Feb. 1 - 7, 2018
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Expert: Mayor ‘misunderstood’ government training Retreat cancelled after Dunham, Pegram and Rotruck refuse to join meeting
Summerfield Town Council’s annual retreat was abruptly cancelled only 41 minutes after its scheduled start on Saturday, Jan. 27, at Summerfield
Photo by Kevin Spradlin/NWO
by KEVIN SPRADLIN
SUMMERFIELD – The cost comes out to a little more than $30 each minute for a meeting that never happened.
Summerfield Mayor Gail Dunham speaks with Jesse Day, of the Piedmont Triad Regional Council, on Saturday morning a few hundred feet from the main barn at Summerfield Farms after the town council’s scheduled annual retreat had been canceled due to lack of a quorum. Day was to be a facilitator for parts of the retreat.
Farms. Mayor Gail Dunham and council members Teresa Pegram and Todd Rotruck took issue with Town Manager Scott Whitaker forming the proposed agenda for the day-long strategic work session after Dunham had developed an agenda of her own for the meeting. The trio, sworn into office on Dec. 12, chose to not enter the meeting space in order to avoid a quorum. Shortly after the retreat was scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Town Attorney Bill Hill consulted with Dunham, Pegram and Rotruck outside the main barn area where the meeting was to be held. Hill returned inside and informed those present that Dunham was “offended” by the meeting agenda established by Whitaker. In particular, Hill said, two items bothered her: Item No. 6, “Mayoral duties (review statutory duties and those authorized by Council), and No. 7, “Council parliamentary procedure.” Hill then said Dunham and the others would join the meeting only if the draft agenda she had
Culp cited for seven violations related to spill Two are repeat violations from 2011 by STEVE MANN STOKESDALE – The state Division of Water Resources has cited Culp Home
Fashions for seven violations – including two that Culp was cited for in 2011 – after an estimated 250-500 gallons of wastewater spilled in late December into an unnamed Haw River tributary. The violations resulted from
an investigation, launched after a complaint Dec. 20 about a milky substance in a stream behind Culp along Ellison Road that smelled like sewage. The stream flows through a
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proposed earlier in the week was accepted without question. The option was not well received by those in the barn. “Wait a minute, what part of working together is this?” asked Dena Barnes, mayor pro tem, rhetorically. Councilman John O’Day said he was willing to discuss possible agenda changes but only once the meeting began and a quorum was established. That did not happen. The taxpayers’ bill of $1,248.87 for the non-event includes $619.90 for staff wages for half a day, on top of staff time
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IN THIS ISSUE News in Brief.................................3 Your Questions.............................4 ORFD honors contributors...........6 Tribute to Herb Appenzeller........9 Business Notes........................... 10 Bits & Pieces............................... 11 Pets & Critters............................. 13 Pet Adoptions............................ 15 Youth Sync................................. 19 Student Profiles..........................20 Pink Out game...........................22 Community Calendar...............23 Grins & Gripes............................24 Crime/Incident Report..............25 Classifieds.................................. 27 Index of Advertisers.................. 31