Council - Regular Meeting

We have a couple of public hearings scheduled for tonight and the first one is a special use permit on a homebased business. Um, does someone want to bring that information forward? Cool. Sorry, I'm the only one running cameras tonight. I'll get this, Mr. Ryan. All right, Todd. Thank you.

So, uh, as the mayor said, this is consideration of a special use permit for a homebased business. Uh, Mr. Ryan visited my office in late November to inquire about the process of operating a homebased business. Mr. Ryan lives at 140 L Street, which is currently owned by Willow Rose Properties LLC. I reached out to the property owner after the application was g uh was submitted to me and they granted Mr. Ryan full permission to operate a business from the property via email. 140 Lind Street is located in the R1 residential zoning and is surrounded by other homes. It is on the corner lot that fronts on Veteran Street and Lind Street with two accessory structures on the property. I explained to Mr. Ryan that a home office is permitted uh in a residential zone by right that no special use permit would be required. After speaking with Mr. Ryan a little bit longer, he mentioned that he would also like to have additional material located on the property as well, but I informed that we would not allow that to happen [clears throat] unless that was inside one of the accessory structures with the doors closed. So, it wouldn't uh negatively affect the the uh the R1 and the intent behind the R1 zoning. and he said he did want to pursue with this. Uh, in Mr. Ryan's application, the synopsis states that his business will be specialized in kitchen and bathroom remodeling, plumbing repairs, new and existing commercial and residential plumbing. He also stated that he would like to find a storefront at some point if his business is successful and [clears throat] if as it is currently operated from his home. Um, staff would like to recommend the council on this. uh if you do grant the u the special use permit that uh a current town of Marian business license must be obtained. Uh no on-site advertising, no excessive shipping and receiving, no excessive foot traffic or business being conducted on a property other than office work and only one vehicle allowed on the property at one time, one work vehicle. In other words,

if he's got a truck that's got a lot of plumbing equipment, stuff like that on it, uh, only one at a time. If he's business has got two or three trucks, we wouldn't want them all be there at the same time parked overnight. We would want them to come load what they got to have, go out and do the job in return. And that's all I got on the consideration. Council, do you have any questions? feedback. I'm sorry. When I [clears throat] when I mailed out the notices, I think I had one person uh uh call me who's actually here tonight. So,

and as it is a public uh hearing, is there anyone from the public that would like to speak to this? If if so. Um and then this is on the uh current business before us, the uh special use permit. Yes. Yes. Then please.

Hi, my name is Tom Hower. I live at 218 North Church Street. Um, I don't have any uh specific comments on this particular request, but I'm very cautious about granting uh zoning variances. I think that we need to preserve our res our communities, our neighborhoods. People purchase property with the expectation of how the the neighborhood will be maintained. This neighborhood has been constant for as long as it's been there. And uh I would encourage uh great caution uh in granting any special use permit uh that might violate the existing and the continual u use of properties um and respect the limitations that are in our zoning permit. Thank you very much. Thank you. [clears throat]

Speak or Oh, yes. Yes. Um Cameron, did you let him go first? Okay. Okay. Yes. U Mr. Ryan. All right. Thank you. I got a panel here for each of you all. Take one. It's just the uh handbook that we've written up here. I have one for each names, but truthfully doesn't matter. All the same information. Thank you. There you go. Thank you sir. Thank you.

If you have Deborah, you can leave it here and we'll make sure that she gets that. J on the Jim. mayorize.

Oh, okay.

I suck at public speaking. So, I apologize. I am All right. Just want to give a little backtory who I am. My name is William Ryan. Recently moved here from East North Carolina with my wife. My wife Alyssa Kelly is uh attending will be attending next week nursing school at Emory Henry. I myself was a graduate of Emry Henry as well back class of 2017. My wife was a foreman for the Navy for eight years and she decided fall in love to Mount that a try here for her education. Currently I'm a licensed master plumber in state of North Carolina working on getting my license uh here as well as my contractor's license so I can take on additional employees later this year. Uh currently this, you know, idea of a special use permit is really just so I can have mail delivered to the property and some material that was stored either in the basement or in the garage. Currently, it's just myself and a truck. I'm hoping to get to a point later this summer where I can bring in more employees. I have a couple trucks. Um I did see some vacancies as far as properties in town. However, the capital needed to get to those buildings are a little bit more than my current budget. We just sold our house and got the check in the mail today. So, I'm pretty excited about that. That will help pay for some of the equipment that's needed. As far as when you'll call our office, you'll be greeted by a friendly and customer service representative. We're striving to be at our appointments during the allotted time. The technician who arrives at your home or business

