August 12, 2008
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
Richard Adams, Kenneth Jennings, Stacey Hailey, Tracy Meisenbach, and Robert Jean, Council Members
Bobbie A. Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Mike Crews, Public Works Director, and Interim Town Manager
Ricky Cousins, Police Chief
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
PUBLIC HEARING--FLOOD PLAIN ORDINANCE
Mayor Campbell opened the public hearing for the flood plain ordinance at 7:02 p.m. No one appeared before Council in favor of or against the flood plain ordinance. Mayor Campbell closed the public hearing at 7:03 p.m.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Kenneth Jennings, seconded by Tracy Meisenbach, and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the August 12, 2008, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council with the following addition: 1) Closed session under VA Code 2.2-3711 (A) (1) for the purpose of discussing personnel performance evaluations
MINUTES
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Stacey Hailey, and unanimously carried, Council approved the July 8, 2008, Town Council minutes.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Campbell asked that the August 2008 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by James Nowlin, seconded by Stacey Hailey and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of July 9, 2008, to August 12, 2008, in the amount of $12,979.85.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Ms. Virginia Dejarnette, of Lynchburg Avenue, appeared before Council, to say how proud she was of the Town’s work crew. The Town crew had to drive a pipe under the highway in front of her home. The Town did not have the modern equipment to perform this task, so they had to do it manually. She said they pounded for 10 hours, 2 days, and they worked hard. She also spoke about how much Claude Clark has done for the Town of Brookneal. She would like to see the Council as a whole recommend to the Chamber of Commerce that Claude be the grand marshal of the Christmas parade this year.
Mr. Mike Carwile of Lynchburg wanted information concerning the old Staunton River Bridge that was torn down. He said he was working on a project, and he needed to know what year the bridge was built and what year it was torn down. Mr. Jennings told him that VDOT would have that information on the bridge.
Mr. J. D. Puckett, of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors, expressed his appreciation for everyone that attended the meeting in Gretna on August 7, 2008, in support of the Staunton River. He also discussed a letter that was sent to Mayor Campbell in July offering the County’s help to Brookneal in updating the Town’s comprehensive plan. He said that he wanted Altavista, Brookneal, and Campbell County to all work together to update their comprehensive plans. He asked that a formal letter be written and sent to the County if this is what the Town wanted to do. He also suggested that a yearly calendar be set for him and the county administrator to come and speak to the Council on issues going on in the County and for them to be updated on issues going on in the Town. Councilperson Tracy Meisenbach said that horse owners in Campbell County are going to compile a study of equine ownership in Campbell County. She said she would like to be able to present the findings from this study to the Board before the comprehensive plan was finalized.
POLICE REPORT
Chief Cousins said that the American Legion wants to purchase a lockable display case to put in the Community Building. Councilperson Nowlin suggested that the Physical Development Committee look at this and report back to the Council.
Chief Cousins said that since the July 8, 2008, Council meeting, there has been one missing person reported, one person charged with assault and battery, one person charged with DUI, two persons charged with driving with a suspended license, one accident, one charged with failure to secure a load, two reckless driving charges, two charged with no driver’s license, one with no inspection sticker, and 16 traffic tickets written. There was also a shooting in Town at the car wash on August 10, 2008, around 2:30-3:00 a.m. which the county is investigating.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director and Interim Town Manager Mike Crews announced that his department would be flushing fire hydrants on August 27, 28, and 29, 2008. He also announced that the fluoride project at the water treatment plant is up and in full operation.
AMENDMENT TO THE BROOKNEAL FLOODPLAIN ORDINANCE
Upon motion by Kenneth Jennings, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, Council voted to accept the amendment and pass the revised Brookneal floodplain ordinance.
RESOLUTION FOR THE VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEM (VRS)
This resolution was tabled until Interim Town Manager Mike Crews could talk with VRS about some of the verbiage in the resolution.
RESOLUTION FOR THE K-9 UNIT AUTHORIZING SIGNATURES
Be it resolved that motion was made by Tracy Meisenbach, seconded by Stacey Hailey, and passed with a 5-1 vote, to adopt the following resolution along with all the regulation forms for the K-9 unit.
