Thursday, February 25, 2010 — I was elected as your mayor this past November and since that time I have worked diligently with the City Council and city staff on plans to make Locust an even better place to live, work and play.
At the same time we have worked hard on ways to streamline our expenses by consolidating work loads and moving some fulltime positions to part time positions. Part of my endeavors is to see all city staff in one location in a building that the city owns rather than spread out in rental property.
At the present moment the City of Locust rents three facilities to accommodate the police department, library and city hall. The present space is not adequate for city services and none of the three buildings were designed for what the city is using them for in fact an evaluation of the police department facility by an outside consultant found serious safety issues with that location for police services.
The options that the city has to choose from are to either build a new facility or to continue renting. Dennie Martin, one of the state’s leading municipal financial consultants and a principal in Martin-McGill Associates, prepared a 10-year comparative cost analysis to help determine whether building a new building made good financial sense.
The cost analysis provided key benefits to building a new complex:
• Owning will take ad-vantage of low interest rate market, which may not be available in the future.
• Owning a space is less costly per square foot
Leasing - $29.20
New - $11.52
• Owning will provide cash flow savings by FY 2012.
• Owning will create equity for the City.
• Owning will save an estimated $318,947 over a ten year span.
As you can easily see, the building of a new facility will lead to major cost savings for the tax payers in our city.
As your mayor I am committed to working to making your local government accountable and cost effective in these difficult times.
The use of stimulus money will enable us to not only save ourselves money but also put many of our local workers back to work.
Please feel free to contact me at City Hall at (704) 888-5260 or by e-mail at mayor@locustnc.com with any concerns you may have about this issue or any other.
Mayor Scott Efird
Locust
Letters to the Editor
Owning better than renting
- Letters to the Editor
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Gingrich a front runner?
A year ago not many people gave Newt Gingrich much chance of being president.
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An exciting year so far at WSMS
I am an eighth grade teacher at West Stanly Middle and wanted to take the opportunity to share some of the highlights of our year.
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Clean Tech has right to choose location
I am writing in reference to Huck Huckabee’s letter to the editor.
First of all, I don’t think the working population has enough time in the day to wait around for an investigation on why Clean Tech did not take the offer of the Wiscassett Mills property. -
Let them make the decisions they are being paid to make
I am not being critical of our school board or individuals who sit upon it. I am not advocating that redistricting is the best option nor am I opposed to it.
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The company was never about creating jobs
I think Mayor Whitley’s offer of the Wiscassett Mills property to Clean Tech was a brilliant move. The Jan. 5 SNAP article noted that Steve Strickler of Clean Tech said the Wiscassett Mills property “… would not fit Clean Tech’s needs in terms of size and available infrastructure.”
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It's Past Time To Look At Redistricting
Question: Where does the West Stanly School District start? Answer: Just past the little bridge on West Main Street in Albemarle just before Hinks Grill. Handi-Mart and Stanly Community College are also in the West District. The South District starts somewhere around Rock Creek Park.
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Questions to Stanly County
Over the past few months there has been a lot of public discussion concerning the ALCOA relicensing, the effort to locate CleanTech in Stanly County and the dollars spent by the Stanly County Commissioners on these two items
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Postal Service needs greater flexibility for the new year
As we look forward to the beginning of a new year, the Postal Service still needs Congress to make a basic choice: to permit USPS to function more as a business or to continue the constraints.
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ALCOA and their available jobs were not run out of Stanly County
It is my opinion that ALCOA made the choice to leave Stanly County which eliminated good paying jobs and benefits for its citizens after enjoying years of profitable business here. I am also very appreciative of the jobs ALCOA provided in the past.
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Alcoa has been a great giver to Stanly County
Stanly County
I would like to inform the Stanly County manager and the commissioners that no one person owns the Yadkin-Pee Dee River. It is owned by the God of Heaven. And Alcoa’s dams have provided a great source of water to several counties. - More Letters to the Editor Headlines
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Gingrich a front runner?
