April 8, 2014
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, Joseph B. David, Jr., Barbara Laprade, and Mark Wilkes, Council Members
Russell Thurston, Town Manager
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Mike Crews, Public Works Director
Richard Baldwin, Chief of Police
Absent: Robert Jean (due to illness)
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Joseph B. David, Jr., and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the April 8, 2014, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council with the following addition: 1) Vote to advertise for a public hearing a $1.00 increase in the sewer base rate for FY15 & FY16
MINUTES
Upon motion by James Nowlin, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Council approved the March 11, 2014, Town Council meeting minutes.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Campbell asked that the April 2014 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by James Nowlin, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of March 12, 2014 to April 8, 2014, in the amount of $22,142.70.
CC USA WATER LINE PROJECT
Frank Davis of CC USA appeared before Council to discuss the possibility of a water line from Brookneal to Naruna. He started with a background of the project. He said that the county built a well system in Naruna about 18 years ago for the Georgia Pacific plant, but he said that they noticed last year after a few years of extended drought the well levels were starting to drop a little bit. He said they were starting to look for an alternative source. He said they starting talking to Russell Thurston and Mike Crews, and they received a warm reception on the idea of a water line from Brookneal to Naruna. He said after a few meetings, they decided an engineering study would be the next logical thing to do. He said at the February meeting, the CC USA board decided to do that, and they hired Hurt & Profitt to perform that study. He said that this is at no cost to the Town of Brookneal. He said his vision would be to put in a master meter at the end of the existing line at Brookneal Chips to measure the amount of water bought from the Town. He said a small pumping station would need to be built, but they would still be utilizing the Naruna tank for storage. He said they would take the well system off line, but still utilize the storage system at Naruna. He said the cost of building the pump station as well as the maintenance on it would belong to CC USA. He said the engineering study will take about 60 days to complete, so he hopes sometime in June he would have some hard and fast numbers available. He said there are a few different sources of potential funding on this project. He said that once the engineering study is complete, all the stakeholders can sit down at that point and find out how much funding is available to build a line.
He said that he would like for the Town to consider selling the water to CC USA at a bulk rate so the economics would work out on the project. He said they have similar arrangements with the Town of Appomattox and the Town of Altavista, so he thought that could be worked out.
Mr. Davis speculated that it could take 18 months to 2 years to complete the project. Mr. Thurston emphasized that this was a good economic development potential.
Mr. Cliff Tweedy, Assistant County Administrator from Campbell County, made a few comments. He said that Mr. J. D. Puckett is the liaison between the Board of Supervisors and CC USA. He said that maybe down the road the Town could explore enhanced cooperation with CC USA as far as with utilities and some management opportunities.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Mrs. Iris Guthrie, of East Forest Street, Brookneal, appeared before Council to comment about the state of the town cemetery. She said that it is in a mess with lots of leaves and sticks. She said the entrance to the cemetery from West Forest Street is terrible. She said there are piles and piles of dirt that are an eyesore. She said that it would be nice to have black top roads into the cemetery as well.
Michael Monroe, of Goods Times, wanted to introduce his partners in Good Times, Danielle and Jody Young to the Council. He said they will start serving “prepared” food at Good Times soon, and they have applied for their ABC license to sell beer and wine only.
POLICE REPORT
Chief Ricky Baldwin presented the police report to the Council for March 2014. He said of the 97 calls for service in March, 83 calls were answered by the Brookneal Police Department. Chief Baldwin said he was again going to participate in the drug take back program. He will be collecting these items on April 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Food Lion.
Chief Baldwin said he talked to some of the individuals that were down at the basketball goals at the Town Park last week. He said he told them that the Town was receiving complaints about individuals at the basketball goals and that the goals would be taken down if they kept receiving complaints.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews said that the Boys and Girls Dixie Youth baseball and softball opening ceremonies will be April 12, 2014. He said the public works department had an inspection from DEQ the previous Wednesday. He also said that town employee James Smith would not be returning to work for the Town, so he would be advertising for a team leader position.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston said that the 2nd annual Business Expo was held on April 5, 2014. He said they did not really have a good amount of attendees from the public. He said that the Chamber is considering moving this event to the same day as Day in the Town. He said they really want the vendors to do well for the time and money they invest.
He said the VDOT Phase 3 project is still inching forward. He said they are waiting on federal funding approval and then it can be advertised for construction bid. He said the inmate worker program is coming along, and he plans to schedule a day to have them here in about 2 weeks.
He said that he has signed an agreement with a provider to provide online bill pay. He said that they have to coordinate our billing software with their bill pay software.
He said a budget presentation was done at the committee meeting at 5:30, and a balanced budget was presented. He said it calls for no increases in personal property, real estate and meals tax rates. He said the only new fee added is a $10 scrap metal permit fee.
MOTION TO ADVERTISE CONSTRUCTION BID FOR PHASE 3 OF THE STREETSCAPE IMPROVEMENT PROJECT
Upon motion by James Nowlin, seconded by Joseph B. David, Jr., and unanimously carried, the Council voted to advertise for the construction bid for Phase 3 of the streetscape improvement project.
RECOMMENDATION TO ADVERTISE FOR PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE FY14/15 BUDGET ALONG WITH THE PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX RELIEF ACT FOR 2014
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Joseph B. David, Jr., and unanimously carried, the Council voted to advertise for a public hearing for the FY14-15 general fund budget on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to advertise for a public hearing for the FY 14-15 water fund budget on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to advertise for a public hearing for the FY 14-15 sewer fund budget on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Joseph B. David, Jr., and unanimously carried, the Council voted to advertise for a public hearing for the 2014 Personal Property Tax Relief Act on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 7:00 p.m.
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to advertise for a public hearing for a $1.00 increase in the base rate to the sewer fee for FY15 and FY16. This public hearing will be held on Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. as well.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
There were no committee recommendations.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
Councilperson David said he had received a complaint about all the trash littering the Town. He said that he felt it was everyone’s Town, and he felt that everyone should pick up trash to make the Town look better. He said that since it was spring cleanup until April 18, could we put something in the paper to ask people to come out and clean up the Town. Councilperson Wilkes said he was having a cleanup day in his neighborhood on Saturday, April 19, 2014. He said they would clean up Cook Avenue, Church Street, Third Street, and Brooke Street, and have a cookout afterward for the participants.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion from Mark Wilkes, seconded by Richard Adams, and unanimously carried, Mayor Campbell announced that the April 8, 2014, meeting was adjourned.
___________________________ ____________________________
Bobbie A. Waller Phyllis L. Campbell
Clerk/Treasurer Mayor
