Well, the board and the sides they are choosing have started to emerge. There were so many amendments to this agenda that they needed a sewing kit. The first agenda item was to allow Chad Hocut of C-Spire to speak to the board regarding telephone, cell phone, long distance and internet services. The board voted to replace the landline phones with an internet based phone system. Please note: if the internet goes down; the phone systems goes down. The board amended the agenda to accept the copier upgrade from OCE (Canon). Afterwards, there was the drawn out process of getting the reports from department heads. Chief Cowart briefed the board on the $766,617.70 in uncollected fines. Chief Cowart also presented the board with information regarding the need to purchase more police cars. There are board members that want the city to pay for their cell phone services but they seemingly swept the need for cars under the rug. I will blog more about that later this week. The LPD cars are literally falling apart and the board needs to do whatever they need to do to find the funds to purchase at least two new police cars. It’s something that has to be done; regardless. Ryan Easley, Director of Public Works, informed the board that whenever they pull a meter to have it tested, it cannot be put back into the ground because of some new regulations. The board is looking for a way to pass the fee for replacing the meter onto the customer. In other words, if you feel there is something wrong with your water meter and you are getting overcharged, they will pull the meter, have it tested and you will be required to pay for a new meter. So, one way or another, you’re going to pay. Merlene Wall, City Clerk gave an overview of the city’s process for collecting the water bills. She gave a report of a person that was actually given a $1,250 adjustment on a water bill by the previous clerk. The more Merlene dig, more backroom deals are uncovered. As many of you may or may not know, the previous board; namely Crider, Gibson and Johnson, gave Mullings free reign and she was allowed to make decisions on which bills to adjust or basically delete. As a result, the board was not aware of what was owed and what was being written off. Therefore, those that were part of her friends and family plan essentially got away with free water. Enough of that, I was having a moment. I will also blog about that in a later post. There was a report given by Dean Shelton of the Lumberton Fire Department. I will have to blog about the fire department also later. I don’t know what’s going on with the department but there seems to be a female that’s serving as the representative, trainer, secretary, and everything else. I need to know what happened to Darren Fairchild and every citizen should be concerned about the fire rating. We may have complained about the previous department but they worked hard to ensure the citizens of Lumberton were protected and they helped keep the fire rating at a level where the citizens didn’t have to pay over inflated. I know they say hind sight is 20/20 and I have said some very harsh things about Jerry Walters and his support group but I wish I would have talked with him rather than talk at him. Now, the city is being jeopardized because of a personal vendetta and it was very clear last night that Crider is running the show. When Alderwoman at Large, Cora Rogers asked if there were any applicants that submitted applications to the Lumberton Fire Proof Fire Department were rejected and the female representative said “No”. That turned out to be a lie. Alderwoman Rogers then said “This is a volunteer fire department, why are we turning down applicants when they have the experience needed to help the department?” She then questioned if this was something they could do and Alderman Kent Crider then barked “Yes, we are allowed to turn down applicants.” After catching himself, he changed his tune and said “ the fire board can reject applications.” This is becoming rather tiresome. The fire department is not a pirate ship. We shouldn’t have to deal with issues of munity. I don’t understand why a group of people can’t work together if they are really concerned about the well being of the city. But I guess they are pattering themselves after the leaders representing the City of Lumberton.
I guess since we have reached the 90 day period, the aldermen are beginning to shed their coats of wool and reveal their true intentions. Mayor Winston kept repeating over and over again, “”it takes three to win.” He’s obviously has ended his quest to “prep” Alderwoman Rogers for the position of mayor and has focused on getting the support of his main supporters (Jay McGraw, Kent Crider and Tommy Dukes); who from this day forward will be known as “Ben’s Boys. I find it odd that when Kent is getting ready to vote, he first looks at Alderman Dukes and then at Alderman McGraw before casting his vote. There was a point when things got heated about the spot zoning of the Movie Star building. According the Mayor Winston, there was supposed to be a public hearing but when former chairperson of the Lumberton Planning and Zoning Committee, Sylvia Griffith questioned the motive of the need to change the designation of the building without the presentation of a business plan, Winston told her she was out of order and then said if she continued to talk, she would be invited to leave the meeting. In other words, he was going to have the police put her out the meeting. Really Ben??? Is this the way you’re going to try and unite the city. Are we traveling back down the road where board members want to have citizens banned from public meetings? It was at this juncture that Jay McGraw managed to try and add his snippy remarks. I guess he finally managed to read over and ordinance and in an effort to justify his voting for this so called business to come into the city, he said “ we need to read the ordinance.” I told him I read the ordinance for years and he replied, I need to read it again. But before I could respond, Ben managed to pull the leash of his Labordoodle and told him not to respond to those in the audience because that would open the door for us to comment.
