TOWN OF NEWLAND MONTHLY BOARD MEETING JANUARY 3RD, 2022  OFNEIT EPOG  ATTENDING:  Mayor: Attorney: Alderman: Guests:  Derek Roberts Gerald McKinney Lauren Turbyfill  Kenny Caraway, Gail Haller, Christie Hughes, James C. Johnson, Nathan Gittner, Lily Kincaid, Nancy Davis, Sandy Lewis, Walt McRee, Glen Johnson, Lois Johnson, Anne Winkelman, Dane Phillips, Colby Palmer, David Wright, Linda Benfield Town Administrator Bill Bailey, Town Clerk Jennifer Beam, Police Chief Byron Clawson, Captain Michael Fields, Public Works  Staff:  Supervisor Gary Lewis, Melisa Borkowski  The Mayor called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm, led the assembly in the Pledge of Allegiance,  and reminded everyone ofe ethics awareness.  PUBLIC HEARING:  Bill began the public hearing by stating the hearing is for the board to discuss annexation at the end the board could defray the decision, or they could make a decision regarding the annexation. The Mayor asked Walt McCree to speak on the matter. Walt introduced himself and began by mentioning the property that is being proposed to annex is just under seven acres across from Mountain Glen Golf Course. Walt suggested that this property could potentially be an opportunity for The Town of Newland to have new services. He would like for the property to have multi-family residences that could be both rental and owned properties. Walt continued it would also be an opportunity for "low-key" retail and professional offices. Sandy Lewis asked the board if the town has grant money to pay for this project. The Mayor stated that we do. Sandy asked ifit specifically addresses the annexation. The Mayor stated yes. Bill stated that the annexation is one issue, it meets the criteria for a satellite annexation. The Board can decide yes or no. The next question will be how the town will provide services to the property. We did    receive a 3.2-million-dollar grant that is specifically for water, sewer infrastructure. Bill stated that in the budget process the board will find out that the town has about four million dollars' worth of repairs to do to our system but as far as this public hearing goes the question is does the board want to annex this property or not. Lauren asked Bill what the state would require of the town if they were to annex the property. Bill stated the state will require us to immediately provide water, sewer, police, and fire services, the town's biggest issue would be getting water and sewer out there, and Gary can speak to the preliminary numbers. Walt mentioned to the board that it would most likely be another two years before anything came of the property. Gary stated that it would most likely take two years of work to get the lines out there due to the water Glen Johnson stated that his water is not drinkable. He stated that the previous public works director stated that he would not drink the water. Lois Johnson said the water smells like chlorine. Mr. Johnson said the water taste like sulfur. Glen then suggested that before the town spends money on something else, he would like to work on infrastructure of the current town water lines. Bill stated that the water is tested weekly to every other week and all our test meet the minimum criteria. There is chlorine in the system and there are times where there's al little bit excess chlorine in the system but still doesn't exceed the requirements. Gary stated that the public works department test seven places every Monday and they're always within the lower limit. Bill stated that we do have quite a bit of work on infrastructure making up for thirty years Bill stated he wanted everyone to understand this would be a satellite annexation, the town is limited by law to no more than ten percent of our jurisdictional boundary, but this falls well within that and ultimately the town must provide services out to them at some point if the property is annexed into the town. Nancy Davis asked if Walt is willing to contribute to the cost of adding water and sewer out to the property. Walt stated the project is in the beginning stages and it is about creating opportunities for the town. Gerald stated that the town does have the opportunity to charge an increased rate for water and sewer at the property to help recoup some The Mayor asked Kenny for his opinion. Kenny stated that he felt the town needs to look at the infrastructure here in the Town of Newland to the fix problems we've got before we expand out  line going down one side oft the road and sewer down the other.  of deferred maintenance.  of the cost.    further. Lauren agreed with Kenny and stated she feels like towns tend to move away from themselves and the Town of Newland does have many infrastructure issues. Bill suggested to close the Public Hearing. The Mayor asked if anyone else had anything to say on the matter and Gail and Christie both conceded with Lauren and Kenny to look at the infrastructure oft the town The Mayor stated that when he met with Dudley Greene to discuss the items that the town would like to address with the grant funds, he had brought it before the board several months ago. The top three items that the town needed were to pay off the waste treatment plant, pay off the backhoe, and a couple million dollars to run the water lines to this property. The Mayor stated he is upset that the funds were meant for one use and now going to be used for something else. The Mayor continued that the county had specifically asked him