May 10, 2022
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:
Richard Adams, Mayor
Mark Wilkes, Vice Mayor
Barbara Laprade, Joseph David, Cynthia Johnson, Scott Fisher and Conner Francis, Council Members
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Russell Thurston, Town Manager
Mike Crews, Public Works Director
Richard Baldwin, Chief of Police
PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE GENERAL FUND BUDGET
Mayor Adams opened the public hearing for the general fund budget at 7:00 p.m. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the general fund budget; therefore, Mayor Adams closed the public hearing at 7:01 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE WATER FUND BUDGET
Mayor Adams opened the public hearing for the water fund budget at 7:02 p.m. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the water fund budget; therefore, Mayor Adams closed the public hearing at 7:02 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE SEWER FUND BUDGET
Mayor Adams opened the public hearing for the sewer fund budget at 7:02 p.m. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the sewer fund budget; therefore, Mayor Adams closed the public hearing at 7:03 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE MEALS TAX INCREASE FROM 5% TO 6.5%
Mayor Adams opened the public hearing at 7:03 p.m. for the proposed increase in the meals tax from 5% to 6.5%.
Mr. Tom Keefer, owner of Burgers, Shakes & Creams spoke in opposition to the meals tax increase from 5% to 6.5%. He said that he was here about 18 years ago when the meals tax was instituted at 5%. He said you pay 4% in Campbell County. He said he thought Brookneal has been taxed enough on the meals tax. He said the consumer knows what they are paying for, and people come in his restaurant asking about what they are taxed. He said that he is having to raise his price to offset labor as well as the increase in the price of food, so he felt like Brookneal is going to get that 1% off of that increase anyway. He said Burgers, Shakes & Cream and Tastee Freeze has been around 40 years; they survived the industrial shutdown losing Bassett Walker, Thomasville, and Dan River. He said he survived Covid, and he is currently having problem finding help. He said he felt a 1.5% increase was steep. Mr. Keefer said that even though he is increasing his prices, he is trying to find ways to save money as well with the installation of LED lighting in his restaurant. He said the proposed increase is going to hurt. He said he is against the increase all together and 1.5% is ridiculous.
No one else spoke concerning the meals tax increase, so Mayor Adams closed the public hearing at 7:14 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PROPOSED $0.27 PER PACK CIGARETTE TAX ORDINANCE
Mayor Adams opened the public hearing at 7:14 p.m. for the proposed $0.27 per pack cigarette tax ordinance. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the cigarette tax ordinance; therefore, Mayor Adams closed the public hearing at 7:15 p.m.
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Barbara Laprade, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the May 10, 2022, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Mark Wilkes seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, Council approved the minutes for the April 12, 2022, Town Council meeting and the minutes for the April 22, 2022 physical development committee meeting.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Adams asked that the May 2022 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by Conner Francis, seconded by Scott Fisher, and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of April 13, 2022 through May 10, 2022, in the amount of $32,549.69.
PUBLIC COMMENT
No one appeared before Council for public comment.
POLICE REPORT
Police Chief Richard Baldwin presented the police report for April 2022. He said of the 184 calls for service, 172 were answered by the Brookneal police department and 12 by the Campbell County Sheriff’s office. He said there was a vehicle shot into on Church Street a couple of weeks ago, and he said there is an indictment for 2 people coming soon on that. He said the striped bass tournament went really well on April 22-24, 2022. e He said there are 10-12 indictments to go before the grand jury soon on drug and gun charges, mostly he noted done by Officer Tanner.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews said the 2020 Freightliner sanitation vehicle has been in the shop waiting on a CPC module from China, and as of right now, the dealership has no idea when they will get the part. He said he had checked to see if he could get a loaner vehicle, but he said there are none available. He said that a crew will be doing a meter assessment this month with his workers when they read water meters on the 19th and 20th.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston told the Council that Larry Broggins’ retirement with 45 years of service was recognized with a luncheon and some gifts for him in April. Mr. Thurston said that he and Mrs. Waller had worked on some complicated reports for the American Rescue Plan Act. He said that he and Mr. Crews will be working with the USDA on a security assessment and vulnerability study for the waterworks in the Town of Brookneal. He said he has discussed the need for drilling some underground wells to supplement the water treatment plant. He noted on November 13, 2020, the Town suffered losses of $250,000, some of it not covered by insurance, due to a flood. He said in order to dig the underground wells, a geological study costing $35,000 needs to be performed by a geologist. He said this study would be covered by a grant, and the study will be start by looking at town owned property first. He said this could save the Town some money by possibly cutting down the operation of the water plant from 7 days to 5 days supplementing with the wells if needed the other 2 days. Mr. Thurston said the cost of chemicals to treat the water has doubled. He said they have hired a firm to come to Brookneal and inspect the water tower behind the Town office. He said that they have someone helping them to work on the underground valves on the water tower because once the water goes in, it won’t come out. He said they are studying the system to find a solution to getting the underground valves working. He said that he, Ms. Laprade, and Chief Baldwin have been working on replacing Mr. Baldwin as the police chief. He said he and Ms. Laprade have been working on the hotel project as well. He said he has written the cigarette tax ordinance, and it has been reviewed by the town attorney and returned to him. He said he is working with the county economic development director on improving the boat landing with a covered pavilion and picnic tables; the county feels like they would like to invest some money in Brookneal. They might also help us with some grant money for the boat landing. He said he has worked on the dumpster usage down here behind Town Hall. He said they are looking at that to see if it could help reduce costs of solid waste collection.
