November 23, 2016
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Council outlines town manager qualification wishes By CAROL BROOKS Editor
The first Thanksgiving may have looked similar to this. (Photo/Courtesy Plimoth Plantation)
Counting your blessings By ADELAIDE ELLIOTT Intern As Thanksgiving day quickly approaches, many Americans are taking time to reflect on their lives and decide what they are most grateful for. Thanksgiving is a holiday where Americans pause and take stock of what they have and hopefully overlook what they do not. But what does one do if he feels that he has no blessings in his life? When counting blessings this year, perhaps one should look no further than the first Thanksgiving – and be thankful that you weren’t a part of it. After English explorers enslaved and nearly wiped out the Patuxet Indians with smallpox, the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts Bay in the year 1620. Upon their arrival, one of the last remaining Patuxet Indians, a man named Squanto who had been a slave in England and learned the language, taught the settlers to grow food and fish and established a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Indian nation. After the Pilgrims’ first year in Massachusetts, they held a great feast to honor the Wampanoags and celebrate the harvest. The first Thanksgiving feast bore very little resemblance to what we cel-
ebrate today, and for that we should be grateful. To begin with, the celebration lasted for three days and was probably attended by more than 120 people, 90 of whom were Wampanoags. Women and children were more than likely not invited to this feast because in many ways this gathering was about cementing the Pilgrims’ relationship with the Wampanoags, so it was a “men-only” political gathering. However, it is believed that women were the ones who did the majority of the cooking and cleaning for the party over the three days, they just didn’t get to enjoy the actual festivities. In addition to excluding women from their three-day Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims hosted the entire event outside as no shelter in their settlement was big enough to hold everyone involved. The meal was not topped off with a large turkey or ended with pies and cakes, instead they most likely ate venison, local wildfowl like passenger pigeons, raw or boiled berries, and other local and easy to gather or harvest foods like shellfish and bass. In the 1620s, potatoes had not been introduced to most of North America, so mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes would have been impossible to include in the meal. Local vegetables like See BLESSINGS, page A3
Whenever a new town manager is hired, it will be without input from Jamestown residents. No residents attended the Special Town Council Meeting on Nov. 15 to hear the Council’s recommendations for the town manager’s qualifications. Audience members – made up of only town staff and this newspaper – heard the Council discuss the matter with Matt Reece, assistant director of Management and Member Services for the Piedmont Triad Regional Council. Jamestown has contracted with PTRC for the town manager search. Audience comments were not accepted during this meeting. But had any citizen desired to comment they could have been heard at the regular Council meeting that followed. In the hour-and-a-half meeting, Reece spoke to the full Council about the process of hiring a town manager. He asked several questions of the Council and noted their responses. These responses will be compiled into the actual search process and advertising for the new manager.
The Town Council listed several qualifications they would like to see in an applicant: team player and team builder, experience with and understanding of small town government, business minded, have budgetary skills, fresh ideas, and accept and follow the Town’s Mission and Vision statements. Councilmember Billy Ragsdale would like to see the new manager also understand and promote the town’s history as well as develop a 5-10 year long-range plan for the town. Councilmember Lawrence Straughn said the manager should reconnect with businesses and citizens. He also mentioned that employee growth and morale is a concern. Mayor Keith Volz and Councilmember Georgia Nixon-Roney both mentioned the importance of building relationships with Greensboro and High Point. Councilmember Lynn Montgomery added that the manager should network and do public relations for the town. Several times, councilmembers mentioned that the town manager must have an open door policy and return calls. Ragsdale added the man-
ager must be responsive to the community and the Council. The manager must get in front of issues and speak with citizens to help solve problems. The Council believes a town manager has an obligation to be involved in the community during off hours, attending town events and patronizing local businesses. He or she should be available to speak routinely to civic groups, library and support groups such as the Jamestown Veterans Committee. Reece presented a proposed timeline for the hiring process, noting that early March 2017 is the target date for hiring. Recommended salary from a town of Jamestown’s size is $88,000$106,000. PTRC has already received two inquiries for the position. The two previous managers in Jamestown, Cookie Billings and Chuck Smith, have been staff promoted to the position. The new manager would be only the fifth in the town’s history.
Carol Brooks can be reached at 336-841-4933 or jamestownnews@ northstate.net.
Council approves clubhouse policy and events facility By CAROL BROOKS Editor The Facility Use Guide for the clubhouse at Jamestown Park – just approved in August – has already undergone an update. Interim Town Manager Cookie Billings and other town staff reviewed the document and simplified some of the wording as well as adding critical items such as liability, clarified the beverage service clause and set the minimum rental age at 25 years. Rental hours also have been adjusted. There will be a 20 percent rental discount to residents and no rental charge for civic club business
meetings. “We are ready to rent this if the Council approves,” Billings said. Several rental inquiries have already been made. “It is a great facility to offer to our town residents,” Billings said. The Council unanimously approved the update. The Council also unanimously approved an amendment to the Permitted Use Table in the Land Development Ordinance to allow for a Banquet Hall/ Special Events Facility. The request was brought by Kim B. Mark who wants to open an events center in the Jamestown Shopping Center on West Main Street. There was no oppo-
sition voiced from audience members. Approval was given to permit Clerk Martha Wolfe to investigate the title of property involved in a recent road-closing petition in order to secure a certificate of sufficiency. In September, the Council approved closing an undeveloped portion of Camelot Drive, off Millis Road, to allow for development by Koury Corporation. The original easement line was moved from solely on property owned by William Pearson to an equal division with Koury. Wolfe said the public hearing on the matter would be held in January. In other business, the
Council: • changed the designation of funds for the Jamestown Public Library for the 2016-17 fiscal year to allow money originally allotted for maintenance be used in another way, since the Library is receiving maintenance funding from another source; • awarded the Gannaway Street water line replacement project to Smith & Jennings, Inc. in the amount of $103,856. Construction of townhomes on Gannaway Street has moved this project forward on the town’s capital improvement project list.; • received a report on revenue from the golf See COUNCIL, page A3
Johnson returns as planning director By CAROL BROOKS Editor Matthew Johnson has returned to the staff of the Town of Jamestown as planning director. Johnson left in late-2014 to take a similar position in Abingdon, Va., but his wife Jennifer stayed in Greens-
boro to run her business. Johnson traveled back and forth on weekends. “I love Jamestown,” he said, pointing to the staff, citizens and facilities. “It’s a great place to live.” He said he applied for the position when he learned Carrie Spencer had returned to work for the Town of Summerfield. He’s excited to see the development of many projects he was involved with in their infancy, including the sidewalk projects, pedestrian bridge and reno-
vations to Jamestown Park golf course and clubhouse. Johnson was seen at the Friday soft opening of the golf course and clubhouse in September as well as the town’s bicentennial celebration in October, leading some to speculate that he would be returning. With his first day on the job Nov. 14, Johnson makes the second former staffer to return to the Town. Former Town Manager Cookie Billings took over as interim town manager in September.
He looks forward to the development of the Koury Corporation property at Jamestown Parkway/Guilford College Road and other growth opportunities for the town. Jumping into work, he had already been interviewed on his second day by a local television station regarding the Koury apartment project. “It’s great to be back,” he said. Carol Brooks can be reached at 336-841-4933 or jamestownnews@north state.net.
Thanksgiving closings
MATTHEW JOHNSON
The Jamestown News office will be closed Nov. 24 and 25 for Thanksgiving. The Jamestown Public Library will be closed Nov. 24 through 27. The Town Hall will be closed Nov. 24 and 25. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, there will be no garbage pick up on Nov. 25.