Mayor & Council

11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq MINUTES Town of Smyrna Council Meeting Bi-Monthly Meeting Monday, November 18, 2024, 6:45 pm - 8:00 pm Hybrid MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WILL BE PERMITTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING by teleconference by calling 646-931-3860 and entering Meeting ID number: 862 8504 8888 Passcode: 317120 or by visiting Join Zoom Meeting at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86285048888?pwd=UYM2alcIlflVDGjcZWDCLdtZS3SNbZ.1 1. 6:45 PM - Public Hearing on amending Appendix A, (zoning), to permit daycare centers and nursery schools in the Institutional and Recreational District, (I&R) 6:45 p.m. - call to order by Mayor Johnson. The public hearing was presented by Jeremy Rothwell. This is a simple text amendment. About a year and a half ago they went through to establish what is allowable uses in each district; last time was 20-25 years ago. Currently, in the I&R districts are government facilities: schools, Delaware Home and Hospital, but also religious institutions. So larger established churches are already identified in the I&R District. This zoning text amendment adds to what is already in place. In speaking with the Town Solicitor, daycares are defined at separate in the ordinance, meaning that if it is not explicitly mentioned, then we cannot technically allow a daycare or nursery in the I&R district. The Smyrna Church of Christ, which was just approved for annexation, has a large school building that has been in existence since the 1980's and they have someone who would like to operate a daycare and nursery school. Speaking with the Town Solicitor, this is a reasonable course of action just to make sure to be able to allow that. It's been occurring in similar building and we're just allowing it to continue and formalizing our okay. Mayor Johnson asked if anyone wanted to speak for or against the public hearing. No one stood to speak. The public hearing concluded at 6:48 p.m. 2. 7:00 PM - Call to order 7:00 p.m. - meeting was called to order by Mayor Johnson 3. Pledge of Allegiance 4. Roll Call Roll call was done by Danielle. All were present except Councilman Johnson. 5. Additions/deletions to the published agenda Councilman Pope motioned to accept the published agenda. Councilwoman Gott seconded the motion. Mayor Johnson asked if there was any discussion. There was none. All approved in favor of the published agenda. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 1/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq 6. Consent agenda a. Council minutes of 11/4/2024 Councilman Pope motioned to approved the 11/4/2024 minutes. Vice Mayor Rasmussen seconded the motion. All approved the motion. 7. Non-agenda items a. Mayor and Council members Mayor Johnson - talked about his time at the National League of Cities Summit. He brought back some reading material and information that he'll share with Council. He spoke on some of the interesting points: * a different method to budgeting, like 0 based. * using media to improve a town, like the murals that the Main St Board is doing, electronic boards around town. * some townships and cities are going to electric vehicles for their police. * legislative issues like with housing because the costs are high, rents are high, and [adding] senior housing because they are being gouged; maybe build a senior center, senior development/apartment, or something similar. * economic development and how it is a great tool to get people to come, offering funding, and how council needs to think about what they want from Smyrna. What do they want Smyrna to become. Council should have an impact plan and work with legislators. * new pathways for public development, like with mentorships and during the organizational meeting in May design the purpose council wants to achieve. He talked about being aware of impact fees, having a depreciation reserve account, and what's in the bank accounts. He said there is $14 million currently in our accounts and a $5 million surplus. We are better off than where we were before. We are documenting all public information. The 2023 audit is being completed, then there is 2024. 2025-2027 audit will be going out to bid. We looking at the budget we have to identify all our funding sources. Overall he learned a lot at the summit and it made him think of all the things he has done right and what he could have done better. Everyone should look to see what they've done and what they could have done better; citizens included. Councilman Pressley - had nothing to discuss Vice Mayor Rasmussen - read a proclamation celebrating 100 years of the American Legion, Ambulance Station 64. [Afterwards, pictures were taken] Bradley G of the American Legion, Ambulance Station 64 spoke. He thanked Mayor and Council for the recognition. Spoke on that they cover a lot of territory and said they are always looking for help. Councilman Pope - on Tuesday, (11/12), he attended the plaque dedication for Mt Olive Pentecostal Church. It's a very historical building and they've done a wonderful job on there renovations. On Thursday, (11/14), he attended the Commerce St DelDOT project presentation. It was to show where they are with it. Councilwoman Gott - went to the