Granite Quarry moves to implement Capital Improvements Plan – Salisbury Post

GRANITE QUARRY – The Granite Quarry City Council gave approval Thursday for city staff to begin work on a Capital Improvement Plan, an ever-evolving five- to 10-year plan that would lay out all of the city’s capital needs .

City Manager Jason Hord said the idea of ​​implementing a CIP had been on the table several times throughout his years with the city before he became manager. However, the city never followed through on this for several reasons.

“I think we need a good (comprehensive) Capital Improvement Plan that shows those five- and 10-year elements so that it’s not two weeks before we have to buy a million-dollar fire truck. We have to plan ahead and put those plans into action,” Hord said.

The CIP was discussed during recent budget discussions, Hord said, but the idea was put on hold due to budget needs. Hord said the fiscal year 2023-2024 budget was “tight,” so city officials did not believe they could commit funds to a long-term capital budget.

“It is not necessary to finance these things every year, you finance what you can save. But without being surprised with: ‘Guess what?’ I need an extra $100,000 this year to replace a tractor. I need an extra $80,000 this year to finance a dump truck.’ Most of us on the board know this will happen, but we owe it to our successors, as well as ourselves, to have a picture of the future,” said Mayor Pro Tem Doug Shelton.

Hord said the city does not have an all-encompassing CIP. Instead, each individual department, such as fire or public works, stays up to date with its future plans and submits what is needed for each budget year.

“Right now, what we have are the department’s five-year plans that are in documents on each of our computers. They hire them once a year, probably four months before we finalize the budget and say, ‘Hey, we need this.’ That’s not a good plan, it’s just trying something at the last minute,” Hord said.

After discussion, council members decided by consensus to direct Hord to begin work on a Capital Improvement Plan for the city.

In other news from Thursday’s city council strategic planning meeting:

• Council approved the purchase of two new vehicles for the Granite Quarry-Faith Joint Police Authority. Interim Police Chief Todd Taylor requested the vehicles as a result of a fleet assessment that had recently been completed. The total cost, including vehicles and equipment, was $120,000.
• The council discussed a recent Rowan Municipal Association initiative asking each municipality in Rowan County to list their priority projects. The initiative calls for each city to submit three priority projects along with documents and plans to the RMA, which would then be presented to county representatives and senators to lobby for state funding. Projects that were mentioned by council members were industrial development along the interstate corridor and Chamandy Drive, the renovation or relocation of City Hall, the downtown master plan and subsequent projects, and sidewalk extensions and repairs along South Main Street and other roads. The RMA asked municipal governments to have a list of projects and supporting documents by Dec. 1 so that the full list of priorities could be presented to county legislators in mid-January for comment.
• The council discussed the city’s goals for the past year and the progress made toward completing them. Specific goals that were mentioned as still needing major work were hiring a full-time planner, restarting the city merchants association, industrial growth and expansion of Chamandy Drive, and non-annexation agreements with East Spencer, Rockwell and Faith. Goals that council members discussed that were substantially completed or on track were growing GraniteFest into a signature event for the city, updating the city’s land use plan and Unified Development Ordinances, adoption of a competitive Master Plan for the Center and the implementation of a municipal newsletter.