MINUTES  THESE ARE THE MINUTES FROM THE SPECIAL MEETING OF  THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS FOR THE TOWN OF CONETOE, NORTH CAROLINA  JANUARY 10TH, 2023  Gerry Lynch, Mayor  The Board of Commissioners oft the Town of Conetoe met in a Special Meeting on Tuesday, January 10t, 2023 at 6:30 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Room at 204 West Church Street,  Conetoe, NC. PRESENT Mayor Gerry Lynch ABSENT none ALSO PRESENT Town Clerk: Kelly Hunter Town Attorney: Dan Hartzog, Jr  Commissioners: Jenny Staton-Hinnant, Clay Webb, Regina Gray, and Delane Bryant  1. MEETING CALLED TO ORDER AND INVOCATION  Mayor Lynch called the meeting to order and Rev. Richard Joyner offered the invocation. Mayor Lynch acknowledged the citizens present including Reverend Joyner, our Town Attorney, Mr. Dan Hartzog, Jr., Bishop Richard Hagans, Minister Barnes, and the  2. WELCOME TO CITIZENS  Edgecombe County Sherriff's Department.  3. APPROVAL OF PROPOSED AGENDA BY COUNCIL  Commissioner Hinnant made a motion to approve the agenda as presented.  Commissioner Webb seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.  4. READING OF THE MINUTES  Commissioner Hinnant made ai motion to accept the minutes from the regular session that was on December 13th, 2022. The minutes were presented by Town Clerk, Kelly Hunter. Commissioner Webb seconded the motion and it carried unanimously without 5. - SWEARING IN NEWLY APPOINTED COMMISSIONER REGINA GRAY Commissioner Gray was appointed by the Town of Conetoe Board of Commissioners as  amendment.  are replacement for previous Commissioner Milton Goff. 6. DEPARTMENTAL AND ADMINSTRATIVE REPORTS  a. Town Administrator Report    7. OLD BUSINESS  a. The audit for FY 2021-2022 is underway. The remaining information needed is  due to our CPA in February 2023.  8. NEW: BUSINESS  a. The maturity date for the CD at Providence Bank is coming up on January 25", 2023. Commissioner Bryant made a motion to move the CD from Providence Bank to Truist. Commissioner Hinnant seconded the motion and it carried b. Attorney Dan Hartzog, Jr. addressed the board with information regarding a 4 year staggard term opposed to the current 2 year term where towns run the risk of having a complete new board. The beginning of that processes is a resolution of intent that he has drafted for us to complete if we sO desire. Next is a public hearing that will need to take place no less then 10 days and no more then 45.Itis is recommended that we hold the public hearing at the next Monthly Meeting in i. Commissioner Webb made ai motion to move forward with the Resolution ofIntent to consider the 4 year staggered election. Commissioner Hinnant ii. Commissioner made a motion to have a Public Hearing at the next Monthly Meeting in February 2023. Commissioner Hinnant seconded the  unanimously.  February.  seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. motion and it carried unanimously.  Commissioner Hinnant made motion to conclude and accept no new business. Commissioner  Webb seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.  9. PUBLIC COMMENTS a. Paul Wilkins-  i. Vividly remembers walking down the long cotton rows with his grandfather andj paying for the property that is directly across the ditch. He desires to upgrade the property and wants to know when things will get Wanted to know when they are going to get their permit and how are we going about the rezoning. She stated it was rezoned without our permission and without their knowledge and wants to know how it will be corrected. Attorney Dan Hartzog, Jr addressed Ms. Haynes and stated that at this time the town is only working on updating the zoning ordinance. That she will need to petition the board to have the property rezoned. The board would consider that and make a decision. Once the zoning order is updated and in place at that time you would need to go through the proper steps toj petition the board for rezoning at that time. At that time consistent  setup and concluded sol he can get his permit.  b. Vivian Haynes-  with that area, it has tol be considered.    ( Commissioner Bryant acknowledged our Town Attorney who has been working behind the scenes on updating the zoning ordinance. She is currently working on corrections and adjustments needed for the zoning ii. Commissioner Bryant acknowledged Rev. Joyner and thanked him for the recognition he afforded the town at the Christmas Dinner at the Conetoe Chapel Missionary Church. She read from the plague presented to the iii. The town approved Christmas Trash Clean-up Bin was a success. The bin was filled up twice. We look forward to doing this service for the town iv. The Town Hall was opened for the Conetoe Alumni Association to give them a warm place to set up for their quarterly Thigpen Road Clean-up. There is a new 4-way stop at the intersection ofHWY2 and HWY64. ii. Yard Waste Pick-up will remain once ai month for the month of. January. If you have aj pile needing addressing, you can still contact us for that. iii. The town rented a lift that will be used to take the Christmas Lights down i. Down East Home Consortium meeting is to be held on January 31rst, 2023. If there is a quorum and voting takes place then a report from that ii. The Town Park needs updating and the broken equipment is in need of replacement. Commissioner Hinnant requested the board consider this and make ai motion to replace the damaged equipment and update the park and covered areas around the park. Commissioner Bryant made the motion to replace the damaged equipment and renovate the covered areas at the park according to State Safety Standards and guidelines. Commissioner Webb i. The Town's Quarterly Wage Reports and Taxes are due in January. The TR-2 is due by February Irst, the Powell Bill Report is up-to-date. The Powell Bill allocation for January was automatically deposited into our General fund in the month of. January. Bank Totals from both Truist and Providence Bank were given as well as the totals for both funds deposited i. Mayor Lynch has been invited to join the Eastern NC Mayor's League. His is looking forward to this training as well as other trainings through the League of Municipalities. The board is in agreement with these and unanimously approved the motion by Commissioner Hinnant to continue  draft.  