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Three developers persuaded New Bern planning and zoning board members to hold off endorsing a proposed revised street ordinance, saying a Fire Department push for wider residential streets and bigger cul de sacs will hurt the environment and push up costs for new houses that could make affordable housing a thing of the past. The board voted unanimously (with one absent and one vacancy) to table the decision and send the proposed ordinance back to staff for further discussion and research. It was one of three option the board had: Approve it and forward it to the Board of Aldermen for further consideration, reject it,Read More →

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Counting down the days before a largely new Board of Alderman convenes in mid-December, the 2017-vintage board met on Tuesday for a routine meeting in which most agenda items received no discussion and everything passed unanimously. Mayor Dana Outlaw was absent from the meeting while he attended a funeral. (Sorry for your loss, Mayor Outlaw.) Had he been at the aldermen meeting, he could have been counted on for at least one or two no votes, as is his custom. Meanwhile, Mayor Pro Tem Jeffrey Odham presided over the meeting and kept things tame and orderly, with minimal shenanigans and tomfoolery while the boss was away.Read More →

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In: Aldermen, Board of Aldermen, Mayor, New Bern, New Bern business and commerce
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Click here, or, if your aim is good, click the bear at left to see the PDF of the Master Parking Plan Advisory Committee’s recommendations to the Board of Aldermen on Nov. 21. A public hearing will be held on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018 at 7 p.m. at City Hall to gather public feedback and input to these recommendations. (Note: The presentation says Jan. 8.  The public hearing is Jan. 9, 2018 at 7 p.m.)  Read More →

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CITY OF NEW BERN BOARD OF ALDERMEN MEETING NOVEMBER 28, 2017 – 7:00 P.M. CITY HALL COURTROOM 300 POLLOCK STREET   1.  Meeting opened by Mayor Dana E. Outlaw.  Prayer Coordinated by Alderman Odham.   Pledge of Allegiance. 2.  Roll Call. Consent Agenda 3.  Consider Adopting a Resolution Closing Streets for the Jaycee’s Annual Christmas Parade. (Ward 1) The Craven County Jaycees will hold its annual Christmas Parade on December 2, 2017.  They have requested the 1400-1800 blocks of Trent Boulevard, 400 block of First Street, 300-1200 blocks of Broad Street, and 200-300 blocks of Craven Street be closed from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.  They have also requestedRead More →

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The Board of Aldermen heard a report from the Master Parking Plan Advisory Committee at a work session on Tuesday and decided to let a newly constituted board make any decisions, with a public hearing to be held in January. Four new aldermen take their seats in mid-December, and they will outnumber the three incumbents who held on to their seats in the October municipal elections. Rather than committing the city to something major by a board that will substantially change in a few weeks, aldermen decided to hold off making any further decisions. Check previous New Bern Post articles for specifics about the parkingRead More →

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In: Aldermen, Board of Aldermen, Craven County Board of Commissioners, Mayor, New Bern
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In 1992, the same year Bill Clinton was elected to his first term as president, the City of New Bern installed a software system called Banner. It’s still in use today, even though the software developer got out of the municipal software business long ago and focuses on education institutional software now. Only one person among the 450 who work at New Bern City Hall knows how to maintain the Banner system, and the company that makes it will stop supporting the version the city uses in early 2018. The city’s aging software system has been a subject of conversation by city leaders for atRead More →

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Each December on National Wreaths Across America Day, wreath-laying ceremonies are held at Arlington National Cemetery, as well as over 1,200 additional locations in all 50 U.S. states, at sea, and abroad. This year, the event falls on Dec. 16, and one of the locations will be New Bern National Cemetery. Ken Dimpsey of National Wreaths Across America said there are four national cemeteries in North Carolina — New Bern, Wilmington, Salisbury and Raleigh. New Bern’s is the largest in the state, with 1,517 souls buried there. The organization is accepting donations of to cover the $15-per-live-wreath cost. “The main thing we’re trying to doRead More →

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In: Aldermen, Board of Aldermen, Mayor, New Bern, New Bern business and commerce
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The city and N.C. Railroad Company are extending an agreement to allow refurbishment of the disused Union Station Train Depot off Queen Street until 2021. The project began in 2009 with “a couple of hiccups” along the way, said Alderman Dallas Blackiston, who has been involved in the project from the start, predating his term as alderman, which began in 2013. New Bern Preservation Foundation is in charge of the project and funding. It has a goal to raise $1.2 million to pay for a five-phase project to rehabilitate the railroad station, which, for a time, was the hub of transportation in New Bern thatRead More →

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Sometime soon, when you call 911 in New Bern for an ambulance, the 911 dispatcher may ask a lot of questions that, in the heat of the moment, may seem beside the point. But the questions 911 dispatchers ask, and the answers they get in return, will save lives. New Bern’s 911 dispatchers are rolling out a system called “Emergency Medical Dispatch.” The system is a combination of software and training that allow 911 dispatchers to ask medically pertinent questions and then give medical advice about how to save that person’s life. The program was hatched in New Bern earlier this year, and in OctoberRead More →

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In its final meeting Tuesday before all hell breaks loose, the Master Parking Plan Advisory Committee (it only took me three weeks to get the full name right) plowed through last week’s draft of recommendations and added several more. The committee is delivering its recommendations to the Board of Aldermen at a workshop the board has scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 21. One new addition to the recommendations is that the Board of Aldermen not take any action, but leave the public hearing and final decisions to January 2018, after new board members take their seats and have had a chance to get settled in andRead More →