Board of Mayor & Commissioners

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE PIPERTON BOARD OF MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS October 18, 2022, 6:00 P.M. The Piperton Board of Mayor and Commissioners met in regular session on October 18, 2022 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, with Board members: Mayor Henry Coats, Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley Commissioner Preston Trotter, Commissioner Hugh Davis, and Commissioner David Crislip present. City Manager Steve Steinbach, Police Chief Phil Hendricks, Fire Chief Reed Bullock, Public Works Director Richard Mills, Building Official Elizabeth Reed, Finance Director Maria George, and City Recorder Beverly Holloway were present. William Meacham, Elizabeth McCommon, Carolyn Rhea (Fayette Falcon), Letha Granberry, Bret Morris, Russ Fletcher, Walter Priddy, Lt. Adam Hursh, Officer Craig and et al were present in the audience. City Engineer Harvey Matheny and City Planner Brett Morgan were 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: Commissioner Hugh Davis 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 was no changes to the agenda, Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley 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 September 20, 2022: Motion to adopt the Minutes of the Regular Session of September 20, 2022 Action taken: There were no changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of September 20, 2022, Commissioner Preston Trotter moved to approve the Minutes of the Regular Session of September 20, 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 as we conclude the first quarter of FY 2023 our cash position continues to remain strong, balance sheets indicate continued strength across our funds and what appears to be a depleted sewer operating is simply a cash flow matter, on the financial statements-we are still in the process of reviewing to reconcile and insure that we are addressing the various expenditures in a responsible way, sales tax continues to be our strongest revenue producer, property taxes are starting to come in, on other major revenue producing line items I am happy to see law enforcement activities increasing, building permit income is lower and anticipate that to continue throughout the fiscal year and it will adjust upwards as we see continued commercial/industrial building activity. Building Official Elizabeth Reed stated for the month of September there were 26 total permits issued, conducted 177 inspections, and handled 42 code compliance issues. Public Works Director Richard Mills stated the scan for the west side of the basin of the wastewater treatment plant is scheduled for this Thursday, on the Piper House-we opened bids that were extremely high so we are going to break it down, we will bid out the roof first and will 1 open bids next week and the electrical low voltage should be the next going out for bid, and tree removal has begun for the lake in Piper Park. Mayor Coats stated when we finish with the park there will a 2.5 acre lake, a mile and a half of walking trails, a splash park, a pavilion and a dog park. Mr. Mills stated all the trees have been removed for the parking lot and work has begun on the parking area, there was a complaint of flooding on Fletcher Road and crews have started re-establishing the road side ditches where the ditches have silted in, on October 12th a wind storm came though causing some downed trees, TDOT came to remove the tree on Hwy 196 and thank you to the Fire and Police Department for helping with the traffic as we removed debris off of several roads, there was a TDEC compliance inspection on October 11th at Madeline Farms sewer drip field, it went very well and I have received the correspondence back with no deviations-we are doing what we should be doing and I am very proud of Mr. Anthony Harville for doing a great job of maintaining that, the sewer flow to Rossville was 1,288,867 gallons which is an average of 41,576.35 gallons per day (51.97% of the allotted 80,000 gallons a day), there were 111 line locates last month, there were 98 work orders with 1 still pending. Mayor Coats commended Public Works for all they have done at the Piper House Mr. Steinbach also recognized Mr. Mills for all his efforts in saving money for the City. Mayor Coats inquired on the software, Mr. Mills stated we are still in training, the ladies are starting to use it and there are still training sessions left for them as well, but it is progress and we are moving forward, it is a software built for Public Works that will track everything we do and will be loaded to ipads for the guys in the trucks and work orders will be electronic, it will be a move in the right direction. Vice-Mayor Binkley inquired on SCADA to which Mr. Mills stated we are waiting on computer parts that have been ordered for months but the panel boxes are built for the lift stations. Mr. Mills stated we had talked about putting a low pressure