Council - Regular Meeting

The May 4th meeting of the Marian Town Council will now come to order. We'll begin with the invocation given by Lieutenant Rick Billings.

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for everythingless that you give us. We thank you for the opportunity to come and gather together, Lord. And we just ask you to be with this council tonight. Give them the strength, knowledge, and everything they need to make the right decisions for the name. Lord, we ask you to bless everyone that's out in the gallery here. Be with their families tonight. Just continue to be with us each and every day. Lord, lead us and guide us in life pleasing to you. We thank you and praise you. We ask all this in Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Amen. I pledge algiance 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, I want to greet everyone. Thank you for coming. Thank you for watching from home or wherever you might be tonight. Uh we will uh have the roll call and there are several members present. So let's go ahead and just do the roll call formally please. Carter here. Here

we'll need an approval of the minutes of the April 20th meeting. So move second motion and second for the approval of the minutes. Is there any thing to be added to those minutes? Any questions? None being heard. All in favor of approving the minutes and it is unanimous. We have the approval of the agenda. Do I hear a motion to approve the agenda for tonight? So move. Second. Are there any additions or deletions from the agenda? conference

motion and second. Nothing else to be added to the agenda. All in favor of approving the agenda and it is unanimous. We will move on with uh any public hearings that we have. And we do have a public hearing scheduled tonight with the electronic uh meeting proposal ordinance. And I'm going to turn this over to Todd Long. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Members, council. On March 16th, uh council meeting, staff was directed by council to uh research and draft an ordinance for consideration to uh of electronic meeting ordinances. Um at the April 6th council meeting, the ordinance committee uh chair, Mr. Carter did recommend to council that the draft ordinance that was provided to the committee to council for consideration. The vote was unanimous and set to public hearing on this date. Um the draft ordinance has been on the website since April 7th for public consideration. Uh what you have in your agenda packet, you'll have two different um versions of electronic meetings. One is meetings held through electronic communication means during declared states of emergency and the other one would be uh the meeting held through electronic communication means situations other than declared emergencies. Um that's in your packet. Uh we do have some versions up here if anybody in public would like to review those. It is on the packet. Uh Andrew, if you don't mind, if you'll slide down to those um draft versions. Uh one of them's kind of lengthy. That's why, like I say, it's been on it's been on the website now for right at a month for for review. I've not gotten any

feedback from anyone. Um I did talk to uh Miss Hayes's sister said she's doing better. Um, if this is approved tonight, we'll try to set up a time to go meet with her to actually run through like a little test of this to see if just to show her what she's going to need to do. Uh, we probably will require her because this this is what this is about today is try to get her more involved in the council meetings. Uh, we will walk through with her how, you know, what to do to get joined. uh probably get her at least to be on no earlier than 5:15. That way, if she's having experiencing troubles, she can call us and we can attempt to try to walk her through what's going on. Um I think the budget was set at about $2,500 for this whole project. Uh if I'm not mistaken, is that correct, Mr. Carter?

Uh 2,000.

2,000. I think we're in probably an accurate price of about $500. Um we've utilized existing cameras and stuff, our our switcher software that we're using for uh our council meeting uh live streams. So basically the way this will happen is when when Miss Hayes opens her iPad up, she has to be visible to the public. Uh there's minutes that's got to be taken. There's certain items that's got to go in the minutes that reflects that uh she's joining by electronic means. Um, since her situation doesn't allow her to be here because she's got temporary disability stuff going on, her presence electronically will count toward a quorum. Uh, she will be able to vote on anything. The only thing that that I'm that I'm still trying to figure out Mark is close session without we wouldn't know if someone's in the room or you know if somebody walks in during close session at that point in time. I think I can probably at least if nothing else mute her her transmission so she can hear nothing going on.

If I may she can use earbuds and that will she can use earbuds. she so she can she can use earbuds. Um that that is a solution. Um we just have to make sure that nobody else is in the room with her during closed sessions. Um if she chooses to to, you know, to wear the the earbuds or whatever, then she's welcome to participate. Uh she's welcome to vote when we come back into close session on anything that comes up out of close session. that your votes would not offer any assistance with regards to her conversation which the public can't hear. Yeah. And Mark, I'm I'm sorry. I probably still got you muted back at the board. So I

Yeah, she couldn't respond then what you're saying and that's makes sense because that's the whole idea of the close session.

