SUMMERFIELD, N.C. — Summerfield's plan to escape a staffing mess has the town turning to outside help and volunteers to complete town functions.
It's been three weeks since town staff decided to resign collectively.
It left no one to run the town hall, but WFMY News 2's Itinease Mcmiller learned Tuesday the town has contracted a new planner.
Town leaders said they've partnered with a planning firm out of Kannapolis called N-Focus.
They hired a new planner and planning supervisor Tuesday, who will take over until further notice.
At Tuesday night's town council meeting, Council member Lynne Williams DeVaney updated the public on how volunteers fill other positions.
"We have members of the community taking care of the community center. The immediate vicinity around it, including the playground and bathrooms outside. We have a community member willing to take care of Summerfield Park," DeVaney shared.
Danny Nelson is one of the volunteers who has stepped up to help.
"I'm taking care of the trails around the back and the fishing at the lake. The trails around all the garbage cans were way over. The bins need to be changed. I found a lot of repairs that need to be done for all the people that visit," Nelson shared.
The interim town manager took over Tuesday and is responsible for hiring folks to fill the positions of the eight town employees who resigned.
Those positions include parks and rec, finance, code enforcement, and town clerk.
Summerfield mayor Tim Sessoms had a few words to say about their departure.
"It's our tradition that we celebrate those folks, but with the way things have unfolded, we have not presented ourselves with that opportunity. I didn't want to let it go by without saying a fond farewell and big thank you to those people who have served our town with all their heart," Mayor Sessoms said.
The council had to have someone volunteer to function as the town clerk on Tuesday so they could hold their meeting.
A rezoning request was tabled partly because staffing led to missing some important steps in the process.
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