to help with this project when he became Mayor. The Mayor gave an example of Bakersville, N.C. obtaining a grant of around nineteen million because they worked with the county. Bill confirmed that there are two pools of money the state was awarding out. The county was awarded seven million that is unrestricted funds, the funds that we received is restricted on how we can use it. The Mayor stated that he understands there are internal issues but he does not understand using the funds for something other than what the town asked for them to be used on. Bill stated that no decision needed to be made and the board could postpone the decision to listen to information about the town's Gary suggested getting an engineering survey before deciding. The amount of money that the town has may not be enough to cover the cost of running a line that far out especially ifa storage tank is needed. The Mayor asked Bill if the county did not indicate that they would be willing to contribute. Bill stated they have indicated it but there is no commitment on their part. Bill continued; the county looks at it from an economic development perspective. There's a lot of property out there that can be developed but it can't be developed without getting water and sewer. An engineering study would most likely cost eighty thousand and we would need the study because like Gary said, we may have to have another well, we may have to have a tank because we can't meet the pressure loads, or we may have to a pump station to get the sewage back. The Mayor asked if the town did not have the biggest wastewater plant in four counties.  proceeded to close the hearing.  before expanding.  infrastructure.    Bill stated yes, but it is currently at half capacity because of deferred maintenance. Ifhalfwere to fail, the town would not have a backup. Kenny asked ifp paying for the engineering firm can come from the grant money. Bill confirmed that it can. Kenny also asked ift the funds could be used to repair the wastewater treatment tank. Bill confirmed yes. The Mayor stated that the EDC could also help with engineering funds. Bill stated that the only other thing that has not been calculated  would be property taxes. Agenda:  Bill stated that the town has a tremendous number of records dating back decades. We have a records retention schedule at the state level but in order for us to destroy old records the board has to adopt it. Once adopted we will take the state recommended actions to destroy records being careful to go through each of the records. Christie made ai motion to adopt the states record retention schedule, Gail seconded the motion all agreed by show ofl hands and stating aye.  Mr. Gittner came before the board because unmuffled air brakes are disturbing guest at the inn. He mentioned that as early as four or five o'clock in the morning trucks will utilize their air brakes coming through town. The Mayor asked what happened to the air brake signs that the town once had. Gary stated that he believe the public works department was instructed to take them down. Glen Johnson stated even when the signs are put up it needs to be enforced. Lauren stated that it cannot be enforced, and the signs are a suggestion. Bill stated having dwelt with this in Boone, the town will have to work with the DOT to get the signs back up and within town limits we can limit the use of jake brakes. Kenny stated it is important for the sign to say unmuffled air brakes. Kenny gave the example; two trucks can come through town at the same time, one would be using it's jake brakes and you would never hear it, the next one right behind iti is loud and noisy, that's the ones the town needs to look at, not just jake brakes in general. The Mayor asked Bill to do whatever we need to do to give the Chief the ability to write tickets.  Gerald asked for a copy of the town'so ordinances.  The Mayor asked for a motion to approve the previous minutes. Gail gave the motion, Christie  seconded, all agreed by stating aye and show of] hands.    PUBLIC COMMENTS:  Dane Phillip's came before the board representing his business Appalachian Waste Management. The Mayor stated that the town has a contract that tells the citizens what trash company they can use. Bill stated yes, we do have a contract until June 30th. The Mayor stated that anyone that wants to utilize Appalachian Waste Management can do sO, regardless of what the board signed with Republic. Bill stated that the town of Newland signed a contract and that contract's exclusive, it does but stay specifically for any citizen use over a three-year period. The Mayor asked Bill if he was telling him because of what the Town of Newland signed, he cannot call Appalachian Waste to pick up his trash. Bill stated yes and Republic has been pretty aggressive enforcing the contract. The Mayor stated that a Republican representative needs to attend a meeting and we need to see what Gerald can do to void that contract. The Mayor asked ifa anyone on the board remembered the contract. Lauren stated she did remember the contract, but nothing was ever brought up about it blocking someone from using another company. Dane stated that he has had run-ins with Republic on Beech Mountain and Sugar Mountain and where he personally goes into the homes of his clients, Republic does not. This has allowed him to continue services. Dane stated when he got kick-back from Sugar Mountain and Beech Mountain, he told them he did not see how they could tell a business what services they could offer. Dane stated that he wanted to make sure his company would not be in jeopardy while operating in the town. He wanted to make sure he has the town's support as a small business owner, as well as a citizen of  Avery County.  