Yeah. So uh if you have any questions on these, they're in front of you. Uh, I'll be try I'll be happy to try to to answer the best of my ability the way I interpret this code. These codes came straight out of Virginia State Code. Uh, the meetings held through electronic communications uh, during declared states of emergency is 2.2-3708.2. Meetings held through electronic meetings uh, situations other than cloud declared emergency is 2.2-3708.3. So what you got in front of you is straight from the state code. So if there's no questions, we can open up for public comment.

Our intention is this to be a one time emergency type thing that if you just decide to go on vacation periodically, I think that's that's the way I looked at it when you taught. Correct. Um the let let me stop you, Mr. Carter. This is a public hearing and our our time will come after the public has a chance to respond to that particular committee. I I understand

but uh let's go ahead and open it up to the public and then council can discuss the uh pertinent matters. So now the floor is open as this is a public hearing to anyone who wishes to make a statement um or have anything to say about this issue and please approach the podium. Give us your name and Charles Wson live in Wona Park. Uh she'll be visible on this screen right here. On that one over there.

Okay. U was another question. Uh does this cover mental incap incapacities? Yeah, this is just a physical. That's all our intent was. Pardon? Our intent was one time to accommodate her physical in incapacity, right? One time for this. That would apply to anybody that had some emergency or incident that would prevent them from appearing. Mental incapacity would not qualify.

Yeah, that's what he was saying. It wouldn't Yeah, that it would also it would also be through a declared state of emergency. There's two ordinances, right? But the second one, I'm talking about the second one, she uh you say one time, one meeting or one illness or one this one instance as long as she's physically incapacitated. Uh I believe you can't do that once it's once it's an ordinance. It's an ordinance. Anybody can do that. Well, I know we're setting a precedent and that was the only thing that uh I had a drawback to uh

it's you know you could get someone who did it. But just just as long as you know this does apply from now on to all of council and uh under the circumstances god forbid but under the circumstances but it has to be an incapacity can't be just because you want to go to Timbuktu for that's correct there there are provisions see that needs to be the clarification. Yeah it's it's in the code if if you uh if you want to specify that now we can

also that's fine. So it is it is specified in the ordinance dealing with other than declared emergencies. It would be medical condition and then an alternative to that would be if you were going to Vietnam and you wanted to participate, you can participate electronically. If you state you have to state the reason that you're asking for that and then you it is two meetings per calendar year or 25% of the meetings. So in the town of Marian's case that's six meetings.

Yeah. 24 meetings a year. Yeah. So therefore you could do it if you go on vacation. You could you'd have to but you'll have to announce Are you saying Miss Hayes could can claim this for if she wanted to be on electronic presence for a seventh meeting that wouldn't be allowed? No, that's a medical condition. She she will be to attend all meetings absences period. She can be on electronic meetings for the rest of her term on the council.

Yeah. So long as she has the disability or caring for somebody with the disability. Good point. Thank you. Is there anyone else who would like to speak? Mr. Fton. David Fulton. Pearl Avenue. Uh you said all this can be done for how much? 500 around $500. How much we got in right now?

Okay. Question. When this system was put in to begin with, what that the remote was brought up, how much are you redoing now that was done previously when you put the system in? Everything still everything's still here that we were using for the initial YouTube stream. Okay. Uh how much Adverisement did you have to pay for? I mean, think you had to put this in the paper for the advertisement for the No, I advertise the public on the Is that what you mean?

Yeah. Yeah. I advertise the public hearing. It's in the agenda, too. Scroll back up. But it wasn't in the paper. Yeah. I mean, that's Okay. Well, how how much did you pay for the advertisement? I think the advertisement was four I don't think it was $400. I don't We the cost there, but it wasn't 400. It was not 400. I'm thinking it's 270 something. I don't know. Okay. So, the equipment and advertisement all together was less than $1,000.

Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? Then we will close the public hearing part of the meeting. And now council is open to discuss or make motions. Do we need to vote on these separately? Yes, please. The committee itself recommends be accepted. Um, we um would need a motion to accept. So move. I'll second. Your motion needs to say for declared

for a declared state of emergency. And then the second one would be other than a declared state of Okay, I make a motion that we adopt this ordinance for a declared state of emergency and second part for any other uh purpose up to twice a year or 25% of the c of the total meetings. That's the second ordinance. So the first one just needs to be declared state. Okay. Just make a motion that we address accept this ordinance as a for the declared state of emergency federal or state.

