JANUARY 2025 INSIDE HIGH POINT
CITYCOUNCIL
CYRILJEFFERSON MAYOR
Cyril Jefferson@highpointnc gov
VICKIEMCKIVER WARD1
Vickie McKiver@highpointnc gov
PATRICKHARMAN WARD4
Patrick Harman@highpointnc gov
BRITTMOORE MEMBERATLARGE
Britt Moore@highpointnc gov
TYRONEJOHNSON WARD2
Tyrone Johnson@highpintnc gov
TIMANDREW WARD5
Tim Andrew@highpointnc gov
AMANDACOOK MEMBERATLARGE
Amanda Cook@highpointnc gov
MONICAPETERS WARD3
Monica Peters@highpointnc gov
MICHAELHOLMES WARD6,MAYORPROTEM
Michael Holmes@highpointnc gov
CITYOFHIGHPOINT CELEBRATESTHIRD ANNUALMLKDAY
On Friday, Jan. 17, the Human Relations division hosted the City's third annual Day of Service to honor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy.
Nearly 40 City employees worked on three projects, including cleaning up litter along MLK Jr. Dr. with Keep High Point
Beautiful, packing grocery boxes for pick-up at West End Ministry's pantry and working with our Stormwater Division to help prevent water contamination in storm drains across High Point. After a busy morning, volunteers were treated to a pizza lunch served by our City leadership team.
On Sunday, Jan. 19, the City, in collaboration with the Carl Chavis YMCA, also commemorated the day by hosting the 22nd annual MLK Parade. The event took place in the downtown High Point area, with locations that included West High Street and South Main Street and ended at Qubein Avenue and North Main Street.
The family-friendly parade included marching bands, step and dance teams, civic organizations, fraternities/sororities, faith groups, businesses and more.
The popular Housewares Drive was also brought back in partnership with The Barnabas Network, a nonprofit furniture bank that ensures all qualified families and individuals have a place to sit, eat, and sleep. Through Friday, Feb. 7, employees can still donate new or gently used housewares to help families experiencing furniture poverty across the Piedmont Triad.
Keep High Point Beautiful joined High Point University and Resilience High Point in their annual MLK Day of Service on Jan. 20.
The cold weather didn’t deter the 13 volunteers from helping to remove litter from along Washington Street, between Centennial Avenue and Downing Street. The group removed enough litter to fill 18 bags with trash and recyclables.
CITYOFHIGHPOINTEXCEEDS UNITEDWAYGOAL….AGAIN!
For the second straight year, the City of High Point exceeded its United Way employee-giving campaign goal of $245,000. During the 2024 campaign, departments competed to see who could get the highest participation rates. Collectively, the City raised over $256,000 to support our community!
Departments with 100 or more employees:
First Place: HPFD (85% participation)
Second Place: Public Services (43% participation)
Departments with more than 20 but fewer than 100 employees:
First Place: Fleet Services (90% participation)
Second Place: Engineering Services (38% participation)
Third Place: High Point Public Library (37% participation)
Departments with 20 or fewer employees:
First Place: Economic Development (100% participation)
Second Place: Planning & Development (92% participation)
Third Place: Inspections Services (78% participation)
HUMAN RELATIONS COMMISSION PRESENTS SCHOOL LEADER WITH 2024 HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Congratulations to Héctor Ancizar Gómez Argote, the recipient of the 2024 Humanitarian Award!
Presented by the Human Relations Commission at the Jan. 13, 2025, City Council meeting, the Humanitarian Award honors an individual who has made a significant contribution to human relations in High Point by promoting equity and encouraging understanding, respect and goodwill among all residents.
The HRC selected Mr. Gómez Argote for his work with High Point’s Latino communities. A native of Colombia, he emigrated to the United States in 2007 and began teaching at Penn-Griffin School for the Arts until being hired as the first Latino vice principal at High Point Central High School. He has created a youth-led group for Latino students that promotes leadership development, cultural competency and civic engagement there. Finally, as a co-founder of the group Fuerza Latina Unida para Triunfar (FLUT), he has also helped establish the first Spanish-language Board Development Academy in the Triad, encouraging and preparing Latino leaders to join boards and commissions in local government, schools and nonprofits.
HISTORICDISTRICTDESIGN STANDARDS
High Point’s Historic District Design Standards are about to get an update. The Design Standards are an essential tool for the City of High Point and property owners of historic properties within the Washington Street, West High Street, Johnson Street, and Sherrod Park Local Historic Districts.
The City’s Planning and Development Department and Historic Preservation Commission have contracted with HMW Preservation to update the design standards that help preserve the unique and historic characteristics of the City’s local historic districts.
Some of the goals of the updated standards will be to incorporate the new Washington Street Local Historic District and its commercial and institutional architecture into the standards and add standards for Disaster Preparedness and Prevention as well as Substitute Materials.
