Council - Regular Meeting

ready. Yes, sir. Want to welcome everybody to the February 2nd meeting of the Maran Town Council. Meeting will now come to order. We'll begin with the invocation. given by Chief Tester followed by the pledge of allegiance. Chief,

let us pray. Dear heavenly father, we come to you today as a community and uh we want you to lay your healing hands upon Council Lady Deborah uh as she suffered a fall. And please uh keep everybody in our community in your arms and in in our thoughts and prayers also uh during this cold weather spell. And in your name we pray. Amen. Amen.

Go ahead. Then Dr. Gates, you're going to lead us. Oh, okay. I pledg to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Again, like to welcome everybody that uh showed up tonight and everybody that's viewing for home. Uh we hope you're all warm and safe and uh stay that way through the weather events that uh may be coming in our near future. Uh we'll start with the roll call and we'll uh note that all are present except for uh Councilwoman Hayes. Um, if that is sufficient, we need an approval of the minutes of our January 2nd meeting, January 20th meeting. So moved.

Second. [clears throat] We have a motion and a second. Is there anything that needs to be uh addressed in the minutes? None being heard. All in favor of approving the minutes. We have an agenda tonight which includes um real estate and prospective business A3 and A5. Are there any additions to the agenda? Yes, mayor. I would like to add um under 2.2-3711A8 consultation with legal counsel requiring provision of legal advice under the close session this evening.

Thank you, sir. Um, do we have a motion to accept the agenda as amended? So moved. Second. Second. Motion and second. All in favor

and having no public hearings uh no public presentations and uh no one has signed up for public comment. Um thusly is there anyone here that would like to comment? Hearing none, we'll close public comment time and we'll uh begin with council members uh and committee reports. And if you don't mind, um Councilman Carter, can you begin with us? It seems my habit to always start at that end and work that.

Uh no real report. I'd just like to call your attention to an indepth article in the last magazine, state magazine about data centers and their impact in Virginia. That's one of the most indepth if anybody's read I hope you've read it the researches that I found on it. So, uh it's in the April issue. Try to read it if you can. Take another look at it. Huh? We got an April already. I think that's well it's 24 April 24 but [laughter] oh yeah I picked up but anyhow it's in that one in the recent one there was a

there's a one in the recent one too [laughter] that I'm trying to go back a year right Tony not a bad picture what's that in there oh yes not a bad picture thank you but it's really an in-depth study it's in this this month's the the real in-depth So try to read it. All right, we'll take another look at that. Anything else, sir? That'll do it. Councilman May, um we the carpet at the recreation department has kind of been put on hold due to the weather and Tony and I had a conversation and we're going to pick that up when we get through the weather a little bit. That's it. Okay, Councilman Atwell,

nothing as far as a report goes from any follow-ups on meetings or anything like that, but I just wanted to say from a personal perspective and also chairman of the street committee. I would just like to thank all of the people from public works of stepping up and doing such a great job with what the storm threw at us over this past couple weeks. Um, also thank you to the staff for the extra work that you guys had to do to make sure that we had salt to put on the roads and everything else. It was a great effort and I think you guys have done a great job with what was thrown at us. So, uh, just wanted to let you guys know that that it's appreciated, although it's a thankless job. Well said. Anything else, sir? That's it. Councilwoman Jennings.

Well, Councilman Atwell stole my what I was going to say about the public works department, but I just ditto owe everything that he said. Thank you so much. And the other thing I want to uh tell you all, Deborah, I've talked to Deborah today and she asked me to keep you all informed about her. She is waiting for a bed here at uh rehab and she'll be here maybe two weeks and then she'll have some surgery. So, she wanted to tell everybody in love. Thank you for that. That's all I have. Councilwoman Spencer,

uh same thing. Thank you public works and county employees, everyone for everything you've done. Appreciate it. [clears throat] Vice Mayor Gates. Uh the only thing I have is uh one day last week we met for the pre-bid uh uh meeting and two two biders were there for the uh uh Kalan Drive Recreation Park uh for the specifications for that. So we we have two people for sure and probably some more people. I think uh if Samantha was here, do you know what date they said?

They just changed the previous due to the weather and people not having access to to the land. They changed the pre I mean they changed the bid opening to February 12th. The bids are due by 2:00 on the 12th. The opening will be from 2 to 2:30. And we now have had contact from seven firms. So, one and two are now up on our website to that RF. Okay. And that's all. Anything else, sir?