will be respectful of your situation. Always let you have let you know that he or she is there to help. Uh through careful process, we believe we have found some of the very best plumbers, including myself and other prospects here in the area that can continue to grow with this industry. I'm kind of touching base of what I'm hope to offer my P1 license in North Carolina allowed to do everything on its own. Uh commercial, residential, industrial, water, sewer, gas. Um if it's plumbing, we we touch it. Um, Virginia licenses are a little bit different as far as what's allowed. So, that's the reason why my license from remote Virginia won't transfer over. Um, some of the services we're going to offer is kitchen and bathroom remodeling, laundry room remodeling, faucet installation and repairs, disposal installation repairs, sewer main, water main, branch repairs, shower and tub repairs, electric water heater installation, septic tank distribution box, septic tank risers, sump pump, sewage pump, e pump, well pump installations and repairs. Um once my license does get passed with Richmond, um I will be able to do any relocation or new installations, plumbing or fixtures. I'm also been working towards getting my certification for backflow and fire sprinkler inspections. Um the only big question I have for you, and this goes for anybody in the community as well. We're trying to connect with other partners or other businesses because we want to specialize in kitchen and bathroom remodeling. My license only take over so much. an electrician, HVAC. I would definitely uh nice to know who other players in the area so maybe we can touch base, connect with them, help promote their business or partner with them as well. Um if there's any, you know, local hardware stores or cabinet bakers in in the area. Um I have some friends in the masses area. They have been friends with some local contractors there and some local menites to help with cabinet makers. Um, as far as questions for the community,

what HVAC and electric post do you guys know of? Um, what are the contractors that you go to in your area for home or business needs? Um, is there anything that you wish that a business would provide here in town that isn't currently being offered? That's right. Any questions? Um um I I I don't know if um it's time to uh close the public session and um I guess we can go ahead and Cameron Cameron still want to speak.

Cameron still wants to speak. Okay, we've got a couple more that want to speak and then uh if council has any questions, we'll open that to council.

Okay. My name is Cameron Wolf and I own the property in Jason at 130 L Street. In fact, I grew up there. My parents owned that and the house that this gentleman is getting ready to to put put an office in. I used to mow the yard and take care of that property. So, and I was there when the house was built. So, it's kind of me, but the main thing is it's R1 and we just want to keep it all. And I have a slight conflict because I was I'm a planning commission and we changed the the ordinance back in CO if you recall from just office to where he didn't need a permitter and they just have an office there but they have a business and the intent was there uh that someone could run a business but we weren't going to have showrooms. You have employees living there and maybe limited material delivery but everything was out of sight. parking. There's no parking for commercial customers or anything like that. In business, we require hedges and parking spaces and all that kind of stuff, but this is not considered a business per se. And I just wanted to make that make sure that we had no signs, no storage, no employees, no not open to the public. And that doesn't mean his wife can't do buildings and stuff like that, but no employees there. And Just no appearance of a business. That's all. Thank you.

Thank you. And was there anyone else that wanted to speak to this? [snorts] Okay. [clears throat] All right. Good.

My name is Megan Brown and I'm a neighbor of Mr. Ryan and I just wanted to speak on his behalf. They've moved um here recently. I think they're great neighbors. Um, I think this is a great opportunity for both him and his wife. I know just personally that we've had a lot of challenges um trying to find new people that remodel. They're not and we've had a big challenge. So, I think that this is would be great for both town and Mr. Ryan. Um, I know that people are concerned about it being residential, but I think there's been said that he cannot have extra materials or extra um trucks on the property. I think that that's reasonable as well. Um I would just like to see that, you know, he got an opportunity to be able to do this and especially help the members, you know, of our area because I know myself, my mother, she's also a neighbor. We're um two of the four neighbors um different houses. So, there's four neighbors um you know that we've tried to find people that could help us remodel and just haven't been able to. Um with me, I know this is no issue whatsoever. I mean, my biggest issue is the Walmart trash that I can't get anything done about, but another meeting, I guess. But I just wanted to say to please give him a chance.

Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. [clears throat] Uh, is there anyone uh else that would like to speak to this matter? And uh seeing none, we'll turn this over to council now for any questions or any discussion. I guess [clears throat] I have a couple questions. Uh it sounds to me like you are involved with other u businesses or or um the people that can do plumbing or can do is that true? I mean, You've got resources.

Well, no. That's the thing. I'm new to the area, so I've tried to get myself appointed with local businesses in town. Hardware shops hardware and Curts A's. Um, that's only two local business I know of that can kind of help build the business. Otherwise, when you go to Wells or Bristol, Ferguson, that's quite a drive. So, local business want to partner with us to kind of keep the materials in house. Maybe consider leasing a storage container on the property so that way we're not keeping the materials within the neighborhood. Same goes with heavy equipment. I mean, granted, right now I'm not at a point in the business. I mean, just myself, but uh it' be nice to get to a point where we're having our heavy equipment and excavators for water repairs, but house them off site, whether that be at a storage facility, wherever. Um it is a residential neighborhood. I'm not trying to junk it up, so to speak, with equipment. Uh it is just myself. So, as far as work done is all I'd like to be in house. I mean, as we grow, we may have to subcontract some of the work if we're doing kitchen or bathroom modeling or anything involving electrical work that's outside of my scope of my license focus there.

How do you uh will you get your referrals of people that need your your

So as far as referrals um according to Todd Long I cannot advertise in the community until this is approved. So once said it's approved uh postal mailers would be I'd like to take place different sections of the community business card local businesses flyers and banners at local high schools or colleges affiliation with Em Henry trying to sponsor through a lot of there um scholarship programs would be nice students that are graduating men and women generous there but it be nice to Do you foresee having trucks full of materials at your at your driveway?

