December 9, 2008

 

The regular meeting of the Lawrenceville Town Council was called to order at 7:30 p.m. on December 9, 2008 by Mayor Douglas R. Pond.

 

ROLL CALL

Roll was called with the following present:  Mayor Douglas R. Pond; Council Members: Joyce D. Bland, H. B. Brockwell, Jr., Harry S. Holman. Vanessa Y. Jones, Scott E. Martin and Robert F. Pecht, III; Town Attorney, W. C. Outten, Jr.; Town Manager, C. J. Dean; Administrative Assistant, Wanda Johnson; Town Clerk, Alice B. Talbert; citizens and the press.

 

Absent: Council Member, Esther B. Sanderson.

 

NEW BUSINESSES IN TOWN

Mayor Pond welcomed Alfreda Jarrett Drake of Divine Transformation and Tiger Express to speak to Council.

 

Ms. Drake thanked Mayor Pond for the invitation to come and speak about two businesses she has opened in Lawrenceville. Divine Transformation is a non-profit counseling service for children and youth with GED classes offered for parents.  Ms. Drake stated that they have 40 clients in the Lawrenceville area and have 26 councilors in the Lawrenceville area.  Divine Transformation has offices in Petersburg, Hampton Roads and Lawrenceville.  Ms. Drake reported that Tiger Express is offering the best in southern cooking.  They offer eat in, catering and carry out.  They will be catering the Town luncheon on December 17th, which will be their 6th catering job in two months.  She stated she was very excited about the community support since their opening.

 

BOARD MEMBER ATTENDS

Barbara J. Drummond, member of the Board of Supervisors, stated that it was an honor to be at Council.  She felt there was a good relationship between the county and the town and wished everyone a Merry Christmas.

 

MAYOR’S REPORT

Mayor Pond stated that he had attended the prayer breakfast at Saint Paul’s College on Sunday. 

 

Mayor Pond also stated that for the first time in 33 years he was in the Christmas parade and commended Acting Chief Newcomb on doing a good job with the parade traffic.  Acting Chief Newcomb was also commended for the Christmas decorations he put out at the welcome sign on Hicks Street.

 

TOWN MANAGER REPORT

Mr. Dean reported that HLRA had met with 17 attending; a list of those attending was in the packets.  The next meeting will be January 8th at 5:30 p.m. in the town meeting room.  All members of Council were invited to attend.

 

Mr. Dean stated that he and Mayor Pond would be attending a meeting on Friday concerning the grant for down town revitalization.

 

Mr. Dean reported that he had checked references Council requested on the bidders for the generator at the wastewater plant and recommended that the bid be awarded to Master Electrical Service LLC, the low bidder. 

 

Mr. Dean stated that copies of the annual water/wastewater rate survey were in the packets.  He also stated that anyone can go online and compare Lawrenceville with other providers and Lawrenceville rates are very low. 

 

RESOLUTION TO RENEW CABLE FRANCHISE

A copy of a resolution to adopt the renewal of the cable television franchise with Jet Broadband was in the packets. After a discussion on different options in sports programs, a motion was made by Mr. Pecht to adopt the resolution of renewal of the cable television franchise with Jet Broadband and authorize Mayor Pond to sign the resolution.  This was seconded by Mr. Brockwell and voting aye: Bland, Brockwell, Holman, Jones, Martin and Pecht.

 

A form from VML concerning the Legislative Bulletin mailing list was in the packets. Mr. Dean stated that anyone that would like to receive the Bulletin by email to please complete the form and send to VML by December 29th.

 

OFFICE HOURS FOR THE HOLIDAYS

Mr. Dean reported that the Town Office would close at noon on December 24th and be closed the 25th and 26th.  Garbage will be picked up on the 26th.  The Town Office will close at noon on December 31st and be closed on January 1st.

