HAMLET - The April meeting of the Hamlet City Council was relatively straightforward and free of any major issues or debate as needs and requirements were efficiently addressed.
After the call to order and invocation, Mayor Bill Bayless asked for any comments from attendees.
Teresa Hardy was the sole resident voicing a concern. She wanted to discuss her recent experience with the water department. Her water was disconnected this month even though she had paid her bill on time. Compounding the problem was the fact that she was out of town and unaware of any issues until her return.
Although the mistake was ultimately resolved and Ms. Hardy was credited accordingly, she remained perplexed as to how the problem occurred and understandably frustrated about the inconveniences she encountered subsequent to the erroneous disconnection of her water supply.
All parties were focused on determining a plan of action to preclude any repeated occurrences of this nature for any other Hamlet resident. The council and city manager made suggestions for possible solutions, but the reality is that each water bill has an account number that is entered manually when the bill is paid. This is where the mistake was made for Teresa Hardy - her payment was erroneously credited to another customer as a function of simple human error .
Mayor Bayless suggested adding a bar code on each water bill that can be scanned, noting that such should eliminate incorrect entry of account numbers. Ms. Dickens said she would look into whether this can be utilized on Hamlet water bills.
Although the citizen may not have been fully satisfied with the "outcome" of the matter, as was agreed, "innocent mistakes happen" and, as unfortunate as it may be, complete remediation is often simply unfeasible.
Moving on to the agenda items to be addressed, the Council opened the floor to the first scheduled presenter of the evening.
Donna Wright of Richmond County's E-911 section spoke about the Pee Dee Lumber Regional Hazard Mitigation Plan. A requirement of FEMA, the plan is required to be updated every 5 years. When a natural disaster strikes, FEMA asks if a plan is in place and this allows Hamlet to be eligible for reimbursement dollars.
Janet Robertson, Lumber River Council of Government representative, presented information to the Council about the Work Force Development Program and an Alzheimer’s education event this Thursday, April 12th , 9:00 – 11:00 at the Cole Auditorium. To register or obtain more information, call 1-800-272-3900.
Mayor Bayless read a proclamation for Arbor Day. A ceremony is scheduled for this Friday/13th at 1:30 p.m. at the Hamlet Depot Park and the public is encouraged to attend.
A Depot Board nomination, Lawrence Hanahan, was introduced and a motion carried to add Mr. Hanahan to the board.
The Council approved of tax releases.
Comments from Council members included encouragement for the public to vote in the upcoming county and state-level elections this year.
Early voting is April 19 - May 5th with the actual election day falling on Tuesday, May 8th.
Editor's note: This article was contributed by Amy Guinn, a new addition to the team of writers at the Richmond Observer.
