September 9, 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, Robert Jean, Mark Wilkes, Barbara Laprade, and Joseph B. David, Jr., Council Members
Russell Thurston, Town Manager
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Mike Crews, Public Works Director
Richard Baldwin, Chief of Police
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Richard Adams, and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the September 9, 2014, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Barbara Laprade, and unanimously carried, Council approved the August 12, 2014, Town Council meeting minutes.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Campbell then asked that the September 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 Richard Adams, and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of August 13, 2014 to September 9, 2014, in the amount of $21,351.76.
REQUEST FOR THE COMMUNITY BUILDING
Councilperson David said that Brookneal officially has a Boy Scout troupe, troupe 181, and that they would like to continue using the community building. He said they meet every 2 weeks, on Sundays at 4 p.m. Upon motion by James Nowlin, seconded by Richard Adams, and unanimously carried, the Council authorized the use of the community building by the Boys Scouts on a biweekly basis at no charge. Clerk/Treasurer Bobbie Waller said that Hat Creek Baptist Church wants to use the building for a clothes giveaway from 9 am to 2 pm on a Saturday morning. Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes, the Council approved the use of the community building by Hat Creek Baptist Church on a Saturday morning at no charge.
PUBLIC COMMENT
J. D. Puckett, Brookneal Representative on the Campbell County Board of Supervisors, said that Mr. Frank Rogers has been hired as the new Campbell County Administrator. Mr. Puckett said that it is important that everyone that can attend the joint meeting of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors and the Campbell County School Board on October 21. He said that there is a workshop that morning and then that afternoon, they will talk about the schools. He said he would have more definite times for the October Town Council meeting. He said the Town’s support is going to mean a lot at this meeting.
POLICE REPORT
Chief Richard Baldwin presented the police report for August 2014. He said of the 108 calls for service in August, 94 were answered by the Brookneal Police Department.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews said that the Ford tractor has been repaired as of yesterday so that they can catch up on bush hogging work. He said he received the results back from water samples on the TTHMs and HAA5s, and the results showed that the Town was in compliance. He said that the new fluoride equipment was installed on August 25, and the water plant started putting fluoride back into the finished water on September 8, 2014.
Councilperson Laprade asked what the policy was on communicating with the fire department any issues with fire hydrants. Mr. Crews said that there are some that are offline and a couple that due to a water leak are bypassed and closed off. He said a couple of guys from the fire department went around and bagged some fire hydrants that are actually working, and he did not know why they did that. He said that they can contact him at any time for more information on the hydrants. Councilperson Laprade said that some of the fire department members were concerned that if there was a problem with some hydrants, they would be wasting time in an emergency not knowing which ones were not working. Councilperson Jean said that he had a fireman approach him about getting a schedule as to when the Town would be working on what hydrants. Mr. Crews said he mentioned to the young men with the fire department checking the hydrants that they should not open up the hydrants without checking with the Town because they could pull the water system down and cause discolored water for some of the customers. Ms. Laprade suggested that the fire department should also have some guidelines from the town as well as the Town giving information to the fire department.
After much discussion about the fire hydrants, Councilperson Jean made a motion that the Town Manager communicate with the fire department that the Town would like to be notified of anything they need to do with the fire hydrants and in turn the Town would notify the fire department if the town is doing something with the fire hydrants. The motion received a second from Joseph B. David, Jr., and was unanimously carried.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston told the Council that the audit has been taking place and the auditors have been here, and they will continue to work on the audit report. He said that he noticed that we were down in almost every revenue account except two; however, he thought we did come out on the plus side overall.
Clerk/Treasurer Bobbie Waller informed the Council that the online bill pay system is up and running.
Mr. Thurston said that he has been working on sending out certified letters on ordinance violations. He said that by the end of the year, he would like to have the two ordinances passed that were presented at last meeting. They included the ordinance concerning littering and the ordinance concerning meth labs. Mr. Thurston noted that once this ordinance is passed that citizens can report someone littering as long as they have a license plate number, and vehicle description; a summons will be issued for that person through the magistrate’s office.
Mr. Thurston passed out a survey he has put together concerning the schools. He said that nobody has asked the people what they want concerning the school situation. He said that he is willing to get these surveys distributed and to collect the data. Consensus was to get the surveys distributed and work with the newspaper to get these out to the public.
Mr. Puckett noted that he hoped to have some numbers on the Brookneal water line project by September 23. He said DEQ was not going to pick up sponsorship of the project until they finish with a project they are presently working on; he said he hoped that project would be finished by the 1st of the year.
Mr. Thurston said that he is looking at 1 of 3 weekends in October to complete the handicap ramp at the community building. He is waiting for the church groups that are volunteering to decide on a definite date. Vice Mayor Nowlin asked about the possibility of a handicap parking space in front of the 246 The Main. Mr. Thurston said he would work on that.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
There were no committee recommendations.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
There were no items from Town Council.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion from Barbara Laprade, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Mayor Campbell announced that the September 9, 2014, meeting was adjourned.
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Bobbie A. Waller Phyllis L. Campbell
Clerk/Treasurer Mayor