 

OLD FIREHOUSE RENOVATIONS

Mr. Dean reported that work on the old firehouse is almost complete and after Kenbridge Construction is paid the keys will be given to the Town.  Mr. Brockwell stated that the work at the old firehouse has given it a totally different look.  Two of the bays will be used for storage, one for the 1952 fire truck and the other for town storage.  There are two meeting rooms and a bath in the center.

 

APPROVAL OF AUDIT FOR FY 07/08

Mr. Pecht reported that the Finance Committee had met prior to Council with Denise Williams of Creedle, Jones and Alga.  Mr. Pecht asked that everyone read the Management’s Discussion and Analysis on page 1 and commended Mr. Dean on the excellent job putting this together.  After an overview of the audit, Mr. Pecht stated that this was a clean audit and the Town was in a good solid position.

 

A motion was made by Mr. Pecht to approve the audit as presented.  This was seconded by Mr. Brockwell and voting aye: Bland, Brockwell, Holman, Jones, Martin and Pecht.

 

FIRE REPORT

Mr. Holman reported that the October and November fire reports were in the packets. In October, 27 calls were responded to and in November 37 calls were responded to. A breakdown of the calls was in the packets.

 

APPROVAL OF CHRISTMAS BONUS

Mr. Brockwell made a motion to approve the annual Christmas bonus for employees as presented in the packets.  This motion was seconded by Mr. Pecht and carried by the following voting aye: Bland, Brockwell, Holman, Jones, Martin and Pecht.

 

POLICE REPORT

Mrs. Bland stated that the Police Report was in the packets.  One application had been received so far for the position of Police Chief.  The application deadline is December 23rd.

 

BID AWARDED FOR GENERATOR AT WASTEWATER PLANT

Mr. Brockwell made a motion to award the bid on the wastewater treatment plant generator to Master Electrical Service, LLC with the extended 5-year warranty.  This was seconded by Mr. Holman and voting aye: Bland, Brockwell, Holman, Jones, Martin and Pecht.

 

EMPLOYEES THANKED

Mayor Pond stated that he had a citizen came to him thanking the town employees for getting up a huge amount of leaves on a Friday.  Mr. Dean was asked to let the employees know.

 

Mayor Pond also asked the Town Development Committee to look into promoting the Town on the large signs on Hwy 58 and report back to Council on the matter.

 

Mayor Pond, Mr. Dean and Mr. Pecht had met with Alberta concerning the TTHM and the contract the town has with Alberta.  They will be meeting again on the contract.

 

Mr. Dean reported that Mr. Kelly, Housing Code Official, was looking at some properties to be demolished and would have more at a later meeting.

 

Mayor Pond reported that he had attended a second meeting with Saint Paul’s concerning security and felt things were going in a good direction and hoped to have Dr. Satcher at the January meeting.

 

LUNCHEON FOR FORMER MAYOR CLARKE

Council was reminded of the luncheon honoring former Mayor Clarke to be held on December 17th at the town shop at noon. 

 

PAYMENT OF BILLS

A motion was made by Mr. Brockwell and seconded by Mr. Martin to pay the bills as presented in the amount of $59,680.62 and charge to the proper funds.  Voting aye: Bland, Brockwell, Holman, Jones, Martin and Pecht.

 

RESOLUTION FOR MAYOR CLARKE

Mayor Pond read a Resolution to be presented to Mr. Clarke.  A motion was made by Mr. Brockwell to approve the Resolution as read, a copy to be presented to Mr. Clarke and a copy to be included in the minutes of the December 9th meeting.  This was seconded by Mrs. Jones and carried by the following voting aye: Bland, Brockwell, Holman, Jones, Martin and Pecht.

 

Mr. Brockwell stated that it was nice to see the progress going on in the bottom and at 58.  This was a good sign of confidence in us and our area.

 

Mr. Dean reported the Town was accepting bids for the Tobacco Heritage Trail Phase 1. 

 

ADJOURNMENT

As there was no further business to come before Council, a motion was made by Mr. Brockwell and seconded by Mrs. Jones to adjourn. This carried by all ayes.

 

 

 Douglas R. Pond, Mayor

 

Alice B. Talbert, Clerk