Lake Santeetlah – The town wasted little time filling its vacant council seat.
Following the resignation of Craig Keith on July 17, the council unanimously appointed Kevin Haag as his replacement during the Aug. 13 meeting via Zoom. Haag’s term will expire when the original term ends in November 2021.
Keith was appointed to fill a seat on the town’s planning board during the meeting as well.
Other news and notes from the meeting included:
* Brian Farley was unanimously approved as the new zoning administrator, replacing Town Administrator Kim Matheson. Farley’s contract will be finalized later.
“I think this is a good idea,” Hager said. “This takes some of the (workload) burden off of her.”
* The town has only received one bid for the front entrance repairs, but expects more to come in.
* Alridge Brothers was awarded a contract for culvert and ditch repair on Nantahala Terrace, which totals $3,215. The water runoff during heavy rainfall is overwhelming the irrigation system. The motion passed unanimously.
* The council agreed to schedule a special public hearing to hear feedback over the revisions to the zoning compliance certificate form and a new fee schedule. The proposed changes have resulted in several members of the community offering negative feelings over the policies and has taken longer than anticipated to finalize.
“This about the fourth month that we’ve worked on this,” Carlton was quick to note.
* Connectivity issues with the Internet and phone provider for the town – Zito Media – led to the council discussing reimbursement for Matheson and town clerk Emily Hooper, who have been forced to use their personal devices to conduct town business. Further discussion will be necessary.
* A motion to appoint council member Diana Simon as the town’s representative on the Southwestern Commission passed unanimously.