Thank you for your patience during all of our road and water construction projects.The Cajah's Mountian Road project is still going on--this should be finished in about three weeks. We have one project that will begin on Sawmills School Road and Keith Avenue to install the 12 inch water line to Automated Solutions. This should begin within two weeks. As a result of savings with the two initial stimulus water projects, we were able to include the Union Baptist Road and May Road in the update of the water lines. We are looking now at a few more areas to include in the water line updates; but have not made any firm decisions on these as of yet. By securing the federal stimulus funds, we have saved the town close to $350,000.00 in expense that we would have never been able to fund at one time.
We are getting ready to begin the process of constructing the new Community Center/Town Hall which will be located at the property on Sawmills School and Helena Street. You may have seen some equipment there already with prep work being done. The property will include a Community Center and a new Town Hall as well as park areas where we can have town events with entertainment and large enough to possibly have local farmer's markets in the summer's. We are also looking at possibly installing a water feature for the children also. In the next few weeks, town staff and myself will be meeting with representatives from the State of North Carolina to hopefully secure additional PartF grant funding for the park areas of the Community Center/Town Hall. The Community Center will be open to anyone needing meeting and/or banquet facilities. We would hope that we could get a civic organization in the town since there will be a central area for them to meet. If anyone is interested, please contact me or the Town Hall. I have also had preliminary talks with the county Board of Elections about moving both voting precints to this one area during elections. This will eliminate the need to have polling places at the school as well as the Town Hall. This facility will be more than adequate to handle the voters in one location.
Nextly, we are in the process of planning the construction of additional sidewalks for the Town. These expansions will run from the Sawmills Fire Department to Storie's Superette. This construction will be funded with state Powell Funds.
Our Parks and Recreation Department has had a great summer so far. Many children are benefiting from the Town Park's. The fall ball season will start in September. You will begin to see signs around for registration for this soon. We anticiapte this to be a great season as well. Be on the look out for some updates to the Baird Park ball fields soon!! The Veteran's Park located at the river is getting greener every day. We have already received great interest in playing on these fields for soccer, baseball and softball. Construction on the Veteran's Monument will begin the first of August with an unveiling ceremony scheduled for Veteran's Day (Nov. 11, 2010) that evening. All who have turned in their names for the monument will receive a personal invitation for the event. Also, all Veterans along with their families are invited to attend the event. If you have any questions, please contact the Town Hall at 828-396-7903.
We are continuing to plan the annual Family Day at Baird Park. This will be on Saturday, October 16th. As before, this day will be filled with fun, food and entertainment for all residents of the Town of Sawmills. We look forward to seeing you there.
Do not hestitate to call if you have any questions or concerns. We want to hear from you to make sure everyone is informed! Please call me at the Town Hall at 828-396-7903 or my cell at 828-612-8790. You can also email me anytime at bgibbs@townofsawmills.com and I will make sure that I get back to you as soon as I can.
Thank you,
Mayor Bob
