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An appropriate seasonal adornment
This week it appeared to be red-blooming azaleas that were prominent in the yards of Smithfield. Was that natural phenomenon somehow inspired by the recent success of the N.C. State Wolfpack men's and women's basketball teams? Both have advanced to the Final Four of the NCAA tournaments. Will the teams as well as the shrubs maintain their glory through the weekend ahead of us?
 

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Town agrees to hire SROs for Smithfield schools

SROs (School Resource Officers) have been provided throughout Johnston County's public-school system mostly by the Sheriff's Department. To help the county extend that security service to every campus in Johnston, the Town of Smithfield has agreed to hire SROs for five campuses within its jurisdiction.

Even so, Johnston County Public Schools (JCPS) will put up $526,380 of that total annual expense while the town will provide the remaining $115,545. The agreement, adopted without dissent by the Smithfield Town Council Tuesday, takes effect on August 1 – in time for the start of the 2024-25 school year.

The campuses covered by the agreement include Smithfield-Selma High School, Smithfield Middle, South Smithfield Elementary, the Innovation Academy at South Campus, and the Choice Plus Academy housed in the former quarters of Smithfield Elementary School.

Not included is West Smithfield Elementary, which lies within the town's extraterritorial planning jurisdiction but outside the town's corporate limits. That didn't sit well with council members during Tuesday's consideration of the matter.

Councilman Marlon Lee pointed out that children from his East Smithfield neighborhood are bused to West Smithfield Elementary, giving the town reason to be concerned about the status of SROs there. Councilman David Barbour agreed, insisting that the town have "some conversations" with school officials to make sure West Smithfield is covered.

Chief of Police Pete Hedrick said it's his understanding that Smithfield's willingness to shoulder some of the burden for SROs will enable the Sheriff's Department to bolster its services at West Smithfield and other schools that may be lacking. He also noted that three of Smithfield's schools presently have full-time SROs.

Under the agreement with JCPS, the town will be responsible for hiring six SROs: one for each of the five campuses to be covered plus a supervising sergeant. He said those officers will be available to supplement the town's police force when school is out or there's need for extra emergency policing here.

Presently, the Smithfield department has seven patrol-officer vacancies – down from 13 in November when the council authorized a $5,000 hiring bonus for police slots. "Within a year we'll be fully staffed," Chief Hedrick told the council Tuesday.

Walking trail named in memory of Jackie Ray Bryant

The Town Council approved a recommendation to name the newly constructed walking trail at Smith-Collins Park in memory of the long-time volunteer, coach, and employee with the town's Parks & Recreation Department. "Mr. Bryant was part of the village that raised me," said Councilman Marlon Lee, a college basketball player and present-day high-school coach and teacher who grew up in East Smithfield's African-American neighborhood. The trail was built last year with a grant from the N.C. General Assembly. Mr. Bryant was 71 years old when he died last September.

Plan for a seven-lot subdivision off NC 210 shot down

The Town Council decided not to approve the plan put forth by CMH Homes Inc. for a 4.85-acre tract at the intersection of NC 210 and Galilee Road adjacent to West Smithfield Elementary School because it's not in keeping with the town's current Comprehensive Plan, which calls for commercial or institutional use of the site.

Planning Director Stephen Wensman had recommended approval along with a change in the Comprehensive Plan to encourage residential development of the site. The reason for making that change, he said, is the unavailability of county sewer service – a situation that arose recently when Elk Creek, a much larger subdivision nearby, "used up" the area's sewer capacity, he noted.

Mr. Wensman said single-family houses dependent on septic tanks rather than public sewerage would be more appropriate than commercial development there.

But council members, led by David Barbour, held firm to the idea that the intersection remains attractive for commercial projects. If a major prospect came along, he said, the county "would move heaven and earth" to provide sewer service that's presently lacking. The council's vote was 6-0 against the CMH Homes plan.

House and lot near amphitheater bought for $310,000

The council approved the purchase of property at 107 South Front Street for "expanding the footprint" of the recently rebuilt Neuse River Amphitheater across the street. That's how Town Manager Mike Scott characterized the deal, which could eventually clear the way for additional parking for more events at the venue.

