Board of Mayor & Commissioners

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF THE PIPERTON BOARD OF MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS December 19, 2023, 6:00 P.M. The Piperton Board of Mayor and Commissioners met in a regular session on December 19, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, with Board members: Mayor Henry Coats, Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley, Commissioner Russ Fletcher, Commissioner David Crislip, and Commissioner Bret Morris. City Manager Steve Steinbach, Police Deputy Chief Jonathan Roney, Fire Chief Reed Bullock, Public Works Director Richard Mills, City Engineer Harvey Matheny, and City Recorder Beverly Holloway were present. Carolyn Rhea (Fayette Falcon), Elizabeth McCommon, Billy Meacham, Letha Granberry, Alice Cone, Vicki Hancock, and et al were present in the audience. Building Official Elizabeth Reed, Finance Director Maria George, 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 Russ Fletcher led in the opening Prayer and Commissioner Bret Morris 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, Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley moved to adopt, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 4. Any changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of November 21, 2023: Motion to adopt the Minutes of the Regular Session of November 21, 2023 Action taken: There were no changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of November 21, 2023, Commissioner David Crislip moved to adopt the Minutes of the Regular Session of November 21, 2023, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 5. Review/approval of Financial Reports, Building Inspector’s Report, Public Works Report, Fireman’s Report, Police Report and Development Activity City Manager Steve Steinbach stated we are continuing to monitor our operating accounts. We have a very ambitious capital project plan this year. Property taxes are starting to trickle in and sales tax is keeping at budget. Our cash and cash equivalents are in good shape and balance sheets are strong. Mr. Steinbach announced that Police Deputy Chief Roney has done an outstanding job in the transition since the departure of Chief Hendricks in June and I couldn’t be more pleased. I have promoted and appointed him to Chief of Police. Fire Chief Reed Bullock (filling in for Building Official Elizabeth Reed) stated there are a total of 26 permits issued that included 1 new single-family dwelling. There were 164 inspections and 6 code compliance contacts. Public Works Director Richard Mills stated the Piper House construction is still moving forward. Sheet rock has been installed. Painting in next. We found a cistern in the center of the house, that could be dated back 145 to 150 years. It is about 12 feet deep and had about five feet of water inside. Most of the water has been drained down to 8 inches. The structural engineer will be here Thursday to go down inside and inspect the cistern to make sure it is structurally sound. If it is then we want to preserve it. If it is determined not to be sound, we will follow the engineer’s recommendations. We did locate about 25 feet of a bucket and chain 1 pump in the cistern. We did locate a patent number on some of the buckets. That patent was started in 1836. Mann Drive paving has been completed. The striping will be done next. We came about $2,000.00 over budget for Mann Drive. Shaws Creek drainage project has been completed and the sod is down. The contactor did a good job. TDEC/ARPA projects are still moving forward. I would like to have the waterline project bid out by spring and hopefully the sewer right after that. The sewer flow going to Rossville for November was 1,753,500 gallons for 10/25/23 to 11/28/23 (34 days). That is an average of 51,573.53 gallons per day (64.47% of the allotted 80,000 gallons per day). There were 80 Tennessee 811 line locates. There were 56 total work orders with 10 still pending with 5 after hour call outs on sewer. Public Works Assistant Daniel Lovett did all the estimating for our paving project this year and missed it by 50 tons which is two truckloads. That is spot on, he did a really good job and is a good asset to our public works team. Fire Chief Reed Bullock stated during the month of November, there were 5 rough inspections, 3 final inspections, with 21 total calls (15 in the city). There were 6 mutual aid calls. The new F350 brush truck will arrive on Thursday. He is still working on the city app and hopes to be ready in 7 weeks. Police Deputy Chief Jonathan Roney stated in the month of November, there were 47 dispatched calls, 2 incident reports, 1 arrest report and 3 motor vehicle crashes. At the beginning of December, we had our annual inservice training. The officers qualified with their rifles. The new body cameras have arrived and are now in service. The tasers have arrived and training will take place January 4th for our instructors and then our instructors will hold a class. Watson is in the final stages and are awaiting the selection of the IT company. We had a gun lock giveaway this past weekend that was very successful. The newest officer started a few weeks ago. There was a successful interview last Friday with another applicant and the background check has begun. There was nothing new to report on the development activity. Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve all reports, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 6. Resolution No. 23-282 – consideration of approval of the amended Fayette County Urban Growth Plan, including amended Municipal Urban Growth Plans Mr. Steinbach gave an overview on the what has been accomplished and what is being proposed on the urban growth plan to Fayette County. The Piperton Planning Commission held the first of two required public hearings on the matter and in April, the Board of Mayor and Commissioners held their public hearing and approved the proposed amendments. Action taken: Commissioner Crislip moved to approve Resolution No. 23-282, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 7. Resolution No. 23-283 – authorizing the Piperton Mayor to enter into a contract with Universal Collection Systems, Inc. for the collection services of delinquent traffic accounts Mr. Steinbach stated our previous debt collection firm has closed their business and staff has vetted several agencies and recommended Universal Collection Systems. The agreement has been or is being reviewed by the city attorney. Staff recommends approval. Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve Resolution No. 23-283, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 8. Resolution No. 23-284 – authorizing the Piperton Mayor to execute a service agreement with the Payment Group, LLC for credit card processing services 2  Mr. Steinbach stated this covers the need to change out credit card payment option for our customers. Staff vetted several vendors and recommended the Payment Group LLC. This company’s software already interfaces with our ADSI Court software. This will eliminate overpayment issues. Staff recommends based on our Court Clerk and Chief Roney’s recommendation to approve and authorize the Mayor to enter into an agreement with the Payment Group. Action taken: Commissioner Crislip moved to approve Resolution No. 23-284, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 9. Resolution No. 23-285 – releasing and canceling the letter of credit posted as security for required improvements to Dollar General on behalf of Susan Cox Development, LLC Mr. Matheny stated we have been holding a $25,000.00 letter of credit for this development for the last 2 years dealing with stabilization along the highway and a roadside ditch that need to be addressed. Those items have been addressed. They have requested the release and staff recommends the approval for the release of the letter of credit. Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve Resolution No. 23-285, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 10. First reading, Ordinance No. 385-23, amending the Piperton Zoning Ordinance to include portions of Article 3 – General Provisions and Article 11 – Landscaping, Screening and Lighting Requirements, regarding the maximum height of privacy fencing Mr. Matheny stated this would allow up to an 8’ privacy fence in a residential setting under certain conditions such as matching the neighboring fence. The applicate must provide justification for the additional height. Anything above 6’ feet must have Planning Commission’s approval. Commissioner Fletcher inquired what was the driving force for this. Was there a complaint? Vice-Mayor Binkley stated there was a request for a tall fence and the city didn’t currently have an ordinance that really answered the question. Mr. Matheny stated it was a justifiable situation but the ordinance would not allow it. Action taken: Commissioner Morris moved to approve Ordinance No. 385-23 on first reading, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 11. Recess – hold Public Hearing concerning Ordinance No. 386-23, amending the Municipal Code by replacing existing Section 5-103 with a new Section 5-103; relating to purchasing and increasing the threshold for public advertisement and competitive sealed bids from $10,000.00 to $25,000.00 Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to recess the meeting to hold a public hearing, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Mr. Steinbach stated in March the General Assembly adopted Public Chapter 54. This amended the general law charter by increasing the bid threshold from $10,000.00 to $25,000.00. This gives us the flexibility to respond to the matters at hand. This is applicable to all governments across the state. Staff recommends that we accept the increased threshold. There were no additional comments or questions from the audience. Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to reconvene the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 12. Second Reading, Ordinance No. 386-23, amending the Municipal Code by replacing existing Section 5-103 with a new Section 5-103; relating to purchasing and increasing the threshold for public advertisement and competitive sealed bids from $10,000.00 to $25,000.00 3  Action taken: Vice-Mayor Binkley moved to approve Ordinance No. 384-23 on second reading, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 13. Any other unfinished/new business, questions or matters from the audience Vice-Mayor Binkley stated on the Urban Growth Plan. I want to confirm that unless the State changes their laws about annexing, this is really not applicable to anything we can do in the future? Mayor Coats stated unless someone request to be annexed. Mr. Steinbach stated the State passed 1101 and changed the annexation laws that essentially renders the urban growth boundary mute unless you are asked. There was no other business. Agenda item 14. Adjournment Action taken: Commissioner Morris made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes and the meeting was adjourned at 6:36 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beverly Holloway, City Recorder Approved: _________________________________date: ______________________ 4