Mayor & Council

11/13/24, 11:56 AM Paq MINUTES Town of Smyrna Council Meeting Bi-Monthly Meeting Monday, November 4, 2024, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm Hybrid MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WILL BE PERMITTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING by teleconference by calling 929-436-2866 and entering Meeting ID number: 853 7799 0733 Passcode: 298261 or by visiting Join Zoom Meeting at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85377990733? pwd=jc7VVAd2HucZulWG4Gl52hPaMPl9GC.1 1. 7:00 PM - Call to order The meeting was called to order by Mayor Johnson at 7:00 PM 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Roll Call Roll call done by Danielle. All were in attendance. 4. Additions/deletions to the published agenda Vice Mayor Rasmussen motioned to amend the agenda; to remove 8 c, d, and e. They all deal with the budget and that has not been approved by the Finance Committee to then be sent to Council. Councilwoman Gott seconded the motion. All approved. 5. Consent agenda a. Council minutes of 10/21/2024 Councilman Pope motioned to accept the Council minutes. Councilwoman Gott seconded. All approved. 6. Non-agenda items a. Mayor and Council Members Mayor Johnson - mentioned about several veteran programs happening locally. He asked Pastor Riley, (Presbyterian Church), to talk about their event. Pastor Riley - spoke on the church's event. It's traditional patriotic service, where veterans are honored, and families of military members who have passed on are invited to bring uniform items and militarily memorabilia and lay them at the foot of the cross. There are some items that go back to the Civil War, representing families in the community. Councilwoman Gott - asked if that was the 11 a.m. service. Pastor Riley confirmed. Mayor Johnson - continued with his updates. Clayton Elementary is hosting a blessing program on 11/8 at 9:30. Then thanked everyone for attending. Thanked the https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 1/9 11/13/24, 11:56 AM Paq Finance staff for the work they're doing, especially with the audit and budget. Lastly, he mentioned about people going out and voting tomorrow. Councilman Johnson - thanked the town crew for their hard work and keeping the town clean from the leaves and yard waste. Councilman Pressley - mentioned that Charter Review is having a meeting on the 7th at 5 p.m. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - mentioned that the next Main Street Coordinating Board meeting is 11/12 at 8:30 a.m. Next Thursday, (11/14), is the second meeting of the Commerce St TAP St Public Workshop. DelDOT had their first meeting a few months back to gather feedback on streetscape improvements that would be done along Commerce St, from Main St up to the split at Smyrna-Clayton Blvd. This meeting is to go over some of the proposals they have. It will be at the Firehouse on 11/14, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m. Councilman Pope - mentioned about Election Day being tomorrow; polls opened 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. He brought up some of the local polling locations: Sunnyside Elementary, the Middle School. Mayor Johnson - brought up a place in Leipsic, the Middle School, elementary schools, Clayton Firehouse. Councilman Pope - agreed. He continued, saying that Quincy Jones passed away at 91. He was very good friends with a Delawarean, Clifford Brown. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - she did not have anything to talk about. Councilwoman Gott - listed dates for upcoming events: 11/20 is the next Parks and Recreation meeting at the Police Station, 6 p.m. The VFW and American Legion are working to building a monument park in front of George C. Wright Jr. Park. That meeting is 11/21, 6 p.m., at the VFW. They will talk about grants, order of the monuments, and the wording. 12/1 is Christmas in Clayton and the electric parade. 12/4 is the Town of Smyrna Veterans' event at the Opera House at 6 p.m. 12/7 is the Pearl Harbor Day Memorial ceremony at Lake Como, usually about 10 a.m. or 11 a.m. 12/8 is Caroling on the Square. There will be a DJ, karaoke machine, decorations, a coffee truck, soft pretzel truck. Schools, churches, home school programs, lodges, organizations, friend groups and businesses are invited to participate. She mentioned that if anyone was interested in participating or leading a song for the community, to reach out to her. On 1/10/2025 is the Red Sand Project. We are working hand in hand with the school and are including businesses. This is in recognition and supporting the human trafficking effort in Delaware. We are working with Kate at the Police Department on this project also. She is also organizing Narcan training. That will be at the Levin Center on Main St on 1/7/2025 and hopefully a closer one on 11/25/2024 at the Smyrna Diner. She is working with Bethel AME Church on the east side of the highway to have one in the congregation area. She then read a proclamation supporting Operation Green Light for Veterans. b. Police Chief Chief James - The Smyrna Police Department, (SPD), became reaccredited through the State of Delaware as an agency. Delaware sets standards and SPD has met all 200+, so they are the model agency for the whole state. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 2/9 11/13/24, 11:56 AM Paq c. Town Manager Chief James - he mentioned documents and a report he has passed out, but wanted Jason to talk during this time on something that just came to their attention on Friday because it is time sensitive and there is a potential financial piece to it. Jason - talked about the 2021 lead and copper rule revisions that the EPA put out that all public water systems, including municipalities, are subject to. The town has to do an inventory of the water service lines, take note of the materials that they're made of, put that inventory in, and then it's broken down into three (3) categories: lead, galvanized, and unknown. There are notices that have to be distributed to the customers by November 15. They are create a lot of questions; a lot of concerns. Our Customer Consumer Report, (CCR), which is all the state and federal regulations that the town has to follow and abide by, we're within the standards. But the materials have been in the ground for a long time and the town has to identify them and we have to let the customers know that they have a material and the steps moving forward to remove it. This is going to develop into a big capital improvement plan. We will continue to test and make sure that the water quality is within the Maximum Contaminant Level, (MCL). Right now everything is safe, but as standards change, so does public notification, so does the identification of older infrastructure and how we need to upgrade it to ensure the safety provided to our customers. The town will man this the best we can, but they will have an influx of of concerns. Councilman Pope - asked if this is covered by any federal dollars? Jason - there is no funding available right now. He has contacted the reps at DE Rural Water Association. He had the same questions as other municipalities. It is going to be a prerequisite if we apply for SRF funding or other funding. If this isn't done, we won't be eligible to get that funding. They are working on developing some sort of funding for municipalities, because for some this is going to be a devastating blow. Also, this is not a one year fix, this is going to take several years, but we'll stay on it and keep everyone updated. 7. Old business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. Economic Development Incentives Jeremy - presented and readdressed impact fees and incentives. As requested, Mayor and Council has a comparison chart between the old impact fee schedule and the new impact fee schedule. There are vested subdivisions that have been in the books for 20 or so years and those impact fees are known terms. Those include areas like Worthington, Centerville, North Park, Cambria Village, Bon Ayre. There are other areas that have been approved, like Simons Corner Apartments, 270 units, Graceville, about 700 units, and areas under review like, Tappahanna, less than 100 units, former Sheriff farm, former Watson farm, which are probably 500 units each based upon what the zoning district allows. Those are the numbers used for calculating potential water, sewer, and electric allocations. There are some guessed on properties, like the 44 acres at S. Carter and US 13 which is zoned Corridor Commercial, and the Adams farm that was just recently annexed which is north of the Rt 1 overpass; that is 33 acres and they are looking at potentially putting up an hotel, apartments, and some commercial pad sites. This comes to about 4,641 units. Under the old impact fee calculations, the fees were done based on the cost of construction. A single family unit was about $930, a duplex was about $549, a town-home about $533, and lots in Bon Ayre paid about $438. The https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 3/9 11/13/24, 11:56 AM Paq shortcoming of that was that apartment and commercial buildings were maxed out at $3,750. That was one of the reasons for the impact study. Under the new fee calculations, on the residential side that is $1,982,456, (old fee amount for both Fire and EMS), to $7,625,129, (new fee amount), for Fire and $2,428,844, (new fee amount), for EMS. Commercial and office space is a little more difficult to guess because of the natural of the retail and commercial market. There are some already approved like the Thomas England project, Gateway