It’s that time of year again. City supervisors and managers are in the midst of preparing budgets for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. According to City Manager Michael Peoples, “Developing the City budget is the most critical work we do each year. It establishes the financial framework for how we provide services.”

City Council held its annual retreat with the senior management team and department heads on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 25-26. On Friday afternoon, the group discussed the status of the City’s 2018-2020 strategic goals and objectives: goals that were achieved and work that is still underway. In some instances, new goals were set or added based on projects planned or unfolding in various departments. On Saturday, City Council and the management team spent the day discussing the budget and outlining what the City’s priorities should be for the upcoming fiscal year.

With the direction from those meetings, the departments have begun developing their individual budgets, guided by the priorities and the overall budget parameters set by Council. Departments are expected to have preliminary budgets ready by the first week of February. Each department’s budget will be reviewed and discussed with the senior management team around mid-March.

“The meetings are often lengthy and involved,” Peoples said. “But this process allows for constructive discussion between the senior management team and department heads about existing initiatives as well as proposed ones and where funding is coming from.”

Council will review and make adjustments to the proposed City budget in a late March or early April work session. The budget should be balanced and finalized by mid-April. A public hearing is planned on the proposed budget in early May and it is scheduled to be adopted by Council in a June 4 meeting.

The National Association of Town Watch recently honored Gastonia with an award for outstanding participation in National Night Out 2018 held at Eastridge Mall on Aug. 7 in the parking lot of Curt’s Premium Outlet.

Officers Patrick Daley and David Lingafelt organized the community celebration against crime. The event featured free food, door prizes, music from a live DJ, fun and public safety displays and demonstrations. Vendor/booth spaces were full, and thousands of people attended.

“Relationships and community partnerships are so important for community safety,” said Chief Robert Helton. “We are proud of this award and grateful for all the community support!”

A picture of Officers Daley and Lingafelt with the National Night Out 2018 award on the Gastonia Police Department’s Facebook page drew many congratulatory comments and praise. Here are a few of the comments:

“Hey! It’s big David! Congratulations!”

“He’s such a big sweetheart.”

“Way to go guys!!”

“Congratulations to you both. Well deserved.”

Events downtown and throughout Gastonia will get help now from a new employee in the Gastonia Parks and Recreation Department.

Christine Carlson was hired in November as an event planner/resource manager, a recently reclassified position in Parks and Recreation. Her job duties include downtown event planning, working with the Rotary Club for the downtown summer concert series, and helping with Parks and Recreation’s social media presence and marketing.

Possible downtown events could include four events a year like in the winter, spring, fall and the 4^th of July. The Rotary concert series will continue and there could be food truck days and jazz concerts in Center City Park.

“We’ll be looking for the lead from City Council of how many events they want and what our budget is going to be,” said Cam Carpenter, Parks and Recreation director.

Carlson will also serve as the contact person for event permits and In-Kind Services requests from throughout the city.

“She has revamped the In-Kind Services application process, working with IT and SeamlessDocs,” Carpenter said. “In a couple weeks you’ll be able to get it online. Instead of going to two or three places, this will be like a one-stop shop.”

Carlson holds a bachelor’s degree in Sport and Event Management from Johnson and Wales in Charlotte and served as the meeting and event planning intern for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond’s Charlotte branch.

“Even from a young age, I always loved event planning,” Carlson said. “It focuses on bringing people together from all walks of life and circumstances to celebrate important events, whether it be a wedding, birthday party, or 4^th of July Celebration. I love creating something from start to finish, and focusing on all the little details in between, and then seeing people come out and have a great time.” 

2019 promises to be another busy year for City of Gastonia employees. Here are the Top 10 things to be aware of:

• FUSE project construction begins

After years of meetings, architect’s sketches and underground utility work, the Franklin Urban Sports and Entertainment district will become more tangible in 2019. Construction will start this summer. Opening is scheduled for 2021.

• Water plant opening

The City’s renovated and upgraded water treatment plant on Long Avenue will be completed in 2019. The $60 million investment uses a membrane treatment process, the first of its kind in the state. Water from the plant will serve 100,000 customers in Gastonia and seven other municipalities.

• Two Rivers Utilities regionalization

In 2019, the South Fork Sewer Project will be completed, bringing all wastewater from McAdenville and Pharr Yarns to TRU facilities. A supplemental water interconnection will be constructed with Bessemer City and an emergency wastewater interconnection will be completed with Dallas.

