2005 Rural Partners Forum
Remarks by Fannie P. Greene, administrator, town of Garysburg
I am also a Northampton County Commissioner. I have lived in Garysburg over 20 years, so you can see I have a genuine interest in my small town. Today I am going to be talking to you about my hometown, the trials and triumphs of small towns. As town administrator, I am going to take you on a little journey to a town called Garysburg. I want you to tour with me my very special small town in northeast North Carolina. If you've never had the opportunity to live in a small town, it is a godsend. I love the small town atmosphere. The experience is both rewarding and fulfilling. As we complete our journey today, perhaps you might choose to move with me to Northampton County, Garysburg, North Carolina.
Garysburg has a population of 1,250 people. Now, that sounds small, but we are the largest municipality in Northampton County, which has a population of 22,000. In Garysburg we have an elementary school, several churches, approximately 20 businesses and growing, three major highways and two railroad tracks. We have a mayor and a five-member board of commissioners. We also have a four-member police force and a volunteer fire department. Mayor Roy Bell and the board of commissioners some six years ago had the vision to hire me as the town administrator - realizing that the mayor and the entire board had full-time jobs, so they needed someone to oversee day-to-day operations to help move the town forward. And I've tried to do just that. I've enjoyed working for the town. It's one of the best jobs I could have because it's my town and I love being able to serve the town and county and giving back to our citizens. I didn't tell you that we have a total of eight employees in Garysburg.
When preparing for today, I thought about the trials and triumphs of small towns. I referred to Mr. Webster - the dictionary. Trials are defined as "experimentations or investigations in which various means are tried and faulty ones are eliminated in order to find the correct solution." As I thought about that definition, I thought, "That fits Garysburg perfectly." We try and we try. Much trial and error before we can reach that expected goal, and I am sure that is no different from any other small towns in here. Is that correct? We try and we try. But we must keep trying, because we don't always know the right person to help us reach our goal. It takes much time and energy on many occasions before we can reach the goal we are looking for. And when we talk about triumphs, we are talking about being victorious. I'm going to tell you a few things about Garysburg, because we are making strides and we are very proud of that. The town recently built a new town hall. It took many years of trial and error to identify funding, to help us accomplish this goal. But we were persistent, and we received assistance from U.S. Rural Development and our legislators. The dream finally became a reality this year on September 2, 2005. We had our dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony. I have a picture for you of our new hall that we are very proud of. In the town hall we have a police station, large auditorium, which seats about 300 people for different functions. But one of the things we are most proud of is we have a public access computer room for our young kids who don't necessarily have a computer. They can come to the town hall. They [computers] are there for the public. On our dedication, we were very proud to have John Cooper, who is the state director for U.S. Rural Development and his staff. We also had U.S. Congressman Richard Burr. And I am not sure if they are present today, but we appreciated them. That was pretty good for a small town, wasn't it? We thought we were doing real good that day. The town has also purchased 10 acres of land for commercial development. As we speak, we are finally extending one of our major highways through this piece of property. This is one of the first steps before developers will consider our property for development. We have owned this property for a while, but again, with lots of trial and error and assistance from our legislators, we are now able to move forward with this extension and that is good news for Garysburg. Approximately four years ago we received a $50,000 grant to build a walking trail. This came from the department of parks and recreation. We completed phase I of the trail and wrote a second grant for $50,000 to complete phase II. Well, it has taken another two years to get through the paperwork, the red tape, if you will, to purchase the land that the trail was on. We almost lost our grant, because as you know, most grants have deadlines. But we had so much trial and error with that, that now we are happy to report that we have received that deed of trust for the land. So now we can proceed with our trail, and that is the final phase of our trail. The town of Garysburg also worked very closely with Roanoke Economic Development Center, where Mr. Curtis Wynne - I saw him earlier - is the CEO of that operation. He and the workers there, the consultants, have been great in managing our CDBG program. This is a program set aside for us. We were fortunate to get a grant from the Department of Commerce for $304,000 to rehabilitate some homes for our citizens. This CDBG money is important to small towns such as Garysburg because otherwise our citizens would not be able to afford to renovate their homes, and certainly the town could not afford to help them with it, so we really appreciate the funds coming from CDBG. Towns, municipalities in North Carolina would have an even more difficult time without the partnership of the Rural Center. They offer so much to small towns, specifically water and sewer grants to towns and to the county. They help open other opportunities for us, because as you know, small towns are not attractive to developers if you do not have water and sewer availability. I am very proud of the leadership training I received from the Rural Center. I am a graduate of REDI XI, and I know we have other graduates here. The training we received was invaluable. The standards that were set by the Rural Center are wonderful. Because of this, I am able to use my training to move Garysburg forward and the town. The center is also available, Billy Ray and Robin, we thank you so much. The networking opportunities we received are also great. I have much more contact with friends and agencies across the state because of this training. We thank you.
Our hometowns, who they are, what they need, why they are vital to our future: I have tried to give you a little bit of information on ideas talking about Garysburg. We are no different than any other small town in the state. We all have the same needs, and what I would say, is we need more resources, opportunities, help us to grow at a faster pace. You heard me talk about cutting through the chase and all of the trial and error that we go through. That is real, and I would love to be able to succeed without having to go through all of that trial and error. So if you can do anything for us, I would ask that you cut through all the trial and error and let us get there quicker. Make it easier for small towns because we are vital to the future. We are vital in many ways, and I'll just state three of them: Small towns are the link that connects our rural citizens to North Carolina; small towns provide jobs that benefit our citizens, and when they benefit our citizens they benefit our towns, and when they benefit our towns they benefit North Carolina; and small towns create wealth for citizens, which increases our tax base for towns, for counties and for North Carolina. So you can see, this is a win-win situation.
In closing, hopefully you can see the success or the triumph of my small town has been due to persistence, lots of trial and error, and keeping close contact with our legislators, Roanoke Economic Development Center, the USDA Rural Development Center, and the Rural Center. I encourage you, other small towns, to please stay focused. Don't give up on your dream because persistence will get you everywhere. I'd like to leave you with a thought today. If you have made mistakes, there is always another chance for you. Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new. Nobody can make a greater mistake than he who does nothing. Thank you for this opportunity to speak to you today.
