By Shavonne Potts

Salisbury Post

LANDIS — The Board of Aldermen ushered in a wave of change Monday night with the swearing in of new board members Dean Beck and Tony Hilton, along with Mayor Dennis Brown.

The men, flanked by spouses and other friends and family, were sworn in by Superior Court Judge John L. Holshouser.

The new members thanked everyone for the opportunity to serve. Outgoing board members expressed their gratitude to supporters and offered new members any help they need.

The board appointed Alderman Craig Sloop as mayor pro tem.

In other business, the board:

* Approved initial zoning classification for property located at the Villages at Lake Wright, which the town took in through satellite annexation with approval of the General Assembly. The town can implement zoning and planning at this time, although the actual annexation will not be effective until September 2008.

The land will provide a residential community around Lake Wright and the Warrior Golf Course.

Town Administrator Reed Linn made it clear that no other surrounding property is involved in the annexation.

"This was a voluntary annexation. It was something the developers came to us with," Linn said.

The public hearing for the zoning went swiftly, with only two people inquiring about the zoning.

* Approved an ordinance prohibiting sex offenders from entering town parks, recreation areas and greenways.

Speaking about the legality of the ordinance, Alderman James Furr said the N.C. Court of Appeals has already ruled in favor of another town that enacted a similar law.

"The court ruled that the sex offenders had no fundamental rights to be in the parks," he said.

* Approved a resolution declaring the results of the bond referendum during the Nov. 6 election approving the water and sewer bonds.

According to the resolution, of the 2,068 registered voters, 461 voted to adopt the water bonds and 51 voted against the water bonds, while 454 voters agreed to the sewer bonds and 57 voted against them.

* Reappointed Alderman James Furr as delegate to the Centralina Council of Governments and appointed Mayor Dennis Brown as an alternate.

* Appointed newly elected Alderman Tony Hilton to the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Transportation Advisory Committee and re-appointed Public Works Director Steve Rowland as alternate.

* Appointed newly elected Alderman Dean Beck to be a delegate to the Metropolitan Planning Organization for the Technical Coordinating Committee and Linn as an alternate.

* Appointed Beck to be the Internal Review Auditor.

Linn already signs the check register and there needs to be another signature, he said.

Beck said he thought he was most available to do that.

Contact Shavonne Potts at 704-797-4253 or spotts@salisburypost.com.