Mayor and Council - Regular Meeting

Smyrna Town Council meeting, August 3rd, about to convene.

Chief, please lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all.

Please join us for a moment of silence. Thank you. Please have a seat.

Amanda, would you please take the roll? Yes. Good evening, everybody.

Good evening.

All right. Councilman Drew?

Here.

Mayor Gott? Here. Councilman Miles?

Here.

Councilman Olson? Here. Councilman Pope? Here. Councilman Reams? Here. And vice mayor, Dr. Upshur. Present.

Great, thank you. Thank you. At this time, if there are any additions or deletions to be made to the publish agenda.

I'd like to make a motion that we accept the publish agenda in its current form.

Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? Motion is carried. Consent agenda.

I make a motion to accept the consent agenda for council meeting minutes for July 20th, 2026. I second.

Is there any discussion? All those in favor?

Aye.

Those opposed? Motion is carried to accept the consent agenda. This time we'll have presentation and public comment. You have three minutes from the time you take the podium. Please give us your name and Barrett, you'll time us?

Sure.

Okay. Is there anyone that would like to make comment at this time?

Yeah, hi, good evening. I'm here, Robinson. I'd like to, I wasn't here last month. So I'd like to... No, if anyone is here from like the electric department or the, anyone?

Oh, it's Jason.

Okay. Last month we had an explosion in my development and it was severe. It happened right behind my girlfriend's house. I'm approximately 13 houses down. It shook my house. And I can't imagine what she went through. And I thought the flash that we got, two flashes, it was horrendous. The entire area was in darkness. I have to say this, 38 minutes we had. You guys are incredible. i really have to say thank you because everybody we all came outside and everybody's like we just went food shopping and the stuff in the deep freeze is just dead at this point but 38 minutes thank you very much i really really appreciate it thank you thank you thank you any other comment at this time

It's not really a comment, it's a question. About a year ago, we had bios come through and lay all kinds of wiring. When is bios going to be available?

We are awaiting a response from them. I reached out to them a couple of weeks ago to get an update. They should be close to offering. At first, it was just going to be Internet service, but it looks like it's going to be Internet and TV. Jason, I believe. Excuse me, Tori, did we not do a agreement with them yet or are we still working on that?

We were just talking about that today that we do not have the updated information. um, agreement with them as we are in the process of signing or working on signing of the new Comcast agreement. Um, we have not gotten there, so we will be probably reaching out.

Yep. So we'll be reaching back out to them.

Like my neighborhood wants it. And they're all like, when, when is it? When is it? When is it? So I figured I'd ask at the meeting.

Yep. No worries.

Thank you. Thank you. So Vicki, moving forward, that question definitely would need to be directed to the town manager. Okay. So he would be the one that would be reviewing the contracts and signing the contracts.

Okay. I wasn't sure. I figured, start here.

This is a place to ask, for sure.

Anyone else? Okay. This concludes. Yes.

