Mayor & Council

MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WILL BE PERMITTED TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS MEETING by teleconference by calling 305-224-1968 and entering Meeting ID number: 837 0567 8627 Passcode: 478863 or by visiting Join Zoom Meeting at: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83705678627?pwd=kmn7BLbBRvyweJsAhxbX6r7HkDbJiQ.1 Council Meeting Council Chamber, Smyrna Town Hall 27 S. Market Street Plaza, Smyrna, Delaware August 18, 2025 – 6:00 PM Agenda 1. 6:00 PM – Call to order The meeting was called to order at 5:59 PM by Mayor Gott 2. Executive session to discuss the content of documents, excluded from the definition of “public record” in § 10002 of Title 29 of the Delaware Code where such discussion may disclose the contents of such documents. 29 Del. C. Sec. 10004(b)(6) Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur motioned to enter into Executive Session. A Councilman seconded but was talking the same time Councilman Pope asked for a second; voice sounded like Councilman Drew Jr. All were in favor. Motion passed. 3. Discussion and possible action on matters discussed in executive session Councilman Miles motioned to come out of Executive Session. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur seconded. All were in favor. Motion passed. Executive Session ended at 6:35 PM. 4. 7:00 PM – Call to order of the regular meeting Mayor Gott called the regular meeting to order at 7:00 PM. 5. Pledge of Allegiance 6. Roll Call All Councilmembers were present. 7. Additions/deletions to the published agenda Councilman Johnson motioned to accept the published agenda. Councilman Miles seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. 8. Consent agenda  a. Council meeting minutes from 8/4/2025 Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur motioned to accept the Consent agenda. Councilman Johnson seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. 9. Non-agenda items a. Mayor and Council Members Mayor Gott • Spoke about the Veterans’ event o forms are being revised by Rob Cote to be more Veteran reader friendly o event will be on Wednesday, November 12th at the Opera House, 6 PM • Town Hall event, September 16th, Opera House, 6 PM o it is for community information o hoping there will be 2 or 3 more like this during her Mayoral run Councilman Drew • ready for kids to go back to school Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur • mentioned about Tidbits and hope people continue to read • talked about Just Serve Councilman Pope • thanked Town staff for their amazing work • wished everyone a good and successful school year Councilman Johnson • thanked the Town’s Electric crew for their work on the power outage on the highway and thanked the Police department and the Fire police for their help in directing traffic during that time Councilman Olson • did not have anything to discuss Councilman Miles • thanked Town staff for their work Mayor Gott • Congratulated and thanked Kathleen for her hard work as Finance Director • Was at the crab fest and Rep. Carson recognized Amanda Harvey, (Customer Service), and spoke highly of her • Mentioned how the Electric crew has been going above and beyond and how they are the backbone of the Town • Thanked Amanda Sparks for always being there  b. Police Chief Capt. Donner • Spoke about the current process in hiring o 4 candidates, 6 vacancies, 2 candidates are uncertified and will start the 105th Wilmington Police Academy on September 29th with a potential early March graduation o there’s a final Interview with a certified candidate who is coming from the New Castle County Police Dept o working on getting things started for a candidate who has been with the University of DE police for three years c. Town Manager Torrie James • Spoke about the financial statement • Talked about changes o Last night for Zoom o Moving to YouTube live • Spoke about the recent electrical issue o There was an issue with one of the circuits and an outside company is coming around the 25th to inspect the breakers and let us know what happened 10. Old business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. n/a 11. New business, including discussion and possible action on the following items: a. An ordinance to repeal school impact fees There was no discussion. Councilman Drew motioned to waive the three reading rule. Councilman Miles seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. Town Solicitor Edwards asked for their reasoning. Councilman Drew said it was because of the simplicity of the ordinance and the need for expedient action. Councilman Miles motioned to adopt the ordinance, (number 013-25). Councilman Olson seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. b. Ordinance 012-25 amending park hours Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur read the synopsis of the ordinance because she is the sponsor. There was no discussion. Councilman Miles motioned to approve the reading. Councilman Drew seconded the reading. All were in favor. Motion passed. [This is the first of three readings of this ordinance]. c. Resolution proposing the annexation of 5280 Wheatley's Pond Road (TM 1-00- 01808-01-1100-00001 & TM 1-00-01808-01-1000-00001) into the municipal limits of the Town of Smyrna; designating the proposed zoning classification;  scheduling a public hearing; and referring the proposal to the Smyrna Planning & Zoning Commission. The parcels are owned by Rasheedat and Adrian Hill Councilman Pope read the synopsis. Councilman Olson asked why they want to be annexed. Town Planner, Jeremy Rothwell spoke on this. The reason is the property owners would like to build duplexes on the property and have Town utilities. He said this is to get the project started, the finer details would be discussed later. He went over that this property fits within the Comprehensive and continuous plans. Councilman Pope asked Town Solicitor Edwards if this needed a vote. He said yes. [This is to start the process as mentioned above]. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur motioned to approve so a public hearing can be scheduled. Councilman Drew seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. d. Reallocation of budgeted ARPA funds Finance Director, Kathleen Acevedo presented. She talked about the current ARPA projects and why they are asking to have money reallocated. ARPA funds can only be reallocated to approved projects and are already in progress. Would like to reallocate funds from closed projects, with a surplus, to started projects. Councilman Miles motioned to reallocate funds as presented by staff. Councilman Johnson seconded the motion. All approved. Motioned passed. e. Updating Trash Rates Finance Director, Kathleen Acevedo presented. She talked about what was current and what the new contract will provide. • Current – weekly collection o 1 trash bin and 1 recycle bin o Yard waste collection from March to December o Twice a year, 2-week long clean ups • Waste Management o Curb service per account: $14.03 o 2nd toter charge per can: $8.84 o Can size: 64 gal • New contract with Casella will be o Curb service per account $19.26 ▪ 37% increase o 2nd toter charge per can: $9.63 ▪ 9% increase o Can size: 96 gal ▪ 50% increase Kathleen explained the current Waste Management expense: $674,528.93. The estimated budget is $525,471.00. With the move to Casella, the estimated cost from August to December will be $614,099.10. This will cause a budget shortage of about $88,628.03. The recommendations • Increase the customer charge from $33 to $36.50 for September through December 2025 with an increase to $38 in 2026 • Second can fee increase from $7 to $9.63 to offset the cost to the Town • Based off Waste Management’s May invoice of 4,729 accounts, this would generate $91,909.90 Mayor Gott asked if this was originally approved. Kathleen said no, this is a budget amendment. Torrie confirmed the budget amendment. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur about the second bin waiver. Kathleen said that everyone will be starting off with one trash bin and one recycling bin and then they can request a second bin about two weeks into the cycle; since the bins will be bigger. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur asked about yard waste. Kathleen said that there is no affect because yard waste is provided by the Town. Mayor Gott asked about those who have three and four cans and if they’ve looked at those numbers. Kathleen said everyone is going down to one can for trash and one can for recycling and then they can request additional bins later. Councilman Olson asked about the $9.63 fee and if it’ll be added each month. Kathleen confirmed it. Mayor Gott said she currently has four cans. Town Manager James said that she would probably need two trash cans since the sizes are bigger. Councilman Pope asked if this will be communicated out. Kathleen said yes. There was no further discussion. Councilman Miles motioned to amend the budget as presented by staff. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur seconded the motion. All approved. Motion passed. Town Solicitor Edwards clarified that this was to amend the budget to reflect the upcoming trash rates. There were words of agreement from Council. f. DEMEC refund Finance Director, Kathleen Acevedo, presented. A refund was provided from DEMEC due to the closure of the Indian River plant. The Town received $276,393.60 and is recommending giving that back to the residents. The money was raised through the PPCAC rate, which is currently .0277 per kWh. The most recent bill, July’s, the PPCAC revenue is $363,404.75. The refund is about 76% of that. The proposal is taking everyone’s next bill, calculating 76% of their PPCAC charge, and putting the refund towards it. Mayor Gott asked how this would be communicated. Kathleen suggested the use of Facebook, robo calls, and mentioned that this would be seen on the next bill. Town Manager James said that this is the PPCAC amount, so it’s a small amount and some may see a $20 or $30 credit. He mentioned the use of the Town’s website, robo calls, social media, and placing a memo on the bill. Councilman Drew motioned to approve the refund. Councilman Miles seconded the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed.  g. Discussion and possible action to join other Delaware jurisdictions and consent to the opioid settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family Town Solicitor Edwards briefly went over what this entails. There are some on-going settlements with various companies and the AG’s office requested the approval to file this. Right now they can entertain a motion to authorize Town Manager Torrie James to sign off on the Town of Smyrna joining other Delaware municipalities in the settlement. Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur motioned to approve. There were two overlapping seconds; voices sounded like Councilman Miles and Councilman Johnson. All were in favor. Motion passed. 12. Public comment (3 minutes) (was omitted from the original agenda) Pam Anderson asked if the large item pickup still included. Town Manager James said yes. Everything is remaining pretty much the same, only the price is changing Vicky Blair mentioned the use of Tidbits for the refund notice and said that the robo call is a good idea. She asked if the calculation of shortage also includes the two can usage on the new contract. Finance Director, Kathleen Acevedo said yes. John Snow, with the Smyrna School District, wanted to let Council know that they understand why they did what they did, (repeal school impact fees), but are disappointed. He thanked them for their support and his hopes for continued support. He is looking forward to the support from the Delaware Homeowners Association, as they had mentioned they would. Rick Horsey, President of the Duck Creek Regional Library, wanted to talked about the use they saw in July. There were 6,778 people, 245 new members, 8,427 checked out items, 52 programs, 160 requests for a study room. He thanked the library staff as well as Council for their continued support. 13. Adjournment Councilman Johnson motioned to adjourn. Councilman Drew and Vice Mayor Dr. Upshur both spoke up to second the motion. All were in favor. Motion passed. The meeting ended at 7:35 PM. Posted 7/28/2025 at 4:00 PM (#1) Posted 8/11/2025 at 10:00 AM (#2) items being added to agenda (New business) Posted 8/14/2025 at 2:15 PM (#3) one item removed from agenda (New business) Posted 8/15/2025 at 3:30 PM (#4) one item added to agenda (New business) 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.