Mayor & Council

12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq MINUTES Town of Smyrna Council Meeting Bi-Monthly Meeting Monday, December 2, 2024, 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm Hybrid MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WILL BE PERMITTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING by teleconference by calling 302-224-1968 and entering Meeting ID number: 832 8495 2093 Passcode: 250039 or by visiting Join Zoom Meeting at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83284952093?pwd=rh1ScfEaoxIbUv5wfniZ1ks47BouSB.1 1. 7:00 PM - Call to order 7:00 p.m. - Meeting was called to order by Mayor Johnson 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Roll Call Roll call was do​ne by Danielle. All were present. 4. Additions/deletions to the published agenda Councilman Pope motioned to accept the published agenda. Vice Mayor Rasmussen seconded. All were in favor of the published agenda. 5. Consent agenda a. Council minutes of 11/18/2024 Vice Mayor Rasmussen motioned to approved the Council minutes of 11/18/2024. Councilman Pope seconded. All were in favor of the approval. 6. Non-agenda items a. Mayor and Council Members Mayor Johnson - said he would save his updates for later Councilman Johnson - mentioned he wasn't at the last meeting, (he was listening via Zoom but preoccupied at the Vet). He thanked the town crew for the great job they did during the power outage on Election Day. He thanked Town Hall and Smyrna PD staff for handling the thousands of phone calls and keeping the public updated; especially Smyrna PD who directed traffic at all the intersections. He thanked the Town crews who have been running around and cleaning up leaves all fall. They are doing a great job. Last month he went to the Space Museum at Big Oak Park. He said they are hoping to be open by Spring. They would like to have space camps for 1 to 2 weeks. He mentioned that they have dinosaurs and flight simulators. He said it'll be interesting to see when they open. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 1/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq Councilman Pressley - didn't have any updates Vice Mayor Rasmussen - didn't have any updates Councilman Pope - didn't have any updates Councilwoman Gott - talked about upcoming events : Wednesday, 12/4, at 6 p.m. is the Veterans' event at the Opera House. December 7, at 11 a.m. at Lake Como is the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Ceremony. December 8, at 6 p.m. in front of Town Hall is Caroling on the Square. January 10 is the Red Sand Project and more information will come out. Hoped everyone had a nice Thanksgiving. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - didn't have any updates Major Johnson - thanked the Finance team and the Department heads for their time put on the budget and going through the process. He thanked Kathleen, (Finance), and said she's doing a fantastic job. He thanked Travis, (Finance), for the changes that he's helping with. He thanked Jason, (Assistant Town Manager), for his efforts and growth in the new role. He also thanked Chief James and said he is doing a wonderful job in both positions, (Police Chief and Town Manager). He said that we are moving in the direction we should be moving. He then thanked the Finance Committee Chairperson, Evie, and the committee for their perseverance and efforts. He recommended to Chief James that for the months of November and December there shouldn't be large purchases, unless the budget process changes and purchase orders roll forward to the next year. His example was an order for $300,000 at the end of one year, is rolled over to the next year and that budget is already hit for that amount; and then it would continue for the following year and so forth. Chief James - spoke up and said that he thinks that there's a solution. There was a staff meeting and they're working on some policies that will prevent those types of issues from happening. Mayor Johnson - said okay and mentioned that his brain is always running. He then asked to move forward with Old Business. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - spoke up while the team was preparing to present the budget. She wanted to delete an item for discussion. Mayor Johnson - said it will be talked about later. b. Police Chief c. Town Manager 7. Old business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. FY25 Budget Chief James - started by thanking the team as this was an easier process than he expected. He thanked the Finance team for the learning experience. He asked if Evie, the Finance Chairperson, could speak first. Evie - said the committee met on the 26th of November. Based on the figures received from Kathleen, Travis, Tyler, and Torrie, their approach to the budget is to move forward. There was one recommendation made under donation, Town Council, 10101521, to remove the $19,000. They would like to have monthly budget updates https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 2/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq for council and then quarterly the committee will meet to provide feedback and recommendations. Capital budget - no recommendations. What was proposed, they agree with. Another recommendation is if there is a change in the budget, that it is associated with a budget line item. The example she gave was that if additional funds are needed in one line item that it is immediately taken from another line item, not just left. Otherwise, they approve the budget that was proposed. She thanked everyone and said great job. Chief James - Capital budget is the first up. Capital projects for 2025: N Main St - we're in the beginning stages with the engineering side. We have money for the engineering fees and we're waiting on a money source, which is what they usually