• Developing a leadership academy

The Human Resources Department will begin a new program in March for interested employees to learn new leadership and management skills to assist with professional and personal growth.

• Revamping the City's monthly financial report
  
  
• Implementing a new evaluation system for City employees, including supervisor training
  
  
• Expanding and improving City employee recruitment and retention efforts
  
  
• Launching an app for City transit routes
  
  
• Completing the Parks and Recreation Master Plan
  
  
• Continued economic development with more businesses and restaurants coming to Downtown

2018 brought challenges, changes and a spectrum of achievements for the City of Gastonia. Some successes can be easily categorized by department. In other situations, employees from a variety of City divisions and departments pulled together to serve our residents, often working long hours in less-than-ideal conditions. Employees should feel a sense of pride for what we, together, have accomplished.

Major events: Maddox Ritch, FUSE, strategic plan, storms, restructuring, Gotha

No event generated more local news headlines in 2018 than September’s search for 6-year old Maddox Ritch who disappeared while at the City’s Rankin Lake Park. Several City departments assisted Police and federal authorities in searching for the child and eventually finding his body. City employees pulled together to professionally and compassionately handle the crisis that brought international attention to Gastonia for more than a week.

Along Franklin Boulevard, the City completed demolition of buildings, site preparation and moving utilities for the FUSE project. A preliminary financing plan for the sports and entertainment district was approved. The first private development was selected for the Trenton Mill pad.

The City Council unanimously approved the City's 2018-2020 strategic plan in April.


Inclement weather kept City employees busy during the year, especially those who work for Public Works, Electric, Police, Fire, Two Rivers Utilities and Solid Waste. 2018 storm events included snow in January and December, and Hurricanes Florence and Michael, in September and October, respectively.


Effective June 1, the City reorganized and restructured some of its largest departments:

• Dale Denton was promoted to lead the revamped Public Works Department.
• Joe Albright directs the reorganized Public Utilities Department.
• Community Services is the new name for six divisions led by Vincent Wong.
• Parks and Recreation, now under Cam Carpenter, took on new responsibilities and employees.

In May, several departments were represented when Mayor Walker Reid led a delegation of seven City officials and seven Sister Cities representatives to Gotha, Germany, to celebrate the 25-year partnership of Gastonia and Gotha.

2018 by City department:

Communication and Marketing:

• More than doubled the number of followers on the City’s social media platforms
• Created City News Source to provide information directly to the public and news reporters
• Created Employee Focus, a monthly e-newsletter for City employees

Community Services:

• Launched new bus routes in June and added two small, “light transit” vehicles
• Selected a new fixed-base operator for the airport, which improved the level and quality of services
• Offered homebuyer classes attended by 186 people
• Completed construction of three affordable housing units

Development Services:

• Launched a Pavement Condition Study
• Issued nearly 1,000 Certificates of Occupancy representing about $43 million worth of construction in Gastonia

Economic Development:

• Established the Economic Development Department with two additional employees to grow capacity
• Updated the Downtown incentive policy

Financial Services:

• Moved Customer Service to the Garland Business Center
• Updated the purchasing, fund balance, and investment policies
• For the 25th consecutive year, received awards for budget reporting from the Government Finance Officers Association

Fire:

• Received a Class 2 Insurance Services Office rating, among the top 2% in North Carolina and top 3% in the U.S. The ISO score is a measure of how well prepared a fire department is to fight fires and can result in lower insurance premiums for property owners.

Human Resources:

• Offered Workplace Violence Awareness training and Harassment Prevention training to all City employees, with assistance from the Police and Legal departments
• Conducted a comprehensive study of employee satisfaction, in conjunction with the UNC School of Government
• Named Judy Smith as full-time director

Parks and Recreation:

• Renovated Martha Rivers Park score tower and playground
• Completed a section of greenway from Ferguson Park to Marietta Street
• Partnered with Keep Gastonia Beautiful to plan and construct a Teen Garden in the Highland community
• Promoted Cam Carpenter to department director following the retirement of Chuck Dellinger

Police:

• Passed its first annual compliance review from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies
• Implemented in-service leadership training attended by all sworn officers
• Successfully initiated targeted strategies to improve recruitment

Public Utilities:

• Completed installation of LED lights on Franklin Boulevard and replaced 909 street lights to reduce operating costs
• Received five Public Power Excellence awards from the American Public Power Association
• Completed a new substation for all Gastonia Technology Park customers
• Finished work on the Smyre neighborhood water improvement project
• Began treating wastewater from the Town of Stanley’s Phase II sewer project and replaced a water line serving the Town of McAdenville

