Pagel I1 City of Reidsville City Council Meeting FILE Tuesday September 12, 2022 Draft Copy- Not approved by Council until November 14th. 2022 The regularly scheduled meeting of the Reidsville City Council was held on Tuesday September 12, 2022 Members of Council present: Carolyn Crume- Blackshear Lindsay Bennett Donald Prestage Doug Williams Verdie Williams City Attorney DuAnn Cowart-Davis was present. Nivea Jackson, City Clerk was present. The audience was welcomed by Mayor Curtis Colwell. Next, the attendees were led by Curtis Colwell in a word of prayer, followed by the pledge of allegiance which was done in unison by all. The mayor is letting the Council know that he would entertain a motion to adopt the minutes from the last meeting. Verdie Williams offers a motion to adopt the minutes from the last month' s meeting. Motion by: Verdie Williams 2nd by: Doug Williams Motion: Carried Unanimous Mayor Colwell is asking for Department Reports. The Fire Dept updates were given by Fire Chief Jimmy Brown. Stacey Wilds, Police Chief, gave the report for the RPD. Recreation Dept was given by Councilwoman Lindsay Bennett. Mrs. Bennett states that fall sports would be beginning soon. Rodney Deloach is giving the report for both Water and Sewer and Streets and Lanes Depts. Verdie Williams who is Councilperson over the Street and Lanes Dept speaks up stating she would like to add to the report. Williams is reminding the Council that there were several streets that the County Engineer Dennis Odum has helped identify that needed updating with the Department of Transportation. Williams is encouraging the Council to vote to close streets. One being the VFW Road. It is a city street but offers no real public access to anywhere. The street is used to offer access toi the VFW Lodge and its members. The members have installed a gate that dead ends the street at the entrance of the lodge. Councilwoman Williams has met with VFWrepresentatives and they agree 1 Page 12 that the road should be closed. They will also agree to provide the City with a key for emergency personnel in the case they need to access the road. Williams offers a motion to close the VFW Road. Councilman Prestage reminds the Councilwoman the City will need to hold 3 public hearings before we can vote on the topic. Motion is not moved. Councilwoman Bennett offers a motion to schedule the Public hearings to have the road closed and to make necessary legal steps for the road closure. The City Attorney agrees that hearings should be advertised to the public. Motion by: Lindsay Bennett 2nd by: Verdie Williams Motion: Carried Unanimously Williams is mentioning that Rodney Deloach will be cutting the water offt to the City for a short period oftime over night to finish the repair ofthe City fire hydrants. The City is still getting bids for a repair ofliftstation 1. Rodney is looking into this. Prestage wants to knowi if Hofstadter has looked into the repair. Williams answers, "yes, but we are looking at other bids because the bid received from the Engineer was expensive. Costs were over $300,000. 9 Bennett is requesting copies ofall bids received. Blackshear gave the report for Administration. Blackshear is reporting that Lori Byrd has been attending a Human Resources course through GMA. There were over 13 open records requests made, 4 outstanding confirmed by City Attorney Duann Davis. Mike Caldwell is giving updates for the DDA. He says he has researched and knows the City has an active application for a USDA loan. DDA was invited to Pembroke to discuss new developments coming to Tattnall. Caldwell gave updates for local building sales and updated buildings. Caldwell noted that he and Co-Chair V. Nail will be going to Pembroke to hear discussions about the upcoming car plant. Karen Deloach gave the updates for Surrency Atkins Playground. Council Prestage has been giving the Playground updates on grants and will keep everyone posted. The deadline is November 18th. . Basketball courts are nearing is near completion. Davis is explaining a civil action that can be taken to encourage clean up of the Burns property. There are several steps, but the city can take a different avenue to encourage clean up. Lindsay Bennett makes a motion to endure civil court action Motion: Lindsay Bennett 2nd by: Verdie Williams Motion: Carried Unanimously The Attorney will be taking other properties to add to the list. Mrs. V. Nails is reading the importance of zoning laws in Georgia. Nail is asking that the City use its City's planning and zoning to curtail issues with the permits dept. The Council heard GTC's project to help the city collect delinquent taxes in its planning session. Councilman Prestage is making a motion to hire GTC for taxes. Motion: Donald Prestage Second by: Carolyn Blackshear 2 Page/3 Motion: Carried unanimously Donald Prestage makes a motion that Lindsay Bennett and himself oversee the delinquent property taxes and work alongside GTS for follow up: Motion: Donald Prestage 2nd By: Lindsay Bennett Motion: Denied (3 No & 2 Yes) Dan Bennett presented for the Chamber Christmas Parade to be December 10, 2022 with DOT permit. Motion: Donald Prestage 2nd By: Doug Williams Motion: Carried Unanimously Lindsay Bennett proposes we have a City-Wide Halloween. This returns the city to normal since Covid. Motion by: Lindsay Bennett 2nd By: Doug Williams Motion: Carried Unanimously Bennett starts a speech to Council with a letter sent to the Attorney Generals office wanting to reestablish the Ethics Committee. It was suggested that to table the ethic committee discussion until more guidance can be gathered. However, Mrs. Blackshear did distribute copies of "Ethic Ordinance/Guidelines" from GMA. Motion to go into: Executive Session Motion by: Lindsay Bennett Second by: Doug Williams Motion: Carried Unanimously Executive Session begins: 6:14 p.m. Motion to come out: Executive Session Motion By: Carolyn Blackshear 2nd By: Donald Prestage Motion: Carried Unanimously Executive Session ends: 7:51 p.m. After returning from Executive Session and returning to Regular Session, the following occurred: 3 Page 4 There was a motion to send the proposed plat to Environmental Protection Division (EPD) for approval before selling a small portion of spray field. Motion by: Doug Williams Second: Verdie Williams Motion: Carried Unanimously Another motion was made by Councilwoman Lindsay Bennett to fire Officer Deliford. Motion by: Lindsay Bennett Second By: Donald Prestage Motion Denied: (3 No & 2 Yes) With no further business to discuss, meeting Adjourned at 8:12pm 4