Each winter the Troutman Town Board hunkers down with its staff for two days to create a to-do list for the rest of the year. 

The list for 2008 includes adding a recreational facility, updating the town’s land-use plan, adopting a minimum housing standards code, enacting an occupancy and tourism tax and making progress on street projects that have all seen either significant progress or completion.

Troutman Mayor Elbert Richardson said many of this year’s goals will be easier to cross of the list than they were in 2007.

That doesn’t mean the latest installment is less important.

“One of the things that I’m most proud of is our six-year Inglewood streets plan,” Alderwoman Betty Jean Troutman said. “There is a map in Town Hall that shows when your street will be paved and what date it will be finished. That is a major accomplishment for our time.”

The streets in the Inglewood subdivision, though already paved, have been in need of major upgrades for years.

Inglewood resident Pee Wee Williams said at the March town board meeting that he believed he would be “dead and gone” before he would see the day his street was paved.

Projects still requiring attention in 2008 include: a make-over for the town’s Web site, an after-hours answering service, a new audio system and a downtown revitalization plan.

The town has a workshop scheduled for May 12 to discuss downtown revitalization, Richardson said.

Another significant goal in the planning stages for 2008 is a Troutman-area skate park.

“We are willing to do our part to build a skate park,” the mayor said. “But we’ve got to have a partner to complete the project. We’ve been talking to Statesville trying to get them to participate on a per capita basis.”

The Barium Springs YMCA approached the Troutman Board during the February retreat to request $100,000 toward construction of a new skate park.

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