Town Council seals Wilson Tobs baseball deal
Stadium's construction cost capped at $6 million

With one dissenting vote, the Smithfield Town Council Tuesday night approved two contracts opening the way for relocation of the Wilson Tobs baseball franchise to a new ballpark to be built at Smithfield's Community Park.

One contract is a lease agreement setting forth responsibilities of the town and the franchise for operating and maintaining the stadium. The other is a contract with Muter Construction of Zebulon to build the stadium at a "guaranteed maximum price" of $6 million.

Its completion won't be done before the 2026 baseball season. As a result, the Tobs will skip a year of competition in the NCAA-sanctioned Coastal Plain League for summertime collegiate players.

Councilman Travis Scott cast the only votes against the contracts after expressing concerns about traffic on Buffalo Road beside the stadium, displacement of a soccer field and other Community Park facilities, no charges by the town for water and sewer service (the Tobs will purchase electricity from the town), when and how alcohol sales will be managed, and the absence of a mechanism measuring the Tobs' economic impact over time.

Mr. Scott said a public hearing should have been conducted prior to the council's approval of the deal. "This is an extremely expensive project," he said.

A memorandum attached to Tuesday's agenda listed funding sources for the stadium's $6-million construction budget as follows:
• $2,000,000 from a new Economic Development Fund added to the town's budget.
• $2,000,000 from the County of Johnston.
• $584,187 from hotel-tax revenues collected for the Town of Smithfield.
• $500,000  grant from the Johnston County Tourism Authority.
• $365,789 from the sale of Bingham Park for the SECU Hospice House. 
• $300,000 from "park in lieu" funds paid to the town by subdivision developers.
• $250,000 from this year's capital budget within the town's General Fund.

Assistant Town Manager Kim Pickett said the Tobs will have priority use of the stadium for baseball from the first of May through mid-November while the town's Parks & Recreation Department will have priority for scheduling events November 16 through April 30.

READ the town staff's summary of terms in the lease agreement with the Tobs>


Following Tuesday's approval of the deal to bring the Wilson Tobs to Smithfield, members of the Town Council and staff posed with officials from the baseball franchise: in front – Councilmen Travis Scott, Gettys Cohen, and Steve Rabil, Mayor Andy Moore, Assistant Town Manager Kim Pickett, Councilman Sloan Stevens, Tobs General Manager Mike Bell, Tobs President Greg Suire; in back – Town Manager Mike Scott, Councilmen John Dunn and Roger Wood, and Tobs Assistant General Manger Griffin Meyers. Councilman David Barbour was absent, recovering from recent surgery. (Town of Smithfield photo)
 

The N.C. Department of Transportation announced this week it plans to eliminate all on-street parking along Market Street in the center of Downtown Smithfield. NCDOT officials had recommended the action during a presentation before the Smithfield Town Council last March but has not received the council's blessing.

"The N.C. Department of Transportation will be making this change to reduce the risk of crashes, particularly between vehicles traveling in the outside lanes and those parked parallel along the curbs between Second and North Seventh streets," the announcement states.

"During a recent five-year period, there were more than 500 crashes on East Market Street downtown. More than half involved property damage when a parked vehicle was struck or sideswept. The over 500 crashes during that period resulted in 71 injured people and one traffic death.

"This change will affect about 70 on-street parking spaces along East Market Street, which are among more than 400 available parking spaces downtown.

"The department plans to make this interim safety enhancement in early December while its engineers continue to develop plans to resurface this same roadway, widen the existing travel lanes, and improve pedestrian access, such as by installing marked crosswalks and pedestrian signals.

"These improvements are significant because this route is signed as U.S. 70 Business and carries almost 19,000 vehicles on the average day. The department will announce a timeline for these improvements when the plan is finalized."

Mayor Andy Moore voiced his thoughts about the move at the close of Tuesday night's Town Council meeting: "Not the news I wanted to hear," he said, acknowledging NCDOT's concerns about traffic and pedestrian safety. "The fix," he said, "is to reduce Market Street to two lanes" and keep the street-side parking.

Town approves contract for resurfacing 23 streets

After delaying approval in October to give staff more time to check the performance record of the low bidder, the Smithfield Town Council voted without dissent Tuesday night to award the $1,384,572 project to Wilmington-based Coastline Contracting.

Public Works Director Lawrence Davis said the contract gives the company 224 days to complete resurfacing portions of 23 streets throughout town. The coming of cold weather will likely postpone much of the work till next spring, he told the council.

The project is the third leg of a greatly expanded resurfacing program funded by drawdowns from the town's General Fund Balance (reserves) in addition to yearly state Powell Bill allocations for local street maintenance. Already completed: repaving of Outlet Center Drive and South Third Street at a cost of $1.1 million.

