Cub Scout Troop 545 lead the Cup Scout Promise at the beginning of the Pilot Mountain Board of Commissioner’s meeting Monday night.

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PILOT MOUNTAIN — During the Monday night meeting of the Pilot Mountain Board of Commissioners, the board agreed to go forward with selling a private company part of the Pilot Center building in which condominiums will be built.

The board had previously considered an agreement to lease with an option to buy part of the center, but decided to go with letting the company purchase it outright if everything falls into place.

Commissioner Andrew French raised concerns about the name of the company that wanted to purchase the building. The company the town had been dealing with is called Sport Solutions. However, it’s parent company Otay LLC is the company interested in purchasing the building.

Mayor Earl Sheppard said the company has been pre-approved for a loan for $750,000 for the purchase.

The board agreed to have Town Manager Homer Dearmin and its attorney Ed Woltz go ahead with negotiations with the company with the contention that the final sale be approved by the board.

Following a closed session for personnel, the board agreed to give Dearmin a 5-percent pay increase that will become effective on July 1, 2013. Dearmin started working as town manager in Pilot Mountain last October. The board went over his performance review during the closed session, then voted unanimously to give him the raise if the funds are available.

The board also unanimously voted to have Dearmin go forward in finding financing to fund $4,000 of a $40,000 wastewater mapping plan. Dearmin told the board that the N.C. Rural Center has grant money available to finance the project if the town provided 10 percent matching funds.

“This is a tremendous opportunity to get this wastewater mapping study. It will allow us to check out the condition of our sewer system,” said Dearmin.

He said the plan will provide the town with GIS mapping and it will give wastewater workers a clear view of problem areas.

During Dearmin’s town manager’s report, he informed the board that the town’s fund balance is at 9.75 percent, which he said puts the town in compliance with the North Carolina General Statutes of the Local Government Commission’s requirements, which is to be above 8 percent.

“We did not meet that requirement last year. That number is still not optimal. We need to have that number in the 30 to 40 percent range, and that’s going to take some time to build up, but it’s certainly better than it was a year ago,” said Dearmin.

Dearmin recognized Police Chief Darryl Bottoms for being appointed by North Carolina Sen. Phil Berger to the North Carolina 911 Board as the police chief representative. He said that would become effective Jan. 1, 2013. He said it is a four-year term and he can be appointed to a second term up to eight years.

“We are very proud to have our police chief to represent Pilot Mountain and North Carolina on this board for the next four years,” said Dearmin.

The town manager said he got a visit on Monday from the town’s North Carolina Department of Natural Resources representative that presented him with a certificate for North Carolina’s Optimization Program for Turbidity removal.

“Turbidity refers to cloudiness or haziness in water. It’s a heat-tested water quality. The state’s requirement is that we have a reading of .30 or lower and our rating was consistently at .10 or lower. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) research suggests that the difference between .30 and .10 is a 10-fold removal of disease causing bacteria, which basically means that our water is among the cleanest in the state. I’m very proud of our Water Plant Operator John Martin for his hard work in making sure that goes out to our citizens is of the highest quality,” said Dearmin.

Dearmin reminded those in attendance about a candidate forum that will be held Thursday in the gym of the Armfield Civic Center at 7 p.m. There are six candidates vying for two seats on the board.

Before the forum, there will be an open house from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Armfield Center for residents who want to take a look at the town’s pedestrian plan.

An announcement was made during the meeting that leaves are being collected this week and next week. After that, the leaves will be collected on alternate weeks.

At the beginning of the meeting, Cub Scout Troop 545 lead the Pledge of Allegiance and the Cub Scout Promise.

Dearmin also announced that the tentative date for the dedication of Phase II of construction at the Pilot Center for additional classrooms in the Surry Community College distance learning center is Dec. 12 at noon. He said effectively the time and date would be 12-12-12 at 12.

Reach Mondee Tilley at mtilley@heartlandpublications.com or at 719-1930.