S’fi eld Council meeting, Sept. 13

Sept. 13 / MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

as reported by PATTI STOKES

Summerfield Mayor Tim Sessoms opened the monthly council meeting in the Community Center at 6:30 p.m. and Mayor Pro Tem Lynne W. DeVaney offered an opening prayer. Council members Reece Walker, Janelle Robinson, Jeff Davis and John Doggett introduced themselves, as did staff members Dee Hall, finance officer; Scott Whitaker, town manager; and Bob Hornik, town attorney. Whitaker announced that Sarah Tibbetts, who was in attendance, would join the town’s staff on Sept. 23 as town clerk.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

Whitaker said a Movie in the Park would be held on Friday, Sept. 16, in Summerfield Community Park’s amphitheater, and the following day the town’s annual fall recycle/e-cycle event would take place at Laughlin Development Center on Summerfield Road.

Whitaker also reminded everyone of a special-called joint meeting of the town’s Planning Board and council on Sept. 26 at Summerfield Charter Academy to present the Land Use Plan. Public hearings to gain citizen input will be scheduled on later dates.

Touch-A-Truck, an event that gives kids an opportunity to “learn, explore and imagine in the driver’s seat,” will be held on Oct. 8 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the town’s athletic park on U.S. 220.

Mayor Sessoms offered an official welcome to Jeff Davis, a former Planning Board member who was appointed last month to fill the remainder of former councilman John O’Day’s term. Special Recognition. Council members presented a plaque and offered words of appreciation to Summerfield resident Elizabeth “Betsy” Ingram for serving on various town committees and boards, including the Finance Committee, Planning Board and Historical Committee, from March 2001 through August 2021.

Ingram said she and her husband, John, moved to a horse farm in Summerfield when they were in their 60s and they had loved living in the community the last 20+ years. Now in their mid-80s, she said they are preparing to move to Friends Home West in Greensboro. See photo of Betsy and John Ingram with the town council on p. 2 of our Sept. 15-28, 2022 issue. PUBLIC SAFETY

Summerfield Fire Department. The fire department reported it ran 128 calls in August, of which 34 were fire-related; 74 were EMS-related calls and 20 were miscellaneous. Firefighters also installed 20 car seats last month and planned a car seat check event on Sept. 24 to make sure children’s car seats are correctly installed.

The department will hold its annual Stop, Drop and Roll on Saturday, Oct. 1, rain or shine. Proceeds from the 5K event will go toward the construction of a new building for Donald’s Fire Haven Museum in Pleasant Garden. District 1. The Guilford County sheriff’s District 1 office reported it responded to 265 calls for service in Summerfield last month and noted there were a couple of vehicle break-ins at parks and trailheads involving windows being broken to gain access to the vehicles. Many of these recent incidents are believed to have been committed by out-of-state offenders who drive multiple vehicles and use various methods to gain access to cars, which makes it more difficult to apprehend them, the sheriff’s office noted.

The sheriff’s office also reported that suspects were recently pulling on car doors and garage doors at homes on Somersby Drive in the Somerset neighborhood off N.C. 150 and residents were advised to ensure their homes and vehicles are locked up overnight.

Residents were encouraged to sign up for the free apps “Neighbors” by Ring and “NextDoor,” where the sheriff’s office posts notifications and shares information about crime-related incidents in the area.

Council member Lynne Williams DeVaney said a friend of hers was one of those whose vehicles was broken into

FREE EVENT:

Saturday, October 8, 10AM Summerfield Athletic Park (5200 US-220 N.) –1PM putting imaginations in gear: learning about different vehicles Touch-a-Truck

•• Explore, imagine, and learn in the driver’s seat! •• Climb on, hear, and experience different vehicles. •• Kona Ice for sale—always a refreshing hit.

Thanks to our community partner:

providing FREE HOTDOGS!

Rain or shine; sorry, no pets

last month. She thanked those who have since helped get a surveillance camera installed at the Anna Long Marshall Wayside parking lot off U.S. 220.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Historical Committee. Chair Bruce Petersen said the committee has been working on archiving materials in the Gordon Hardware building across from Town Hall, and especially appreciated the help of Ken Robinson, an archaeologist with Wake Forest University. Peterson said several people have expressed an interest in buying the Gordon building, and Whitaker said there would be an update on this soon.

