Board of Mayor & Commissioners

MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF THE PIPERTON BOARD OF MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS January 17, 2023, 6:00 P.M. The Piperton Board of Mayor and Commissioners met in regular session on January 17, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, with Board members: Mayor Henry Coats, Commissioner David Crislip, Commissioner Russ Fletcher, and Commissioner Bret Morris present. Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley was absent. City Manager Steve Steinbach, Police Chief Phil Hendricks, Fire Chief Reed Bullock, Public Works Director Richard Mills, Finance Director Maria George, Building Official Elizabeth Reed, and City Recorder Beverly Holloway were present. William Meacham, Elizabeth McCommon, Charles McElwee, Vicki Hancock, Debra Joyner (Fayette Falcon), Letha Granberry, Walter Priddy, Jim Ragon, Linda Coffman (Linda’s Accounting Firm) and et al were present in the audience. City Planner Brett Morgan and City Engineer Harvey Mathey 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 Bret Morris 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 David Crislip moved to adopt the agenda, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 4. Any changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of December 20, 2022: Motion to adopt the Minutes of the Regular Session of December 20, 2022 Action taken: There were no changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of December 20, 2022, Commissioner Morris moved to approve the Minutes of the Regular Session of December 20, 2022, seconded by Commissioner Russ Fletcher. 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 this report reflects the halfway point of fiscal year 2023, our fund balances across all operating funds, enterprise and special revenue funds continue to reflect efficient operations and collections, property taxes and building permitting are lagging while sales tax continues to be strong. Building Official Elizabeth Reed stated for the month of December we had 25 active homes, 10 certificates of occupancy were issued, 8 total permits were issued, conducted 142 inspections, and handled 17 code compliance issues. Public Works Director Richard Mills stated the columns for the Piper House have been received but haven’t been delivered to the site and the two half columns should arrive by the end of this month. Fletcher Road Drainage-Fletcher Road is mostly a gravel road on the north side of town off of Hwy 196 that runs into Collierville and from what I have been told that road has always had flooding issues, the swells on each side of the road have silted in causing it to flood every time It rains but one of the biggest problem is the undersized culverts, so we have started the process of upgrading the culverts from 18 inch to 30 inch, we have installed one and 1 there is one left to be installed and this should alleviate that problem. The sewer flow going to Rossville from November 28th through December 27th (29 days) was 1,531,479 gallons which is an average of 52,809.62 gallons per day (66.01% of the allotted 80,000 gallons per month), this is due to a lot of rainfall during this period and crews are out almost on a daily basis trying to find inflow infiltration, we have found several spots that were taking in a lot of water but this is going to be an ongoing process. There were 81 Tennessee 811 locates this month, and 91 total work orders with 1 still pending with 14 after-hour emergency call outs. Also, we would like to change the format of our utility bills that we currently mail out, we currently use postcards and we would like to go to an 8 ½ x 11 statement, this gives us the capability of putting more information on the bill, that would be an increase in cost of $3,000.00 a year and I feel like the citizens would like this much more than the card. Fire Chief Reed Bullock submitted his annual report for the Board which covers the stats for the entire year, we have been fairly consistent with 6 full time firefighters since July 1 and we are budgeted for 9 but have been unable to fill those slots, the majority of training is concentrated in fire and EMS and continued with a brief overview of the report. Police Chief Phil Hendricks stated in the month of December, there were 33 dispatched calls, 2 incident reports, 0 arrest report and 3 motor vehicle crashes. The annual report will be submitted to the Board by the end of the month. Action taken: Commissioner Crislip moved to approve all reports, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 6. Special Presentation (Mayoral) Mayor Coats stated we wanted to honor one of our long-time citizens, Charlie McElwee. He has been a resident since 1973 and was instrumental in getting Piperton’s incorporated in 1974 fighting Collierville’s attempt to annex, some of the fore fathers of Piperton fought that all the way to the State Supreme Court and won. Mr. McElwee helped started the volunteer fire department along with Charles Priddy and Chester Webb, he served as a City Commissioner for 8 years and also served on the Board of Zoning Appeals. Mr. McElwee had worked as a manager at Carrier Air Conditioning, he can fix anything and still to this day works on people’s stuff, we thought it is appropriate to dedicated the new Public Works building to Mr. McElwee and this plaque will be placed on that building as a permanent reminder of you and how we feel about you. Mr. McElwee thanked the Board for this honor. Agenda item 7. Presentation of FY 2022 Audit - Ms. Linda Coffman Linda Coffman, Linda’s Accounting Firm, gave an overview of the 2022 audit report, stating all financial statements and all materials are presented fairly according to the general accepted accounting principles. Agenda item 8. Consideration of Professional Services Agreement/Proposal – FY 2023 and FY 2024 Audit (Linda’s Accounting Firm) Mr. Steinbach recommended continuing the business relationship, she presented her FY 2023 proposal and I asked her to provide a fee proposal for FY 2024 if the Board will commit to two fiscal years that locks in the price. Action taken: Commissioner Crislip moved to approve the Professional Services Agreement for FY 2023 and FY 2024 Audit with Linda’s Accounting Firm, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. 2 Agenda item 9. First Reading, Ordinance No. 366-23, repealing Ordinance No. 194-11 in its entirety and to establish/reaffirm the procedure for collection of unpaid fines, etc. of Piperton City Court Mr. Steinbach stated last month the Board considered the new debt collection agency since the prior firm went out of business and the Court Clerk brought to my attention that the Tennessee General Assembly last session had amended the statute with regards to the number of days that we would have to wait before we can turn the debt over, that number has been reduced from 180 days to 60 days so we need to update and reaffirm that, the current ordinance shows 180 days so this repeals that ordinance and reaffirms the process and reduces that time period from 180 days to 60 days. Action taken: Commissioner Morris moved to approve Ordinance No. 366-23 on first reading, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 10. Any other old/new business, questions or matters from the audience There was none. Agenda item 11. Adjournment Action taken: Commissioner Crislip made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes and the meeting was adjourned at 6:33 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beverly Holloway, City Recorder Approved: _________________________________date:______________________ 3