Board of Mayor & Commissioners

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE PIPERTON BOARD OF MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS June 28, 2022, 6:00 P.M. The Piperton Board of Mayor and Commissioners met in regular session on June 28, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, with Board members: Mayor Henry Coats, Commissioner Preston Trotter, and Commissioner Hugh Davis present. Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley and Commissioner David Crislip were absent. City Manager Steve Steinbach, Police Chief Phil Hendricks, Fire Chief Reed Bullock, Finance Director Maria George, Public Works Director Richard Mills, City Engineer Harvey Matheny and City Recorder Beverly Holloway were present. City Planner Brett Morgan and Building Official Elizabeth Reed were absent. William Meacham, Kay Long, Beth Gallagher, Julianne Carney, Deborah Joyner (Fayette Falcon), Officer Spurlock and et al were present in the audience. Buddy Petty and Jack Elston were in attendance via zoom. 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: Public Works Director Richard Mills led in the opening Prayer and Commissioner Hugh 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, Commissioner Davis moved to adopt the agenda, seconded by Commissioner Preston Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 4. Any changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of May 17, 2022: Motion to adopt the Minutes of the Regular Session of May 17, 2022 Action taken: There were no changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of May 17, 2022, Commissioner Trotter moved to approve the Minutes of the Regular Session of May 17, 2022, seconded by Commissioner Davis. 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 in process of wrapping up the current fiscal year of 2022, with regards to our current financial status-I am pleased across the board, cash in hand savings are in excess of $6 million which will enable us to fund the entirety of our capital budget without debt, we are ahead on sales tax and property tax but slightly below on building permit income and citation revenue however the American Rescue Plan monies cover that short fall and we are currently exceeding revenues with a month to go, balance sheets are strong and have in excess of $700,000.00 in our General Fund, $400,000.00 in our Water Fund so we are in good shape. Fire Chief Reed Bullock (filling in for Building Official Elizabeth Reed) stated during the month of May, issued 61 total permits compared to 46 last year, conducted 164 inspections, and handled 29 code compliance issues with 18 of those being property maintenance (grass, sign removal and mud on the streets). Public Works Director Richard Mills stated the wastewater treatment plant is still under review and will hopefully have an on-site meeting with Geotechnology, there will be a pre- construction meeting at the Piper House on July 13th and bids will open on July 18th, we opened bids for the removal of 14 trees located on the Piper property and Mr. Tree was the lowest 1 bidder and those trees have been removed except for the stumps and when the new parking lot and the new access road around the lot is built the entire stumps will be removed at that time, I met with the contractor a week ago pertaining to the Shaws Creek drainage project and I thought he was interested in the project but he has fallen off but I am still working on that, the sewer flow going to Rossville from 4/25 to 5/25 was 1.12 million gallons which is an average of 37,474 gallons a day which is 46.84 % of the allotted 80,000 gallons per day, for the month of May there were 149 TN 811 locates with 84 total works orders completed. Fire Chief Reed Bullock stated during the month of May, issued 6 permits and conducted 7 rough inspections with 4 finals, 37 total calls (37 in the City), there are 24 motor vehicle crashes for the year with 10 of those in May. Police Chief Phil Hendricks stated in the month of May, there were 44 dispatched calls, 2 incident reports, 1 arrest report and 7 motor vehicle crashes. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to approve all reports, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 6: Resolution No. 22-253, adjusting the Letter of Credit posted as security for required improvements to Twin Lakes Joint Ventures, Phase 3 – on behalf of Boyle Investment, Inc. City Engineer Harvey Matheny stated this item for your consideration is to reduce the current letter of credit held in the amount of $50,000.00 to $15,000.00, within the last two months they have installed the final surface asphalt in phase 3 so the $15,000.00 is to hold us for the final 1 year warranty period from the date of installation. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to approve Resolution 22-253, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 7. Resolution No. 22-254, adjusting the Letter of Credit posted as security for required improvements to Piperton Hills Commercial, Phase 1 – on behalf of Piperton Hills Phase 1, LLC. Mr. Matheny stated just a reminder Piperton Hills Phase 1 was the project to primarily install a significant amount of water improvements along Hwy 72 to run water down to the convenience store site and also to run sewer from that location up to the pump station that is currently being installed near Hwy 57, so this is quite a bit of water and sewer improvements and a little bit of roadway improvement, we held a full bond ($985,000.00) on this project when it was approved April 17, 2018 to cover all the public improvements and since that time all the water has been installed, tested and accepted, the sewer is installed, the pumps have been installed but work continues to get the pumps operational, all the line work is in the ground and 90% of the line work has been tested and accepted, there is one section that they are still working on, testing and getting it to be acceptable, the pumps are in the ground but I don’t know if they have been wired but I believe they have been wired by Chickasaw Electric so we are very close to start up on both pumps (Hwy 196 & Hwy 72 and also the one near Hwy 72) and with that said we would recommend the reduction from $985,000.00 to $360,000.00 which will cover the remaining items that are still not accepted. Action taken: Commission Davis moved to approve Resolution 22-254, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 8. First Reading, Ordinance No. 361-22, amend in part and delete Ordinances No. 210-12 and No. 249-14 – Water Usage Rate Increase Mr. Mills stated Buddy Petty from RateStudies was going to be here in person however his wife is ill and will give an overview of the study via zoom, we started on this rate study in September 2021 and was just finished, it is a very in-depth and good study with that Mr. Mills turned it over to Mr. Petty via zoom. Mr. Petty stated the basic reasons to do a study to make 2 sure there is enough revenue coming in to pay expenses and for planned capital improvements and the other reason is to comply with State laws regarding municipal utility auditing and financing. Mr. Petty gave an overview and made the following recommendations of increasing water rates from $15.75 to $17.30 and the per thousand gallon rate from $2.83 to $3.10 so that means an average customer uses about 5000 gallons and they would see a $3.00 increase per month and we are recommending incremental increases each year to keep up with inflation. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to approve Ordinance No. 361-22 on first reading, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 9. First Reading, Ordinance No. 362-22, amend in part and delete Ordinances 284-17, 285-17, 249-14 and 347-21 – Sewer Usage Rate Increase Mr. Petty recommends that residential sewer goes from a flat rate of $43.75 to $48.10 a month that is $4.35 more a month and after that another $1.50 per month each year. Commercial sewer rates goes from a flat rate of $84.75 to $93.20 and from 5.65 per 1000 gallons to $6.20 per 1000 gallon and then thereafter incremental increases each year and also the Chickasaw Trail basin (east and west) recommends making increases in those out to 2028, that is the main thing we are recommending and gave an overview of their recommendations and projections. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to approve Ordinance No. 362-22 on first reading, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 10. Recess – hold Public Hearing concerning Ordinance No. 358-22, amending the Budget for FY 2021-2022, (Third Amendment) for the City of Piperton Action taken: Commissioner Davis moved to recess the meeting to hold a public hearing, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Mr. Steinbach stated generally in the last amendment of any fiscal year we recognize revenue increases and/or new revenues, we additionally recognize increased expenses that exceed budgeted line items, the amendment before you covers our General Fund (Exhibit A), our Enterprise Fund consisting of Water (Exhibit B), Sewer Fund (Exhibit C), and our Special Revenue Fund consisting of State Street Aid (Exhibit D) and Sanitation (Exhibit E), Exhibit A- General Fund revenue section we are recognizing increases in our property tax and Ad Valorem, Payment in Lieu of Property Tax we are showing a decease that recognizes a business coming off of its PILOT, our local sales was budgeted at 1.8 and we are budgeting a 200,000.00 increase and it is likely we could exceed 2.3 million dollars and that is quite a bump which extends to the State Shared taxes which are distributed on a per captia basis, additional increase in our business tax, permits, and the bump from the American Rescue Plan act-this is one of two payments (first payment received earlier this spring and will receive the second in November), increases in several other additional line items related to education which are State provided dollars, Bullet proof vest, Public Safety Awards etc, a small decrease here, additional rent that was recognized for the Pinckney house, a gross increase of $590,896.47 that are offset by the expenditures in Administration-we