The regular meeting of the Boydton Town Council was held on' Tuesday, April 9, 2024, beginning at 7:30 P.M., in the Town Hall Council Chambers with Mayor Christopher. D.  Starke presiding. THOSE PRESENT Christopher D. Starke, Mayor T.G.Gill, Vice Mayor W.H. Coleman Bill Thompson David M. Crowder (Absent) Paul "Ray" Cherry Mr. Ronny Worley Chief Nathan Bowen Rhita M. Burton, Deputy Clerk Shirley S. Bowen, MMC, Clerk-Treasurer  GUESTS  R.H. Park III, WWTP Chief Operator John P. Roberts, Maintenance Supervisor  Ron Sciamacco Karen Sciamacco Elena Adlof Lia Adlof  The Mayor, Christopher "Chris" Starke, welcomed the council and employees to tonight's monthly meeting and called the meeting to order. The Mayor led the pledge of allegiance to Mayor Starke requested a motion to approve the regular monthly minutes of] March 12, 2024, ifthere were no deletions, additions, or corrections. The Mayor advised Mrs. Bowen, Clerk of Council, of a clarification pertaining to a sentence/statement he made on page three (3) of the minutes, which read: If the town owned it, where we'd agreed upon, and we had an 0& M with them, the school board would come to us, if anything were to happen, and the County would still wind up paying for any maintenance or repairs." He advised; hel believed it should have read: "If the town owned it, should it be agreed upon, and we were to implement an 0&M with them, the school board would come to us, ifa anything were to happen, and the County would still wind up paying for any maintenance or repairs." Mrs. Bowen, replied that she'd note these changes. Councilman W.] H. Coleman moved to approve the minutes as submitted with this correction. Vice Mayor T. G. Gill seconded the motion, with all members The Mayor requested a motion to approve the bills, as presented, to be paid for the month of April 2024. Councilman Paul "Ray" Cherry moved to pay the bills for April 2024, as submitted, with Councilman Bill Thompson seconding the motion. All remaining  the flag, followed by an invocation.  voting in favor.  councilmen voted in favor.  Chief Bowen gave his monthly activity report from March 15th,2024 thru April gth, 2024. His report included four (4) traffic stops, no (0) traffic citations, five (5) calls for service, one (1) theft case closed at the Boydton Library, one (1) case opened and under investigation ofa breaking and entering involving fire arms, multiple business checks, daily patrols throughout the neighborhoods, and a continuation of monitoring traffic and activity at the end of Washington Street. Chief Bowen asked ift there were any comments. Mayor Starke stated    on March 26th, he'd received an email from Rhita (Deputy Clerk) pertaining to al letter that was dropped off by a friend of a person around that same location in the Washington and Craddock Street area. He advised there were: no new complaints regarding the residents in that area, and he also stated he'd ridden by there and saw the person on the dirt bike, but no laws were being broken, nor was anyone violating any ordinance at that time. The Mayor expounded on this a bit more, but stated we'd continue to monitor the situation, and if anything happens outside of the town limits, it should be directed to the Sheriff's office. He also noted on that same day, he and Councilman Cherry received texts of appreciation from Mr. R. H. Park IIP's public works report for March 2024 from the Waste Water Treatment Plant was requested by Mayor Starke. Mr. Park III reported the following: 1.) Mr. R. H. Park III reported Boydton's! Department of Water, RRSA Meter Readings report of water pumped for March 2024, was 694,000 gallons of water purchased from 2.) The WWTP expansion had been moving along slowly last month due to all the rainfall. However, it's beginning to dry out and currently moving ahead at a good pace and the 3.) The LVL North (permanent lift Station) on Ridge Road will go "online" this Saturday and the temporary lift station would be coming "offline." The permanent lift station has been substantially completed; however, the punch list has to be completed before the entire system would bei finished, online, and running. Councilman Coleman asked ifMicrosoft had agreed to his contract. Mr. Park III stated that was his next item. 4. Mr. Park II advised the council that the agreement was sent to our town attorney, Tessie Bacon, for her approval of things Microsoft took out, but she wants it back in the agreement. He continued by saying he would put that verbiage back in the contract and return it to Microsoft and see what happens from there. The Mayor asked "why" she was recommending putting the verbiage back in. Mr. Park III advised it was due to the restrictions and the costs falling back on us, rather than Microsoft and it was also a DEQ requirement. He said he was going toj puti it back in, as she originally wrote it, since she didn'trecommend us leaving that] language out, as it would protect the town later on, ifsubstances, such as, copper, lead, etc., goti into the water that Microsoft was sending us, and in turn, it could create a huge cost to the town. With this language being in the agreement, it would fall back on. Microsoft who would possibly have to modify the entire plant to take it out; thus, it's all ofthese type of problems wouldn'tfall back on the town. Also, we are going to take out the "rates" stated in the agreement when it was drawn up, in order for us to be able to change Councilman Coleman inquired ofl Mr. Park IlIifhe'd heard anything else from the School  other residents on what was being done in that area.  the RRSA and the DMR results being returned as satisfactory.  contractors were given a thirty (30) day extension due to the rains.  rates, without changing the agreement each time rates increased.    Board. He advised hel hadn't. Councilman Coleman requested that Mrs. Bowen, Clerk of Council, try to recoup all the minutes pertaining to the school discussions, in order to have The Mayor called upon Mr. Roberts for his monthly maintenance report for March 2024. 1.) Mr. Roberts reported that VDOT had come last week to repair the culvert on Jefferson 2.) He stated that sO far during the "Spring Cleanup" drive that wasi implemented, it has been beneficial to some residents, who asked for debris to be picked up, which amounted to two (2) dump truck loads, and they had repaired two (2) driveways. 3.) The playground slide, that was talked about last year, never got repaired due to the representative of the company never returning his call; therefore, since it imposes more of a danger to a child, he felt it best to take it down for the time being until he can Vice Mayor Gill asked if there were washer, dryers, and other types of home appliances that had been picked up. Mr. Roberts advised he'd only had something like wood debris, which possibly equaled five to six trash cans, and that was taken to the brush pile to burn. Also, he had checked into the cost of trash cans (with Rhita's help) that would fit and allow the garbage truck to pick up the cans where the guys wouldn'thave to lift the cans themselves. He stated the company he contacted sells a sixty-four-gallon trash can for $50.75 each with our town's name stamped on them, which would amount to $5,075.00 for al hundred of them and with shipping it would be $6,073.43. Councilman Coleman asked how many stops he had now. He replied, "I'd guess approximately two hundred (200) stops." Mr. Roberts stated he was requesting these trashcans for people who don'thave them or their trashcans are in pretty bad shape, along with the compatibility of this type trashcan working with our truck, so the guys don't have to load the cans themselves into the truck. The Mayor interjected by saying more: information would be given during budget planning. He said Johnny and hel had spoken tonight, prior to the meeting about this; however, this discussion could be tabled until our budget meeting, asi it was only a recommendation. Mrs. Bowen, when asked by Council- man W. H. Coleman, confirmed the first budget meeting was scheduled for next Tuesday, April 23rd at 5:30 P.M. Councilman Cherry asked if we would have some type of user agreement with the residents upon the town furnishing these trashcans. Mayor Starke stated that would be incorporated into the brief with the budget plan, as well. He further stated that wej just don't! have it completely packaged tonight to give all the information of what that  them on hand, when they come to meet with us again.  Street that was collapsing.  find some help with obtaining a new one.  would look like. Old) Business:  Mayor Starke stated he didn't have any old business for tonight's meeting when the packets went out, but he was contacted today by a lady on Finch Lane with old business. He wanted to make the council aware, although he knew they were aware" of thei initial incident that happened in January of 2021; hel had read the minutes, listened to the tape, talked to the Chief to verify the statute of] limitations, to insure there was nothing that would fall back to the town and he would notify her that there'sn nothing there. The Mayor stated he felt it was more ofa personal issue, since it was his understanding that she'd already been reimbursed for her car.    New Business:  The Mayor stated there was no new business at this time.  