Okay. Uh, under the mayor's report, um, I did attend a uh organizational meeting uh and board meeting for caring for our community last Friday. And uh the meeting was uh well attended. Uh that was the beginning of this snowstorm or at least part of it and um we uh we had a very good meeting. I have submitted the uh request for funding uh the matching funds that go along and uh that match has been met. So, I have uh submitted that form to our town manager and uh at whatever point in time there's there's no immediate need of funds. Um we have our service days uh coming up and uh once those are solidified, we'll get back with everybody and I hope that uh we get a lot of volunteers to come out and it's going to be beautiful spring type weather when we're out there working. So, uh, we have we have some things to look forward to. Uh, we do have a contingency of, uh, council and staff, uh, going to VML. Um, we're going to be, um, leaving for that, uh, Wednesday or Thursday, weather permitting. And as things turn out, uh did attend uh the Smith 12 meeting uh which was before the last council meeting. And um in that we did get a little bit of uh information that the county is uh sharing with us and going to be some of the legislative items. And u for those going up uh I'll get that copied and share with you so that we can take a look at that. um that uh want to ditto the ditto on the public

works and and I know that we've all been fielding calls and I know folks at home uh may feel that um maybe their roads didn't get uh the attention that they needed, but we and public works did their very best to keep every road open that they possibly could and work with the resources as we have. This is a storm of unprecedented nature and uh very very difficult to deal with. So, I just want to reaffirm that uh we're very proud and we know how hard everyone's worked and we do appreciate that. Although, um it's a thankless job. We're all saying thank you. So, um that concludes the mayor's report. Uh we'll continue with the attorney's report.

Yes. Uh I would also like to thank the public's work public works department all the employees and want to point out that on on Sunday uh Tony and Junior as well as a bunch of other employees were here uh hard at work and also that uh town manager Andrew Keane and Tony Muny were hard at work to make sure that they could acquire salt to put on the road. So, they jumped right to that and got that taken care of. And I would also like to thank um Todd Long who showed up on his day off to be here so that he and I could work on revisions and spent yesterday and and today on again. So, I'd like to thank up each and everyone. Um, we need to do council needs to do appointments and I believe there's six appointments to be done. I I would like to make the motion that we do the appointments for town manager Andrew Keane, assistant town manager Tony Muny, town attorney Mark Finnick, town clerk Cindy Stanley, police chief Kevin Testerman, and fire EMS chief Rusty Ham. And I'll second that.

Can we do those together or do we need those separately? Well, I believe her motion was to do them as one. Okay. I mean, is that legal to do it? Okay, great. Good. Okay. So, we have a motion. And did we get a second? Seconded. So, we have a motion. Second. Any discussion? None being heard. All in favor? And we have unanimous vote. Thank you. That's all.

Is that all? Okay. Um, we will continue now with uh staff reports and uh Cindy, do you have anything for us? If we need to reschedule the next meeting due to the holiday, if you want to move that to Tuesday, that'll be February 17th. I make a motion we have our next meeting uh February 17th because of the holiday uh President's Day. Second. All right. Motion second to move that. No conflicts uh that anyone has with that uh movement. Then there's uh no discussion. All in favor of moving the meeting.

Thank you, Cindy. Okay, that's um next we have Chief Ham who's been very busy.

Yes, we have been busy working. Everything good? Uh first off, uh thank you for the confidence in the reappoint. Um I'll give you some storm updates along with some staff and general updates. Um, with the storm, we upstaffed over the weekends that the storms came in. Uh, we were fairly successful in having those slots filled. Uh, since the snow began or the storms came, we had about 109 calls for service uh, since that occurred. Uh, there obviously has been an uptick in slips and falls due to the weather. Um, as far as the fires go, we've had a chimney fire, uh, a couple of auto aid fires, uh, that we were dispatched on, and, uh, we also, uh, we had a few slips and falls of our own, but, fortunately, no injuries reported as a result. Um, we did have, uh, an ambulance slide into the ditch out in the county on Scratch Gravel Road, uh, during the ice storm. Uh it had very very minor damage which we were able to repair in house. Um it would really was a solid sheet of ice. There was even a a plow truck, a VOTE truck with chains that had slid off the road out there as well. Um just to echo what you guys have all already said. Uh just personally really proud of the entire Marian team with fire mass police and public works uh for the hours and time that they've put in during this this dangerous cold and these storms. Uh, I'll move along to staff and general updates. Uh, Deputy Chief Keys and I will be uh out of town at the chief's conference. Uh, fire rescue chief's conference February 16th through the 20th. Uh, battalian chiefs Tally and Shupe will have command in our absence. Um, we also have coming up uh the week uh the first week in March uh we'll be traveling to back to Appleton, Wisconsin for the final inspection on the new engine. Um and

