PINEHURST — The Village of Pinehurst Council met Tuesday, September 13, with a handful of budget amendments and resolutions set on the agenda for action.
The council approved a resolution to amend the Village of Pinehurst fees and charges schedule at the Givens Library and Tuft Archives.
“We maintain a fees and charges schedule that the council adopts annually, but every once in a while, we have a desire or we recognize an opportunity to improve upon that out of cycle and given the fact that over the last six or seven months we’ve incorporated the Givens Library and Tuft Archives into our Village operations,” said Village Manager Jeff Sanborn. “At that time, we did incorporate some necessary language in our fees and charges schedule to cover their operations, but we’ve gotten some feedback from the library and archives staff that it might be appropriate to amend how we classify the fees for digital images in a more intuitive way that is easier for everybody to understand.”
The changes involve the digital segment of the archives, specifically the purchasing of digital images.
“The main change is moving from an image usage fee – so whether or not the image is being utilized for a commercial purpose or a non-profit purpose or things like that – transitioning from that structure to an entity type fee,” said Financial Services Director Brooke Hunter. “Is the entity requesting the image a commercial entity versus a non-profit entity? It takes away some of the ambiguity that staff is currently facing with some of those decisions and how to charge customers.”
According to Hunter, there will be three types of charges for digital images: the commercial entity fee, the non-commercial entity fee or personal use fee, and the non-profit entity fee.
The council approved a $56,000 budget amendment request in order to complete recommended improvements to the Pinehurst Harness Track.
“This is a response to the Council’s directive for staff to go back and look at ways we can intelligently invest in opportunities at the harness track in more robust or accelerated ways in this fiscal year,” Sanborn said.
Improvements include Barn 14 grooms quarters renovations, the reconstruction of most paddocks, the reconstruction of the office in Barn 3, drainage improvements to Barn 8, 9, 14, and 15, painting Barn 6 and 8 and the track restaurant, repairing the water damage at the Clubhouse and Office, constructing a concrete pad with sides at Barn 14 for animal waste and the fixing of some of the roads.
“The total of all these projects that we’ve put out is $263,000,” said Parks and Recreation Director Mark Wagner. “Current funds are $207,000, and that does include the $50,000 from the state of North Carolina. We would need $56,000 in order to complete these projects.”
The council also approved a $145,000 budget amendment request for the installation of turf at Cannon Park.
“We’re seeking approval of the proposal from Field Turf USA to install turf at Cannon Park,” Wagner said. “Currently, it’s a baseball/softball, multi-purpose field. So it would be converted from dirt and grass to synthetic turf material. It would have an infield material as well that helps reduce the heat and helps provide more cushion for use on the site.”
The council also approved a $54,717.50 contract with McAdams Company in order to update the Parks and Recreation Master Plan.
Finally, the council continued its discussion surrounding the Pinehurst South Small Area Plan. However, similar concerns from prior meetings continued to dominate the discussions.
“This plan is much more disappointing than the earlier one,” said Mayor Pro Tem Pat Pizzella. “The consultant guaranteed for sure that it would be a traffic disaster. They just laid that out in black and white. That is an immediate tap-the breaks to what we do around here. When we last met on this in August, I thought we came up with some general criteria. But I feel like what is being proposed is a lot of what ifs and maybes rather than a little more firmer guidance.”
As such, the council decided to give the planning and zoning board more time to address concerns related to density, traffic impact, and differences between the east and west sides of the development.
The Village of Pinehurst Council will next meet September 27.
