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Teen focused on cure
POST Voice
Fighting a rare form of cancer, Hampstead teen Emma DiBiase focuses on a cure, and stays positive through songwriting and music. Read more about Emma’s fight on page 1B.
The Pender-Topsail
&
First conference win The Topsail High School Pirate cagers picked up their first conference win last week, beating South Brunswick. Topsail plays in a tough 3A/4A conference. Read more on page 8A.
Thursday, January 28, 2016
Volume 45, No. 17
After two years of audit problems, the 2014-15 audit goes smoothly
BOC approves county audit
By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher Pender County Commissioners approved the audit for the 2014-15 fiscal year during last week’s board meeting. Commissioners were happy to get the audit back from the North Carolina Local Government Commission with only a few minor changes, after the two previous county audits were not so well received. “The findings from the LGC were very minimal. Last year we had a three or four page letter with all the things that were wrong with the audit,” said County Manager Randall Woodruff. “This year it was a one page letter with a few minor, housekeeping things that needed to be cleaned up.” According to Woodruff, he and county finance director Kathy Brafford met with the LGC on Jan. 8 and they were very complimentary of the
Working together can be a good thing, especially when four towns join together. That is the purpose of the fourtown meeting, a joint venture between Surf City, Topsail Beach, North Topsail Beach, and Holly Ridge. The recent meeting, held last week in Surf City, fea-
Search exercise in Pender County
audit. “They said we did a good job of getting everything back in order and were pleased we were able to get to this point,” Woodruff said. LGC approves school bond sale Woodruff says the school bond sale is moving ahead and he anticipates the first sale in June, pending approval by the Board of Commissioners. The Board will also be considering a proposal in the near future to refinance the remaining 2005 and 2007 school bonds to save the county interest payments. “The refinance of the existing school bonds will save us about $1.5 million. There are 12 years remaining on those bonds. That works out to about $158,000 per year in savings,” Woodruff said. “The bond council and our financial advisors are looking at that now.”
Surf City hosts Four Town meeting By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher
50 Cents
The Media of Record for the People of Pender County
tured a visit from North Carolina Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodman. Surf City Mayor Zander Guy says the meetings give the towns the opportunity to talk about issues that are common to each municipality and ways to work together. “We have an exchange of ideas of ways we can help each
Continued on page 3A
Staff photos by Andy Pettigrew
Searchers gather around the fire early on a cold Saturday morning on a tract of land off U.S. 421 south at the annual Pender Search and Rescue exercise. Joe Niegocki (right) shows the drone he pilots to help in search efforts. Read more below.
PENSAR searchers prepare for the real thing By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher Searchers from five counties along with teams from Pender County and Surf City braved the cold weather and mid-Carolina snow to participate in the annual Pender County Search and
Rescue (PENSAR) exercise. For the past several years, the exercise was held in the Holly Shelter Gamelands. This year, the exercise was held on about 9,000 acres of Corbett Timber Company land off U.S. 421 south near the Pender-New Hanover County line. Searchers from Brunswick, Gates,
Hoke, Gaston, and Beaufort counties, along with Pender and Surf City participants, fought the wind and cold to learn search techniques and practice skills to help locate individuals lost in remote areas.
Continued on page 3A
County budget retreat Feb. 18-19 Retreat to be held in Burgaw in commissioner’s meeting room By Andy Pettigrew Post & Voice Publisher County commissioners will get together Feb. 18-19 to begin the budget process for the upcoming fiscal year. Prior to meeting with county department heads, commissioners spend time discussing long-terms needs and strategic plans that will effect the Staff photo by Andy Pettigrew budget. The retreat will be held in Workers install porous asphalt at the entrance to Soundside Park in Surf City last week. The new product will allow water to pass through while maintaining a hard the BOC meeting room at the surface. Mayor Zander Guy says the town is trying out the process and will use it in county offices on S. Walker St. and will run all day Thursday other places if it works well.
and a half-day on Friday. After last year’s huge tax increase, county manager Randall Woodruff expects this upcoming budget process to be much smoother than the last. “Last year was very stressful. Hopefully it will be more of a routine year where we able to move quickly through the process,” said Woodruff. “I never dreamed I would be working anywhere that would require a tax increase that we had to implement.” Chris May from the Cape
Fear Council of Governments will facilitate the budget meetings. “As we get further along in the budget process, each department head will meet with the board during a budget work session and highlight any changes in their budgets for the year,” said Woodruff. “During the retreat, the commissioners will talk more about strate gic planning, priorities and the future.” The budget retreat meetings are open to the public.
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