Board of Mayor & Commissioners

MINUTES OF REGULAR SESSION PIPERTON BOARD OF MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS February 18, 2014, 7:00 P.M. The Piperton Board of Mayor and Commissioners met in regular session on February 18, 2014, at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall, with Board members: Mayor Henry Coats, Vice Mayor Hugh Davis, and Commissioner Preston Trotter, present. Commissioner Scott Thomas and Commissioner Mike Binkley were absent. City Manager Steve Steinbach, Finance Director Maria George, City Recorder Beverly Holloway, Public Works Director Terry Parker, Fire Chief Reed Bullock, Police Chief Phil Hendricks, City Engineer Bob Conrad, and City Planner Paul Ryan were also present. Those present in the audience were Butch Rhea, Charles McElwee, David Crislip, Gwen Brown, Jack Murphy, Bret Ford, and Bill Hancock, et al. Agenda item 1. Call to order, establish quorum. Action taken: Mayor Coats called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m., and established that a quorum was present. Agenda item 2. Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag. Action taken: Terry Parker led in the opening Prayer and Vice Mayor Davis led in the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag. Agenda item 3. Any changes to Agenda; Motion to adopt Agenda. Action taken: There were no changes to the Agenda, and Vice Mayor Davis moved to adopt the Agenda, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 4. Any changes to Minutes of January 21, 2014; Motion to adopt Minutes of 1/21/14. Action taken: There were no changes to the Minutes of 1/21/14 and Commissioner Trotter moved to accept the Minutes of January 21, 2014 as written, seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 5. Review/approval of Financial Reports, Building Inspector’s Report, Fireman’s Report and Police Report. Mr. Steinbach stated nothing significant to report from last month’s meeting, cash position continues to grow favorably, sales tax continues to be strong, property tax are on schedule. Mr. Steinbach stated that Tommie Johnson, Building Official, had a previous engagement and was excused for that reason; the report is broken down on a comparative basis due to a request from Commissioner Trotter, the information and data speaks for itself, new construction is down but that is due to the severe winter, remodels are also up. Police Chief Hendricks stated during the month of January; the reserve officers contributed 21 hours, there were 56 dispatched calls, 4 vehicle crashes, 5 incidents reports, 1 arrest, and the Fire Department was able to certify the officers in CPR. Mayor Coats inquired about the Builders Inspection Report, on the blithe issue being resolved and to the point where the City can move forward on this. 1  Mr. Steinbach stated the City Attorney is opined that staff legally has the means to proceed assuming a favorable Budget Amendment support this evening; there will be funds in place to initiate the process. Fire Chief Bullock stated January was very busy and a record month, 28 calls, 6 calls were outside of the City, 1 call was a major fire on Jenkins, which assisted the County. Action taken: Vice Mayor Davis moved to accept all reports, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 6. Recess; hold Public Hearing concerning Ordinance 234-14, Second Amendment to 2013-14 Municipal Budget. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to recess, seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Mr. Steinbach stated this is the second reading and Public Hearing regarding the second amendment to the fiscal year 2014 Budget, there are several sections to this, and the exhibits are presented in the packet; Exhibit A addresses items in the General Fund, Exhibit B the Drug Fund, Exhibit C the Water Fund, and Exhibit D the Sewer Fund, with regard to the General Fund which is the bulk of the items, a lot of these are housekeeping items, the explanations for each of the 28 amended budget items are there, these deal with everything from recognizing revenues that were realized from the sale of police vehicles, donations, MCR payment in lieu of taxes which currently has a pilot with another year remaining on that at least local, most substantive items are part of the General Fund budget that impacts the bottom line and some of these are from fund appropriations or the Board’s approval of the contribution for the Charter School process and continued application process that is reflected here, essentially what the Board determined it wanted to do and directed staff accordingly was to use the balance of the approved $10,000.00 as part of the fiscal year budget for legal expenses and combined that with new appropriation of $15,000.00 for a contribution of $22,000.00, the budget amendment for the General Fund also recognizes the addition of a Planner position that is being manned by Paul Ryan and adjustments to salaries for that, additions for Building and Code, materials staff are going to be changing the City’s code this year and have appropriated monies for condemnation, clean up and various code compliances, the Drug Fund recognizing the receipt of revenue for the sale of the Durango and administrative charges related to the sale of that vehicle, the Water Fund staff amended the FICA portions for the Christmas bonus for employees whose salaries are paid on a percentage basis out of our enterprise funds, the Sewer Fund again the FICA adjustment for Christmas bonus for our utility employees, a transfer from a line item for a $1000.00 to be utilized for the auditor for additional services. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to reconvene, seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 7. Second reading, Ordinance 234-14, Second Amendment to 2013-14 Municipal Budget. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to approve Ordinance 234-14, Second Amendment to the Budget on second reading, seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 8. Recess; hold Public Hearing concerning Ordinance 233-14, requiring Knox Boxes at new commercial buildings. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to recess, seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Fire Chief Bullock stated this was originally presented to have any new commercial structures required to install a Knox Box which is a 4 x 5 steel box that only the Fire 2 Department has a key to, the business would place a key inside that gives access to the property during off hours preventing damage to the building, the original Ordinance had ask that this be for any new construction, any existing construction coming back before the Planning Commissioners for remodel and retro the ones with sprinklers, Chief Bullock has since dropped the request for the retro on the ones with sprinklers but aside from that everything else is the same. Action taken: Vice Mayor Davis moved to reconvene, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 9. Second reading, Ordinance 233-14, requiring Knox Boxes at new commercial buildings. Action taken: Vice Mayor Davis moved to approve Ordinance 233-14, An Ordinance to Amend Title 20 of the Piperton Municipal Code to require Knox Boxes at new commercial building and existing commercial buildings with improvements requiring Planning Board approval, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 10: First reading, Ordinance 235-14, Repealing