Center town clerk/treasurer resigns

CENTER — Center Town Clerk and Treasurer Joan Mobley announced last Thursday she will be leaving her position with the town effective the end of July.
Mobley was hired in April 2015 following the resignation of previous town clerk Christian Samora. She says she resigned to attend to family business and for health reasons. Mobley was previously employed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), where she worked in education and communications for four years.
Mobley said the town board has already begun to advertise for someone to fill her position. She also commented that she has left the town in a good position with the auditors and expects this year’s audit to proceed smoothly.
June 27 meeting
During its June 27 meeting, the town gave final approval of an ordinance change for the construction of a Dollar General Store off Highway 112. Construction will begin sometime next spring. The town also approved documents to facilitate its participation in a USDA Rural Community Government Initiative grant developed by Adams State University (ASU).
The grant will “assist participating local governments with developing programs for mentoring and fostering new locally owned businesses and job opportunities for residents,” a letter from ASU President Dr. Beverlee McClure said. The letter also related that “online and on-the-ground resource center will link communities and local business owners to technical and financial resources across the state.”
The town also sent out a referral for proposal to engage a “qualified consultant” to write a master plan for the town. The last comprehensive plan written for the town was in 1977, making its current plan “woefully outdated,” the proposal reads. It goes on to state:
“The current comprehensive plan does not accurately assess present community aspirations, characteristics and municipal boundaries and is not representative of desired levels of civic engagement. As such it is not the town’s intent to update the current comprehensive plan; rather, the selected consultant will create a new comprehensive plan for the town of Center.”
Tasks critical in the implementation of the plan as listed in the proposal include:
• Multi-faceted public outreach and community engagement
• Implementation strategies
• Data development and analysis
• Land use
Mobley said changes need be made to the plan and trustees will discuss this at the July 11 meeting.