Sgt. Kris Ray was recognized during Monday’s meeting for achieving the Advanced Law Enforcement Certificate.

The Wadesboro Town Council declined to send a letter asking for a personal appointment with Governor Pat McCrory to discuss a traffic signal concern after hearing from a Department of Transportation representative on Monday.

Lee Ainsworth, a maintenance engineer with the N.C. DOT, spoke to the council about concerns with the intersection. Mayor Bill Thacker had drafted a letter to McCrory’s office asking the governor to meet with him “to discuss installing a left turn signal at the intersection of N.C. 109 (Greene St.) and U.S. 74 for northbound traffic turning east onto U.S. 74.”

In the letter, Thacker wrote that the council “feels this is a priority and disagrees with the N.C. DOT’s conclusion that current sight distance and traffic volume data do not warrant a protected left-turn phase.”

Ainsworth said that since Wadesboro has experienced no population growth, the data has not changed since the DOT’s initial conclusion. He supported the DOT’s position, saying that adding a protected left turn for Greene Street traffic at that intersection would create a greater backlog of traffic along U.S. 74. “We’re not going to take time away from the green phase on 74,” he said. “That’s just it, I think we all agree that’s what makes the intersection move. … It’s not going to improve congestion, it’s going to create more.”

Thacker felt that the amount of traffic on the road makes the intersection dangerous for motorists attempting to cut across the intersection during a green light. “There’s four highways coming in there: 74, 52, 742, and 109 all meet right here at this intersection,” he said. “When you’ve got lumber trucks trying to come up 109, and you’ve got cars sitting there that you can’t see, and you come down the hill trying to make a left turn, you take the life of your car in your own hands trying to go there because all of a sudden here comes a car right up on top of you.”

Thacker said that while the accident rate is low there, it is still dangerous, adding that a former town manager had been hit by someone coming across the top of the hill.

The combined highway traffic, crammed into a small area, makes the road dangerous in Thacker’s opinion, and he has pursued adding a protected left signal there for eight to 10 years, he said. “I think that the Department of Transportation is not looking at the whole picture.”

The council was split. Councilman John Ballard said he has no trouble making the turn, while Mayor Pro Tem James David Lee disagreed. “I think what I see, just as a local person, is during just about any time during the day that I go through this street, the main street up here, it takes me a pretty good while to make it to the highway because you’ve got trucks and traffic backed up all the way through the square,” he said. “I have actually seen it backed up to almost Uwharrie bank: log trucks, big trucks, all kinds of trucks. And it takes a little while to get down, through the town, to the stop light. Now once you get to the stoplight, you may have to wait several changes before you get down to 74. I found that out personally.”

When it came time to vote, the letter was not voted on because only one councilman supported it.

Lee asked Ainsworth about the possibility of making Wadesboro a no-thru truck route, but councilman Fred Davis was concerned that some of that truck traffic would be too near the high school. Ainsworth said that the town can submit the request, but that due to the high school, road structure, and other factors, he doubted it would be approved.

Police officer honored

Also during the meeting, Sgt. Kris Ray was recognized for completing her advanced law enforcement certification.

Chief Thedis Spencer said the award is one of the highest that North Carolina officers can receive, and that it was well-deserved. “Sgt. Ray has been with the town for about nine years, and she wears many hats for the town,” he said. “She enforces our city ordinances, she works on the beautification efforts, and does a lot of that. She goes around and makes sure the houses we have a problem with, with trash, she takes care of that. She’s a big lover of animals, making sure that our animal ordinance is up to date.”

Thacker remembered when he and his wife found puppies in the uptown area and took them to the police department, where Ray cared for them overnight until the owners claimed them in the morning. “Kris did all of the work in caring for them,” Thacker said. “It’s just one of the many things that she does for us, and we appreciate that.”

Consent Agenda

The council approved its consent agenda, which included a resolution honoring local resident Pauline Wall Kirby for her 100th birthday. The proclamation recognized Kirby’s devotion to family, friends, and her Christian faith, and the many experiences Kirby has had: “many social changes and historical events have occurred during her lifetime including World War I and II, the Hoover Days, the Social Security establishment, Dr. King’s assassination, and the election of the first Black U.S. President.”

According to the proclamation, Kirby turned 100 years old last Tuesday, and will be honored during the Williams family reunion on July 4.

The other items in the consent agenda were the approval of the minutes, the approval of surplus items that will be sold on GovDeals.com, and a letter of support for the Partnership for Children to add the Nurse-Family Partnership program. The program will provide a nurse to visit new, low-income mothers until the baby turns 2 years old.

Additionally:

  • Town Manager Alex Sewell said the town’s current net worth is “promising,” and that the town departments have stayed within their budgets. “If we continue at this pace, we’ll hopefully not use any of the money from our savings account this year, our fund balance,” he said.
  • The town has advertised to bid out the construction of the Wade Street bridge, and Sewell said he hopes to have the bridge completed by late November or early December.
  • During the time for citizen’s comments, David Harrington asked the council to eliminate two streets from its repaving list and use the funds on Ingram Street to add drainage pipes. “There’s about 13 streets on there,” he said. “Eliminate two of those streets and use the funds from those two streets to fix the pipes on Ingram Street.” Thacker and Sewell said they will look to see if the money can be used to fix Ingram Street.

  • Public services director Hugh James said the town should soon complete a state-mandated emergency action plan for the City Pond dam.

The next meeting will be held at the Wadesboro Town Hall on June 1 at 5 p.m.