January 12, 2021
MINUTES OF THE BROOKNEAL TOWN COUNCIL
7:00 PM – The regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the municipal government of the Town of Brookneal met at the Brookneal Community Building, 261 Main Street, so that social distancing could be practiced properly, with the following members present:
James Nowlin, Mayor
Richard Adams, Vice Mayor
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: Mark Wilkes and Scott Fisher, Council Member
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
PUBLIC HEARING TO AMEND 2020/2021 BUDGET TO INCLUDE CARES ACT FUNDING OF $155,700
Mayor Nowlin opened the public hearing at 7:02 p.m. to amend the 2020/2021 budget to include the CARES act funding of $155,700. No one spoke in favor or against this amendment, so Mayor Nowlin closed the public hearing at 7:03 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARING TO ADOPT ORDINANCE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE BONUSES AS AUTHORIZED BY THE CODE OF VIRGINIA 15.2-1508
Mayor Nowlin opened the public hearing at 7:04 p.m. to adopt an ordinance on local government employee bonuses as authorized by the Code of Virginia 15.2-1508. No one spoke in favor of or against adopting this ordinance, so Mayor Nowlin closed the public hearing at 7:05 p.m.
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the January 12, 2021 regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council with the following addition: 1) Appoint Scott Fisher to the F&P Committee.
APPOINT SCOTT FISHER TO THE FINANCE AND PLANNING COMMITTEE
Vice Mayor Richard Adams recommended that new Councilperson Scott Fisher be appointed to fill the vacancy on the Finance and Planning Committee. Consensus from the Council was received to do this.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Joseph David seconded by Barbara Laprade, and unanimously carried, Council approved the minutes for the November 10, 2020 Town Council meeting.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Nowlin asked that the December 2020 and January 2021 treasurer’s reports be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by Joseph David, seconded by Richard Adams, and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of November 10, 2020 to January 12, 2021 in the amount of $85,757.65.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No one appeared before Council during public comment.
POLICE REPORT
Police Chief Richard Baldwin presented the police report for December 2020. He said of the 31 calls for service, 29 were answered by the Brookneal Police Department and 2 by the Campbell County Sheriff’s office.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews updated Council on the rain event November 11 and 12 which flooded the water treatment plant and both the Staunton River and Falling River lagoons. He said that the governor was unable to call this event a natural disaster because the extent of damage was not enough to do so. He thanked the many people who came to lend a helping hand including Frank Rogers and his staff from Campbell County, Charlie Watts, Campbell County Service Authority, Bill Litchford with WEL and David Falwell (contractors that came in and helped with hauling water to keep the Town supplied with water from Friday through Sunday). He said Paul Francis, James Marstin, and David Voss all volunteered that weekend working hard to help out where needed. He said members from Virginia Rural Water Association also came to help as well as the Virginia Department of Health engineer Bernard Proctor who came to make sure all standards were followed correctly. He said cleaning was done, disinfecting complete and 2 BAC-T samples taken on Saturday, November 14, and they had to wait 24 hours until they were given the all clear that the BAC-T samples passed which they did. He said the plant was back 85% operational by Monday, November 16. He said a contractor repaired and remodified all the baffle curtains at the wastewater lagoons this past weekend.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston passed out a proposed schedule for budget meetings for FY22 budget preparation. He said that he renewed the buzzard permit for another year. He thanked Justin Waller at Food Lion for helping out the Town during the flood by arranging to get a couple of tractor trailer loads of bottled water here from the corporate office just in case there was a boiled water notice issued. He said the auditing firm was here last week to work on the FY20 audit.
He said the CARES Act funding deadline has been extended from December 2020 to December 2021. He said that the federal government set aside $191,000 for the Town of Brookneal, but the Town has only requested $155,700 of that amount. He said according to the town attorney, they are going to allow localities to set up funds to help out in the community in different areas as the need arises (such as water bills) so the Town could go back and request the balance of this money. He said he just found this out today, so he does not have a proposal in place yet, but he asked the Council to be thinking about this.
Mr. Thurston said that as a follow up on a parking issue on Main Street/Rush Street, he said that the Town needs to talk with the property owner that this is going to affect. He said Ms. Johnson said that she has a working relationship with Ms. Brenda Short, and she said she would talk with her to make sure she would give up a parking spot or 2 and that she would support this proposal. He specified that there would be no more than 2 parking spots on the right side of Main Street near the intersection of Cook Avenue in front of Guthrie’s Hardware. He said Ms. Pritt should also be consulted about the parking area in front of the Drugstore Grill.
