Mayor Emery Doughtie believes Wednesday’s city council retreat may help members of the city’s governing panel reach some goals on issues concerning the body.

The retreat begins at 8 a.m. in the conference room of the Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce on Premier Boulevard.

“The retreats I’ve been associated with, when you’re meeting the whole day things tend to surface,” the mayor said today. “I’ve not had that opportunity since I’ve been on the council. I hope we can reach some consensus about things we’re concerned with.”

One of the mayor’s goals is to make sure the city’s finances are secure. While not a budget work session, Doughtie said he believes council must look at issues that could affect the city’s ability to provide services to taxpayers. “I would like for us to come to a consensus on how to be more cost effective.”

Doughtie said the last administration approved a 10 percent increase for police pay. “What do we do if we can’t do it next year?”

Referring to a pay study being done for the rest of the departments, the mayor said, “Instead of just the police department, is the fire department or public works up to where they need to be?”

Barring a serious downturn in the economy from where it currently stands, Doughtie said the city should be in good shape for the next fiscal year.

There are concerns, however, such as what happens if revenues from the state don’t come in as anticipated and what happens if revenues from the theater stop coming in.

Doughtie believes the retreat will be good for city council. “It lends itself to a broader discussion, discussions in more detail.”

Halifax County Board of Elections Supervisor Kristin Smith says Tuesday’s mayoral election in Scotland Neck should be under the cost of a normal election.

Normally an election costs between $1,200 to $2,000, Smith said this morning. The town must pay for the election.

A new election was ordered after irregularities were found in the November mayoral election between incumbent James Mills and his challenger, Raymond Watson.

Nearly four hours of canvassing in November resulted in few other changes but left Mills with a 422-421 win over Watson.

The polls open at 6:30 Tuesday morning and close at 7:30 p.m.

Smith said she expects a good turnout for the election. “Back in November, Scotland Neck had a nice turnout. They are expecting another nice turnout Tuesday.”

The Halifax County Sheriff’s Office is investigating a shooting which occurred on the Lonnie B. Greene Road early this morning.

Full details are not immediately known at this time but Lieutenant Bobby Martin said the victim was airlifted to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville.

Martin said the victim was in critical condition.

Roanoke Rapids police are investigating a Saturday night robbery where a man was beaten and robbed of an undisclosed amount of money.

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Lafayette Gatling’s payment did not arrive Friday, sources confirmed today.

Gatling was given a flexible option to settle his debt with the city, its attorney, Gilbert Chichester said this week.

The city would allow Gatling to pay his February debt on the Roanoke Rapids Theatre and allow him additional time to make his March payment.

Further terms of the proposal have not been divulged because of ongoing negotiations. Chichester did confirm the terms the city is offering are fair to Gatling as well as the city. If the undisclosed deadline is not met the city could start default proceedings.

The total Gatling owes is $196,406.98. Half is for February and the remainder is for this month.