PINEHURST – The Village of Pinehurst Council met Tuesday, Dec. 12. It was the first regular business meeting for newly elected mayor Pat Pizzella and council members John Taylor and Barb Ficklin.
In regards to the still vacant council seat, Village Manager Jeff Sanborn reported that the Village had received 12 applications for people interested in filling the seat.
“We will have a discussion on how we can move that along and hopefully by the next time we meet, we’ll have a fifth councilmember,” Pizzella said. “I’m optimistic.”
In addition, Sanborn reported that there were four applicants for two vacancies on the historic preservation committee and three candidates for one vacancy on the planning and zoning board and board of adjustments.
“We’re going to be moving forward with starting interviews for those positions, but if there are other folks in the community that would like to also serve in those positions, please get your applications in,” Sanborn said. “You can contact our Village Clerk or access the application online. There’s still time to get that in and consider other folks.”
The council first awarded a $1,025,778 contract for approximately three miles of road resurfacing and striping to Fred Smith Company.
“The Village maintains about 108 miles of roadways within our Village limits,” said Public Services and Engineering Director Mike Apke. “We have a goal each year to resurface a little more than four miles of those roadways. We’ve averaged about 4.3 miles for the last four fiscal years.”
According to Apke, the Village contracts a private engineer to conduct a Pavement Condition Survey every three years which creates a scored list of roads and typically staff chooses the worst of those scores for the yearly resurfacing. The funding for this project will also come from Pinehurst’s remaining Powell Bill budget.
The roads that will be resurfaced are parts of Sawmill Road West and East, Sawmill Court, Lake View East, Monroe Lane, Juniper Creek, Thorne Road, Lake Forest Drive SW, Lodge Pole Lane, Fur Court East and West, Cherry Lane, Osage Lane, Beryl Lane, Onyx Lane S, Surry Circle N, Harness and Page Street
The council also approved the dedication of Winston Pines Drive and the associated right-of-ways to the Village of Pinehurst.
“Winston Pines is a subdivision that was approved by council five years ago,” Sanborn said. “It sits just outside the Village limits proper on Foxfire Road. The expectation at that time that was communicated to us and council, was that when the development was complete and the roadway was completed to standard, that they would dedicate the road to the Village of Pinehurst.”
Finally, the council approved a resolution to exempt CMS Engineering from the qualification-based selection process in order to conduct an annual intersection studies.
“Many years ago, the Village undertook an effort to better understand the traffic situation at the intersections along the primary state roads that come through the Village,” Sanborn said. “Since we started that effort, every year. We have engaged with an outside consultant to come in and analyze the key intersections on those state roads, half of them one year and half of them the next.”
North Carolina general statutes state that specific services such as architectural, engineering and surveying, instead of being based on lowest bid should be based on the qualifications of the firm. However, an exemption can be granted by local municipalities if it’s deemed to be in the best interest.
“We’re not trying to say that we don’t want them to be qualified,” said Assistant Village Manager Jeff Batton. “They are fully qualified, we’re just asking that we don’t have to put out an RFQ.”
CMS Engineering has been working with the Village on these studies since 2005.
The Village of Pinehurst Council will next meet Jan. 9.
