LAURINBURG — The Laurinburg City Council voted this week to purchase a 101-year-old fire truck for $10 from the family of longtime firefighter and former chief Lindo Harvell.
Lindo Harvell purchased the 1924 White fire truck at auction in 1949 for the same price and restored it by 1956. The truck is currently displayed at the Rural Heritage Museum near the John Blue House.
City Manager Charles Nichols said the vehicle could be showcased at the North Fire Station and used for parades or other community events.
“There’s some work that needs to be done,” he said. “We need to get it up and running.”
Bob Harvell, representing the family, said it was meaningful to see the truck return to Laurinburg.
“It’s been 76 years since it’s been in our family,” he said. “The city of Laurinburg bought the best truck that could be bought at that time.”
Recognizing outgoing council
The Laurinburg City Council also on Tuesday recognized outgoing members Barbara Rogers Bailey and Mary Evans for their service as they prepare to leave their seats following November’s municipal election.
Rep. Garland Pierce presented each with a certificate of appreciation and thanked them for their commitment to the city.
“I have the utmost respect for anybody willing to put themselves out and run for public office. It’s not easy,” Willis said. “You expose yourself to potential ridicule, people go looking for skeletons, but your duty to service superseded your hesitancy, and I applaud you both for that.”
Willis noted that while the council did not always agree on every issue, members worked together respectfully.
Rogers Bailey, who served from June 2022 to November 2025, said it had been an honor to represent the city.
“All of the things that go into moving the community forward are not nearly as simple as they seem,” she said.
Evans, who served from December 2017 to November 2025 and spent six years as mayor pro tem, offered brief remarks, closing with a quote attributed to Maya Angelou: “I wouldn’t take nothing for my journey.”
Both seats were decided in the November election. Unofficial results show James McLean winning the at-large seat held by Rogers Bailey and DeMarco Allen winning the District 1 seat held by Evans.
Council approves rezoning for potential industry recruitment
The council unanimously approved a rezoning request from Scotland County Economic Development Corporation director Jeff McCoy for a parcel adjacent to the industrial park on McFarland Road. The land will shift from Residential-20 Mobile Home to Industrial to match surrounding property owned by the EDC.
McCoy said the parcel is part of a 43-acre site for which the county may bid on an industry interested in relocating. He noted that the residential zoning appeared to have been overlooked previously.
“I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why it wasn’t already done,” Council Member Rosemary Rainer said.
McGirt’s Bridge Road rezoning tabled
The council voted to table a request to rezone a 0.2-acre tract at 218 McGirt’s Bridge Road from Residential-6 to General Business. The applicants hope to operate a commissary kitchen to support their food truck.
City Attorney William P. Floyd advised the council to delay action while staff reviews the table of uses to determine whether the business actually requires a commercial designation.
“It’s not ripe in my mind for decision right now,” Floyd said.
City planner Mac McInnis explained that the surrounding area is primarily residential, with some Office and Institutional (O&I) zoning that serves as a buffer for uses such as schools, churches, or medium-density housing. Rezoning the small tract to General Business, he said, could amount to spot zoning. The Planning Board unanimously recommended denial.
Bobby Campbell, speaking for the applicants, said the operation would not involve on-site retail.
“It’s not like we’re trying to make sales,” he said. “We just want to be able to utilize it for our personal business.”
McInnis said the Health Department may ultimately be the agency responsible for authorizing commissary kitchens.
“That’s something I will have to look into,” he said.
Bishop McDuffie, speaking in opposition, said the concern was about preserving the residential character of the area.
“The issue deals not with purpose but rezoning,” he said. “We want our area to stay zoned residential.”
Rogers Bailey noted the area lacks food options and may one day benefit from additional commercial activity, but McInnis reiterated that the location “does not lend itself to general business commercial zoning.”
Council approves adoption of state “brunch bill”
Council members unanimously approved Ordinance No. 2025-28, which would permit the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages before noon on Sundays. A Laurinburg restaurant owner who serves brunch requested the change.
Nichols said the statewide “brunch bill,” passed in 2017, allows local governments to adopt earlier Sunday sales.
“We had never brought it to council or really acted on it because we hadn’t had a request,” Nichols said.
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Tomeka Sinclair can be reached at [email protected]