TOWN OF VANCEBORO BOARD OF ALDERMAN MEETING  Held their regular monthly meeting on May. 3, 2021 at 8:00PM ini the. Jimmie L. Morris Boardroom  I. Call to order by Mayor Chad Braxton.  II. Roll call. Those Present: Mayor Chad Braxton, Alderman Steve Belrose, Alderman Keith Cannon, Alderman Thad Jones, Alderman Todd McMillen and Alderman Dennis  Smith.  III. Invocation by Alderman Jones. IV. Pledge of Allegiance.  V. Approval ofminutes from last meeting. Alderman McMillen made a motion to approve minutes. Motion was seconded by Alderman Jones and carried. Vote 5-0. VI. Approval of Cash Receipts and Disbursements. Alderman Smith made a motion to pay bills. Motion was seconded by Alderman Jones and carried. Vote 5-0. VII. Public Hearing - Chapter 21-Environment (grass height, time frame to comply and revise the fines for violations). Alderman Jones made a motion to open thel Public Hearing on Amending Chapter 21-Environment. Motion was seconded by Alderman Smith and There being no comments on amending Chapter 21-Environment from the public, Alderman Jones made a motion to close the Public Hearing. Motion was seconded by Alderman Belrose made a motion to amend Chapter 21-Environment. Motion was VIII. Police Report. The officers are working on extra training through NCJA website. Firearm training will be in October-November, we will be combining with River Bend Police Department. Still haven't had any reports of coyotes in Town, hopefully they have migrated out of town. Officer Baker is scheduled for radar certification in May and Officer Keys will be scheduled towards the end of the year. We will be hostinga wolfpack event with other agencies in June. We have completed several checkpoint stations in April to earn the NC Governor. Highway Safety points. On April 28th we conducted a warrant-less search with NC Probation and Parole at 663 McLawhorn Lane at the residence of. Joseph Wright. This search resulted in several charges to Mr. Wright.  carried. Vote 5-0.  Alderman Smith and carried. Vote 5-0  seconded by Alderman McMillen and carried. Vote: 5-0.    Wewill seek search warrants to gain more information in this case. Iwould like to thank Office Baker and Officer Herring for their hard work on the drug case; they both worked over their normal shift to get this case finished. Weare planning to do a plate sale in July  toj purchase taser upgrades for all of our officers.  IX. Mayor's Report. We received $387.46 through Debt Setoff for April. Public Works employee John Raines celebrated a birthday this month. Alderman Smith had two aunts pass away this month, our thoughts and prayers go out to his family. Next Board of Alderman meeting will bel held on June 7th at 8 p.m. in the. Jimmie L. Morris Boardroom. Next Recycling day willl be on May 27th. There will be a Community Gospel Concert held on. June 5th at5 5 p.m. in the lot beside Kite's Supermarket. Anyone wishing to sing should sign up with Marie Davis at 252-671-7378, deadline to signup is May 7th. The Water and Wastewater. Plant Tours were very informative, thanks to Vernon and his staff for keeping our plants up to State standards. Thanks to ChiefJ Jenkins, Alderman Cannon and Alderman McMillen for their work at thel library with the bushes. The Town of Vanceboro sign at the Highway 17 end of town has been cleaned up. We have a new Public Works employee, Chris Edwards. He brings knowledge of mechanical and cement work to this position, which should be beneficial to the town. Our budget workshop will begin May 10" at 6:30 p.m. NC House Representative Keith Kidwell is still planning to get our Town some money included in the State budget. Iattended the resource fair at the VFW, it was well put together. Mr. Greg Singleton organized the event, the president of Craven Community College as well as some of the Craven County Commissioners were present at the event. The Town Hall will be closed on May 31" in observance of Memorial Day. West Craven High School will have National Honor Society students doing cleaning throughout town over the next few weeks. We have now included links on our town website to include our local businesses. Please support our small businesses throughout town. We have repaired the driveway on Farm Life. Avenue from the water leak. Wel have also completed the concrete on Mill Road. The property on Howell Street, located by the Tabernacle Parsonage has been purchased and the individual is planning to build on the property. Elk Park houses should be moving forward in the near future.  X. Alderman Reports.  Alderman McMillen stated that he and the Town Clerk had composed a thank you letter for our businesses in' Town. We would like feedback from our business owners on how to Alderman Jones wanted to find out if the Cemetery Commission or the Lawyer had given  improve businesses along Main Street.  us any feedback on acquiring columbarium's for our Town Cemeteries.  Alderman Smith had no comment. year election to save the' Town money.  Alderman Belrose asked if the. Alderman were interested in switching our election to even Alderman Cannon stated that the Vanceboro Strawberry Festival will be held on October 2"d, ity will be one day only this year. Wewill still have bbq/chicken plate sale by thel local VFW Post. There will be children's activities at the event. The library board held their meeting on April 27th. They used the donation from the Town to purchase books and new  Meeting Minutes  May 3,2021    programs. Weyerhauser has also donated money to the library. They are making improvement to the front of the library. Plants have been donated by White's Farm to the library. The Friends of thel library project has raised $550. Thank you to all who have shown support of our local library. The library has received its 501C Status from the IRS. May 8h they will have a Story walk from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the lot beside Kite's. Snowie Time, Police Department, Vanceboro United Methodist Church and Holly  Hill Church will be there to provide things to do with the children.  XI. Public Comment.  Hudson Jordan - 704 College Street stated that he has had two issues with sewer backing up and wanted to know the reason. Craven County Sheriff's Office also told Hudson that they had handed the dog case back over to the Police Department. Ihaven'theard  anything regarding the rooster situation.  XII. Adjournment.  There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:13 p.m. Ihereby certify that the above is true and accurate record ofs said minutes.  OodEBu  Bwuly-Dale  CHAD E. BRAXTON MAYOR  BEVERLY W. DRAKE TOWN CLERK  Meeting Minutes  May 3, 2021