Second motion and second. Any further discussion needed? All in favor? And it is unanimous. And now we need a motion for the second. You going to do this? You go ahead. You're doing great. situations other than declared states of make a motion that we accept this ordinance pertaining to meetings where the members cannot be physically present. The code allows two or 25% of the total calendar meetings which in the town of Marion would be 24 25% would be six. So this would be situations other than declared

other than declared. Yeah. It would be vacations or and of course that includes disabilities. Correct. Correct. Yeah. Is that motion sufficient, Cindy? Yes. I'll second that. Okay. Motion second. Any further discussion? All in favor? And it is unanimous. Uh Mr. Long. Yes, sir. Thank you very much for all your attention on this matter. Yes, sir. And uh if there's anything else that you need, please get in touch. Please do get in touch with the council woman and uh let's get her back involved. Thank you.

That takes care of the public uh hearings. We have public presentations and uh that is the auditor's report. And I'll turn that over to staff. Yes. Mr. and Mr. Tucker presentation.

Okay. First, I'd like to thank you all for selecting Tucker, Brandenburg, and Company for performing your audit. I'm happy to report that for the year ending June 30, 2025, we were able to issue an unmodified opinion on your financial statements. Uh that is to say that your financial statements are fairly stated in all material respects. So, that's the clean audit opinion that you would like to get on your financial statements. Um, in addition to looking at your financials, we also looked at your internal controls, your compliance, and your internal controls over compliance. And I'm also happy to report that we had no findings in regards to any of those three. Um, I'd like to kind of hit some of the high points of your financial statements and do a little bit of a ratio analysis. Um, so looking at your general fund, uh, we can calculate your current ratio. And what that tells us is that you had sufficient current assets to cover your current liabilities in the general fund 17.03 times at the end of the year. Uh that compares to the prior year when you could do so 2.27 times. Um for a baseline for your current ratio, if that number were to fall below one, that would be an indication that you did not have sufficient current assets to satisfy your current liabilities on the general fund. Um, looking at the uh governmental fund income statement, you might see that the there was a net loss of about 13.2 million on there and in the prior year it was 12.6. So, I want to kind of put that in context for you on those financial statements. The payments you make on your operating line of credit count as an expense there. So, that's really not where you want to look. You want to look a little bit lower after all the non-operating stuff. And that shows that you had a net loss in the general fund for 63025 of about $784,000.

And that compares to 2024 when you had net income of uh $676,000. If we look at your working capital situation, that puts your cash position into context for your expenses. So, how many months worth of expenses did you have in cash? So, for your general fund, as of June 30, 2025, you had 4.45 months of cash on hand compared to the prior year when you had 5.35 months of cash on hand in the general fund. Uh, your sort of frame of reference for that, the minimum that we would like to see is about three months of cash on hand. your revenues in your general fund decreased about $63,000 over what they were the prior year. Uh and in the prior year, they decreased about $3.2 million over where they were in the year ending 630 2023. The reason for that big change in 2024 was in 2023 you got a bunch of grant revenues, in particular federal grant revenues. So you didn't get them again in 24. So that's the big reversal there. your expenditures uh in your general fund dropped about $32,000 uh for the year ending June 30, 2025 compared to an increase for the year ending June 30, 2024 of about 2.8 million and that is the same uh cause as your revenues. So that was all those uh grant revenues in particular. I believe there was ARPA and some and a housing grant that came in. So that was that money going out. So that was the big reversal there. Moving on to your water and sewer fund. Um you had sufficient current assets to cover your current liabilities in the water sewer fund 1.06 times uh at June 30, 2025 compared to 1.21 times the year before you had operating income of $3.4 million

uh that for the for 2025 compared to $3.8 million in 24. Um, after we take into account your nonoperating items, your net income was $923,000 compared to about 1.8 the prior year. In terms of cash, you had about 3.28 months of cash on hand at the end of the year compared to 3.99 months the prior year. Your revenues in your water and sewer fund decreased about $10,000 uh from 24 to 25 compared to an $876,000 increase the prior year. Your expenditures went up about $318,000 uh compared to a $34,000 increase the prior year. And if we look at your cash in the water and sewer fund, it went down about $47,000 uh during the year ending June 30, 2025 compared to a $291,000 increase the prior year. Uh so I know that's a lot of numbers to throw at you in a short period of time and everything, but uh but basically the audit itself went really well and you got um the opinions that you would like to have gotten on all the things that we were looking at. So, that's the good news. As far as these numbers go, I don't have any concerns um having gone through them or anything like that. The one minor area for for improvement that you might want a little more working capital. We're getting a little closer to that three months, but with the way you're using your um operating uh line of credit uh combined with the cash that you have, you're in a pretty good position. So, nothing I would be too concerned about. Um if anybody has any questions, I'm going to try to those for you.