North, Carter Road Professional Center, (space in front of the Bon Ayre community), North Smyrna Wawa, and a project across from the old Ronnie's Garden World which is about 11,000 sq ft of space and a proposed drive through restaurant. He went over the types of retail that could go into commercial spaces like a multi- tenant building, a smaller retail like Dairy Queen could go in a few of the vacant spots, another grocery store, larger retail stores, but unlikely to get a big box store. Some areas, like the Adams Farm, would see a hotel and smaller commercial spaces. What can't be predicted is if someone tears down a large space, (like the size of the Thomas England house and surrounding space), and wants to build. There is one remaining institutional project left; the DHCI hospital. That is 119,270 sq ft. Under the old impact fee schedule, Fire and EMS would get $3,750 each. Under the new impact fee schedule $214,113 would go to the Fire Company and $41,792 would go to EMS. THe state isn't building much more because they allow for remote work now. The Duck Creek Business Park campus was approved in 2017, and they have received State approval for up to 1.8 million sq ft from the Conservation District, DelDOT, the State Planning Office, and the Town of Smyrna. There are 28 lots. Two buildings have already been built, one at 70,000 sq ft and one at 133,000 sq ft. At a best guess, the park will encompass about 1.5 million sq ft. The market has changed and it may stay for the next 5-10 years. He's guessing about 12 additional buildings to go up, but it could be less because some have shown interest in larger sq ft buildings; like 250,000, 400,000, and 500,000. For instance, when FedEx was showing interest they were going to combine 10 of the 28 lots to construct a 430,000 sq ft warehouse and distribution facility. Under the old impact fee schedule, all those buildings would cap at $45,000 for both Fire and EMS. Under the new impact fee schedule, those buildings would be based on square footage; so for every 1000 sq ft, they would have to pay $1,189. So for 1.3 million sq ft of additional space, Fire is expected to get approximately $1,546,480 and EMS would get $303,680. He talked about the comparisons he made at the last meeting regarding recent industrial-type projects in other municipalities: a manufacturing facility in Harrington, the DE Food Bank in Milford, Delmarva Corrugated Box Facility in Dover, and KRM's business park in Seaford. Our current incentives are a 50% waiver on building permit fees and other municipal fees, which are water, sewer, electric, and municipal facilities, police, a 50% fee waiver based on the cost of construction; all within the Industrial Zoning District; like the WalMart Distribution Center, the Smyrna Business Park, and the Duck Creek Business Campus. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 4/9 11/13/24, 11:56 AM Paq The reason for not having the economic incentives before, (the 50% waiver for Fire and EMS), is because those were already capped at $3,750. However, under the new impact fee schedule, there will be a significant amount of dollars added to a permit, which could have a large impact in terms of where a project is going to locate; whether in Smyrna or in another municipality. As a reference point, the Delmarva Corrugated Box company was charge $168,728 for a 439,000 sq ft building. If that project was in Smyrna, it would cost Delmarva Corrugated about $1,080,000, and of that $600,000 would be Fire and EMS fees. To compete, the request is offering the same 50% waiver for Fire and EMS like it is done with municipal facilities, (water, sewer, and/or electric impact fees). Under the old impact fee schedule the cap is $3,750. Under the new impact fee schedule, even with a 50% waiver, Fire and EMS would still get over $100,000 for a 100,000 sq ft building. For a facility like FedEx was looking to build, that's still about 500 times more. So it is a building act that they have to play in order to stay competitive between different communities. Even with a 50% waiver for Fire and EMS, we are still higher but at least we'll be in a better ballpark. Using Delmarva Corrugated again, even with the 50% waiver, Fire and EMS impact fees would still be about $600,000; compared with Dover, which is less than $200,000. He asked if anyone had any questions. Councilman Pressley - asked who would be determining the 50% waiver and who does and doesn't get it. Jeremy - this is based upon Zoning district; which is essential the IORP Districts. Those are the Duck Creek Business campus, the Walmart Distribution Center, and the Smyrna Business Park. The Walmart Distribution Center is all built out and there may be room for one 10,000 sq ft building in the Smyrna Business Park. So any new industrial growth would in the Duck Creek Business Park and they would be the ones who would be taking advantage of the permit fee waivers. Councilwoman Gott - asked if the Fire and Ambulance were asked their opinions since they paid for part of the impact study. Jeremy - he has spoken with both and they are getting formal responses from their Board of Directors or General Memberships. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - spoke up and said that a member of the fire company was in the audience. He also responded to Councilman Pressley's question in that the 50% waiver determination would be in the Code. It's about how much money is spent and the formula that goes into it. Jeremy - spoke up about the formula. If $6.7 million is spent on an industrial building, the cap is 50%. If $3 million is spent, there may only be a 35% waiver. Councilman Pope - asked if the 2024 impact fee numbers are at the 80% level. Jeremy - the comparison impact fees is based on 50% of the 80% charged. Councilman Pope - so with 80%, the waiver is cut in half, so essentially the fees are at 40%? https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 5/9 11/13/24, 11:56 AM Paq Jeremy - confirmed that was correct and asked them to look at the comparison chart he provided earlier. If the fees were kept the same, Fire would get $1,546,480 and EMS would get $303,680. Under the old fee system the cap for both was $45,000. Councilman Pope - appreciated the breakdown and discussed the current costs for equipment in Fire and EMS; $2,300/member for a coat, $1,700/member for pants, $1,400/member for a leather helmet, and $820/member for boots. The Fire company is behind and they are looking at having a satellite station because the town keeps growing and with growth comes a reduction in response time. Jeremy - impact fees, as corrected by the consultant, are only supposed to support new equipment required for new development. So replacing existing apparatuses, those fees are not supposed to cover; same with replacing existing fire gear. For instance, the fire company has 3 engines, 1 ladder truck, 1 tanker truck, and a couple of special facility vehicles. The impact fees are to cover the cost of adding apparatuses or even the construction of satellite stations; which one should have already been built. Speaking for both Fire and EMS, two of those may be needed in the future. Doing the math on the number of dwelling units, that's an additional 12,000 residents in the town's limit. The impact fees would go towards the purchase of new engines, a satellite location, maybe another tanker if needed, the cost of the satellite building, the cost of the land that would need to be purchased, and similar items. So impact fees, in theory, should not be going towards gear, apparatus replacement, but instead towards the acquisition of new equipment. He used the example of a fire company having 26 members, if they were to get 20 new members, then the impact fees, in theory, would go to the gear needed for those 20 members. The costs for the 26 members is not supposed to be covered by the impact fees. Councilman Pope - he thinks that the responses, (from Fire and EMS), would be good imput, so that they, (Mayor and Council), know what direction to move it. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - asked if they would like to hear from the Fire Company. They agreed. John Rutledge - he is the sitting treasurer of the Citizens Hose Company. They took a vote and their official stance is to remain neutral. One of the reasons is that, for instance, KRM is privately owned land. It is putting the Fire company, and maybe the Ambulance company, in a position to say that they want thousands more, but KRM may not be able to develop the property to get that money. A property can't be developed if it's not attractive. They will not look a gift horse in the mouth and will take any funding that you'll, (the Town), give. They do understand that it does come with responsibility and they talked about the properties in town. In this case, KRM could turn around and say that the fire company won't let them build unless they give them this amount of money, and he felt that the Fire company isn't in a position to say that. He thanked them for allowing him to speak and restated that the Fire company has voted neutral. Councilwoman Gott - asked if this was just for KRM, or if there were other spots? Councilman Pressley - this is a KRM budget. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - the request for the fee waiver does not apply for residential, commercial, or institutional properties. Essentially it is only for KRM. Councilwoman Gott - asked about Artisan Dr, (Smyrna Business Park). https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 6/9 11/13/24, 11:56 AM Paq Vice Mayor Rasmussen - there's only potentially spot available that is currently not built. So this is really the Duck Creek Business Park entity that would be paying the $1.5 million. Jeremy - said he spoke with Bradley at Station 64. Their board meeting is on Wednesday, so he'll have something in writing following that. Mayor Johnson - this can be discussed further at the next council meeting. Councilwoman Gott - thanked Jeremy. 