provide. North Duck Creek Utility Extension - a property was just purchased for about $400,000. We are looking at a couple of different funding sources. Jeremy did provide an option at looking at Federal funds/grants. This is tied into the electrical infrastructure, or the North Duck Creek Substation. Electric circuit upgrade - this is funded. Well and treatment plant - in the beginning stages of the engineering side of things. Electric infrastructure mapping - ETAP, which is drilling underneath Duck Creek for the North Duck Creek Substation. As a member of DEMEC, (Delaware Municipal Electric Corporation), there are other options for funding. Basically, they will fund the entire project, and we pay them back over the course of several years. No anticipation to see anything until 2026. ORPT Park projects - upgrades to the parks that we put in towards a matching grant. These will be funded by the impact fees for this year. We are fully funding for Capital Projects. Regarding the Operational Budget: There are significant issues. Increase in payroll - contracts and CBAs, where there have been agreed on increases which is salaried for benefits, supplies, and contractual services. Last minute DHSS hospital delay, which increased the permit impact fee revenue for 2025. This allowed us to meet our goals. Last minute DEMEC rate for 2025, which decreased projected expense and decreased rate increase recommendation. Capital Reserves Contribution. Operating Budget Summary: Transfers from proprietary funds to balance the general government expenses and capital reserve contribution of $1.75 million. The budget is to the point where we can place that money into the Capital Reserve fund. It's not the $1.9 million, but it's meeting the needs of the town. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 3/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq Proposed budget cuts: Chief James is currently holding 2 positions, (Police Chief and Town Manager). That decision is at the mercy of the Town, (Mayor and Council). It is a savings of about $200,000; which includes salary, fringe benefits, and other things. They have taken that fund out of the budget and whenever the Town is ready to make a move, the fund will go back in. Clerk position - not going to fund until mid-year, which is a savings of about $38,156. Vehicle Repair Maintenance - reduction of $60,000, able to take that money from another place and remove it. IT Maintenance Agreement - reduction of $50,000, most of it with the Tyler-Munis contract. We have services but we weren't using them. So the end of 2024, we're done with them until a decision is made on what to do moving forward. Staff Accountant position - eliminated Donation line - $19,000 eliminated Recommended rate increases: Electric rate was approved for a decrease, would like to keep it at the current rate of $.1198 kWh. 2024's rate is $.1198, the approved 2025 rate was $.1165. A difference of .0277 or less than a cent. The PPCAC for 2024 is .$0235 and for 2025 will be $.0277. Water and Sewer - maintain previous approved rates for 2025 except for billing multi- unit apartments on a per unit basis. We are billing per block instead of per unit and it is a loss in income. Going out and billing individually will be a significant amount of money. This only affects apartment complexes that utilize 1 meter per building. There are 2: Sunnyside and Christina complexes, then any future complexes. Rate structure change to the customer charge per unit and the bill for the additional charge above a minimum of 3,000 gallons of per unit for water. We have a flat rate that goes in, but they're getting more than what we're are. (Kathleen, Finance, mentioned that this was for utility accounts). Trash - recommendation to increase to cover the cost in the increase of bulk trash. Current it is $31, it would raise to $33. The additional bin fee would increase from $6 to $7. Bulk trash would increase from $50 to $75. This increase is to make sure that we cover the Town's cost. The 2 bulk pick ups each year costs over $125,000 to do. The average utility bill is at 1,000 kWh, 3,000 gallons of water, no extra trash bins, and no yard meter. For 2024, the total is $263.98. For 2025, it'll be $277.68. This is an increase of 5%. Most of these charges are pass throughs. They are increases by vendors. Miscellaneous rates - Disconnect day has been changed. We, (staff), are staying until 8 p.m. to make sure the disconnects are done. It's saving money because there are no late night call outs and overtime that is associated with that. However, they are recommending fees to go from $25 to $50 during business hours and adding $100 to after hours. We are still seeing after hours and staff is still getting some sort of overtime, we're just cutting it https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 4/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq off at a certain point right now. The reason for the $100 is because we're still losing money by the time you pay for 2 employees to go out and do it, because it has to be done in teams, they're making well over that amount in overtime. This is to cover the fees of the employees that get called out. Return check fees - recommending that the fee increase from $30 to $55. This is because the banks are beginning to charge more. We're not making money off these things. Business license fee - recommending an increase from $100 to $125. This is because of fees and costs of service charges. Impact fees - projected to contribute over $900,000 to the Impact Fee Reserve fund for future use while also using some to reduce operating expenses. If we have something that we can use impact fees for, we're going to because it will offset the fees and help fund the $1.7 million. Taxes - not looking to increase them. Would like to discuss with Council about adopting the Kent County and New Castle County assessment values for tax year 2026. That will recalculate the tax rates, but not increase them. It is the overall taxes. We are not going to make any more money. We would have to go in and recalculate our rates. Also, adopting the county assessments would eliminate the future costs of completing a town-wise reassessment as well as reassessments on an annual basis to complete permits. Chief James said that was what they have to present and asked Council if there were any questions. Councilman Pressley - said good job and that this was the cleanest and easiest budget he's been in, in 15 years. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - said good job. Councilman Pope - said good job. Mayor Johnson - asked if there are any questions? There were none. He asked for a motion to accept the budget. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - motioned to approved the budget. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - seconded the motion to approve the budget. As if the approvals have to be done separately: one for capital, one for operating, and one for tax? Barrett, Town Solicitor - said that all 3 can be done together, just make sure it is specified in the motion. Mayor Johnson - so a motion has to be made to accept the operating budget, the capital budget, and the tax rate. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - motioned to accept the capital budget, the operational budget, and maintaining the tax rate as is for 2025. Councilman Pope - seconded the motion to accept all three. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 5/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq Mayor Johnson - asked for an all in favor vote. All said 'aye'. None opposed and there was no further discussion. b. Economic Development Incentives Jeremy, (Planning Director) - he doesn't have an update for them. Per their request Station 64's Board of Directors did review the 50% waiver proposal but didn't make a formal motion. He spoke with Bradley from Station 64 and said that he'll get a formal motion at their meeting on Wednesday. So he'll have something for them at the next Council meeting. 8. New business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. Resolution 009-24, setting safeguards for the Town of Smyrna's FY25 budget process Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - she would like to withdrawal this item and is asking to reword it to FY26. Mayor Johnson - so we will withdrawal that and not vote on it right now. Barrett - asked if they are wanting to withdrawal this from the agenda today and discuss it in two weeks or want to change the wording from 25 to 26 and still discuss? Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - said she would like to change this from 25 to 26 and discuss it right now. The bottom line was to make sure that there is full transparency as regards to Councils' roles regarding the budget process and set safeguards. It is for some boundaries so that Finance Committee and the Finance staff can do their job without any interference from Council. This is what the resolution in it of itself is, which she read at the last meeting. Mayor Johnson - said okay and asked for the next item. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - asked Barrett if a vote was needed. Barrett - someone wants to make a motion to adopt it, someone can. It'd be adopted with it being from the fiscal year 25 to 26. Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - asked that it couldn't be her since she wrote the resolution? Barrett - said that it's on the agenda. It can be discussed; it can be voted on with the 1 modification that was recommended. It's up to the pleasure of Council. Councilman Pope - spoke up and asked if this has been reviewed by the Finance Committee or any other committee that this would be applicable to? Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - said this was only given to Council. Councilman Pope - said that the reason he is asking is that there may be something that they may want to add or have suggestions. Councilman Pressley - said to send this to Charter and to Finance. Councilwoman Gott - asked if this would be back for the next meeting? https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 6/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq Mayor Johnson - asked if they still needed to vote to remove it from the agenda? There was some overlapping discussion about having discussed the item before Mayor Johnson said that it will be passed down to Charter for review. Barrett - spoke up and said that if there is a general consensus to send this to Charter, then it is fine. Councilman Pope - asked if any kind of motion was needed. Barrett - it is not necessarily needed. b. First reading of Ordinance No. 017-24, amending the Town Code of the Town of Smyrna to establish a property tax exemption for disabled individuals and to update the income requirement to qualify for the tax exemption Vice Mayor Rasmussen - motioned to make this the first reading. Councilwoman Gott - seconded the motion. Mayor Johnson - asked for a discussion, if wanted. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - said he was happy to see this. In reviewing most other towns, we are more generous when it comes to the amount of income that people are allowed to having, but the one thing that was missing was the exemption associated with people with total disabilities. So he is happy to see that be included in this addition and these changes. Councilwoman Gott - said she highly agrees with this, but also wants to make sure that there are proper steps in place to ensure that it is clearly defined and you truly have to be disabled to qualify. Councilman Pressley - spoke up and said that they do have to bring a doctor's form; every year. Councilwoman Gott - spoke up and said that it needs to be regularly and it's going to take some time. She used Newark as an example of someone in the house being disabled, but they are no the primary breadwinner who is paying the bills. But there is also a large group of people that need this opportunity, so as long as the right parameters are put around it, she thinks this is great. Councilman Pressley - spoke up and said that the Charter members did a good job getting this done. Mayor Johnson - asked if there was any further discussion. Barrett - said that the language with respect to the documentation and total disability mirrors that of Kent County. So when the time comes for implementation, he recommends reaching out to Kent County Finance and seeing what they do in terms of documentation and stuff, because we have similar language. We should be able to just piggyback on what they're doing. Councilwoman Gott - asked if they knew what that would look like as a decrease of income for the town? https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 7/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq Councilman Pressley - said they had the numbers. Councilman Pope - said it is very minimal. It's not many who would qualify. Mayor Johnson - asked for all in favor. All said 'aye.' None opposed. Motioned passed for the first reading. c. First reading of Ordinance No. 018-24, amending Chapter 18, (Buildings and Building Regulations), Article XI, (Rental Properties), to require rental licenses and rental inspections and certification of occupancy for rental units occupied by individuals related to the property owner Councilman Pope - motioned to make this the first reading. Councilwoman Gott - seconded the motion. Mayor Johnson - asked for discussion. Chief James - said that Jeremy was here to talk about this. Jeremy - asked if this was about the rental licenses because he doesn't know much. Councilman Pressley - spoke up and said that what this is with Charter Review, is that Doug, (Inspections Director), came to them because the Inspections department is having a problem where people rent to somebody and said they're family and then something happens, say a handrail falls off, and somebody's trying to sue. So Charter went and said that no matter what, if you rent to family or not, you got to do a license renewal so they can do an inspection. Barrett - spoke up and said that ideally if you're renting to family, you're going to make sure that it's in good condition, so we wouldn't need to have these safeguards. But it appears that even though, we had that in there, people are still, you know, and those safeguards are not working. What this would do is it would say that everybody needs a rental license, needs a rental inspections, doesn't matter if you're related or not. The only exception, he believes, then said there are 2; one is if the owner lives in the building and the other is if an inspection has been done within the last 12 months. So this is what this is doing. It's taking that out as one of those exceptions and increasing the number of rental licenses that'll be needed. Mayor Johnson - asked if there were any other questions; there were none. He said all in favor. All said 'aye'. None opposed. Motion passed for the first reading. d. First reading of Ordinance No. 019-24, amending Chapter 14, (Animals), of the Town Code of the Town of Smyrna to clarify the exemptions from the prohibitions contained therein Councilwoman Gott - asked what this means. Mayor Johnson - asked for a motion first. Councilman Pope - motioned for this to be the first reading. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - seconded the motion. Mayor Johnson - asked if there was discussion. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 8/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq Councilwoman Gott - asked what this means. Councilman Pope - said that there are some residents in town who have roosters or chickens within town limits. There are concerns, like the avian flu, and some other things going on; so to make sure that we are in line and for the concern of public welfare, this ordinance was drafted. Councilwoman Gott - asked if this would eliminate or cut back. Councilman Pressley and Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - both said yes, it'll eliminate them. Councilman Pressley - said that once the third reading is down, they'll set a date; 90 days, or something. Councilwoman Gott - clarified that they would have to get rid of their animals. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - spoke up and said that to be clear, the animals are already prohibited in town. What is going on is that they are setting a date, saying that they, (residents), have a little bit of time, but they need to adhere to it because they are already prohibited in town; that section of the code isn't being updated. He clarified that for those who thought they could have chickens in town, they have never been able to. Councilwoman Gott - said that she did not know that because she has seen chickens in a certain location for the 35 years that she's been here. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - said that there are chickens that run around on Main Street all the time. Barrett - spoke up and said that this was originally drafted in August with a drop date of February 1, 2025. Now that 3-4 months has passed, he said that they may want to amend this to include another date. That can potentially be done on the third reading and they can see at what point that is, or a decision can be made now; a March 1 deadline, recognizing that this will probably be passed at the beginning of January. Councilman Pope - motioned that March 1, 2025 be the effective date of the ordinance. Councilwoman Upshur - seconded the motioned. Barrett - spoke up and said that they would vote on the amendment; if everyone is comfortable with March 1, that would give people about 45-ish days. Mayor Johnson - asked if the vote was on the amendment? Barrett - said yes. Mayor Johnson - asked for all in favor. All said 'aye'. None opposed. Motion passed for the amendment of March 1, 2025. He then asked for all in favor of the original motion. All said 'aye'. None opposed. Motion passed for the first reading and for the amendment date of March 1, 2025. He said that this needs to be modified. Barrett - said that he will take care of it. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 9/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq e. Proposed impact fees for 2025 Jeremy - presented. Began by saying that each October they review the CPI, (Consumer Price Index), and adjust all impact fees, not building department fees, but the impact fees to account for inflation. This particular year is 2.6%, so the impact fees, proposed by and put together by Doug, would go up by 2.6%. He continued, saying that staff recommends they approve the increase. It would essentially cover them as costs come up; allowing them to meet the capital needs of the Town. 2.6% is the lowest we've have in 4 to 5 years, so it is relatively minimal. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - motioned to accept the proposed rates for 2025. Councilwoman Gott - seconded the motion. Mayor Johnson - asked if there was further discussion. There was none. He asked for all in favor. All said 'aye'. None opposed. Councilman Pressley - asked Jeremy how much it was again. Jeremy and Councilwoman Dr. Upshur - both said 2.6%. Jeremy said it would take effect on January 1. Mayor Johnson - said motion passed. f. Reclassification of the Public Safety Committee to the Police Accountability Board to meet the standards required by House Bill 206, (2023) Chief James - presented. House Bill 206 says that each town must establish a Police Accountability Committee or Board to provide advice to departments on policy, training, and other issues relating to or affecting the department and or committee served by the department. The requirement shall be recommended that the Police Committee or Board must include in its membership: * a religious leader from the community * member of the community who has been impacted directly, or a family member or caregiver of those impacted by the juvenile or adult criminal justice system * non officer members shall be required within 1 year of appointment to complete 20 hours of community training with the department overseen by the applicable board, which may include ride alongs, assistance, Police Academy, additional mandated for membership and structure. Basically the Public Safety Committee needs to be changed over to this State mandated Committee. There are Committee members who have agreed. A clergy member, someone who has been affected, directly by law enforcement, and then he would just recommend 1 or 2 other members to be part of this Board to work with them to follow whatever the State mandated requirements are. Mayor Johnson - said that he'll have this added to the next agenda to have a vote to remove the Public Safety Committee and have this one. Vice Mayor Rasmussen - asked if they wanted a complete list of members at the next meeting for voting and approval and if that was reasonable. Chief James - said that it was reasonable. 9. Presentation and public comments (3 minutes) https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 10/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq Vicky - thanked the Finance Committee and Council for getting the budget together. She understands that it takes a lot of time and energy. She also thanked them for not increasing taxes. Lastly, she wanted to know if they could get a copy of the updated Animal Ordinance. If her email is needed, let her know. Cindy, (Zoom) - wanted to acknowledge the budget and the no increase to taxes. Wondered if the Finance Committee took into account that the library staff would no longer be a source that the town had to pay for and if Smyrna at Night was removed from the budget or still there. Chief James - spoke up and said that everything was taken into account. The library staff was removed. There is an agreement with Mr. Horsey's group. Smyrna at Night is still part of it because we as a Town do feel that it is very important to give back to the community. There are a lot of local businesses that require or utilize that event to keep their doors open. He continued by saying that we understand that it is a cost to the Town, but it does give back to the community and he feels that we do not give enough back to the community to help business owners. Cindy - said that she doesn't 100% support it but she appreciates the response and all the hard work that they did. Mayor Johnson - asked if there was anyone else. There was no one. 10. Executive Session to discuss personnel matters in which the names, competency, and abilities of individual employees will be discussed. 29 Del. C. Sec. 10004(b)(9) Councilman Pope - motioned to go into Executive Session. Councilwoman Gott - seconded the motion. Council went into Executive Session at 7:47 p.m. 11. Possible action on matters discussed in Executive Session regarding personnel matters Councilman Pope - made a motion to come out of Executive Session. Councilman Johnson - seconded the motion. All were in favor. Executive Session ended at 7:59 p.m. There was no discussion. 12. Adjournment Vice Mayor Rasmussen - asked for a motion to adjourn. Councilman Pope - motioned to adjourn the meeting. Councilman Johnson - seconded the motion. All were in favor. Meeting ended at 7:59 p.m. https://www.boardpaq.com/admin 11/12 12/6/24, 1:51 PM Paq Posted on 11/25/2024 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