MOTION CONCERNING CARES ACT FUNDING
Upon motion by Barbara Laprade, seconded by Joseph David and unanimously carried, the Council authorized the Town Manager to request up to $155,700 in CARES Act Funding from Campbell County to be used for police salaries, expanding solid waste capacity, personal protective equipment, and improved employee telework capabilities.
MOTION FOR CHRISTMAS BONUSES FOR TOWN EMPLOYEES
Upon motion by Barbara Laprade, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council authorized the treasurer to issue a Christmas check in the net amount of $300.00 to each full-time employee. Ms. Laprade noted that the funds have already been included in the annual budget and the checks shall be issued by December 17, 2020.
APPROVAL TO AMEND 2020/2021 BUDGET TO INCLUDE THE CARES ACT FUNDING OF $155,700
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to revise the current 2020/2021 General Fund Budget to include $155,700 from the Federal Cares Act Funding; this will make the annual general fund budget for 2020/2021 $835,589.00.
ADOPT ORDINANCE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEE BONUSES AS AUTHORIZED BY THE CODE OF VIRGINIA 15.2-1508
Town Manager Russell Thurston explained that with the CARES Act funding, it is new money being added into the budget. He said that is has been customary among other localities that they have taken some of the CARES Act money, and they have assigned a bonus to employees who have continued to work throughout the health crisis. He said that in the event that the Town decides to give bonuses (and he said he was not proposing any bonuses at the moment) from this new money, then there has to be an ordinance in place according to the state law. The ordinance will read as follows:
Chapter 33 Finance
Section 330.03
Local Government Employee Bonuses
Bonuses for employees of the Town of Brookneal. Notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, general or special, the governing body of the Town of Brookneal may provide for payment of monetary bonuses to its officers and employees. The payment of a bonus shall be authorized by this ordinance.
Code of Virginia 15.2-1508 local government employee bonuses
1985, c.142, § 15.1-7.4; 1997, c. 587; 2003, c.204.
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to adopt, as allowed by the Code of Virginia 15.2-1508, Town Ordinance Chapter 33 Finance Section 33.03 Local Government Employee Bonuses.
A verbal vote was taken as follows:
Ms. Laprade Aye
Ms. Johnson Aye
Mr. Adams Aye
Mr. David Aye
Mayor Nowlin Aye
Mr. David asked when bonuses would be discussed. Mr. Thurston suggested discussing this at the 1st budget meeting coming up on February 3, 2021. He said that if another meeting needs to be set up to talk about a bonus only, then that can be done also. Mr. David noted that Campbell County already gave their employees bonuses in December 2020. He wanted to know if it would be possible to get it out in the next week or two. Discussion ensued about the bonus and the logistics of it. Mr. Thurston noted that the CARES act reimbursed the town for payroll for the police department from March 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020. He said this is the money that the Town has already spent, and it is unallocated as of right now; a portion of this money has been used in other localities to provide bonuses to employees who have continued to work during the health crisis. He said it is discretionary money that the Town has, and it is up to the governing body as to how that money is spent. Mr. Thurston said at this point he did not have a recommendation on the amount of a bonus to give employees. Mr. David recommended a $3,000 bonus for the two Town police officers, and $1,500 for all other employees. Vice Mayor Adams suggested getting all bills in and looking at the final tally of all obligations before deciding on a bonus. More discussion ensued about bonuses.
Councilperson David made a motion to give a bonus of $3,000 to the two police officers and $1,500 to all other employees including part time employees. There was no second to the motion, so therefore the motion died. Ms. Johnson noted that she would like to see the numbers before committing to a bonus for employees. Mayor Nowlin suggested letting the committee work on it and come back with a recommendation. Ms. Laprade suggested taking the time to look at everything since no one is out of work, and everyone is currently getting a paycheck. Consensus was that the bonus would be discussed at the February 3, 2021 budget meeting.
SETTING THE MEETING DATES FOR 2021 AND APPROVAL OF TOWN HOLIDAYS FOR 2021
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Cynthia Johnson, the Council approved the meeting dates and town holidays for 2021 as outlined in the report submitted by the Clerk/Treasurer.
REQUEST FOR TRANSFERS OF APPROPRIATIONS
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Cynthia Johnson, and unanimously carried, the Council approved the following transfers of appropriation.
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
There were no committee recommendations.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion by Mark Wilkes, seconded by Cynthia Johnson, and unanimously carried, Mayor Nowlin announced that the July 13, 2021 Council meeting was adjourned.
Bobbie A. Waller: Clerk/Treasurer
James Nowlin: Mayor