So, our bar bond rating should be in good shape, right? That is a little bit outside of my scope. But I mean, if you go and buy our revenue, um, as I have no concerns in in terms of your revenue and and of course it depends on what kind of bond you're talking about. If you're talking about water sewer, it gets a little more specific about whether it's a general obligation bond or revenue bond or something like that. Um, so, u, those you tend to look in a lot more, uh, micro detail than than the level we're talking about here. Uh, but I had no concerns looking at your financials. Well, thank you very much. We appreciate all your hard work and your diligence and giving us a clean bill of health.

No, no problem at all. Uh, myself and Mr. Tucker are, you know, just down the road. If you all think of any questions, your staff have our contact information, so feel free to contact us at any time. if you if you think of something later on. Appreciate it. Thank you much. Thanks.

We will move on now uh with public comment time and uh we have uh one person actually um signed up for uh public comment. That's David Fulton. And Mr. Fton, if you would approach the podium. David Fulton, Pearl Avenue. In the past three weeks, I have witnessed a couple of incidents here in the town of Marian. And maybe, Mr. Testament, if I could address you. You can't address him. Address me.

Well, uh what is the process for funeral possession or I mean far as police officer at traffic light the reason I'm asking if I have seen funeral possession proceeding through the traffic light and then impatient people trying to cut cut in if they're called they can't be there state code that says you cannot disrupt Okay. But as far as having an officer at a traffic light, there

we just simply don't have the manpower. That is nothing but a courtesy a courtesy thing. It's not mandated. Normally, unless it's round, the county does it. We just

Okay. All right. Thank you. And there is uh no one else listed under public comment. Um I will ask if there's anyone here that wishes to speak. Um now's your chance. And seeing no one, I will close public comment time. We will move on with council reports. And uh we will start with uh Vice Mayor Gates.

Yes. Uh the budget committee met last week and finalized did not quite finalize it. There are some items in the uh community giving that are still up in the air. Uh I think Mr. Cornet is going to work on having someone from public radio public TV come and present a uh proposal for us to donate $10,000 to public television. I I thought it was advertising and it was seven two options. One was $7,000, one was 14,000 and gentlemen will be here at the next meeting. Okay. Okay.

That was one thing that we were did not finalize. Uh there's some other things that you can look at in the uh community things. Uh please look at those, but other than that, the budget was pretty pretty well. I think it'll go out sometime. Yes. So, um I'll do a town manager presentation of the budget at the next meeting. Okay. Um and copies will be available. Then we'll have a public hearing at the first meeting in June. There can be any questions. Then we'll shoot for dodge for the second meeting. And I have nothing further. All right. Thank you, Vice Mayor. Councilwoman Spencer. No,

Councilman May. April 24th, I attended the walking barn quilt trail presented by the enrichment uh re resource program hosted by Miss Farley. And it was a fantastic evening. It was a lot of people downtown. Um just very nice. That's it. Thank you, sir. Councilman Carter,

only thing I've got is the uh new physician assistant class comes Wednesday. Uh the sixth, it's so largest PA class I think we've ever had, 40. And be held I think at noon out at the school reception. So, anybody who wants to come, just bring a covered dish and come on. Noon on Wednesday. Okay. Um, Wednesday the 6th. Yeah. It didn't show up in my calendar. Yeah. As as that I verified with Mr. Graham the other day and Okay. He sort of he said, "Yeah, I believe." Yeah, it is the six like that. I said, "I think so, Tom. Yeah." Okay.

That's that's the word that I got in a text from his secretary a while back. I'll change that a little bit later. Anything else, sir? No, not for me.

Okay. Um, well, okay. Uh, that leads us to the mayor's report. And the mayor's report, I I also walked up and down the street. I got a nice character made at the uh quilt uh walk presentation, which Miss Farles did very, very well. And uh all of the people that made that happen, that was great. Um, in reverse order, I just went to the kids fishing tournament out here at Riverbend. What a great facility and what a great group carrying that on. Thanks to the Maran PD for uh that. It was a little chilly, but I saw some fish come out of that river that was as long as my arm. That's no lie. But uh also attended a breakfast um at the uh American Legion. Uh that was the first Saturday of every month that they have a breakfast there contribution uh only. So uh you give what you can and you get more than you can possibly eat. If you haven't been there, you should go to that. Um I uh unfortunately missed the Arbor Day celebration at the middle school. Um life prevents sometimes. Um I'm sure that that went very well and Mr. Archbald carried on. Um if anyone was here that wants to describe that um I'm sure that it went very well and uh that will be the end of the mayor's report unless there's anything that anybody wants to ask. We will move on with the attorney's report.

