Montreat Minute for July 30, 2021

Sign Update

Last month we shared about the new sign ordinance and that yard signs are permitted, but they must be on your own property and not in the Town right-of-way. For the full story from the June 14 Special Montreat Minute, CLICK HERE.

Related to signs, the Montreat Police Department has received reports that yard signs have been taken from private property recently. Just a reminder that such action is considered misdemeanor larceny. Please respect people’s right to display signs on their own private property.

Special Use Permit Application for MRA Lodge Available

The Town has received a number of records requests for the Special Use Permit application for the proposed MRA lodge project. To better facilitate transparency and improve turn around time, we are posting a link to that application on this page. To view the entire application CLICK HERE.

Meet Dan Cordell, Town Building Inspector

Each month we feature a Montreat Town staff member or Town Council member. This month we are featuring our Town Building Inspector, Dan Cordell.

If you think Dan Cordell knows a lot about building and construction, you’re wrong. He knows far more than you think he knows!

But first, a bit about Dan’s growing up years. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA, but moved around quite a bit. After graduating high school in Flemington NJ, Dan joined the Marines. During his four years of active duty, he continued to move around! His specialty was a machine gunner and he applied his skills in Viet Nam, the Philippines, Cuba and the Mediterranean. He came back to the States to finish his career, and was honorably discharged as a Sergeant.

After discharge, he decided to head south and landed on the coast of North Carolina. He began working as a carpenter. Soon he was building houses and started his own construction company, building homes in coastal North Carolina. His company continued to grow until the building bust of the mid-80’s. He backed off and focused on renovations and other medium size projects. One of those projects was a park gazebo for the town of Sunset Beach, NC. The Town Administrator was so impressed with Dan’s skills and personality that he offered him a job as the town building inspector. He applied his construction skills and learned about building regulations during his 10 years at Sunset Beach.

But, the mountains were calling him and his family. He began looking for similar opportunities in WNC. Both Hickory and Black Mountain offered him positions. Fortunately for us, Dan chose the Black Mountain position in 2001. At that time, Montreat contracted with Black Mountain for building inspection services. As he started his career in Black Mountain, he also did so in Montreat. Later, when Montreat hired its own zoning administrator/building inspector, Dan continued to provide back-up services to the Town. Then, in 2017 when Montreat decided to split the position into a part time zoning administrator and part time building inspector, Dan was asked to continue his work with Montreat as the building inspector. He holds the highest level contractor license offered by the state.

In May, Dan retired from Black Mountain after 20 years as their building inspector. Fortunately, he didn’t retire his position in Montreat and today continues to share his expertise with the Town. “I love it, I have a great time there,” Dan said in describing his work in Montreat. “I look forward to meeting people and trying to figure out how to help.”

A self declared “workaholic”, Dan does not lack for activity in retirement. Family means a lot to him. His four children (three boys and one girl) each have given him a grandchild. He spends much time with his kids and grandkids- half of them here in the mountains and the other half still on the coast. Besides family, you can catch Dan gardening, reading, hiking, enjoying solitude, exercising, eating well, and surfing. But his real passion is public service. Through his career, he viewed his job as helping others and generously offers his time and expertise to others now. He is a Deacon at his church in Montreat. The role of Deacons is to serve- and Dan leads the effort. “I love to help others”, Dan said. “It’s a pleasure to serve.”

Montreat is fortunate to have Dan as part of our team. Next time you see him about Town, thank him for his 20 years of dedicated service.

SAVE THE DATE

Town of Montreat

Arbor Day Celebration

Saturday, September 4, 2021

10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Town Hall

Updates and Reminders

• The Montreat Board of Commissioners will hold a Special Meeting today, Friday, July 30, 2021, at 3:00 p.m. at the Town Hall to discuss a personnel matter. The Closed Session portion of the meeting is not open to the public. Because of the nature of the meeting (personnel matter), this meeting will not be streamed.
• The previously scheduled Planning & Zoning meeting on August 26 has been changed to September 1 at 10:30am. Meeting details will be provided at a later date.

Questions?

Do you have Town-related questions you would like answered? If so, please send them to Angela Murphy at [email protected] and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

Have a great weekend!