Ordinance 177-10 and Ordinance 202-11 in their entirety, establishing residential and small commercial garbage and yard waste collection and disposal service for the City of Piperton and setting fees for such service. Mr. Steinbach stated this Ordinance is prepared to establish a new fee structure, in January the City sought bids for residential, small commercial garbage and yard waste disposal services; there were two vendors that provided bids and the Board selected Waste Connections of Tennessee, Waste Connections has tendered a contract that staff is reviewing currently, the negotiated items of that contract relate to penalty clauses, the term of the agreement, the nature and manner in which the rate structure would be adjusted for price index increases and fuel cost, the bid fee is not subject to negotiation, that remains what the Board has approved, in recognition of that in order to ensure a smooth transit from the current vendor to Waste Connections the rate structure needs to be established and this Ordinance provides for that, this Ordinance effectively repeals the current rate structures and establishes new rate structures that staff is proposing on the attached Exhibit A; essentially the residential solid waste and yard waste collection is being proposed at a rate of $17.00 a month compared to $20.00 a month, staff is sending out correspondence from the Mayor detailing the changes, additional carts are $3.50 a month for both the residential garbage deposal service and the yard waste which is similar to before, new to our service is the ability for residents to provide additional bagged yard waste, the vendor is proposing to collect those at a cost of .60 cents per bag, that is all yard waste that is not put within the cart that is designated for that purpose, and additionally have rates for small commercial collection for both garbage and yard waste collection. Action taken: Vice Mayor Davis moved to approve Ordinance 235-14 on first reading, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda Item 11: Resolution 14-161, Resolution for Proposed Annexation of approximately 86.488 acres of the Southeast Piperton Annexation area in Fayette County, Tennessee. Mr. Ryan stated the City has received written request from three property owners for annexation into Piperton, this area is located adjacent to the southeast corner of the current City limits, because these are outside of the urban growth boundary the only way to annex this is by referendum; the propose of this Resolution is to request that Fayette County Election Commission hold a referendum on the requested annexation, staff’s recommendation that the election be held for qualified voters within the annexed area, staff 3 spoke with the Election Commission, if proceeding with this as soon as possible as opposed to waiting until the August primary, which is what the Election Commission suggested, the cost of the election would be somewhere between $4,000.00 and $5,000.00 but if waiting until the August or the November election there would be no charge, staff assumes the cost would be absorbed by the property owners. Mr. Steinbach stated that is a conversation that needs to be held by those who are asking to be annexed. Mr. Ryan stated that if the owners choose to pay for the election it could be held as early as April otherwise it would have to wait until the August primary or the November General Election, and once the Resolution is passed and once staff resolves when the election will occur and who will pay for it, a letter has to be sent to the Election Commission requesting the election and it must be published in a publication, this gives staff the authority to request the election. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to approve Resolution 14-161 with the stipulation that the Board assumes the Election would be held at the General Election with no cost to the City or if the property owners want to do it sooner that they would pay for the cost, seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 12: Resolution 14-160, adopting a Plan of Service for Annexation of approximately 86.488 acres know as the Southeast Piperton Annexation area owned by Jane M. Hatcher, Linda M. Smiley and William Adair (Co-owner) with Jane M. Hatcher (Trustee), in Fayette County, Tennessee by the City of Piperton. Mr. Ryan stated that State law requires that a Plan of Service be prepared and approved on the area to be annexed, so the Plan of Service is incorporated into this Resolution to describe services to be provided into the annexed area and for the most part it states that services will be provided in accordance with current City policies; the only exception is the water service and sanitary service; the plan calls for each extension of those services to be at the expense of the property owners, the Plan of Services was reviewed and recommended by the Planning Commission at their meeting earlier this month on February 11th for approval. Action taken: Vice Mayor Davis moved to adopt Resolution 14-160, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 13. Discussion regarding Mississippi TDOT Agreement, widening US 72. Mayor Coats stated by signing this agreement there is a small section of Cayce Road that will be the City of Piperton’s responsibility for paving and the maintenance of the street lights; however that gives Piperton another intersection for commercial property and will have a signal there so that will be a prime commercial location and should bring in more taxes than the City would have to pay out on any road improvements and calculating the road improvements once it goes down to TDOT standards it will probably be 8 or 10 years before there is any improvements that have to be made or re-asphalting and by that time the City will far exceed in tax revenue what it would cost the City to maintain the road, so the Mayor is ready to sign the agreement. Mr. McElwee inquired why Cayce Road is being realigned. Mayor Coats stated that it was a discussion between William Adair, MDOT and TDOT and they was decided it was best for the interchange to bring Cayce Road into Tennessee and it is actually good for Piperton because it gives the City the three corners that will be in Tennessee now where it wouldn’t have been otherwise. Commissioner Trotter stated it makes one less intersection in that short distance there because there will be another road heading north. 4  Mayor Coats stated eventually the City will have a Cayce Road intersection and Hwy 196 is going to be extended also so that will eventually be signalized, so that will set up again for commercial businesses there. Mr. Conrad, City Engineer stated it will square up the intersection which right now is at an awkward angle. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to authorize acceptance of this agreement, seconded by Vice Mayor Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 14. Any other old/new business, questions or matters from the audience. Mr. Hancock stated he was at the fire this morning and was proud of the Fire Department, they did a bang up job on that. Agenda item 15. Adjournment. Action taken: Vice Mayor Davis moved for adjournment, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes and the meeting was adjourned at 7:31 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beverly Holloway, City Recorder Approved: _________________________________date:______________________ 5