Board of Mayor & Commissioners

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE PIPERTON BOARD OF MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS May 17, 2022, 6:00 P.M. The Piperton Board of Mayor and Commissioners met in regular session on May 17, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, with Board members: Mayor Henry Coats, Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley, Commissioner Preston Trotter, Commissioner David Crislip and Commissioner Hugh Davis present. City Manager Steve Steinbach, Police Chief Phil Hendricks, Fire Chief Reed Bullock, Finance Director Maria George, Public Works Director Richard Mills, Building Official Elizabeth Reed, City Engineer Harvey Matheny and City Recorder Beverly Holloway were present. Vicki Hancock, William Meacham, Liz McCommon, Susan Kirkpatrick, Letha Granberry, Michael Nicholson, Will Hays, Beth Gallagher, Jim Rice, David Baker (Fisher Arnold), and et al were present in the audience. City Planner Brett Morgan was absent. Agenda item 1. Call to order, establish quorum Action taken: Mayor Henry Coats called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m., and established that a quorum was present. Agenda item 2. Prayer and Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag Action taken: Ms. Liz McCommon led in the opening Prayer and Mayor Coats 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, Commissioner Preston Trotter moved to adopt the agenda, seconded by Commissioner David Crislip. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 4. Any changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of April 19, 2022: Motion to adopt the Minutes of the Regular Session of April 19, 2022 Action taken: There were no changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of April 19, 2022, Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley moved to adopt the Minutes of the Regular Session of April 19, 2022, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 5. Review/approval of Financial Reports, Building Inspector’s Report, Public Works Report, Fireman’s Report and Police Report City Manager Steve Steinbach stated we are two months from concluding fiscal year 2022, fund balances continue to remain strong across the board, our focus is making sure we cross the finish line with as minimal disruption as possible and continue to build our cash savings. Building Official Elizabeth Reed stated during the month of April, we still have 67 active new single family dwellings under construction, issued 0 permit for new single dwellings, issued 30 total building permits, there was a correction for the total number of inspections we actually conducted 186 inspections, and handled 24 code compliance issues with the majority being signs and the usual grass and mud in the streets. Public Works Director Richard Mills stated the wastewater treatment plant is still under review, Shaws Creek drainage project has started with the addition of inlets at the end of Stirling Cove, hopes to begin Kirkhill next month, we have a tentative schedule for the Piper House from Sprit Architect to receive drawings of the house for review and comments with plans to advertise for bids on June 3rd, June 15th we will have a pre-bid meeting at the house with potential bidders, and then on June 20th open the bids and bring it before the Board in July. On May 10th, we bid out to cut down and remove about 14 trees from the Piper property for the new parking 1 area, we received a total of three bids with Mister Tree being the lowest at $16,850.00 and it is my recommendation that we award the bid to Mister Tree and would like to receive approval from the Board to precede. The sewer flow to Rossville was 1.3 million gallons, an average of 45,488 a day and that is 56.86% of our allotted 80,000 gallons a day per the contract. There were 78 completed work orders for the month of April with 4 still pending, there were 2 after hour call and 117 Tn 811 locates. Gipson Paving started paving today on Mann Drive, they have got it milled down and some asphalt has been put back in it and was told late this afternoon that Blue Gray and Blue Gray Circle started on that but must have run out of time because they didn’t put asphalt back in the hole and it is a deep hole so I have sent some guys to place cones to make it visible for the residents so they will avoid it and I will contact Gipson Paving tomorrow regarding this, and Gipson Paving hopes to be done in about 2 weeks. TDOT has started on Hwy 196 south of Russell replacing a culvert which has been completed and they are moving just south of Keough at Green Trees Cove to replace a culvert and then just south of that before you get to Brier Hills they are going to replace another culver and should have all of this done tomorrow, trucks will not be allowed just residential traffic. Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve the Piper House tree removal to Mister Trees (lowest bid), seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Fire Chief Reed Bullock stated during the month of April, it was about average on permits and inspections, an above average month again with 31 total calls (27 in the City) which is a 30% increase over 2021 for year to date, the majority are medical (14) calls with very significant motor vehicle crashes both on Raleigh LaGrange and Hwy 72 so it is starting to pick up. Police Chief Phil Hendricks stated in the month of April, there were 45 dispatched calls, 6 incident reports and 3 motor vehicle crashes. Commissioner Trotter stated there are a number of forgeries, are they all related? Chief Hendricks stated there are about five different areas in the City and with two of those there were multiple ones that were done for those two businesses. Action taken: Commissioner Crislip moved to approve all reports, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 6: Application for a 2,600 s.f. Accessory Structure – James Rice, 895 Keough Dr City Engineer Harvey Matheny stated he is filling in for City Planner Brett Morgan, this item is a request for approval of a 2,600 s.f. accessory structure located at 895 Keough Drive, the Planning Commission/DRC approved this request on April 12, 2022, and the limitation for accessory structures is 40% of the square footage of the house, this house is currently undergoing a renovation to increase the size from 1,851 s.f. to 6,962 s.f. so with that expanded house this accessory structure will be below the threshold that is allowed by our ordinance but must come before this Body because it is over 1,200 s.f., the structure will match the principal structure in terms of colors and architectural design. Condition #1 states the accessory structure shall not be completed prior to the expansion of the principal structure. Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve the accessory structure application for James Rice subject to 3 conditions, seconded by Commissioner Hugh Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 7. Application for a 1,416 s.f. Accessory Structure – Wayne Kirkpatrick, 285 Ballard Cv Mr. Matheny stated this request is for approval of a 1,420 s.f. accessory structure that does fall within the threshold that is allowed by ordinance, the ordinance for this would allow an accessory structure of just over 1,500 s.f., it is within the limit and does meet the architectural guidelines, the Twin Lakes HOA has provided a letter of approval for this. 2  Action taken: Commission Trotter moved to approve the accessory structure application for Wayne Kirkpatrick subject to 2 conditions, seconded by Commissioner Crislip. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 8. Recess – hold Public Hearing concerning Ordinance No. 356-22, amending the text of the Piperton Zoning Ordinance to amend Article 8, Provisions Governing Signs Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to recess the meeting to hold public hearing, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Mr. Steinbach stated this is a request for a zoning ordinance amendment to reconcile provisions of State of Tennessee Freedom of Speech Act that was initially passed in 2020, it provided guidelines and restrictions on what local communities could do in terms of regulating political signage that missed the most recent amendment to our sign ordinance which according to Mr. Morgan occurred in July 2021, subsequent to the Freedom of Speech Act there were several entities and individuals that notices conflicting language with regard to the types of election that it would be applicable to and it basically clarifies what was initially described as 60 days before a general election is now 60 days before the first day voting begins presumably covering any and all elections whether it is a primary or general election, that has been included and we are essentially adopting verbatim the language provided by the State and basically adhering to the restrictions in the size of permitted political signage that being 32 square feet in size on a commercial property and 16 square feet on a residentially zoned property so this is a reconciliation of our current political regulations with that of the State. Action taken: Commissioner Davis moved to reconvene the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 9. Second Reading, Ordinance No. 356-22, amending the text of the Piperton Zoning Ordinance to amend Article 8, Provisions Governing Signs Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve Ordinance No. 356-22 on second reading, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 10. First Reading, Ordinance No. 357-22, amending previously approved Master Development Plan of Twin Lakes CD-O (Approved by Ord. 79-05; Amended by Ord. 109-07 and Ord. 302-19) Mr. Matheny stated this is a request to amend the Twin Lakes CD-O Master Development Plan, this was approved by the Planning Commission on April 12, 2022, Twin Lakes was originally approved with 10 conservation lots and 4 of those conservation lots were on the westside of the development on Wright Road and so the request is to take these four conservation lots (lot 4, 5, 6 & 7) and reconfigure those lots, two conservation lots have frontage on Magnolia Lane and the other two lots have frontage off of Jay Cove, the proposal is to reconfigure those four into three conservation lots that would have frontage on Wright Road, the first lot would face North Lake Road and then it would create four lots (7, 8, 9 &10) facing Magnolia and Jay Cove so the net effect is it creates one additional lot in Twin Lakes Subdivision, Twin Lakes was approved for 154 lots to be served by the decentralized wastewater treatment facility, this would add one lot and anytime you modify a TDEC permit there is a process of going back to TDEC to get approval to modify the permit so to add one lot it would require that amendment and if one or more of these conservation lots were served with a septic system then the TDEC permit would not have to be modified, so that leads us to the conditions of approval, the primary concern we have to make sure the applicant (the Developer of this revised subdivision plan to make sure the new lots can all be served by water and sewer, the lots along Jay Cove and Magnolia Lane have existing sewer and water connections already stubbed out to them and the lots along Wright Road do not so when the subdivision plat comes back to the Planning Commission in June; one of the conditions is that they provide a 3 water/sewer utility plan that shows how all of these lots will be served, if served by septic then we will need a soil analysis done by a qualified soil scientist to verify that it can be serviced by a septic system if the plan is to extend the decentralized collection system to one or more of these lots then we need a plan showing how that will be done and the extent of that, water services can come of an existing 6-inch line in Wright Road however we need the applicant to verify the pressure of flow of the existing public line and verify that those water services can be provided. Mayor Coats inquired if it was a 6-inch line. Mr. Matheny stated yes sir and it dead ends currently a southern dead end of Wright Road and with regard to Wright Road-the right of way has already been dedicated by the Twin Lakes