8. New business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. Donation request from Smyrna-Clayton Ministerium Mayor Johnson - there is a request from the Ministerium for $10,000. Asked for a motion for discussion. Councilwoman Gott motioned to discuss. Councilman Pope seconded the motion for discussion. Councilwoman Gott - given the current financial situation and working on the budget she asked if this was the right decision to make at this time? Mayor Johnson - asked if this is for 2024 or 2025? Pastor Riley, (part of the Ministerium) - this is for 2024. Mayor Johnson - if this is for 2024, we already had it in the budget. Councilwoman Gott - asked for clarification that it is in the 2024 budget but we haven't given it yet. Mayor Johnson - believes this is in 2024. Pastor Riley - confirmed that the Ministerium has not received any funding from the Town. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - said that they did have a $10,000 grant to give to the Smyrna-Clayton Ministerium in the 2024 budget as one of the approved items. Mayor Johnson - so there is no need for discussion if it was already approved. Councilwoman Gott - this is not additional, it's what was already done? Mayor Johnson - it's already been approved in the budget and if it was already approved, then there's no need for discussion. Councilman Pressley - so we need to give them a check. Travis, (Finance Director) - spoke up in the background about next year's request. Councilwoman Gott - responded that yes, they should request it, and next year they will have to. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - this request is associated with the budgeted amount. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 7/9 11/13/24, 11:56 AM Paq Mayor Johnson - right. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - spoke up and said that for clarification, that money is coming back to the town anyway. Someone said a portion of it. Councilman Pressley - in speaking with Pastor Riley asked if this is they request to get the funding. Pastor Riley - said yes. They held off because they were aware of the financial and fiscal situation faced by the tax. Their needs have multiplied significantly. It's costing $1,000/month just to keep perishable items in the food pantry at St. Peter's Episcopal Church. They had 200 visits for September and that has multiplied. Councilman Pressley - said they are doing a great job. Pastor Riley - said they are trying. Councilman Pressley - I guess it would be up to Torrie, (Chief/Town Manager). Mayor Johnson - jumped in and asked Chief if we were in a position to cut a check? Chief James - a check can be cut. It would be about Thursday. b. Resolution 008-24, proposing inclusion of the School House Village Subdivision into the Kent County Stormwater Maintenance District Vice Mayor Rasmussen made a motion to approve this resolution. Councilman Pope seconded the motion to approve. Mayor Johnson asked for a discussion. Barrett, (Town solicitor) - basically we have subdivisions throughout the county and they have stormwater facilities that they are responsible for. If they go through and bring them up to speed, the county will take them over as part of that process. It's almost like a letter of no objection from the Town saying that we're on board with it. We have got through this before. They, (the County), gives us a resolution, we tweak it to make it clear that the Town is not accepting any responsibility for this. It is a county thing, not us. Call to vote? Mayor Johnson - all in favor say aye. All said aye. None opposed. Motion passed. c. Ordinance 016-24, amending the Capital Reserve Removed from the discussion during item 4. d. FY 2025 Budget Removed from the discussion during item 4. 9. Presentation and public comments (3 minutes) Mayor Johnson asked if anyone would like to speak. No one stood to speak. 10. Adjournment Vice Mayor Rasmussen made a motion to adjourn. Councilwomen Dr. Upshur and Gott seconded simultaneously. All approved. Meeting was adjourned at 7:54 p.m. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 8/9 11/13/24, 11:56 AM Paq Posted 10/28/2024 at 4:30 PM (#1) NOTE: This agenda as listed may not be considered in sequence. This agenda is subject to change to include additional items, including Executive Sessions, and/or deletion of items, including Executive Sessions that arise at time of meeting. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 9/9