Fontana Dam – A local municipality is continuing to look at matched four-year terms for its council.
At its Aug. 18 meeting, Town of Fontana Dam Clerk Zelerie Rogers said she had authorized the town attorney to look into the next steps for the process.
“He’s going to check into that to the General Assembly and see,” Rogers said.
“It might have to be something that’s amended by them and the reasoning for it is that we’re so small and so few people, to reduce overhead. It’s hard enough to be five people on the board at all, let alone trying to stagger two (terms) one year and three the next.”
Mayor Rob Hardy said the lawyer’s assistance was budgeted, and he thought the cost was warranted if it was beneficial to the town.
“If he can help us resolve some things and move either one way or the other, that’s helpful,” Hardy said.
New waste truck
The board also voted discussed the search for a new town garbage truck to replace a machine nearing the end of its life.
Rogers said that she had seen some trucks that would fit the town’s criteria, but nothing close to the town.
“There’s a lot of trucks on there, but they were in California and Florida and Michigan,” Rogers said. “There were a couple in Knoxville, but they were like 2008 (models).”
Hardy also suggested reaching out to other nearby municipalities and asking where they had found deals on equipment in the past, with Rogers saying she would call Graham County Finance Officer Becky Garland to ask about past county vehicle purchases.
The prospect of using a side-by-side for the task was also weighed.
However, Hardy said he believed it would be beyond the vehicle’s capabilities.
“It just doesn’t have the capacity,” Hardy said. “You’d be moving back and forth all day. Having one of those to augment the truck at events and whatnot – I think would be desirable, but I wouldn’t rely on it solely.”
He also emphasized the need to get the best price possible on the new truck. He said that the town would likely look at Ford F-150’s similar to the current truck.
“I know we can’t get it wholesale, but I hope we can get it – you know – somewhere between wholesale and retail,” Hardy said.
Rogers noted that the new truck should also be 4-wheel drive.