TOWN OF STOKESDALE 8325. Angel-Pardue Road Stokesdale, NC27357 JUNE 26, 2020 AT6:00PM via ZOOM  SPECIAL CALLED MEETING: ADOPT FISCAL YEAR 2020-2021 BUDGET &.  ORDINANCES  FOR THE GENERAL FUND AND WATER ENTERPRISE  Attendance: Mayor Flynt, Thearon Hooks, Derek Foy,Jim Rigsbee, Jimmy Landreth, Town Clerk. Alisa Houk, Accountant Kim Thacker, Town Attorney Tom Medlin.  Mayor Flynt called the meeting to Order  Agenda items:  1. Approve the 2019-2020 Budget Ordinances  2. Vote to Adopt the proposed Town of Stokesdale Budget for Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Derek Foy began by saying I hate to be that guy but he has not had a chance to look at the Budget Amendments and that was: not on the agenda. Is it even] proper to talk about them? Alisa said iti is on the agenda it's called the Ordinances. Mayor Flynt said wel have to have this done by June 30, 2020. Ifv we don't do it tonight, we have tol have another special called meeting. Alisa and Kim can explain it, we went through these. You got a thing from Kim Wednesday maybe. Derek said he got the budget amendments today. Alisa said Kim and I worked on these and all we did was take money that was already in the budget and showed as overages in some categories and puti it in the categories that were under. So, we could balance the 2019-2020 budget.. Alisa said she is going tol let Kim present it, they worked together but Kim was the one that typed it all up last night so I'm sure it is fresher in her head than mine. Derek said that is fine but note that he doesn't think iti is legal and proper to discuss an agenda item in a Special Called Meeting that is not on the agenda. Alisa read the Meeting title to Derek and he said the Amendments are: for 2019-2020. Alisa said it is her mistake for not typing in that the Ordinances are for 2019-2020 SO, okay we will have to call another Special Called meeting next week. Derek said okay. Derek still wants tol hear the Budget Adoption tonight and do the Budget Amendments Tuesday night. John wants tol hear both tonight or recess the entire meeting and heari it all Tuesday at 12pm. There was a disagreement on whether to recess this meeting until Tuesday June: 30, 2020 at 12pm or hear just the Budget Adoption tonight and hear the Budget Ordinances 2019-2020 on' Tuesday. There was argument over a1 time on Tuesday. Tom told everyone that if wei recess, we: still can't talk about the Ordinances. This meeting needs tol be closed and al New meeting called for Tuesday with the title oft the meeting including the dates of 2019-2020 Budget Ordinance Amendments as well as adopting the 20-21 Budget. Tom said iti is up to Council whether they are going to hear both on Tuesday rather than adopting the Budget Mayor Flynt called a recess to speak with Tom and Council only to decide what to do. Mayor Flynt withdrew his motion to recess until Tuesday June 30,2020 to hear both the  tonight.  Mayor Flynt reconvened the meeting.  2019-2020 Budget amendments and adopt the 20-21 Budget.  3580  Book 14    Mayor Flynt motion to call a Special Called Meeting on' Tuesday June: 30, 2020: at 4:00pm for the sole purpose ofr reviewing and voting on the 2019-2020 Budget Ordinance Amendments. Thearon seconded the motion. Vote was 5-0 tol Hear the call a Special Called meeting Tuesday June: 30, 2020 4pm to hear the 2019-2020 Budget Ordinance Amendments Mayor Flynt opened the meeting to discussion adoption of the 2020-2021 Stokesdale Town WATER ENTERPRISE FUND: Alisa asked Council ift they wanted to go back overi it line by line or how did they want toj proceed. Derek asked Alisa ifa anything had changed. She answered no, nothing has changed since the June 15th meeting took] place. Derek said well you've done the presentation. Alisa answered, Yes. Mayor Flynt said he has one change. Under Total Water Capital you've got $30,000. He said wei talked about this last time and said we were going to change that to Overhead ralocation/eimburemem: Derek said, no this is not ai reallocation. Mayor Flynt said its not aj reimbursement either. Alisa spoke up and said in the last meeting you guys agreed to change it to alloeating/reimbursing: and she has already changed it in the Budget message. Alisa read the notes from the last meeting, we are alocatingreimburing $130,806.96 from the Water Enterprise to the General Fund and you guys did agree to that int the last meeting. Jimmy Landreth asked if this revised term was voted on. Everyone said yes, but in looking back at the June 15th minutes the new term was not voted on, However, Mayor Flynt was the first to agree to go with locatingrembursing, as