By Thomas Smith
Staff Reporter
tsmith@elkintribune.com
Elkin officials will meet for their annual planning retreat at Klondike Cabins today to discuss the future of the town.
Growth will likely be one of the major topics at the meeting, where department heads will come to commissioners with their plans and needs for the upcoming year.
Mayor Lestine Hutchens said there will be a wide array of topics discussed during the day long session. She said it is a way for everyone involved to be up to date before compiling a budget for 2008.
"We will be talking about things like, what are the needs of the town, what are the things we have to do, what needs to be done the most, what do you have money to do?" she said. "We'll talk about taxes, economic development, capital improvements that sort of thing. All the department heads will do their requests for budgets at that time. We will review projects that we have in progress right now. We had a project review meeting last week, but we will talk more in depth about those at this meeting."
When asked what would be pressing in her mind, Hutchens said that while every department head usually feels their issues are the most important, she is looking at the need for a new fire department, water and sewer replacement and the water supply itself.
"We are losing water and we need to track down where that water is being lost," she said. "I am sure there will be a request for some investigation of how we can track that. Whether it is leaking out or beign confiscated while we aren't looking or what."
Hutchens also mentioned looking at the next step with safety improvements and changes at the Elkin Municipal Airport.
In regards to economic development, Hutchens said the planning session will be a precursor to a larger meeting taking place Feb. 22 focusing on that topic. "We have a study going on a week from Friday when we will have our first forum with people from our tech and development group and starting the process of what is the best economic plan for Elkin," she said.
The forum will be held Feb. 22 at Hugh Chatham and will consist of 25 to 30 members of the community from both the business and professional areas as well as representatives from special interest groups such as the school sytem and the arts and crafts guild.
"We will gather to talk about the future of Elkin and what kind of future the citizens of Elkin are expecting," Hutchens said.
John Holcomb, financial officer for the town of Elkin said he will review the past year's worth of financial activity for the town and talk about possible future capital projects and how they could be paid for.
"In the finanical status report is where I actually go back and review last year's finanical position for the town," Holcomb said. "The 2007 tax collection percentages, future debt for the town, the types of capital projects we have invested in over the past year and who the 10 top largest taxpayers are who haven't paid their taxes yet."
Holcomb said expansion of the town's recreation center is a project residents could see take place in the next year.
"We are looking at some plans that would make the building larger, adding some new rooms and some programs there," he said. "We have a group that is doing a study for us that will tell us some new things we can offer down there."
Both Holcomb and Hutchens said conversation discussing the building of a new fire station on the north side of town will definitely be on the agenda.
"A lot things are moving northward and that is where a lot of our fire load is moving," Holcomb said. "We want to get a station out closer to where our growth is going out to. If you look out at the bypass the new Wal-Mart and things like that, a lot of our fire calls are coming from that area. We believe we need to look at the possibitly of building a fire station to cover this part of town."
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