INSIDE ▼ Poplin PTA to honor staffer who died from COVID PAGE 5A Friday, June 24, 2022 • Vol. 15 • No. 24
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Fireworks Plan to attend region's top July 4 events, 1B
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UCPS responds to budget snub by Justin Vick justin@cmgweekly.com
MONROE – The Union County Board of Education convened June 21 to clear up “misinformation and false accusations on Facebook and within the county leadership” regarding the district’s budget, according to board chair Melissa Merrell. Most of the meeting was spent debunking assertions made by Union County Commission Chairman Dennis Rape on Facebook and before he voted on the district’s budget request earlier this month. Rape said on Facebook and at that meeting
that UCPS had several millions of unspent fund balance from capital projects and that $23.9 million was unencumbered. UCPS Chief Finance Officer Shanna McLamb showed the school board a balance sheet from June 30, 2021, documenting that the district had $29.2 million in fund balance with only $9.5 million unassigned. She said that $9.5 million was enough to operate the district for six days. School board member Gary Sides said the district’s CPA recommended at one point that UCPS put more money into its savings.
“I am ashamed that our elected county officials are making decisions on funding on incorrect assumptions,” school board member Joseph Morreale said. “The fact that we had requested the joint meeting where we could have easily answered all those questions, yet incorrect assumptions were made and underfunding us as a result of those assumptions.” Union County appropriated $116.5 million for operations and $19.1 million for capital. McLamb said this left $11.7 million unfunded ($7.5 million for operations and $4.2 million for capital). McLamb said that after remaining
teacher supplement funding, mandated budget needs and distributing per pupil funding to charter schools, the district will only have $259,509 remaining to address budget needs. Most of the money cut from the budget was to help retain staff. “I think that if we had been able to sit down with them, we could have had a conversation about the need of getting employees to stay here, retaining them and getting them to come here,” school board member Kathy Heintel said. “That’s difficult sometimes because we bump up against Mecklenburg and what they pay.”
Waxhaw studies its downtown traffic flow by Justin Vick
justin@cmgweekly.com
Crossing guard Jerome Sutton has been making people smile for many years. Photos courtesy of Union County Public Schools
Town thanks beloved crossing guard INDIAN TRAIL – The Town of Indian Trail has recognized retired crossing guard Jerome Sutton for nearly 30 years of keeping children safe at Sun Valley Middle School. Mayor David Cohn presented Sutton with a plaque during the June 14 town council meeting. Cohn said Sutton was famous in Indian Trail for “not only keeping children safe but bringing joy to the community.” Sutton has been beloved for many years. Former Mayor Michael Alvarez presented Sutton with a key to the town on Dec.
4, 2016, which was also proclaimed Jerome Sutton Day. He got to ride in the town’s Christmas parade. A couple of years later, Sutton won $10,000 through the North Carolina Education Lottery’s School Heroes program for his work as a crossing guard. Sutton retired June 3. Councilman Tom Amburgey said he didn’t want to see Sutton go. “He’s outside my community every morning during the school year and he is just a joy,” Town Amburgey said.
Family farmland turning into subdivision by Justin Vick justin@cmgweekly.com
INDIAN TRAIL – Marlene Ferguson Thompson’s family has owned the 25.4 acres of farmland along the north side of Chestnut Lane for nearly 71 years. Thompson said her parents bought the property because they wanted their children to live in the country. “Daddy always said buy dirt,” Thompson said. “They’re not making anymore of it and that’s what he did. Slowly our surrounding neighbors began selling their farms but Daddy hung on.” She said her father understood that those sales were for the sake of progress and that one day their family would need to sell, too. “Daddy passed away in 2002 and we’ve held out as long as we can,” Thompson said. “With all the new developments, land values have soared and with the recent tax
revaluations, our annual taxes are now 10 times the amount he paid for the entire 26 acres.” Thompson said the family isn’t selling because they want to but because they can no longer afford to stay. The family has connected with Pulte Homes, which has approached Indian Trail about annexing the 25.4 acres of county land into the town to develop 57 single-family homes. Indian Trail Town Council approved the annexation and rezoned the property by a 4-1 vote. The council realized that regard-
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less of how they voted, the project would move forward anyway. Planning Director Brandi Deese told the council that the developer could build about the same number of homes by-right without a rezoning permit through Union County. “One of the goals that we’ve been after for several years now is closing up those doughnut holes,” Deese said. “I’m thankful that the county did direct the developers our way.” see FARMLAND, Page 5A
This proposal is too much, too fast for one area. There are single-family homes not even finished yet directly across from the proposed area. Adding these in the mix is creating a bottleneck for the community. • Kim Stafford Neighbor
WAXHAW – An analysis of traffic through downtown Waxhaw found that even with the implementation of northwest, northeast and southeast segments of Waxhaw Parkway, the vehicle volume will remain near 2018 levels. The analysis also found that downtown traffic volumes will increase until those segments are built, but improvements to the intersection of N.C. 16 and N.C. 75 will still be needed. The town used grant funding from the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization to contract with Charlotte-based Kittelson & Associates to study how traffic was moving through downtown. Justin Bansen, an engineer with Kittelson & Associates, said the analysis will help town staff prioritize improvements to Waxhaw Parkway and coordinate with state transportation officials on the alignments that best support regional travel. The study found that 67.5% of trips through the downtown core were non-local. “Those may still be local drivers to the greater Waxhaw area but they are not trying to get to or from the downtown,” Bansen told Waxhaw commissioners June 14. “That’s not their destination or their origin. They are just trying to get through that area. That really tells us something about as you add parkway or other parallel facilities within the network, it gives other route options that may be able to disperse that traffic a little bit more.” The top travel patterns through the downtown core were north-south from N.C. 16 to Old Providence, east-west along N.C. 75, and north to east from N.C. 16 to N.C. 75. Kittelson & Associates will continue analyzing key intersections based on various traffic volume scenarios. Mayor Ron Pappas said the study confirms what town leaders have been seeing. Downtown Waxhaw sees progress Downtown Waxhaw has been designated as an Affiliate Main Street America program for making improvements using preservation-based economic development and community revitalization. Main Street America programs have generated more than $20 million in public and private investment, 254 net new jobs, and 54 net new businesses over the last 13 years. “We are excited to share the accomplishments of the Main Street Program and look forward to continued growth in Downtown Waxhaw over the next year,” said Ashley Nowell, Waxhaw’s Downtown Director.
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