The only thing I could I could ever far as heavy material would be sticks of PVC copper and your 20 foot section pipe big box stores or home depot usually sell 10 foot sections. So those are usually held with inside the property. Um the 20 section of BBC would be something I would like to a or a garage where we have our office right now. Yes. If not, I'm trying to find a local business in town storage facility that keep material there or work with hardware and say, "Hey, a lot of material kept on stock there for our trucks. That way we can restock quickly." That would be nice. Okay. Thank you. What's your estimated time frame to have a storefront?

I would like six months would be nice, but grand business gets here. Um, until my contract license is approved, I can't employees right now just myself. So sooner that happens business grows I would like to call by the summer I've seen the the tire center that is for sale a little bit more money have right now ideally a warehouse that can has a cover structure for trucks service trucks or keeping nicer equipment that would be appreciated. Okay. Thank you. Council, do you have any questions for Mr. Long?

Um, I'll I will ask, do you see anything in um uh Mr. Ryan's description that would place him outside of the stipulations that uh we have elected to put on this if approved?

No, I I don't think so, Mayor. I I think you know like I said the staff recommendations that I would recommend it to you that's the only thing that I could think of uh you know if anything does go south this council can always revoke this special use permit and and you know my my biggest thing is the intent of the R1. We need to maintain the peace and and and and uh the quietness of the neighborhood. And you know like I say and as I talked to Mr. Ryan, the biggest thing is, you know, if he wants extra material, it's going to have to be in one of the two accessory structures with the door closed where it can't be seen from the street or right away or adjacent joining property. Um, and you know, I don't think that's a big I think that's a reasonable ask in a neighborhood, especially a R1, R2, R3. Um, and I I I felt like Mr. Ryan understood that.

Do you have a garage door? It's they called it a unit. It was a onecar garage that Mr. Farmer converted into like a suite. Doesn't have a bathroom or anything. It's just an office. That's what it is right now. My background trying to talk to farmer about addressing some improvements on structure my own but also to utilize it as a portfolio. Show clients say hey this is what I can do. As long as he meets the criteria set forth by Mr. long. I have no problem with grading it. Mr. Ryan, do you feel like the stipulations that Mr. Long had mentioned, do you feel like that's fair and reasonable for what you're want to do? Absolutely. For now. Okay.

Because we have the power to revoke it at some point in time if it goes astray. Correct. Yeah. And we'll always contact Mr. Ryan, keep in touch with him, say, "Hey, you know, we can't do allow you to do this." I do know he mentioned a storage like a storage container which I've not told him this but he they're not allowed in town so it would have to be inside one of the accessory structures that's existing. [clears throat] So would council like to take some action on this today? Yes. Yes. [clears throat] I would like to make a motion that we approve the special use permit for Mr. Ryan. Second. Okay. Motion and second. Is there any further discussion needed?

Then I believe we can bring this to a vote. All in favor? And that's unanimous. Okay. Good luck. Thank you. Yeah. And welcome. Um we hope for your success. Uh moving along, we have another special use permit uh for skills. And Mr. Long,

uh thank you, mayor. Um the owner of Senoko, Mr. Uh Makaza came by my office and asked about the ability to have skills games here. And as we all know, skill games has gone back and forth so much. It's illegal. It's not illegal. Well, I know a recent court case in handover has deemed one certain machine uh as a legal machine and I think it is called the Virginia Queen of Hearts or something. Um our town code does currently authorize that each location can have two machines. is no more and they're only allowed with a special use permit. So, uh with that being said, um you know, we went through it with Sunny and um as far as the notices went out, uh I've only had one inquiry regarding the skills games. Uh the resident who made the inquiry wasn't adjacent or adjoining 300 North Main Street, but lived approximately 3/4 of a mile away. Um staff recommendations on this would be of course a current town of Maryan business license only two two machines per physical address and the machines must be deemed legal in the state of Virginia.

Okay, pretty straightforward. This is a public hearing. Does any member of the public wish to speak on this? Okay, please come forward. Doctor, we all know you, but uh I did a little research up online. The I've never played so-called skill games, but it seems like a misnomer to me. I know the people that are opposed to it are the casinos because it's taking business away from casinos, which is kind of a odd situation. one gambling group is taking business from another gambling group. So, you know, casino is against having skill skill games. Uh I think if people want skill games, they can go to casino [cough] their phones or do it anyway. But I don't think another so-called business uh needs skill gains on Main Street Marion just like I don't think we need a number of other things that to me [clears throat] detract from the character of downtown Marian and skill gains would be one of them. The largest marquee in town [clears throat] is a tattoo. I'm not happy with that being on Main Street. And I'm not happy with all the vape stores that are or the stores that are selling vapes for towns 5,000 500. Vaping is unhealthy gambling which is there's a certain element of gambling associated with skill games and I don't think that's good for anybody. It's not a

productive business. And uh I get gas up at in AdWolf at that store and they have skill games or then they don't and then they do and then they don't. When I've been there, when they're having skill games, I don't see that it attracts um well, I say it doesn't attract the type people I like to see on Main Street. two skill games in this convenience store and then two more skill games on another gas station to pretty soon you got skill games everywhere. I don't think there should be any skill games in Marian. They want to go to the county that might be a different matter but I'm against them in Marion.