So I did receive a letter today in regards to Appalachin Natural Gas Distribution Company. That distribution company serves the counties of Lee, Wise, Dickson, Canon, Russell, Hazel, and Carol County. And they are asking for a rate reduction for an entity Crofresh LLC doing business as plucked. That is a greenhouse facility in Carol County that is estimated to produce 250 jobs for Carroll County. If the town of Marian was in opposition to that, we would have to notify them tomorrow or the next day because a hearing would occur the following week.

What does the company do? What natural gas? So the so so the company is willing to give them a rate reduction. Yes. But it doesn't as we know now it doesn't affect our rate. They they do not have service in Smith County. Well, they don't have it. So, so there's no reason to us. So, why would we?

We're just given that opportunity. Yeah. because the state corporation commission required that it be sent out and they since the prior governor awarded somewhere around a hundred million for this project. They have been paying that based on the current fee but have said that they need their cost reduced. And so that that was filed by Appalachian Natural Gas Distribution Company with the state corporation commission.

Okay. I'm going to defer to our town manager and ask for any insight on this that council may take any action. Um I spoke with Mr. Finnick about this earlier and um as he explained it's a it's a situation that as a neighboring county we were given notification on. It's not something that we know that's going to impact rates to our citizens and it's not something that's going to adversely affect the town. So be my suggestion to to allow them to move forward with that opposition from the town. We don't have a dog in the fight, do we? No, it would not affect our rates. No.

Thank you for informing us about that, though. Um, it's nice to know what's going on out there in the world, even if it doesn't affect us greatly. Uh, anything else, sir? That's all. Okay. Um, we will continue with staff reports. And the first person I see on staff reports is, uh, Ken Heath. Ken Heath.

Thank you, your honor. A couple things for your calendar. National Day of Prayer is Thursday, first Thursday in May at noon at flight. That's something I've done the past several years since association uh broke up a while back together, but we'll still be doing that uh in front of town hall here on lunch hour. So, anybody wants to come, we'd love to have you. May the 15th, uh Blazing Scoops is sponsoring a downtown carnival for the kids up and down uh Hurricane Alley and Iron Street Mall. Coordinate that with Tony and uh with Andrew. And then also Saturday on the 16th of May from 4 to7 Rich Valley Presbyterian Church, there's going to be a fundraiser dinner for Miss Hayes. Pork loin, slo beans, dessert as a fundraiser for Miss Hayes. So I encourage everybody to be able to take advantage of that.

Where will that be again?

At Rich Valley Presbyterian Church. That's on Saturday the 16th. On my official part of the agenda, uh I included in there a summary of the small business loan pool. Andrew had asked about that being the new town manager. So, we kind of summarized that and gave it to him. You guys know the details on that. We got $100,000 from USDA back in 2011 and we have turned that over 64 times now uh for loans for businesses. We've had some that have not paid. Those that have not paid, we have taken to court. Uh and everybody we've taken to court, we've been successful in securing uh judgment against those. With Andrew's expertise and with Mr. Phoenix help. We're starting to collect some of those uh that haven't been uh collected upon because after we've gotten judgment, it's kind of stalled, but they're helping out with that. So, uh that continues to be refunded uh refunded as far as money back in the the coffers coming back in through that to continue the program. Uh to ensure the continued viability of the loan pool to continue to assist new and expanding businesses, we recommend a couple changes on page two in your packet. I would like to see the credit score go up to 675. We lowered it some back during uh the pandemic, but we're out of that now. Would like to see that raised back up. Um would also like to see it codified that the businesses must maintain a current town business license throughout the life of the note, not just when they open. That businesses must open or expand as applied within 60 days of loan award with the possibility of extension if approved if somebody's having some problems with renovations. We had just one recently and they're working on day jobs and then trying to redo that. So, we want to make sure that people are are actually taking the money and opening up businesses here in town and not just taking the money. The businesses must repay the the balance of the loan within 60 days of closure or relocation out of town with the possibility of extension if approved. So, if somebody opens up a business here uh and they decide they're going to get a better business location

