Sylva temporarily closes Spring Street
the same period of time. There will be a public hearing for community input on downtown public restroom locations and adjacent open-air areas at the May 12 Board of Commissioners meeting. The meeting begins at 5:30 p.m. and will take place in Town Hall.
Drake Software Appoints New President and CEO
Software has never been stronger. Dom has the track record, FinTech experience, and leadership that will take this company to the next level in product delivery and customer service.” This tax season, Drake Software served a record Dominic (Dom) Morea number of over 70,000 tax professional clients, and its products continue to meet or exceed all quality targets.
Chairman Euan Menzies states, “I am very pleased with the excellent contributions from my Drake Software colleagues which led to the strong performance during the most recent tax season. Drake Software made progress on all fronts over the past year, making strategic investments across many facets of the business which led to customer growth. I am delighted to welcome Dom as the new CEO, and I am confident he will have a major positive impact as we move forward.” Drake Software’s new President and CEO Dom Morea added, “I’ve spent my career in industry-leading financial service and technology firms and have great admiration for Drake Software’s reputation for excellence in product development and customer service. I am honored to join Drake Software and have the opportunity to enable the talented members of this company to achieve new levels of success where we will continue to drive innovation and service quality within the tax industry.”
Drake Software announced today the appointment of Dominic (Dom) Morea as President and CEO. Interim CEO Euan Menzies will continue in his role as Chairman of Drake Software. Dom Morea comes to Drake Software with a strong background of more than 20 years’ experience in FinTech, working with Fiserv and First Data Corporation. He served most recently as Global Head of Fiserv’s Prepaid business. The Fiserv Prepaid business is one of the world’s largest payment service providers, supporting billions of transactions annually across the globe and millions of consumer/app users. Drake Software’s Founder and current Board Member Phil Drake said, “Drake
Downtown Sylva.
HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER ommunity support is emerging for a skatepark in Sylva. In the meantime, will the town purchase a temporary half-pipe? This is the latest idea from Sylva Commissioners to be considered for inclusion in the FY 2022-23 budget. A grassroots organization of Jackson County residents, the Sylva Skatepark Project, has been advocating for the construction of a skatepark in the county for the last several months. Both the town of Sylva and the county commission have been receptive to the group’s endeavors, but it is unclear which entity would foot the bill for the future park. With Sylva approaching the end of its budget process for the upcoming fiscal year, there are talks of purchasing a temporary half-pipe until the skatepark construction can be finalized. At a May 5 budget workshop commissioner Greg McPherson brought up the idea of adding a line item to the budget for the purchase of a halfpipe. “I’ve got a 16-by-8-foot ramp, $7,000, and I think it takes a day to put it together,” said McPherson. McPherson said the ramp he had looked at cost around $7,500 and prices ranged up to $10,000. The structures come in parts that can be put together and taken back apart again to move. Commissioners discussed several potential locations for the halfpipe, including Bridge Park, the area behind Sylva’s pool and the Frontier lot. Both Public Works Director Jake Scott and Sylva Police Chief Chris Hatton quickly vetoed the idea of putting a half pipe behind the pool, reminding commissioners that the location is already rife with delinquent activity. “We spend a lot of time at Poteet and Bridge Park, dealing with some pretty serious issues from school kids,” said Hatton. “For Jake and I, you’re asking for a lot of trouble.” Mayor Linda Sossamon suggested asking the county if the skate ramp could be placed at Mark Watson Park, noting that the park is flat, and has lighting and bathrooms. “I think [a temporary ramp] is a good idea since we don’t know how long it’s going to take for the other to get finalized,” said Sossamon. “I just don’t want our town’s toddlers to learn new words,” said Hatton. Town Manager Paige Dowling asked commissioners to send her a cost estimate and said that she would then speak to Jackson County Recreation Director Rusty Ellis. Dowling said it would be her recommendation to use American Rescue Funds to purchase the ramp since one of the acceptable uses for that money is parks and recreation. “This is a short-term fix while we have the longer discussion,” said Commissioner David Nestler. All commissioners expressed that they were on board with purchasing the temporary halfpipe. The board will continue its budget discussion with the formal presentation of the FY 202223 budget at its May 12 meeting, held at 5:30 p.m. at Town Hall. The Sylva Skatepark Project meets at 6 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays of the month at Bridge Park. 13
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Smoky Mountain News
Rose Bauguess, regional planner for the North Carolina Department of Transportation, who suggested getting consensus from the board as soon as possible resulting in the decision at the May 5 meeting. Bauguess suggested closing Spring Street early in May so that Mother’s Day weekend, Western Carolina
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University’s graduation weekend and Memorial Day weekend — busy weekends for Sylva — could all potentially be part of the traffic study. At the May 5 meeting, commissioners reached a consensus and were all on board with closing Spring Street, at least temporarily to determine how it would affect downtown traffic. Railroad Avenue will also temporarily change back to a two-way street during
May 11-17, 2022
Through State Capital Infrastructure Funds, direct appropriations in the state budget, the town was allocated $250,000 for public restrooms. Earlier this year, commissioners discussed the merits of building public bathrooms on Spring Street and at the old railroad depot. The town had originally planned to get a consensus about the trial road closure from board members at its May 12 meeting. However, staff consulted with
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HANNAH MCLEOD STAFF WRITER he Town of Sylva closed Spring Street, between Mill Street and Main Street beginning May 6. The closure will last for approximately three weeks. The purpose of the closure is to push all traffic headed westbound down Mill Street, and circling onto Main Street, down to Landis Street, without the option to turn left onto Spring Street. This portion of Spring Street is one proposed location for the construction of public restrooms in downtown Sylva. The town wants to determine whether closing Spring Street permanently for the public restrooms would be too much of an impediment to downtown traffic flow. There will be traffic counters on Landis Street counting vehicles traveling both ways, as well as a sign on Mill Street giving drivers early notice that Spring Street is closed. When the town opens Spring Street back up, one of those traffic counters will be moved to Spring Street so that traffic can be counted there. “That will give us at least really rough numbers about what amount of traffic we displaced by doing this,” said Public Works Director Jake Scott. “If we try this, we will have a better idea of what would happen to traffic,” said Town Manager Paige Dowling. “Where would it back up? Will it back up on Mill Street turning onto Landis, will people on Landis not be able to turn onto Mill? And what kind of delay would it make?”
Sylva contemplates buying temporary half-pipe