Thank you for your comments. [clears throat] Any other members of the public that would like to speak? Then we will turn this over to council for discussion and recommendations. Mark, is the state supreme court ever ruled on this? I know it's it's volleyball back and forth for a number of years. If one six months it's okay, one six months it's not. So, I don't know. So th this is this is a new court case that the handover circuit court judge entered a ruling on. This is the same court that previously had entered a ruling on

and the legislature was going to get involved and make a decision on what they wanted and they didn't.

Never did. And because that case got overturned then those particular games um were ruled to be illegal. This is a different type of game. There is a difference and because of that difference this judge has ruled that [music] this particular manufacturer the g the game was legal. [clears throat] Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't other manufacturers that may make the something very similar. However, uh our local Commonwealth Attorney has determined basically because the Commonwealth Attorneys Association, I guess, has said, "All right, we'll we'll go along with this particular um Queen of Hearts [snorts] um game." and and will allow it since there is currently a circuit court ruling on it until that matter gets heard. So if the legislature makes some law that changes it uh then the game would have to change

shut down. Do many businesses in town have skill games.

That was my question. There is one that actually was grandfathered in that had four. So, they're not under a special use. I think currently they may have three. I'm not They don't have four, but you know what? I' i've been in about every store up here. I know the Valero's got one. Um, and well, they got they're the ones that Mark's talking about, three or four up there, uh, that was grandfathered in. And all the other stores I've been in, if they had them, they've been removed. Um, I think somebody keeps talking about the shell up on the other end of town. I've gone in there. I didn't see any games. I think they might have been talking on on up in Atkins at exit 54 out there at the truck stop. I know they've got some out in the county, but as far as being in town, I [clears throat] don't know of any other. Uh, the ones that were here, u, they they've been removed once they were deemed illegal.

Made gone for a long time. Mhm. So, our our ordinance says two, right? Yeah. Section 10.1 says a maximum of two per location. I don't know if we can prohibit it. I mean, with the stipulation that if general assembly sees fit to enact the law batting it, of course, that's usurps anything that we do. Uh I think on the basis of our ordinance I don't know if we can reject it. Anybody else got any input?

I tend to agree with you. Um it is per um permitted by ordinance. Tony or anybody? All that we're doing is giving a special use to have legal legal skill games. That's it. So if it gets determined that there's no legal skill gains, it's a moot point. It's no good at that point. Then the special use permit can stay. They just won't have those skill games. Sure.

So what can the business who wants these, what can they do if we say no? What what can they do? Well, I you know I I kind of agree with Larry. Uh it's it's in our code that we allow too with a special use permit. Uh I think Mr. Mataza has gone through the process. Uh the uh handover court has deemed him legal. Since it's in our code, I don't know if we can deny him this. So council, uh what action would you like to take? I guess we have to if that's the case.

Make a motion that we approve the special use permit. Well, think we have to. I don't think we have to. I don't know if it requires a motion or not. I mean, it's in the It's already in there. That's right. It's already in there, isn't it, Mark? So, we have the ordinance, but you have to grant the special use permit use permit. That's it. That's all that you're doing is granting the special use permit. So, make a motion we grant the special use permit based on the legalities that's already in our ordinance. Our hands are pretty [clears throat] much tied on. Second.

Okay. Motion and second. Uh further discussion. None being heard. All in favor? And none opposed? [clears throat] Motion passes unanimously. And that's all I got. I'd like to take a minute to welcome Andrew here. He's had a busy first day. [laughter] I don't know if he jumped out of out of the pan into the fire or just over his head, but he's going to do fine here. Thank y'all. Thanks. Okay, we have a under public presentations, we have Alan Kelly with Caring for our community. Allan, the floor is yours.

Thank you, Mr. Mayor. My name is Alan Kelly. I live at 122 North Sheffy Street here in Marian and I actually co-chair a volunteer organization just for the information for the community um that we partner with the town of Marian uh we generate income or money through donations which the town matches and we get volunteers and we do work around the community for the community as well as the town. So this is a summary report for last year. We started it in June. We started work and we worked through basically October if you would. But um we got a board of directors. Uh my uh co-chair is Malcolm Brown. I think most people know him as a one of the lawyers local and Alan Gray, Pastor Avery Cornet, our mayor. My wife Brenda Kelly, Diane Hayes, and Manuel Street. So we've got a board that we manage from. Next, please. We uh had two work days in specific last year in June the 7th and 14th. Uh the 7th was just a total rain out to start with and we had to shift everything but we got a bunch of projects done. We ended up with a total of 237 volunteer work sessions and it's two it shows 237 volunteers but a lot of people volunteered more than once. So it's not 237 individual people. So we worked in 17 different locations here in Marian and we total expenditures this year was $8,64145. Okay. We uh expanded a little bit in what we did [clears throat] this year. We we were able to help some uh folks that had some needs within the community, which we're trying to do. Um we um were

