June 13, 2017
MINUTES OF THE BROOKNEAL TOWN COUNCIL
7:00 PM – The regular meeting of the Brookneal Town CouncilThe municipal government of the Town of Brookneal met with the following members present:
Phyllis Campbell, Mayor
James Nowlin, Vice Mayor
Richard Adams, Robert Jean, Barbara Laprade (came in at 7:05 after Region 2000 had startedtheir presentation), Mark Wilkes (came in at 8:15 p.m. as meeting was ending), 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 June 13, 2017, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Joseph David, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, Council approved the minutes for the May 9, 2017, Town Council meeting.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Campbell asked that the June 2017 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 May 10, 2017 to June 13, 2017, in the amount of $15,735.31.
PRESENTATION ON THE COMPREHENSIVE PLAN UPDATE BY PHILLIP GABATHULER FROM REGION 2000
Phillip Gabathuler, of the Region 2000, is working on the update to the comprehensive plan. He said he had met with Mr. Thurston to get an idea of what needs to be updated. He said it was last updated in 2012. He said that it is the primary job responsibility of the planning commission across the Commonwealth. He said it is a long range plan; he said he is going to do it out 25 years. He said there are short term, mid-term and long term strategies that assist in doing your budgets in the future and in looking at your capital improvement plan, you will have a basis from this plan to kind of guide you. He said it is a guiding document; it is not a regulatory document like your zoning ordinance is. He said the zoning map and future land use map are components of the comprehensive plan, but it is not something you can take to court like you can the zoning ordinance. He said that included in it is utilities, land use, a housing element, recreation, and a transportation element; it is a wide range of information. He said Virginia state law requires a comprehensive plan; he said a big emphasis is on the transportation element.
He said that it is a good time to re-engage your community. However, he said that it is a task to get people to attend public meetings. He said there will be an economic development chapter in the plan, but it is not meant to be solely related to that. He said the process will include looking at the plan, collecting data pertinent to the plan and updating those numbers, and including traffic conditions from VDOT. He said there will be a public outreach portion, as well an exercise with the planning commission and the Town Council where the strengths and weaknesses of the town are identified; he said they will also look at what has been identified in the old plan and “where do we go from here”. He said that he is going to start working on a survey in July to be distributed to the public, and he said he would be back in August to present that survey. He said that survey would be distributed to the public for about a month. He said that data will be aggregated and presented to the Council, and the Council will have its own exercise to identify strengths and weaknesses of the Town as well as opportunities. He said at the end of the year, goals and objectives will be re-established. He said then an action list will be created to give the comprehensive plan as much “teeth” as possible to give this Council and future Councils an idea of what was important at this point in time. He said early in the 1st quarter of next year a draft will be submitted and later adopted.
Mr. Gabathuler said that surveys will be distributed sometime in August once a strategy of distribution is decided upon. Mayor Campbell pointed out that in order to apply for grants the Town has to have an up-to-date comprehensive plan.
PUBLIC COMMENT
John Vincent, of 205 Cook Avenue, appeared before Council to speak concerning the car show held each year on the 1st Saturday of May. He said 5 years ago he started the car show, and he said at that time in order for Day in the Town to grow it needed to be moved to another date because of so many other events also on that day. He said he is again saying it needs to be a different Saturday in May; he suggested May 19, 2018 since there are no other events in the area that day. He said he really needs to know so he can start planning now for next year’s show. Discussion ensued about a date change for Day in the Town and the car show. There was a consensus that the Town would change the date of Day in the Town to the third Saturday in May, with the 2018 date being May 19, 2018.
POLICE REPORT
Chief Richard Baldwin presented the police report for May 2017. He said of the 101 calls for service, 90 were answered by the Brookneal Police Department. He said the new Tahoe arrived today. He said Fun Float Day is June 24, 2017.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews said that they received a demonstration of a sewer camera on May 26, 2017. He said that they have ordered the camera, and the price came down to $10,106.50 with the discounts. He said that there were no injuries in the house fire that occurred on the morning of May 26, 2017, and the family has been relocated. He said the fire was started by an LP gas lantern that the family was using since their electricity had been turned off.
He said the water quality report will be done differently this year. He said the report will be available online at our website, and copies will be available at the front office; no copies will be mailed. He said there will be a job opening in the maintenance department. He also said the Dixie boys will be hosting the state tournament in July here in Brookneal.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston said that he presented the check for $7,000 that was approved by Council at the May 2017 meeting to the treasurer of the fire department. He said they were very appreciative and asked him to convey this to the Council.
Mr. Thurston said he and Mr. Crews attended a 2 day VDOT work zone safety traffic course. He said they have to have intermediate level certification to conduct some of these special events. He said the Town didn’t have anybody who was a certified intermediate safety coordinator, but now he and Mr. Crews are certified and can teach our employees basic flagging safety for VDOT operations.
He said a citizen at one of our Council meetings was asking about a stop sign on Cook Avenue at the nursing home. He said he talked with Robert Brown at VDOT, and he said since this was a private commercial entrance onto a state maintained road, VDOT would not entertain any kind of traffic control on a private commercial entrance; he said it is not their domain.
He said the Town has had a number of complaints about the trees on Rush Street at the intersection at Lusardi Drive. He said they are planning to do some “heavy” pruning on those trees. He said that Ms. Waller has put together a deal to have the community building painted inside and outside sometime this summer. He said he has received a lot of complaints about Comcast service here in Town, and he has contacted Shantel to see if they would be willing to meet with the Town to be an alternate source for some of these services.
Mr. Thurston said that he is still been working on the railroad issue. He said he has reached out to some of the top management of Norfolk Southern to talk with them about what is going on with this railroad management company. He said he is ready to reach out to the press about this if he does not receive a response from Norfolk Southern.
APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL OF THE 2017/2018 GENERAL FUND BUDGET
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to approve the general fund budget for 2017/2018 as presented and advertised.
APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL OF THE 2017/2018 WATER FUND BUDGET AS PRESENTED AND ADVERTISED
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, the Council approved the 2017/2018 water fund budget as presented and advertised.
APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL OF THE 2017/2018 SEWER FUND BUDGET AS PRESENTED AND ADVERTISED
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, the Council approved the 2017/2018 sewer fund budget as presented and advertised.
APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL OF THE SEWER RATE INCREASE OF $1.00 FOR FY18, FY19, FY20
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to approve the sewer base rate increase of $1.00 for FY18, FY19, and FY20.
APPROVAL/DISAPPROVAL OF THE VEHICLE LICENSE FEE INCREASE FROM $15 TO $25
Upon motion by Joseph David, seconded by Richard Adams, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to approve the vehicle license fee increase from $15 to $25.
REQUEST FOR APPROPRIATION TRANSFERS
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to authorize the following appropriation transfers.
REQUEST FOR TRANSFERS OF APPROPRIATION
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
There were no committee recommendations.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, Mayor Campbell announced that the June 13, 2017, Council meeting was adjourned.
