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Moving toward 1,000+ workers after 2 months in operation

When Amazon announced its plan to open a distribution center in West Smithfield three years ago, the company signed contracts that quaranteed property-tax rebates from the County of Johnston and the Town of Smithfield over a seven-year period – provided Amazon hired 500 workers by the end of 2023.

When the company acknowledged last fall that the goal could not be reached, the county and town agreed to give Amazon till the end of 2025 to employ the 500.

Turns out that goal has already been reached – in fact, doubled – since Amazon began operations February 18. Company officials announced during a ceremonial ribbon-cutting event on Tuesday that Amazon now expects to employ more than 1,000 workers here.

“We’re on track for that,” said General Manager Eric Arnold, “with several more weeks of hiring to go.” Furthermore, he added, “the labor market has been tremendous,” producing “an amazing turnout” of job applicants.

Mr. Arnold (shown at right during Tuesday’s tour) said starting pay for Amazon workers here is $17 an hour plus benefits including health and dental insurance.

As of this week, the Smithfield facility has reached just over 50% of its operating capacity, Mr. Arnold noted. Once it’s fully operational, more than a million items will pass through here each day, he said, and that number could rise to 2.5 million items during peak seasons.

The Smithfield center is classified as an “inbound cross dock facility” that receives and consolidates inventory into bulk shipments “to various fulfillment centers nearby,” explains a fact sheet distributed to the media, relying "on robots and automation that work alongside employees" to move approximately 20,000 “yellow totes” filled with merchandise each day. “It takes approximately six minutes for an item to be processed in the facility from inbound to outbound,” the fact sheet states.

Mr. Arnold said about 60% of the merchandise processed here comes from small businesses. By the way, the first item received at the Smithfield facility two months ago was a Belgian waffle maker.

The local center – about the size of 11 football fields – is designated as RDU2 because it’s the second Amazon facility to enter service in the vicinity of Raleigh-Durham International Airport. (RDU1 is Garner’s huge Amazon processing center.) Amazon facilities also sport team-like mascots and logos with unique tag lines (shown here).

During Tuesday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony, the company announced that Johnston Community College has joined Amazon's Career Choice program, which offers eligible employees access to pre-paid education and skills training. That includes earning high-school diplomas or GEDs, taking English proficiency classes, earning industry certifications aligned to in-demand jobs as well as associate’s or bachelor’s degrees at any one of Amazon's partner schools.
 

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2.4 acres for sale at 1558 W. Market St. in West Smithfield

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School leaders ask legislators to fund more staff
Counselors, social workers especially needed, they say

Members of the Johnston County Board of Education this week asked Johnston’s state legislators to push for larger staffs in our public schools to handle growing concerns about mental-health issues among students.

During the board’s annual Legislative Breakfast Monday morning, Chair Lyn Andrews told State Senator Benton Sawrey and Representative Larry Strickland that Johnston County’s public-school system employs 15 social workers and 24 psychologists serving just under 37,000 students on 48 campuses. That falls far short of ratios based on national standards, she noted.

”Social workers should be highest on that list” of personnel needs, said Michelle Antoine, who heads the school board’s Legislative Committee. “Our staff is overwhelmed,” teachers especially, she added.

Senator Sawrey responded by stating “there’s a glut of money available under Medicaid for mental health, so hopefully that access (to care for students) will improve dramatically."

The N.C. General Assembly convened Wednesday for its “short session” primarily to deal with adjustments to the two-year state budget adopted last year. Legislators have been told that the state will end the current fiscal year (June 30) with about $400 million in revenues above expenditures. In the year ahead, another $1 billion in surplus revenues is forecast.

Representative Strickland said there’s “an appetite in the building” to use about $300 million of the surplus to expand the state’s Opportunity Scholarships that help families pay for tuition at private schools. (This year’s funding has been exhausted by aid to households at the lower end of the income scale.)

Stated Ms. Andrews: “I think our concern is… will funds be reduced to (public school) districts due to more money distributed to Opportunity Scholarships?"

Ms. Andrews urged legislators to protect “low wealth” funding for school systems like Johnston’s, which she said has recently seen a $2.8-million decrease in such assistance from the state. “That money is vital to us,” she declared.

 “We want to protect low wealth” funding, Mr. Strickland responded.

On the issue of teacher pay, Ms. Andrews said the state's salary of $39,000 approved by last year’s General Assembly for first-year teachers is “not enough.”

At the other end of the spectrum, interjected board member Terry Tippett, “one of the biggest issues” is a stagnant state salary schedule “for that veteran teacher” with 15 to 24 years’ experience.

Mr. Strickland responded by saying the teacher salary schedule is “one of the considerations of high priority” in this year’s legislative session. “We’re going to do what we can,” he said.

The two legislators were non-committal on proposals to change the state's criteria for assigning annual letter grades (A-F) to individual public schools by putting more emphasis on a school’s academic progress and less on overall student performance on state tests. “I’m not sure where that will land,” Senator Sawrey said.

