MikeMooreMedia

Barbara Hollerand, Stoneville Town Administrator 09.24.24

Preview of Annual Rotary Club Fall Festival this Saturday, update on almost $5M in grants to improve the town's water system, new Police Chief will be sworn in soon, Hometown Christmas. Monthly Town Council meeting October 1 at 7 pm. Facebook.com/TownofStonevilleNC

Duration:: 11m
Broadcast on:: 24 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Mike Moore Media. It's our monthly podcast with the town of Stonewall. And on the line, I have Barbara Hollerin, Stonewall, town administrator. She's been there a little while, but this is the first time she and I've had a chance to connect here on a podcast. Hey, Barbara, how you doing? I'm good, Mike. Thank you so much. I hope you are, too. I am. And I know you've been wide open since you've been there. But for those of us that haven't met you and gotten acquainted a little bit, tell us a little about Barbara Hollerin, who you are and where you've come from and a little background there, please. Sure. I've been here in Stonewall for just under six months now, really hit the ground running. I am relatively new to North Carolina. I've been here two years. I've spent the rest of my career in Florida. I have a mix of local government experience and also, like, downtown redevelopment, that sort of thing. So I was really interested in getting into a town administration type position and saw Stonewall back in January on a 25-degree day, and it just was so cute. I really wasn't -- I was really impressed with it, and I was excited to be able to join with the town staff here in April. Well, welcome. We're glad to have you there. Now before we do anything else, of immediate concern here is Stonewall Fall Festival. This will be your first, and that's coming up Saturday, 10 to 5. So can you give us an overview of that, please? What's coming up? Well, again, that is our rotary who that group has been just the backbone of that festival and so many other wonderful things that have happened in the town over the years. So it's the Stonewall Rotary Fall Festival. It's from 10 to 5. There's going to be all kinds of traditional Fall Festival things going on with things on the stage, music, entertainment, lots of good food with food trucks, you know, all that good stuff, and it's just a wonderful opportunity for the community to come out, be together, celebrate the fall. We're a little concerned, obviously, about the weather, but we'll just keep plugging along, and I'm really excited to see it for the first time this year. I've heard so many good things about it, but there'll be something for everyone of all ages, and it's just going to be a wonderful time. Everyone crossed their fingers, and everything worked out fine with the weather, but we're really looking forward to it. Well, this is always a fun event in downtown Stonewall, and I understand there are more than 100 vendors, the band straight shot there, 230 to 430, and I was just looking at something on Facebook right before we connected here, Barbara, about a hot wing challenge. So that sounds like something, a hot event there for the festival, for sure, at something new. Okay, so that's this Saturday for the annual Stonewall Fall Festival. There's a bunch of behind-the-scenes work in making that happen. Let's talk about some good news with grants that you wanted to tell us about, Barbara. Yes, we have just recently kicked off the start of two very big projects, one's a $2 million project, the other is a $2.7 million project. These are water system improvements projects, and again, this is, you know, it's all below the ground, so it doesn't look like, you know, they're not the most exciting projects from a visual standpoint, but these are so important for the town. The one that is going to be rehabbing a lot of the older lines that have met their useful life, that's going to be very important, moving forward with water quality and quantity. And then, of course, we have a second, it's more of an economic development-related project. It's going to extend the water lines so that we can grow our count limits in the future, and so that is also kicking off. So these are projects that are multiple years to see through, but we will have, and we are just so fortunate to have those through our state representative, Reece Purdle, and Phil Burgers, so we're very thankful for their assistance in helping Stonewell get state money. Sure. Yeah. Thanks to them. Extending water lines, in what direction, where are you going with those, Barbara? This would be an extension to the west side, so US 220 and NC 704, it would extend it to the west side there so that we can get up to the crossing, the 220 crossing, and be able to grow in that direction. Okay. Growth is coming, that's for sure, isn't it? Yes, it is. We just want to be ready for it, and of course, we also want to take care of our existing residents with the project that will be rehabbing some of those existing lines. Yeah. Ongoing infrastructure. Well, you say it's underground, so we don't see a big building going up or something, but the work that's