Town of Walnut Cove Board of Commissioners Meeting September 12, 2023 Regular Meeting Minutes  Members Present: Nellie Brown - Mayor Joe Bennett - Commissioner Danny Hairston - Commissioner Elwood Mabe - Commissioner Thomas Mitchell - Commissioner Amanda Bryant - Town Clerk Brandi Bowman - Office Manager Ann Rowe - Town Attorney  1. 2. 3. 4. a) b) c) d) e) f) g)  MEETING CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Brown called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.  INVOCATION: Commissioner Bennett PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE- ANNOUNCEMENTS: Walnut Cove Fire Dept. Cove Public Library.  Walnut Cove Volunteer Fire Dept. monthly meeting, Thursday Oct. 5, 2023, at 7:00 pm. Walnut Cove Planning/Zoning Board Meeting, Thursday Oct. 5, 2023, 6:30pm at Walnut Walnut Cove Board of Commissioners monthly meeting, Tuesday, October 10, 2023, at Cove Group meeting. Tuesday, Oct. 3rd, 2023, at 6:30 pm. at the Walnut Cove Library.  7:00 pm at the Walnut Cove Senior Center. Recycle - September 15, September 29, 2023 Fall Fest, September 16, from 2pm to 7pm. Fall clean up begins: September 18-September 29, 2023  Town Clerk, Bryant said that speaking from the Town Manager, he is doing well and is very appreciative of all the prayers and concerns. Hel hopes to be back at work very Mayor Brown would like to introduce the new! Stokes News Editor. Her name is Terri Flagg and she said she wants to get caught up on everything that's been going on.  soon.    Old Business- 7(b) London Park Bid approval, Town Clerk Bryant spoke to Alex who is the Architect for that project, and we must go by State guidelines for the bidding process and as of last Friday we have not received all the bids for mechanical & plumbing, so he has asked for this to be tabled until the month of October for the October meeting. Neighborhood access and Equity Grant, Carlos Carter, from PTRC, they did the Greenway study. The NC Department of safety, the BRIC Grant, covers flood control waters. The KNA contracting invoice- we have gone through everything to try and get the eight- million-dollar grant. One man is holding up progress. (Mark Hubbard) There are emails going back and forth with John Akers (Dewberry) and Mark Hubbard with DEQ.  The tractor Grapple Arm  9.  Closed Session- personnel, contract for the ABC Board. We're in that fine line. Attorney Rowe- leave the closed session as it appears on the current agenda, we'll leave A motion was made by Commissioner Bennett to accept the agenda asi it's written. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hairston. Motion carried unanimously.  that and add personnel as well.  Public Comments- None Consent Agenda-  a. Approval of Minutes from August 8, 2023, regular meeting.  Ar motion was made by Commissioner Hairston to approve the minutes from the August meeting. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bennett. The motion Ar motion was made by Commissioner Bennett to consent to the agenda. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hairston. The motion carried unanimously.  carried unanimously.  Old Business-  a. Palmetto Theatre- Durward Bennett has presented a tentative schedule for the movies to be played at the Theatre for the children that the Town of Walnut Cove has agreed to sponsor. Second Sunday and the third Friday of each month. We would like to show movies that are oriented to the holidays. Mr. Bennett also wanted to tell everyone that they had a show on Friday September 15, 2023, Taylor Vaden show and it was sold-out. Durward and son Michael were eating at Olympic and there were twelve people eating there that were coming to the show and twenty people were eating at The Milk Bar and    he heard that several people were eating at Sams Pizza that were all coming to the show. These people spent their money at restaurants in Town before coming to the Theatre.  We just want to make sure everyone knows this. b. London Park Bid- Tabled until October Meeting Add to the agenda ABC board merger.  d. Chief Brian Booe- Recap we have been working with the City of King on the merger and on August 7, 2023 they approved the merger agreement with the changes that is Board approved. They did not agree to any assets. They are looking at some properties to put a new ABC: store. They are noti int favor of using the old Police Department because It'si in bad shape. It will be discussed further. The City of King could offer $200,000 for start up funds. There is a commercial building they have provided information on. ABC board will have to vote on this as well as establish a new ABC board in King. The money will Ar motion was made by Commissioner Hairston to move forward to continue discussion on the ABC merger. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Mitchell.  stay in Stokes County.  The motion carried unanimously.  New Business-  Fire Limits Ordinance- This is a revised ordinance for Fire limits in Town. The first set a) ofproposed plans will not pass, and these have been resubmitted for review. This can be put on the agenda to vote on for a Public Hearing which is required for Amotion was made by Commissioner Hairston to vote on advertising for a public hearing. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bennett. The motion carried b) Constitution Proclamation- attachment E Constitution week. September 17th. Mrs. Janelle. Johnson, with the daughters of the American Revolution. We are recognizing the week of September 17th as constitution week honoring our Constitution. Amotion was made by Commissioner Bennett to approve the recognition of the Constitution on September 17. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hairston. c) Attachment F- current cash balance as ofJ June 30, 2023. Finance report for the entire fiscal year. We ended the fiscal year strong. Our fund balance is still high. We have the audit scheduled for September 26 and 27th. All our accounts are balanced, and We are waiting on Withers Ravanel to finish up our water mapping grant. When that grant is completed, we will be able to go in and create a capitol improvement plan  any Ordinance change.  