Board of Mayor & Commissioners

MINUTES OF THE REGULAR SESSION OF THE PIPERTON BOARD OF MAYOR AND COMMISSIONERS April 16, 2024, 6:00 P.M. The Piperton Board of Mayor and Commissioners met in a regular session on April 16, 2024 at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall, with Board members: Mayor Henry Coats, Commissioner David Crislip, Commissioner Russ Fletcher and Commissioner Bret Morris. Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley was absent. City Manager Steve Steinbach, Police Chief Jonathan Roney, Fire Chief Reed Bullock, Public Works Richard Mills, Finance Director Maria George, and City Recorder Beverly Holloway were present. Elizabeth McCommon, Billy Meacham, Charlotte Johnson, Vicki Hancock, Debra Joyner (Fayette Falcon), Don Ritcheson, Jim Ragon, Kris Locke, Letha Granberry, and et al were present in the audience. City Engineer Harvey Matheny and Building Official Elizabeth Reed 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 David Crislip led in the opening Prayer and Commissioner Russ Fletcher 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 Crislip moved to adopt the agenda, seconded by Commissioner Bret Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 4. Any changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of March 19, 2024: Motion to adopt the Minutes of the Regular Session of March 19, 2024 Action taken: There were no changes to the Minutes of the Regular Session of March 19, 2024, Commissioner Fletcher moved to adopt the Minutes of the Regular Session of March 19, 2024, 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 Fire Chief Reed Bullock (filling for Building Official Elizabeth Reed) stated for the month of March, there were 38 total permits issued. Elizabeth and her staff are currently attending the Tennessee Building Officials Association Conference in East Tennessee this week. There were 35 active new single-family dwellings, 3 certificates of occupancy’s issued, 3 new homes pending review. There were also 187 total inspections and 21 code compliance contracts. City Manager Steve Steinbach stated as we get close to concluding FY 2024, financial positions continue to remain strong, we have several capital projects that we are concluding. We are wrapping up the Piper House and the paving programs. Nevertheless, given the extend of the capital projects for this fiscal year, I am very please with that position. Balance sheets for the various funds remain strong. On the financial report, all of our primary revenue line items are in excess of 75% of the projections. The health insurance package program for the upcoming fiscal year, our previous vendor Humana is getting out of the health insurance business. We have selected Blue Cross Blue Shield as the most comparable plan. It is a 6% increase. We will bring forth the various bids next month for your review and adoption, however given our enrollment begins June 1st, I would ask for the Board’s approval of my authorization to have the broker go ahead and commit to that because of the paperwork that has to be accomplished for 1 the employees. I would ask for the Board’s acknowledgement and approval of Blue Cross Blue Shield pending your final review and approval of the bids next month. Action taken: Commissioner Morris moved to approve, seconded by Commissioner Crislip. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Public Works Richard Mills stated construction on the Piper House is still moving forward. All of the hard wood floors have been stained, they turned out great and look really good. May 13th is the contract deadline and it will be really close. Mayor Coats stated he would like to plan an open house for the community about a month or six weeks after we move in. Mr. Mills stated let us see what the next week holds, they are suppose to pave our parking lot area on the 26th. The parking lot area is to grade, we have to cap it off with 11 inches of gravel and then a 2-inch layer of asphalt. That should happen next week with the weather permitting. The house looks really good. The TDEC wastewater inspection that was postponed last month happened yesterday. There is a new inspector, we had a good inspection and should be receiving the report in the next couple of weeks. The paving project has started in Twin Lakes. All of the milling and repairs have been done with weather permitting the final overlay will go down. We will be applying for a grant for Traffic Signal Modernization Program (TDOT program). This is a program that helps small communities and maintaining modern traffic signals. There will be cameras and this is a 100% funded grant with no match required. The project will cap out at $125,000.00 per project. For Hwy 57 and Hwy 196, we are projecting $85,000.00. On TDEC ARPA, we should hear something from them regarding our funds being deposited into our account just any day. The sewer flow going to Rossville for March was 1,456,800 million gallons for 02/27/24 to 03/25/24 (27 days). That is an average of 53,955.56 gallons per day (67.44% of the allotted 80,000 gallons per day). There were 79 Tennessee 811 line locates. There were 112 total work orders. There were 6 after hours call-outs. Fire Chief Reed Bullock stated during the month of March, there was 1 rough inspection for commercial for