out in the county or a different county and they close, that whole note will be called due. And then any loans delinquent for 60 days will now initiate the court collections proceeding without further notice. We stretch that to 90 days right after the pandemic. 90 days is allowing people to be able to accommodate almost $1,000 accumulated almost $1,000 before we uh send them notice. We always have sent warnings after the 30 days just a nice hey don't forget about your payment. 60 days we've sent a little more stern notice that you're 60 days late. Once you get to 90 we'll take you to court. At 90 days, we've sent a notice of taking to court. But we have uh been working with people to to keep from taking people to court. That's the worst day on the job is having to take somebody I have worked with to help start a business to court. But I'm also very jealous of the money that the taxpayers have put into this. So, we will uh continue to collect that money. So, with those changes that I've talked to Andrew about, we're going to implement those uh and and uh and hopefully continue the loan pool for as long as you guys want to continue it because it certainly has been a good thing for us. Uh to that note, I have a gentleman that has applied for a small business loan at Obscure Fabric. He's located at the bottom of the street in between the McNeels, McNeel Furniture and Movement. and he's got stuff like I have in my office, but he's selling his stuff as opposed to me collecting it. Uh Dakota Ray is with us back here tonight if you have any questions for him. He's been doing this for a period of time now. He's finally got a retail shop on Main Street. It's a cool place. Uh it's kind of like those folks that like to tour antique malls. It's a good place to go in and look around and while you're there, he likes you to buy something. So, uh if you have any questions, Dakota is happy to answer it. He certainly meets the credit score uh requirement. It has been taken to our loan committee and it has been approved by the loan committee and that loan is up for your consideration for tonight.

All right. Thank you, Mr. Heath, and thank you for everything that you do for Marion as well. I need a vote on that one. You don't mind. I'm going to uh see what the pleasure of council is on this. I think we're on the same page. Just I'm getting ahead of music. Okay. council. Uh would anyone uh care to ask any questions about this note or make any motions towards it? I make a motion we approve the loan request for Dakota Ray. I will second that motion. Thank you sir. And uh now if there's any further discussion if not all in favor of approving the loan and it is unanimous.

Thank you very much. And also just for note for the folks watching on TV and for you guys a reminder that this is a personal note that goes to Mr. Ray like the other ones do for use specifically for the business. If worse comes to worse and he fails in the business or closes up, he personally is continued uh to be liable for that to to repay us. So closing the business does not absolve you from paying that back. And like I said, we've been very successful in collecting those. Thank you all. Really quickly, yes, sir. Do you mind to just go through kind of the application process to finish?

Sure. Uh what folks do that interest to open up? You have to be opening up a business in the town of Marian. It's a pretty extensive loan application packet that we got from USDA that we use. There's certifications that you've not been debarred with any federal money, that you're a US citizen. Uh that you do a one-page business plan. It's pretty short business plan that has some of your financials and things on there. You've previously seen those. And then after we had that question come up about whether that should be public or not, you guys just get the recommendation at this point. Uh we send that whole packet along with a credit score to our loan committee which is made up of two active bankers and two former bankers. They review that. Some of them have questions. John Lincoln's one of those. John always is great about asking questions uh and goes through it pretty pretty uh pretty good. So we answer his questions. Then when we get back those responses, then I bring a recommendation to you guys for your consideration. You guys are are the last the stalwart of that. You get to make the decision whether we give the loans or not.

Thank you, sir. Thank you very much.

Thank you. The other two things I have in there just for your information, we received annual assessment report and then the private investment report from Virginia Main Street as we finish up um the calendar year for 2025. And you can see on there pretty proud of the fact that uh the jobs created through the program. They've tracked this for the past couple of years. Uh and they certainly we've done this for 31 years, but they like to do this and show you year to year about what the program brings back. The five-year leveraging for the local budget that the town of Marian puts in here uh for all investment uh for every dollar you put in uh it brings back the ratio of budget to all investments a$15. for private investment, 70 cents for public investment, about 34 cents is what we're able to to spend to be able to bring the results back. And it shows you total attendees for the events cumulative through the year. Um the housing units we place in service, a couple of those in the past year, and then the volunteer hours, the estimated market value of that time, uh even in a small community last year is $28,000 or over five years, $1.2 million of volunteer time that have been invested in the program. So, we appreciate the volunteers that can help do that. We appreciate your council support and appreciate the business owners for having businesses like Dakota down here keeping us going and Avery Tridge. Not Utah, not so much. You don't have you can. We'll work on Carter. Carter is the night mayor. So, it helps.

Thank you all. Thank you, sir. Thanks, Ken. And I believe we will continue now with the town managers report.

