Top Stories for Jan. 8, 2025
Mecklenburg County provides this weekly rundown of top stories from the Board of County Commissioners meetings and the Public Information Department’s newsroom. The Board’s next scheduled meetings are a joint meeting with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education on Jan. 13 and a budget/public policy workshop on Jan. 14. The agendas will be available online and the meetings can be viewed on MeckTV.
1. New Leaders for Parks and HR: Mecklenburg County has announced the appointment of new leadership in two key departments. Joanette Freeman has been promoted to the position of director of Human Resources, after serving as deputy director since 2023 and previously as HR director for Guilford County, NC. Following a nationwide search, Nick Walker has been named director of Park and Recreation, coming to Mecklenburg County from Memphis, where he has served as parks director since 2019. “Joanette and Nick are proven leaders who have vision, practice excellence, and remain focused on developing people and teams,” said County Manager Dena R. Diorio. “We are confident they will be valuable assets to Mecklenburg County as we navigate the future growth of our organization and our community.”
2. Share Your View. Shape Our Future. The Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners is beginning to build its FY2025-26 budget. The first step is a public hearing where residents can speak on the programs and services that are most important to them. The public hearing will be held at the Board’s regular meeting on Jan. 22 at 6 p.m. Residents can sign up to speak or submit comments via mail or email. Following the public hearing, the Board will hold its annual budget retreat Jan. 29-31. Sign up to speak at the hearing or learn more about the budget process at Budget.MeckNC.gov.
3. Everybody Counts Charlotte: Volunteers and donations are still needed for the 2025 Point-in-Time (PIT) Count—especially donations of sleeping bags as temperatures fall below freezing. In the early morning hours of Jan. 23, 2025, volunteers will span out across Charlotte-Mecklenburg streets, shelters, and encampments to identify individuals who are living without homes. The Point-in-Time Count takes place on a single night every January and provides a snapshot of homelessness. During last year’s Point-in-Time Count, 2,095 people were counted, including 193 families, 77 youth (18-24), and 384 people sleeping outside.
4. A Vision for Mecklenburg: Mecklenburg County invites the public to help decide how to spend money that will help create better housing, improve living environments, and increase economic opportunities, especially for low – and moderate-income individuals. It’s the County’s five-year Consolidated Planning process as required by the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. Participants will have the opportunity to attend two community visioning workshops: Jan. 9 at North County Regional Library in Huntersville and Jan. 16 at Belle Johnston Community Center in Pineville.
5. May the Games Begin: It’s time for our Active Aging athletes age 50 and older to begin warming up for the Senior Games and SilverArts. Mecklenburg County registration is open through Jan. 17 for early bird rates ($15) and Jan. 18 through Feb. 21 for standard rates ($25). Athletic events offered include bowling, cycling, golf, swimming, track and field events, backyard games such as cornhole, horseshoes and bocce as well as racket events such as tennis, badminton, and pickleball. SilverArts are a celebration of the creative expression of seniors and are a major component of the traditional athletic competition of Senior Games. The games, held from March to May, typically feature more than 300 participants, and feed into the North Carolina State Senior Games competitions. Interested seniors can call 980-314-1328 or email [email protected].