City of Reidsville City Council Meeting Monday January 11, 2021 Draft Copy- Not approved by Council until February 8. 2021 The regularly scheduled meeting of the Reidsville City Council was held on Monday January 11th, 2020 at 5:00 pm. Members of Council present: Jim Waters- Mayor Carolyn Crume- Blackshear Bruce Conner Verdie Williams City Attorney DuAnn Cowart-Davis was present. The meeting was brought to order by Mayor Jim Waters at 5:00 pm. The prayer was given by Council Member Bruce Conner, followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The Mayor began the meeting by pleading for the Council to appoint a Council member to finish his term and maintaining the quorum. Councilman Bruce Conner nominated Tammy Bland who was not in attendance. He explained that she was local to Reidsville and also owned and ran successfully a small business in town. Councilwoman Carolyn Blackshear nominated Doug Williams. She acknowledged that he was a former Council member and needed no training and also was still very active in the community. Each Council member was given time to consider and ultimately raised a motion to advance Mr. Williams forward. Motion made by: Carolyn Crume-Blackshear 2nd by: Bruce Conner Vote: Approved-Unanimous Mr. Doug Williams was sworn in by the Mayor, Jim Waters, and will remain in the seat until it's expiration in December 2021. Duann Cowart-Davis explained that Council needed that seat filled because the current Mayor cannot vote unless he: is breaking a tie. Elections may find the Council needing that seat filled to continue business as usual. Appointments of Department heads are as follows: Fire Department-Verdie Williams Public Works/Street & Lane- Bruce Conner Administration-Carolyn Crume-Blackshear Police/Parks and Recreation- Doug Williams Reidsville Housing Authority was also present to gain vote on appointments of their board. It was decided to allow a resident to be on the board in the hopes that they could be a voice for all other residents. This seat was vacated by Brad Anderson who is now Coroner. All other board members would remain. The Mayor advised the meeting minutes from last month's meeting were provided to the Council for review. If there are no questions and/or corrections recommended, a motion is needed to accept as written. A motion was made to accept the minutes as written. Motion made by: Bruce Conner 2nd by: Carolyn Crume-Blackshear Vote: Approved - Unanimous The Department Supervisors were asked to present their monthly activity/statistics to the Council. Jimmy Brown presented for the Fire Department, Michael Jarrell presented the Police's monthly report, Rodney Deloach gave the reports for the Water Dept and Street and Lane. The Mayor requested that the Fire Chief advise at the meetings going forward, to be informed ofhow many calls at Optim Hospital that our Fire Dept is responding to. Mrs. Verdie asked to be updated monthly on the progression of the sale of the old fire truck and to know if we had any interested buyers. The Mayor also asked about the cost to fix the fire hydrants that were leaking and mentioned in last months meeting. The fire Chief advised that he had secured a bid from a local entity who also worked for the dept as a volunteer. He estimates the cost could be around $36,000 to repair all five. He was concerned ifhaving someone local do the job might be a conflict of interest. Rodney from Public Works knew of a company called Georgia Hydrant who estimates the cost being around $9500 per hydrant to repair. The highlight of this repair is that the City would not have to shut down any water in the City for the repairs. The two department heads were advised to secure a third bid and meet to decide the best, most cost effective approach to repairing the hydrants by next meeting. The issue is tabled until then. Rodney Deloach updated the Council about the activities in his dept. Highlights were limbs. Currently the City is disposing of2 loads per week averaging $2000/ month in costs. This will need to be addressed in the new budget for the coming year as it was not budgeted. Michael Jarrell gave the report for the PD. He advised that were still 1 Officer short and wanted to cast a wider net for candidates in surrounding counties newspapers. The Mayor said they would discuss incentives to help with recruiting a new Officer. The meeting was interjected with the arrival ofMr. Jimmy Burns. Mr. Burns was invited to speak before the Council concerning the dilapidated property, he owns on Main St. specifically, in reference to the burned mobile home behind his caving business. This topic has been on the agenda for several months awaiting word from the insurance company. Mr. Burns is facing possible fines for not removing the remnants of the mobile home. Mr. Burns was asked for an update. He stated that he had been in touch with the insurance company on today's date and nothing had been resolved as ofy yet. The Mayor inquired if Mr. Burn's insurance company was aware that the City has requested that the mobile home be removed and the area cleaned up from being such an eyesore on one oft the main streets in this City. He responded that they knew, yet, no settlement had been reached. It was asked if Mr. Burns would allow the City attorney to contact the carrier and express that Mr. Burns had been mandated to remove the structure. Mr. Burns declined to allow the City attorney to inquire on his behalf for settlement or settlement details. Each Council member expressed to Mr. Burns, their concern for Public Safety, and the beautification of the City. It was also expressed that others in the community were given the same mandate and complied. Mr. Burns, who owns several properties was refusing to comply. Mr. Burns expressed that he believed ifhe began cleaning up the property, it would thwart any settlement with the insurance company. The Council expressed to Mr. Burns that they would ultimately make a decision and have the Police Chief or City Attorney make further contact with him. Duann Cowart-Davis asked ifMr. Burns had legal representation on his case. He replied that he did not and that this case has been pending for more than a year, but less than two. Next on the agenda was the 2020(CY) close out. Nivea Jackson, City Clerk, gave a report that W-2's were still pending. Change out was complete on December 31, 2020. The new calendar year had began successfully. Under Old Business, the spray field lease was the next item on the agenda. City Attorney DuAnn Cowart-Davis had provided Council Members with a copy of a Resolution to Re-bid Contract. The opening for new bid offers would be advertised in the paper after the next Council Meeting. The next item for discussion was the new City judge. Jack Downie, was expected, but had a conflict and could not come and introduce himself to Council. The Council has requested to meet all new employees no matter their role in the City, personally. The next topic is the water sewer rates. The rates were adopted but a slight amendment had to be made after the rates went to print. The new rates would run in the paper for an additional two weeks to inform all of the citizens accurately. The last item under the old agenda is the Alexander hotel. Duann Davis advised she had one member under the old Incorporation that she was trying to make contact with to secure a quit- claim deed to bring the deed over. This topic is tabled until the deed can be resolved by attorney. The Council asked Mrs. Davis had she spoken with anyone from the elections board concerning the dates for the Special Election for March 16th 2021. These dates were given by the Elections Board from the Secretary of State. Qualifying will be held on January 20-22nd at the City Hall. Nivea Jackson will be qualifying the official. Bruce Conner expressed wanting to help Team Reidsville who handles the beautification of the downtown area with a donation of $2000 to help with costs. Mr. Conner will oversee the donation. Motion made by: Bruce Conner 2nd by: Verdie Williams It was also mentioned that the City's current email vendor 1+1 was being billed to and paid monthly by Mayor Clifton on his personal credit card The City finance committee would take care of removing the account to a City funded account. This would be accomplished by merging some of the existing accounts. The City would need to rectify this as Mr. Clifton was no longer in his role. Email being down would cause a work stoppage With no further business to discuss a motion was made to adjourn this meeting at 6:02 pm. Motion made by: Bruce Conner 2nd by: Verdie Williams Vote: Approved- Unanimous