Mr. Thurston said he has issued multiple zoning violations and ordinance violations through certified mail to address some of the issues that the Council has been talking about. He said that is the first step that needs to be taken, and hopefully these issues will be taken care of without further measures from the Town.
REQUEST FOR TRANSFERS OF APPROPRIATION
Upon motion by Mark Wilkes, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to approve the following transfers of appropriation.
CLOSED SESSION UNDER VA CODE SECTION 2.2-3711 (A) (1) FOR THE PURPOSE OF DISCUSSING MATTERS RELATED TO PERSONNEL
Upon motion by Conner Francis, seconded by Barbara Laprade, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to convene in closed session, pursuant to VA Code Section 2.2-3711 (A)(1) for the purpose of discussing matters related to personnel.
CERTIFICATION
Mayor Adams called for a vote certifying that only those items were discussed as allowed under VA Code Section 2.2-3711 (A)(1) for the purpose of discussing matters related to personnel.
Voting was as follows:
Ms. Laprade Aye
Ms. Johnson Aye
Mr. Fisher Aye
Mr. Wilkes Aye
Mr. David Aye
Mr. Francis Aye
Mayor Adams Aye
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
Vice Mayor Mark Wilkes said that chickens were getting to be a very bad problem in the Town. He said that his physical development committee met to discuss this a couple of weeks ago, and their recommendation on this was to send out violation letters and increase the fine for violating the zoning ordinance from $10 per day to $25 per day. Mr. Thurston passed out a copy of the notice of violation letters that were mailed to offenders this week. He said if offenders don’t respond to the first letter, then he will take it to the next level. Mr. Thurston noted that if citizens are looking at town ordinances saying it is not in the Town code that I can’t have this (chicken, ducks, geese, pigs), they are not going to find it. He said all zoning laws are written to include what are called “permitted uses”; you will find a list of things you are “permitted” to do, not what you are not permitted to do.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
Councilperson Laprade said the hotel project has been revived. She said she met with potential investors and business owners on May 9, 2022. She said she spoke with a representative from Cobblestone Hotels, and they provided a PowerPoint presentation that was shown at that meeting. She said Cobblestone provides guidance through the process. She said a representative will be here for a meeting on June 20, 2022 at 4 p.m. She said the Brookneal Alliance met on May 9 at 6 p.m. She said a suggestion was made to issue a newsletter twice per year to promote communication with the citizens; the Council could address issues and give information in this newsletter as well as anything else the alliance wants to address. She said the alliance would solicit ads from businesses to pay for the newsletter. She asked the Council if that would be something that could be done. She said that the alliance would probably write the newsletter, but the Town would be able to review the letter before it was finalized. Consensus was that this would be okay.
Councilperson David suggested checking into the old radio station property near the boat landing to see if the owner would sell that; he said that combined with the Town’s land could make a nice campground.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion by Cynthia Johnson, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Mayor Adams announced that the May 10, 2022, Council meeting was adjourned.
Bobbie A. Waller: Clerk/Treasurer
Richard Adams: Mayor