unanimously.  The motion passed unanimously.  we are ready for our auditor's review.    for our water lines. For example, the asbestos lines on' Windmill St. This is our The water/sewer admin building account was opened for the anticipated eight- million-dollar grant that we received for our new building, and we are just waiting on Fall cleanup is coming up and we don't plan on more than $12,000 and we are The Beehive system is on hold due to water mapping not being completed. Hopefully this will be done by November 2023. The sewer maps have already been entered into Beehive. There willl be a GIS file created to be able to access the Laserfishe System which is our document management program. We are in the d) 1.Beautification project- street sweeping is an option for the town to use for beautification. This can be done Biannual (spring & fall). The cost is $450.00 per 2. Water tanks- Update the water tank exterior on all three water tanks. The cost would be around $25,000 and this money would come from Capital Investment. 3.Pedestrian crossing- Create and install Pedestrian crossing at Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Streets. This would include solar powered signs to assist. The cost ofthe project would be $12,175.00. Funding would come from Powell Bill. 4. Updated Main St. banners- Replace 25 banners and some brackets and the funding would come from Capital Investment costing $25,000. Commissioner Mitchell stated a specific area that would need a crossing sign and that would be at Third St. near El Cabo. A lot of foot traffic is right there. e) PTRC: study on the Greenway. We need to show the Boards support for the grant. Ar motion was made by Commissioner Mitchell to move forward on the Grant for the Greenway. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bennett. The motion BRIC Grant- this grant covers flood control waters. Because of the Towns size, we Amotion was made by Commissioner Bennett to go forward with the BRIC Grant. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Mitchell. The motion carried  capital improvement plan, and that is 1,5, and 10 years.  that right now.  thinking closer to $8000.00 to $10,000 which is typical.  system.  process of scanning and are only able to very few at a time.  sweep. The funding source would be from Powell Bill.  carried unanimously.  would not have to match monies.  unanimously.    g) KNA Contracting invoice- we have gone through everything and every chain of command to get the eight-millon-dollar grant. One mani is holding up the progress. (Mark Hubbard). There are numerous emails back and forth with DEQ, Mark Hubbard, John Akers with Dewberry, and several of us at the office. We have been told that the General Assembly is meeting the week of 9-12-23. After speaking with the mayor and her contacting the Lt. Governor's office she put the Town Clerk in contact with Chrishanna Polite and there was a 30-minute conversation with her and over the timeline of what was going on and the process. Town Manager, Greenwood has sent letters to John Akers with Dewberry who is our engineer on call. We have had a three-week waiting period for being avoided by Mark Hubbard with DEQ. We have agreed to pay 7.1% for the building. Ms. Polite isn'thappy with how things are We have received an invoice from KNA for $48,380.00 and the line items in our budget have no money for where this can be paid from without moving funds from the fund balance to pay the invoice. We need the board's approval to do this. A motion was made by Commissioner Hairston to move $49,000 from the fund balance. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bennett. The motion carried h) Tractor Grapple arm from Riddle Tractor quote is $3852.00. The benefit of this piece of equipment is to help with fall clean-up, yard waste etc.. This will help with less damage to yards and the roads. We do have a line item for Equipment that this Amotion was made by Commissioner Hairston to approve the purchase of the Grapple arm. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Bennett. The motion Attorney Rowe commented that we do need to have the closed session that is on the agenda for a personnel matter, but the agenda also lists the ABC board contract, and she has looked it over and feels sure that this would be an open session matter.  going with this.  unanimously.  could come out of.  carried unanimously.  Closed session-Personne!  Amotion was made by Commissioner Bennet to go to closed session. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hairston. The motion carried unanimously. Commissioner Bennett made a motion to open from closed session with no action taken. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hairston. The motion carried  unanimously.    Please consider making a motion to further adjust the agenda to discuss the ABC A motion was made by Commissioner Bennett to make the ABC board open session. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hairston. The motion carried  board contract as part oft the open meeting.  unanimously.  Departmental report-  Fall clean up starting September 18-29, 2023 Audit September 26-27, 2023 Jason Farris, new Fire Marshal LPA- Net profit $13,000 training for all Board members. brush and limb pick up. Water mapping Grant  Planning/zoning and Code Enforcement- Coryi is in the process of scheduling Public Works has been very busy with numerous leaks, fall clean up coming and  Items of general concern-  Commissioner Bennett announced that this will be his last meeting and he is SO very thankful for the opportunity to serve the board. He said he enjoyed the mayor and all the Commissioners and especially Commissioner Hairston for  encouraging him on the Board.  Ar motion was made by Commissioner Mabe to adjourn the meeting. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Hairston. The motion carried  unanimously.  Blaudi Keuna Brandi Bowman, Office Manager 00.10,a083  Nellie Brown, Mayor Lho ID-1D-a023  Date  Date