October 10, 2006
The regular meeting of the Lawrenceville Town Council was called to order by Mayor Keith W. Clarke at 7:30 p.m. on October 10, 2006.
Roll was called with following present:
Mayor Keith W. Clarke; Council members: Joyce D. Bland, Wilbur Hardy, J. Grady Martin, Robert F. Pecht, III and Esther B. Sanderson; Town Attorney, W. C. Outten, Jr.; Town Manager, C. J. Dean; Police Chief, Douglas R. Pond; Administrative Assistant, Wanda Johnson; Town Code Enforcer, Scott Kelly; Scott Clary of the LVFD; Town Clerk, Alice B. Talbert; citizens and the press.
Absent: Council members: H. B. Brockwell, Jr. and Harry S. Holman
A motion was made by Mr. Hardy and seconded by Mr. Pecht to approve the minutes of the previous meeting, suspend the reading and file. This carried by all ayes.
Scott Clary of the Lawrenceville Fire Department presented Council members with a set of the Fire Department Trading Cards and thanked Council for all their support to the fire department. Scott stated that by the end of the week, he and Danny Clary will have talked with over 320 children concerning fire prevention.
Elaine Cogsdale of HLRA asked to speak to Council concerning proposed projects the group is working on. Mrs. Cogsdale gave members a list of proposed projects and gave an overview of the items. A Santa Workshop is being planned to provide gifts from 50 cents to $5.00 for children to purchase gifts for their families. There would also be a day when parents would be able to come in and pick out gifts for the children, several bikes had already been donated.
Work had began on getting 6-8 banners for the Saint Pauls homecoming to be placed around town welcoming students and alumni.
The class of 1956/57 will be coming to town on April 28 and HLRA is working on plans for this event. Mrs. Cogsdale asked if the town would clear the area around the ballpark near the railroad tracks so this area could be used in a walking tour.
Edward Warsley of HLRA reported on ideas the group had for an amphitheatre on the vacant lot between Court Street and the ballpark. Mr. Warsley stated that the group had met with Mayor Clarke and he was very impressed with the mayors vision and ideas for the Town. Mr. Warlsey gave out a design plan he had drawn up for an amphitheater and discussed several ways to finance the project.
Mary Truman of Cinnamon Cafi asked Council what was being done in code enforcement on buildings in town. She stated that she had not noticed work being done and several buildings were in bad shape. After a discussion between Council, Mrs. Truman and Mr. Kelly, the Town Code Official, Mayor Clarke asked that Mr. Dean, Mr. Kelly and the Code Enforcement Committee meet and report back to Council on possible changes to our code ordinance.
BOUNDARY LINE ADJUSTMENT
Mr. Outten stated that the boundary line adjustment agreement will be presented to the Chief Judge this month.
SAINT PAULS SEWER LINE REPLACEMENT
Mr. Dean reported that Saint Pauls had signed the necessary paper work on the sewer replacement project and the low bid of $948,208 from Biggs Construction Company had been accepted. Mr. Dean asked Council to award the bid to Biggs Construction. The award is based on the Base Bid plus Alternates #1,2, and 3 and would be fully funded. A motion was made by Mr. Pecht and seconded by Mr. Hardy to award the bid to Biggs Construction Company as presented and authorize Mr. Dean to sign all necessary papers. This was carried by all ayes.
Mr. Dean stated that the first Strategic Visioning Session concerning the Downtown Revitalization Grant will be held on October 24th from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Saint Pauls Student Center. Mr. Dean stated that this is a very important meeting and asked that everyone attend. This meeting is open to all citizens of Lawrenceville and Brunswick County. Mr. Dean asked that anyone planning to attend to please call the Town Office.
Mr. Dean reported that the TTHM results for the 3rd quarter were still in compliance. Mr. Dean stated that he would be meeting with the water/wastewater committee soon to discuss the installation and cost of the potassium permanganate at the plant to handle TTHM.
Mr. Dean stated that the fire department had requested to have the small kitchen unit in the meeting room removed and have a multimedia center installed for use in training. The estimated cost to be less than $3,000. After a discussion, a motion was made by Mr. Pecht and seconded by Mr. Martin to proceed with the project as requested by the fire department. This carried by all ayes.
Mr. Dean stated that meetings had been held the last several months in order to form a countywide local emergency planning committee. Representatives are from local governments, school system, social services and utility companies and is to be in place in the event of all hazard situations or emergencies. Bylaws are being worked up and Mr. Dean will present them at the December meeting for approval.
Mr. Dean asked to meet with the water/wastewater committee after Council.
Mr. Kelly asked that a group be assembled to meet with him to come up with a plan of attack to kick out blight and set standards and regulations to prevent it from happening again. Mayor Clarke asked the Housing Code committee and Mr. Dean to meet with Mr. Kelly. It was reported that the Town of Crewe was working on blight now and maybe they would be able to provide information to Mr. Kelly.
Mr. Kelly also reported that he had attended a state mandated school and is now an Official Code Enforcer.
Mr. Pecht reported that the finance committee would be meeting with our auditor as soon as the audit is complete; if the audit is going to be late the committee will meet before the November meeting.
Mrs. Bland stated that the fire department had responded to 34 calls with 6 in town and 28 out of town. The following break down of calls was given: Cooking fire 1; false alarm 1; gas leak 1; lines down 1; L-Z set up 1; smoke scare 3; MVA 5; EMS 10; disregard 11.
Mr. Martin stated that a copy of the personnel report was in the packets and he had met with Mr. Dean concerning two items. One was the fact we did not have enough staff to cover when someone is out sick. He suggested cross training and asked that funds for cross training be included in the next budget. The second item was the employee handbook. The handbook was completed in 1994 and needs to be reviewed and changed if needed to provide better benefits to our employees. Mr. Martin stated that the personnel committee would be meeting and revising the handbook.
Mr. Hardy stated the police report was in the packets. Mr. Hardy also stated the police department was getting ready for the Homecoming Parade this weekend.
Safety reports were in the packets.
Mr. Pecht stated that a copy of the bills for the airport was in the packets. After a discussion, a motion was made by Mr. Pecht to pay the towns 1/3 share in the amount of $14,557.52. This motion was seconded by Mr. Martin and carried by all ayes.
HALLOWEEN PARADE
Mrs. Talbert reminded everyone of the Halloween Parade on October 31 at 5:15 and invited everyone to come and help out.
Mrs. Talbert also reminded Council of the Christmas Parade to be held on December 8th at 7:30 p.m. This year instead of the business and residential decoration contest, the contest will be judging of the floats and vehicles in the parade.
Flu shots are expected to be given next week and any Council member interested in receiving one needs to contact the town office.
A motion was made by Mr. Hardy to pay the bills as presented in the amount of $38,935.70 and charge against the proper funds. This was seconded by Mr. Pecht and carried by all ayes.
There being no further business to come before Council, a motion was made by Mr. Pecht and seconded by Mr. Martin to adjourn. This carried by all ayes.
____________________________MAYOR
____________________________ATTEST