July 14, 2020
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:
James Nowlin, Mayor
Richard Adams, Vice Mayor
Mark Wilkes, Barbara Laprade, Joseph David and Cynthia Johnson, Council Members
Russell Thurston, Town Manager
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Mike Crews, Public Works Director
Richard Baldwin, Chief of Police
Absent: Phyllis Campbell, Council Member
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Mark Wilkes, seconded by Richard Adams, and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the July 14 2020, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Barbara Laprade seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, Council approved the minutes for the May 12, May 28, June 9 and June 18, 2020, Town Council meeting minutes.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Nowlin asked that the June 2020 and July 2020 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by Joseph David, seconded by Cynthia Johnson, and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of May 13, 2020 to June 9, 2020 in the amount of $16,152.44 and payment of the invoices for the period of June 10, 2020 to July 14, 2020 in the amount of $17,832.74.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No one appeared before Council during public comment.
POLICE REPORT
Police Chief Richard Baldwin presented the police report for June 2020. He said of the 70 calls for service last month, 68 were answered by the Brookneal Police Department and 2 by the Campbell County Sheriff’s office. He said someone has been stealing the seats to the swings at the Town ballpark. He said they were also stealing landscape timbers. Councilperson Wilkes said that he went down to the park yesterday, and someone has started tearing up the green slide as well. Councilperson David asked about having a Wi-Fi system with a surveillance camera at the ballpark. Chief Baldwin said the problem is that the ballpark is so out in the open, they can’t find a place to put any cameras. Councilperson Johnson said that there are trail cameras that have cellular service now too. Chief Baldwin said that he is going to work on this and see what solution he can come up with to get a camera installed at the ballpark.
Chief Baldwin said that he, Mr. Thurston and Mr. Crews have been working on some properties in Town (grass cutting, yard cleaning and trash). He said he thought they had been pretty successful so far.
MOTION TO INSTALL SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS AT THE BALLPARK PLAYGROUND
Councilperson David made a motion to spend up to $1,500 to install a surveillance camera system at the ball park to try and catch the criminals vandalizing the playground equipment. The motion was seconded by Mark Wilkes and was unanimously carried.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews said that the water treatment plant has received a bronze award for finished water flow for a Class 3 operation. He said Ryan Deitterick was supposed to go to Salem to receive this award, but due to COVID-19, the water operations award ceremony was cancelled.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston passed out a resolution he drew up to honor Williams Lumber Company for their 115 years of being in business in Brookneal. He asked the Council to review it before the August meeting, vote on it at the August meeting, and present the resolution at the September meeting to the Williams/Lunsford family. He said he would work on the resolution to honor Brookneal Drug for the next meeting in August.
Mr. Thurston said that some local news outlets reported commentary from Frank Ruff and James Edmonds concerning Comcast bringing a major broadband initiative to Brookneal. He said no on in the Town office has heard anything about this. He said he communicated with Frank Ruff and advised him that there are numerous complaints from citizens about the poor Comcast service in the Brookneal area.
He said some trees have been taken down at the community building. He said at this point, he could now check with one of the civic groups in town about a design for landscaping at the community building. He said the Town office is now open to the public.
Mr. Thurston said that number 11 on the agenda tonight was postponed to a later meeting because he needs to send certified letters to the property owner. He said the property owner did not respond to the deadline of June 30, 2020 with a plan of action concerning the property in question at 214 Old Main Street.
Mr. Thurston passed out a copy of the completed lodging feasibility study report to the Council. He said the firm submitting the report does believe that the market could support a lodging establishment. He said they have looked at a lot of local events and businesses to come to this conclusion. He said that there is a little bit of the grant money left that can hopefully go towards a marketing book to pitch the area as a market to potential builders and investors. However, he said there is not enough money allocated to do this. He said that he is going to ask USDA if that money can be re-allocated to cover this marketing pitch book.
REQUEST FOR TRANSFERS OF APPROPRIATION FOR FY20 AND FY21
Upon motion by Joseph David, seconded by Richard Adams, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to approve the following transfers of appropriation for FY20 and FY21.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
There were no committee recommendations.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
Councilperson Mark Wilkes talked about the congested area at the Main Street/Rush Street intersection at Drugstore Grill and Guthrie’s Hardware particularly when cars park on both sides of the street. He said that he has had several citizens say they have almost been in an accident in that area. Mr. Thurston suggested that the issue be given to the Physical Development Committee and come up with a plan of action concerning this area.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion by Mark Wilkes, seconded by Cindy Johnson and unanimously carried, Mayor Nowlin announced that the July 14, 2020 Council meeting was adjourned.
Bobbie A. Waller: Clerk/Treasurer
James Nowlin: Mayor
