THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 21, 1995 TAG: 9511210319
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY PERRY PARKS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ELIZABETH CITY LENGTH: Medium: 58 lines
The city won't have a second fire station in the foreseeable future.
The City Council's Public Safety Committee on Monday declined to act on preliminary plans for a proposed station at a city site on Knobbs Creek Drive. Instead, the four-member committee voted to send the issue to the full council with no recommendation.
In other business, the council voted to raise water-sewer rates for the next three years and impose a user surcharge to pay for a $24 million overhaul of the city's water and sewer system.
Rates will increase by 15 percent in 1996, by 10 percent in 1997 and by 5 percent in 1998. They follow two years of rate increases that began in 1994. Council members just learned of the need for the new rate hikes two weeks ago.
``I think we need to take a deep breath and pass this, . . . apologize to the voter and move on,'' Councilwoman Anita Hummer said.
The Public Safety Committee's vote on the fire station followed a now-familiar entreaty from Mayor H. Rick Gardner to move ahead with fire station plans, which have been debated and changed almost endlessly since the city's downtown station was ruled unusable more than a year ago.
``I think that this council tonight owes it to Elizabeth City to make an up or down decision,'' Gardner said. ``Do we build a fire station, or don't we?''
The council had settled on the Knobbs Creek property, which borders U.S. 17 about a mile north of downtown, in spring. The property was even rezoned with the intention of building a station there.
But the project has been held up by concerns over location and cost. Several council members suddenly announced in August that they want a fire station downtown and have stuck by that decision. Members have also said the estimated cost, pegged Monday at $550,000, is too high.
Drawings were not even permitted for the Knobbs Creek site until the council's Nov. 6 meeting, after architects and engineers again recommended that the defunct downtown site be dropped.
Monday's debate included a scolding of Councilman Lloyd Griffin - the staunchest holdout on the downtown site who has proposed new alternatives at each meeting - by departing Council member W.L. ``Pete'' Hooker.
``What you are doing is leaving those people without a fire station on this side of town,'' Hooker said, alluding to the fact that all fire personnel are currently housed in a single station on the southern end of Elizabeth City.
Councilman David P. Bosomworth added that the city should heed the advice of the professional architects and engineers it has hired for the project.
In other business Monday, the council recognized departing Electric Director Ronnie Dail, who is leaving the city after 32 years. Also awarded were city Police Capt. W.O. Leary and officers Jamie LaCombe, Mike Boone and Ronnie Hopkins for helping to save the life of a man who was pulled from the Pasquotank River recently. by CNB