Community Meetings to kick off the project were held Thursday, Jan. 23 at 6 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 25 at 10 a.m. in the Morgan Room, located on the lower level of the High Point Public Library. The purpose of the meetings was to learn about the Design Standards Update project, meet the consultant, address questions, experiences and concerns, and provide input on local historic district signage. 6
MEETINGONPROPOSED
SOUTHWESTMILLDISTRICT
he City of High Point, in collaboration with the Southwest Renewal Foundation and Dover, Kohl & Partners, hosted a public nformation meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 025, at the Southside Recreation Center to discuss the creation of the proposed Southwest Mill District.
The proposed Southwest Mill District initiative is a key step in the city's ongoing revitalization efforts and is aligned with the High Point 2045 Comprehensive Plan. The project is designed to promote a walkable, connected, mixed-use district that integrates modern industry, jobs and commerce along the Heritage Greenway.
It will focus on creating a vibrant area with two-to-five-story mixed-use buildings and streets that prioritize pedestrians and cyclists.
The meeting provided details on the following components of the district's creation:
· Area Plan: Establishing the district’s purpose and goals
· Development Ordinance Amendment: Introducing new zoning standards
· Zoning Map Amendment: Defining the boundaries of the district
Property owners and residents in the area attended the event to learn more and share feedback.
The Southwest Mill District is a direct outcome of the High Point 2045 Comprehensive Plan, adopted by the City Council in May 2024. This comprehensive plan represents the collective vision of residents, business owners and policymakers to support in-town development organized around walkable, mixed-use centers. 6
On Friday, Jan. 10, a winter storm brought two to three inches of snow to the City of High Point. The Street Maintenance and Stormwater Services Divisions began working to prepare bridges and roadways by spreading salt brine on Wednesday, Jan. 8, and Thursday, Jan. 9.
Crews worked around the clock and into the weekend plowing and salting to ensure that roadways were clear using 7,700 gallons of salt brine and approximately 600 tons of salt. Workers immediately restocked 250 tons of salt, with 250 more tons on order, and produced and restocked all the salt brine tanks for future events.
A big shout-out goes to the Landfill and Environmental Services for providing additional staff to assist with the snow removal. 6
It's been a cold week, but our environmental services workers have braved the freezing temperatures to keep our city clean! Even though temperatures were in the 20’s, crews actively worked to provide essential services. Thank you so much to our amazing City crews, you are truly appreciated!
The High Point Historical Society Monthly Program Series took place on Wednesday, Jan. 15 at the High Point Museum.
This month's topic was entitled " High Point, Southern Railroad and Shops at Spencer," with a presentation by Larry Neal, author of “Southern Railway’s Historic Spencer Shops.” Neal discussed railroads operating in or through High Point and the history of Southern Railways' Spencer Shops. Along with the talk, he also had a collection of items relating to the High Point Thomasville & Denton and Southern Railway on display.
Larry Neal is currently the site manager of Reed Gold Mine State Historic Site but previously worked at the North Carolina Transportation Museum in Spencer from 1996 to 2011. He is a lifelong railfan, growing up in Wilmington and volunteering at the Wilmington Railroad Museum during the 1980s.
He has written two Arcadia books on railroads – Historic Spencer Shops and Rail Depots of Eastern North Carolina. His third Arcadia book is written on Salisbury, North Carolina.
The seventh annual Flowers Powering Hope event took place on Saturday, Jan. 25 at Deep River Recreation Center from 9 a.m. – 11 a.m., as well as on Saturday, Feb. 1 at the High Point Public Library, Children’s Story Room from 9 a.m. -11 a.m. Keep Winston-Salem beautiful donated the flower bulbs in partnership for this effort. KHPB will be collecting non-perishable food, hygiene, and cleaning items in exchange for flower bulbs, flowers seed packets and vegetable seed packets. This effort is designed to beautify our community by supporting the planting of flowers and vegetables while collecting and distributing needed items to a local food pantry. 6 13
For the second consecutive year, Jimmy Bayne, Jr., High Point Parks & Recreation’s Director of Golf, has been honored as a Top 50 Kids Coach by U.S. Kids Golf, the world’s leading organization in developing young golfers.
This award recognizes coaches who foster a positive environment and excel in player development and retention, parental engagement, communications and organization and the ability to instill a passion for the game in young golfers.
In addition to Bayne, the list of 2024 award recipients includes golf professionals from 24 states and 10 nations; it is widely recognized as the top achievement for junior golf coaches worldwide.
Please join us in congratulating Jimmy on his second award of this well-deserved honor!
PARKRANGERCOMPLETESFBI ENFORCEMENTTRAINING
Congratulations to High Point Parks & Recreation Chief Park Ranger D. Salgado on completing the FBI Law Enforcement Executive Development Association training!
