Barry Fleming (far right), attorney for the City of Lincolnton, swears in three city officials beginning new terms this year. They are: (l-r) Councilman Kevin Beggs, Councilman Kyle Reese, and Mayor Henry Brown. The ceremony took place during the regular meeting of the mayor and council held Monday, January 4, at City Hall. History was made at the regular meeting of the Lincolnton City Council, with the swearing in of the city’s first black mayor, former councilman Henry Brown.

A standing-room-only crowd gathered at City Hall on Monday, January 4, to witness City Attorney Barry Fleming administer the oath of office to Mayor Brown and two new councilmen, Kevin Beggs (Post 4) and Kyle Reese (Post 5).

In his comments, Mayor Brown thanked everyone for attending the meeting and said, “We hope to do great things in 2010.”

In other business, the city adopted a 2010 General Fund/Street Department Budget of $820,209.75.

The budget did not call for an increase in the millage rate.

In further business, the council:

.. Heard Mayor Brown read a note from the family of Lamar Goolsby thanking the city for the flowers it sent in memory of Mr. Goolsby, who was the father of Councilman Larry Goolsby.

.. Heard the Water-Wastewater Department Report given by Superintendent Stanley Parton, who said, “With all of the rain, there was hardly any outside water usage; therefore, water production dropped about a million gallons, from 13.1 mg (million gallons) in November to 12.15 mg in December.”

He went on to report that with a wet December, lake levels are staying up even though the United States Army Corps of Engineers is generating power 24 hours a day. On New Year’s Day, the lake was at 328.36 feet above mean sea level.

In other discussion, it was noted that according to Kenny Green, city engineer, the corps is looking at increasing the number of gallons the city is allowed to withdraw from Clark’s Hill Lake from 630,000 mg per day to 900,000 mg per day.

“If we have a dry summer, 630,000 gallons a day will not be enough, but if the corps raises the limit to 900,000 gallons a day, even temporarily, we should be OK,” stated Superintendent Parton.

.. Reviewed the Zoning Department Report prepared by Zoning Administrator David Griffin, who retired on December 31, 2009.

During the month of December, Griffin’s office issued nine building permits and one demolition permit for a total of $807.25. In addition, 16 building inspections were conducted; two plats were approved; and three certificates of occupancy were issued last month.

.. Heard the Police Department Report given by Chief Jim Justice, who indicated that his staff opened 19 new cases, investigated 15 traffic accidents, and took 11 miscellaneous reports during the month of December.

In a related item of business, the council agreed to sell an unserviceable Taurus patrol car to Fred Scott for a bid of $311.

In closing, Chief Justice reported that Officer Bill Turner had resigned from the department to take a job in Columbia County.

.. Elected Councilman Chuck Beggs to serve as the mayor pro tem.

.. Re-appointed Barry Fleming of Fulcher Hagler, LLP as the city attorney.

.. Heard Mayor Brown appoint the following committees for 2010:

Finance and Personnel: Larry Goolsby, chairman, and Chuck Beggs.

Public Utilities – Water and Wastewater: Chuck Beggs, chairman, and Kyle Reese.

Public Safety – Police and Fire: Jeremy Dawkins, chairman, and Kevin Beggs.

Public Works – Streets and Sanitation: Kevin Beggs, chairman, and Larry Goolsby.

Permits and Ordinances: Kyle Reese, chairman, and Jeremy Dawkins.

Downtown Revitalization: Larry Goolsby, chairman, and Jeremy Dawkins.

Public Buildings: Chuck Beggs, chairman, and Kevin Beggs.

The mayor is an ex officio member of each committee.

.. Agreed to allow the city’s banking arrangements to remain as they were in 2009.

.. Heard Mayor Brown request that bids for repairs to the roof at City Hall be turned over to the Public Buildings Committee for review.

.. Voted to put out RFPs (Requests for Proposals) for information technology infrastructure support services.

“It won’t hurt to put them out there and see what kind of prices we’ll get,” said Councilman Goolsby. “It may be that we can’t afford it.”

Basically, the city is investigating the viability of outsourcing the management of its computer resources.

The provider of these services will manage the network infrastructure including, but not limited to, workstations, servers, firewalls, and wireless access points.

The next regular meeting of the mayor and council will be held Monday, February 1, at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall.