FAIRMONT — “If someone doesn’t vote for what’s on this paper I’d be shocked.” Fairmont Mayor Pro Tem J.J. McCree said in a meeting centered on jobs, housing, and the town’s future.

He made the above statement in reference to a piece of paper containing the town’s grant applications. The paper was passed out to the assembled members of JOBS at the group’s Nov. 14 meeting in the Heritage Center. JOBS stands for Job Opportunities and Businesses Support, a group was described by Mayor Charles Kemp as a think tank and brainstorming group for town improvement. Present at the meeting for the JOBS group were George Hogan, Al Johnson, and Edward Smith.

The paper was entitled Fairmont Grant Applications, and listed several grants in different stages. Some were already awaiting briefing dates. Others had been submitted but were still under review. Two were labelled for future submission.

Town projects were also listed on the paper. Short-range projects included the code enforcement update, a zoning ordinance update, a comprehensive plan update, and a strategic plan update. A Drinking Water AIA was the only mid-range project and a Regional Water/Wastewater Project the lone long-term project.

“This document is the future of Fairmont.” Town Manager Jerome Chestnut said.

Hogan of the JOBS group asked if the plan was for 10, 20, 30 years, or the future.

“All our plans just talk about the future,” replied Chestnut, “We will not need to target the same things two years from now.”

During the meeting Chestnut also stated that the problems facing the town were 20 or 30 years in the making.

Among the ambitions shared by the assembled members was, not surprisingly, the creation and filling of jobs.

Chestnut said the he town’s Food Lion needs six part-time employees, the IGA needs three deli clerks, and the local police, fire, and EMS are short-staffed and need more personnel. This dearth of emergency personnel also had an economic dimension, as Chestnut explained, as businesses would be wary to set up shop anywhere without sufficient emergency services and first responders. The concerns also had an economic dimension, as Chestnut said companies would not want to establish themselves

A company operating a kidney dialysis clinic in Fairmont, Ferinius, is training people “who worked at McDonalds” to be Patient Care Technicians, and making $17 per hour, a job wherein they monitor patients to watch for emergencies.

The job fair on Nov. 16 was addressed. Johnson said businesses were looking for mechanics, carpenters, and EMTS, among other jobs. Chestnut described Fairmont’s issue with the number of job opportunities exceeding the number of people. Chestnut asked the JOBS group for their suggestions, because he wanted to have recruitment in place during the holiday season.

Hogan said he had a “point of contact” at Fort Bragg who might direct people leaving the service. Chestnut stated he would speak with the chiefs to get the particulars.

“Housing is killing us,” declared Johnson, “Affordable housing is killing us.”

Johnson suggested Homes for Heroes as a solution. He stated the houses would be provided to members of the military for around 0% loans as a form of targeted recruitment.

The back half of the meeting was devoted to the town government’s ongoing code enforcement endeavor.

“As sure as I’m sitting here,” Kemp said later, “someone will fight us.”

Kemp stated he believed it wasn’t going to be easy.

“A lot of people who own property here,” Kemp said, “don’t live here.”

Hogan stated that because many of the properties in question had been inherited, and inheritance is strongly emotional, he liked the idea of not coming down hard.

“If we don’t handle people correctly,” Hogan said, “We’re going to lose.”

It was mentioned that all who owned property falling under the new code enforcement would be invited to briefings. The primary concern at the meeting was code enforcement being enacted faster.

“You’ve got to think about those future board members,” Hudson said, stating it was critical the community know what was going on.

McCree voiced his concern that the town manager would be faced with a new board every two years.

Chestnut floated the idea of inviting the Chamber of Commerce and business leaders to the next meeting, to be held on Dec. 8, which will be dedicated in part to crafting a vision statement.