1. Board of Commissioners (BOC)

MINUTES TOWN OF PITTSBORO BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS TUESDAY, May 26, 2020 SPECIAL MEETING 5:30PM REGULAR MEETING 7:00 PM Mayor Jim Nass called the meeting to order. Motion was made by Commissioner Fiacco, seconded by Commissioner Bonitz to go into Closed Session to discuss Selection of Town Manager. Vote Aye-5 Nay-0 Motion was made by Commissioner Fiocco, seconded by Mayor Pro Tern Pamela Baldwin to come out of Closed Session. Mayor Jim Nass called the meeting to order and asked for a moment of silence. [ PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Pledge of Allegiance was led by Commissioner Jay Farrell. ATTENDANCE Members present: Mayor Jim Nass, Mayor Pro Tern Pamela Baldwin, Commissioner Jay Farrell, Commissioner Kyle Shipp, Commissioner John Bonitz and Commissioner Michael Fiacco. Staff Members present: Interim Town Manager Bob Morgan, Finance Director Heather Meacham, Interim Police Chief Shorty Johnson, Interim Town Clerk Cassandra Bullock, Planning Director Jeff Jones, Attorney Paul Messick and Planner II Kayleigh Mielenz. Motion made by Commissioner Fiacco, seconded by Mayor Pro Tern Baldwin to accept the Consent Agenda. Vote Aye-5 Nay-0 I  CONSENT AGENDA 1. Resolution adopted for Chatham County Fair Utility and Greenway Easement. (Messick) 2. Accept FY 2019-2020 Financial Report as of March 31, 2020. 3. Accept FY 2019-2020 Financial Report as of April 30, 2020. End of Consent Agenda. Motion made by Commissioner Fiocco, seconded by Commissioner Farrell to go into Public Hearing. Vote Aye-5 Nay-0 PUBLIC HEARINGS 1. SP-2020-03 Mosaic Area A Individual Lots Phase 2. (Kayleigh Mielenz) Mosaic has proposed to construct a multi-family apartment building with a parking deck level and convenience store along Mosaic Blvd; the subject parcel {68503) is in the Chatham Park POD within 500' of an exterior boundary. The site plan for the proposed multi-family apartment building is currently under review by staff and is expected to go to the Board of Commissioners on June 8, 2020. The Chatham Park Master Plan states, that "For uses which would otherwise require a SUP (Special Use Permit) throughout the rest of the Town's planning jurisdiction, and which are located within 500' of an exterior boundary of the Chatham Park POD, a public hearing must be held on the Boundary Transition treatments and the proposed Use." The proposed multi-family building site is within 500' of an exterior boundary, review of this site plan must include a public hearing to provide interested parties with an opportunity to comment on the proposed Boundary Transition treatments and Use. The applicant Mark Ashness with CEGroup spoke and stated they wanted to construct a Multi-Family apartment building, at the location there is an existing buffer but CLC did not have an issue with them building. Motion was made by Mayor Pro Tern Baldwin, seconded by Commissioner Fiacco to go out of Public Hearing. Vote Aye-5 Nay-0 2  Motion made by Commissioner Shipp, seconded by Commissioner Fiocco to ' approve the Regular Agenda. I Vote Aye-5 Nay-0 REGULAR MEETING AGENDA Citizens' Matters- No one signed up to speak. COMMISSIONER/MANAGER UPDATES Mayor Updates • EDC- Commissioner Fiocco advised they are just wrapping up their strategic plan, they have been working on it for months and are very close to completion. • RPO- Commissioner Fiocco advised next meeting is June 11 and he will be attending that • Fairground Association • PEA/Downtown • Triangle J Council of Governments- Mayor Pro Tern Baldwin advises she has a Zoom meeting with the Council tomorrow. She says she will send the Board summaries of the meetings via email. • Main Street- Commissioner Fiocco advised they have four facades on going at the comers of Hillsboro and Salisbury also at Hillsboro and possibly the traffic circle. Tomorrow night [ they should vote on an artist mural that will go on the visitor's center. Mayor Pro Tern Baldwin asked if the welcome center was going to have offices? Commissioner Fiocco advised the building will have 3 offices, 1 breakroom, bathroom, and an open area for the visitors. There will be furniture and big screen tv's in the open area displaying the sites of Pittsboro. The offices will host Main Street Committee. It is thought the Chamber of Commerce will share a space with them and possibly the Board of Tourism. The Chamber is working on a five-year plan, will not commit until they finish with the plan and it should be done by the summer. • Climate Change • Human Relations Committee • Chatham County Arts Council Manger Report Interim Town Manager Bob Morgan provided an update on the application for Town Hall on the USDA loan, he advised Phase 1 of the study is complete and it was recommended to us to test the two wells on the property. It is believed USDA will ask us to do that anyway so hopefully that will save us some time. Should only take a couple of weeks to do. He has received the go head to get the draft lease together and over to the county for review this week and have that wrapped up in a couple weeks also. 3  OLD BUSINESS I . Traffic Calming Policy. (Shorty Johnson) Interim Police