Tom suggested. There appeared to be a consensus amount the five to go with this term. Derek did end the conversation with Derek. said for the alocatingreimbursing: There was: more argument about what was said in the June 15th meeting. Derek and the Mayor finally agreed on the term allocating reimbursing and leaving the slash between the words out. Mayor Flynt said his other question is the only notation we have on the allocating reimbursing of the $130,806.96, ifsomebody looks at the Water Enterprise account by itself, they are going to say, what is that? So, the Mayor would like to see when we go back to the General Fund account, he would like to see a column on the spread sheet showing how much is being allocated reimbursed from the Water Account. The Mayor thinks that will show full transparency. Jim Rigsbee asked is that not already shown under General Fund Expenses? Mayor Flynt said no, not in Water Enterprise. Jim Rigsbee said that is what hei is looking at and ita appears to bel listed. Alisa said maybe Kim can explain. Kim Thacker saidi iti is1 not aj problem Mayor Flynt motioned to Approve thel Fiscal Year 2020-2021 Town of Stokesdale Budget with a change in the Budget Message to remove the slash between the words allocating reimbursing. And to add a column to each of the Budgets that will reflect the amounts that will be allocated reimbursed between them. Jim Rigsbee seconded the motion.  only. Budget:  ecordrembursement is his preference. Mayor. Flynt saidj for the record allocation/Reimbursement is his preference. Alisa noted the correction. to  she can fix it.  VOTE: Mayor Flynt Thearon Hooks Jim Rigsbee  YES YES YES  Derek Foy Jimmy Landreth  YES YES  3581  Book14    GENERAL FUND BUDGET: Alisa said again there were not changes to the Budget from the Derek Foy made a motion to approve the General Fund Budget for the Fiscal Year 2020- 2021 as proposed. Thearon Hooks seconded the motion for discussion. Thearon Hooks said there were a couple of items that we didn'tinclude in this budget that wel have included: in past budgets. He would like an explanation of why they were not included so he will have a better understanding ifa citizen should ask him. Jim Rigsbee asked him ifhel had al list ofthese items? Thearon Hooks said one was the Downtown/own: Hall Projects. And Capital Outlay was earmarked for the Town Park only. Thearon is not comfortable with that since wel have put moneys ini that before unless we. have some kind ofinstrument to go into a dedicated fund and use it. In the past, we' 've always been ablei to put monies ahead and if we didn't use it, we put it back in. Ifv we do use: it, we are going to be doing budget amendments. Thearon said he would like to see some oft that or why it was taken out. Thearon asked Kim if she could help him with this? Kim' Thacker saidIs sure can. First ofall because wel have had to tighten up on the budget because ofall the spending that's been done. The Covid-19 has worried all ofus, or let her just say it has worried her. Kim said sO therefore, ifyou want to: see money goi in for things like this then we are going tol have to cut expenses. Kim said you tell me where you want to cut expenses. The money wel have coming ini is $384,800. Kim addressed the Mayor, John you. had said at the beginning oft this budget she had investment earnings at $40 some thousand, John had reiterated that the investment: rates were dropping. Mayor Flynt said yes, they went from 2.50% down to .25%: soi ifyou get $20,000 this year you will be lucky. Mayor Flynt said sO that dropped our income. Mayor Flynt added the thing tol him is do we want to be a Town or not. Ifyou look at Summerfield and Oak Ridge they dipped into their: savings. And for example, wel have Capital Park Investment of$18,249.56, we' ve already allocated or spent $8,000 ofit with Yates for the drainage issues. So, that leaves $10,249.56 fori the park. Mayor Flynt says he thinks that sends a pretty weak message to the Citizens, its like really don't want to do anything but keep the doors open. Ifwe get the $55,000 grant, we will have to do a budget amendment to match it. We've talked abut things like another shelter, buying a storage building, lawn mowers, doing our own landscaping, talked about purchasing additional land. Kim said John that is for you guys to decide. Kim said ifyou put the $55,000 in now and we don't get the grant we will have to doa budget amendment to take it out. If we don't! put the money in now and we get the grant we will have to do a budget amendment toj put the $55,000 in. Its tit for tat. Kim said we are sitting here discussing