contacted by um a project crossroads who built a ramp for a a handicapped lady in a wheelchair. Her husband's in pretty bad shape and wanted to know if we could help them. And we went out and rebuilt a handicap ramp, painted it. We also built them a sidewalk to help them get in. We replaced some siding on a damaged house that gentleman couldn't get it done. So, we helped him out and we rebuilt an entry steps for a home for someone who's blind. And so, uh, they just had some needs. We do partner with the town. Um, Tony Muny is a great help for us as well as his team. He brought in soil, mulch, and a lot helped us a lot of different ways. We couldn't do the heavy lifting without the town. So, we are a partner with the town. We just want to acknowledge and appreciate that [clears throat] we had the 17 work locations this year. We have three private residences which I mentioned. We worked at the Henderson Lincoln Theater, uh, Marian Fire and EMS building, Marian Police Station, uh, Senior Citizen, Mel Leman Free Clinic, Mount Pleasant Preservation Society, um, seven town of Marian Flower Gardens. We we partnered with the uh, local um, garden club and Smith County Library, you would. This is just a summary report. That's a little bit more detail than maybe a lot of you want, but uh it is our money that we get from the town. We have you a report out at the end of the year. So, you go ahead res one. There's where we built the ramp or re rebuild it and board the sidewalk. The lady just couldn't get in and out on her wheelchair. We appreciated uh the people that donated and contributed there. I'd like to acknowledge um Greg Blevens. He

loaned us a lot of equipment for the cement uh pouring and mixing of the cement. We appreciated [clears throat] that. Residents too, we following that big hail storm a year and a half ago. The guy could never get his uh siding put on. He actually got some insurance money, but he put his roof on and the contractor left with his siding money as well and left him high and dry. So, we went out and helped him get his siding fixed. Next, please. And we rebuilt the step, like I say, for this blind individual. And uh I don't use their names because they don't want them out in the public, but we uh did some concrete work, rebuilt the steps, and that's in process there. All right. So, the communitywide uh the lot, we can step through these pretty quickly. We we did have a group of people uh the horiculture group over at the high school donated a lot of flowers. We donated them, took them up to the the nursing home. We had a lot of people volunteer and like I say, a lot of people in here volunteered. I'm looking at some straight ahead as well as behind. And we uh did a lot of work at the police station. Dug up flower beds. We redone painted over at the fire station, the grading as well as the drains. We did a lot of painting over at the police station, cleaning up, planting evergreens in front so that it'd be continual, not have to do it every year. We did do the flower beds for them and uh we did um do a lot of work up at the Mel Leman pre clinic. Uh they had a room that was loaded with equipment. Uh we sorted, cleaned, and hauled off a lot of scrap metal, a lot of trash, and cleaned it out for them. Uh we did a lot of work cleaning at the Mount Pleasant church and getting ready for Junth celebration they had. And you might recognize the mayor there. He's there doing a little pressure washing down at

the library. We clean the sidewalks which were black. And uh Malcolm Brown on the left is my co-chair. We we do a feed at the end of the uh work session and it brings the community together. We've found that the last two years that worked really well. So we did that. We did a feed up at the high school for the football team, the JV team, and cheerleaders. That worked over really went really well. They really appreciated it. And uh that's probably getting close to the end, but uh if you'll go one more there. We had a lot of people that volunteered from Evans Financial, First United Methodist Church, Baptist Church, Marian Senior High School football team, Royal Oak Presbyterian Church, Smith County Drug Recovery Court. They were a big help. Town of Marion and Walmart Wilderness Road Club and uh General Dynamics had one or two there as well. And we have special thanks to people that donated. This is where we get our matching funds for the town and Marian Morning Rotary, American Legion, they donated. And you can see Cornet Jewelers, Royal Oak Presbyterian Church, Evans Financial, Berry Home, and some others there. And special thanks to those that donated uh goods and kind if you would. There's a lot. Vinnie Young Food, Dennis Johnson Food, Food City donated, Bill Harwood donated a pressure washer. Mar should be Marian Senior High School horiculture program donated a host of flowers and project crossroads. They loaned us their dump truck which made a big deal but uh we just appreciate uh our partnership with the town. We're trying to go through this pretty quick because it's just mostly pictures but uh we'll do it again this year. We've already raised our 5,000 for this year. We haven't matched out yet, but we are ready to go again and we appreciate it putting it in

the budget. So hopefully it stays there and we can get it and we'll make another run at this June and some other projects pre and post and uh look forward to working with you Andrew on identifying some projects. Any questions? Just a big thank you. Thank you. [clears throat] Thank you. Appreciate a lot volunteered and I appreciate that a lot. Thank you to you, your lovely wife and the entire board of directors and everybody that volunteers. And if you haven't volunteered yet, you should. It's it's a blast. It really is a lot of fun [laughter] and we do a whole lot of good for the community. So, thank you very much for everything you do.

I have my back to the audience. If any of you have questions, I'd be glad to try to answer the volunteer organization. I look forward to showing up next year, but we do a lot of good work. We've done a host of projects. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. Um that uh closes our public presentations and we have public comment time and uh the uh first person un signed up under public comment is Bill Stamper. Bill Stamper 659 Spruce. So I just got a few questions. Um, I actually came up to the police station there Friday and I was doing a foyer request and they said that everything has to go through Mark for some reason. Um, I asked the officer if he could sign off on the the foyer, you know, just to make sure, you know, that whoever got it got it. and uh he said that he would get into some trouble if he signed it because he was told not to by whoever that they're not that they're not allowed to sign off saying that they got it to turn it in. So I was just kind of curious why that was. And then the next thing is, you know, it it being a new year, a fresh year and all that. Uh, I really think we should have a uh a press table up in front. That way the press could, you know, set up in front. They could record. They could do everything they want to do. Uh, I know there's one behind y'all and not exactly sure why she's not out here or why the press isn't back there with her. I don't know. I know I don't know if there's any rules or regulations about that, but uh I think there should be a press table, you know, sitting in front or even a press row. That way they can, you know, do their documents and their pictures and all of that stuff. So, uh, but yeah, I mean, if one of y'all could answer me about the the foyer request, I'd really appreciate that because I'm not understanding why everything has to go directly through Mark instead of us being able to turn it in and then them say such and such got it and then just