Mr. Scott said the town will continue to lease the house to its current occupants but will begin to help them find suitable quarters elsewhere. The council's approval of the purchase came without a dissenting vote.
 

Special event for new business approved by 4-3 vote

The council was split over a last-minute permit request from Smile Solutions, a new dental-implant business at 927 North Bright Leaf Boulevard, because its request for a "Grand Opening" event this Thursday evening included permission to serve alcoholic beverages near a busy thoroughfare.

Councilmen David Barbour, Marlon Lee, and Travis Scott opposed approval of the permit; Councilmen John Dunn, Steve Rabil, and Roger Wood voted in favor, forcing Mayor Andy Moore to break the tie in the absence of Councilman Sloan Stevens.

Permits for other events that won approval by unanimous consent Tuesday:
• "Bike Night" to be hosted by Bulldog's Harley-Davidson at 1043 Outlet Center Drive from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 11 with amplified sound, a food truck, merchandise for sale, and free beer.
• "Second Anniversary Party" to be hosted by Bulldog's Harley-Davidson from noon till 5 p.m. Saturday, April 13 with the same ingredients as the April 11 event.
• "Juneteenth Celebration" hosted by the Downtown Development Corporation from noon till 6 p.m. Saturday, June 15 at the Neuse River Amphitheater including the closing of the 100 block of South Front Street, amplified sound, and food sales.
• "Evening Markets on Third Street" to be hosted by Downtown Development on four Saturdays this summer – July 13 and 27, August 10 and 24 – from 5 to 9 p.m. The permit includes closing the 100 block of South Third Street, amplified sound, sale of food and goods, two beer tents, and one food truck.

Contracts awarded for sewerage rebuilding, Water Plant truck

As part of the meeting's Consent Agenda, the council approved a $222,330 contract with Corbett Contracting to replace "aged sanitary sewer infrastructure" along Wilson Street and a $50,193 contract with Performance Automotive for purchase of a 2023 RAM 2500 four-wheel-drive crew truck for the water plant's staff. The infrastructure project is funded from $6 million awarded the town for water and sewer projects by last year's session of the N.C. General Assembly. Purchase of the truck is covered by funding in the current year's town budget.

Parks & Recreation advisory board members reappointed

The council reappointed Earl Marett and Tim Johnson to the town's Parks & Recreation Advisory Commission. Mr. Marett is a former director of the county's Department of Social Services. Mr. Johnson is a former director of the town's Parks & Recreation Department.
 

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Downtown Development names interim director

Nancy Bartholomew (right) has been named interim executive director of the Downtown Smithfield Development Corporation, filling a vacancy left by the dismissal of former director Sarah Edwards in December. Shown with her is Brittany Lucas, DSDC manager of social media and website content. (Downtown Smithfield Facebook photo)
 

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County plan calls for massive water & sewer works

A second water plant on the Neuse is biggest thing on the list

Topping the list of projects to be done over the next 20 years is a second county water-treatment plant near Princeton that will draw water from the Neuse River at Richardson's Bridge. The second biggest project is the new sewage-treatment plant that's already under construction beside the county's solid-waste landfill off NC 210 west of Smithfield.

Public Utilities Engineering Manager Kim Rineer presented the latest update of the department's Capital Improvements Plan to Johnston's County Commissioners Monday evening. It projects expenditures totaling more than $971 million through the year 2044, with $497 million of that to be spent during the next five years.

The biggest chunk of the money will pay for increasing water supplies to match anticipated residential growth in one of the state's fastest-growing counties.

The second water-treatment plant will draw water from the Neuse River south of Princeton because the volume of water flowing there is significantly greater than what passes by the county's present treatment plant at Wilson's Mills, Ms. Rineer explained. She said that's the result of several major streams joining the river below Smithfield – Swift, Middle, and Black creeks, especially.

The treatment plant itself would be constructed north of Princeton – about eight miles away from the Neuse – because the county already owns an abandoned rock quarry there, with prospects for obtaining another quarry nearby once it's "mined out." The quarries would serve as reservoirs that could hold huge amounts of water.

