Robbinsville – The Graham County Board of Commissioners was surprised to learn that all Southwestern Child Development Centers are closing by the end of the month, which will affect several counties in Region A.
The service no longer has adequate agency resources to supplement the state rate require by the N.C. Division of Child Development and Early Education. New county market rates were implemented on Oct. 1 and these rates offered only a small support or improvement to the rural counties of region A.
“This is a major shock. We’ve been hearing that we were having financial problems and to hear that they are closing by Oct. 31, I reject that,” said commissioner Connie Orr.
Four Square Community Action is willing to help keep the centers open and the board wants to do what they can for the children in the community.
Other news and notes
* Graham County Board of Elections Chair Juanita Colvard spoke during public comment about updating voting equipment for Graham County. The board of commissioners approved the payments for updated equipment.
Graham County has had outdated voting equipment for some time. Luckily, a house bill is passing a mandate for voting equipment to be updated.
The election board has a budget of $48,910 for voting equipment; the costs for the voting equipment would be $58,000, $8,625 and $4,768.
Print Elect proposed a two-part payment plan, due July 1, 2024 and July 1, 2025, with zero interest. The old voting equipment will also have a $14,000 trade off.
“They’ll (Print Elect) go ahead and order it and it will be here by the March primaries. It’s your best bet for the county,” said Colvard.
* Graham County Department of Public Health Director Donna Stephens made a request to the board about getting a USDA loan to purchase land for a new fitness center.
Stephens explained that the task force wants to build the fitness center on nine acres of land for $280,000. Stephens doesn’t want to give an exact location.
“We have a lot of foundations who want to help with the building of the project, but the biggest hurdle we’re going to have is buying land,” said Stephens.
Four foundations are interested in providing grants to help with building costs for the fitness center, but not for the land. Some of the foundations interested are the Cannon Foundation, the WNC Bridge Foundation and Dogwood Health Trust.
A fundraiser for the fitness center is happening at the Robbinsville Trunk or Treat from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 31 at the Robbinsville Square.
Previously, the fitness center was going to be the former Green’s Foodway on Tallulah Road, which sits next to Huckleberry Bakery. Stephens said the lot was too expensive at $850,000.
* The board also discussed what needs to be done in regards to a recent inspection in the Graham County Detention Center.
The Division of Health and Service Regulation inspected the jail on Sept. 20 and found corrections that need to be completed by Saturday, Oct. 28. Observed during the inspection were chipping on the floors, plus the women’s shower floor and walls that needs repairs so it can all be easily cleaned. The women’s shower walls also had rust that needs to be repaired and cleaned.
Graham County Sheriff Brad Hoxit said the department is in the process of making the changes according to the health inspection. They are also in the process of finding vendors to bid for paint repairs. They will take the recommendations from the vendors to either chip the paint or sandblast it and then re-paint.