Meeting minutes OF THE REIDSVILLE CITY COUNCIL Date: Time: Facilitator: February 12, 5:00 PM Vickie Nail, Mayor 2024 Council in Approval of minutes attendance Donald Prestage These minutes are a draft and are Lindsay Bennett not approved until March 11, 2024 Carolyn Blackshear Doug Williams Verdie Williams Nivea Jackson- City Clerk Duann Davis- City Attorney The Council was greeted by a welcome from Mayor Vickie Nail. Councilwoman C. Blackshear gave a word of prayer and the meeting congregants recited the Pledge of Allegiance in unison. Before the Mayor gave the floor to the first Guest Speaker, she introduced the new Administrative office intern. Lillyana Vazquez is a Tattnall High School Junior states Mayor Nail. Vazquez is a bilingual student who works at City Hall daily from 12pm-5pm daily. Mayor Nail is hoping that bringing Ms. Vazquez aboard will help City Hall and Spanish speaking citizens communicate more effectively. Council has agreed to meet all new hires. Vazquez is in her second week and she is checking out customers and updating the website among other duties. *GUEST SPEAKER: CARL HOFSTADTER Carl Hofstadter was the guest speaker. Mr. Hofstadter just wanted to come and let the Council know that his firm is always on call for the City and is actively working on LMIG, CDBG, USDA, and several local projects. As the chosen City engineer, Hofstadter wants to let the City know he is available if needed. Mayor Nail informs Council that if they have reviewed the Minutes, she would entertain a motion to approve last month's minutes which included the Organizational and the Regular January minutes. Councilwoman Blackshear offers the motion for the Organizational Meeting minutes: Motion by: C. Blackshear 2nd by: Verdie Williams Motion: Caries unanimously Verdie Williams makes a motion to accept the January Regular Meeting minutes. Motion by: Verdie Williams 2nd by: C. Blackshear Motion: Carries unanimously DEPARTMENT REPORTS: Fire Department: (Sydney Clifton)-No discrepancies. Stats provided. Police Departmentrrey Neesmith)-No discrepancies. Stats provided. Officer Education Agreement introduced to Council by NeeSmith. (HANDOUT PROVIDED TO COUNCIL). The agreement will bind new officers who are sent to training to hire and agree to stay two years to recompensate the City for upfront training. This is to deter Officers from terminating right after graduation from the Academy at the City's expense. Water'sewer-Rodne? Deloach)-Stats provided. Mayor notes the County is giving the City some generators to be used at lift stations just in case of emergency. Recreation Department- (D. Renfroe) = The basketball season is complete. There were 90 participants with All Stars beginning. Spring sports registration is coming in the next week. Ethics Committee- No report made. Administration-Mayor Nail is informing the Council she has received an application of a good candidate. She is still completing the background screening on the individual. Nivea Jackson announces a job hiring event that would be located at City Hall for the new Hyandai plant in Metter, Georgia. Downtown Development Authority (Kimberly Poulos)-The DDA has been restructured and has new members and has submitted names. Nathaniel Joyce, Bea Griffin, Jonathan Chesero, and Stacey Coley have been added. The DDA will try to compile small manageable projects. Their desire is to apply for grants to get funding to help downtown businesses with lighting and visual upkeep. The DDA meets the 3rd Wednesday of every month. Donald Prestage makes a motion to accept all new DDA members. Motion by: Donald Prestage 2nd by: Doug Williams Motion: Carries unanimously Surrency Atkins Playground (Earnest Armstrong)- SAP raised $3k over the last 3 years and is still trying to get bathroom facilities done. The SAP members are discouraged because of the slow movement on constructing the bathrooms. Armstrong says that raising funds for the park is hard because when the park is rented, renters are required to have $1Million in insurance. Armstrong feels that parents shouldn't be required to secure $1 million in insurance for a child's birthday party. Taxpayers pay into the park and then are required to pay extra to use the park where there are no bathrooms. Councilwoman Williams adds that she and the Mayor are in discussion about creating a budget for that playground. The Mayor adds that there is grant funding coming very soon that will help the park's efforts. OLD BUSINESS Dilapidated Property-Attorney Davis has been requested by the Mayor to send blight letters to both homeowners and businesses who has not fixed up their properties. The Mayor is oroposing to have Council vote on a blight tax in the future for businesses in the community that allow their businesses to remain empty due to them not fixing them up or the buildings not being leased due to buildings not being suitable for business. Owners would be taxed for empty or blighted buildings. Brandon Parker Build Site- Parker has requested that the City participate in a grant program that would help the City provide services such as fire hydrants, streets, landscaping, and plumbing. Brandon Parker has presented a packet to the Zoning board for consideration and recommendation to the Council. Casey Harrison who is partnering Mr. Parker who came to answer any questions from the Council and audience. Councilman Prestage is asking the builders to consider how many homes and the access points for that neighborhood. Prestage says 27 homes seems a lot for the neighborhood which is currently small. Harrison states that Rabun street has 27 homes on it currently. Nick Overstreet informs the City that the City would have a grant match but answers Councilwoman Williams' question by stating that Rodney's work can be considered at matching funds if the City didn't or want to use a monetary match. Alcohol Permits/Ordinance-Duann Davis is providing the introduction to Council by reading a copy of the revised alcohol ordinance to code 4-30 subject 12. A second reading, and a vote by Council will be required to make the amendment definite. This ordinance will allow the City to charge applicants for background investigation, hours of sale restrictions, and administration of licensing. Water Initiative-The Mayor has began the administration of the City receiving trucks of clean water. The City will be compensated for each load and the monies will support the Water Sewer Dept. Carl Hofstadter agrees that this is a money making initiative for the City and other City's earn up to $15k per month. Donald Prestage wants to know what the City stands to gain or what the price per gallon would be. Carolyn Blackshear offers a motion to allow for the Water Initiative to bring and the City to receive the clean water if the contract is checked by Davis. Hofstadter advises that the program is great but he would add that the City reserves the right to discontinue at anytime. Motion by: Carolyn Blackshear 2nd by: Doug Williams Motion: Carries Carolyn Blackshear makes a motion to enter into Executive Session at 6:25pm Ku Twaz shelay