Also, the person that is opening the so called manufacturing business said he could not tell what was going in the business because he wanted to protect his “investors”. Since, Rick Carbello, the one that was involved in the sale of the building that somehow landed in the hands of former mayor, Aaron Lott was sitting next to this business person. As I stated, the secrecy of this deal will certainly led to a connection to Lott and the fact that Carbello was there, has proven my theory. I have no doubt that this so called business venture will not fare well for the City of Lumberton. We know nothing about what’s going in the building. We don’t know if they will be manufacturing Klan robes or dildos. Needless to say, since they are refusing to show their hands or face, I am almost certain that it’s time for Lumberton to get out the lubricant because they are about to get screwed. In the back of my mind, I hope they will prove me wrong, but the idea of approving a zoning change without any details is clearly a step in the wrong direction.
The board voted to approve appointees to the newly established Lumberton Planning and Zoning Committee. Each alderperson appointed a person from their ward; well, everyone except Alderman Tommy Dukes. So, the new planning and zoning committee does not have any representative from Ward 4. I guess they are used to a lack of representation by now or at least they should be. Sylvia Griffith was appointed by Alderwoman Cora Rogers, Butch Brumfield was appointed by Alderman Jay McGraw, Rick Carbello was appointed by Alderman Kent Crider, Mable Myles was appointed by Alderman Quincy Rogers and Stanley Rayborn was appointed by Alderman Tommy Dukes. There was a measure to review the lease with PRVO and some part time officers were terminated. The board voted to hire Jason Scott as a certified part time police officer and to hire Daniel Wilczek as a full time certified police officer. There are several posts that will stem from the board meeting and they will post later this week. Also, I will post the First 100 days report on Mayor Ben Winston. So I can end on a good note, I would like to say that Merlene Wall, Melissa Bazor, Betty Speights and Chief Cowart are doing an excellent job. Also, I would like to thank Byron (I hope I have his name correct) for taking the extra initiative to make sure the water line was clear when the broken line caused some residents to have cloudy water. He actually went out and cleared the line so citizens would not be upset about the appearance of the water. Thank you for going the extra mile! It was certainly appreciated.
Well, the board and the sides they are choosing have started to emerge. There were so many amendments to this agenda that they needed a sewing kit. The first agenda item was to allow Chad Hocut of C-Spire to speak to the board regarding telephone, cell phone, long distance and internet services. The board voted to replace the landline phones with an internet based phone system. Please note: if the internet goes down; the phone systems goes down. The board amended the agenda to accept the copier upgrade from OCE (Canon). Afterwards, there was the drawn out process of getting the reports from department heads. Chief Cowart briefed the board on the $766,617.70 in uncollected fines. Chief Cowart also presented the board with information regarding the need to purchase more police cars. There are board members that want the city to pay for their cell phone services but they seemingly swept the need for cars under the rug. I will blog more about that later this week. The LPD cars are literally falling apart and the board needs to do whatever they need to do to find the funds to purchase at least two new police cars. It’s something that has to be done; regardless. Ryan Easley, Director of Public Works, informed the board that whenever they pull a meter to have it tested, it cannot be put back into the ground because of some new regulations. The board is looking for a way to pass the fee for replacing the meter onto the customer. In other words, if you feel there is something wrong with your water meter and you are getting overcharged, they will pull the meter, have it tested and you will be required to pay for a new meter. So, one way or another, you’re going to pay. Merlene Wall, City Clerk gave an overview of the city’s process for collecting the water bills. She gave a report of a person that was actually given a $1,250 adjustment on a water bill by the previous clerk. The more Merlene dig, more backroom deals are uncovered. As many of you may or may not know, the previous board; namely Crider, Gibson and Johnson, gave Mullings free reign and she was allowed to make decisions on which bills to adjust or basically delete. As a result, the board was not aware of what was owed and what was being written off. Therefore, those that were part of her friends and family plan essentially got away with free water. Enough of that, I was having a moment. I will also blog about that in a later post. There was a report given by Dean Shelton of the Lumberton Fire Department. I will have to blog about the fire department also later. I don’t know what’s going on with the department but there seems to be a female that’s serving as the representative, trainer, secretary, and everything else. I need to know what happened to Darren Fairchild and every citizen should be concerned about the fire rating. We may have complained about the previous department but they worked hard to ensure the citizens of Lumberton were protected and they helped keep the fire rating at a level where the citizens didn’t have to pay over inflated. I know they say hind sight is 20/20 and I have said some very harsh things about Jerry Walters and his support group but I wish I would have talked with him rather than talk at him. Now, the city is being jeopardized because of a personal vendetta and it was very clear last night that Crider is running the show. When Alderwoman at Large, Cora Rogers asked if there were any applicants that submitted applications to the Lumberton Fire Proof Fire Department were rejected and the female representative said “No”. That turned out to be a lie. Alderwoman Rogers then said “This is a volunteer fire department, why are we turning down applicants when they have the experience needed to help the department?” She then questioned if this was something they could do and Alderman Kent Crider then barked “Yes, we are allowed to turn down applicants.” After catching himself, he changed his tune and said “ the fire board can reject applications.” This is becoming rather tiresome. The fire department is not a pirate ship. We shouldn’t have to deal with issues of munity. I don’t understand why a group of people can’t work together if they are really concerned about the well being of the city. But I guess they are pattering themselves after the leaders representing the City of Lumberton.
