Becky Garland
Robbinsville – Finances for the county seat are edging closer to being caught up-to-date, according to March 5's board of aldermen meeting.
Becky Garland with the League of Municipalities discussed the progress made by the Town of Robbinsville on the 2022-23 audit process, which fell behind during a hectic period of turnover in front-office administration.
The ship has been steadied now, with Linda Parton and Amanda Gyongyos becoming permanent fixtures that ended a tumultuous stint of administrators and clerks quickly entering and exiting their respective roles.
Garland said that the town is on pace to have the audit for 2022-23 ready for presentation in the immediate future, with the hope that the 2023-24 catch-up going much quicker now that the learning curve is out of the way.
"We've come a long way since the beginning of January," Garland said.
Another reason for the hurry is the town does not want to lose the funding for a major sewer-line replacement along Ford, Main and Laura streets, which has been in the works for a number of years – but has set in limbo due to the finances not being complete.
At a special called meeting Feb. 24, Joel Storrow with McGill & Associates said that Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-Franklin) planned to pitch a $2.2 million appropriation for the project.
Local residents have long noticed standing water on the streets, which has also led to flooding of commercial and residential lots.
As McGill's assessment of the repair noted, Robbinsville was fortunate to have been spared the wrath of Hurricane Helene in September – even though water stood in some areas for 36 hours and portions of pipe collapsed due to the sheer amount of rainfall received.
"Had the storm directly impacted Robbinsville, flooding in downtown would have been significant due to the undersized storm drainage system," reads a portion of the assessment presented Feb. 24.