Chief Shorty Johnson advised he took the revised policy that the previous Board had looked at in Oct 2019 and with the suggestions they have made he has spoke with the Planning Department and the Utilities Department they are both on board with the policy. Presenting to see what the Boards thoughts or concerns were. Commissioner Fiocco commented that he did send out his questions to the Board and Interim Chief Johnson on the plan, he was a little confused on the terminology and wonder if it was the same idea but just using different words Interim Chief Johnson advised he received the email, the policy was taken from ours and other towns, the service area is what we are concerned with as far as traffic issues. The area of influence is the service area. They are looking at the neighborhood but maybe need to word it as a service area. Johnson advised he can change the speed tables from 25 to 35, that way if someone complained about the speed limit, they could lower it to back to 25 . Commissioner Fiocco advised that was a good idea. Interim Chief Johnson said that he has made changes to the policy by saying service area. Commissioner Shipp questioned on the service area for Oakwood Drive would also consist of Hillcrest Drive and Kensington Drive. Interim Chief Johnson advised they would also investigate those areas if the renters or homeowners were using those roads to travel on. Commissioner Shipp questioned if all the speed limits posted, he knows standard speed limit is 25 but if it is not 25 do, we have the speed limit posted? Interim Chief Johnson stated if they are not posted they are 35 and if they are posted it is usually 25 . Commissioner Shipp requested that we remove the word posted? He also asked if we were going to have a fee with the application? Interim Chief Johnson states on his end he does not believe there will be a fee, this is just a step up just in case we get a speeding complaint. He saw in other policies that some neighborhoods wanted designs on the speed humps but that could become too costly. He does not recommend it. He will make the forms accessible to the public. Commissioner Shipp wanted to know what it means "the issue has been addressed." Interim Chief Johnson stated once they submit their complaint or request, they can have a Town Hall meeting with the neighborhood, they can send Officers to monitor the speed limits. 4  Commissioner Bonitz thanked Chief Johnson on his work on the policy. He is a little confused on the policy. He wanted to know his thoughts on the solar power speed limit signs. Chief Johnson once they speak with the area representative, they can suggest the solar power speed limit signs. If they want to purchase the unit, they can educate them on the ones they would be good for the neighborhood. Commissioner Fiocco said he would question the ability allowing a citizen to put an object in the right of way. Commissioner Fiocco advised we have encroachment agreements and that will help the issue so that anyone won't be able to just stick one anywhere or incorrectly. Commissioner Shipp said that is included in this policy. Mayor Pro Tern advised people to do complain about speeding through apartment complexes and she wanted to know if we could at least put notices saying "slowdown". Commissioner Fiocco asked the final draft to be brought to the June 8 meeting for consent. 2. Affordable Housing. (Mayor Nass) Mayor Nass advised that on November 13, 2018 the Board approved a set of final recommendations. Those final recommendations were to authorize an affordable housing task force authorize creation of a 50 1c3 non-profit and approve an incentive package such [ to the Board of Commissioners approving the ordinance. The Task Force failed to come up with an ordinance. Mayor Nass is the chair of the task force and needs to come up with an ordinance and bring it to the Board of Commissioners for approval. There are two options. 1. See if Interim Town Manager Bob Morgan can provide an assessment on if the Town Staff can form an ordinance in house. 2. If no, then whether the Board would want to consider funding for the writing of the ordinance though an outside party. Commissioner Farrell said "good job for all the hard work preparing this" but he just has a few questions on the fees and the property tax rebates. 1. Expediated review does not have any time frame. He questioned does that mean affordable housing will go or will not go in front of the Planning Board? 