Mayor's comments:  1. Mayor Starke distributed a drawing of the newly created mural that we all were very excited about. Councilman Coleman stated he and his brother, Gene, would power wash the building in town, as was requested by' Tina Morgan for someone to do this in each ofthe six (6) towns. Councilman Ronny Worley moved to accept this new mural for the town, with Councilman Bill' Thompson seconding the motion. All remaining 2. The Mayor advised he'd reached out to the Chief Operations Officer with PATHS in Danville regarding re-opening the fitness center here in Boydton. He told him they had to first have a 24-hour access and new doors installed. Since they are a non-profit organization, they have to get three (3) estimates and have only received one. We've reached out to other companies who could do this for them, as well as, provided and presented those to them. They also asked ifv wel had any other ideas and if so, they would be willing to entertain them. Since they are a non-profit organization, they asked ifv we had any residents who would like to volunteer to "man" the entryway. He stated he'd spoken to Will Coleman to schedule a meeting to go over and see the layout of the building, since he'd never seen the inside and they also discussed the idea of someone (outside ofl PATHS) leasing that space. A meeting would be scheduled soon to discuss all this and present it to the COO at PATHS, with hopes to move: forward very soon. 3. In reference to the School Street property (the Stolarz development) the planning commission plans to meet on Monday, April 15th at 6:30 P.M. The. Mayor asked Andrea Baxter, the new Chairman of the Planning Commission, to brief the council on what they will be discussing regarding rezoning this property for development. Prior to responding, Councilman Coleman asked ift this meeting was to be advertised. Mrs. Bowen replied, No, not at this initial meeting, since the members are unfamiliar with our zoning laws and need to discuss it among themselves first." She also stated a meeting would have to be planned with a joint public hearing regarding this request. It would be advertised twice in a local newspaper for two (2) weeks and the 3rd week, the Joint Public Hearing could be held. Mrs. Baxter agreed that the planning commission wanted to meet first, to acquaint themselves with all the rules and regulations pertaining to this type of zoning request since they felt it was imperative to make sure 4. The Mayor gave a briefing on a meeting that was held with he, Mr. Roberts, and Mr. Park III concerning needs of the town from VDOT. After that meeting, he stated Johnny and he had met with two (2) VDOT representatives to discuss a lot of what's happening in the town. The Stolarz property possibly needs a commercial entrance and arun-off retention area and those things have not been addressed, as yet, to VDOT; therefore, they are not aware of this, since it's all in the preliminary stages. VDOT  members voted in favor.  everything was done correctly for this large project.    would have to receive those requests, do a site visit, and give their approval before any of those decisions can be made. It's not going tol be a quick process, but we will make it as timely as possible, and as always, keep the council updated. We primarily discussed with VDOT the cleaning and grading of the ditch lines and culverts to make sure they are working properly and we also, addressed some specific areas in town that need attention. VDOT agreed that the town had not been serviced in quite some time and one of the biggest reasons is that when work is being done in any town limits, they get a lot of complaints from the residents while they are working. Mayor Starke noted that he wants to make sure the residents are aware of what's going to be taking place prior to this work being done and it could be starting as early as this summer. The culvert pipe on Carter Lane was also discussed and it was stated by the VDOT rep that he thought work was done on that about twelve (12)years ago and he took pictures to take back with him and would check on this; however, it belongs to VDOT since it'sa "bridge type" structure. The entire area at Carter Lane behind the Firel Department had been being studied for about twenty (20) years and the VDOT rep agreed, it was time to stop studying this area and do something about it. The culvert repair at Jones and Decatur Streets that Johnny spoke about, was where a piece of the fire apparatus broke off. They talked about putting in a drop-box there to Iet the water flow in and disburse into the culvert, and then put marker signs there. The areas at Madison Street at the cemetery (just past the Dollar General) where it holds water, is part of grading and clearing of the ditch lines. Also, repaving ofs streets, and replacing culverts, etc. are in the plans, but obviously some of this will be mid to long term planning, but they did agree that these areas need to be done. Drainage work and ditch clearing on Washing- ton