Hi. Hi. My name is Chanel Thompson, and today I wanted to bring to your attention about fees. regarding the utility bills with the town of Smyrna. For me personally, because I've known Steve for myself, with the late fees, they have been extremely outrageous. I have spoken to multiple people about this concern with this late fee, and I'm always told that this is how it is. There is no way of adjusting it. And there's no way of changing that. What's concerning to me is that the national average for late fees, it ranges in between about 1% and 10%. But for municipal, it's about 5%. The town of Smyrna is 7%. I ran into a situation where, and it was my mistake, I was moving too fast. I worked from home. I was making sure things was, like, prepared for my son, you know, getting him out to work. his extracurricular activities. My husband, he was like, okay, go ahead and take care of us. I was going ahead and making a payment. I made a mistake and fat fingered the last number of the account. I hit a one instead of a seven. I reconciled that immediately and made an additional payment, same exact timeframe, about two minutes from each other. After I did that, I called, I forgot exactly the payment process, a place I can't think of it off the top of my head. And I let them know I made a mistake. I need to go ahead and cancel it. Once it's processed, it cannot be canceled. Okay, fine. I went ahead and I processed it again because the last thing I want is for them to cut off my utility service because I understand. You know, it is a small town. Things are different. I'm from New Jersey, North New Jersey. So I'm used to things being ran differently. But we're here now. I'm glad that I'm here and I love where I live. So after that was done, they told me that it was returned due to an incorrect account number, which is correct. It was not returned due to a return check fee. However, I was still charged fifty five dollars. From the month of February until now, I've been charged a total of $333 in late fees for utilities. They let me know that what they can do is arrange a budget billing, which they will divide the total amount of payment within four months. And then you will pay the current payment each month. So whatever that is divided by the total amount plus the bill. Fine, no problem. For me, that's not going to work. And the reason why it's not going to work is because if I've already been charged $333, I don't understand why they can't be in the grace to where that could just be subtracted. And then I wouldn't have a utility bill that's owed anyhow. However, if that's not the practice, that's fine. But what my concern is, if I was a woman who was on a fixed income and I didn't have the ability to pay that bill, I would be in a world of trouble. So the reason why I stand here today is because I have people who live next door to me and they're afraid to come forward and say anything about the utility bills because they're not in a situation that I am to be able to just go ahead and pay the fees. I wish that there was another way around it. The reason being is because of the administration that is in office today has no intentions on providing any more fundings to people who are low income that are unable to pay those bills. So when that goes away, my question is, is what does the town of Smyrna has in place to help those families? That's what my question is today. I haven't really had time to come to any other meetings, but I definitely will be coming I understand that you guys can only control this so much, but I think this is something that should be brought to everyone's attention. Not only that, this will be the last thing that I leave. After talking to someone, they found out in the month of May that my meter wasn't running correctly. So they came down and changed it. No one called me and advised me that they were going to be doing this. I just happened to be home. The man was kind enough to knock on the door and let me know he was changing it. He said, your power will be out for about a minute, and we'll go ahead and change it. I just feel like when I talk to them, it's not of a concern. Even though I continue to just pay it and take care of the balance, what if I wasn't able to? There's nothing set forth for a person who don't fit under those income guidelines.

Town manager, do you want to address that?

Absolutely. And honestly, my staff is completely aware of a situation where if somebody has a problem, not only have as I came over here, I brought a staff member with me. And what her job is, is she's there to kind of facilitate people that have issues and to help them walk through it. There's also a payment process that is put in place. And then there's also an option to talk to me and I can actually try to help out with some other things as well. but it's i don't know how it didn't make it to that point so i'm not sure where the miscommunication was but you're more than welcome to come in and have a conversation with me and i can promise you make sure that we get to work out okay thank you um it's just you know it's there it's in place i promise and we she's in the lobby as well okay thank you thank you thank you thank you how do you spell your first name is tom chanel c-h-a-n-e-l-l it's actually my grandmother's maiden name

Thank you very much. Thank you for joining us this evening as well. Is there anyone else? This concludes presentation and public comments. Non-agenda items. Chief?

All right, you guys have my monthly report. If anybody has any questions, always happy to answer those. I'd like to thank those of you on council that took the time out of your busy schedules to come to our JPA graduation. Very impressed with that group, very impressed with my staff that put that on. Got tremendous feedback from the community and all the families that participated. So obviously that's something we'll hope to do again next year. Update you on our recruit in the Wilmington Academy. No news is good news. All is well. Training continues. Our dispatch process just closed. We have almost 200 applicants. That's almost an overwhelming number. So the next phase for them will be an online skills-based test that they will have to complete on camera. And then based on that, we'll set the metrics for what the cutoff is. And then those folks that make the cutoff will move on to the next phase of the hiring process. The reason for the dispatch process is one of our longtime dispatchers, Dispatcher Caro, is going to be retiring late this fall. We're all sad to see him go, but we wish him well in retirement. So we have to fill his seat when he leaves us. Our next event is our bike rodeo on August 20th from 12 to 2. It'll be in the back parking lot of Citizens Hose Company right across the street there. Go on to any of our websites, social media, register. Our bike unit will be there. There's going to be an obstacle course. There'll be some giveaways, some safety tips, stuff like that. Should be a really good opportunity for the kids. The last thing I have for you is we had our first virtual training on the red light cameras. I know some of you have seen them being constructed. Those at Duck Creek and 13 are complete. Once we have all of our user agreements signed and we sign off on the test images and test videos that they sent us, Dell Dot will put up electric signs warning everyone. that this intersection is being monitored by cameras for red light violations, and then there will be a grace period where everyone that is violated gets a warning in the mail. Once that grace period is over, tickets start.

