Mayor & Council

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WILL BE PERMITTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING by teleconference by calling 646-931-3860 and entering Meeting ID number: 873 2182 6178 Passcode: 527045 or by visiting Join Zoom Meeting at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87321826178?pwd=cDOav2NpHZMXH9jmZ9RFT0Vls0RFkg.1 Council Meeting Council Chamber, Smyrna Town Hall 27 S. Market Street Plaza, Smyrna, Delaware May 7, 2025 – 7:00 PM Agenda 1. 7:00 PM – Call to order The meeting was called to order by Mayor Gott at 6:59 P.M. 2. Pledge of Allegiance There was also a moment of silence followed by a prayer by Pastor Dr. Reverend Riley. 3. Roll Call Done by staff liaison, Danielle Pope. All were present. 4. Additions/deletions to the published agenda Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur would like to add item 8c – to discuss the open position on Council. Councilman Pope motioned to add the item. Councilman Johnson seconded. All were in favor. Motion passed to add item 8c – to discuss the open position on Council. 5. Consent agenda a. Council meeting minutes of 4/21/2025 Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur motioned to approve the consent agenda. Councilman Drew seconded. All were in favor. Motion passed. 6. Non-agenda items a. Mayor and Council Members Councilman Olson – said it’s a pleasure to be on the Council and he looks forward to working with everyone. However, the people of Smyrna have continued to show their disapproval with the doubling of the taxes last year and they want relief. Councilman Johnson – thanked the Town crew. He’s been riding around town and seeing the stuff that the people have been putting out in front of their houses, and they’ve been doing a great job of keeping the town clean. Councilman Pope – he wanted to congratulate Councilman Olson, Mayor Gott, and Councilman Drew. Thanked the Town staff for the amazing work they do every day. He had the privilege of attending the Carry the Load event on Friday; it was amazing. It was well done, and he got to talk to a lot of great people. He said it is always great to support our veterans. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur – talked about this month being Mental Health Awareness Month, which is why she wore green. The theme is community, and she read about it. She wished a Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers and aunties. She is a proud auntie and a proud mom. She also talked about those who have lost their mothers like she had. She said to embrace people because the day can be a little heavy sometimes. She then moved on and thanked the staff for everything they are doing. She thanked them for getting the junk from in front of her house. She welcomed Councilmen Olson and Drew and congratulated Mayor Gott. Councilman Drew – congratulated Councilman Olson, Mayor Gott, and Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur. He then proceeded to let everyone know that he is here to serve the people, to listen, and to observe. His background is a football background, he played for Eastern Michigan, so he knows that things develop, and things are strategic. He’s here to be an ear, get all the facts, and then speak when necessary. Mayor Gott – she thanked everyone for coming out. She said that she appreciates everyone’s time and said that the staff is outstanding. She thanked everyone who volunteered or accepted positions on committees. She said to those who didn’t know they were on a committee until tonight, they are great. She thanked Walt for fixing her phone. She can now use her Town phone as the Town Manager wants her to do. She continued to say that she is humbled and this will be great. Her goal at the end of her term is to have left a footprint that leaves a legacy that the next person can step in and continue; while staff is respected for what they do, the community is part of what we do, and the council understands what their role is well and we all work together successfully. b. Police Chief Captain Donner – spoke on the numbers and that they were steady. A major jump is that property checks have doubled. That’s a reflection on the officers being more cognizant of calling their property checks in. They will be seen in the neighborhoods, at businesses; the places they go are for reasons. They were getting a little lackadaisical with notifying dispatch, certainly they get busy, it’s not priority radio traffic, but as he has let them know, they need to see the back end of things. If there’s a complaint from Green Meadows, cars are getting broken into and the police are never there; if they don’t call in the property checks when they’re out there, he cannot defend them. He continued by saying that they need to be accountable for where they are and they need to coordinate with the dispatchers, and that’s why Council sees the numbers doubled. He talked about the traffic stats; warnings every month are about 1.5 to 2 times what the citations are. Traffic enforcement is for education and modification of behavior. They do not do it to raise revenue or to write tickets. He is pleased to see that the numbers are very steady in  those categories. Mayor Gott asked if tickets are being given to the people who don’t understand to not go across the middle of the new turnstile where Cory Ln is. Captain Donner said yes. He doesn’t believe that they have issued any yet. He talked about the fatalities there recently and was pleased to see things change. He thanked everyone who worked on that, as it was important to them. c. Town Manager Torrie James – welcomed the new Council members and said that he looks forward to working with them. He said that it’s been a pretty busy month. Jason, [Assistant Town Manager], has been picking up pieces as he, [Torrie], has been in and out a lot. He thanked him. He talked about the Manager’s report. He talked about the two bids that were put out: trash and tree trimming, which will be brought up later. He thanked Jake, [PW Director], for making sure those were taken care of. He talked about Jason having a full CIP in the report and Jake having a two-year pavement rehabilitation plan; they are currently in Sunnyside Acres. There is a secondary project coming up soon, so they’ll see companies out getting stuff done. Outside of that, we are coming to the end of the audit. Kathleen, [Budget Manager], has been working diligently to make