Salisbury city manager meets one-on-one to address residents’ concerns

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, September 11, 2018

SALISBURY — City Manager Lane Bailey met with Salisbury residents Monday morning as part of his monthly Meeting With the Manager.

Residents could meet one-on-one with Bailey to voice concerns and get an immediate response.

With Hurricane Florence expected to hit North Carolina later this week, he said many people asked about the city’s preparedness.

“Today we had concerns about curb and gutters for the street,” Bailey said. “There is a particular concern this week with the storm that may hit Thursday.”

Bailey said he will try to answer concerns but some questions require a follow-up. Kelly Baker, Bailey’s assistant, will get back in touch with people after research.

“We follow up with them,” Bailey said. “Sometimes it’s a straight answer. … Other times we may have to investigate; we follow up. Kelly does a lot of that to get back with them. We’ll get in touch with the appropriate department head or department and, hopefully, we can help them out with whatever their problem is.”

Meeting With the Manager is a familiar feeling, Bailey said. He said people call or come up to him when he’s out to ask questions.

“That’s something that I do on a regular basis,” he said. “I had dinner after church yesterday with my cousins, and they were laughing because I talked to three people on the restaurant.”

Bailey said Meeting With the Manager has been ongoing for about 18 months. The meetings took a summer break but are now held from 9 to 10 a.m. the first Monday of every month. Bailey said he is open to speaking with residents at different times as well.

“If this time isn’t convenient, I’d be happy to meet with them anytime during the week and maybe adjust that if need be,” he said. “It’s been fairly well received. We have a number of folks that come each month with different suggestions.”