Is that monitored by state police because it's state road, or does that fall into your laps?

13 and Duck Creek is us.

So the cameras themselves, right, is just for red light detection, or they also use for license plate readers?

Nope, only for the red light. So they're not reading any license plate unless you commit a red light violation. Then takes a picture of your license plate for the back end for us to say, yes, that tag belonged to that car that committed that violation.

Typically, they have to take a picture of the car in front of the stop line after the lights turn red. And then it takes another picture of the car from behind, which gets the license plate because Delaware's only got the back one. And when you get it, I've had two of them in the last 20 years. I don't know what the fines are anymore because it's been... They're a lot. 10 or 15. 137.50 total.

Not that I got one.

Members of my house. I've learned my lesson, and I don't like making those donations.

He is correct. It's three pictures. It's one prior to the stop bar, one if you were beyond it while the light is red, and then one of the license plate, and they also send a 10-second video of the violation. Obviously, there is human intervention. We have to be the final Smyrna police officers or the final sign-off to say, yes, this violation occurred, and it belongs to this vehicle.

Is there another intersection that's going to be put in place?

There's three total. As when we first brought the ordinance, I told you, it's that one I just covered. It is 13 at the Route 1, Exit 114 interchange. And it is also Route 13 southbound and Carter Road. These are all delved out selected locations. We had nothing to do with it. It's based on crash data.

Which is South Smyrna Highway 1 entrance?

Yes, sir. You can't miss them, sir. They're by the Wawa and they just popped up.

Yeah, the Smyrna Diner or the Wawa that intersection there.

And just to clarify, when we brought up this ordinance, either the state police was going to do it and we get no revenue or we had the ordinance and we get some revenue.

Okay, that's correct. If we could choose not to participate, the cameras were going to go up anyways because they're state roads and that's Del Nass decision. And it was a matter of do we want to get involved and get some revenue off of it or do we want to let that revenue go to the state?

So it's South, Northern, Wawa, and the other ones where?

13, Southbound and Carter. Northbound does not have a cabinet. Oh. And that's, again, just based on crash data.

Is that all?

That's it.

Thank you, sir. Yeah, manager?

Just kind of following up with him, we also have had a few kind of community engagement things. We just recently had a A very interesting session that Kate put on for death and benefits, but it was very well attended. Well, over 50 people that attended it to talk about, you know, the planning of what happens next. It was. So well attended that we will be hosting a second one here soon. So she is in the process of getting that up and together. Just like was brought up about the electric outages, obviously with the heat and everything that was going on, we did have a few of them and the staff was able to get out and get on top of them pretty quick. So again, I want to say kudos to them for everything that they've done. Since the change has come, you probably some of you might have seen that code enforcement is now working on weekends. So they are out and about. We are diligently making sure that we are enforcing some of the town codes to stay on top of things. And, you know, one of the biggest reasons is is. Builders don't stop on weekends, but our ordinance is to prevent those things. So we have been able to address some of the issues that have been kind of happening on the weekends and just having contacts. And the police department has absolutely helped with making sure that that stuff is done. Walt has finally got us up and running for a few things. So we have our we finally have our app up and running. And I've seen it. It's really, it's live. So, you know, we will probably start to see that stuff coming out as well. I don't, one's like full live for everybody.

Once I can meet with the other departments, finalize workflow, probably midweek. I just got to meet with a couple of department managers just to figure out where requests and stuff, where they get routed and probably midweek.

Of this week?

And again, that's going to be something that's going to be able to help out with a lot of different things, a lot of the complaints and stuff like that. Instead of fumbling through things or worrying about where I'm going to call, you've got an app, you download it, it's right there. You can take the pictures, you can do the communication and everything that you need to do. And that's going to get you to where you need to get with us. And also, you know, it'll help with follow up and stuff. Yeah.

Thank you. Once we go live, everything will be posted on the website and Facebook will link on how to download it. I'll probably have a little video of walkthrough, how to submit a request, the different links associated with the app. So it won't just be put out and nothing set. So we'll announce it. We'll give some training or how-tos on how to use it.

