October 9, 2018
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
Barbara Laprade, Mark Wilkes, Robert Jean, Richard Adams, and Joseph B. David, Jr., Council Members
Richard Baldwin, Chief of Police
Russell Thurston, Town Manager
Mike Crews, Public Works Director
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
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 October 9, 2018, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Council approved the minutes for the September 11, 2018 Town Council meeting.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Campbell asked that the October 2018 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of September 12, 2018 to October 9, 2018, in the amount of $13,456.92.
THOMAS SHORT AND JUSTIN BOMAR, OF THE BROOKNEAL DIXIE YOUTH GIRLS, CONCERNING BROOKNEAL BALLPARK
Thomas Short, field manager at the Dixie Youth softball park, appeared before Council to discuss some of the things that they would like to do down at the ball park and would like for the Council to take these under consideration. He said the ball park has made leaps and bounds from where it was 3 years ago. He said they have a really solid board that works really hard and has a lot of volunteers. He said they have put a lot of dirt on the big field that has helped fight weeds and has eliminated a lot of water on the field. He said the district Dixie softball tournament held in Brookneal last year was a big success. He said they remodeled the concession stand and spent about $5000-$6000 of Dixie softball money on the building. He said one of the projects they have been talking about on the board is the condition of the fence. Mr. Justin Bomar passed out pictures of the fence for the Council members’ perusal. He said that as well as a beautification project, it is also a safety hazard for all the girls that lean up again the fences. He said they have patched the fencing in areas with dog mesh and chicken wire (especially at the dug outs where the girls are warming up), and he said that balls also go through the fencing when the girls are practicing.
He said they have started to get bids on their own for fencing repairs and replacement. He said he has one bid, and he is supposed to get 2 more this week. He said what they are asking for from the Town is a 50/50 split on the cost of the fence. He said they also want to propose that the left field corner be turned into an actual t-ball field with a permanent chain link fence. They have reworked that whole corner, hauled in dirt and put up a temporary fence in this area, but they want a permanent fence for the future. Mr. Short noted that certain areas of the fence are in good shape and are not in need of repair including the backstop area and the fences going down in front of the dugouts. He said some of the fencing needs to be repaired and some needs to be replaced.
After discussion and questions directed to Mr. Bomar and Mr. Short, the consensus of Council was to wait for the other quotes to be received for the fence, see where the Town is as far as finances for this project, refer this to the Physical Development Committee for further review and address this request again at the November Council meeting.
POLICE REPORT
Police Chief Richard Baldwin presented the police report for September 2018. He said of the 53 calls for service, 44 were answered by the Brookneal Police Department.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Mike Crews, Public Works Director said that a lot of preliminary studies had been done on sewer lines over the years; one being done by Hurt and Profitt in 2016. He said that a couple of weeks ago one of the trunk sewer lines collapsed that feeds 2/3 from Lynchburg Avenue, down to Charlotte Street and West Forest Street and comes out on Wickliffe Avenue and runs into Falling River Lagoon. He said he has been getting quotes for repairs and Counts and Dobyns started work on the project; it will take approximately 20 days to complete the repairs. Councilperson Adams asked about prices on repairs, and Mr. Crews said that with all costs it will probably come up to about $100,000.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston said regarding the sewer line collapse that immediate action was taken to get the bypass pumping arranged to go around the crushed line, and he said 2 diesel pumps are running around the clock at the site. Mr. Thurston said the representatives from the broadband company have been working to get their transmitting and receiving equipment on the water towers; he said that they will go through the town with their signal strength meter to get readings from different places in the town to know what the signal strength is. He said they will then do advertising locally to market their product to the Brookneal community for another option for wireless high speed internet.
Mr. Thurston said that he, Ryan, Mike and the office of drinking water field engineer met concerning the fluoride issue. He said that the state regional health department representative is working with Ryan on a grant application for applying for some diagnostic testing materials, some controls concerning the fluoride use, and for some fluoride itself. He said that he would bring a motion to the Council to authorize him to enter into a grant agreement when that is ready to go. He said the Department of Health gentleman was going to come tonight, but he said he told him that Council was on board with the fluoride issue, and there were no problems. He said he may come to the next meeting once he has the grant application ready to go so that Council will know what is going on.
Mr. Thurston said that the County has proposed having a joint dinner meeting between the Campbell County Board of Supervisors, and the Town Councils of Altavista and Brookneal on Tuesday, November 20, 2018 at 6 p.m. at the historic courthouse meeting room in Rustburg. He also said that the annual Region 2000 dinner is October 18, 2018 at 600 Main Street, Lynchburg.
Mr. Thurston said that he is still working with Councilperson Laprade on the lodging initiative. He said that he had contacted the Virginia Department of Tourism for some information, and he said he had tried to talk with the president of the Bank of Charlotte County about some real estate they own that might figure into this project.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
Councilperson Laprade asked that when scheduling committee meetings, that it be taken under consideration the time of the meetings for those who work during daytime hours.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion by Mark Wilkes, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, Mayor Campbell announced that October 9, 2018 Council meeting was adjourned.