2. The fee waivers up to 100% about several months or maybe a year ago Habitat come to the board and they wanted their fees paid as well. 3. Property Tax rebate, is it normal to give them 100% for ten years? Mayor Nass advised this is common in the south and some in the mid-west. Commissioner Fiocco said the forgiveness is on the difference for pre- and post- development value. There are taxes being paid just not on the new and improved site. 5 Interim Bob Morgan advised he hasn't had time to review the policy with Jeff Jones or Paul Messick, there are some things he is concerned about, he ' s not able tell what the cost would be he would like some time to review those concerns before he makes a recommendation to the board. Mayor Nass said that would be great if he could review those issues and follow back up with the board. Commissioner Fiocco stated what Mayor Nass is talking about is the recommendation and various tools that was included today. Mayor Nass wants to see how we can tum the final recommendations into an ordinance. Once it's put into a draft ordinance it comes before the board for review . Commissioner Fiocco would like to echo what became part of the Task Force and it is published in the recommendations that Pittsboro should be the place where we figure it out rather than say NO. If we can approach it with that can-do attitude there is a way to get affordable housing a fabric of Pittsboro. Mayor Nass stated we are very fortunate to get a 9% credit approved for Pittsboro in this last go around. It should be a real help to our town. He thinks we should find someone in North Carolina to write the ordinance and then the Town Manager bring it back to the board for review. Commissioner Bonitz would like to hear formal comments from attorney and staff about the proposal package. Commissioner Shipp asked about what was included in the packet. Mayor Nass advised what was sent out was what an ordinance would look like and it unsatisfactory and he should have gone with the recommendations. The only thing the task force has done is try to come up with an ordinance and was not successful. Commissioner Shipp said that meant nothing had been accomplished in the last 18 months that we can use. He reached out to Stephanie Cruz and Ericka Brown from the county, they provided some feedback and they are happy to get involved. BOARD DIRECTIVES I . Ordinance regarding disconnections and late fees/ delinquent fees . Finance Director Heather Meacham advised the Board that the Governors order was set to expire June 1. She wanted to know if they were going to continue with no disconnections or late fees and revisit the Ordinance in another month. Commissioner Bonitz would be open for an extension. 6  Mayor Pro Tern advised that is she open for an extension as well. Commissioner Shipp agrees with extending it as well, but they should talk about the policy for when the order is lifted and how the Town should proceed with making up payment plans for the delinquent accounts. Finance Director Heather Meacham stated our policy adopted by the Board is separate from the Executive Order. We still have to go by the Executive Order and under that order any of the past due amounts under that Order we have to allow them time and it doesn't give a timeline on how much time but allow them to set up payments to pay the past due balances off. We can write up a policy for the payment plans. Mayor Nass stated what he is hearing from the Board is keep the policy as it is now and revisit the policy in 4-6 weeks. Finance Director Heather Meacham will have it added to the meeting at the end of June. Commissioner Bonitz requested some statistics on how much is owed. Finance Director Heather Meacham as of May 1 we had two times the number of accounts than we normally do past due. We will send out letters to encourage people to pay something. 2. Water Quality Task Force Report to Board. I Presenting from the Water Quality Task Force Board are: Cindy Perry, Katie Bryant, Emily Sutton, Karen Strada Cindy advised she has been speaking with the Mayor Nass about the discussion of the Task Force meetings. Jan-March they have had informational meetings and with a 17-member task force some are on top of the issue or brand new to the issue but had strong feelings about the community and schools. First few meetings were educational and was able to bring everyone up to speed. The meeting in April and May were more informational and detailed. Cindy looked at the charge that was given at the May 11 meeting and at the charge that was developed in 2019 and she knows it is set to expire on the 30th day of June but she is requesting an extension for at least 2-3 months. They wanted to have 2 meetings monthly and it started out that way but with the virus hitting it was not working out to well. Cindy states she has asked Katie Bryant to co- chair with her on the task force. Emily Sutton will talk about upstream matters and Karen Straza will talk about establishing a relationship with Chatham Market Place. Katie Bryant mentioned there is a 3-part process with water. 1. The best way to describe it is The Water Task Force is working with downstream collation and the community effected by the water and hopefully we can put pressure on the state to make changes because the numbers aren ' t satisfactory. 2. Having questions on upstream towns, going to their Mayors, Water Plants and Town Managers and making sure they are aware of the issues. [ 3. Having a short-term fix and that is installing fountains in schools and within the Town until the issues have been resolved. 