Map shows the river intake and a pipeline to transport water to the new plant and nearby quarry storage site>

Besides the new water plant, the county is also looking at buying water from the City of Wilson's Buckhorn Reservoir as a short-term measure for augmenting the county's water supplies. (The Town of Smithfield operates its own water-treatment plant, which presently provides some of the county's supply.)

The sewage-treatment component of the county's 20-year plan centers around the 210 Wastewater Treatment Plant, the first phase of which is scheduled to go into service this summer, Ms. Rineer noted. The plan calls for that plant to be continuously expanded in years just ahead so that the county's older plant on the Neuse below Smithfield can be taken out of service. That decision was made after the older plant was temporarily shut down by Hurricane Matthew's flooding in 2016.

How will all that new water and sewer infrastructure be financed?

Because the county's water and sewer services are operated as "enterprise funds" without support from the county's taxpayers, the county's water customers will cover much of the cost through their monthly billings for service. Along with that, the county will seek all the state and federal grants it can muster to help cover much of those capital costs, Ms. Rineer assured commissioners.

"System development fees" charged builders of residential and commercial subdivisions will also play a role in "growth paying for growth," she noted. Commissioners' Chairman Butch Lawter said those fees will be "looked at" this spring when commissioners and staff assemble the coming year's county budget.

VIEW the full Capital Improvements Plan for water and sewer works>


Single, countywide fire-tax district closer to adoption

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WHAT'S COMING UP

Neuse Little Theatre's Unnecessary Farce opens Friday
Performances of the comedy – NLT's 180th production in its 49th season – are scheduled for 8 p.m. this Thursday and Friday, 3 p.m. Sunday, and at 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, April 12-13. VISIT the NLT website for ticket information>

School board's monthly meeting next Tuesday evening
The meeting is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. Tuesday with a closed session followed by the open business session. Johnston's Board of Education meets in the Evander S. Simpson Building on US 70 Business on the east side of Smithfield.
VIEW the agenda for next week's meeting once it's posted online>

Town Council to get non-profits' budget wants next week
The Smithfield Town Council's extra meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. next Thursday (April 11) at Town Hall. It's the first in a series of sessions in the coming weeks for the council to craft a budget for the 2024-25 fiscal year that starts July 1.
 

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DEATHS & FUNERALS

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A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE EDITOR

Hooray for the Wolfpack! The last ACC champions?

It was poetic justice that N.C. State's basketball team won this year's Atlantic Coast Conference men's tournament – prevailing in five games in five days as an underdog through it all. It was poetic justice, I say, because Wolfpack basketball – led by Coach Everett Case, "the Old Gray Fox" – is what put the conference, and the tournament, on the collegiate sports map back in the 1950s.

This year's tournament may have been the last of the ACC as we've known it. For it's unclear at this point which schools will remain and which ones will be gone from the conference going forward.

The ACC is already too big, especially for basketball where teams don't play each other twice during the regular season anymore – once at home, once "on the road." It was much more fun, and a more accurate measurement of whose team was best, when they all played equally distributed schedules.

OK. I'll admit my bias. College basketball is my favorite spectator sport, so far as what's available on television. And the main driver of the conference realignments now going on is TV revenue from football, not basketball. It would suit me if the ACC could remake itself as a smaller basketball conference without football – and one that didn't encompass schools that aren't even close to the Atlantic Ocean!

Meanwhile, there's another drag on collegiate sports for us long-time fans, and it's all about money. Yes, collegiate athletes ought to share in the huge piles of revenue coming to the schools from the TV networks. But the Name, Image, and Likeness setup (NIL) that allows players to get paid for commercial endorsements doesn't seem fair to all concerned.

And now we've got legalized sports betting that is sure to add undue pressure on players having to face "fans" losing money because of individual performances or the point spread of a particular game.

But, for the time being, let's enjoy the diversion of this weekend's Final Fours featuring both the men's and women's Wolfpack teams. It's surely a welcome break from the disgusting nature of this year's national politics.
 

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