February 8, 2011
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
Robert Jean, Mark Wilkes and Barbara Laprade, Council Members
Mike Crews, Public Works Director
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Ricky Baldwin, Chief of Police
Absent: Tracy Meisenbach and Richard Adams, Council Members
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the February 8, 2011, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council with the following additions: 1) Presentation by Unifirst on uniforms
MINUTES
Upon motion by James Nowlin, seconded by Robert Jean, and unanimously carried, Council approved the January 11, 2011, Town Council meeting minutes.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Campbell asked that the February 2011 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by Robert Jean, seconded by Barbara Laprade, and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of January 12, 2011, to February 8, 2011, in the amount of $12,933.11.
PRESENTATION BY UNIFIRST
Jennings McMann and Lane Delinger appeared before the Council to do a presentation on uniforms for the Town to consider. They presented a packet with a proposal for services including uniforms and housekeeping supplies. Mr. Delinger explained to Councilperson Jean that there were no upfront costs for the uniforms, however, after 90 days; any new employees would have to pay setup costs of $1.00 per item for the emblem and $2.00 per item for the logo and a setup fee for the garment of $1.00 per uniform.
Mr. Delinger said that the uniform package would cost about $5.00 per week per person. Each employee would receive 11 shirts and 11 pairs of pants. Mayor Campbell asked Council to be thinking about providing uniforms for the Town employees.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mayor Campbell said that Vickie Smith has volunteered to chair a committee to work on purchasing new Christmas decorations. Her sister Michelle Elder has also volunteered to help her. Mayor Campbell said that she would like to see a business person, chamber person, and other citizens and Council members join the committee as well.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews said that in addition to the uniform company Unifirst, he has been contacted by several uniform companies. He said that Unifirst requires a 5 year contract, and Cintas only requires a 3 year contract. There was discussion about the cost of the uniforms and whether the Town should cover it or the employee should cover it. When Mr. Crews questioned the employees, some wanted the uniforms and some did not. Vice Mayor Nowlin said that he thought it would be nice if all the employees had uniforms and that the Council should make it accessible for all of the employees. Councilperson Wilkes said that it would make the Town stand out, and it would look professional to have uniforms for the Town employees. He said it represents who they work for, and he felt it was positive for the Town.
Mr. Crews pointed out that in the budget there is a line item for safety equipment. He said that if the Council wants to make the uniforms mandatory, then there is enough money in that line item to cover the uniforms for the employees. Mr. Crews also said that each uniform company tacks on a 5% increase each year.
Mr. Crews said the close out for Phase 1 of the water line project will be done the morning of February 14. The pre-construction meetings for Phase 2 including the water lines down Main and Rush, painting and sandblasting of the water tanks and the streetscape will be held the afternoon of February 14, 2011.
- Public Hearing for Mid-Atlantic Broadband
Mr. Crews said that the Town needs to hold a public hearing concerning the easement for the hut that Mid-Atlantic broadband wants to place at the ball park. Upon motion by James Nowlin, seconded by Barbara Laprade, and unanimously carried, the Council authorized advertisement for a public hearing for the easement for Mid-Atlantic Broadband.
Mr. Crews said that he checked with other localities at the request of the Council to see if the $10.00 check that Mid-Atlantic presented the Town for the easement was customary. He said Amelia County donated the easement for the hut. He said Botetourt County is working on getting their hut put in place. He said Buckingham County allowed the easement for Mid-Atlantic at no cost to the County.
POLICE REPORT
Chief Ricky Baldwin passed out a detailed police report for the month of January 2011. Chief Baldwin said he hoped to transfer the old police car next week to the Vo Tech Center. The Council voted to donate that vehicle to the Vo Tech Center last month at the January 2011 meeting. Chief Baldwin then informed the Council that the Da-Pro system the police department has needs updating to link Campbell County with the Town, so that the Brookneal department can see calls that have come in when they were not working. The Chief said that Da-Pro has developed a program at the cost of $2,000 to link Campbell County with Brookneal. Altavista is getting their system upgraded as well, and Da-Pro offered to split the cost with Altavista and Brookneal at a cost of $1,000 to each. There is also an annual fee of $300 to maintain the program. Chief Baldwin said he found out that Altavista has already paid to have this done, and Chief Hamilton in Altavista is going to request that the Altavista Town Council cover the cost of Brookneal since Brookneal gave the K-9 Ice to Altavista. Chief Baldwin said that he is also using the Links system to help him in his work also. He said that he is “piggybacking” off of Campbell County’s system, so there is no charge for this program. He is also using a program called Mug Shots to help work cases here.
- Campbell County Sheriff’s Office having access to the Brookneal Police Department office
Chief Baldwin also asked the Council about having Campbell County deputies in the area use the police department office on night shifts. He said they would have access to the restrooms and fax machine and be able to sit and have a place to work on some of their reports. He asked how the Council felt about that. Councilperson Robert Jean made a motion to give Chief Baldwin the authority to negotiate with the County the usage of the police department office. The motion received a second from Councilperson Laprade and was unanimously carried.
PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE PERSONNEL MANUAL
The following changes to the personnel manual are being proposed:
1. Section 2-3 Employment Categories—Change number of hours worked from 35 hours to 32 hours for regular part time employees due to VRS regulations regarding retirees only being able to work 80% of a regular 40 hour workweek.
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council
approved the change in section 2-3 of the personnel manual changing the number of hours
worked for regular part time employees from 35 to 32.
2. Section 8-3 Grounds for Action—Upon recommendation of Attorney David Shreve, item #15 is inappropriate and should be removed. Item # 15 states that “Failure to pay just debts due or failure to make reasonable provisions for the future payment of such debts thereby causing annoyance or embarrassment to the Town or superiors”
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council
approved the removal of item #15 from Section 8-3 concerning grounds for action.
DRAFT OF THE DOWNTOWN REVITALIZATION OVERLAY DISTRICT PLAN
Mayor Campbell advised the Council to review the copy of the draft of the downtown
revitalization overlay district plan supplied by Scott Smith of Region 2000. She said that after
Council reviews the plan this month and makes any changes, they will vote in March to have a
public hearing on the issue in April.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
Mayor Campbell said that she contacted Don Austin with VDOT again about the railroad crossing at the stoplight. Mr. Austin told her that everything was still in order to have the railroad crossing fixed. They were just waiting on the railroad.
- Sealed bids for the 1985 trash truck
Councilperson Jean said that the Town still has three garbage trucks; something needs to be done with the oldest one. He said scrap metal is at an all time high. Mr. Crews said that he had a few people interested in the 1985 Ford trash truck. Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council voted for Mr. Crews to advertise for sealed bids for the oldest garbage truck.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
Councilperson Laprade distributed some information on Rural Sourcing. She talked about this information briefly and asked other Council members to review it. She encouraged “overloading” the internet with information on Brookneal, so that when someone “googles” Brookneal, they will see a lot of current information on Brookneal.
Councilperson Wilkes wanted to call attention to the limbs and trees in the way of the intersection of Brooke Street and Cook Avenue. He said that it was hazardous.
Councilperson Laprade noted that on Scott Smith’s downtown report, he indicated that 310 Main Street may not get done in the house rehabilitation portion of the downtown grant. She asked if anything could be done about that. Mayor Campbell said we would have to check with Scott Smith on that issue when he is down on the 15th of February.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion from James Nowlin, seconded by Robert Jean, and unanimously carried, Mayor Campbell announced that the February 8, 2011, Council meeting was adjourned.
___________________________ ____________________________
Bobbie A. Waller Phyllis L. Campbell
Clerk/Treasurer Mayor