Coincidentally, NCDOT this week sent out this year's list of allocations to 508 municipalities. Smithfield's share of $185.6 million distributed statewide is $437,730. Normally, that amount is sufficient for repaving a small fraction of the town's 62.83 miles of locally maintained streets.

Here's the list of blocks by address numbers to be resurfaced:
1. N. Fourth Street 399-100
2. N. Fifth Street 499-199
3. E. Johnston Street 100-399
4. S. Second Street 100-399
5. S. Fifth Street 500-799
6. S. Fifth 818-1999 to Brogden Road
7. Wellons Street to Second 100 -199
8. Sanders Street 200-499
9. First Street 1200-900
10. Vermont Street 1200-900
11. E. Underwood Avenue 100 to the end 299
12. E. Caroline Avenue 100 to the end 299
13. Blount Street 900-E. Lee Street to US 301
14. Midway Street 899-800
15. Third Avenue 1000-800
16. West Street 999-800
17. MLK Drive 400 to Brogden Road
18. E. Lee Street 900-1000 to MLK
19. Afton Lane 0-17 to Brookwood
20. N. Roderick Drive 100-199
21. Milton Drive 100-199
22. N. Rodgers Drive 100-299
23. S. Fourth Street 300-399

Town Manager Scott plans to retire February 1

Mike Scott submitted his letter of resignation to the Town Council Tuesday:
"I have submitted my request for retirement to the local government retirement system... effective February 1, 2026. It has been an awesome sixteen years working in the Town of Smithfield."

Mr. Scott joined the town's staff in 2009 as Chief of Police, culminating a lengthy career in law enforcement. He was elevated to the town manager's position in 2016.

Announcing Mr. Scott's decision at Tuesday's council meeting, Mayor Andy Moore called him "one of, if not the very best, managers we've had" during Mr. Moore's almost 27 years of service as a council member and mayor.

Kim Pickett, formerly Benson's town manager, began work July 1 as Smithfield's first assistant manager. She handled Mr. Scott's duties during Tuesday's council session, including the staff's review of the Wilson Tobs baseball contract.
 

The Johnston County Board of Commissioners and the Benson Town Board held a joint meeting Tuesday to approve tax-rebate incentives for Vulcan Elements to operate a $1-billion "rare earth" magnet manufacturing plant on the east side of the interchange of I-95 and NC 50 at Benson.

To qualify for rebates of a portion of property taxes to be paid to the county and town over the next several years, Vulcan pledges to create 1,000 jobs.

Vulcan plans to double the size of an existing "Class A+" industrial facility built as "Crossroads Logistics Center" (near the intersection of I-95 and I-40) with County of Johnston incentives approved in 2022.

READ the official announcement from the county's Economic Development Office>


Clayton High financing advances; state's OK pending

Johnston's County Commissioners had hoped to get approval from the N.C. Local Government Commission before Monday night's meeting yet chose not to wait by authorizing construction to begin shortly for a re-build of Clayton High School.

Because the $134-million project wasn't included in the school-bond issue approved by voters last year, the county intends to borrow the bulk of the funding by means of Limited Obligation Bonds which don't require approval in a referendum so long as the Long Government Commission rules the county has the ability to underwrite the additional indebtedness. The county expects a favorable ruling "in early 2026," noted County Manager Rick Hester.

Monday night's action by commissioners authorizes the county to "front some money" in the meantime for construction to begin, Mr. Hester said. That cash from the General Fund will be replenished once the requested bonds are sold to investors, he explained.

Study may lead to new home for Livestock Arena

Commissioners gave their go-ahead to a feasibility study for expansion of the Johnston County Livestock Arena, most likely at a new location on the county's thousand-acre tract off NC 210 west of Smithfield that includes the continually expanding landfill and a new sewage-treatment plant that's already undergoing enlargement.

Both of those facilities "aren't complementary" to the livestock arena's operation, Cooperative Extension Director Bryant Spivey told commissioners. A new entrance to the landfill across from the arena's entrance is causing traffic backups during public events there, he added.

Mr. Spivey noted that the arena was built in 1976-77 yet remains in good condition for "several alternative uses" related to the landfill and sewage plant. He said grant opportunities may help pay for a new livestock arena.

Commissioners noted that new quarters for the arena was on their list of building priorities identified at the board's annual planning retreat last spring.

Board approves $783,985 for conservation easements

Greg Walker, director of the Johnston Soil & Water Conservation District, asked commissioners for the appropriation to match state and federal grants exceeding $2 million for purchasing two easements totaling more than 200 acres in northern Johnston County (the property owners won't be identified until the transactions close, Mr. Walker noted).

Those easements are part of an ongoing campaign by Mr. Walker's agency to preserve farming operations. He said applications for six acquisitions were submitted for grants this past year but weren't approved because of recent holdbacks of state and federal funding for the program.

