Thursday, Aug. 21, 2008

Clover hopes to continue county's Pennies Program

By Christopher Sardelli

Enquirer Herald

CLOVER -- With several Clover roads in need of repair, Clover Town Council is hoping to continue with York County's Pennies for Progress Program.

At a special workshop last week, the council discussed the requirements for continuing the Capital Project Sales and Use Tax Initiative, also called the Pennies for Progress Roadway Improvements Program.

With the 2003 program now on track to reach its maximum funding amount of $173 million by 2010, the York County Council is preparing a referendum for its continuation.

As part of the process, York County Manager James Baker sent a letter to each municipality asking it to develop a prioritized list of roads in need of repair.

During the workshop, Mayor Donnie Grice and members of the council discussed an extensive list of roads most in need of repaving or repair, including Kings Mountain Road, Griggs Road, Old North Street and Bethel Street. In addition, Paraham Road, which is technically not a part of Clover, was brought up since it is so heavily traveled by Clover residents.

To streamline the process of determining which roads should be prioritized, Grice recommended creating a subcommittee made up of residents and business owners. He asked Town Administrator Allison Harvey to contact interested residents and report back at a future council meeting.

"We're in the preliminary stages of putting together a group of citizens who will have the pulse of the town and know what we need," Harvey said. "It's not a formal committee, but really a guidance committee that will make recommendations."

Harvey envisions that the group hold at least one public session for resident's input. Then, the committee would create a prioritized list and present it to council. Recommendations would then be submitted to the York County Council for use in a countywide transportation plan.