Johnston County’s system under the leadership of Superintendent Eric Bracy has a goal that all 48 of its schools will have a letter grade no lower than C by the end of the current academic year. In 2018-19, Johnston had 15 schools graded D or F. This past year that was cut to eight schools, including South Smithfield Elementary and Smithfield Middle. Smithfield-Selma High and West Smithfield Elementary moved from grade D to grade C last year.
 

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Community College seeks $85-million bond issue

Johnston Community College's President Vern Lindquist is asking the County Commissioners to authorize a bond referendum in the amount of $85 million to construct a "medical campus facility" at Clayton and to begin upgrades to Public Safety facilities on JCC’s Smithfield campus.

That referendum could be paired with a vote in November’s General Election on a bond issue for Johnston County Public Schools recently requested by the county’s Board of Education in the amount of $285 million. Commissioners have yet to act on the school board’s request.

Dr. Linquist said the need and scope for the JCC projects have been identified through a comprehensive facilities master-planning process led by LS3P, a national architectural and design firm.

“We have known for years that we need more presence to serve the western part of our county,” Dr. Lindquist said in a news release from the college. “With the opening of Wake Tech East in Wendell this week – which houses a Public Safety Simulation Complex, among many other offerings – it is crucial that we serve those areas of our county where we are already losing more than 1,200 Johnston County students each year.”
 

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Officers Carranza, Guseman, and Taylor of the Johnston County Sheriff’s Department stand with student athletes after the event-opening torch run.
 
Once again SSS hosts Johnston's Special Olympics

Story & photo from Johnston County Public Schools

On Thursday and Friday, April 18-19, the Johnston County Special Olympics Spring Games were held at Smithfield-Selma High School. This is an annual event offering track and field competitions for elementary, middle, and high-school students.

The events included Softball Throw, Tennis Ball Throw, Running Jump, Standing Jump, 10 Meter Assisted Walk, Wheelchair Race, and 25, 100, 50, and 100 Meter Walks and Runs.

Games Manager Bethany Jones is an Exceptional Children Specialist at SSS High. Every year she and the other volunteers experience what is called the “magic” of Special Olympics. “Things align without reason,” she said. “Perfect partnerships happen. Everyone works hard, is appreciated and accepted.”

Students from Johnston County’s public schools and charter schools and adult athletes participated in the event. This year, approximately 300 athletes competed, along with nearly 100 individuals from the Young Athletes program, which is designed to support children ages 5-7 with and without intellectual disabilities.

Johnston County Special Olympics offers year-round sports training and athletic competition to approximately 650 youth and adults with intellectual disabilities.

Smithfield-Selma High has hosted the games since 1978 in partnership with the school’s Key Club, and in 2018 implemented the Special Olympics Unified Champion Schools program, which partners schools throughout the state to promote social inclusion through Unified Sports, whole school engagement, and inclusive youth leadership.
 

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 Smithfield launches “River Jam” concerts

This time the threat of rain abated and the first in a series of free “River Jam” concerts at the refurbished Neuse River Amphitheater took place last Friday without a hitch. Organized by the Smithfield Parks & Recreation Department, the series continues with performances by various bands each month through July.
VIEW the schedule posted on the Johnston County Visitors Bureau website> 
 

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WHAT'S COMING UP

Early voting for Second Primary now through May 11
Smithfield’s  First Baptist Church Ministry Center at Fourth and Johnston streets is one of three Johnston County early-voting sites for the May 14 runoff for choosing the Republican Party's nominees for three offices up for election in November:
• U.S. House of Representatives, 13th District – Kelly Daughtry vs. Brad Knott.
• N.C. Lieutenant Governor – Jim O’Neill vs. Hal Weatherman.
• N.C. Auditor – Dave Boliek vs. Jack Clark. Only voters registered as Republicans or Unaffiliated may take part in the Second Primary. Early-voting opened today (Thursday) and continues 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday-Friday plus 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, May 11. VIEW the sample ballot for Smithfield voters>

Town Council schedules two budget sessions next week
The Smithfield Town Council recessed this past Monday’s budget discussion till 6:30 p.m. this coming Monday at Town Hall. Council members also agreed to meet at the same time on Tuesday. They're going over details of a “draft” budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1. Town Manager Mike Scott plans to put together results of these discussions in a proposed budget by May 22 so the council can hold a public hearing in early June before adoption of the final budget.

Presentation on Spring Branch Resiliency Project Tuesday
A public meeting on the Spring Branch Community Restoration and Resiliency Project begins at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Town Hall. Under study are plans to reduce flooding, erosion, and stormwater issues within a 1.53-square-mile watershed in the heart of town. Already completed is a project that altered the stream's course and created sloping banks between South Fourth and Fifth streets.

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DEATHS & FUNERALS

Click on the name to read an obituary, usually posted by the funeral home.

KEITH ANDERSON, 64 – died April 23

ELIZABETH ANN BRITT ALLEN, 82 – died April 23

JANICE STEPHENSON SOUTHERLAND, 88 – died April 22

POLLY ANN HINTON MESSER, 78 – died April 19

CHARLES GILBERT ADAMS, 88 – died April 17

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