Town of Conetoe from Conetoe Family Life Center.  and surrounding area quarterly.  b. Buildings and Town Maintenance Report  this week. Parks and Recreations Report  will be given at the February meeting.  seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.  d. Clerk Report  and paid.  e. Mayor's Report  with these various trainings.  Commissioner Hinnant made a motion to accept and approve all of the Departmental and Administrative Reports. Commissioner Webb seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.    Commissioner Bryant made a motion to close and approve the public comments portion.  Commissioner Webb seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. 10.COMMISSIONER AND MAYOR COMMENTS  a. The Commissioners thanked everyone for coming and look forward to working alongside with newly appointed Commissioner Gray for the remainder of the b. Mayor Lynch wished everyone a Happy New Year and encouraged everyone to  year.  continue to work together and find common ground.  10. ADJOURNMENT  Commissioner Webb made ai motion to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Hinnant seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Mayor Lynch adjourned the meeting until the next regular meeting originally scheduled for February 14t", 2023. Commissioner Webb made ai motion to change the next Regular Monthly Meeting date to February 7h, 2023, and Commissioner Gray seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. It will begin at 6:30PM in the Town Hall Board Room.  Say Syah Mayor Gerryynch  Reuy Ht Kelly Hunfer, Town Clerk    Conetoe Town Council Regular Meeting Tuesday, January 10, 2023 6:30 p.m.  Reports  Parks and Recreation Report: Commissioner Hinnant  Down East Home Consortium - On Tuesday, January 31st, Delane Bryant and Lwill attend the Down East Home Consortium Meeting in Rocky Mount. We did not have a meeting in December. Hopefully, there will be enough members present at this meeting for our group to move forward and vote on several decisions that are on the table. We will have a report Town Park - For the past few years, there has been a need to update and replace some broken equipment at the Town Park in order to keep it safe for our children and visitors. Springseems like al long way off, however, we want our park to be safe when the weather warms up. Thave been looking at the broken equipment and will be ready to ask the board to support the purchasing of new equipment to replace such as well as doing necessary updates to the  regarding this meeting in February.  building and shelter area. Can lg get a motion to do so?    Conetoe Town Council Regular Meeting Tuesday,lanuary 10, 2023 6:30 p.m.  Reports  Town Manager Report: Commissioner Bryant  New Town Attorney - Dan Hartzog, Jr. is a founding partner of Hartzog Law Group from Raleigh. He came highly recommended to us and has agreed to take ont the Town of Conetoe as our municipal attorney. He is here tonight = Dan Hartzog, has been working diligently on updating our Zoning Ordinance and our Town Ordinance. We will have this new, updated information completed shortly. Dan, would you like to say a few words? Conetoe Community Celebration - Was held on Saturday evening, December 17" at the Conetoe Missionary Baptist Church and Fellowship Hall. lattended this event: and received a plaque from Reverend Richard Joyner on behalf of the Mayor and the Board. Reverend. Joyner iswith us tonight, Reverend Joyner, would you like to take a moment to share at few words? Trash Bin The Board made a commitment to the citizens of Conetoe in September of 2022 when we participated in Keep America Beautiful Fall Big Sweep that we would in: some way have a quarterly community cleanup. We chose to place a 31 Ton bin at the Town Hail for the Conetoe Community to have a place to leave Christmas Trash and any old electronic items. During thet time frame that we. selected for this event to occur, we had to call for the first binto be picked up and a second bin to be brought in. Within a two-week period, we had two 3-Ton Conetoe High School Alumni - On December 28th, the Conetoe High School Alumuni Association had planned their quarterly cleanup of their adopted highway, at two mile stretch on Thigpen Road.: What they had not planned on was the temperature being 20 degrees the morning of their event. lopened the Town Hall to them for them to use our facilities and have a warm place to come in to take a break. Their clean up efforts are greatly appreciated. Trainings -IH have several trainings coming up during the month. Once Ih have competed1 those, will: share any updates and new information that Ilearn in how to continue to help our  bins completely filled. Iwould say that was a huge success.  community grow.    Conetoe Town Council Regular Meeting Tuesday, January 10, 2023 6:30 p.m.  Reports  Buildings and Town Maintenance Report: Commissioner Webb  4Way Stop - DOT has finally seen the need for a four way stop at the intersection of Hwy 42 and Hwy 64 in Conetoe, due to numerous accidents at this intersection. This isi taking al littie getting used to but while hopefully prevent further accidents from happening, making our Yard' Waste - As stated in our December meeting, for the time being, the Board has decided that due to the winter months, yard waste will be picked up once a month rather that twice: a month - unless we encounter a storm that would leave behind the need. If you only have a few sticks or small amount of yard waste, David's Trash Service will accept these items in your roll out bin. Ifany citizen will be having a large amount of yard waste, we ask that you call the town hall and leave a message. Yard waste is defined as any natural material resulting from landscaping and yard maintenance including brush, grass, tree limbs and similar vegetative material including stumps, limbs (which must be no longer that four feet in length) leaves and grass. Only yard waste from within the town limits will be picked up by the Towm of Conetoe. Christmas Lights -Iwill be removing the Christmas lights that I placed down Church Street on  community al bit safer.  Thursday.