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The final Summerfield Town Council meeting before the November election ended with fireworks.

After a half-hour closed session, the council returned and voted to unseal the minutes of 12 closed-session meetings between March 2002 and September 2004.

“I requested the minutes be unsealed five times,” said Councilwoman Becky Strickland . “I believe that a lot of things could have been different if those minutes were unsealed.”

Strickland said after the closed session she believes the majority of the council would not have been re-elected if the minutes from these “illegal” sessions were made public when she first asked.
Mayor Mark Brown answered Strickland’s allegations by saying the meetings were not illegal.

“Everything done in those meetings was done under the advisement of the town’s attorney,” Brown said.

Councilwoman Dena Barnes became visibly upset at Strickland’s allegations, which named her, Brown and Councilman John Wray .
“I think there’s some kind of personal agenda here,” Barnes said.
Rather than make any further arguments, Barnes made the motion to adjourn the meeting.

Strickland’s outburst came after a series of motions in which she and Wray battled to second motions. Strickland and Wray are up for re-election.

Other candidates used the “speakers from the floor” portion of the meeting to address the voters present. A candidates’ forum will be held Oct. 21.

The council voted unanimously to decrease the speed limit on Bronco Lane from 45 miles per hour to 30.

Bronco Lane resident William Camden told the council a lower speed limit will be safer for children.

About 85 percent of the street’s residents signed a petition in favor of lowering the speed limit.

The N.C. DOT declined lowering the speed limit because it will be hard to enforce. But the town reserves the right to decrease the speed limit on any street within the town’s limits.

Council also voted unanimously to donate $100 to Joseph Campbell to help with his Eagle Scout project of restoring the Bruce Monument Memorial on Summerfield Road.

The council agreed to look into hiring a traffic engineer to determine if the impending changes to U.S. 220 by the N.C. Department of Transportation will be safe for the town.

“This is going to impact the town tremendously,” Councilwoman Alicia Flowers said. “I think it is the town’s responsibility to look into it.”

The council also agreed to research how much it would cost the town to offer a future tax discount for those residents who pay their taxes early.

In a vote of 3-2, the council voted to allow the town manager to make decisions about architectural, engineering and surveying services when the cost is less than $30,000.

Strickland and Flowers voted against it.

“A $30,000 contract is not small for this town,” Strickland said. The town’s previous ordinance allowed the manager to make those decisions for contracts $10,000 and below.

Also in votes of 3-2, the council approved addendum to the Musco Lighting contract and the R.P. Murray contract for Phase II of the athletic park.

“I would like for the council to reconsider Phase II at a later date,” Flowers said.

Contact Tiffany S. Jones at 373-7157 or tiffany.jones@news-record.com