Rutherford College cleans house, public invited to bid

It won’t be quite the same as a municipal yard sale, but it will come close.

Rutherford College will be hosting a sale of surplus town property, with most of the items for sale to be on display in the Town Hall from Monday, March 9, to Thursday, March 23.

Interested persons are invited to come into the Town Hall during regular business hours — 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. — to take a look at the items and make written bids on them.

Friday, March 24, will be pick-up day for the sold items.

The items were declared surplus and officially put up for sale at Monday night’s meeting of the Town Council.

So … just what sort of items are we talking about?

Sad to see winter finally loosening its grip on Burke County and wanting to shovel your walk just one more time? Put in a bid on 2 gallons of liquid snow.

Having a dress-up party in the near future? “Assorted costumes” are among the surplus items. Not sure just what sort of costumes Mayor Yates Jensen has been wearing. A vintage Braves uniform, perhaps?

Thinking you really want to have a great outdoor summer party this year? How about a mobile covered stage for your backyard? “I’d like to see y’all get that in the community room,” said Councilman Carroll Hoyle.

Wanting to get a jump on the holiday season of 2026? Among the items offered are a 6-foot Christmas tree, three winter centerpieces, a winter arch, and the previously mentioned liquid snow.

Apparently, the partridge flew away from the pear tree.

One other item of note, a whiskey barrel. Trouble is, it’s empty.

“Some of the larger items like the stage, a Fender sound system, and some of the larger furniture pieces will require a minimum bid,” said Town Clerk Terra Brieno.

Those larger furniture items include office chairs, a computer desk, a rolling bookshelf, two end tables with nightstands, a coffee table, four leather chairs, and two round tables.

BUDGET TRANSFERS

Council also approved two budget amendments at Monday’s meeting, including:

Transferring $21,000 from the American Rescue Plan Capital Project budget line,

with $20,000 going to the General Maintenance expense account and $1,000 to the Overtime expense account.

The transfer was needed, according to Town Manager Jessica Bargsley, due to the expense of repairing several broken water lines over the past year, particularly one on Malcolm Boulevard that required traffic control measures and asphalt repairs.

Transferring $17,000 from the Powell Bill Fund, monies usually used for street paving, to the town’s Street Paving/Maintenance account due to the cost of snow and ice removal in January and February.

Burke County was hit by a major ice storm on Jan. 26, followed by record-setting low temperatures, and then a major snowstorm on Jan. 31.

“The winter storms exhausted our allocated snow-removal funds,” said Bargsley. “Prolonged ice accumulation required additional maintenance and treatment of town streets.”

GOAL-SETTING RETREAT

The Council will gather in the community room at Town Hall on Monday, March 16, at 6 p.m. for its annual goal-setting retreat.

The meeting, which is open to the public, is traditionally the time when the council first begins to look at the tax rate for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1, and also prioritizes town projects.