace and defense industries. The site repairs more than 6,500 unique part numbers for commercial and military aircraft, including actuation systems, helicopter rescue hoists and air management systems. It also provides aircraft-on-the-ground services. “Our Monroe site is one of Collins’ largest MRO facilities in the world, and the repairs we provide are essential to keeping our airline and military customers’ aircraft in service,” said Mary DeStaffan, general manager for the Monroe site. “We’re proud to call Monroe home, to continue to invest
and grow in the community here, and to support the region’s growing aerospace cluster.” Collins has added advanced manufacturing equipment to streamline operations, improve quality control and enhance employee safety. Collins has also increased the size of Monroe’s workforce, bringing on more than 70 new employees in the past year. The company continues to hire. “Collins Aerospace is a vital corporate partner and a cornerstone of our aerospace cluster here in Monroe and Union County,” Monroe Mayor Marion Holloway said. “
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WAXHAW – Principal Matt Lasher said the Class of 2022 is the largest in Marvin Ridge High School’s 14-year history with 472 graduates. Lasher said this class earned more than $15 million in scholarships and helped contribute to an environment that ranked in the top 3% of all high schools in the nation, according to the U.S. News & World Report. “You were responsible for bringing back the Maverick spirit that COVID clouded over the past two years,” Lasher told graduates June 8. Senior Class President Katherine DeMore said she couldn’t give a commencement speech without mentioning COVID-19 at least once, considering it consumed so much time. “This class lost two years of normal high school and faced uncharted territories of learning,” DeMore said. “In all honesty, COVID made most of our classes a thousand times easier for all of us but still it restricted our social lives and created new difficulties that we had to navigate.” Senior Class Vice President Sota Asano said the past two years have taught him to value what you have because it can be taken away from you unexpectedly. Asano said COVID-19 also gave graduates the ability to appreciate good health, family and the importance of making the most out of every circumstance and day. “My greatest wish for all of you is to live fully,” Asano said. Student Body President Andrew Walford said commencement represents a new opportunity to start fresh by creating a new reputation, meeting new friends or making new memories. Senior Class Secretary Tatum Beard announced that the Class of 2022 will be giving the school new flowers and seats in the senior garden. Class Historian Shivani Kotikalapudi detailed highlights of the previous four years, including getting lost on the way to the bathroom as a freshman and her last day as a sophomore made memorable by an E. coli outbreak, prompting the nearby grocery store to sell out of bottled water. “Although our inability to effectively plan our senior skip days and our senior prank is concerning, I am more than confident we will embody the Maverick spirit of collaboration, resilience, enthusiasm and leadership for many many years to come,” she said.