David Wright stated that he is still concerned about speeding on Shady Street, lack of signage on the street, as well as trash from the campground. The Mayor stated that we are working on moving our dumpster away from that site, as well as getting Puerto to move their dumpster SO that option is not available for the campers. The Mayor stated that the town is working on getting stop signs as you come out of the campground and potentially working towards blocking that entrance off. David was also concerned about talk of shutting down the other entrance due to construction, and more traffic coming through the back entrance. The Mayor stated Mike is having several issues with federal agencies including the Corp of Engineers. Bill stated the Corp seems to be driving the issues and Mike will have ninety days from the 315t of. January to get the engineering for the entrance done and then he will have another ninety days to get everything    back to normal. David requested there be a physical speed limiter on the street. The Mayor asked if there is a particular time when David notices more speeders. David stated it's pretty much all day. Nancy Davis asked if people are supposed to be able to access the RV park off Shady Street. The Mayor stated the original agreement with Mike Nelson was that when construction was complete, he would start reverting traffic to the main entrance. The Mayor mentioned that the county has requested his address to be changed to the main entrance and when Mike opened the coffee shop he listed it's address as the back entrance. Kenny mentioned that street is a public street. Bill stated that it is a residential street and was always a residential street. The Mayor stated that the issue is Mike told everyone after construction is done they would start diverting traffic to the main highway. Nancy Davis stated that it is ai nuisance to live in that neighborhood. The Mayor stated that he wanted to make it very clear that he supports the campground but there is no reason that they should not be using the main entrance. David stated he would like Newland to be as prosperous as it can be, but the campground has certainly impacted his life, his  children's lives, and the neighborhood negatively.  REPORTS:  Jessica was unable to attend the meeting. The board received a written report.  Bill gave the administrators report. Concrete is on order for the Sokassa building, and the public works department is doing as much as possible to keep the cost down. The state is sending Bill the information about the Clean Water Grant he will send to the board in an email. The Mayor asked if there was any information on the Dog Park. Bill stated he is working on VPC is getting a quote together for streetlights. There are several throughout the town that are not working. Bill asked the board if they would like the lights to be white or warm. The board  getting fencing quotes and looking a furniture options for the park.  agreed warm lighting would be best.,  Chief Clawson gave the police report. The Mayor asked what delivery of elementary school food meant. Chief stated every Wednesday an officer will take food over to the school for students to  take home ifd desired.    The Mayor stated that Gary'si report is something that he issued as a way of management to keep everyone informed. It was not something that was asked of him by anyone it is something that he initiated. Christy stated that she would like to see the administrators report typed as well sO she  could read it.  Gary gave the public works report. He mentioned that the new sweet mix has worked well on the roads. There have been no major issues due to the cold. Gary mentioned a lot of water is getting into the manholes which is causing algae in our wastewater system. It will cost quite a bit to  repair, approximately eight grand fort two manholes.  Council Comments:  Gerald mentioned he gave High Country and Stanley Carver until the 28th of December to pay. He received a letter from the lawyer of High Country Polaris stating that he was advised that there was an agreement that the town was abating the taxes for ten years. Gerald replied to the lawyer we did not, nor could we abate taxes, we don't have that authority. Gerald also received a call from Stanley Carver, and he said he could pay one thousand now and make payments on the rest of $500 a month. Gerald asked for the board's approval on the matter. Kenny stated he was fine with it if the town can get it in writing. Gerald stated that he will ask Stanley if $500 is a doable amount before we get in a contract with him that is to hard for him. Gerald stated he spoke with Tim Brinkley who offered owner financing on the Polaris property, and he said that they brought it up at closing, but Butch Hughes represented both sides of the closing and he kind of laughed about it and that was the last he heard of the matter. Gerald stated this is not the first  time that the town has had to collect taxes from them.  ADJOURNMENT:  Kenny made ai motion to adjourn the meeting. Lauren seconded the motion. All agreed by stating  aye.  MEETING ADJOURNED.  Ae  SBuoml  MAYOR  ROBERTS  NNOS  DEREK  TOWICLERK, JENNIFER S. BEAM