Town manager announces farmers market, software conversion assessment, and $400,000 asset‑mapping grants

Town Manager Kamara Barnett told the council the Caswell Farmers Market will open Thursday, April 18 and run Thursdays through Sept. 19 from 4:00–6:30 p.m. at the town pavilion. She said the town will undergo an initial assessment for conversion to the Municipal Accounting Software (MAS) Black Mountain on April 4 with Martin & Starnes P.A. and a North Carolina League of Municipalities (NCLM) representative; the MAS conversion work is planned for 2025.

Barnett also reported the town received Division of Water Infrastructure grants in 2023—$150,000 for the sewer system and $250,000 for the water system, totaling $400,000—to fund an asset inventory assessment and mapping. She said engineering firm AWCK has started work to map the collections/sewer system and build a GIS database for the town’s water distribution system to replace paper maps and address discrepancies found in the field.

Why this matters: the grants and the planned accounting-software conversion are intended to improve the town’s asset management and financial systems, which staff and the council identified as priorities amid ongoing financial and operational work.