Jason Dunovant - The Roanoke Times
Jul 19, 2023
At Tuesday’s public comment portion of the meeting, Rocky Mount Mayor C. Holland Perdue III addressed supervisors concerning whan he considers to be their lack of support in two projects. The town is requesting the county’s help in the purchase of a new ladder truck for the town’s fire department and to assist in providing incentives for a developer to construct a new hotel in town.
ROCKY MOUNT — At Tuesday’s public comment portion of the meeting, Rocky Mount Mayor C. Holland Perdue III addressed supervisors concerning whan he considers to be their lack of support in two projects. The town is requesting the county’s help in the purchase of a new ladder truck for the town’s fire department and to assist in providing incentives for a developer to construct a new hotel in town.
“I was elected last November. At that time, I expressed a desire for the Rocky Mount Town Council and the Franklin County Board of Supervisors to work together more efficiently to your chairman, Tim Tatum,” Perdue said. “I also expressed a wish that the two governing bodies could convene together for an opportunity to get to know one another better, and for new members to meet each other. Nine months later that has yet to happen.”
Perdue said Rocky Mount is part of Franklin County so all calls the Rocky Mount Fire Department respond to are within the county. In addition to that, approximately 60% of calls run by the department are outside of the town limits, assisting other areas of the county.
The county purchases fire trucks on a rotating basis for volunteer fire departments in the county, excluding the Rocky Mount Fire Department. Perdue asked why Rocky Mount is not included.
“When a town resident pays their county taxes, it funds trucks for all other departments,” Perdue said. “Why not one for the Rocky Mount Fire Department?”
Perdue also said recent efforts to work with the county on the development of a new hotel have been denied. He said the hotel proposed by developer Amit Patel would be an opportunity for growth in Rocky Mount and the surrounding county.
“I am here today to renew my calls for communication between Franklin County and the town of Rocky Mount,” Perdue said.
Supervisors rarely speak during the public comment portion of their monthly meeting. They made no comments following Perdue’s statements Tuesday.
After the meeting, Perdue said his main goal for speaking during the meeting was to get some sort of dialogue started once again between the town and the county. “There was a question,” Perdue said of his comments during the meeting. “Just give us an answer.”