7 Adam Pickett, Pittsboro Water Plant Director said we should be getting results back in August on the Pilot Study. Commissioner Fiocco wanted to know if there are any locations in town that samples are being taken from our water system? Emily Sutton advised Dr. Heather Stapleton did some research and found that in several homes the tap drinking and rural water had high levels. Emily advised she would send links for the Board to review. https://mdwillia. wixsite .com/pwtf https://www.epa .gov/ground-water-and-drinking-water/drinking-water-health-advi sories-pfoa-and-pfos Commissioner Shipp told Katie that in Jan she mentioned there was some issues with the testing methods. Katie state she was referring to the upstream violators. She did not want them doing the testing she wanted an independent company doing the testing. Commissioner Fiocco want to know if we would we be having these issues in our water if it was not for the upstream contributions? Emily said yes, but there will always be discharges though, there should be treatment at the drinking water level. Removal of the compounds at the source is the main goal. They are working with the City of Burlington to find the source because it is also going into their wastewater treatment plant. Cindy states all we really need to do is lobby to the State of NC for protection. Mayor Nass stated he has info that they have put together a group from both the air and water side to do nothing buy get involved in the compounds over the next 6-12 months. There are a bunch of Attorney's from the Air side that's been assigned to the water side in this area. P FAS Testing has been funded by the state and their reports should be out by June. Commissioner Fiocco mentioned that the task force is to deliver info1mation to the Board to help them be better informed. What caught his interest is there have been farms that have been shut down in other states because of the presence of this material. There was a discussion between Commissioner Fiocco, Emily and Katie on the risk of the compounds and how they stay in your body. Commissioner Fiocco questioned if they had received the testing results or the blood results back. Katie advised they should be by near the beginning of the Summer. 8  Karen Straza advising, they have been working with Chatham Market Place and trying to see if they would be able to supply water to the town residents. They could at .39 cents a gallon and they would not mind billing the town. They could set up a system where the resident would have to show proof, they live in the Towns city limits. Cindy Perry discussed that maybe the Town could buy water systems for the resident 's that are able to purchase one, the Board would just need to come up with a policy and adopt it. Fiocco discussed we don't know what the level of the problem is and that's why we put together the Task Force to help us better understand what's going on. If it's coming from upstream, then we need to figure out what materials we are needing to clean it up and how dangerous it is. Mayor Pro Tern Baldwin thanked those that are on the Task Force and she would appreciate if they can send the reports so they can review. Cindy advised her and the Task Force will continue to report back to the Board of Commissioners and providing them with their minutes . ADDITIONAL UPDATES AND REPORTS 1. Commissioner Concerns. Interim Town Manager Bob Morgan asked the Board to begin studying the 2020-2021 Budget [ that has been placed in their packets. We advised that we hold the Public Hearing in the first meeting in June. Commissioner Bonitz would like to hold a workshop and focus on a few items. Law Enforcement and Public Works. Commissioner Farrell agrees with having a work session as well. Commissioner Fiocco questioned should we add it to the regular meeting or hold a special meeting? Interim Bob Morgan advised not to adopt the Budget until the end of June, they are waiting on the sales tax report and it should be better than expected. Commissioner Fiocco discussed concerns on the drop and the difference in the revenues and how the ABC revenues were supposed to be down, but they are up. Mayor Nass advised the Interim Town Clerk Cassandra Bullock to post that the Board will have a special meeting June 2, 2020. FYI- FY 2020-2021 ANNUAL OPERATING BUDGET MESSAGE. FYI- FY 2020-2021 MANAGER ' S RECOMMENDED BUDGET. FYI- FY 2020-2021 MAIN STREET PITTSBORO, INV PROPOSED BUDGET AS OF 05/06/2020. 9 Commissioner Farrell wanted to advise the Town and the Board about fee changes with the purchasing of the new Fire Truck next FY year. He advised price will increase by 2% at the first of December and 10-15% by January 2021. He mentioned that the Town employees were to draw up a letter advising they are committing partial payment. Commissioner Shipp stated he also thought the Town decided to draw up a letter/contract committing to payment. Interim Town Manager Bob Morgan advised he will investigate having the letter written up. Commissioner Shipp wanted to remind everyone why we had yesterday off (Memorial Day. He also wanted to check into and see if we could try and purchase tablets for the Board to use. Mayor Pro Tern Baldwin asked the Board if they could do a resolution for Mayor Pro Tern Larry Cheek due to his passing. Commissioner Fiocco advised the Board will place that on the June 2 agenda. ADJOURNMENT Motion made by Commissioner Bonitz, seconded by Commissioner Fiocco to Adjourn @ 9:06pm. Aye-5 Nay-0 ATTEST: Interim Town Clerk