had underestimated expenses for the architectural plans for the Pinckney house (essentially transferring monies over from our maintenance budget), our City Planner, and our GIS Mapping, we had increased line items for State Law Enforcement Education, Fire Department overtime, and a minor adjustment to PW holiday bonus for total expenditures in the amount of $18,650.00, Water Fund (Exhibit B)- recognizing operational revenues consisting of late payments, water bill payments, fire service hydrants, tap fees, service fees (we recently switched from a refundable deposit to a non- refundable deposit for new connections and that is starting to make a significant impact in our operational revenues), tap fees for new businesses resulting in a gross increase of $130,730.00 that is offset by $33,300.00 in expenditures consisting of supplies/maintenance, water meters, purchase water from Collierville and depreciation, Sewer (Exhibit C) recognizes interest income, 3 penalties on late payments, decentralized decrease (due customers switched over to centralized and moving to a different line item recognized primarily in the Rossville sewer), increase sewer tap fees, increases in our centralized sewer to Marshal Utility Services for our industrial area for a total of $70,680.00 in gross revenues against expenditures addressing increase utilities cost, Chickasaw Trails payments, decentralized sewer plant and depreciation in the amount of $27,250.00, Special Revenue Fund dealing with Street Aid (Exhibit D) recognizes a classification separation into two items (Gas M Fuel & Gas Improvement Taxes) with money moved from the old line item and shifted to the new line item and miscellaneous and recognizing expenditure item-Grounds and maintenance and lastly Exhibit E addresses our Sanitation operations and with our increased growth due to new development you will see a host of revenue increases across our garbage, recycling, yard bags and a small decreases in late payment penalties and interest income due to the low cost of money and recycling costs to our vendor increased slightly. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to reconvene the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 11. Second Reading, Ordinance No. 358-22, amending the Budget for FY 2021- 2022, (Third Amendment) for the City of Piperton Action taken: Commissioner Davis moved to accept Ordinance No. 358-22 on second reading, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 12. Recess – hold Public Hearing concerning Ordinance No. 359-22, adopting the annual Operating and Capital Budget and Property Tax Rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022 and ending June 30, 2023 Action taken: Commissioner Davis moved to recess the meeting to hold a public hearing, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Mr. Steinbach stated we continue to strive to adopt a-pay-as-you-go mentality recognizing certainly at some point in the not too distant future we will have leverage and use debt to finance larger capital items but currently having accumulated over 6 million dollars in our General Fund, cash reserves of 2.5 million dollars and our enterprise fund operations we are in a good position to pay for necessary capital items and start to plant seeds in larger capital items in the future those being a location for a new fire/police facility, preparing for a wastewater treatment facility and these are some of the items that will cost millions of dollars that we will have to leverage the debt market to be able to accomplish but as it stands now I am happy to report that we will be able to fund the entirety of our capital budget through the use of savings, highlights for this budget are projected as increased property tax revenue of around 15%, increased sales tax revenue of approximately 17%, increased State Shared Tax revenue of 20%, we are forecasting decreased building permit revenue due to the larger macro-economic picture, increased Enterprise Fund revenue resulting from the proactive utility rate increase with staying on top of depreciation and based on the increased infrastructure we will be paying depreciation effectively on infrastructure for which there are not enough customers, personnel expenses-proposing a 4% cost of living increase; promotions, position increases for several of our public works employees, step promotions in addition to a 3% cost of living increase for our Fire and Police, proposing a $1,500.00 employee retention bonuses to be competitive in a tight labor market also proposing to increase deferred compensation from 3.5% to 4%, we are budgeting for four new employees and will continue to budget for a full complement in our Fire Department to be able to staff operations 24/7 with three men in a crew, we are investing in a wastewater operation professional so we want to be ready, our Fire Department operational expenses-approximately a $4 million dollar capital budget of which $673,000.00 is coming from a TDEC grant with a 35% match, over $700,000.00 projected revenues over proposed expenditures that goes back to fund balance, your