Town of Pennington Gap Council Meeting Public Hearing-Police Fines August 26,2024  Record of attendance: Mayor: Council:  6:00PM  Larry Holbrook Doug Alsup Jeff Martin-by phone Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy' Warner Keith Harless Brian Skidmore Tina Rowe Karen Maggard Greg Edwards Matt Lawson Rick Watson  Town Manager: Assistant Manager: Town Treasurer: Town Clerk: Town Attorney: Police Chief: Powell' Valley News: Citizens:  Sabrina Woodard-Hass, Mrs. Ruby Woodard Greg Parks and Greg Parks (Jr) Megan Kennedy and Michelle Lawson  1. Mayor Holbrook called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM and opened the Public Hearing. 3. Agenda- Terry Pope made al Motion to approve the agenda with the addition of citizens speaking, 6a-Woodard, 6b-Kennedy and 6c-Parks. Gary McElyea seconded the Motion. Roll call  2. Prayer & Pledge of Allegiance- Tina  vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  4. Approval of Minutes- Doug Alsup made al Motion to approve the minutes of. July 15. Also, August 8 with a correction on item 4, "Motion to fund the purchase of Property A". Jimmy  Warner seconded the Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  5. Pay bills- Larry Holbrook made al Motion to pay the bills as presented. Gary McElyea seconded  the Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup  Aye  1    Town of Pennington Gap Council Meeting Public Hearing-Police Fines August 26, 2024 Larry' Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy' Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  6. Citizen's Recognitions-  a) Sabrina' Woodard-Hass expressed concerns forH her mother's! home and property on! N Main! Street, that across the roadi is al burned-out house (Olinger) which has wild animals in the overgrown vegetation, mowed down weeds werel lefti in a pile, an uprooted tree from a recent storm, people ina and out at alll hours and shei feels it's an eyesore that needs condemned. Keith explained that some time last yeari it was turned over to the county buildingi inspector to begin that process. The inspector was supposed to consult the county attorney on proceeding and who the property belongs to. We can only mow and clean the yard and attach tot thei tax debt which was paid the last time. b) Meghan Kennedy- returned toi talk about the chicken she owns and the complaint against it saying she now has it indoors. Greg explained that the ordinance does not c) Greg Parks- also addressed Council that hel hadi received al letter about his chickens  allowi fowl int town, regardless.  which hel has owned for 9 years and has had no complaints.  7. Unfinished business:  a) Terry Pope made al Motion to close the Public Hearing. Gary McElyea seconded the  Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  Terry made al Motion to accept the list of fines as Matt presented. Doug Alsup seconded  the Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy' Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  8. New! business: none  9. Monthly Reports: Monthly Reports - Water, Sewer, Treasurer, Public' Works, Police Dept., Fire  Dept. Lee Theatre, Parks & Recreation (reports in council packets).  2    Town of Pennington Gap Council Meeting Public Hearing-Police Fines August 26, 2024  10. Administrative Reports- Matt Lawson, Tina Rowe/Brian Skidmore/Keith Harless. a) Police Chief-Matt Lawson reported he has received paperwork for a new hire. Officer Evan Collins will graduate from the academy on the 29th. Matt has been testing cameras, one will read license plates and bei installed- at the park. 2 cameras ona a 10-year lease would run $10k. He will be selling 2 Explorers soon to help fund. Gary McElyea made al Motion to purchase the cameras. Terry Pope seconded the  Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry! Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy' Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  b) Treasurer- Tinal has received the PPTRA resolution information from the county. The relief will be 72.71% for 2024 personal tax. Terry Pope made al Motion to accept the PPTRA Resolution. Gary McElyea seconded the Motion. Roll call vote asi follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  She also handed out a proposed budget amendment which includes grant reimbursements and IDA1 transactions. Terry Pope made a Motion to have al Public Hearing for budget amendments at the next meeting on September 16th at 6:00 PM. Doug Alsup seconded the Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  Shei informed Council the office copier lease will expire soon and a new copier would be as savings of $17/month on thel lease.. Jimmy Warner made al Motion to update the copier and accept a new lease. Doug Alsups seconded the Motion. Roll call vote as  follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  3    Town of Pennington Gap Council Meeting Public Hearing- Police Fines August 26, 2024  c) Assistant Town Manager Report-Brian reported that 2 of 41 mowers are down, parts are hard to obtain. He has a quote of $12,397 for a new one and a quote of 5.41% interest from Farmers and Miners Bank with 36 payments. We currently mow 80 acres ati the park with 2 mowers, going non-stop weekly as weather permits. Jimmy' Warner made: a Motion to purchase the mower andi finance it with F&M. Gary McElyea seconded the  Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  He has applied for an 80/20 grant for a new ambulance which costs $400k new. We can refuse the grant if we cannot meet the 20% required as our portion. Asewer plant upgrade has been planned for several years now as we await final engineering reports from Lane Group expected in October. We are nowi in dire straits as the grit collector is completely down. It willt take six months to build. He would like to place an order so the build can start while wei take final bids on the installation, get the funding and then get reimbursed from the grant, which is approved awaiting thel Lane report. When we originally were approved, the cost was estimated at $500k, now expected to be $750k-1 million. The granti is $1.8 million. Terry Pope made al Motion for Tina to explore interest rates for purchase oft the grit collector. Gary McElyea seconded  the Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry! Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy' Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  Inc other items, the sewer pump isi installed att the pump station. Lead and copper survey and new meter installations are continuing. Water treatment plant did have ar raw river pump go down on a weekend, the controls went down requiring 2 new' VFDs and the Two new hires are goingt tot the VATech Short School preliminary to testing for licensure. We willl have Virginia Rural Water herei fort tutoring as it is part of our dues paid. We now have four seasonal workers and one full-time employee hired to help with backlog of d) Town Manager Report- Keith Harless' report is in the packet. He has found a new market investment program that Amy Byington is checking on. Hea also reported on the Hotel Conference he attended. At financial broker was found and some interested parties for development, two of which we are talking with currently. Also, searching for  controllers were reprogrammed this past Friday.  mowing.  ways to finance the road development to the hotel site.  4    Town of Pennington Gap Council Meeting Public Hearing-Police Fines August26,2024  11. Projects-  a) Multi-purpose facility/ Conference Center funding- Keith reported the Tobacco b) Industrial Revitalization Fund ARPA Grant-Balley-Robbins -1 the new front is up whichi is close to the original design. A change order is required for windows and doors since the originals cannot be used. This is a 7-week process. Water issues from the side street have delayed tiling and finishing the bathrooms. A drain tile, excavation next toi the building and waterproofing, then black topping the adjacent street to direct watert to Morgan Avenue are required: steps before completing the bathrooms. Terry Pope made al Motion to give Keith permission to negotiate the paving. Jeff Martin seconded the  Commission meets again in September.  Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy' Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  Wastewater Treatment Plant Repair Grants- DEQ/Lane- Brian covered in his report . WW pump station upgrade grant-DEQ/Lane d) Water Treatment Plant Structural Repair grant ii. WTP Telemetry Upgrade Grant-VDH/Mattern & Craig e) Water meter replacement Phase II- ongoing Lead and copper survey- ongoing  USDA/Mattern & Craig  12. Town Attorney-none 13. Council Member reports:  a) Terry Pope received a call from a citizen asking why we pay county tax. He madea Motion to: send a letter tot the Lee County Board of Supervisors asking fora at taxs split, which would help fund our EMS: serving citizens out of town, and1 to adjust town taxt to .49 and reduce county tax. Doug Alsup seconded the Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy' Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  5    Town of Pennington Gap Council Meeting Public Hearing-Police Fines August 26, 2024  b) Jeff Martin asked about what was being done to a certain property owner ons some of the properties not being maintained. Matt Lawson will send letters on the properties to  the owner.  14. Closed session- At 7:28 PM, Terry Poper made al Motion to go into executive session pursuant to; Discussion, consideration, ori interviews ofA prospective candidates fore employment; assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation ofs specific public officers, appointees, or employees of any public body; ande evaluation of performance of departments ors schools of publici institutions of higher education where such evaluation will necessarily involve discussion oft the performance ofs specifici individuals. $2.2-3711/A/3): Acquisition & disposition of property. Provides ane exemptionj for: Discussion or consideration of the acquisition ofr real property) for a public purpose, or of the disposition of publicly heldi real property, where discussion in an openr meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or Virginia Code: Section 2.2-3711/A/5) Discussion concerning a prospective business or industry ort the expansion ofo an existing business ori industry where nop previous announcement: has beenr made of the business' Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711/A)(6) Discussion or consideration of the investment of public funds where competition or bargaining isi involved, where, ifmade publici initially, the financial interest of the  $2.2-3711/A/(1): Personnel. Provides ane exemption for:  negotiating strategy of the public body.  ori industry's interesti in! locating or expanding its facilities in the community.  governmental unit would be adversely affected.  Larry Holbrook secondedi the Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy' Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  At 8:18 PM, Terry Pope made al Motion to reconvene to regular session. Jimmy Warner  seconded the Motion. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy' Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  Terry Pope made a statement to attest that nothing was discussed during closed session other  thant thei issues stated. Roll call vote as follows:  Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook Gary McElyea Terry Pope Jimmy Warner Jeff Martin  Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye Aye  6    Town of Pennington Gap Council Meeting Public Hearing-Police Fines August 26, 2024  15. Council Action- none was unanimous.  16. Jeff Martin made al Motion to adjourn the meeting. Larry Holbrook seconded the Motion. Vote  The meeting adjourned at 8:20 PM.  Cay HL MAYORLARR/HOIBHOOK  ATTEST: KAREN MAGGARD, CLERKO han  Myl  7        CERTIFICATION OF CLOSED SESSION  WHEREAS, the Council of the Town of] Pennington Gap, Virginia has convened closed session meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the  provisions ofThe Virginia Freedom ofInformation Act; and  WHEREAS, 2.2-3711 oft the Code of Virginia requires a certification by this Council of the Town of Pennington Gap, Virginia that such closed session was conducted in conformity  with Virginia law;  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Council oft the Town of] Pennington Gap, Virginia hereby certifies that, to the best ofeach member's knowledge, (i) only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia Law were discussed in closed session to which this certification resolution applies, and (ii) only such public business matters as were identified in the Motion convening the closed session were heard, discussed or considered by the Council of the Town of] Pennington Gap, Virginia.  VOTE: AYES:  Terry K. Pope Gary McElyea Doug Alsup Larry Holbrook JeffMartin Jimmy Warner  NAYS: (for each Nay vote the substance oft the departure from the requirements of the. Act  should be described) ABSENT DURING VOTE: ABSENT DURING CLOSED SESSION: MEETING DATE: August 26, 2024  Cay UL MAYORLAKRY W.HOLBROOK