budget amendments and yes Thearon, you are correct the less budget amendments we do the better. This is aj prefect example of why she has tightened up this budget. Kim said the $384,800 is what she feels and they voted on as estimated income sO that is what she has based our expenses on. Ifwe keep pulling money from undesignated funds not knowing what is going tol happen. One year is not going to hurt to. just tighten up. She understands why wel had to spend money to get things done that had not been done when she came: in there were things that had to be done and should have been. Kim said this is her opinion, but its not her decision. Mayor Flynt said wel have never gone in a deficit in 30 years. We have $2.8ml in General Fund, $1.5in Water. Kim said John you are going into savings to balance the 2019-2020. Budget. Youare going to have toj pull $80,000 out for the 2019-2020 Budget. Kim said shei is looking at this from al logical financial perspective but again it is not her decision. Its on you guys, Jim Rigsbee asked Thearon how much money hei is talking about? And what kind of projects are you thinking? Thearon said well there were two Capital type projects. One ifwe get the grant. Jim asked  June 15th meeting.  3582  Book 14    Thearon for the park? Thearon said yes for the Park.. Jim said willIthink we all agree that money will have to be pulled. Thearon then said we had talked about some on-site things like purchasing a golf cart. As we grow, we are going to need things like storage buildings, golf cart to get around the grounds instead of having toj jump in your car to get down to the park, the cleaning crew could use it to transport trash, etc. Thearon feels like there is a compromise even in a year. he thinks we could earmark somethings even: ifits later in the year. Givei it six months see. how the economy is going ifit its going back up then we could look at some of things. Jim Rigsbee asked Thearon you are talking about Downtown; you are talking about parks. Thearon said no not downtown I'm talking about the park. Jim Rigsbee said if we get the park grant, he is in agreement with making some improvements he feels we can justify what we do with the park grant money if we geti it. Jim said if we get it, we can look at what is inside the park grant he doesn'thave a problem with making a move and we. look at what is best for the Town. So, can we: not look at some Capital Outlay in that because you are going tol have tol have some maintenance to go along with whatever you build. You are going to have tol have some. kind of vehicle tol help with maintenance. Jim Rigsbee thinks that is a direct correlation as we expand the park, we are, going to have tol have some tools. Thearon thinks we can come together as a group and come to a compromise. The Mayor asked Derek, He said I'm looking back at the March 5th Budget meeting he said Derek agreed in his mock up. Budget that Derek was. looking at a 60-40% spilt and Derek said he could put $130,000 in Capital Outlay for the park. In another page Derek said he was able to put 70,000 in the water fund for maintenance, and we actually put $26,000. And: now you gone from $135,000 to $18,000. What happened Derek? Derek said he doesn't have that document in front ofhim. Derek said he likely used al higher income figure. He doesn't remember. Derek said he would love to give more to park. Jim Rigsbee then asked sO are you looking at putting more money into the Capital Park Outlay? Ifso, where would you pull it from? Thearon replied well looking at this budget we are on the nickel, ifv we had to buy a dime item, we may: not have the penny tax oni it. So, Thearon said he would be willing to earmark matching money up front because this is a one-time chance for usi ifwe get this grant. Jimmy Landreth spoke in and saidI Idon't want to ruffle any feathers, I'm sureI will butj just because we are a Town, we spend plenty ofmoney. Jimmy said we spend al lot ofmoney. Jimmy Landreth saidIknow we have spent a lot oft money and he's not going to say positive of negative on how much has been spent in the last year. Jimmy doesn't see why we can't take al little reset. We have the mowing contract that comes up: next year, when we redo that hel believes we will get some savings out ofthat. There may be: some other things that we can find savings in that we can direct some money into the park. Jimmy Landreth is opposed to putting in upfront, if we get the grant it will be just as easy to pull the money then. Idon'tl like putting money in the budget, right now we've got $2500 spending limit that has been abused he believes