Because the first Tuesday was New Year’s Day, the Wake Forest Town Board will hold its monthly work session Thursday, Jan. 3, at 7 p.m. in town hall. There will be no planning board meeting because there were no agenda items.
The items on the town board’s agenda are:
*A presentation from Citizens’ Climate Lobby about an endorsement for carbon fee and dividend.
*A presentation about the Renaissance Centre year-end report and future 2019 events.
*An update on communications and citizens’ outreach.
*A discussion about a town-wide truck parking ordinance.
*A discussion of the town’s right-of-way encroachment agreement.
*A discussion of a handicap stall parking addition.
*A review of the town’s financial report.
*A review of the agenda for the Jan. 15 agenda.
* * * *
After 30-plus years of providing fire protection for the Town of Wake Forest, the Wake Forest Fire Department, a separate entity, has asked the town to consider making the department a part of town operations. This would be a momentous change in many ways though would probably be seamless from residents’ perspective.
You can learn a lot about the fire department’s history by attending a program sponsored by the Wake Forest Historical Association on Sunday, Jan. 13, from 3 to 5 p.m. at the Wake Forest Historical Museum in the 400 block of North Main Street. The program by fire department personnel and volunteers is free and open to all.
There once was a town of Wake Forest fire department with two stations. The fire truck was at one time housed in part of the original town hall on Brooks Street. One day in the 1960s Mayor Wait Brewer went into the town clerk’s office in the one-story section and found Town Clerk Anna Holden and her assistant (name unknown) unconscious on the floor, suffering from carbon monoxide because the fire truck next door had been left running. He opened doors, helped the two women outside and turned off the fire truck.
* * * *
The Gazette was not completely accurate in the Dec. 19 issue in which it said the $100,000 grant from the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources would be used for the rehabilitation of the Ailey Young House on North White Street next to the cemetery. Senior Planner Michelle Michael was out of the office that day and could not respond to a question about the grant.
This is what she sent last week. “The grant from the state will be used to replace the roof, complete the interior rehabilitation, conduct site survey, and site planning.”