put their name on it and then pass it on to Mark. So, can y'all explain it to me? I don't have the answer to that and um I think that if Mr. Finnick um wants to speak he he may have the reasoning behind that or this might be something that we need to address in committee. So So he he did don't mean to put you on the spot Mark. He he did speak with the police chief I believe. No, it was a uh it was an officer. An officer. In any event, anyway, go ahead.

In any event, I was made aware of the request and we'll be responding. What was requested is not foyable. It's asking for personnel information. So, I will respond back that is not foyable. With regards to an easy access, we have it on the web page. Go to town website and there's it will take you to a site that you can type in your request. So, pretty simple.

The public should also be allowed to turn in a foyer request, which is under the the state law that says that we can turn it in and we can request that we don't have to do a write in. We can verbally request it at the same time. But if everything has to go through you, then that stops then that stops us from being able to do what we need to do unless it goes through you. So the question is, why wasn't the officers allowed or the officers allowed to take anything? I don't know that they weren't allowed. They contacted me when they received something from you.

Yeah, but what I'm saying is he couldn't even sign off on it to say that he got it because he said that he would get in trouble because he was told not to sign anything. I I wasn't there. I don't know. Well, I've actually got the video on recording. So, I mean, if I you know, I can send it to you and you can where I can put it out public and everybody can listen. That's fine. You can put it out public. That the point is it was received. Anyway, I I guess the point of me saying is why can they not sign off on it saying that they got it and then you get it is what I'm saying. like as a copy because if I bring something in and I say, "Hey, listen. You know, I need you to make a copy of this and you sign it that way.

That way there's no misunderstanding. Well, you know, we lost it or it got mixed up or whatever." That's what I'm asking. I think in this day and age when anybody puts document before you and asks you to sign it, you immediately are suspicious about that and you need to check that out. So, um I don't I don't think that there was anything malicious on the officer's intent. I think that he was just scared to sign his name on anything. Yeah. He actually said that that that that he wasn't allowed to because they would get in trouble. Yeah. So, that that's why I was asking. Not not sure about that. Sure. We'll do some we'll do some digging.

I appreciate it. I'll even get you the video. That way you can see. Sure. That that'd be great. Anything else, Bo? No, that's it. Okay. Um quite a few things that uh we've got there. U made some notes. Um the next we have is uh Charles Wasman.

Okay. Um David Fulton. David Fulton, Pearl Avenue. I brought an issue up about two years ago and I'm going to bring it up again. I know exactly what's going to be said, but coming up Main Street, they are two location, no left turns. One by Magnitude and one there at the Bank of Mary and turning in I have witnessed time after time people coming up or making left turns on the two no turn street back during the Christmas holiday. I saw where a lady was trying to turn into the Bank of Marian and traffic would back up into the intersection. I think something need to be [clears throat] evaluated or address to that. Second thing is U-turns. I know it's not a epidemic by no means. But I have witnessed Uturns right here on Main Street on the hill. And as you as I printed off, U-turns are allowed except in business districts. So I think something might,

you know, be addressed on that issue. Thank you. Any question? Um, David, um, I don't think council has had time to digest the, uh, in the interest of time, we'll we'll look into this and, uh, see if we can answer your questions. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Uh, moving along, Tom Hower. Tom

has left the building. Okay. Uh we have no other uh public comments at this time. Um we will move on to council members uh committee reports and council reports. And if you don't mind uh we'll start at the end again with Larry Carter. Uh no report at this time. Uh next a week from this Thursday, District 3 board of governors will meet and I have nothing right now. No [clears throat] report, your honor. Councilman,

so I would like to take just a second welcome Andrew board, give you a nice warm welcome. Glad to have you. Look forward to our future here with you. And uh and also for anybody that was curious about the followup of the wooden pickle sanitation issue that we had with their garbage can, I'm glad to report that we had that resolved within 24 hours of the problem coming forth to us. So, they have a new garbage solution and everything's good. All right. Good. Thank you. Good job. Thank you. Anything else? Councilwoman Jennings. I have no report. Just want to welcome Andrew. Say we're looking forward to working with you and welcome.

All right, Councilwoman Spencer. Uh, Andrew, looking forward to working with you as well. Thank you for coming. Vice Mayor, I will reiterate those comments. It's good to have you and no other report on there. All right. Um I uh uh want to uh also welcome um Andrew King. Uh and we will ask for council to officially appoint Mr. King uh to the position of town manager. [clears throat] So move. Second. We have a motion and a second. Uh any discussion have on board?