National Foundation of Women Legislators Conference and then the National League of Cities. There were several things she learned. * a program called Just Serves. The program believes in spreading hope, goodness, and unity through volunteerism. With motivated individuals and communities, united and harmonious societies can be built. She would like to bring this program to https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 2/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq Smyrna and bring all the volunteer activities and communities together to see what's happening and how we can work together to be successful. * training and education for Council and what they may lack that larger communities are embracing. An example given was maternal medicine for minorities, and she wants to learn more about how it works in Smyrna. There are programs that can be implemented through churchest and through the community. * foster children, aging out of the program and at age 18 are being open to the world and doing what they need to do instead of having an opportunity to go into an old apartment building or old home and learn life skills. The city of Wilmington does this as it is a State program. It could make a difference for a child becoming an adult. They worked with people from Wilmington and State Legislators and came together to understand the broader picture and the role that the community can play and how we can move forward so that the needs of the community are met better. There was discussion about more town halls and surveys so that they understand the community wants. An example given is like a parent and child. The parent sees things here while the child sees things there. * appreciation for staff and the people who make the town run. Those jobs are their careers and elected officials serve for only a period of time. Understanding and appreciating that is important. She then went over the calendar of events that are upcoming. * 12/1, Christmas in Clayton * 12/4, Veterans' event at the Opera House, 6 p.m.; doors open at 5:30 p.m. * 12/7, Pearl Harbor Day at Lake Como, either at 10 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. * 12/8, Caroling on the Square. There's a blow-up karaoke screen, a DJ, food trucks, and more. If an individual, family, business, and/or community group would like to lead a song, let her know. * 1/10/2025, Red Sand Project. This is an awareness of human trafficking. If anyone is interested, they can pick up a packet of red sand that they'll be able to pour into the cracks in the sidewalk. The School District is participating. We're getting boxes of red sand delivered to them. The National Foundation of Women Legislators has taken this on as an opportunity and will be sending everything that is needed. We want to make a difference and let people know we are a safe community. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - mentioned that she was also at the National Foundation of Women Legislators and National League of Cities. At the NLC, it was very nice to link together with other women in office. One of the guest speakers, Judge Glenda Hatchett, had them find someone they didn't know and check on them. They were to ask 3 questions and it got them started on connecting with people. She also learned more about the budget process and how to support staff, so she wanted to read a resolution that she would like to have on the next agenda. It was a resolution for setting up safeguards for the Town's 2025 budget process. b. Police Chief There were no comments on the police side c. Town Manager Chief James - wanted to give an update about the power outage that happened on Election Day. There was a surge that went through the substation and it took everything out between the town and Delmarva Power. He said that Josh, (Electric Director), could explain better if he wanted to, (he was on Zoom). We were down for about 2 hours. Thanked the staff that jumped on it immediately and got this taken care of. It could have been a larger event, but they were swift and got it taken care of, so good to them. Steps are being taken so that it doesn't happen again. An extra part https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 3/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq is being purchased and also having a back up as well. He thanked the electric crew again. Mayor Johnson asked if there was anything else. Chief James said that they'll be presenting the budget later. 8. Old business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. Library funding / presentation Rick Horsey, president of the Duck Creek Regional Library Operating Board, presented - went over the two boards, the first being the Friends of Duck Creek, who handled the construction and fundraising. The second is the one he is president of, and they will handle the operation of the library. Funding from the Friends of Duck Creek was done through State bond money, ARPA funds, and private donations. The construction of the library is scheduled to be completed around March 26th. At the last meeting they had requested that the current library stay open until the new library is complete. Their fiscal year is July 1 to June 30, so they are entering into the second half of their fiscal year. The funding that is being