It's Been a Minute...Sorry...

My reminder service hasn't reminded me that I hadn't written in almost two weeks. I've been at Town Hall today taking care of things I hadn't been here to do most of the week. We are FULL for Frankenfest! I'm so excited! I think it's going to be a great day - and if you're a person of faith, please send one up for good weather. We've got 89 booth spaces filled, with a couple of more possibilities...and who knows if someone will show up on the morning of the event? YAY!

I'm about to head to Greenville for the NC League of Municipalities annual conference. I had planned to go to the session on ethics in government...but I put it in my calendar wrong...and realized it much too late. I needed to be in Greenville at 1:00 for that one...oops. I guess I'll have to wait until I go to the Essentials of Municipal Government class (again) for that piece. I'm hopeful that the entire Board of Commissioners will be able to attend the Essentials courses this year. It's a great class...and great information. I know I learned a lot.

The NCLM Conference is one great place to learn new tricks and tips. I know last year it's where I got the ideas I'm trying to implement for our gang prevention plan here in Town. I'm excited about this year's sessions...and I'm also excited to not be going alone! Thankfully, Commissioner Fuller will be going with me.

It's been a busy week. Monday and Tuesday, I had to get ready for our fall conference at work (NCAE). We had our conference Thursday - Saturday. It went well, if I do say so myself. Very few errors, which was nice. :) That's not always the case when there are five people trying to make everything come together, but it really went off with only a couple of glitches, which weren't visible to the average attendee. We had 300+ there, and most everyone seemed happy - especially my National Board Certification candidates! As of yesterday, there are just over 5,000 candidates for National Board Certification. 5 0 0 0 ! I can't believe it - my prediction came true! (I'll take the winnings of that bet now, Dorsey.) My hopes are high for their certification rate - I hope they all reach out for support! It's crucial not to do it alone!

I also had my ten year college reunion this weekend, which I didn't get to go to much of due to the NCAE Conference. That's okay - apparently, it wasn't the most well attended event in Elon's history. LOL I did get to go to my 10 year reunion party, which had all of 15 attendees. Yeehaw. But - I got to see a couple of good friends from college that I haven't seen in seven or eight years, so that was awesome! No door prizes for me...oh well.

Speaking of reunions...about a week ago, we had a reunion 'meeting' for my 15 year high school reunion. Jeez louise...I cannot believe it'll be 15 years since I walked that stage at Louisburg College Auditorium next June. (June 1, to be exact.) I had a BALL with the folks that showed up. I haven't seen some of them since we walked across that stage - some of them were my very best friends in high school. Time is a beast. My new year's resolution...which gives me until then to make it happen...is to be better about my social life...to ensure that I have one. Relationships are important...and I absolutely refuse to get to the end, where unfortunately God doesn't give credit for wasted time, and realize I've lost touch with some of the most important people in the world. So...it was a good time. :)

Okay...time to head to Greenville. Have a great Monday! I'll write again soon!

Streets and Sidewalks...Again

You may have heard that Franklinton received a $40,000 grant to create a full Capital Improvement Plan. Why would we need something like this? Because we want to ensure that we have a plan for how to improve infrastructure in Franklinton over the next 25 years. One big piece of this is our streets. As you likely know, there are many streets in Franklinton that are in a severe state of disrepair. So why haven’t we already fixed them? Because we know that it’s likely we’ll have to replace water or sewer lines in those same areas…which is why we aren’t repaving, only to have to patch what we’ve just paved when we replace lines. The Board of Commissioners and Staff are doing our best to be diligent and efficient when it comes to the use of your money – and it’s all your money in one way or another.

One major street I am concerned with, however, is Janice Avenue. It is perhaps the most heavily used side street in Franklinton, and I’d hedge my bets to say it’s likely the fifth or sixth most heavily trafficked street in Town. And it’s falling apart. I’d like to see it repaved at the least, and curbed and guttered at the best. We’re working on it now. Once we know how much it will cost, we’ll bring it to the Board for discussion. We have over $200K in the fund balance (the money left over from previous budgets that hasn’t been spent…effectively, the Town’s savings account) that can only be used for streets and sidewalks. These are important issues to me. And I promise…in the next two years, hopefully we’ll see some movement on them.

Dogs...

Most everyone knows I have two dogs. My kids are a brother and a sister, Will and Grace. They really are brother and sister…even though they look NOTHING alike. They are WONDERFUL. They just turned five. I adopted them in August 2004 from my aunt’s home at Kerr Lake (which is right beside my family’s place there). Her dog Wuppie had puppies…yes, I know. It’s quite Dr. Seuss. There were several puppies. I originally wanted to have two black dogs, to match my black cat. (Don’t ask…) Well, my cousin Evan gave away the last black male in the litter, so there were three puppies left when I came to get them. I wanted to have at least two, so they wouldn’t be lonely. What I should have done was take all three. It left one poor little puppy that eventually disappeared with her mom! Oh well..