RESOLUTION OF GOVERNING BODY OF
THE TOWN OF BROOKNEAL
The governing body of the Town of Brookneal consisting of 7 members, in a duly called meeting held on the 12th day of August, 2008 at which a quorum was present RESOLVED as follows:
BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that, in order to facilitate obtaining financial assistance from the United States of America, acting by and through the Rural Housing Service, an agency of the United States Department of Agriculture, (the Government) in the development of a K9 police unit to serve the community, the governing body does hereby adopt and abide by the covenants contained in the agreements, documents, and forms required by the Government to be executed.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Mayor and the Interim Town Manager of the Town of Brookneal be authorized to execute on behalf of the Town of Brookneal the above-referenced agreements and to execute such other documents including, but not limited to, debt instruments and security instruments as may be required in obtaining the said financial assistance.
This Resolution, along with a copy of the above-referenced documents, is hereby entered into the permanent minutes of the meetings of this Board.
Town of Brookneal
Attest:
__________________________ By____________________________
C E R T I F I C A T I O N
I hereby certify that the above resolution was duly adopted by the Town Council of the Town of Brookneal in a duly assembled meeting on the 12th day of August, 2008.
_____________________________
Secretary/Clerk
A verbal vote was taken as follows:
Mr. Hailey Aye Mr. Nowlin Aye
Mr. Jean Aye Ms. Meisenbach Aye
Mr. Adams Aye Mr. Jennings Nay
Mayor Campbell Aye
DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION GRANT AWARDS
Upon motion by Kenneth Jennings, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, Council voted to award the following services for the downtown revitalization grant:
Economic restructuring services to Arnett Muldrow & Associates
Engineering services to WW Associates
Architectural services to Frazier & Associates
In addition, the contract for the Local Government Council to administer this grant was also approved in this motion.
PAYMENT FOR ENGINEERING SERVICES FOR THE DESIGN OF THE WATER PROJECT
Upon motion by Tracy Meisenbach, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, Council voted to pay for the engineering services for the USDA water grant project out of the Wachovia money market account. These payments will be made as deemed by WW Associates who are the engineers for the project.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
Vice Mayor Nowlin gave a little information about a meeting the Physical Development Committee held on August 5, 2008, regarding a Landlord/Property Maintenance code. A lot of information was dispersed at the meeting regarding codes the Town already has and some information about state codes. He said that everyone agreed that the codes and ordinances we currently have need to be enforced. There will be another meeting on this issue at a later date.
Councilperson Jean suggested that both committees (Physical Development & Finance and Planning) need to meet on a regular basis.
Councilperson Meisenbach said that she is willing to take stray animals into her shop to hold for the Animal Control officer (Benny David) to pick up when he comes back into town. She said that anyone can bring a stray animal to her, and she will keep it until Mr. David can get to town to pick it up. She said she will also pick up a stray animal if someone will call her and let her know where it is located. She also wanted everyone to think about doing a new Town logo in with the Downtown Revitalization Grant. She felt that the present logo is not reflective of what Brookneal is now.
CLOSED SESSION UNDER VA CODE 2.2-3711 (A)(1)
Upon motion by Stacey Hailey, seconded by Tracy Meisenbach, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to go into closed session under VA Code 2.2-3711 (A)(1) for the purpose of discussing personnel performance evaluations.
CERTIFICATION
Mayor Campbell called for a vote certifying that only those items were discussed as allowed under VA Code Section 2.2-3711 (A)(1) for the purpose of personnel performance evaluations.
Voting was as follows:
Mr. Jean Aye Mr. Nowlin Aye
Mr. Hailey Aye Ms. Meisenbach Aye
Mr. Adams Aye Mr. Jennings Aye
Mayor Campbell Aye
ITEMS FROM COUNCIL
Councilperson Hailey wanted to ask the Interim Town Manager and the Finance and Planning Committee a few questions. He wanted to know when the pay scale and step plan was put into effect. Mayor Campbell said that the pay scale went into effect in July 2007. He also wanted to know if certain employees had received their step raises with the pay scale. Mayor Campbell said that they have received their step raises as they were supposed to.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion from Tracy Meisenbach and seconded by James Nowlin, Mayor Campbell announced that the August 12, 2008, Council meeting was adjourned.
___________________________ ____________________________
Bobbie A. Waller Phyllis L. Campbell
Clerk/Treasurer Mayor
