March 9, 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, Mark Wilkes, Cynthia Johnson and Scott Fisher, Council Members
Russell Thurston, Town Manager
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Mike Crews, Public Works Director
Richard Baldwin, Chief of Police
Absent: Cynthia Johnson, Council Members
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Mark Wilkes, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the March 9, 2021 regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Joseph David seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Council approved the minutes for the February 9, 2021 Physical Development Committee meeting and Town Council meeting.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Nowlin asked that the March 2021 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of February 10, 2021 to March 9, 2021 in the amount of $16,114.38.
PRESENTATION BY R.T. TAYLOR OF DAVENPORT AND COMPANY
Town Manager Russell Thurston introduced Mr. R.T. Taylor of Davenport and Company, who is working to refinance the Town’s current USDA debt related to the water system improvements in 2010. He said that Mr. Taylor works with municipal governments to find ways to restructure or re-fund debt. He said this will benefit the Town by lowering costs of financing these loans. He said Mr. Taylor works with the Virginia Resources Authority (VRA) which is an institution chartered by the Virginia General Assembly to help localities find affordable ways to finance capital improvements.
Mr. Taylor explained that with interest rates so low, he could possibly shorten up the current debt by 9 or 10 years and free up future debt capacity. In addition, he said that he thought he could stay close to the amount of annual payments being made on the current loan. He said VRA’s spring pool application deadline was February 5, and an application on behalf of the Town was submitted by the deadline. He said that the application could be pulled; the Town is not committed at this point and the application can be pulled out in April for the spring pool if that is what the Town wants to do. He said that at this point because of timing it may behoove the Town to defer the application to the VRA summer pool. He said that he is going to dual-track the process to also survey the banks to see if they can get more favorable terms and conditions and lower rates. He said the application deadline for the VRA summer pool is early May and the rates would be locked in in mid-July, but he said if the banks provide what he wants, it could be re-funded a lot earlier.
He said that his company would come back with proposals from the banks and the results from the VRA application by the June 8 Council meeting. He said that if need be, resolutions could be adopted at the June meeting and submitted to VRA by their June 11 deadline. He said that his company wants to get the Town the best rates possible. He asked Council if they were in consensus with his proposal which they agreed they were.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No one appeared before Council during public comment.
POLICE REPORT
Police Chief Richard Baldwin presented the police report for February 2021. He said of the 43 calls for service, 42 were answered by the Brookneal Police Department and 1 by the Campbell County Sheriff’s office. He said that he has signed up for the Drug Take Back Program which will be held on April 24, 2021 from 10 am to 2 p.m. at Food Lion.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews said that spring clean up will be March 22 through April 2, 2021.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston expressed thanks from the Town employees for the bonus they received; Council voted in March to give bonuses to the employees with CARES Act monies that were awarded to the Town from the federal government.
He said the Physical Development Committee met at 6 p.m. tonight and continued to talk about the new policy and practice for issuing the trash cans. He said he has ordered a combined total of 1000 trash cans including 96-gallon cans and 64-gallon cans. He said the supplier will have them here in about 2-3 weeks. He said the tentative startup date is going to be May 1, 2021. He said the physical development committee is planning a field trip on March 24 to a local nursery to look at plants and trees for the community building landscaping project.
He said that he has requested the remaining CARES Act funds of $35,000 from Campbell County; he said this money is supposed to be used to help people who are struggling to pay their water and sewer bills as well as help small businesses with COVID related expenses.
APPROVAL OF THE FY20 AUDIT
Mr. Thurston discussed a little bit about the FY20 audit report. He said despite COVID this past year, the Town’s financial health has remained strong. He said the Town’s revenue over and above what was budgeted was $74,920 or 11.6%. He said actual expenses were 26% higher than budgeted which was due to 2 items, the $125,000 trash truck and the new police vehicle. He said it didn’t mean that the Town didn’t have the money, it just means that when this fiscal year ended, the trash truck had been paid for by the Town but the grant money for the trash truck had not been received yet. He noted on the “compliance and other matters” section that the CPA firm reports that the results of their audit disclosed no instances of non-compliance or other matters that need to be reported under governmental auditing standards.
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Barbara Laprade, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to approve the FY20 audit.
APPROVAL TO PAY OFF THE USDA LOAN FOR THE SANITATION VEHICLE
Upon motion by Richard Adams, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to allow Clerk/Treasurer Ms. Waller to pay off the USDA loan for the sanitation vehicle, at her discretion, hopefully within the next 30 days.
REAPPOINT MEMBERS OF THE BROOKNEAL-CAMPBELL COUNTY AIRPORT AUTHORITY BOARD
Upon motion by Barbara Laprade, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to reappoint Richard Adams, Tony Cihak, and Mary Westling to the Brookneal-Campbell County Airport Authority Board for a 4-year term beginning in 2021. Vice Mayor Adams recused himself from the vote due to his involvement in the board.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
There were no items from Town Council.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion by Barbara Laprade, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Mayor Nowlin announced that the March 9, 2021 Council meeting was adjourned.
Bobbie A. Waller: Clerk/Treasurer
James Nowlin: Mayor
