Our town is in an economic drought the majority of the community has to travel to make a living. It really seems like the town government we have in place is making little or no effort to improve this. I feel like our mayor is just a figure head position and has no power so the people we can elect to make a difference can't really do anything anyway. Our town manager has been in his position for as long as I can remember and although he has the power to push economic progression he has done nothing to further this community. Not that it’s his fault; he has a steady job and no pressure on his job. I feel if the town manager job was placed up for a community election either our current manager would improve the quality of service he provides, or we could get someone in office who would.

I think our mayor and council and town manager is doing just fine! for what they have to work with,I think their working on bringing a new company here real soon that will put a lot of people to work.if we had beer,wine in spruce pine look at the MONEY that would come.there would never be a tax increase probally a tax CUT. let them do their job.i think their doing JUST_FINE !!!!

There is no issue with the tax rates in spruce pine if anything rates could use to go up for our community. The people in spruce pine city limits pay less property tax that the majority of the country. Mitchell County is one of only four counties in North Carolina that is still dry, and our morals are a little more important than the minute amount of money that alcohol would bring in to our city. For the mayor and town council i agree they do a good job and vote on issues whole heartily. But for a man who collects nearly $70,000.00 a year I just don't think our town manager is earning his keep. Especially for someone the community didn't elect, why does he get paid more than the mayor who we did choose to lead our city? Also there are a number of wrecker services in the city is it just coincidence that canipes is always the first one called. Not to say anything illegal is being done he helps out his own nothing wrong with that but is Canipes as far as his favoritism runs doubt it I just don't think he is really good for the community's growth.

i believe that our current elected officials and ones that are on salary are doing just fine. as i understand it, the mayor and town council members are not just figure heads but that they have a say in what is going on in town. also the town manager, who i believe is doing a great job, is under a lot of pressure to perform. since he has to take care of the day to day administrative details of the town, i believe that his salary is adequate for his job. the by laws of the town state that the town manager works at the pleasure of the board, so dont you think that if he wasnt doing a good job that he would still be there. i believe that the town manager has brought in nearly 4 million dollars in grants since he has been there. seems like hes doing a good job to me. as for the subject of the wrecker services in town, before you go assuming that canipes is always called first, you need to call over to mitchell communications and find out what the procedure for calling a wrecker is. i know for a fact that since there are two wrecker services in town, we have a rotation system. this means that if the owner of the car doesnt specifically request canipes or sullins then the two rotate among themselves as to who gets the call. also we could use the revenue that alcohol would bring in. by getting alcohol you can get more restuarants and this in turn would generate a larger tax base which could be put into use in the beautification and up keep of the town. next time you ride through town look and all the beautification that has been done. this is direct result of the town council and manager. in stead of criticising you should be thanking them for all that has been in town. next time you get on your soap box and start preaching, look around and get your facts straight. that way people can begin to start to take you seriously.

Apparently you seem to be taking me pretty serious. My best guess would be that you are writing from a town owned computer, I’m just a citizen and only suggesting that the town management position is too powerful of a position for the people of the community not to have a say in who holds the position; 4 million dollars in grants the whole time he has been here is pitiful there are non-profits in spruce pine who draw in over a million dollars a year and you can't say the grants aren't out there. Beautification looks to me like the town has spent thousands of dollars on a sign and a waterfall. A direct result of town council and manager than why is lake view nursery doing the work. When the town currently employs a crew of maintenance and a crew at the park, purchasing products from lake view is one thing but why couldn’t our town workers do the work. There is no way you can convince me that alcohol would do this town any good. Just because we allow alcohol doesn’t mean that restaurants are just going to start spouting in a town that can’t provide the revenue.

I think our town is in better shape now than it has ever been,Thank god for our current mayor, town council,and our town manager.We have great water & sewer service,a great police dept, two very nice parks and much more. I think our mayor and town manager and all of the town council deeply care for our town and its people, and go out of their way and beyond to see our town improve to its fullest. Thank you 65 yr.old citizen