I guess since we have reached the 90 day period, the aldermen are beginning to shed their coats of wool and reveal their true intentions. Mayor Winston kept repeating over and over again, “”it takes three to win.” He’s obviously has ended his quest to “prep” Alderwoman Rogers for the position of mayor and has focused on getting the support of his main supporters (Jay McGraw, Kent Crider and Tommy Dukes); who from this day forward will be known as “Ben’s Boys. I find it odd that when Kent is getting ready to vote, he first looks at Alderman Dukes and then at Alderman McGraw before casting his vote. There was a point when things got heated about the spot zoning of the Movie Star building. According the Mayor Winston, there was supposed to be a public hearing but when former chairperson of the Lumberton Planning and Zoning Committee, Sylvia Griffith questioned the motive of the need to change the designation of the building without the presentation of a business plan, Winston told her she was out of order and then said if she continued to talk, she would be invited to leave the meeting. In other words, he was going to have the police put her out the meeting. Really Ben??? Is this the way you’re going to try and unite the city. Are we traveling back down the road where board members want to have citizens banned from public meetings? It was at this juncture that Jay McGraw managed to try and add his snippy remarks. I guess he finally managed to read over and ordinance and in an effort to justify his voting for this so called business to come into the city, he said “ we need to read the ordinance.” I told him I read the ordinance for years and he replied, I need to read it again. But before I could respond, Ben managed to pull the leash of his Labordoodle and told him not to respond to those in the audience because that would open the door for us to comment.
Also, the person that is opening the so called manufacturing business said he could not tell what was going in the business because he wanted to protect his “investors”. Since, Rick Carbello, the one that was involved in the sale of the building that somehow landed in the hands of former mayor, Aaron Lott was sitting next to this business person. As I stated, the secrecy of this deal will certainly led to a connection to Lott and the fact that Carbello was there, has proven my theory. I have no doubt that this so called business venture will not fare well for the City of Lumberton. We know nothing about what’s going in the building. We don’t know if they will be manufacturing Klan robes or dildos. Needless to say, since they are refusing to show their hands or face, I am almost certain that it’s time for Lumberton to get out the lubricant because they are about to get screwed. In the back of my mind, I hope they will prove me wrong, but the idea of approving a zoning change without any details is clearly a step in the wrong direction.
The board voted to approve appointees to the newly established Lumberton Planning and Zoning Committee. Each alderperson appointed a person from their ward; well, everyone except Alderman Tommy Dukes. So, the new planning and zoning committee does not have any representative from Ward 4. I guess they are used to a lack of representation by now or at least they should be. Sylvia Griffith was appointed by Alderwoman Cora Rogers, Butch Brumfield was appointed by Alderman Jay McGraw, Rick Carbello was appointed by Alderman Kent Crider, Mable Myles was appointed by Alderman Quincy Rogers and Stanley Rayborn was appointed by Alderman Tommy Dukes. There was a measure to review the lease with PRVO and some part time officers were terminated. The board voted to hire Jason Scott as a certified part time police officer and to hire Daniel Wilczek as a full time certified police officer. There are several posts that will stem from the board meeting and they will post later this week. Also, I will post the First 100 days report on Mayor Ben Winston. So I can end on a good note, I would like to say that Merlene Wall, Melissa Bazor, Betty Speights and Chief Cowart are doing an excellent job. Also, I would like to thank Byron (I hope I have his name correct) for taking the extra initiative to make sure the water line was clear when the broken line caused some residents to have cloudy water. He actually went out and cleared the line so citizens would not be upset about the appearance of the water. Thank you for going the extra mile! It was certainly appreciated.
Kent Crider should have never been allowed to vote on anything to do with the Fire proof panthers since he has family on the department. He was also the one that helped write the contract. He is the one that started the Fire proof panthers as put in his words to get rid of Jerry Walters, so the citizen of LUMBERTON are paying for Criders personal vendetta. There is a lot you can find out about the fire proof panthers, like since taking over two have lost drivers license, one arrested for theif and domestic assault and meth. List can go on and on. This department thanks to Kent Crider is putting lumberton in danger.
ReplyDeleteThis can be undone the voters need to remember they have the power. When it comes time to vote do lumberton a favor and clean house vote them all out.
ReplyDeleteOh yeah remember when the fire proof panther's said they stopped doing drug tests because they didn't want to cost the city money. The money for that well did come from the fire department's budget. I guess they have more support than the old fire department did. They are getting away with a lot if things that would have gotten Jerry in trouble. R1 has nit stopped moving it has been seen all over town.
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DeleteHas the board stopped and asked themselves why Rick Carbelo someone who develops hospitals, shopping malls, works with the Choctaws on casinos and government contracts wants to serve on zoning and planning all of a sudden. I curious as to why he has owned millions of dollars of property in lumberton and never bothered before now. So glad I moved away from there. Congratulations lumberton, now you have mafia connected appointees in place. Rick carbelo needs to get in his plane and fly out of town for good.
ReplyDelete