Village in Union County temporarily shuts down

MARVIN, N.C. — A Union County town was forced to temporarily shut down until they passed next year's budget.

They passed it Tuesday night and Marvin is back in business.

The mayor of Marvin told Channel 9 it began because there was a dispute over the appointment of a new council member.

As a result, the village board was unable to meet earlier to discuss that appointment or the budget.

Since it didn't approve the budget, it had to temporarily shut down essential services and operations.

Full statement from Mayor Joe Pollino:

"In the Village of Marvin May 31st meeting the attending Council members were prepared to pass the Village of Marvin’s budget as it was listed on our agenda for that evening.  A public hearing was held for the budget and no one signed up to address any concerns.  The public hearing was then closed on this matter.  

In that meeting, Councilman Nick Dispenziere was out of town on vacation and all other council members were aware that he would not be attending.  After closing the public hearing, Councilman Ron Salimao made a motion to hold off on passing it to give our constituents two more weeks to look it over.  This was not a requirement by the village as we already held a public hearing on the issue and it was just a matter of approving it after the public hearing.  The motion however did pass.  Then Councilman Salimao, taking advantage of the 2-1 vote he knew he would have at this meeting, made a motion to suspend the rules and added a few items to the agenda which included his resignation and the announcement of Mary Skhut to the council.  Both Councilmember Kim Vandenberg and myself as the Mayor protested the move of suspending the rules and adding new items to the agenda.  (The new incoming council just recently passed new rules for the governing body that no new items may be added to the agenda within a 48 hour notice or two working days before our meetings).  This measure was taken to create a more transparent atmosphere for all of our Village residents.

It is the opinion of the majority of the current council and the Village's legal counsel that this move of adding this to the agenda and adding an appointment to council was invalid for a number of reasons.   The majority of council has been advised not discuss the matter at this time.

Although the Village attorney was not at this work session meeting on May 31st, when called on the phone during the meeting, both Council members Ron Salimao and Robert  Epps chose not to listen to her concerns on the validity of the appointment.

Due to scheduling conflicts, the Village of Marvin council has not been available to meet on any of these matters.  By state statute, this action of not passing the budget requires the governing body to shut down essential services and operations of the Village of Marvin until the Council reconvenes at their next meeting scheduled for Tuesday July 10th and passes the budget.  The Village of Marvin's full-time sheriff's officer will be available during this shutdown.

As a footnote, Firethorne Country Club was scheduled for approval of a Fireworks display in the subsequent meetings that did not take place because of a lack of quorum.  It is my understanding that the Union County Commissioners stepped in today and passed a resolution to allow Firethorne to proceed with the fireworks show.

The majority of council would like to remind residents that any official information will be posted on the Village of Marvin's official website."   

Cox Media Group