development, the conditions reads roadway improvements if required for Wright Road shall be installed prior to re-recording of the plat and there is no indication unless the Board or the Planning Commission deems otherwise of any needed improvements along Wright Road but the condition is there to cover that. Mayor Coats requested an inspection of Wright Road of Mr. Mills. Mike Nicholson stated he is a land owner adjacent to this property and owns two properties in Twin Lakes, when we purchased the property we currently own at 30 Jay Cove- there would be no further subdivision of the lots would be allowed per covenants, restrictions and guidelines that Boyle has had on the property since 2007, emails from Gary Thompson confirm that there would be no further subdivision and now this is being sprung on us and it’s going at that end of Twin Lakes, the most dense part of the entire neighborhood when it was intended to be pasture, equestrian type property and the three homeowners most concerned about this have not been heard the HOA correspondence because Boyle still holds it and we are not allowed to vote on it or have any say in the matter furthermore that road is in horrible shape there are no utilities there so who will bear the expense of putting that in for the benefit of the homeowner that has already bought all of the lots-this isn’t the developer spring something those lots have already been bought so I want to know what the process is. Mayor Coats stated there will be a public hearing before the second reading so everyone can voice their opinion. Mr. Steinbach stated we will have to investigate that, the Board can’t take action that would preclude a private covenant. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter move to approve Ordinance No. 357-22 on first reading, seconded by Vice-Mayor Binkley. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Mayor Coats recused himself. Agenda item 11. Resolution No. 22-252, to approve the write-off of various Water Utility Accounts determined to be uncollectible Mr. Mills stated to seeking approval to write-off uncollectible accounts in the amount of $4,179.52. Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve Resolution No. 22-252, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 12. FY 2023 – Presentation of Projected Revenues and Preliminary Expenditures Mr. Steinbach stated the City’s charter requires the City Manager to present to this body projected revenues and anticipated preliminary expenses and that is what has been provided to you. This exhibit provides an overview of comparison of the current budget by department, the preliminary numbers were furnished by the department heads to me and as previously indicated I have not had a chance to dig into these yet and we additional provide capital expenses and appropriations from the various departments some of these have been discussed and some are continuations and in the center of the exhibit there is an overview of the impact to the budget and as with most organizations the largest burden on the operating expenditure side is personnel generally and in this case the impact with the preliminary budget indicate an increase 4 of $64,113.31 on personnel, health insurance-we have been able to navigate a tricky environment over the last 5 or 6 years and I am happy to report we have secured what amounts to less than 1% increase in our premiums so there is actually a reduction based on employee classifications, retirement benefits-the City utilizes a defined contribution plan as opposed to a defined benefit plan (traditional pension), the City currently contributes 3.5% of the employee’s salary or matches that on a 100% basis and we are looking at various aspects of remaining competitive in addressing those and under other-increase anticipated depreciation costs for sewer infrastructure, and at the bottom of the exhibit is a projected revenues/proposed expenditures-you will see the anticipated projected revenues currently stands just short of 4 million dollars ($3,941,113.90), expenditures by fund-General Fund has a preliminary estimated at $3,186,682.80 that is a $754,431.10 under budget and moving to the Enterprise Fund (Business Operations) the anticipated operating revenue is $871,340.00 and a proposed expenditure of $1,072,253.15 that leaves us $200,913.15 in the red and when you figure in the tap fees which are identified as $346,000.00 we move back into the black, one of the things we did earlier was to commission a utility rate study and because of the rapid growth of the community we have been able to balance our Enterprise Fund and put back surplus on the strength of tap fees but we don’t want to see a continuation of tap fees which are a one-time funding method as part of the development, we would like to see our operating revenues from the actual utility rates funding most of our Enterprise operations with the tap fees funding capital expenditures so part of the utility rate study which should be concluded certainly by the end of the fiscal year will identify and recognize a nominal rate increase that we can make those adjustments, under Department Budgets-the Administrative budget shows a slight decrease (the bulk of that is rent reduction as it is anticipated that we will vacate our current facilities and move into the Piper house at some point during the fiscal year), Building & Codes shows a significant decrease as a result of personnel reclassification & reduction of personnel, Public Works shows an nominal increase due to projected raises, Fire Department shows an increase and I haven’t had an opportunity to discuss a $75,872.17 projected increase, Police is showing an overall decrease of $6,231.34, Court shows a nominal increase due to personnel raises, the biggest impact will be in Water/Sewer-our public works which includes our utility operations is by far our most rapidly fast growing departments, the demands are increasing and so we anticipate additional personnel costs associated with that, Streets are flat across the board with regard to expenditures, Garbage Fund has a very slight increase due to the retail rate increase that passed on