Thank you. Can we send that out in the bill? Is that all? The electric bill? Would you like to mention it in there?

We can.

Yeah.

We have.

Yeah.

Public Works has been working pretty hard to make sure that they stay up on top of our street maintenance. So I think we've gotten four or five different streets in town that have repaid. Thank you. They are working hard. Again, it should follow the town's plan that we put together yearly for our street maintenance. But again, we also have provided, we were lucky enough to get a program called Violetics that as we drive around town and analyze the streets. So we're able to kind of pick the ones that are probably in a little more worse condition than we can visually see it. So like I said, Jason's been on top of that, making sure that that stuff gets done. So you've, you've seen the crews out getting that stuff taken care of. And it's that time of the year. So we are, we are on budget season. We are about to start with our meetings with staff on Wednesday. You know, we will be in contact with the, Finance Committee, so things will start to get moving. And with that being said, I'm excited to finally announce that we are so close to the end when it comes to our final piece. We're about to complete 25. Very nice. By September, we will complete 25. We will be off the boo-boo list for DMAT, right? I know. And this will be the first time that we've actually been up to date in probably the last four or five years.

And thank you to you and the staff, you, Donner, all of you back there. First, Kathleen, she always hides from me. It's inevitable. It's the eye contact thing.

She's hiding. I can see her.

It is truly inevitable. A huge honor and kudos to you guys for making a difference of getting our audits for the last four years caught up and in a timely fashion. This administration has done a tremendous job. Thank you so much. You make us look good.

And lastly, it is coming up on that time where we need to start having discussions about our comp plan. Every five years, we have to have a five-year review. So conversations have started. Barrett and I will have some conversations probably here this week. A little bit more about that, what's going on. I spoke with the state planning. We just spoke on Friday about what's going on. doing what the next steps are moving forward, then we'll put some stuff in front of you guys to kind of make a decision as far as where we go.

What plan, Tori?

Top plan.

Comprehensive plan. Comprehensive plan.

Which, you know, we'll decide whether or not we leave it the way it is for the remaining five years, whether we want to make some adjustments or whether we want to do a full review and redo and potentially start the clock over and get another time.

And the full review would give us an additional 10 years, correct?

Start the clock. So we have five years now to go to final review. We go, like, start all the way over now once we get it done. it gives us another 10 years.

Basically, just like a constant five-year cycle, right? So you adopt it, it's good for 10 years. At the midpoint, you're supposed to do an update. And so we're at the update point. We can either update it or we can just go through the whole process and do a new one. We should start the 10 years over. But then five years from now, we're going to be at the same question of update or redo it again.

This means we can't change it.

Every five years, we've got to deal with it.

Thank you so much. Thank you both. There is no old business, new business. Kendra, would you please take the podium and introduce yourself, of course, for those who don't.

First of all, just thank you so much for giving me a little bit of your time this evening. It's that time of year again, so I'm here to personally invite you to our annual dinner. It'll be held once again at Bally's on Wednesday, September 9th. We're starting a little earlier this year. We're starting at 4.30 with our networking hour. This event is a really great opportunity for you to connect with our leadership throughout the DMACC communities. You also hear important updates on the electric grid. We're once again having PJM, Vice President of Awesome Hub. He's going to be discussing the growing impact of data centers on the electric system. And also this year alone, DMACC tracked 44 different energy-related bills. So we're going to be updating you on that. We're also still actively advocating for our members on the state, regional, and federal issues that will affect our reliability and electric costs. We'll also have our award center, so we'll be recognizing some of your staff and the communities for various awards that you've received throughout the year. I do have hard copies. I know I've inundated several of you with many, many a copy, but if anyone would care for a hard copy of the invitation, I do have some with me today.

Thank you so much for joining us. I look forward to seeing you on the 9th. At this time, I'd like a motion to go into executive session to hold a strategy session involving legal advice from an attorney at law with respect to potential litigation.

I make a motion that we go into executive session.

Second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? Go into executive.

Make a motion.

I'd like to make a motion that we come out of executive session.

Second.

All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed?

I'd like to make a motion that we adjourn the meeting. Second.

All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, for coming out this evening.

Have a good night.