Yes, sir. had a few things I wanted to touch on this evening. Uh the first one was going to be kind of a carryover from the last meeting. So I had uh said that we've chosen CHA engineering for our Cal Drive rec park architecture engineering work. The time the last meeting we were waiting on a proposal for them for a master plan submission. So, in the time between this meeting and last, we did get that and it was a proposal $47,200 to work on or create the master plan for that space for us. Again, I think they're an incredibly qualified firm. Not only do they they have a staff or a department that is specific to recreation, parks, and fields like you're seeing here, um, but they also have some other staff to help with grant proposals and maybe some alternative alternative revenue sources for the project. So, uh this 47,200 um uh is what was proposed by them and it'll be paid for by funds that have already been appropriated by council for the park project. There might be some grant funds that we could uh could chase for this, but um unless you all have any questions about that, we'll be moving forward with move forward with CHA engineering for this project.

I'll make a motion that we accept CHA's proposal for the master plan to the tune of $47,200. Second. All right. Any discussion, council? Then I'm pleased with the I I hear that's a pretty good number, actually. Well, I I was expecting more just in my own head. So maybe maybe it's whatever it is. Yeah. All right. I think the value is going to be. So uh if there's no further discussion, all in favor and it is unanimous.

All right. And I will continue to update everyone as we move forward notification out to them that this has been accepted, agreed to and we'll start the process moving forward. Um secondly, in the packet you will have seen a an Atmos Gas franchise agreement. This is something that um for every utility provider the town has a franchise agreement with. Um I had uh put this in there for review. Like I said, it's it's common language. It's been the same uh information for for years past. It's just something that we needed to update. There's some new players. Um do you all have any questions or anything about that? This is Mark, have you reviewed it?

I have. So they're in reviewing this with Tony Muny on page 23 of 26 section 9. It refers that they would execute a bond with good and sufficient charity in favor of the town in the sum of $10,000. That is a figure that has been in place for 20ome years. The cost of asphalt which is probably if we had to go in and complete something, they open up a trench and don't resurface the roads has gone up uh tremendously. So, um it the sum what we discussed as being a more reasonable bond would be $25,000. uh to change this bond amount. Is there anything other than a vote of counsel that's necessary?

No, it's Well, we have to get them to agree to it, right? Well, of course, they would have to agree to it, but they're the ones that have been pushing for a franchise for years. Okay. So, I guess my thought would be contact them back and say we want that amount. We wanted an amount of 25,000. So, council could approve that and then They either come back and say, "Yes, we agree. We'll sign it." And they've got a limited time to get that back to us. I believe 30 days. Sure. How long? So, is it easier to that they would have to

I wouldn't think that they would they would b at 25,000. I would I think they're probably their bonding is probably tremendously more than that. Yeah. I was thinking more than that. If council wants it more, well, and what this takes care of is if we had to go in and complete their work and they're not have to leave gas leaking, they might put in the new pipes. The issue probably would be not resurfacing the roads if they cut over. We'll get you up at to cover any possibility 50 grand.

Council, what's that? Council. Sure. I'll um whatever number you all feel comfortable with, I'll be happy to reach out because they've gotten by with 10,000 for 20 plus years. They shouldn't bulk at 50 grand bond, I wouldn't think. But they don't have to uh buy a specific bond for this. They're already bonded way beyond this. They're probably already bonded. Yeah. So this would just amount just specific to the relationship. So I'm comfortable with 50, Larry. Okay.

I think that's my opinion. 50 grand. I'd rather have a little excess and then be way under because good grief they've got the benefit of that for 20 plus years. Well, of course the price has gone up. So do we have a is that a second, Larry? Well, there's a motion. It's a motion 50,000. I'll second it. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Now, do I need to reward it? Word it, Cindy, or My question is, do we okay it with that amount and have them come back and say that's fine within 30 days?

So, the only thing that we're asking to be changed is changing 10,000 to 50,000. Everything else is what they've had before. So that that would be the only change. So do we go ahead and approve it now or do we wait for them to say we're okay with 50,000? You can go ahead and approve it and then they either accept it or turn it down. Turn it down. Okay. Do I need to rework that? We haven't voted on the 50,000 yet.

Yeah. So, just to clarify then, you're saying to change page 23, section 9, from 10,000 to 50,000. Page 23 is in our packet. Um, the pages aren't numbered, so I'm not sure what the page number is, but it is section nine. Yes. Yeah, that's that's my only thing about the motion just to change the dollar amount and then we'll uh tenatively pass it if they approve that in a second motion.

Okay. All in favor of this change. So we change 50,000. Now we entertain a second motion to go ahead and uh agree to accept this if they agree to it. I'll make that motion. Second. All in favor? So that dispenses with that and lets them decide which I'm sure they'll go ahead and take that more sir.

