Granite Quarry town clerk announces retirement

By Mark Wineka

mwineka@salisburypost.com

GRANITE QUARRY — Town Clerk Becky Shives, who has been working for Granite Quarry for six years, announced Monday she will be retiring.

Her last day is Friday.

Mayor Mary Ponds praised Shives’ service and joined others on the Board of Aldermen in wishing her well and saying she will be missed.

Candidates are being interviewed for the position.

“I’ll be glad to help with the transition in any way I can,” Shives said.

The Granite Quarry Fire Department welcomed new members Monday night at the town board meeting.

Fire Chief David Morris introduced Tonya Harris and Robert Vogel has Rookie School graduates and new members of the department.

New junior firefighters include Brandon Speer, Chase Lyerly, Brittany Alexander and Daniel Hammonds.

In his monthly report for January, Morris said the department responded to 39 calls, most of which were emergency medical calls.

The department installed three car seats and conducted four inspections and three re-inspections. Members made two mentoring visits to Granite Quarry Elementary School. In addition, the department performed routine maintenance on 182 fire hydrants.

In other Granite Quarry business Monday:

• Maintenance Director Kim Cress said his department is making an inventory of stop sign and speed-limit signs to determine how many should be replaced. Crews also will be checking the efficiency of state-and town-maintained storm drains. Inspections at Granite Lake Park and Civic Park will be performed, using insurance rules and certified forms.

• Cress reported that the paving of Sycamore Street has been delayed, but he is hoping that the work can be completed this week, weather permitting.

• Susan Closner said cleanup of a burned-out property on Meadow Wood Drive in the Forest Ridge subdivision should take place by Feb. 15.

• Police Chief Mark Cook said his department had almost 300 calls for service in January, an unusually high number for the month. His department’s senior citizen contact program is progressing, with five additional families having been reached last month.

Cook said the new Record Management System in patrol cars went into full operation Feb. 1. In addition, the department will be entering an online partnership with Columbia Southern University and Waldorf College in which public safety personnel can receive discounted tuition rates for online degree programs.

• Town Manager Dan Peters reported that projects involving Bank Street railroad crossing improvements and the closing of Lyerly Street are moving ahead again, with efforts to obtain rights of way and construction easements.

• A final flood map drawing for Trexler Creek has been completed in connection with three culvert projects, including Bank Street, Brookwood Drive and Granite Lake. A signed document and $5,300 fee will be forwarded to the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The work will help remove several residential properties from the flood plain and could go to reducing their insurance rates.

• The town will sponsor an Easter egg hunt April 1, a plant sale April 28 and a Fish for Fun Day at Granite Lake May 19.

Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.