being done with these projects, as you just said, will be something that will be valuable for years to come. Absolutely. Absolutely. Okay. Well, we're one week away from your regular October meeting, and that will be the first at 7 p.m. I haven't seen an agenda, anything in particular you wanted to mention on that? Well, of course, we will be talking about where we're thrilled, and we're not sure she's going to be able to be there, but our new police chief, Rebecca Dixon, certainly want to welcome her if she's able to be at that meeting. She won't start until mid-October, but that's something, of course, that the community's really been looking forward to. We can't wait to have her here and get started. We also have a presentation by Jodie Lester, a longtime resident. She has a lot of good planning going on with regard to the holidays, the Stonewall hometown Christmas, which is not just one event. It's many, many events she's putting together from the annual tree lighting to the concerts, pancakes and pajamas with Santa, all kinds of things with the parade and other enhancements for that. She's got some great things. She's going to share that with the council on Tuesday night as well. Mm-hmm. Jodie and her team working hard to make that hometown Christmas come together, and that's going to be wonderful. You know, we're looking at still summertime temperatures, although it's now officially fall, just in time for the fall festival on Saturday, but let's look at the calendar moment. Christmas Eve, Barbara, is three months from today. How about that? Yeah, it's hard to believe because, again, I think we're all still wondering what kind of clothes to put on in the morning, but soon enough we'll be in that, and yeah, I know the holidays are special time here in Stonewall, so I can't wait to experience some of these events with the panel. Sure. Yeah, we're glad you're there for that. And back just a moment ago to Rebecca Dixon, your new police chief, first female police chief, but she is a Rockingham County native and has been with the Gibsonville Police Department for around 20 years, and has been an instructor at Rockingham Community College 15 years. So she brings with her some nice credentials, and that's going to be great to have her in place. So you say swearing in will be mid-October for that. Yes, we're still working on a date for that. We, they, of course, have paperwork that has to be processed in a timely manner. So we're, once we have the green light for that, we'll go ahead and get that up and we'll, we'll definitely be publicizing that. We know she has a very strong following in the law enforcement community, as well as friends and family here in Rockingham County, so we're really excited to celebrate with her that night. So, and, and just getting her started here in the community because she is, she's just so personable. We know that the town is going to really, really love her. Oh, wow. Can't wait to meet, meet her. And, and understand you had a, like, over 50 applications for a police chief for that job. Well, we actually had upwards of 75 or so, got a lot from out of, out of state. I think we had about, um, somewhere around 25 to 30 that were North Carolina applicants. But, yeah, we had a really, um, really strong showing there. We had some great, great final candidates, but, um, we're, we're, um, glad to be through that process and, um, getting ready to start a, a new, a new chief in a, a few weeks here. Yeah, sure. Yeah, that's great. Okay. Well, I know those are some of the main things you wanted to talk about. We have a few more minutes, anything else you needed to mention? Um, not off the top of my head. I mean, we could, we've got so many things going on here, but, um, nothing in particular. I think we do have some, I think some things we'll want to be announcing in, uh, a few weeks or so with regard to some things that we're working on, um, for the, the next year. But it's a little premature right now. So I just say, um, hang on, we'll, we'll have some more good news to, to be sharing with everyone soon. Okay. So you've teased us a little bit with that. So, so we'll, we'll stand by for more good news from Stonewall. Okay. Awesome. Barbara, I appreciate your time in talking with us the update on good things happening. And we'll see you and everybody there for that great Stonewall fall festival on Saturday. Thank you. Awesome. Thank you. Okay. Bye bye. Bye bye. All right. That Stonewall town administrator Barbara Hollerin. And, uh, yes, just one more reminder. The fall festival is this Saturday. Yep. That's right. They're on the rotary stage and then all up and down the streets and all of the vendors, more than 100 and the activities and the fun things that will be going on for that. So try to get out for that, celebrate fall in Stonewall. Now, if you need more information about what's happening around town, you can find it very easily on their Facebook page, town of Stonewall in sea, town of Stonewall in sea. And then the website is town.stonewall.nc.us. Please shop in Stonewall support our hometown merchants. [BLANK_AUDIO]