budget consists of the Ordinance caption 4 which is now in the format required by the State and there is no property tax increase proposed for this fiscal year, the new format is a consolidated financial report that identifies all projected revenues compared against the last two fiscal years then it shows changes in fund balance, Table 1 covers the General Fund, State Street Aid Fund, Garbage Fund-we have discussed on many occasions the need to decrease the percentage fund balance in our garbage and we are proposing a capital expenditure against accumulated saving reflected here, Drug Fund, and lastly the Water and Sewer Fund tables and then we wrap up with Table 2-our fund balances which the State wants to see, Table 3 is debt which we have no debt and we are not projecting any debt this year and Table 4 is pending capital projects proposed and future capital projects and compared by the monies that were expended for those, that is the formal document the State wants to see but they also want to see the additional documents previously provided and there are two exhibits; Exhibit A which is the total summary and Exhibit B which consists of your revenues and your detail department budgets, so looking over revenues-we have proposed or projected nominal increases in our property tax revenue due to new growth not increased taxes, projecting increases in our sales tax of $100,000.00, the State has phased out the Hall Income Tax, nominal increases across several of our franchise and excise tax, State Shared Taxes consists of various taxes that the State distributes back to the Cities based on per captia basis, we previously discussed flat to decreased Building Permit income and same thing with our Fines/Forfeits, our Miscellaneous revenue is bolstered by the American Rescue Plan which will cover the decreased revenue projected in the Building Permits and Fines/Forfeits, our Enterprises Fund based on the anticipated rate increases-we are projecting considerable increases across the board in our revenues but again we are going to be budgeting against that revenue for new capital expenditures and new personnel demands and then lastly our Special Revenue Fund which consists of our Sanitation, Street Aid and Drug Fund-nominal increases across the board, the rest of Exhibit B are the specific and detailed department budgets which consist of operating expenditures as well as their capital expenditures and in the departments- Administration, Public Works, Fire (Fire especially because we are budgeting for new positions to insure a fully manned three shift operation), a nominal increase is Admin, decrease in Building, increases in Public Works, a nominal decrease in Police, increase in Court, Water and Sewer anticipate new increases from personnel, same in Garbage that is anticipating new customer growth base, the overall summary-the result of personnel expenses $200,000 flat, increases in our retirement benefit and increases in depreciation, the projected revenue versus proposed expenditures (General Fund, Enterprise Fund) is reflective is a negative without tap fees and that is another reason we are proposing to increase water and sewer rates so we are not dependent on that development revenue on tap fee-we are projecting revenues to exceed expenditures by three-quarters of a million dollars. Capital Budget-we break our capital budget into fund balance appropriations these are generally service provisions and then our hard capital assets; Administration Fund-we generally on an annual basis budget for updates to our regulatory documents, General Fund transfers to Street Aid Fund (annual paving paid from our savings), budgeting for a Special Census (starting in the winter), for Board Chamber chairs, Employee Retention Bonus and Organizational Study (Salaries & Benefits) to be competitive and Capital-Admin budgeting for Computer Equipment (replacement & repairs), Piper House (Pinckney) Renovations-we are proposing $600,000.00 with the bids coming out next month, Piper House (Pinckney) FFE for a total of $1,079,000.00, Fire Department Fund-Chief Bullock stated budgeting for AED replacement (2 units), Fire hose (per replacement schedule), Cordless Hand Tools, 2,500 Gallon Dump Tank, Employee Retention Bonus, Weather Stations (rollover from previous year), Capital-Emergency Sirens, New Repeaters and Microwave for Redundancy and PD Trunking, Auto Extrication Tools (Grant Applied for), Land Acquisition (New Public Safety Facility), Replacement for Utility 31 truck, total for Fire $598,500.00, Police Fund-Chief Hendricks stated budgeting for Employee Retention Bonus, Capital-(1) Police Car & Car Outfit, total for Police $65,500.00, Court Fund-Mr. Steinbach stated budgeting for Employee 5 Retention Bonus, Attorney (Appeals), no Capital Appropriations FY 2023, total for Court $18,000.00, Public Works Fund-Mr. Mills stated budgeting for Community Beautification, Community Drainage Repairs, Landscaping (City Hall, Public Works Bldg), Employee Retention Bonus, Personal Equipment, Emergency Safety Lights for Vehicles/Equipment, Annual Public Works