SPENCER — If voter turnout is any sign, folks in Spencer aren’t afraid to share opinions. In 1999, the town’s polls drew the highest percentage of registered voters in Rowan County — 36 percent.
In five weeks, Spencer residents will again have a chance to decide who will become the town’s seven-member board of aldermen for the next two years.
For the third time in a row, Jody Everhart Jr., a past alderman and Spencer fire chief, is challenging Mayor Buddy Gettys.Everhart lost by 12 votes in 1999 and by five votes in 1997.
All six other aldermen are seeking re-election. They are Scott Benfield, Joseph Cataldo, Jon Palmer, Steve Schenk, C.E. Spear and Tim Witkowski.
Two others, Jason Sparger and Alicia Bean, are challenging them for seats.
Little has generated more discussion here since the last election than the town’s appearance.
Most houses in Spencer’s historic district were built around the same time. Through the decades since the Spencer Shops closed, many families haven’t had the money to maintain them properly and have sold them, Everhart said.
According to the U.S. Census, one in three houses in Spencer is a rental home. That figure has declined, but today residents still complain about absentee landlords and unkempt rental properties.
Incumbents on the Spencer Board of Aldermen say the town is taking zoning laws and yard appearance seriously.
The town fines residents for allowing grass to grow too high and for leaving furniture on front porches and in yards. If a property owner refuses to tear down a house beyond repair, the town hires someone to demolish it and places a tax lien on the property.
Gettys, who is seeking a sixth term, said town employees have worked hard to maintain public properties such as parks and roadsides, too. “Several years ago we had a problem with streets and sidewalks, but I think that’s mostly been improved.”
Residential developments along the town’s edges will further lower the ratio of rental properties, Gettys said. “There’s a lot going on in terms of development, but we have to continue to put pressure on the slumlords.”
Benfield, who is seeking a third term, and Schenk, a second-term seeker, agreed with the progress.
“I’d like to stay with the sidewalk and paving program because it not only raises property values but makes it a safer environment and makes it easier to keep up,” Benfield.
“We’ve been dedicated to redoing a lot of the sidewalks that need repair,” Schenk added. “...We’ve got to work with strict code enforcement. We’ve got to keep on the absentee landlords and the best way to do it is to hit them in their pocketbooks.”
Everhart, who was campaigning this weekend during Spencer’s three-day Steamfest, supports the town’s current efforts to improve public property and right of way. But he believes the town’s manner of doing business could improve.
“The town needs to take a look at these properties. Treat them like a small town should instead of sending out all these registered letters” for zoning code violations, he said. “Try to work with the people first.”
Bean, who said she’s the only female running in a town where 53 percent of registered voters are female, agreed with Everhart. She said sending fines in the mail often isn’t effective.
“There has to be some way they can change the restrictions,” she said. “Usually, if you’re not going to mow your lawn, then you’re not going to pay the fine.”
The one place in the heart of downtown that town leaders haven’t had success with improving is the shopping center known as Park Plaza.
Town officials have talked for years about what to do with the decaying, aluminum-front strip mall. Developed in the 1960s, Park Plaza was once a park where events were held.
Today — split among several lots and owners — it is falling apart.
About three years ago, a class of architecture students from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte even designed the “Spencer Town Center Redevelopment Master Plan.” It called for overhauling the entire block, with new two-story brick buildings housing shops, offices and apartments.
But without support from the South Carolina company that owns the majority of Park Plaza, the town has its hands tied, said Gettys, who has suggested buying and renovating or condemning and demolishing the property several times.
“The town has spoken to about 20 different developers. One is currently interested but doesn’t want any publicity now,” he said.
Everhart agrees that the town’s abilities, too, are limited.
“It’s hard for the government to do something. You’re going to have to talk to the main owner and get him on your good side. You can’t just fire off nasty letters. I think that’s what’s been done in the past, using the government to do something that’s not legal.”
Everhart said he’d be willing to visit Easley, S.C. to visit the main owner, Nalley Commercial Enterprises.
Jon Palmer, appointed last year to fill a vacancy and now seeking his first full term, would like to explore funding for downtown blight removal and pursue code enforcement aggressively.
Bean said that tighter ordinances could prevent more hand-painted signs, such as the one advertising the closed Spencer Junction restaurant at Park Plaza. “They’re limited as to what they can do, but they could ban hand-painted signs,” he said.
But with a sluggish economy and little retail and industry looking to northern Rowan County for business, Spencer can’t afford to be too aggressive in its commercial zoning, said Jason Sparger, a Spencer native seeking his first term.
“I don’t foresee any big factories coming in right now, especially with so many places closing down,” Sparger said.
Many candidates also would like for Spencer to better promote itself as a place to work.
Bean, for example, would like to see people return to work someday at the closed Colortex plant. She also thinks the town can better sell itself based on its proximity to Greensboro and Charlotte.
Schenk said the town needs to advertise itself as a place to do business — instead of relying completely on the Rowan County Economic Development Corp., which promotes the entire county. “We’ve just got to make ourselves more marketable.”
Gettys said the town has laid water lines along Interstate 85 and zoned land around the Longs Ferry Road interchange for industry. He said that could become a major entrance into the town someday.
“I really think that area out there’s going to boom. That’s going to be the entrance to Spencer eventually.”
Palmer is on the town’s economic development board, Spencer Partnership, Inc. He was the only candidate to mention a referendum on liquor by the drink as a way to attract business.
Two years ago, Spencer residents rejected the sale of mixed drinks 269-202. The town already has one ABCstore and nine operations licensed by the state to sell beer and wine, according to state records.
All candidates agree that the N.C. Transportation Museum, a sprawling campus of antique trains and cars housed where Spencer Shops once operated, is an asset to the town.
C.E. Spear, a retired Southern Railway worker, former mayor and now alderman, hauls visitors around the museum on trains. He said the museum has a lot of potential to grow, and should be an asset to the entire state — not just to Spencer.
“I think it’s a positive for the whole state. It’s going to succeed despite the troubles we’ve had in the past. We have to really develop it.”
Joe Cataldo, a third-term seeker, said the town can lure more people across Salisbury Avenue from the museum by improving the town’s appearance. “The cleaner we have the town and the better it looks, the more likely visitors are to walk across the street.”
But promoting the museum should be the museum’s — not the town’s — responsibility, said Everhart.
“We don’t get anything, basically, from the museum. When you look at the fact 150,000 people come (annually) to the museum but most of them come and go on buses, you don’t get much business from it.”
Schenk somewhat agreed. He suggested that Spencer must work with the museum but also become more independent.
“We need to market Spencer as Spencer. We’ve got to work on our side of the street. We’re all one town but we need to quit being known as the place where the museum is and start being known as Spencer.”
Contact Brad A. Hodges at 704-797-4266 or bhodges@salisburypost.com
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