Heavy Machines, there were 8 new residential permits, 3 rough residential inspections and 6 final inspections. There were 5 business safety checks. We responded to 31 total calls (27 in the city) with 12 calls being medical. We are 103 calls through the first quarter which is a 20% increase over last year. We had at time with 2 calls at the same time on March 13th. Police Chief Jonathan Roney stated in the month of March, there were 50 dispatched calls, 5 incident reports, 1 arrest report and 3 motor vehicle crashes. Officer King and Officer Maxwell graduated from the Active Shooter Instructors School of the Memphis Police Department; they will be working with local business to formulate plans. We are using the Watson software for everything with the exception of the e-citations and we hope to begin using that this week. The Memphis Police Department came out today and demonstrate their in-car video to give us a great insight to what they have. City Planner Brett Morris stated we still have several development applications that are in the pipeline to receive final approval from the Planning Commission. MCR expansion will be in for Planning Commission final site plan approval next month. Along with that Pyramex will be expanding, they have been granted a land disturbance permit. Their plans to expand have been delayed but we do expect them soon to come in for approvals. Piperton Hills Phase 1 is now being reviewed for recording. Last week Shaw’s Creek Phase 3 final site plan for 17 lots was in for approval. There is on-going construction for Lakes of Greenbrier CD-O Phase 3 and the Gateway Plaza C-store on Hwy 57. Heavy Machines in Piperton Business Center is getting close to completion and looking to do a grand opening soon. Action taken: Commissioner Crislip moved to approve all reports, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes. 2 Agenda item 6. Call of Election (Three City Commissioner Positions November 2024) Mayor Coats stated there are three positions up for election in November, including the Mayor’s seat and two Commissioner seats currently held by Vice-Mayor Mike Binkley and David Crislip. Agenda item 7. Consideration of an Accessory Structure exceeding 1,200 square feet Applicant: Don Ritcheson, 60 Dunn Ridge Cove Mr. Morgan stated Mr. Don Ritcheson has submitted an application for an accessory at the back of his lot located at 60 Dunn Ridge Cove in the Lakes of Greenbrier subdivision. The original submission was for 30 x 40 accessory structure and the overall square footage was about 1,900 square feet. This lot is less than an acre and that means 30% of the principal structure could be used for the calculation of the square feet of the accessory structure, the Planning Commission last week approved the accessory structure as long as it is reduced. We have plans that are 27 x 34 which brings the amount allow of the structure down to 1,458 square feet which he is allowed 1,461. The style or the materials used on the proposed structure are going to match the existing residence. Anything about 1,200 square feet must be approved by this Board as well. Action taken: Commissioner Morris moved to approve Mr. Ritcheson’s structure, seconded by Commissioner Crislip. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 8. Resolution No. 24-288, adjusting the letter of credit posted as security for required improvements to Piperton Preserve, Phase 6 – on behalf of Rus Dun Farms, Inc. Mr. Morgan stated the letter of credit will be reduced from $300,000.00 to $200,000.00. Mr. Steinbach stated I am confident based on my understanding of the project that the surety that is to remain is adequate to address any items that may bare themselves out. Action taken: Commissioner Fletcher moved to approve Resolution No. 24-288, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 9. Consideration of an updated Fire Protection/Medical Services Agreement with Fayette County Chief Bullock stated the County brought forth a proposal that they have worked with other municipalities and we have worked to make it work for us. Currently our entire fire district is encompassed within our city limits. So, we don’t receive any monetary funds from the county. With this agreement, it will solidify our automatic aid to continue which is critical for ISO, and it will also provide when we go outside of our city limits on a county medical call and make patient contact, we will receive $150.00 per call. This will cover our operating cost for both the men and equipment. So, this memorializes us into a binding agreement with the county. There is a 6 month out clause on any of it. This is what all other municipalities with the exception of one and the county have done. The only caveat in ours is that we did take motor vehicle crashes on I-269 out of the medical consideration because we are in and out so much in the City and county as that would be problematic to track. Commissioner Morris inquired if that address the liability issue if we go out of our jurisdiction to which Chief Bullock stated it is addressed in this. Action taken: Commissioner Fletcher moved to approve the updated Fire Protection/Medical Agreement with Fayette County, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 10. Recess – hold Public Hearing concerning Ordinance No. 389-24, amending Ordinance no. 369-23, setting fees for residential and small commercial garbage, yard waste collection service and voluntary recycling collection service and adjusting such fees 3  Action taken: Commissioner Morris moved to recess to hold a public hearing, seconded by Commissioner Fletcher. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Mr. Steinbach thanked Mr. Mills and the Public Works staff in terms of their negotiating. Our current agreement concluded in February after 5 years with the service provider that we have been fairly pleased with in terms of their responsiveness. It helped by dividing the city into two different service areas. We did have feedback from the residences concerning the yard waste cart and that yard waste cart will remain in use however it will not be mandatory as in the past. If you do not wish to keep it, you may turn it back in. Curb-side residential service that includes the yard waste cart and a garbage cart is $19.60 a month/per residence that compares to $18.27 which is a nominal 7% increase. Other jurisdictions are north of $20.00 a month. For customers desiring no yard waste cart, the fee drops to $14.60 a month. Included in the service fees is a reasonable 5% margin for our administrative cost. We have also added in a $2.75 charge which is blended into the rate to utilize our knuckleboom truck for yard debris pickup, bagged grass clippings, larger limbs and household items, that will be scheduled with the Public Works Department. The most significant increase was with the cost of the additional carts and we are passing those on essentially at cost and it doesn’t matter if it is an additional garbage cart, recycling cart or an additional yard waste cart. Recycling is the biggest increase. They are more selective on the items that can be recycled. So that cost has increased by $1.85 over the previous contract. Commercial waste disposal has decreased over $3.00 per month and additional carts are $5.55 per month. Mr. Billy Meacham inquired if they would pickup plastic bags with yard clipping on the boom truck. Mayor Coats stated yes. Mr. Meacham inquired if you could put out something other than electronically because everyone doesn’t have computers, etc. Mayor Coats stated we will try to put it on the water bill. Mr. Meacham stated please put the rules of what can be picked up and how it can be picked up. I am very pleased with Public Works picking up the sticks and limbs, and they do a good job, there is nothing left there and they don’t mess up the yard. The operator knows what they are doing. Mr. Steinbach stated that is good to hear. Action taken: Commissioner Morris moved to reconvene the meeting, seconded by Commissioner Crislip. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 11. Second reading, Ordinance No. 389-24, amending Ordinance No. 369-23, setting fees for residential and small commercial garbage, yard waste collection service and voluntary recycling service and adjusting such fees Action taken: Commissioner Morris moved to accept Ordinance No. 389-24 on second reading, seconded by Commissioner Crislip. The Motion received all affirmative votes. Agenda item 12. First Reading, Ordinance No. 390-24, repealing Ordinance No. 381-23, in its entirety, and revising/adopting various fees for the City of Piperton Mr. Steinbach stated as previously noted, Piperton employees a comprehensive fee schedule document, this is simply identifying the changes to our sanitation rates that we just addressed. This gives our residents/customer the ability to find various fees all in one comprehensive document, so every time we change our fees, we additionally change our comprehensive fee schedule. Action taken: Commissioner Fletcher moved to approve Ordinance No. 390-24 on first reading, seconded by Commissioner Morris. The Motion received all affirmative votes. 4 Agenda item 13. Any other unfinished/new business, questions or matters from the audience Chief Bullock urged residents to download the new city app available on the Google play store and iTunes store. We also update Facebook and the City’s website. We have budgeted as a line item for a new server for admin and the related equipment. That budget is in the amount of $31,000.00 and I have quotes from our provider for that. So, I will need an acknowledgement from the Board. Also, anytime we do service tickets I can track any issues we have; we are still working on getting our inventory and roll-out of our software. We are still waiting on the government to approve the .gov domain. Ms. Liz McCommon inquired what the final total was on the census. Mayor Coats stated 2,801. Mr. Meacham stated Reed mentioned about Facebook, every time you open up Piperton, it is to sell a house or clean vents. Chief Bullock stated that any group can put their ads on there but there are a couple of other Piperton pages that I have recently joined and there is one that looks the City of Piperton but it is not and they are advertising their stuff all of it. They will give you related ads and that is Facebooks algorithms that does that. 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 6:42 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Beverly Holloway, City Recorder Approved: _________________________________date: ______________________ Vice-Mayor 5