For Noble, it is ‘personal’

Opinion

November 20, 2009

W. Terry Smith The Daily Southerner Fri Nov 20, 2009, 10:22 AM EST

Cleaning out a reporter's notebook ...

The most interesting rumor I heard this week was that Tarboro Town Manager Sam Noble is "on the short list" for the city manager's job in New Bern.

If Noble wants that job, he would be a strong candidate.

The application deadline was only last week. Forty-six people applied.

A committee to review the resumes has to be selected from a new mayor and Board of Aldermen that has five out of six new members. There have been no interviews. No short list.

"There are job openings all the time," said Noble. "Sometimes I get calls asking me to apply for certain jobs. Whether I apply or not is a personal decision. I am not commenting on whether I have or haven't applied.

"Tarboro has been awfully good for me and my family," he said. "My kids grew up here."

The 57-year-old Lumberton native and U.S. Air Force veteran has been here since 1987 and receives high marks for his work. His annual salary is $115,585.

His experience, business-like approach and 14 years on the board with ElectriCities has been beneficial for the town. This week he was elected chairman of the North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency (NCEMPA), which has 32 members, including Tarboro.

Noble's wife, Bobbie, is a social worker with Edgecombe County's Department of Social Services. Daughter Audra, a UNC graduate, is married and living in Louisville, Ky. Son Hunter, another UNC grad, is in law school at Valparaiso University in Indiana.

Maybe the rumor stemmed from Noble's appearance in New Bern to see Candis Owens receive a prestigious award at the Preservation NC conference on Oct. 30. Noble and town Planner Troy Lewis also attended a couple seminars on downtown revitalization and historic preservation.

Owens, chairwoman of the Blount-Bridgers House Garden Committee, received the Minnette C. Duffy Landscape Preservation Award, the highest award for preservation, restoration or maintenance of landscapes, gardens, streetscapes or grounds related to historic structures.

Owens' back yard off Park Avenue, by the way, was featured in the November/December issue of Carolina Gardener magazine. Candis and her husband Lloyd started over after the 1999 flood and hired landscape designer Ryan Gainey and Marc B. Mosley Architects, both of Atlanta, to design a plan. The result is "a salute to an English garden," the article by Peter Loewer states.

THE TOWN'S town's latest project is preparing mulch, free for residents. It was tried in 1995-2002, but there was not enough response, Public Works Director David Cashwell said.

"More people are trying to be green now," he said, "so we thought we would try again."

A lot has been prepared on Daniel Street where leaves and wood chips will be piled and available from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily. Weekends have not been addressed.

"We have put water on them to get 'em to decompose faster," said Ken Flint, the town's building and grounds superintendent. "It will work faster when it gets warmer (spring and summer)."

Genuine compost takes 12 to 18 months to make.

The emphasis is on providing "clean" compost, free of undesirable items for the flower bed and garden.

W. Terry Smith is editor of The Daily Southerner.

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