Known as "The Trilogy," the FBI LEEDA award is given to law enforcement leaders who complete 120 hours of rigorous training in three leadership and development courses: Command Leadership Institute, Supervisor Leadership Institute and Executive Leadership Institute.
Congratulations, Chief Salgado, and thank you for everything you and our park rangers do to help keep our parks, facilities and events safer!
#MyHighPointParksAndRec
Photo: (left to right) Marshall Newsome, Chair of the High Point Parks & Recreation Commission, Chief Park Ranger D. Salgado, and High Point Parks & Recreation Director Lee Tillery.
RANGERRECEIVESLAWENFORCEMENT CERTIFICATE
High Point Parks & Recreation would like to congratulate Ranger C. Stroupe for being awarded her Law Enforcement Intermediate Certificate. This is a professional certificate issued by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Education and Training Commission.
Park Ranger Stroupe currently has three years of law enforcement experience, holds a bachelor’s degree from UNC-Greensboro and has completed over 800 hours of advanced law enforcement training. She joined our department in January 2024 and we are glad to have her as part of our team!
Photo: Chief Park Ranger D. Salgado, left, with Ranger C. Stroupe.
Please join us in congratulating our Special Olympics Guilford/High Point athletes, who participated in the 2024 Special Olympics North Carolina Fall Tournament in Charlotte recently, competing in bocce, golf, softball team, soccer team and soccer skills.
Our athletes and unified partners earned 10 gold medals, nine silver medals, six bronze medals and two fourth place ribbons and as always, we are tremendously proud of their
athleticism, teamwork and sportsmanship! We are also very proud to congratulate Jeff Caudill, our bocce coach, on being honored as the Frank Starling Coach of the Year during the competition. Special Olympics summer sports practices will be kicking off in February and March. Please contact Stephanie Hedgecock at stephanie.hedgecock@highpointnc.go if you are interested in participating in Special Olympics.
Finally, if you are interested in supporting our Special Olympics athletes as they raise funding for their future competitions, please consider participating in the Polar Plunge in February!
It’s a fun way to help them with the associated costs like uniforms and travel. (And if you aren't interested in jumping into a freezing pool in February, there are other options to help raise money while staying warm and dry). Contact Stephanie at stephanie.hedgecock@highpointnc.gov.
LOVEREACHESNEWHEIGHTSON HIGHPOINTBRIDGE
Congratulations to these two High Point residents who recently celebrated their engagement on the bridge across the beautiful Arnold J. Koonce, Jr. City Lake, leading from High Point City Lake Park to the Piedmont Environmental Center and the High Point Greenway! Here’s to many years of happiness!
Promotions
BRANDON A. ENGLISH
Groundskeeper I to Parks Maintenance Crew Supervisor
ROBERT E. GREENE JR.
Assistant Transit Supervisor to Transit Trainer
ROCKY R. JENKINS
W/S Technician III to P/S Construction Inspector
TAYLOR W. SMITH
Police Officer II to Master Police Officer I
New Hires
JUSTIN M. AARON
Firefighter
WILLIAM BARBOUR
Transit Operator I
JOSHUA A. BAULDING
Police Officer, Master I
DANNY C. BUNDY II
Firefighter
DYLAN R. COPELAND
Firefighter
KENNETH M. COVINGTON
Sanitation Equipment Operator I
KELSEY D. DOMBROWSKI
Administrative Specialist I
DAVID L. GILMORE
Sanitation Equipment Operator I
RYAN J. HAIRSTON
Police Officer Trainee
TAQUAN M. HOLLEY
Sanitation Equipment
Operator I
REBECCA A. KERN
Administrative Specialist II
MICAH S. LOGSDON
Firefighter
RICHARD J. MASTERS
Sanitation Equipment
Operator III
JUSTIN J. MCCOMBS
Paratransit Services
Coordinator
CALISTA D. MCINTYRE
Customer Service Rep I
ROBERT J. MCKEE
Firefighter
LANDRY M. MILLER
Firefighter
TJ D. MOORE
MRF Worker I
CHRISTINA L. PEACE
Transit Supervisor, Assistant
JULIAN L. QUALLS
Police Officer Trainee
JUSTIN A. QUICK
Groundskeeper I
CHEZ L. REYES
Police Officer Trainee
CHASE B. RICH
Parks Maint Crew Leader
ZACHERY J. RINE
Firefighter
SAEED Z. ROSALES
Firefighter
ZACHARY E. ROSS
Firefighter
ANGEL T. RUIZ
Police Officer Trainee
CHASE R. SHOEMAKER
Firefighter
CHET R. SIKES
Firefighter
JACOB A. STRIMPLE
Police Officer Trainee
DANIEL E. STRING
Police Officer Train
JACQUELINE R. TH
Transit Operator I