Week for Employees, Pubworks Software, Capital-City Entrance Monument Design/Signage, Service Truck-Replacement, Service Truck-New, Backhoe, Zero Turn Mower, Piper House Park Improvements, total for Public Works $257,661.00, Building Fund-Mr. Steinbach stated Employee Retention Bonus, Bldg & Codes Enforcement-Demolition, Lot Clean-up, no Capital Appropriations FY 2023, total for Building $ 9,000.00, Street Aid Fund-Mr. Steinbach stated Street Striping, Grounds/ROW Maintenance (Herbicide), Small Equipment Purchase/Rental, Capital-Milton Dr. Street Lighting, Keough Rd. Widening (Pedestrian Connection-rollover), New Street Light Installations, FY 2023 Annual Paving/Patch/Repair Program, total for Street Aid $446,500.00, Sanitation Fund-Mr. Steinbach stated no fund appropriations for Sanitation, Capital- Brush truck, over the years the City has accumulated in fund savings in excess of $200,000.00, the State did not like that and we are looking to return value to the shareholders and that can be accomplished in any number of ways, we have adjusted our rates and we have reduced the margin the City collects from the retail customers and one of the ideas was for a brush truck that could be utilized in any number of ways for the benefit of the residences, total for Sanitation $160,000.00, Water Fund-Mr. Mills stated budgeted for Emergency Water Infrastructure Repair, Local Gov Upgrade, Pubworks Software, Annual Public Works Week for Employee, Water Tank Maintenance Program (American Tank Maint), Locator, Employee Retention Bonus, Capital-Water Tank Electronic Valve/Vault, SCADA System Construction, Critton/Hollow Rds Water Extension Project (TDEC $), Backhoe, Service Truck-New, Service Truck-Replacement, TDEC-ARP Wastewater & Water Grants, Water Line Upgrade (TDEC $) Hwy 196-Hwy 57 to Keough, Water Line Upgrade (TDEC $) Old Stateline 4” to 12”, total for Water $1,322,972.00, Sewer Fund-Mr. Mills stated Sewer Pumps Replacement (Homes), Contract Residential Tank Pumping (On-Going Main), Annual Decentralized Plants Grass Mowing Contract, Pubworks Software, Annual Public Works Week for Employees, Laptop for new Utilities Operator, Employee Retention Bonus, Capital-WWTP Improvements and Maintenance Consulting, SCADA System Construction, Piperton Farms Sewer Extension Design (TDEC $), Railroad Sewer Line Extension Design & Construction, Sewer Jetter for cleaning/clearing gravity sewer, Backhoe, Service Truck-New, Service Truck-Replacement, Locator, TDEC-ARP Wastewater & Water Grants-35% Match, Generator (Sewer Lift Stations), Total for Sewer $337,271.00. Mr. Steinbach stated the end result is a Capital Budget of $3.7 million dollars and not all of these will be funded for whatever reason, of that $3.7 we are leveraging $673,000.00 with $230,000.00 in matching fees so that number will go down even further with revenues over expenditures of over $700,000.00 you are still left with more than $3 million dollars in fund savings across the board. Mayor Coats commended Mr. Steinbach, Mrs. George, and all Department Heads for a great job and I appreciate it. Commissioner Trotter stated I think the budget looks really good with monies left over, looking at expenditures and revenues the Capital budget is obviously aggressive but certainly doable, I am sure if the economy goes down some of these won’t be spent in the Capital Budget. Mr. Steinbach stated that is true. Action taken: Commissioner Davis moved to reconvene the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. 6 Agenda item 13. Second Reading, Ordinance No. 359-22, adopting the annual Operating and Capital Budget and Property Tax Rate for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022 and ending June 30, 2023 Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to approve Ordinance No. 359-22 on second reading. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 14. Resolution No. 22-255, repealing Resolution No. 21-238 in its entirety and establishing an amended City deferred compensation contribution policy Mr. Steinbach stated this is simply recognizing the appropriation that was just approved with regard to our employee deferred compensation program, on behalf of the employees- Thank you. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved to approve Resolution No. 22-255, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 15. Surplus Property Nomination Form – Police Dept (2013 Tahoe) Police Chief Hendricks stated I would like the Board to consider the sale of the 2013 Tahoe that is nominated as Surplus. Action taken: Commissioner Davis moved to give the Chief authority to surplus the property which is the 2013 Tahoe, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 16. Any other old/new business, questions or matters from the audience There was none. Agenda item 17. Adjournment Action taken: Commissioner Trotter made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes and the meeting was adjourned at 7:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beverly Holloway, City Recorder Approved: _________________________________date:______________________ 7