I agree. And uh all in favor and it is unanimous. Uh welcome aboard. And uh would you like to address um the council, the public, and you don't even have to state your name. We we know who you are. No, [clears throat] I would just like to say that I'm incredibly honored to have the the opportunity. Um, spent a lot of time with department heads today and and it's it's an awesome team and um really glad that I'm going to be able to work with these folks. I think it's an exciting time to be in Marion. I think there's a a bright future and I'm excited to work with you guys as we bring some some visions to fruition. Thank you all.

Thank you. Thank you. And again, lovely families here, too. [laughter] I've got a sizable group. Fans love. I'm I'm glad that you have the support that you brought with you today. And I know you've got a lot more support than that. So, um, and that is the only thing I'm going to bring under the mayor's report. So, we will move ahead then to the attorney's report. No report. No report. We will move on to staff report. Cindy Stanley. Yes. You'll notice on your desk you have your statement of economic interest forms. Those are due back February 3rd.

And the holiday schedule change um due to the next holiday. We will need to move the council meeting to Tuesday, January 20th. I'll make a motion we move it to Tuesday. Second. Tuesday. What was day? 20th. 20th. All right. motion and second to move the council meeting to Tuesday, January the 20th. And I believe we did have a motion and a second. I'm sorry, I was writing. So, so and no discussion on the matter. All in favor? Okay. Meetings moved.

That's all. Thank you.

Okay. Um, we will uh move along to Chief Keeling here for Chief Ham. Thank [clears throat] you, your honor. I have a couple things tonight. I think the first thing is probably the resolution. Um, y'all had us in front of you. This is something that's been uh discussed amongst the fire leaders in Southwest Virginia for, you know, probably six months or so. Um it's a reference to the aid to localities money that that the state provides. This comes from the insurance fund where the insurance money and it's distributed out. Uh they haven't raised that in since 1% since like 1995 or or pretty far back. So we are uh the local towns. I know the town of W's done this. We uh the Smith County Public Safety Committee approved this and sent this to the board of supervisors to get their approval for a resolution too to get some support for this. Maybe we can get some increased funding um because the study showed that um 87% of the fire department funds come from localities. The state's not chipping in what they should. So, I would ask the council that uh they would approve this resolution so we can get it sent up as the backing so we can get some try to get some increased funding.

Can I make a motion we approve this resolution? I'll second. Okay, we have a motion and a second. Is there any reason to read the resolution? No. No. None being um any discussion that council wants to make? Sounds good. Motion and second. Let's put this to a vote. All in favor of the resolution. And you have your resolution, sir. We will have your signed copy to you shortly. I appreciate that. And couple other little things. First one is for for December, November, I'm sorry. We had 242 calls which [clears throat] tied our

Yes. tied for our busiest month this this year. Uh I think preliminary for for December looked like about 199 and we're going to last year we ran 2591 calls and this year we're going to of course exceed that. I'm quite sure of that. So uh countywide the call volume has gone down but ours doesn't seem to go down. But any questions about that? It does seem to increase every year. Mhm. But is there vain reason or two or three reasons?

I I wish we had the magic answer for that. If we did, we would all be uh well off for that. But uh I mean I guess we provide a service and they're very fortunate to get it. The the last thing is I got the email today. We applied for a grant back in July for a forester grant. Uh [clears throat] the grant was for the total money is $9,939 and it was a matching grant 50/50. Uh so our amount is $5,039 and I'd like to request council's approval for that to accept that grant.

Have we ever done we we get this grant? This is we've got this for many many years. We applied for it. I make a motion that we Uh, I guess the the town's match is $5,39. Yes, sir. Make a motion we approve this that amount to match the grant motion and second and uh I concur. Um, any further discussion then? Um, all in favor of approving the matching for the grant. Uh, last thing I'm hearing questions,

staff, how's how's our is it full stre? Um, well, we have one opening and I believe that u Rusty told me today that we have already got at least 10 applicants for this open position. Good. 10. Great. So, that's speaks a lot too. So, sounds like a lot of people want to go to work for it. Yes, sir. I uh saw that ad on social media, I believe. Yeah, we Well, um I believe uh Jim, was you the one that told me about the somebody told me, one of the guys that uh it was shared by somebody that had like 10,000 followers, so I know that got got out there. So, wow, great.

That sounds like a recipe for getting information out there. Social media seems to be the way to go. All right, Chief. Thank you much. Thank you. Thank you. Um, I see that um, Mr. Long is not on the agenda. I've got no report anyway, mayor. Okay. Um, then we'll move on to the town manager report. We don't have a report. [laughter] Just telling the bus.

Um, teamwork makes the dream. I I believe I believe we can move along, Ben. And uh the next thing that we have uh all things being covered as well as they have um Thank you. Uh yes, that wasn't on there either. That's what I wanted to hear. Uh thank thank you for everything that uh you you do. I know that u you keep us safe and I know that you keep busy. So, sounds like everything's just going hunky dory. It's at I'm I think that we're going to move into close session if there's no further business. Can I ask Mr. Ryan, do you want these back?

You got to look at people's envelopes. I'm just trying to keep transparency. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Before we go into close session, if we can add another matter. Yeah. Potential litigation. So, what? Okay. Another matter to close session. Okay. Okay. So, um, we I've never done this before, Dr. Dr. Gates. So, I don't know, Mark. Do we have to do anything with the agenda? No, because it was just handed to me. So, okay. Okay. So, what what is that? A It has a lot of incorrect information on it, but that's okay. A just to Is that what What is that? A

Is that the same as the label we've got on here? Just can you put a label? is we're already under legal. Just go legal on it. Put it under legal. Okay. But uh I mean we're already going into legal. So can't we discuss it under that? So we don't really need to change anything uh there. I I don't believe uh Vice Mayor, do you see anything that needs to change there? So we're good. We're covered if we're all on an agreement. Uh Councilwoman Jennings, if you take us into close session.