sure that the process is getting finished. He said that she is the only person on the Finance team who is there for the Town to do those things. He then proceeded to say that Kathleen graciously accepted the position of Director of Finance and will be managing the day-to-day operations within the Finance department. He said that she’s done an amazing job, and he doesn’t know if he would be sitting where he was without her. He would have pulled his hair out. He continued that 2023’s audit should be done and that 2024’s will start immediately. By the end of 2025, early 2026, we should be back on track, which will be huge for the Town because then we’ll be able to go back to Moody’s and make sure that the information is updated. He said that the answers to the State’s audit have been sent and now we’re anxiously waiting for the final review of everything and then we’ll hear something back from them. Mayor Gott asked if he could explain what Moody’s is. He said that Moody’s is similar to a credit rating for local governments and they take everything into account. He said that most people understand that there’s been some stumbles over the last couple of years and so the Town’s Moody rating took a hit this year. However, we are climbing out of the hole and things are looking much better. 7. Old business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. Third reading of Ord. 008-25, amending the Town Code of the Town of Smyrna to make miscellaneous updates to the solid waste, recycling, and yard waste disposal and collection requirements in the Town of Smyrna Councilman Pope motioned to accept the third reading of Ord. 008-25. Councilman Johnson seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. 8. New business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. Municipal solid waste collection, disposal, and recycling services for the Town of Smyrna bid award Jake, [PW Director], presented. He said that the trash and recycling collection runs out at the end of August of this year. They solicited proposals from local contractors to take over the contract and the Town received four (4) proposals. He said all were good, but they all had different prices, obviously. They are recommending going with Casella. They had the best price, but all four proposed the same level of service. A major difference on this contract is that we’ll be going back to the bigger cans. Other than that, everything is pretty much the same; schedule, pickup dates, everything. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur asked about the can size. Jake said that right now there are 64-65 gal. containers, that’ll increase to 96 gal. They are hoping that it’ll help eliminate some of the extra containers; that could potentially be a little be of a cost savings. Torrie said that being transparent, there is an obvious price increase from the contract; new contracts comes new pricing. The Town has seen a big participation increase for the bulk pickup. He said that everyone needs to take into consideration what they get from the trash service and the things that are provided for them for the price. The town is not making money on this. The increase is from the contract itself. Mayor Gott asked if a motion will be needed. Barrett, [Town Solicitor], said that a motion to approve is needed. Councilman Pope motioned to approved the recommendation as recommended by staff for the solid waste collection. Councilman Johnson seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. b. Tree trimming service bid award* Jason, [Assistant Town Manager], presented. He said that this is for the recommendation to award the Town tree trimming service and tree electric line clearing. The contract would begin May 12th, after the approval. The proposals were sent out April 9th, all questions and requests for information were due on April 28th, submissions deadline was April 30th followed by a public bid opening. There were two (2) services: Delmarva Tree LLC and Anchor Tree Experts. He continued by saying that after the review, Delmarva Tree was found to be the most qualified, competent, and lowest bidder. The funding for the contract will go through the approved Town’s annual operational budget. Based on the proposals received, Town staff recommends that the tree trimming service contract be awarded to Delmarva Tree LLC. Councilman Pope motioned to approve the recommendation to award the tree trimming service as based on staff recommendation to Delmarva Tree LLC. Councilman Johnson seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. c. Open Council position (added at the request of Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur during 5a, with motion and approval by Council) Mayor Gott said that there is an open position on Council left behind when Councilman Pressley resigned. At the next meeting, they will be discussing and voting on accepting the second candidate from the points numbers that Beverly, [Election Board Chairperson], shared today from the election. There’s nothing to vote on, they just need to know that this is going to happen at the next meeting. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur asked if that person is going to be mentioned. Mayor Gott said not at this moment.  9. Presentation and public comments (3 minutes) Pamela Anderson – on behalf of the VFW, she wanted to thank the Council members, the Mayor, and all the town individuals who showed up for the event and assisted them as they drove through [town]. She said it was a fabulous and successful event. She also said that if they didn’t get a chance to go, to mark their calendar for next year. She also wanted to pass along that that VFW Auxiliary is having a yard sale on the 17th. Vicky Blair – welcomed the new members of Council and Mayor Gott. She said that she hopes that they can move forward as a community and try to do right by the townspeople. She’s hoping for a positive experience for everybody involved because she believes everyone’s heart is in the right place. They shouldn’t forget what happened but move past it and bring positivity back to the community because that’s what is needed. 10. Adjournment Councilman Pressley motioned to adjourn the meeting. Councilman Johnson seconded. All were in favor. Motion passed. Meeting ended at 7:23 P.M. Posted 4/30/2025 at 4:30 PM (#1) Posted 5/1/2025 at 3:30 PM (#2) item added when topic arose 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.