New town manager outlines priorities: water, public works, website and staffing

Krista Morris, the town’s new manager, gave her first full departmental report and outlined near-term priorities that emphasize administrative housekeeping and water/sewer reliability.

Morris said she met individually with directors of public works, police and finance and has started recurring pre-meeting check-ins with department heads. She reported the Bluff City Water Plant averaged about 259,000 gallons per day for the month and that the town had installed 58 of an ordered 120 new meters so far. Morris described plans for a tiered paving prioritization, completion of a salt shed (about 40% complete), fleet maintenance tracking and boardwalk/pavilion planning that may tap state grants and volunteer labor under signed waivers.

She also described steps to strengthen administrative processes: consolidating department reports, improving the town website to publish agendas/minutes/video in a single view, pursuing cybersecurity and badge-access options for town facilities, and exploring a second clerk position to relieve front-office staff workloads. Morris asked board members to direct constituents to her office to avoid information being relayed by multiple intermediaries.

Board members welcomed the report and asked follow-up questions about the gate and IT contracts; Morris said she is reviewing contracts and will return details to the board.