By Chip Miller, mayor • First, I want to extend a warm welcome to Kyle, Myra and Olympia for their grand opening of the Speckled Paw Coffee Shop! It is such an awesome addition to our Main Street.

I was intrigued by the “question of the week” in last week’s newsletter asking, “If you were the mayor, your main focus would be: law enforcement, business recruitment, the town appearance, or attracting visitors.” From my experience as a beginning second-term mayor, I find myself wanting to not only vote for one of those items but vote for all four, along with other focus items.

I believe, along with the Town Board members, we have to focus on many areas of concern as they all are intertwined and so very important for sustaining our special quality of life here in Mt. Gilead. The assets of our community that our Town Board focused on in our budget retreat this past Saturday were law enforcement, infrastructure needs with sewer and water, fire department, downtown Main Street, and park recreation.

Discussions were centered around substantial needs in resurfacing parking areas at the police station, fire department, Town Hall, upgrades in the Police Department building, new water meters and software, vehicle replacements, a new staff position for the Main Street Program requirements and planning needs, additional  downtown parking and major renovations at the park.

The good news is Mt. Gilead is financially strong in its General and Enterprise funds, providing us the opportunity to prioritize and fund most of the needs. Focusing on these needs will improve our town appearance and help attract more businesses and visitors to our town.

A couple of exciting opportunities coming to our town in the near future are:

1. A group of volunteer professional engineers, architects and planners are providing a two-day workshop for our downtown building owners, April 12-13, to assess buildings and discuss feasible development plans.
2. Duke University students at the Duke Center of Documentary Studies will be coming this spring to interview many of our town residents to film short documentary stories about our town. These films will be compiled and scheduled for a town film showing when completed.

As you can see, we are a busy little town! Many thanks for the opportunity to share some news from our Town Hall. I invite all to stay informed and involved to help us provide a wonderful quality of life here in our little town of Mt. Gilead.