Okay. I make a motion we go into close session to discuss uh two possible issues. One under legal is allowed under state code 2.23711 A7 and uh disposition of publicly held property A3. Would you just correct that to say two under legal? Okay. Two under legal. Right. Thank you. Thanks. Yeah. I'll second that. Okay. All in favor going into close session and we will take a couple minutes to stretch our legs and then we'll go right

Oh, now I make a motion we return to open session and declare that we only discuss the uh items that we could under U state law 2.2-3712. Second motion and second to return from close session. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. I make a motion rejourn. Wait a minute. I got something. I got something. I got to break.

Um, we have a motion to adjourn, but uh my motion. The motion has been rescended and uh Councilwoman Jennings has some business to bring before the town council. During the break, um Mr. Fulton uh came to me and asked why his uh concern was not sent to a committee. I told him that I would tell you all what he said. You all can decide then if if his concern about the U-turn and there were two concerns illegal illegal left turns should go to a committee right committee can do anything about people illegally

I I have not had time to read the paper that he gave to me and uh told him that I would read that um whatever it says and then respond to that paper. So, that might be something that we bring back before council and send to a committee if there's something on the paper that he passed out to all of us. Okay. Um, other than that, I don't know. Okay. I just wanted to bring because I did tell him that I would do this uh in and I I think that's just a police issue. I mean, he if you see somebody making a left turn, you're going to stop him as a police officer. I mean, how do you stop that?

Yeah. And if I'm not mistaken, also there There's one at the bank of Marian that actually a judge found someone not guilty because it's clean over on the sidewalk or something is for the other one the signs kind of older. I don't know if we could maybe update a sign there or something. Even the bigger sign we did that years ago even before I when I was a kid they had the signs there and that was to not stop traffic. I mean I don't know why why is it why can't you make a left turn right there? Well, Claire see Claire said it should be but the actual street there forever. I mean I don't know the rale. What's the rale?

I don't know. Unless you're just thinking you're stopping traffic on that main street. You probably might have something to do with the sun glaring in your eyes at certain times during the day. I can see the one at McAdoo. Yeah, right there. with the Bank of Mary and I can't I mean I've done I've been in a hurry and look both ways and nobody be coming and I've done it. Yeah, I've done it a couple times myself. Well, isn't that a double yellow line there? It is a double yellow line. It's got to be in an intersection and a driver is cannot restrict traffic. No. So, if they're restricting traffic, it's illegal.

It's illegal. If you if you want to get an answer for David Fulton, you just call VOTE up or I know it's in the law there, but you call VOTE and you ask VOTE why this is the case and they give us the case and then when he asks this is the case that you can't have the term and we try to enforce it whenever we see it. I mean that's his answer. I don't know. The same way with U-turns, we'll enforce it if we see it. But well, we we are in regular session. So, you can send that to a committee if you want to make a motion to

to me it's no harm, no foul. It's if it's it's not impeding traffic and you know the incidence of it is not enough to warrant any type of drawn out. Well, if if the state says you can't make a turn on a double yellow line in town, then unless it's at an intersection. Unless it's at an intersection, then we can't do it. But I mean, I want to do it. I want to take it away, but that's the reason because it's a state law. So, I I He's going to call me tomorrow. I will just tell him [clears throat] that we've turned it over to the police.

Yeah. because that that would take care of the Bank of Americ and then the Chestnut Street one. That's different. That's different. I mean, I don't know why we can't there unless it is stopping the flow of traffic. Well, it's so narrow. I've seen it. It's just like when I lived at, you know, on Church Street there. That's Commerce coming down. That's one way there. I couldn't tell you how many people went the wrong way coming between the center building and going out that way. I mean, we know that's one way, but the other one, the other one, it's more of a hazard. Very why couldn't you make a left turn there at the right on it technically, right?

Why couldn't you? Okay. So, uh, are these questions better asked in committee or is this something we want to try to resolve here in regular session? Whatever you want you all want to do. Whatever. If you want to go go to committee, fine. If not, well, I mean, what can the committee do? Well, the committee could establish the facts about the law and how it pertains to that particular uh circumstance or you could turn it over to Kevin um and let him enforce the law as he seems uh do as a police chief. It's already that one's already on the books. So it's up to them to if they see it endorse it. Correct, Mark.

I feel like we turn they can bring the charge and but Judge can throw it out, which he will. He will throw it out more than likely, but u I don't see anything else. I feel like we turn it over to Kevin and maybe make it aware, get some eyes on it, and if it proves to be a bigger issue, then we can bring it back and have committee and council discussion. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. Okay. Agreed. I just don't think the incidence of it is enough to warrant that much time spent. Okay. Well, thank you all. Thank you. Yes. Sure. Thank you. And um is there any further action or discussion needed by this? And if not, I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn.

So move. All in favor. Mayor and Town Council is now out of