sewer in Piperton Farms due to TDEC coming out because of complaints of septic systems not working, when TDEC completed their inspections they found three-quarters of all the homes of that subdivision had failing septic tanks so I met with the City Engineer Harvey Matheny and submitted plans to TDEC, TDEC informed him that the rules have changed-two years ago we could have installed this and each home owner would have been responsible for their own pump station but TDEC has changed that rule-it is no longer the home owner’s responsibility, it is the municipality’s responsibility, it is more expensive to install a gravity sewer system but once it is installed the maintenance is almost nothing unless there is a stoppage but the odds are slim, so there are 3 alternatives before you, the first alternative is to add a pump station which is the highest of the three at an estimated cost of $763,500.00, the second one has an estimated cost of $615,000.00-it requires a lot of off road sewer and will be hard to get to, the third one has an estimated cost of $525,000.00 with very little off road to this plan and what is off road I think we can get to it via Hickory Nut or Oak Tree and that is at the edge of two properties and with this plan no one is being sewered out the backend of their house. Mayor Coat stated the force main is around $180,000 to $200,000.00 and what are the cost of the motors to which Mr. Mills stated you are looking at about $7,500.00 per house. Commissioner Davis inquired if everyone will take advantage of it? Mr. Mills stated if the sewer is installed they will have to take advantage of it. Mayor Coats stated we can compel the sewer but not the water. Mr. Steinbach stated out of respect for the property owners, I understand there has been conversations with each of them to which Mr. Mills stated that he and Mr. Matheny spoke with residents that were at home, it wasn’t a 100% of them but it was a good portion of the residents and most of the feedback was positive. 2  Commissioner Trotter inquired if any of the homeowners will be required to cover any of this cost to which Mr. Mills stated no sir, the only cost they would incur would be hooking their house to the sewer stub that goes to their property. Commissioner Davis stated that could vary because of where their septic tank is located to which Mr. Mills stated that is correct. Vice-Mayor Binkley stated they hire that person and there is no tap fee or anything like that to which Mr. Mills stated that is correct. Mayor Coats inquired there is no tap fee? Mr. Mills stated there could be but we talked about emergency hookup fees, regular tap fees are $4,000.00. Mayor Coats stated we all disagreed with the $4,000.00 that is too much money. Mr. Mills stated that is a decision for the board. Mayor Coats stated what was discussed and proposed a $2,000.00 hookup fee and give the homeowners up to two years to pay that, they could do monthly installments. Vice-Mayor Binkley inquired how much would a new septic be. Mr. Mills stated he had spoken with one home owner and he couldn’t install a new septic because his property didn’t allow it, some have room but some do not. Mayor Coats stated one resident on Hwy 196 installed a new one and it costs them almost $30,000.00. Mr. Steinbach stated the issue for the Board’s consideration is the net difference in a capital expenditure that is approved for the force main and the least expensive of the alternatives which is the simple gravity system in front of the homes which is $450,000.00 and we are in the process of trying to add this to our American Rescue Plan money and the projects that Mr. Mills has proposed for inclusion are the wastewater treatment plant, the design and infrastructure upgrade of the Hwy 196 waterline, we believe we can fit this in to the monies that would be available to us and with regards to the tap fees-the Mayor is right we have had several conversation with regards to the difference between a resident who desires to be on the city’s system and a homeowner who really doesn’t have a choice or the choices are limited, we have not drafted a policy per se for that and that is something that has to get accomplished regardless, a tap fee is simply a capital cost recovery, it is a contribution to the overall cost of the infrastructure that is added, I haven’t added it to the first reading on the budget amendment but we wanted to get the Board’s feeling and weigh-in on whether to move forward with the pressure system similar to our decentralized neighborhoods or actually consider moving to this efficient system utilizing the federal monies that are available for the project, staff feels it is the most efficient way to address this and concurrently with that we would develop a policy with regard to the difference between a typical tap fee and an emergency related tap fee for situations such as this. Commissioner Davis stated several years ago there was a proposal for a subdivision over behind that area and the