ROWLAND — The Rowland Board of Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday to hire a Rowland native as the town’s new clerk.
David Townsend III replaces former town clerk and administrator Oryan Lowry, who in March resigned the position he held since July 1, 2014.
Townsend, who begins his new job on May 9, will be paid an annual salary of $36,000. Elizabeth Brown, the town’s administrative assistant, billing clerk and customer services representative, has been filling in as the town’s clerk since Lowry’s departure.
Townsend is a professional engineer who graduated from N.C. State University in 1981 with a degree in Civil Engineering. He said during his more than 30-year career he has served as an engineering consultant for a number of North Carolina counties and municipalities.
“I’m very excited about having this opportunity to work for my hometown and I’m ready to hit the ground running,” Townsend said.
Townsend’s arrival comes when Rowland officials are struggling to pay for upgrades to the town’s aging sewer system.
“This is right up my alley,” Townsend said. “Rowland’s sewer system is an older one, but there are some grants out there that can help fund improvements. For 30 years I have worked with agencies in Raleigh that provide grants. We will see if we can get some of them.”
Joe McGirt, Rowland’s Water and Sewer director, told the commissioners that the town has been fined by the state’s Department of Environmental Quality $4,000 for two days in December when more than 260,000 gallons of sewage gushed out of two manholes. He is trying to negotiate with the state to reduce the fine.
Although notices have not been yet sent to the town, McGirt said the state is also fining the town for similar incidents that occurred during January and February.
McGirt said that the spills are largely the result of the unusually large amount of rain that fell during the winter.
McGirt said that the cost of making permanent improvements would be in the “hundreds of thousands of dollars.”
“There’s no quick answer to resolving these problems,” McGirt said. “All we can do is continue to pay fines and try to get grants.”
Commissioner Paul Hunt, who is the primary architect of the town’s 2016-17 budget that becomes effective July 1, told the commissioners that if the town pays all the anticipated fines and does work on the sewer system that already has been planned for the upcoming year, the town’s Water and Sewer budget will be about $25,000
“We have some things that can be done to cut our budget, but not enough to come up with $25,000,” Hunt said. “It’s not that we don’t have surplus in the bank that we can fall back on, but it’s going to be tough without any contingency. We’ve got to be careful.”
In other business, Mayor James Hampton told the commissioners that playground equipment needs to be provided for the town’s young people at Benton Court, which is operated by the Robeson County Housing Authority.
“Our kids have nothing to do and when there’s nothing for them, even a basketball court, they are going to be out on the streets and getting into trouble,” Hampton said. “Hot nights are coming and if the kids don’t have something to do there are going to be problems.”
Hampton said that there used to be playground equipment for the children at Benton Park but the housing authority had it removed.
Hampton said that he has met with Assistant County Manager Jason King, the interim director of the housing authority, and King has said there is used equipment available that could be moved to Benton Court. King, however, is requesting that Rowland pay for the equipment to be transported from Red Springs to Rowland.
At the request of Commissioner A. Jean Love, the commissioners asked Hampton to get King to put in a written agreement that the Rowland can have the equipment currently in Red Springs. Love said she wants to ensure that King has received the approval of the Robeson County Housing Authority Board, which is made up of the county commissioners.
“The board is required to approve something like this,” Love said. “King can’t just approve this without board approval.”