estimated for a full year is $568,150. Those funds came from the State of DE, the DE Division of Libraries, Kent County Library tax, New Castle County gifts and donations, grants, and room rentals. The estimated expenses they are projecting is about $600,000. This includes a full time staff at 5 people and part time staff at 8 people. The personnel expense they are looking at keeping around 60-65%. The projected number is around 75%. However, moving forward, they know that there will be no revenue from towns like Clayton, Kenton, or Smyrna. New Castle has put $125,000 in their budget. Kent County Levy Court tax is about $272,000. DE Division of Libraries is about $154,000. This revenue adds to about $568,000. What they want to make sure is that they have an operating income to sustain and also have a 5% capital reserve. They are building 5% every year of revenue to be added into capital improvements. They are asking the town to consider helping fund some of the library expenses. This is a 501C3 corporation. It is not owned by Smyrna or the County, but some money is coming from the county. He then asked if anyone had any questions. Mayor Johnson - is there an estimated dollar amount? Rick - said no. It is whatever amount that can be provided based on the Town's budget. He went over the staff who were in the audience; 2 full time staff in Jordan Ranger and Pat Young, and would like to add 3 more, and a part time staff member, Carol Ruben who has been with the library for 18 years. They, (the DCRL), would like to make sure that the retirement plan stays at the 3% matching. They are offering stipends for health benefits. Overall they are trying to make sure that a reasonable and fair wage is offered at the library. If they cannot reach their revenue, they will just not have to hire as many people. This is why they are looking for help from Smyrna, Clayton, and Kenton. They would appreciate anything, especially in this time of Thanksgiving. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 4/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq Councilwoman Gott - asked Rick if New Castle County's $125,000 is an annual donation or a one time? Rick - an annual donation. Mayor Johnson - spoke up and said that we have an obligation to this library. Our budget is roughly $350,000 and half of that is salaries we won't have to cover; that's 60-65%. We are supposed to to look at that and come up with a number and see what our cost would be for 3 months. Councilwoman Gott - asked if we have talked with the Opera House. Chief James - spoke up and said that he did. He spoke with Brian about the improvements and stuff that they're doing. March is the worse case scenario that he can wait to start. Mayor Johnson - said that based on where we are, per the financial statements, and the capital reserve, if the 24 budget ends up in a good place, then we should have money; looking at a $5.6m surplus. * general fund is 75% * revenue expenses are about 80% * water is about 97%, with expenses about 75% * electric is about 95%, with expenses at about 80% Surpluses include: 4.3 for water, 3.3 for electric. Deficits include: 2.1 for general fund Net effect is $5.7 million in surplus We are not at 100% and it's already month 11 of the year. He sure we are not going to spend 100% of 25% in a month. Overall, he feels that the town is in a good spot to make a donation to the library on an annual basis, regardless of where they are. We're saving $150,000-200,000 a year, times 10. Councilwoman Gott - spoke up from a resident standpoint. There is a Kent County library tax now and there was a hefty increase in taxes. During the last Finance Committee meeting, they discussed doing away with all donations except for the Ministerium and 4th of July. She would like to see the budget complete before committing to anything. She is all for the library, but she wants to make sure she's doing the right thing. She is 1 of 7, though. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - spoke up and said that once we review, we can come back and talk about this. Councilwoman Gott - asked if there is a difference in the 3 months that was discussed before and this ask? Rick - last meeting it was discussed that the Town has not budgeted any expenses for the existing library passed December 31. They offered to pay all of the operating expenses and personnel, until the new transition. Collection from the Kent County Levy tax is enough to get them through to June 30. They are worried about July 1, 2025 to June 30, 2026. They do not want to hire people and not be able to sustain their salaries. They are good for the first 6 months, they are worried about the sustainment of the library after the 6 months. They want to make sure the library grows. They'll be appreciative of whatever consideration they get. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 5/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq Councilwoman Gott - asked if a 2 part consideration would work; after half a year go back and evaluate where we are financially. Are we committed? Rick - feels that once the Town gets their budget numbers done and the audit done, then they'll know what they can agree on. DCRL is not asking for a decision tonight. Just asking to be considered while handling the budget. Mayor Johnson - asked if there were any thoughts? Rick - asked about the Town's budgeting process. Mayor Johnson - that is on the agenda for tonight, but probably won't be passed until the first meeting in December (12/2). Rick - so the Town will know by the end of the year what funds they'll have. He also thanked Doug for how responsive he's been in getting the inspections done. He appreciates the help from others like Chief James and Wanda, (HR), and the whole staff who have been wonderful. DCRL is really looking forward to opening the library. The planning of the grand opening will be sometime about the second week in April. So if construction is done by March 26, then they'll have a ribbon cutting and a big celebration. It's been about 15 years for some. b. Capital Reserve Councilwoman Gott presented - during the last Finance Committee meeting they talked about the current requirement that was agreed on, to fully fund the Capital Reserve as of January 1. Looking at our budget process and where we are, she does not believe, as 1 of 7, that it is logical to cut everything out and possibly have a financial impact to fund that budget line completely. She would like to recommend an amendment to say that over a period of X number of years, we will fund that Capital Reserve each year so that we can meeting that goal, versus going boom here it is and possibly causing detriment to our budget. She doesn't want to see anything taken from the community or have staff impacted by a loss of jobs as a result. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - spoke up to offer clarification. The Town owns a water system, sewer system, and electric system. There are significant costs with construction and repairing. The idea of a Capital Reserve account is not to focus on the new construction but rather to have funds available to pay for any capital needs associated with repairs; i.e. a sewer line fails, or a water line fails. At the moment there is 0 Capital Reserve funds. The recommendation has been made to Council over the course of a number of years that we establish and budget a certain percentage of the revenue that comes in from the sale of water, sewer, and electric. This way we build up a large source of funds that we can then utilize to pay for these sorts of instances that may occur. An example is that Kent County has $70m in Capital Reserve funds that generates millions of dollars in interest yearly. They can utilize that interest without having to tap into the $70m. But if there was a major failure at a sewer plant, they have those reserves. The town does not have that. It has been recommended that we should be putting away 4% of the net position, similar to the value of the system; i.e. if the water system is worth $100m, $4m a year should be put into the Capital Reserve funds. It is not a cap, but a yearly deposit, so that the funds are built up and we do not have to borrow https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 6/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq money. Smart Utility Management, Chris Simms, does a lot for our utility and this is where the 4% comes from. About $500,000/yr should be contributed from the electric fund and $1.45 million between the water and sewer funds, totaling $1.95 million/yr. Those numbers are determined by a professional and are not mentioned in the budget. So a Capital Reserves Ordinance was put in for signing and establishing, so that those contributions are made based on the recommendation of the professionals that are paid to make those recommendations. $1.95 million is a lot of money, but there is 0 Capital Reserves. If a sewer line fails on Christmas morning, which happened a few years ago, that money to fix it is borrowed. The fact that there is 0 and there are 10s of millions of dollars in infrastructure that needs to be replaced, it is important that the largest possible contribution be made. Otherwise the town will be taking on more debt. He is not opposed to coming up with a process, but starting out, for instance, at 10% shouldn't be considered. At minimum it should be at least 50% in the first year and there should be a very clear plan for how we get to 100% per year of funding. If not, he said he'll be borrowing more money. Debt service of the general expenses is nearly 10% Mayor Johnson - spoke up and said that the reserve we have is an operating one at $1.7 million from the general account. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - that is an operating reserve not a capital reserve. Mayor Johnson - the general account and capital reserve are tied. Anything that is capital, the general fund ends up with a surplus, then there's money to move over. A process should still be created anyway. As far as water and electric, he agrees that something should be done. He's been on council for 12 years and this was talked about before that. He asked if Chief James can explain the budget process. c. FY25 Budget Chief James went to the podium and asked for the Finance team to join him. He addressed council and let them know that they have documents in the BoardPaq system for them to review. There were some concerns with not having a capital reserve funded in the beginning to compare to at the end. As alluded by the Mayor, for 2025, there will be