to us by our vendor and no increase in our Drug Fund. As we initiate our budgeting process we always begin with revenues and as part of our budget documentation we do projected revenues, Exhibit B indicates what we are projecting in terms of revenues, our property taxes is growing at a 6 to 8% clip and the increase is coming from the housing stock that is being added and that is any community’s most consistent source of revenue and that is something we need to look at in the upcoming fiscal year after this one, Sales Tax-we budgeted conservatively last year and will take the conservative approach this year with regards of projecting our sales tax dollars, State Shared Taxes are going to increase and the State sales tax dollars are distributed per capita throughout the State so that could have a slight impact on our sales tax dollars, Permits/Fees are going to be flat to decreasing, Fines/Forfeits-we anticipate a flat revenue stream over this fiscal year, we do not budge for miscellaneous revenues so the 3.9 million that was indicated on your revenue/expenditure exhibit comes from those 3 primary categories. On the Enterprise Fund operations, nominal increases in projected revenues and again I need to get with Mr. Mills to discuss a rate increase will increase the anticipated revenues though only nominally so and then lastly Sanitation, Street Aid and Drug Fund are part of Special Revenue Fund, these are usually dollars in and dollars out, we don’t project to terribly high of an increase in the expenditures associated with these and we are not budgeting for those expenditures accordingly, Sanitation is provided through a third party vendor, State Street Aid by law provides for monies to address our streets and right of ways and 5 Drug Fund is monies that the Police Department may or may not collect in the course of a fiscal year so that is an overview of where we stand now, the good news is we are growing and the revenues will grow accordingly and expenditures will be key here and as far as our capital expenditures-the Board will have to prioritize what I deem to be our most important anticipated capital expenditures that dealing with the Piper House, utility infrastructure and a slew of equipment request from department heads. Agenda item 13. Any other old/new business, questions or matters from the audience Commissioner Davis stated this relates to Keough Drive, we had talked about expanding it and add bike lanes/walk lanes and I would like to make something clear-a lot of folks don’t come to the Board meetings but I am finding they do read the minutes because someone put out on the airwaves that one commissioner spoke out against it, that one commissioner was me but we had a Board of five of us and our Mayor is a voting member so you need three votes, one vote doesn’t stop anything on this commission so that is the first thing and the other thing is when I had conversation with the Mayor and all of us kind of talked about this we said maybe we need to take a survey to find out the need, you just can’t go expend dollars because a handful of folks want to walk on a street that is not safe really but everyone wants to get into what’s their right that they can walk on it but there is a liability too, one of the things we did do in the City is that we reduced the speed limit in all of our subdivisions to 25 mph and we made developers put some access to walking in the community but I am not opposed to doing anything on Keough, I live on the corner of Keough and Brier Hills Drive and if it’s feasible but when the Mayor talked about doing a survey we would ask pertinent questions such as do you walk on the street or have you seen people on the street? Get some meaningful data that you can analysis so what happens is that some of the residents got together and got a petition, there is a big difference between a petition and a survey, a survey we can do some analysis and a petition-if you get someone to sign it that means that is what they want whether they walk on the street or not so we do need to make that a safer street but I am not opposed to it but let’s make it make sense for the community and not for a handful of folks that walk up and down Keough and I know if that gets in the minutes they will read the minutes rather than look at situation someone wanted to know who didn’t want it, I want safety for the community that is more important but common sense if you got don’t walk out in the street, it is no safer walking on Keough than it is walking on 196 if you ask me and even though eventually there will be some other access that is not going to minimize the amount of traffic even if we get exits to 57 out of the Preserves, we have got all that new traffic is gonna be coming out of Piperton Hills and out of phases 3 and 4 for the Lakes of Greenbrier so growth is going to be there and we are always going to have traffic so I think the prudent thing to do which we had talked about as commissioners is let’s look at it realistically and make it make sense, you can’t just put 4 feet on that road it’s probably going to need 8 feet, I mean a bike lane, you can’t just say put it on one side of the street then that means bicycle coming and folks trying to walk too, so if we do it, it will be done right and I just wanted to clarify that for the record. Mayor Coats stated the money was approved for an expansion of 4 feet between Lakes of Greenbrier and Parkview (Commissioner Davis stated right) so that the pedestrians can cut back into the subdivisions and I presented 80 something names last month (Commissioner Davis stated right) and as far as I am concern we are going ahead with the plan to expand that, are there any other comments or do we need to revisit this. Commissioner Davis stated I didn’t bring it up to revisit it, I just wanted to be sure it got in the record to which the Mayor stated ok. 6 Agenda item 14. Adjournment Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes and the meeting was adjourned at 6:53 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beverly Holloway, City Recorder Approved: _________________________________date:______________________ 7