that we expect that delivery on that 3 to four weeks after. So we're looking uh somewhere towards the end of March to get that new engine in here. Um, some other business that we've had going on, uh, Battalion Chief Tally has been heading up our, uh, representing us for the, we're already in Fourth of July preparations. That's hard to believe. Uh, we've already had a fireworks meeting and, uh, with two inches of ice on the ground, but, uh, he's heading up that, uh, heading up that for us. Uh we currently have two new part-time employees that are in the field training process and I have one additional uh part-time employee that's already been hired that's in the wings waiting to come in uh as they uh some folks come off field training. I don't like to do more than two at once in the field training. U we are also in the full-time hiring process. Uh it is underway and we currently have uh right at 15 applications for that. Obviously, the storm and the weather has put us a little behind, but we're going to be moving forward with that very, very soon. Uh, on February the 12th, uh, we are scheduled for our Virginia state inspection, our EMS inspection. Um, so I'll certainly be reporting back on that at the conclusion of that. Uh, it looks like we're in really good shape uh, administratively for that and also as far as equipment and stuff goes. Um, we had a command staff meeting this morning to start on our our budgets. Um, I know that the town budget is due the 20th and my county budget is due the 13th. So, um, we we had a meeting and we're going to start working for it. I'll be working on that throughout the next week or so. And that is the report for Mary and Fire EMS. If you guys unless you guys have some questions,

sir. Thank you. Thank you guys for Thank you very much. We know it's been hard. [clears throat] Uh Chief Testerman, do you have anything for us?

Uh I will add that couple weeks ago we started implementing a program called the fleet assessment program. What it is, it's for domestic violence. If you're in rel in a relationship with an intimate partner, uh you go through a series of questionnaires and with that u it goes through the questionnaires. If it does find there's a few key questions in there that if you respond yes to that, then it's an automatic call to the family resource center to start getting these uh partners' help, the victim's help. And as far as arranging for them to maybe do therapy or other things. So, it's a really good program. I feel strong about with domestic violence and uh it's it's just really going to be really solid be able to help. It's victim oriented. So, I think it'll be a good thing for the agency for that. And also, I'll be attending the chief's conference this week uh up in Richmond. So, I'm looking forward to that. You always gain a lot of a lot of knowledge and you get some really good working relationships with other chiefs through the state. So, it's a good program and a good time to go up there, really make good connections. And I'll say, ditto on the public works. A lot of times the public workers, they they may feel down and stuff that, you know, they may hear they're doing a bad job, but they they do a great job and I'm behind them 100% and I appreciate everything they do. Fire and rescue, they they was out there. We helped them on several things. They helped us on several things. It was It's been a train week, week and a half or two. So, it's a but everybody everything's came together and [clears throat] I feel really good where we're at each other working. So, all I have for

I like that teamwork works. Thank you, sir. And thank the PD for us for all that they've done as well. I know that that's been hard on them as well. Thank you, sir. Um, I don't have you on the agenda, Todd, but do you have anything for us? No report, sir. No. Okay. Thank you, sir. Um, that brings us to the town manager report.

Absolutely. So, um, just to to ditto everybody else, um, just wanted to to, you know, say kudos to public works. Um, they they've put down gosh, Tony, almost 300 pounds of or 300 tons of of salt and and gravel mixture on our roads. um and and you know out in the bitter cold clearing the sidewalks uh just a a great group of guys and um very proud and thankful for um what they've done for us the last couple of weeks. Um beyond that uh last meeting I had spoken with you all about a um Mount Rogers Planning District Commission board appointment that u this governing body needs to um appoint someone to. One of the questions that came to me was what the the meeting schedule and frequency was and it is uh once monthly and that is on the fourth Monday of each month at 100 p.m. Um and that's all I've got this evening in the town manager report.

I am willing to fill that position if uh council agrees and I I I would like to put my head in the room for that too. Okay. Didn't know that, haven't you? Well, I worked with them when I was chairman of the A corridor economic development group and I work for the PDC. Well, then I open the floor to nominations. [laughter] Rocking hard. I don't think they want either one of us. No, either one works for me. I mean,

well, you have like you do on on district three, you have a primary and then a backup the way we do in district three. Todd's my backup. I'm the backup because there'd be there' be times you won't be able to make it. The person won't be able to make it. Once a month is a hard schedule to keep up with. Avery, do you already have other commitments of different meetings that it would lighten the load to not have another one that Susie would be a better choice or are you pretty well free? Um, I can uh I can always schedule the time. Um, it's on the fourth Monday and

Monday at 1 p.m. Yes, sir. that um I I don't know that there always is a fourth Monday, but um that I I I am willing to fill the position, but it would be at the pleasure of council and uh Miss Jennings also has uh made her. So, the floor is open for nominations. I'll make a motion to appoint Susie to the board just because she's been on that before. Well, not with the Mount Rogers. Yes, I'll make that motion. So, we have a motion.

