SILER CITY — The town’s board of commissioners entertained several presentations in its regular meeting Monday on propositions to enhance the town’s relationship with Hispanic residents.
Siler City is a “minority majority” community, a town in which most residents are non-white. The most populous single demographic is Hispanic. Almost half of Siler City’s residents — 47.1% — are Latino.
Despite their contribution to the area’s population, however, Hispanic residents have played a disproportionately small role in the town’s leadership community and exert undersized influence over the town’s development, a topic the commissioners have discussed often.
To improve Siler City’s relationship with its Latino residents, organizations such as the Hispanic Liaison have worked to bridge the cultural and language divide. Nancy Darden, the town’s human resources director, presented a new incentives program Monday with similar intent.
In 2018, the town began an initiative with the police department by which staff and officers could earn a 5% pay raise for demonstrating a level of oral and written fluency in Spanish.
“We would like to expand this to non-law enforcement individuals whose core responsibilities and the tasks of their job include dealing with the public,” Darden said. “It’s essential for them to communicate with (Spanish speakers) as easily as it is for us to communicate with the English-speaking community.”
Among current staff, Darden predicted seven might be eligible for the pay raise, and the police department is in process of hiring another bilingual officer, she said.
The commissioners quickly expressed support for the new incentive. They voted unanimously to approve the new policy effective July 2021, the start of the next fiscal year.
To further demonstrate its interest in facilitating stronger inter-cultural relationships, the board also approved the creation of an Immigrant Community Advisory Committee per the request of representatives from Building Integrated Communities, “a community planning and leadership initiative” at UNC-Chapel Hill “that partners with North Carolina local governments to create inclusive practices and policies for residents born in other countries,” according to the group’s website. BIC began its collaboration with the town in 2017.
Hannah Gill, associate director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas at UNC, explained the premise and function such a committee would have.
“This recommendation is important,” she said, “because it would create a more permanent bridge between local government and immigrant residents and serve as a supportive group for town staff and leaders.”
The group will likely count among its objectives to develop leaders who represent immigrant communities, to recommend strategies that will promote more civic participation and to advise the commissioners of opinions and requests from within the Hispanic community, according to Gill.
The committee will have seven members from “historically underrepresented communities with ancestry in Latin America and/or other world regions,” the board’s resolution said. After advertising the positions for 30 days and approving committee members, the Immigrant Community Advisory Committee will meet once a month.
Continuing the meeting’s theme, Ilana Dubester, the founder and executive director of the Hispanic Liaison, petitioned the board to approve the eighth Hispanic Heritage Festival “to celebrate Latin America’s diverse cultural traditions and promote community integration.”
Dubester’s request was met with considerable resistance, however, mostly surrounding fears of scant police presence at the event.
Pending approval, the fiesta is scheduled to be held in September, which is National Hispanic Heritage Month. Unfortunately, Dubester said, the only available day for the Liaison is Saturday, September 11 — the 20-year anniversary of the terrorist attack on New York City’s World Trade Center.
“My staffing on that particular day is three,” Siler City Police Chief Mike Wagner said in the meeting, “therefore I could not guarantee any type of dedicated services just for that event. Plus it’s a historical event in Chatham County as well because of 9/11 and I don’t have any information on that just yet.”
Fire Chief Scott Murphy submitted similar concerns to the board in writing.
“We will do what we can,” he said, “as far as I know they are doing something for the 20th anniversary of 9/11 at the Fire Responders Memorial in Pittsboro that day, just not sure what the times are.”
If circumstances allow, the fiesta will host about 1,000 attendees in downtown Siler City with 50 non-profits and businesses participating. A crowd of that size without police supervision aroused consternation among some commissioners.
“If we’re looking at 1,000 people or more,” Commissioner Norma Boone said, “who’s to say what could or could not happen and we don’t have anybody there to handle it. That’s my concern.”
Dubester pointed out that while Siler City police may have other obligations, Chatham County Sheriff Mike Roberson had previously voiced his support for the event and offered to contribute officers.
“I have commitment from the sheriff to supply several deputies,” she said.
But the commissioners were still apprehensive. Rather than vote to approve or deny Dubester’s request, the board scheduled a special meeting for June 28 to revisit the subject.
Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Bray supported the decision to host that special meeting, but voiced strong support of the fiesta.
“This is the way I feel about it,” she said, “we need people to come downtown. We need to have things downtown. And they are providing something for people to come downtown, so what can we do to accommodate them?”
• The board voted unanimously to adopt the proposed budget for fiscal year 2021-22, details of which the News + Record has previously reported.
Taxes and utility rates will not increase in the next year, the budget stipulates, although town spending will go up by about 12%.
Eight new town staff positions are funded in the budget. Half belong to the police department (three police officers and an evidence technician), which alone stands to receive more than $813,000 for departmental expansion.
The other four positions include a street maintenance worker, a water treatment plant operator, a water sewer utility maintenance worker and a Planner I employee in the planning department.
• The commissioners honored Town Attorney William C. Morgan with a surprise resolution commemorating his 25 years of service.
Among his many accomplishments, “William C. Morgan Jr. has attended almost 1,000 meetings over the last 25 years of the board of commissioners,” Mayor Pro Tem Cindy Bray read from the resolution. The commissioners and all in attendance responded with spontaneous standing applause.
“I never thought there’d be a time when I’d be here longer than — well, I don’t remember anybody that was here in ‘96,” Morgan said. “Anyway, I never thought I’d be like the oldest,” he said, laughing. “Maybe not the oldest, but the longest serving. But it’s been an honor and I can say I’m not retiring any time soon.”
Reporter D. Lars Dolder can be reached at dldolder@chathamnr.com and on Twitter @dldolder.