Street will be done in conjunction with the work being done on Phillis Road and from Washington Street out, will be repaved this calendar year. They are looking, too, at the bridge over Coleman Creek, with the design and public comments scheduled for calendar year 2025. This project has been prolonged, since they would have to detour the traffic on that route, go through thel bidding process, which is projected to be the first quarter of 2025, with thej project completion being within the next 3-5-year range. The traffic study would put in the counter boxes through the entrances into town. There is already one permanent traffic counter on Highway 58, at the old railroad, which is currently showing over a two-day period, approximately 3500 vehicles per day. These numbers would be critical for future planning and development. Thel Madison & Washington Street intersection, which has been discussed, was not in the VDOT plan, but said the Mayor said he could ask them again. Their two recommendations were to make a four-way stop, or push back some of the parking areas that would eliminate some necessary parking spaces. Councilman Coleman stated it wasn't a problem pulling out that cause's accidents, it is the fact that people are not stopping at all and he didn't think this would in any way. help the problem. Mayor Starke replied he'd accept any recommendations to be considered by VDOT. The Mayor stated that sidewalks directly in the right-of-way were owned by VDOT and those that weren't, where the sidewalks were done by the owner, VDOT does not have a requirement to maintain. A study would be done with the individuals to see it could be determined ifitl belonged to them or the resident and he'd report back to the Mayor. As for a Verizon and Xfinity update, the Mayor advised he'd not contacted them as yet about the poles, brought up at the last meeting by Councilman Coleman; however, he'd spoken to them about the line down at the ballpark and when he hears their response, he'd speak to them    regarding the poles. He found out that the line that was down, didn't belong to Verizon, itb belongs to Xfinity and he'd turned in a work order and would be following up with both of them this week, in reference to both these concerns. Regarding the Hazardous Mitigation Plan, they will have their first meeting for a basic emergency plan in the area and learn how all of us will fit together in the plan. Lastly, he reminded the council of Mrs. Mildred Winn's recognition ceremony, planned for Saturday, April 20th, at 2:00 P.M. on the Courthouse lawn with the town presenting her with a certificate of recogni- tion, along with a bronze key placed inside the frame as giving her a' "key" to the town. Mayor Starke advised this concluded his comments, unless someone else had other remarks. Mrs. Bowen, Clerk of Council, made the council aware ofl Mr. David Blue, of H.G. Reynolds, Inc. out ofl Henderson, NC, had stopped in earlier to notify us that he'd been awarded the contract to begin work on the expansion of the Goode building and picked up a zoning permit. The Mayor opened the floor for public comments. Since there were: none, the Mayor advised the town council would be moving into a closed session where the audience could return upon Councilman Worley moved that the' Town Council hold a closed meeting to discuss the following, as permitted by the Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A)(6) for the purpose of discussion or consideration of the investment of public funds where competition or bargaining is involved, where if made public initially, the financial interest of the government unit would be adversely The executive session being closed, the meeting was reconvened into open session. Councilman Ronny Worley moved that the Boydton Town Council certify that, in the closed meeting. just concluded, that nothing was discussed except the matters (1) specifically identified in the motion to convene in a closed meeting and (2) lawfully permitted to be sO discussed under the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act citied in that motion.  The family will have refreshments at the Boyd Tavern afterwards.  reconvening, if they sO desired.  affected.  The motion was passed by a roll call vote as follows:  Ronald C. Worley Aye Paul "Ray" Cherry Aye  W. H. Coleman Aye Bill Thompson Aye  David M. Crowder Absent  T.G.Gill  Aye  Upon reconvening, no motions were made regarding the subject matter of the closed session. There being no further comments or concerns, Councilman Ronny C. Worley moved to adjourn the meeting with Councilman Bill Thompson seconding the motion. All members  voted in favor. The time ofadjournment was recorded at 9:00 P.M.  Shirley S. Bowen, MMC Clerk of Council April 9, 2024  Christopher D. Starke Mayor