Rural Transformation Grant falls through for Town of Wagram

WAGRAM — A $70,000 Rural Transformation Grant fell through, Wagram commissioners were told at the September business meeting.

The grant, administered by the North Carolina Department of Commerce, provides local governments with grants and expert guidance to improve economic vitality and overcome the unique challenges many rural communities face.

The town sought the grant through the Lumber River Council of Governments to purchase a vacant building, that’s been struck by multiple drivers heading past the U.S. 401 and Bundy Street intersection.

“It has been hit twice by traffic,” Town Clerk Roosevelt Henegan said of the building, which was once a church but has now become dilapidated. “It stopped being a church at some point.”

Henegan said the plan was to use the grant to purchase the building, demolish it, and make way for a new project however the sale “could not be conveyed to the town” due to a number of matters, some of them being the property’s tax status — heading for foreclosure — and the town’s inability to obtain a title from the owner.

“That’s bad news,” Henegan told the commissioners. “I really feel bad about that. We will see what we can do going forward.”

And there will be a plan for moving forward but for now, “unfortunately, we came to a stumbling block,” Henegan said.

In other business, the commissioners voted to extend former Town Clerk Phyllis Lowery’s contract through the end of the year to continue providing consulting services to Henegan as well as the Utility Department.

The deciding vote came after Henegan told the board that Lowery exceeded the 45 hours she budgeted to consult the town over a year three months by about 5 hours, costing the town an additional $385. With the town in the midst of a financial audit, Hengan said Lowery would still be needed in the coming months.

“We kind of called on her a little bit more than we were projected to … We’re still new … We’re still learning the process and we called her kind of regularly,” Henegan said.

Despite extending the contract, commissioners decreased the number of hours Lowery will consult to 10 hours each month with Commissioner Barbara Pierce saying administrative staff has to be “weaned off” to stand on their own.

A few limbs on the streets were the extent of damages sustained after Hurricane Idalia made landfall in Florida, resulting in tropical storm winds and flooding throughout North Carolina.

Mayor Robert McLaughlin commended town staff for the preparations made ahead of the storm that resulted in the town being placed under a State of Emegency on Aug. 30. The declaration was lifted the following day.

“We would like to commend them on a job well done. We were prepared for another storm but we were blessed it took another route and it wasn’t as bad as we anticipated,” McLaughlin said.

Commissioners learned that the Department of Environmental Quality recently conducted an inspection on the town’s wastewater system. A report had not been submitted as of Thursday. Henegan said once that comes in, he will present the findings at the upcoming meeting.