question would be if that were ever to come to pass in the future what we are installing down here would that be something someone could tap on to or we would be looking at running sewage somewhere else. Mr. Steinbach stated we have commissioned, received and operated based off of our master sewer plan and it is graphically similar to the drawing you are looking at, its illustration, topographic considerations and the technology is simple but it’s at the top of the hill and will let it fall to the bottom of the hill, so there will be instances in which the topography just will not permit us to extend and expand this infrastructure, this snapshot shows a ridge going through there so ideally we want to expand our gravity infrastructure and rely less on force mains and the pressure systems and as we move forward with new development proposals in theory the idea is the developer will be responsible for extending up to the next guy and that is how you build out your network of sewer infrastructure, while this may have limited applicability for connection it certainly will be part of our overall network and will seek to expand our gravity system and this 3 is a unique situation when you are retrofitting a development that brings unique issues and costs associated with it that you wouldn’t if starting from scratch. Mayor Coats inquired to Mr. Mills-Ridgewood Grove is now force main and it would go into this new sewer line so we won’t go all the way down Keough to which Mr. Mills stated the force main could empty into the gravity that goes out into Keough. Mayor Coats inquired about the 3 or 4 houses on along Keough that this will run by, are they included in that scenario to which Mr. Mills stated they could be, the sewer will be deep enough and so the answer to your question is yes. Mr. Steinbach stated for the record we would like the Board’s consideration and will on how staff should precede, should we continue with the forced pressure system that we have budgeted or consider moving to this new alternative for the reasons discussed utilizing the American Rescue monies that are available to us. Action taken: Commissioner Trotter moved that we move forward to approve alternate #3 at $525,000.00 cost estimate for the gravity system, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Fire Chief Reed Bullock stated during the month of September while Building had a bunch of inspections we had very few, there were 29 total calls (28 in the City), there were 6 motor vehicles crashes, for call statistics through September we are ahead of previous years, hired a new firefighter and also holding joint training with Collierville Fire Department. Police Chief Phil Hendricks stated in the month of September, there were 55 dispatched calls, 4 incident reports, 0 arrest report and 4 motor vehicle crashes. Action taken: Commissioner Crislip moved to approve all reports, seconded by Commissioner Trotter. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 6. First Reading, Ordinance No. 363-22, repealing Ordinance No. 355-22, in its entirety, and revising/adopting various fees for the City of Piperton Building Official Elizabeth Reed stated the building community has expressed a desire to streamline services to be more in line with the surrounding jurisdictions such as on-line permitting software, payments made using credit cards and so the department has been looking into those services which will eventually end up increasing the cost of the building permits and in order to do that we considered looking into a request that was made previously which was to make the inspection fee policy more in line with the surrounding areas, our current fee policy is a $50.00 fee for violations from the first one on and we would like to change it to where the first violation is free and then each subsequent violation increases by $50.00 at a time, typically I found that after the first violation most of the issues are corrected so there won’t be much of an increase for those re-inspection fees and that seems favorable to the building community and we are looking at a few software options and we have not decided anything yet but it would be closer to the beginning of the year. Commissioner Davis inquired when you issue an inspection request, do you issue it in writing to which Ms. Reed stated they are provided with an inspection tag that lists the violations. Commissioner Crislip inquired if they would stay at that level to which Ms. Reed stated there is a cap and if you have five or more inspections it caps at $200.00, typically I have had three mostly for framing so the first is free, the 2nd is $50.00 and the third would be $100.00 so the total collected would be $150.00. Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve Ordinance No. 363-22 on first reading, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. 