I'll second that. Get it on the floor. Let's get a vote. We have a motion and a second. Is there any discussion? Well, could we put could we put in that motion that Avery would be the alternate? Is that what we alternative? That's what it's called. The alternate. Well, you preassume that you're going to win. No, I mean if if I win. I should have [laughter] said if you're right, but I shouldn't have said it that way.

So, we have a motion and we have a second. And uh we have a uh proposal for an alternate on that. Um so as there's no more discussion, we may take it to a vote before we proceed. Yes. Are you open to filling an alternate if Miss Jennings gets the primary?

Uh we'll discuss that. We have a proposal for that. Right now the only uh motion on the floor is the motion for Miss Jennings to fill that position. Okay. My only feeling on this is I think that uh both both you and Miss Jennings could possibly have conflicts in that as mayor things come up that you were required to be that you don't know of. I mean it that they're going to be on Monday the fourth. Monday you don't know and you don't know that. Miss Jennings travels some to see her kids to see the grandkids. So, uh, I mean, it's it's not like we have a we we would never get a perfect person that didn't have some conflict at some time. Uh, so I mean, this is Yeah. Okay.

It it happens. I've been on district three or 14 years. I've missed three, I think. So, Susie had filled in for me. You were my backup. I think just once and Todd's filled in once. So it comes up and I

and it's very important because there's a lot of times we barely have a quarrel. Uh I think maybe that night you were there barely had it. So it's very important to have an alternate that's available for these meetings always. So motion and second. Is there further discussion? Then we'll take it to a vote. All in favor of Miss Tennings filling that position. Why? I guess I'll vote. Then I'll vote for you too, Susan. I'll vote for you to be the optim.

Well, we'll talk about that at another point in time. Um, okay. So, we have uh anything else? No, sir. That does it for the time manager report. [clears throat] Okay. Um, no other reports being given. any other business to come before us before we go into close session. What does what does a ton of salt cost us now? And I just wonder um the most recent batch that we bought from uh from from Reno City came at a a better rate because they purchase more bulk than we do. It came at a 12440 a ton. Um when we're purchasing from our supplier, it's 145.

That's just better than I thought. I figured it was the way everything had gone up. gouging to be $200 a ton. Tony, do you remember when it was $20? Yeah, [clears throat] I do. Can you imagine how rapidly it $20 a ton? Okay. So, one go back. Do you do have something? I do. Okay. Can um can I make a motion that we provide, you know, the town staff for everything that they've been put through for the last week, two weeks really. Um maybe to provide a breakfast, lunch, or dinner. their discretion and let Andrew and Tony handle it. Oh, absolutely. I'll second it. That's a great idea. It's a great idea. Thank you.

I have no problem with it. I don't believe we need any discussion on this matter. Uh we'll take it very quickly to a vote. All in favor? Good move, Ch. Good idea. Thank you guys. We'll wait. I'll certainly take care of that for you. [clears throat] All right. No other business to come before us at this time. We'll move into close session. And Miss Jennings, if you take us into close session.

Okay. I make a motion we go into close session to discuss three issues. The first is disposition of real estate as allowed under state code 2.23 3711 A3. The second item uh prospective business where no announcement has been made uh as allowed under state code 2.2 3711 A5. And the third issue uh consultation with legal counsel regarding Pacific legal advice by such counsel as allowed under 2.23711A88. I second that.

Motion and second. All in favor of going into close session. Open session of the Maring County Council is now closed. Thank you everyone. We will be going into open session again uh at

Okay. I make a motion that we go back into open session and declare that we only talked about the three pertinent issues and this is allowed under state code 2.23712. Second. Motion and second. Roll call vote. All right. Council, yes. May, yes. Atwell, yes. Councilwoman Jennings, yes. Councilwoman Spencer, yes. Vice Mayor Gates, yes. And Mayor Cornette, yes. Now, the mayor and county council is back in regular session or open session, as you will. And uh is there any further business that needs to come for the town council to

adjourn? Second motion and second. All in favor adjournment. Mary town council stands.