Public Works:

• With Keep Gastonia Beautiful, launched the Adopt-a-Street and Adopt-a-Trail programs; added “Do Not Litter” signs in highly littered areas
• Introduced the WasteWise app for Solid Waste customers
• Added a stream monitoring gauge on Duharts Creek
• Restored 150 linear feet of Linda Street Stream

Schiele Museum:

• Completed the American Alliance of Museums reaccreditation process
• Completed the exhibit exchange with Sister City Gotha, Germany, the Schiele’s first international exhibit
• Opened a new featured exhibit, "Creepy Nature" 

Technology Services:

• Began upgrading software used for planning, zoning, building, permitting and code enforcement teams within Development Services
• Upgraded the utility billing payment application
• Implemented Seamless Docs to improve forms on the City’s website
• Released an updated version of the intranet CityNet

Wellness:

• Finished its first year surpassing its two goals for overall wellness and percentage of employees who participate
  
  

Assistant Police Chief Mike Smith retired on Jan. 1 with 23 years of service with the Gastonia Police Department.

His retirement has triggered a number of other promotions and transfers in the GPD including Capt. Ed Turas’ promotion to assistant chief and assignment to Field Services, Assistant Chief Travis Brittain's assignment to Support Services, and Capt. Trent Conard's assignment to the Criminal Investigations Division. Traffic Sgt. Keith McCabe’s promotion to captain was also effective on Jan. 1.

“We’ve hired so many new officers,” Assistant Chief Smith said. “A lot of older officers are retiring and moving on. Whatever position I’m in I try to move it forward and leave it a little better than I found it, and help the next person and move out of the way and let them move it a little bit further than I moved it. If we keep doing that, all of us will keep improving to the point where everything is running very smoothly.”

Smith says he’ll miss his work family and citizens who also have become friends. Prior to joining the GPD, he had more than 20 years in active military service with the U.S. Army and the N.C. National Guard, and retired from the guard. Now that he has retired from the City, he’s looking for a third career opportunity.

“Hopefully I’ll find something else that will keep me busy, something that will be interesting and a new type of challenge,” he said. “The City’s been a great place – it’s been a lot of fun. It’s been interesting because you meet some really cool people that live in the City and that work for the City. I think that it’s hard maybe for some people to believe how hard City employees work trying to take care of the citizens and trying to do the best they can for them.

“City employees do a very good job of trying to be very customer-service oriented and to be engaged with citizens,” he added. “I think we’re real fortunate that we have such a good support system with the citizens – the police department and the City as a whole – everybody realizes we’re in it together to improve the City. I think that’s a great thing about working in the City and being a part of this City that I’ve enjoyed.”

Smith's retirement plans include joining the GPD Reserves program, fishing, and interior design and other home projects and chores at his home and at his mother’s house. And he wants to continue having fun with his kids like going snowboarding as well as supporting them in school and community activities.

Some City of Gastonia employees share what they enjoy most about the holidays or what they're looking forward to this year.

Gastonia Police Department’s No-Shave November raised about $3,000 this year for Special Olympics North Carolina. During the fundraiser participants donate $40 to SONC and hand out a flyer about the campaign to anyone asking about their growing facial hair.

“It’s a fun opportunity and it’s for a great cause,” said Sgt. Scott Norton, GPD’s Special Olympics fund-raising committee chairman.

The mission of SONC is to provide year-round sports training and athletic competition in a variety of Olympic-type sports for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, giving them continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy and participate in a sharing of gifts, skills and friendship with their families, other Special Olympics athletes, and the community.

GPD’s Special Olympics Fundraising Committee members include Emily Burr, Laura Burton, Nancy Brogdon, Thomas Doby, Cody Edge, Adam Hudson, Stephanie Jamoulis, Sgt. Eric  Nelson, Jackie Quinley and David Whitlock.

Anyone interested in making a donation to SONC in honor of the Gastonia Police Department may do so online at http://sonc.net/give/. Also Chief Robert Helton has approved extending the No Shave fundraiser through the month of December with proceeds in December going directly to Sgt. Doug Carpenter and his wife, Leigh Anne, who will be undergoing an unknown number of organ transplants. The No Shave participation cost is the same, $40, and Sgt. Norton and Officer Quinley are the contacts. There is a Go Fund Me page for the Carpenters at https://gofundme.com/doug-and-leigh-ann-carpenter