Petersen also said the committee continues its work on locating the unmarked graves at the historic Peace Church on Scalesville Road which likely date back to the Civil War.

Summerfield resident Harold “Shorty” Wilson passed away on Aug. 6 and Petersen said the committee is working on capturing the history of the convenience store and gas station at the corner of Pleasant Ridge and Carlson Dairy Road that had been in Wilson’s family for the last 75 years.

Sessoms thanked Historic and Trails Committee members for all their hard work.

The town continues efforts to sell the two historic buildings it owns at the N.C. 150 and Summerfield Road intersection, with the help of Preservation North Carolina.

“Every time I go to Town Hall, Mark Brown is showing one of the buildings,” Sessoms said. “It will be exciting to see what will happen there.”  Teresa Perryman said she didn’t understand why the voice recorder she had placed on the council table during meetings had created a problem, and asked that those who took issue with it come to her directly.  Gail Dunham said the “$65,000 Land Use Plan” to be presented on Sept. 26 did not include a geological survey that had been done years ago, despite recommendations by one of the focus groups; the survey includes a groundwater recharge study and explains why the aquifer is so important to the town’s water supply, she said.

Dunham also said some of the public meetings during the process of creating the land use plan weren’t very helpful and participation from citizens seemed to be missing from the plan.

The plan includes maps showing where high-density housing and commercial water will go, Dunham added, saying, “this is all for the (David) Couch development. But, the entire town will pay for it.”

The land use plan being presented reflects what the council wants, but not what the people want, she said in closing.  Summerfield resident Maria Adams spoke about the book “Salvage the Bones,” which is on the optional required reading list for an AP English class at Northern High School. The book, which Adams said contains explicit sexual content, was brought to the forefront last year after a student in the class reported it as being obscene ... continued on p. 12

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and pornographic. Two parents requested it be taken off the teacher’s list, but a school committee made up of teachers, parents and a student representative voted to keep it on the list.

The parents appealed the decision, but the Guilford County Board of Education voted Sept. 12 to keep the book on the teacher’s list.

“Instead of taking every student into consideration and practicing what they preach about equity and inclusion, they assign crude books that if your child doesn’t choose to read, your child may be excluded from classroom discussions,” Adams said. “And if you as a parent don’t agree with ‘mature content,’ the lead media committee director suggested your child not enroll in AP English.”

Adams encouraged those wanting to see a positive change in Guilford County Schools to vote for the conservative candidates on the ballot for Guilford County School Board in November, including Dmitri Carter, who is advocating for “Education not indoctrination.”

Northwest Greensboro resident Derek Mobley introduced himself as a Democratic candidate running for county commissioner in District 3, which includes part of Summerfield. Mobley said he grew up in a small town in Davidson County, has a master’s in economics and 12 years of working in finance and logistics.

“A lot of (COVID relief) money is coming into Guilford County and I don’t want us to celebrate too early,” Mobley said. “Somebody with financial experience would be good on the board.”

If elected, Mobley said he will focus on engaging and exciting citizens, keeping the property tax rate neutral, maintaining safe and vibrant communities and seizing broad economic opportunities.

Sessoms said at Mobley’s invitation the two recently met one-on-one.

“He’s a Democrat, I’m not, but we had a great talk, and that’s the way it should be,” he said.

BUSINESS FROM MANAGER

Reappointments.  5 0 to extend the term of Finance Committee member Alan Abrams to July 2023.  5 0 to appoint Clint Babcock, an alternate on the Planning Board, as a full member of the board. Babcock’s term will expire July 2025. MANAGER’S REPORT

Proposed interchange. Whitaker said the Greensboro Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) recently voted to keep a planned connector street between Fleming and Lewiston roads and to keep a proposed interchange at the connector road and the Urban Loop. Councilman Walker, who serves as northwest Guilford County’s representative on the MPO, had requested the interchange be removed, but his request was turned down.

“What that means is, there will not be a project extending Fleming Road to Lewiston. We tried,” Whitaker said. Planning director. Recruiting for the planning director’s position continues, Whitaker said. Dog park. The town manager provided an update on the proposed dog park, which will be near the amphitheater in the town’s community park off Centerfield Road. A vendor will soon be selected to clear some of the trees that aren’t conducive to a dog park, he said.  5 0 to amend the Consolidated Committee ordinance to state the ... continued on p. 31