4 Agenda item 7. First Reading, Ordinance No. 365-22, amending the Budget for FY 22-23 (First Amendment) Mr. Steinbach stated we generally conduct three budget amendments throughout a fiscal year, we have just completed the first quarter and this is to address unforeseen expenditures, adjustments, items we just discussed this evening with regard to new sewer items, this first budget amendment covers the General Fund, the Water Fund and the Sewer Fund and so with regards to the General Fund (Exhibit A), there are solution oriented adjustments to our data processing support which we recently upgraded software requirements for our Local Government software packages, GPS Monitoring reflects upgrading cost and a nominal increase in the monthly fee in all departments (Admin, Building, Fire, Police and Public Works), in Police-equipment was a carryover from last fiscal year’s budget but the equipment for the cars was delayed until this fiscal year, in Fire-Turnouts for new personnel, Chief Bullock stated on the extrication tools I gave a brief overview where we received a grant for various hydraulic tools and we had also budgeted additional tools in capital and this reflects cost increases from when we applied for that grant versus when we received it and there was a large item that was left off and that was a hydraulic Ram and this reflects the additional cost for the Ram, mount and shoe plates, and on Public Works insurance it reflects premium increases. Vice-Mayor Binkley stated that in the future we should put whatever our average yearly turnout cost would be at the first budget to which Chief Bullock stated I will be happy to do that. Mr. Steinbach stated moving on to the Water Fund (Exhibit B), I have already given explanation on the Data Processing charges this is the Water Departments portion for the server repairs and upgrades, GPS Monitoring-we addressed, the Facility Maintenance Fee represents the increase in users accessing the software and again the Insurance-W/C and Liability Insurance reflects increases applicable to the Water Department, and lastly the Sewer Fund (Exhibit C) again reflects the GPS Monitoring for those vehicles that are addressed through the Sewer Fund, the Railroad Sewer Line Extension Design we budgeted for fiscal year 2023, the design has been completed, we have applied and received tentative approval from the railroad for the sewer extension, this is for the bore underneath the railroad for the properties between Commerce and the interstate that will facilitate the urban development we have desired for sometime and there were new fees placed by the railroad that we didn’t incur the last time we secured a permit from the railroad for a sewer line crossing that is $11,500.00 for the fees associated with the permit and another $2,000.00 addressing their liability insurance risk fee, and the Railroad Construction Sewer Line is a new item that wasn’t budgeted because we didn’t know the extent of what we were going to be looking at until we got into the design and we now know what the design is going to entail and Harvey has provided that estimate and that is an item we would have included had we had an insight to the design and it is something that can be absorbed in our sewer fund savings, this is critical to the future development of the City on the northside of the railroad tracks. Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve Ordinance No. 365-22 on first reading, seconded by Commissioner Davis. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 8. Any other old/new business, questions or matters from the audience Mayor Coats presented plaques of appreciation to Commissioner Preston Trotter and Commissioner Hugh Davis, Jr for their service to the City of Piperton. Thank you both for your service. Ms. Letha Granberry inquired on hookup to the sewer system for Hollow Drive and Critton Drive. Mayor Coats stated your subdivision would probably come into play after Lakes of Greenbrier Phase 3 and Phase 4 because the line will run down Russell Creek so it will be right behind you so at that time we can look and see what is involved in supplying sewer to that neighborhood. 5  Ms. Granberry stated we are having a lot of erosion behind our houses due to Russell Creek so would that cause a problem if sewage is coming that way and if we will continue to have erosion. Mayor Coats stated it should have no impact, there is a 12 inch or 18 inch main that will go to Lakes of Greenbrier and that will be buried in the ground so it should not affect anything. Ms. Elizabeth McCommon inquired on sewer to the Meadowlark Subdivision. Mayor Coats stated we are trying to do it in segments where it won’t be so expensive, I can’t tell you right now, it is the same boat with Poplar Acres, and I don’t have an answer. Russ Fletcher complimented Public Works for their service on previous sewer issues and just wanted to say thank you. Agenda item 9. 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 6:50 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beverly Holloway, City Recorder Approved: _________________________________date:______________________ 6