February 14, 2006
MINUTES OF THE BROOKNEAL TOWN COUNCIL

7:00 PM – The regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council

The municipal government of the Town of Brookneal met with the following members present:

Phyllis Campbell, Mayor

James Nowlin, Vice Mayor

Meg Tibbs, Tracy Meisenbach, Richard Adams, Stacey Hailey, and Kenneth Jennings, Council Members

Bill Gillespie, Town Manager

Laurie C. Francis, Clerk/Treasurer

Mike Crews, Public Works Director

Ricky Cousins, Police Chief

INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG

APPROVAL OF AGENDA

Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Meg Tibbs and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the February 14, 2006, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council with the following addition: 1) Approve payment of attorney invoice.

MINUTES

Upon motion by James Nowlin, seconded by Stacey Hailey and unanimously carried, Council approved the January 10, 2006 Committee Meeting and Town Council minutes.

TREASURER’S REPORT

Mayor Campbell asked that the January 2006 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.

PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES

Be it resolved that motion was made by James Nowlin, seconded by Meg Tibbs and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of January 10, 2006 to February 13, 2006 in the amount of $17,208.70.

PUBLIC COMMENT

Mr. Robert Baker of Gladys, appeared before Council as a representative of the American Legion Post #2 requesting the use of the Community Building for a Memorial Day Ceremony to honor veterans.

Councilman James Nowlin made a motion to allow the American Legion use of the Community Building at no charge. The motion received a second from Councilman Kenneth Jennings. With all in favor, the motion carried.

Mr. Kenneth Silby, of 914 Lynchburg Avenue, appeared before council to express some concerns he had about loss of jobs in the area. Mr. Silby stated that he had recently purchase his house on Lynchburg Avenue and was seriously concerned about his investment. He questioned council and asked what steps the town was taking to bring enterprise to the area.

PRESENTATION BY THE GIRL SCOUTS

Tammy Epperson appeared before council with the Junior Girl Scouts requesting permission to put up a flag pole and a flag at the Brookneal ball park. Ms. Epperson went on to explain that the Junior Girl Scouts are working on achieving their highest award which is the bronze award and this project would help them accomplish that.

Council, by consensus, agreed to allow the Junior Girl Scouts to put up a flag pole and a flag at the ball park.

FLUSHING FIRE HYDRANTS

Public Works Director, Mike Crews, informed council that the public works department would be flushing fire hydrants on February 22, 2006 and March 3, 2006.

SCHEDULE FOR BUDGET APPROVAL PROCESS

The Finance & Planning Committee met on January 31 to discuss the FY 06/07 budget. They will meet again on February 13 to review the preliminary draft of the proposed budget. The Town Manager proposed the following schedule for the budget approval process which will get the council through the public hearing and approval.

Preliminary draft budget presented to council at March 13 meeting in work session
Final draft budget presented to council at April 11 meeting in work session
Public Hearing May 9
Budget approval June 13

The Finance & planning committee may need to meet again between the February and March council meeting to complete the development of the preliminary budget prior to the March council work session.

WATER STUDY RESERVE FUND

Council has been made aware that the town is participating in the region wide water study that will look at alternative water sources and drought relief for all of the localities in the Central Virginia area which is mandated by the Commonwealth. Town Manager, Bill Gillespie, has been asked to serve on the selection committee representing all of the towns in Region 2000. The study will be the beginning of a larger effort to develop a plan that will address the town’s long term water source. This will be a costly effort and the town will need to begin setting aside funds in the utility fund to address the development of this plan. This will be part of the budget process.

VIRGINIA EMPLOYMENT COMMISSION – USE OF COMMUNITY BUILDING

The Virginia Employment Commission has requested that they be allowed to use the community building February 22 & 23 to register employees of the Dan River plant for training opportunities that may be available to employees that have been and are potentially eligible for layoff. The VEC would like to have the fee waived for the use of the building. The policy states that if this request is granted then it must be granted by the council.

Motion was made by Meg Tibbs, seconded by Tracy Meisenbach and unanimously carried approving the use of the community building by the Virginia Employment Commission.

TRANSFER OF CEMETARY DEED

Motion was made by James Nowlin, seconded by Richard Adams, and unanimously carried approving the transfer of a cemetery deed for lot no. 5, graves 12,13,14, & 15 from Mrs. T. A. (Polly) McDowell & Family to Mr. Charles McDowell, III.

COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS

Motion was made by Stacey Hailey, seconded by Tracy Meisenbach, and unanimously carried approving payment of an invoice for Overby, Hawkins, Selz & Wright totaling $357.00.

ADJOURNMENT

Upon motion from Meg Tibbs, Mayor Campbell announced that the February 14, 2006, Council meeting was adjourned.

___________________________ ____________________________

Laurie C. Francis, Phyllis Campbell,

Clerk/Treasurer Mayor