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Dorman forms Property Reuse Cmte.

(Jan. 19, 2017) In late 2015, Snow Hill began a program where the town would turn over eligible buildings to its occupants once certain renovations and conditions were met.
The first takers were Richard and Debbie Seaton, who are in the process of relocating their Berlin shop, Toy Town, to the former Outten Theater at the corner of Washington and Market streets. To complete this process, the Seatons signed a memorandum of understanding with the town after negotiations with Michael Day, the economic development coordinator.
Mayor Charlie Dorman has now formed a five-member Property Reuse Committee to take over that negotiation process. Any agreement between the committee and the interested parties would still need to be ratified by the mayor and council, Dorman said.
During the council’s regular meeting last week, Dorman named the five members of the committee, whose nominations were accepted by council members Michael Pruitt and Jenny Hall. Councilwoman Alison Cook was absent.
The members are Ron Geese, Randy Coates, Jan King, Sylvester Dale and Ed Phillips, and they will serve five-year terms, Dorman said.  
“It’s a wide variety of people, so they’ll have lots of ideas and a lawyer to make sure they do it right,” Dorman said. Coates is an attorney.
Of concern to the committee at this time, Dorman said, were the Oscar Purnell house, which was granted to the town from the county, and another property on Willow Street.
The committee will begin formulating rules next week, he said, and should have a set of basic rules to present to the council in 30-45 days. After that, the committee will meet as necessary, Dorman said.  
Dorman said board membership is closed and would not increase from the five members he appointed himself.
“These are people who live in historic homes and have been in town a long time,” he said.