Okay. So this is my favorite part of my job to be able to brag on staff a little bit for going above and beyond this couple of cases. So um there are a couple things I wanted to touch on and share some pictures of. So, Chief Keasling got in touch with me last week and sent some photos. There was a fire in Whitfield at the Bob Evans restaurant and Fire Department requested use of our ladder trunk. Um, so Chief Easley and a couple of his folks went up and took our equipment up to assist our neighbor. Tony, is there a chance to turn the screen towards us for just a minute?

I saw the results Saturday night of that fire. It's total total destruction. I thought it was a vacant building. Was that arson or not sure? Do you I'm sorry. I didn't have a question. Um wasn't that a vacant building? Yes. Do they know what happened? It was rumored that there were some unhoused people. Yeah. And that's what a guy told me Saturday night at the restaurant up there. He figured it. He's pretty sure that's what happened. It's total destruction at Richard.

Yes, sir. Absolute total destruction. So, thanks for going out and helping truck. Does Whiffle have a liner truck? They have one, but um I think they needed additional assistance. I asked

they had theirs there. They just think that was a pretty good size building and they requested the second. So, just wanted to share these congress on the fire department a little bit for kind of going above and beyond neighbors. Um, the next couple photos that I wanted to to chat about were some things that have been going on as far as parks and record concern. Um, the first one is going to be Ferris. I believe her daughter in the rec department went over to the Steel Park playground and did some u some renderings and some sensory uh drawings and things on the little walking path that goes behind it. She did this outside of work hours um and and did it to the benefit of the town. So, wanted to share a couple pictures for that, possibly video some of the things that they did just kind of pay that for the kids.

And where is that? I guess

this is at the steel playground across from the car school. That's cute. She's very clever, isn't she? did this on our current time. So very very much appreciated. See what pictures are here. Um so lastly, these are some mosaics that were created at the Henderson School um by by different folks. I think there were u some some staff that worked on these, but there were some participants in drug court that worked on these and and just kind of folks from the community and all walks of life. So, uh basically there was a kind of a blank canvas there and um these mosaics were created with broken glass and pottery and um they were made and then we used them to wrap the concrete pilings over at the the town. So, brought some live and to the otherwise just concrete barrier there, but not only provided some some color, but but also kind of was a community art project. So, thought these were really cool.

So, did they go over there to do them? So, they actually created them at the Henderson School and The mats themselves were there were mats essentially uh like on a mosaic backing. So then they were were adhesive was used to tie them to the the existing barriers when they were created they were on a flat sheet and we used to wrap what was there. Nice. Yep. That's fantastic ter. Thank you.

Absolutely. being the defense council on the recovery board. I I would like to thank the panel for allowing for recovery court participants to so participate that helps bring in self-esteem and that life that their substance use disorder has taken away self.

Absolutely. So that is that is neat. And then lastly, Tony had done some work with the prison and we've gotten the offender crew back. So, they're back as of last week and they're working on a few things. The first project being the the red part. So, we've got some painting there. We've got the carpet ripped up, the adhesives up, and I guess later this week we'll be working on polishing the floor and doing all that. that's really proven to be beneficial to the town in the past. So, we're excited to have that back and knock out some of these projects. But, um the only other thing I've got is you may have seen when you came in across the street. I'd love to to take a break uh in between the closure of regular session and start a close session for anybody that would like to go across the street with our new fire truck and our new blender. Um,

I think that'd be great. We'll just go ahead and uh if Miss Spencer will bring us into uh close. We can't go into close session yet. We need to do it at the tail end of the regular session. Yeah. Then we come back. We'll go into close. So, we just need to recess for now. Oh, okay. I make a motion we recess. That That's fine. I thought that we could go into recess between close session, but close session. All in favor of recess. Thank you.

Second. We have a motion and a second to reconvene. All in favor of reconvening. Maring town council is now back in open session. Now, does the Marin Town Council wish to move to close session? Yes. Yes. I make that motion we go into close session 2.2-3711 2-3711A3 real estate. We need a second to that motion. Second. Motion. Second. All in favor of going into close session. So, mayor and town council now is

31. Misspension. I make a motion we come out of close session 2.2-3712 real A3 real estate. We have not discussed anything other than real estate. Second motion and second. All in favor poll. Yes. May yes. Spencer, yes. Gates, yes. Yes. Maring town council is now in open session. Is there anything else that needs to come before the Marin Town Council? Like to make a motion to adjurnn. Second.

Motion to adjurnn and second. All in favor? Marin Town Council.