Some financial relief for Hickory residents – the City of Hickory will not disconnect residential utility service for non-payment or assess late fees through May 31^st.

The decision to defer comes in accordance with the Governor’s executive order as issued on March 31^st.

A news release states Hickory customers will be responsible though for paying for all usage and, if possible, should continue to pay on their accounts to avoid accumulating large balances.

City workers will develop a payment arrangement plan allowing customers to pay off charges over a six-month timeframe.

Currently payments can be submitted at the drive thru behind City Hall, at the drop box, by phone or mail, or online at Hickory NC-dot-gov.

For questions regarding Hickory’s response to the order, call 323-7424.

A collection of North Carolina experts on Monday released a composite

modeling forecast looking at how COVID-19 could affect the state in the

coming months. The models, constructed by experts from UNC-Chapel Hill,

Duke and RTI International, and others reinforced the need for limiting

personal contact to slow the spread of COVID-19 and ensure that health

care is there for people who need it. Monday’s composite model found

that social distancing policies with effectiveness similar to those

currently in place in the state, will help lower the likelihood of the

healthcare system becoming overloaded with a spike of many COVID-19

patients at the same time. However, ending all social distancing at the end

of April leads to a “greater than 50 percent probability that acute care and

ICU bed capacity will be outstripped…as soon as Memorial Day.”

Duke Energy will be conducting scheduled emergency siren tests at

several of its Hydro & Nuclear Power sites tomorrow. The Outdoor

Emergency Sirens at the Hydro Stations at Lake James and Lake

Rhodiss will be tested at Noon. These sirens will only be a test and

should last no longer than about 3 minutes.

The availability of our emergency services personnel is especially vital during the virus outbreak; that includes firefighters who battle brush fires.

With that in mind, NC Forest Service officials urge residents to wait until the end of May to do outdoor burning.

Outdoor fires can sometimes be left unattended, leading to much larger wildfires.

Weather experts discouraged burning today due to low relative humidity, gusty winds, dry fuels, and brush.

And remember too, many volunteer firefighters have full-time positions in the health care field that would greatly reduce the fire-fighting efforts of departments because of COVID-19.

North Carolina Main Street Award winners were recognized last month at

a ceremony in New Bern. Three area towns received awards for Best

Downtown Special Event or Event Series, Forest City – The Cherry Bounce

Festival, Lenoir for NC Gravity Games and Marion – The WNC Bigfoot

Festival. Some area 2019 Main Street Champions include Julie Owens of

Hickory, Tracy Cotton of Marion, Angela Shores of Morganton and in

Lenoir, the City of Lenoir Public Works Sanitation Division.