The $783,985 appropriation comes from outside the current county budget and will be drawn from reserves, County Manager Rick Hester told the Weekly Sun.
 

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The home of Johnston Community College's engineering school is two years old.

College's enrollment has grown by 60% since 2021

Johnston Community College has received an Innovative Institution Award from the Education Advisory Board recognizing the college’s exceptional leadership, creativity, and transformative impact on campus culture and student success.

Affiliated with a national consulting firm based in Washington, D.C., EAB this year received more than 40 nominations from colleges and universities across the country, each highlighting unique initiatives that advance education through innovation and collaboration. JCC’s strategic work to grow enrollment, strengthen partnerships, leverage data-driven decision-making, and cultivate a unified, student-centered culture distinguished it among this year’s honorees.

JCC was the only community college to receive the award this year.

In recognition of this achievement, EAB will present JCC a $500 scholarship donation to support its students. In addition, EAB will offer the college’s leadership team the opportunity to participate in a VIP executive retreat on strategy and leadership.

 HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL REPORT 
Last Friday's playoff results for Johnston County's teams:
(season's records in parenthesis)
CLAYTON 29 (9-2), NEW HANOVER 0
Clayton advances to third round of 7-A state playoffs
CLEVELAND 55 (10-1), SOUTH GARNER 3
Cleveland advances to third round of 7-A state playoffs
EAST DUPLIN 48, NORTH JOHNSTON 20 (6-6)
PASQUOTANK COUNTY 54, PRINCETON 41 (7-5)
SEVENTY FIRST 22, SOUTH JOHNSTON 3 (8-4)

 WHAT'S COMING UP 

17th annual Gobble Waddle in South Smithfield Saturday
Hosted by Health Quest, the 5K and 10K run and walk from Downtown Smithfield into neighborhoods to the south and back starts at 9 a.m. on South Second Street near St. Paul's Episcopal Church. Registration is offered online and also at the event Saturday morning. SIGN UP in advance at this website>

When and where to get agendas for December meetings
Agendas for the Monday, December 1 meeting of Johnston's County Commissioners and the Tuesday, December 2 meeting of the Smithfield Town Council won't be posted until the latter part of next week (when the Weekly Sun won't be published because of the Thanksgiving holiday). Here's where you can find those agendas once they're posted: • For the County Commissioners>  • For the Town Council>

Smithfield Yuletide events begin the day after Thanksgiving

First up is Downtown's Town Tree Lighting festivities on Friday, November 28. The event continues from 3 p.m. till 8 p.m. with a "Holiday Market" including free entertainment. The tree-lighting is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Breakfast with Santa follows on Saturday, November 29 at The Diner from 9 till 10 and The Gilded Pear from 10 till 11.

Stink, Stank, Stunk 5K Run & Jingle Bell Jog at Community Park on Saturday, December 6 at 10 a.m.

Smithfield's Christmas parade steps off at 7 p.m. Thursday, December 11.

Additional events include:
• Hot Cocoa Crawl & Pictures with Santa – Friday, December 12, 5-8 p.m.
• Jingle Bell Jubilee & Carriage Rides – Sunday, December 14, 3-8 p.m.
• Little Elves Workshop & Pictures with Santa – Sunday, December 21, 3-5 p.m.
• Cops, Cocoa & Cookies – Monday, December 22 in four neighborhoods.

For more details, including the full schedule for Santa's Workshop on weekends starting November 29, visit www.smithfieldchristmas com>
 

 DEATHS AND FUNERALS 
Click on the name to read an obituary, usually posted by the funeral home:

 A WORD (OR TWO) FROM THE EDITOR 

Thankful for our American heritage, oft neglected

I'm talking about our particular Native American heritage, relatively little of which has been included in our history lessons over the years. Now is a good time to learn more about it as we head toward next year's celebration of the U.S.A.'s birthday.

The striking mural just added to the wall of a building in sight of the Johnston County Courthouse is an excellent starting point. This was Tuscarora Indian territory long before the County of Johnston was created in 1746 and the Town of Smithfield founded in 1777.

Recently brought to light was an excerpt from a book published in 1805 that described Smithfield as "handsomely situated on the Neuse River at the head of boat navigation... built on the site of a considerable Indian village called Neuse."

The book went on to note that an "Indian burial place" originally 16 feet high in the center of Smithfield "contains large quantities of human bones but people have so often dug into it in search of shells, beads, pipes, etc. that its height is now reduced to about five feet." (Nothing remains in sight of that place today.)

The latest Ken Burns documentary film – "The American Revolution" –  in the first episode shown on PBS this past Monday gave credit to the Indian tribes inhabiting much of what become our first 13 states for banding together in a "confederacy" that was likely a model followed by our Founding Fathers in establishing the United States of America.

Now is the time to find out more about this region's "first Americans."

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