‘Peaceful, prosperous, progressive’: Montreat looks to diversify revenue after retreat

The Montreat Board of Commissioners named revenue as a top strategic focus area for the next year at an Oct. 24 retreat.

Of the four commissioners present along with Mayor Tim Helms, all identified finding new streams of revenue as a top priority for the next year. Newly appointed Commissioner Grant Dasher was absent from the retreat.

Facilitated by Fountainworks representatives Rebecca Jackson and Drew Finley, the retreat focused on what the town of Montreat has accomplished in the past year, as well as what commissioners want the town to accomplish for the next year.

When asked what accomplishments the town had made in the past year, the mayor and commissioners pointed to moving to a manager-council form of government and hiring a town manager, being transparent, updating audits and being more financially successful.

“To me, it’s a great relief because so many of these items were pressurized,” Helms said. “We had an urgency since we adopted a town-manager form of government to hire a town manager, and we did it.”

Commissioner Jane Alexander said she had a sense of pride in the work the town has done because of the staff and community.

Commissioner Tom Widmer said everything the town had accomplished in the past year was done while working under the distraction of the Mountain Retreat Association’s lodge lawsuit. Alexander called the lodge a “force of its own” and said it caused “tension in the Valley.”

When asked what factors contributed to the successes of the town, Commissioner Kitty Fouche said the commissioners always work well together, even if they do not always agree.

Helms said the town always tries to “do the right thing.”

“Staff and commissioners always want to do what I call ‘the right thing,’” Helms said. “It might not always be the most popular, but we do the right thing.”

In order to set goals for the next year, Jackson asked the commissioners to identify internal and external factors of the town. Most commissioners and the mayor pointed to the competency of staff and the trust the board has in the town staff as internal strengths.

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For external factors that affect the town, pressures to find new sources of revenue, aging infrastructure and relationships with state and local officials were cited as concerns.

When talking about external factors affecting the town, Widmer described a “three-legged stool” that consists of the town, the MRA and Montreat College all working together.

“If you take one of those legs away, you can’t sit on the stool,” Widmer said.

Jackson asked the commissioners and mayor to think about what they would like to see for the town in the next two years. Widmer said he would like to see revenue coming from non-tax sources in order to ease the burden on the taxpayers. He said he would also like to see a “productive, cooperative spirit” between the three entities in town.

Helms said he would like to see the town be described as “peaceful, prosperous, progressive.”

To achieve these goals, the commissioners focused on how to increase revenue, public works and intergovernmental relationships.

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For new revenue sources, commissioners said they would want to look at different types of grants to apply for, as well as the cost of hiring a grant writer. The board also said they would like to see a group of residents come together, with the help of commissioners and town staff, to help find grants and funding for the town.

"We have a lot of people in this community who love it and will donate time," Commissioner Mason Blake said.

For public works, commissioners said they wanted to work on the aging infrastructure in town, particularly when it comes to stormwater.

Commissioners said they would want to continue building relationships with other government entities on the county and state level.

In closing the meeting, Helms said he would take a closer look at the goals identified and find ways for each commissioner to help with at least one goal and report back to commissioners.

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