about a little over $5 million in the water and electric funds that will be available to fund the capital reserve. Projections are showing that there may be another $1.8 million that is just in our spending because we're operating at about 80%. These numbers are based on projections of where we are and moving forward. Each Council member was sent 2 copies of a budget. One of them is the original the other is a cut document. The cut document shows us putting the $1.9 million into it, (Capital Reserve). There were positions that were cut, about 9. Other cuts include donations, training, traveling, Smyrna at Night, and few other things. They are prepared to present either budget to Council, though they are not as prepared as they would like to be. They spend the entire day going over the two. We were hoping to have a blessing from the committee, (Finance), but timely hasn't worked out. These are in front of them for review and they can also make final recommendations. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 7/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq There are questions as far as the policies of the few years with the funding of the Capital Reserve, but that is something that they, (Chief and Finance), need to discuss with Council. Councilman Pressley - asked if it would be better to wait until 12/2 so we know that night what we're doing with the budget. Chief James - we know where we're at, at this point. It's just a matter of following the Charter and it says that this has to go to the committee, (Finance), first before coming to Council. Councilman Pressley - agree that that's what he was getting at. That way in December he can say that $1 million has to be put in it, (Capital Reserve fund), but the goal for the next 12 months is to put the remainder it in. He said that something has to be done because everytime there is a problem, we're borrowing money and paying interest. He would like to wait until the December 2 meeting. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - spoke up and said she agrees and would also like to wait until December 2. If there are 2 budgets and the one with the $1.9 million is the one that will not allow us to have the amount of staff needed to service the town or have the equipment needed; it is important to have that time allotted and provide transparency. She thanked them all for taking time to get this enormous task taken care of, but she is certain that the next Council meeting is the best time. Councilman Pressley - spoke up and said that he knows we need to do something, probably not all at once, but something and be prepared to do it. Mayor Johnson - spoke up and asked if they read the document from last time and if they were comfortable with what it is it. Councilwoman Gott - spoke up and mentioned about the donations and the $1.9 million cut and some of the other things included. At the Finance Committee meeting there were questions about what the Capital Reserve looks like and there were 3 definitions provided: 1 from staff, 1 from the Vice Mayor, and 1 from the Mayor. It's a little confusing. If she doesn't understand it, then the residents won't understand it. At the December 2 meeting she would also like to hear from the staff members who are presenting it, because they are the subject matter experts. Her job is to make sure they communicate with Council. Mayor Johnson - spoke up. There's $1.9 million to cut, but there's $674,000 of income to be added, dropping that to $1.2 million. Then there is also the property taxes and going to the county rate. Someone spoke up and said they couldn't hear. Mayor Johnson - there's $1.9 million, adding $6.4 million, bringing it to $1.2 million. Then we could add the property taxes from the county that we don't have based on their reevaluation; that's another $200,000-300,000. Chief James - estimated at about $200,000. Mayor Johnson - that's $900,000. Another big change is reducing the transfers down from 866 to 252; a 614,000 drop. That now is $386,000 just from those drops alone. The budget went from to 7.2 to 6.5. So 614,000 is a drop in the water, transferred https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 8/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq from water to electric. The electric fund has 500,000 in it on proposed cuts. It went to 19038 from 18038 (19.038 million, 18.038 million ?), so that went up 225,000. Looking at this, (the document), the biggest cuts are in the general fund and most of that are the transfers that are cut from water. That dropped from 16.9 to 16.014. That changes is $964,000 and includes the 1.4 or 1.5 transfer for water and sewer and the $500,000 and that dropped down by 964. That was mostly with the transfers. There's a lot of increases and decreases, even in revenue. He suggests keeping revenue where it is. in 2024 it was at 18.2, here (in the document) it is at 16.9. Councilman Pressley - addressed the Mayor and said that with him running the numbers, and looking at the people, they are looking at him, (Councilman Pressley), like he's an idiot. Next time this is discussed, we need a PowerPoint. Councilman Pope - spoke up and said that regarding the transfers, the general fund, and some other things, December 2 would be good to have everything ready. Councilman Pressley - asked if a screen could be put up. Mayor Johnson - said that was the point he was trying to make. There was further, overlapping, discussion about being abstract and having a screen for the next meeting. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - asked when's the next Finance Committee meeting. Councilwoman Gott - asked Evie, (Finance Committee Chairwoman), when the next meeting will be. Evie spoke from her audience seat but could not be heard clearly, (it ends up being Tuesday, November 26 at 7 p.m.). Acknowledged what Evie said and continued saying that the purpose of this bullet point was to discuss amending instead of doing a huge...(there was overlapping voices that cut her off). 9. New business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. First reading and adoption of Ordinance No. 016-24, amending Appendix A, (Zoning), of the Town Code of the Town of Smyrna to permit daycare centers and nursery schools in the Institutional and Recreational District, (I&R) Vice Mayor Rasmussen motioned to make this the first reading and adoption of Ord. No. 016-24. Councilwoman Gott seconded the motion. Mayor Johnson asked if all were in favor, and they were. He then asked for discussion. Barrett, Town Solicitor - this would be the first and only reading because it's amending the zoning code and we've had a public hearing. Mayor Johnson - asked if Jeremy had anything. Jeremy - said he was going to say the same thing as our solicitor said. This is the first and only reading. Mayor Johnson - asked if there were any questions or further discussion? Vice Mayor Rasmussen - asked if they have to state their reasoning. Mayor Johnson - no and asked for a favor or non-favor vote. All were in favor. 10. Presentation and public comment (3 minutes) https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 9/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq Councilwoman Gott - spoke up while the first commenter made their way to the podium. She wanted to let everyone know that there was Narcan training today at the Smyrna Diner, which goes hand-in-hand with the opioid committee that Mayor Johnson is on. One of the things that came out of it is that there's an emoji page of what kids and other folks use in place of terminology for drugs; i.e. heroin is a brown heart and a little dragon. If it is something anyone is interested in handing out to their church, their group, or for their family, to let her know and she'll make sure they get a copy. There are 2 more Narcan trainings coming up and they'll get put on the website as soon as they are confirmed. Cindy C - glad to hear that the budget is being tabled. She is looking forward to seeing it on paper or the big screen. She is in favor of cutting out programs and whatever is needed to fund the Capital Reserve. It is extremely important to the town. She lives in town. When the electricity went out the other day, when there's plumbing issues, she'd like to have them resolved as soon as possible without having the borrow money, even if it is low interest. She thinks the capital reserve is very important. She is happy to get rid of Smyrna at Night. She knows it a big drop but she doesn't know who benefits from it. She doesn't believe the town benefits monetarily from it. The town puts out a lot of money for it. It's a nice event, but the townspeople need to be taken care of before the rest of the people in the county. Larry S - would like to comment on the Capital Reserve. Until there's money in that, all donations should be tabled. There are people coming and looking for donations, the library is looking for donations and that's not even in operation yet. He has been to major regional libraries and their usages fall flat. He's walked in where there are 4-5 people besides the staff. Let's look at their PNL statement after 6 months to see what they really need. The library can't come up with a dollar amount for a donation? Let's not consider that until we see. The worst thing that can be done is full staff the library and walk in and they are dusting shelves. If they need personnel, hire them on a need basis. He said to not fully staff the library on day one because it doesn't make sense. It's like opening a repair business and having 40 technicians on hand without having an established business. His thought is to table all donations or commitments to donations until there's money in the Capital Reserve. Don't be giving away taxpayer money. When the Capital Reserve is empty money has to be borrowed and that incurs interest. Debra W - asked if it's in the Charter that the Town should have had a Capital Reserve? In accounting terms, when looking at businesses, HOAs, community centers, there's a capital reserve. She is kind of shocked the town doesn't have one. She is also concerned with what Tabitha, (Councilwoman Gott), said earlier about talking to 3 different people and got 3 different responses. She asks if that is to what a Capital Reserve is? Councilwoman Gott - it is to whether it is funded or not and how much it is current funded and where that funding comes from. Debra W - said okay. She clarified that it's not what it is or what it's used for, but where the funding for it comes from. She thinks it is important to have a Capital Reserve and to be funded at a percentage. There is continued talk about growth and yet the infrastructure has to keep up with that growth and the last outage can speak to that. How you do it is also a budget issue. Throwing a bunch of numbers, that's not transparency. It would be nice to have it, whether it is in a package, whether it is online; she said that they can print it out themselves if the Town didn't want to spend the money to print it, so they can make notes. She said that we need to be more transparent. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 10/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq Vicky B - wanted to applaud the Electric Department for getting the electric up and running in 3.5 hours. Everybody seems to be hammering them. It's life. Electricity goes out. She personally thought that the Electric company responded quickly. She spoke about another concern. Usually her electric and gas bill come in 1 envelope, but this month there were 2. Postage is not cheap, so she wanted to make the Town Manager aware. She spoke on the reserves also. Saying that if the town charges for electric and water, there's some kind of profit. She wants to believe that that would be the Capital Reserve for the individual departments. She doesn't understand why that doesn't exist. If there is nothing there now, she said it's scary because then the profits are being spent and we're not allocating them or setting them aside, let alone fund a bigger 1. After that, she said she is interested in seeing the numbers and where the town is at. Irene S - said that listening to Council and their responses, leaves her with more questions. She said that it would be irresponsible for them to vote, even at the December 4 meeting, (12/2), to vote for funding for the library. When this was first brought up and Maggie Mann was on Council, she felt then that the library would be a money pit. If they need funding, she feels that they need to find it themselves. She said the people of the old deal can go into their trust funds, their bank accounts, and do fundraising. Last year there was a problem with the budget and taxpayers got a 100% increase. She doesn't have an issue with a library. What about the Fire Department? What about the Police Department? She doesn't have an issue with the library but asked if this was the right time for one. She said the Fire Department needs equipment. She asked Council to pray about this and look in the mirror and think about the decisions for the Town. Rodman V - asked a question about the outage. He said that he got a notification from Comcast and never heard from the electric company or anyone else. He wanted to know if that was normal procedure. If he didn't have Comcast, how would he know about it? He didn't know if anyone could answer that. Chief James - (a message) was pushed out to about 5000 residents that have updated their information with us. We have an app that is almost done. It will allow us to get information out to the people. Unfortunately Comcast was not providing good information. They were not communicating with us. We were at the plant, Comcast was sitting outside. Rodman V - so they are making the Town look bad. Chief James - he has been in his position, (as Town Manager since March), and has made sure that the Town gives out the notifications that need to be made. He said that we've never really had a system really up and running before and we are weeks away from having one now. Rodman V - he just wanted to know the procedure because he never got an email. Chief James - he said that there were calls and it was put out on social media. Travis, (Finance Director) - asked Rodman if we have his correct information. Rodman V - said he'll have to check. Mayor Johnson - asked if there was anyone else who would like to speak. Earl - said he lives on Belmont Ave and he's been trying to get a pothole fixed for a year. He was hoping it could get taken care of. It is always patched, but that washes out. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 11/12 11/20/24, 4:22 PM Paq Chief James - said he'll take care of it and took the paper Earl had. Mayor Johnson - asked if there was anyone else? Rick - wanted to thank Larry and Irene for their concerns on the library and that it is nice to know that somebody really cares about the community. However, they, (DCRL), have done a lot of research on what the needs of this community are. Middletown did, and they have people waiting in line in the morning. Milford, Lewis, Selbyville, they are all experiencing the same thing because of the research that the University of Delaware did for the libraries. He also believes that (the Town) should do their budgeting and they should be good stewards of the taxpayers money. He continued and said that if there is money available to help with the library after that, they'd be very thankful. He said that he appreciates Larry's comment and as a resident of the town, he feels the same. Mayor Johnson - said okay, we're going to wrap up the meeting. 11. Adjournment Mayor Johnson - asked for a motion to adjourn. Councilman Pope - motioned to adjourn. Councilwoman Gott - seconded the motion. All were in favor to adjourn. The meeting ended at 8:24 p.m. Posted 11/8/2024 at 4:30 PM 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 12/12