on several occasions and he knows some people don'tfeel that way and he doesn'twant to argue about it. That isj just what he feels. He'si not talking about the Water System, ort the emergency fund. Jimmy Landreth said he will not vote to take any money out oft the General Fund unless we get the grant. Mayor Flynt then asked what ift the people reviewing the application for the grant ask for a copy ofour Budget to make sure we. have the funds toi match the grant and they look at the budget and say well you have $18,000 for park improvements. They may say well these people don'treally take this serious. They have enough money in savings reserves but ift they didn'tput enough in their budget to cover their half why should we give them money, wei need to go to a Town that is willing to guarantee they have the money available. Derek said John, the due date for the Park Grant application was April 30, they're not asking the Town for a copy oftheir proposed budget  3583  Book: 14    for the next year. Mayor Flynt said okay, call to question. Jim Rigsbee asked how much are we talking about toi match the grant? Our match is $55,000. Alisa said there is already $ 18249.56in there, Mayor Flynt reminded! her that $8,000 is already spent. Jim Rigsbee said couldn't we put the balance of $55,000 in there and just earmark it. Thearon said that is all he was asking, if we get the grant, we spend it, ifwe don'tg get the grant, we put it back in the budget monies. Jim Rigsbee doesn't see where this is a big deal if we earmark it. Derek thinks it's a bad precedence to continue toj pull from undesignated funds. Jim Rigsbee replied tol Derek and said if we are going to earmark it and not spend it then it's a moot point. Derek asked if someone wanted to make ai friendly amendment, then he said I'm not sure what we are voting on. Alisa told them Derek had motioned to accept the General Fund Budget as written and Thearon had seconded it. Jim Rigsbee said he would make a friendly amendment to add the matching grant money under the stipulation that it is earmarked for the match only, no other operating expenses to the Capital Outlay for the Park linei item. Jim Rigsbee asked if we could put a subline under it to show that it is there for that only. Jimmy Landreth asked if we can change the budget tonight? Tom Medlin answered yes, you can.. Derek Foy said he is going to rescind his motion in: favor of Jim Rigsbee ton make. his motion. Jim Rigsbee repeated his motion to say Jim Rigsbee makes ai motion to earmark $55,000 matching grant designation in a separate line under Expenses, Capital Outlay Park Investments for the purpose of matching the grant only ift the grant is approved. Tom Medlin said that is an allocation you are putting down sO where is the money coming from? You need to make a change to your income side to make it balance, correct Kim? Kim Thacker said yes, they either need to reduce expenses somewhere or else they are going tol have to add $55,000 to the revenue. Tom asked and that would be on what line? Where would they put the $55,000 in revenue ift they are going to pull it out ofs savings? Kim answered under the Undesignated Funds. Tom asked what is that number currently and what would it be changed to? Kim said currently that is zero, and would be changed to $55,000 ift that is what they are going to do. Tom addressed Jim Rigsbee and said so your motion is to make those two changes. Jim Rigsbee answered yessir, Ido understand that. Tomi then asked Jim Rigsbee and to otherwise approve the Budget with those changes, correct?. Jim Rigsbee answered correct, yessir. Tom then asked Alisa ifs she understands the motion and she answered yes. Then he asked is any oft the five councilmen didn'tunderstand the: motion? Kim asked Jim Rigsbee, she asked. Jim you requested to do a separate linei item under Park Investment for Capital Outlay? Is that what we are doing or are we adding it into Park Investment? He would rather put it as a separate line sO wel know it is there and what it is for and everybody is transparent with that amount. Kim was okay with that. Thearon Hooks seconded the motion. The Mayor asked ift there was any further discussion, there  was: none. Mayor Flynt called to question.  VOTE: Mayor Flynt Thearon Hooks Jim Rigsbee  YES YES YES  Derek Foy Jimmy Landreth  NO NO  3584  Book 14    Mayor Flynt motioned to Adjourned the meeting at 7:20 pm' Thearon Hooks seconded the  motion. VOTE: Mayor Flynt Thearon Hooks Jim Rigsbee  YES YES YES  Derek Foy Jimmy Landreth  YES NO  Approved January 14, 2021  Mayor  Attest  Town Clerk  Buaslub  248F  3585  Book 14