So, I took Will and Grace home…they both fit in my hand…and Will’s feet didn’t fit his body yet. They were dirty…so they took a bath…and the water was RED. I had no idea Will was such a light color of yellowish white! And Grace wasn’t purple! They were great puppies…until they ate the linoleum off the kitchen floor…and the paneling off the wall…and the facing on the door. Yeah…you figured it out. Pets have destroyed my house.

They’re great dogs…even at five. J They’re the neighborhood watch dogs. They don’t bark, unless there’s something going on. They’re just the best!

An Empty Open House

Can someone tell me why in the world I'd spend time doing something that nobody would show up for? I can't figure it out either. When I ran for this office, many folks told me that they'd like to have an opportunity to talk to their elected officials, to hear what's going on, etc., but they can't always make Board meetings and can't get to Town Hall during business hours. So...we've been having quarterly open houses for two years. For the first couple, people came. Nobody showed for the one we held today...and they didn't show in August, either.

What does that mean? Likely that we're not going to do another one until May. I see no reason to host one in February to disrupt the weekend of our staff members that have to be here for it when nobody's going to take advantage of it.

Your thoughts?

Cats...

If you’ve ever seen my Facebook page…you know I have four cats. Technically…they’re still kittens. I don’t think they become cats until they’re two. Spike, Sprite, Speedo and Phoenix were born on April 28, 2008 in my front yard. How’d I end up keeping them? Their mom adopted me. I hadn’t planned on adopting another pet after my 16 year old cat Kentucky passed away in January 2007…but Yang (who became Oreo when my neighbor adopted her) showed up on my doorstep. I had no idea she was pregnant when I started feeding her. She was very obviously someone else’s pet. I checked around, and nobody belonged to her…so…I took her in. And then, the last Sunday in April, she followed me around the yard the whole afternoon. It started raining, and she didn’t care…I know now she was looking for somewhere to have her kittens, and she wanted me to help. I woke up the next morning, and my roommate had already left for work…and Yang was laying where the front of his car would have been. When I shook the food canister, she just rolled over and looked at me…and I just knew something was wrong, that she was injured, that somehow, something had happened.

Turns out, something had happened. She had four furry balls attached to her belly. So, I did what any normal pet owner would do. I scooped them all up, put them in a pet carrier, and took them to my mom’s house for safe keeping. I knew I couldn’t take care of them. I visited them nearly every day for three weeks. The smallest of the babies really didn’t like me…even before her eyes opened, she hissed at me, and got her toenail stuck in my forehead trying to fight me. She was two weeks old. Nothing like foreshadowing.

I took them home on Mother’s Day weekend. We kept them in my kitchen, under the table in a little bed. There were no flea issues until much later on, so all was well…until one day in late June when Yang decided that she wanted out…so she bolted out the door and was GONE. She hung around outside, but wanted nothing more to do with her babies…so I let her stay there. And try as I might…I couldn’t get anyone to adopt any of the babies. So…by the time August rolled around, they were there months old, and I was in love. No adoption other than my own would work.

Spike warmed up to me first. He really liked to lay in my lap. (He still does.) Speedo followed. He is one big ol’ cat! He, like his mom, doesn’t like to be held, but he LOVES to lay on you, lay around you, rub his nose against yours…or ram his head into yours. He is perhaps the most loving animal I have ever met. His sisters took a bit longer. Sprite had a moment when she was about four or five months old…she decided to destroy a couple of things in the house…so I decided to pop her little behind. And she had issues with me for the next six months. It wasn’t until this past April or so that she started allowing me to pet her. Now, you’d think she was an attachment. Every time I turn around, she’s walking in front of the couch, waiting to be rubbed or petted…I just wish she’d gain some weight. Somehow, I managed to have four cats…small, medium, large and extra large. Sprite weighs about five pounds…maybe six. Phoenix, my other little girl who LIVES to sleep with me on the bed, weighs about eight pounds. Spike checks in at around eleven…and Speedo is about fifteen. He’s mammoth.

So those are my kids. Their picture is on my website…but the one on my Facebook profile is priceless…they’re following light, but it looks like they’re mesmerized by the family portrait. Entertainment at its best.

Frankenfest on Main

Yep...it's that time of year again. Frankenfest on Main is approaching. I've spent the past four hours working on preparation here at my office at Town Hall. Things are coming along swimmingly...but wouldn't you like to help? You can! SHOW UP! The biggest help we could have is to have folks come out, shop with our vendors, buy food and raffle tickets, and support the Town and the URC! It's that support that's allowed us to put up new banners in downtown, that's going to promote our being able to do a downtown facade grant program, and that will promote the URC placing a Christmas tree in downtown Franklinton for the holiday season! Isn't that awesome?! We're stoked! So come out and support the efforts of these volunteers! The URC (all 15 or 20 of us) is a hard working group - they pour themselves into this weekend, everybody with their own niche. Let's show our appreciation by coming out and having a great day on October 31!

And Annie...thanks for the reminder. I'll try to do better.