Mayor and Council - Regular Meeting

Did you want to start the meeting? Yes, please. All right, let me hit record. Good. Meeting of March 16th, 2026 for Smartrtown Council about to convene. Chief is not here. Have Tori. Tori, will you lead us in the pledge, please? Will everybody please stand for the pledge?

All right. Can you hear me? Yes. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible indivisible with liberty and justice for all. For all. Thank you. Please be seated. Danielle, will you please do the roll call? Councilman Drew. Mayor Got present. Councilman Johnson here. Councilman Miles present. Councilman Olsen

here. Councilman Pope here. And Vice Mayor Dr. Upshire present. Thank you all. Thank you Danielle. Additions, deletions to the published agenda. Are there currently any additions or deletions that anyone would like to make to the published agenda? None that I see at this time, Mayor. Uh the motion to approve the council meeting minutes from March 2nd, 2026. I'd like to make a motion that we pass the minutes from uh March 2nd, 206.

A second. All those is there any discussion? All those in favor? I. Those opposed and are there any that abstain? Motion is passed. Like a motion to exe to approve the executive session minutes from February 17th, 2026. Please. I'd like to make a motion that we pass approve the executive session minutes from February 17th, 2026. Second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor?

I.

Those opposed? Anyone that has abstained? Motion is carried. Okay, we'll go right into the non-aggenda items for mayor and council. I'd like to celebrate uh St. Patrick's Day which will be tomorrow. The parade was wonderful over the weekend. Um it was also very nice to see Sheridans doing the block party and bringing so many people out and it was their first time ever doing it. You know, they they'll be the first to admit they had some hiccups, but overall it was fantastic. My children went, I babysat. Um, it was a good event and and it did exactly what we need to have happen downtown. It brought people out downtown and they were out from 2:00 until 11:00. So, it was a great event. Um, the next thing is on the 23rd, which is next Monday, the National Foundation of Women Legislators is hosting a a dinner at the Duck Creek Regional Library for elected women officials in the state of Delaware. I have the honor of serving as the president for Delaware and bringing them to Delaware and bringing all of our legislators together uh to sit and network is really what the goal is. So, we are very excited that that will happen on Monday. Um, and like to thank everybody for getting me your three tidbits for I love Sarna School District Day. That was really great. I wasn't able to stay the whole day, but I was there for a while. Lots of people. Um, we handed out lots of stuff, so that was good. Police department, the town was there. They did

phenomenally. So, um, overall it was really good. Um, vice mayor.

Okay, so the parade yesterday was phenomenal. Freezing cold, but completely enjoyed it. And yes, Sheridans did a great job on Saturday and did an even better job right after the parade. I did attend I Love Smyrna Day, school district day. It was an amazing turnout. I was very proud of our town staff, our police department. Uh it was just a a a good day um to represent the town. And on Thursday, we have had to change this event about three times. But in honor of Women History Month, first time ever, we are taking or having a photo shoot on the town hall steps for all women in Smyrna to honor women's her story month. So very excited about that this Thursday at 6 o'clock. That's all I have for now. Council Secretary, Councilman Pope.

Thank you, Madam Mayor. It was a pleasure and an honor to uh join with um you and uh Vice uh Mayor Upshire along with staff and uh other participants at the I Love Smyrna School District Day on Saturday. Uh lot of great um representation not just by the town but by the community at large. Saw a lot of folks and faces that I had not um seen in a while. And uh it was really good. Had a great time. Um and also uh looking forward to more uh great events. This being women's history month and all the amazing contributions of many many women who are leading and trailblazing uh like yourself and of course of course u the uh vice mayor as well um in what you do every day. So thanks to everyone, thanks to the staff for all that you do each and every day. Appreciate it.

Thank you. Thank you, Councilman Olsen. Yeah, I think we should uh avoid doing Zoom meetings if at all possible because it I believe it inhibits discussion. Okay, Councilman Oh, I was going to say Councilman Dean. Councilman Johnson, I just like to thank all the employees for all the hard work they did this month. That's all I got. Thank you, Councilman Miles. Nothing to report, Madame Mayor.

Okay, thank you. Uh, police chief, he's there. Danielle, do you have to unmute? Uh, Donna,

can you hear me? Yes.

All right. Uh, I don't have a ton for you guys. Uh, obviously you guys covered the Smyrna School District Day. Just wanted to highlight that we rolled out our next iteration of the Junior Police Academy. At that day, we were able to give out over 50 applications. Uh, that academy will be happening in July. Um, grades 5 through 7, graduating grades 5 through 7 are welcome. We're hoping to get up to 15 cadets in that. It'll be almost a two-eek long program. We're looking forward to bringing that back. I know the community is. I know the SRO are excited. Um, our two newest graduates that you guys swore in completed their first two weeks of field training. They're doing an excellent job. And the two recruits that are still in the academy are also doing an excellent job and will be out sooner than we know it.

Very good. And the junior police academy, they have to be Smyrna school district kids, right? They they can't be from So the way we typically do that is preference will be given to Smyrna school district kids. If we get towards the end of the application deadline and we still have seats that we can fill, we will look to open it up to other people. Okay. Based on a kind of as needed basis. Okay. Thank you, town manager.

Uh, everybody should have gotten a copy of the finance report. Um, we were hoping to have the audit report in front of us uh by this meeting. Um but unfortunately the auditors found something they had a couple more questions about. So it's going to bump it back to the next meeting. But um still very excited to make sure that we have that in front of you guys. Um and then I will be um confirming the list of candidates for uh the 2026 um council members.

Okay. Um, with that, let's move on to new business, including discussion and possible action on the following items. And with this, Chief James, we will ask for approval to certify the list of candidates for April 28th election. Yes. Do you want to read that or do you want me to read that? Do you want to do that? Sure, I'll do it for you.

Okay. Um the 2026 list of candidates um the election day will be April 28th, 2026. For district 2 um will be Dr. Karine Upshore. She is District 2 candidate is running uncontested and therefore we will not have um their name on the ballot. They she will be sworn in on May 6 and will be the District 2 seat from May 2026 to 2029. For the atlarge seat, we have Councilman Nick Miles and we have BJ Reams. Um, both applications have been reviewed by me and uh they have met the standards to be eligible to run.

Okay. Okay. At this point, and can Karine vote on this or can Karine not vote on this because she was on the ballot initially? Yeah, I would say because she's on the ballot, I would abstain from that. Okay, there.

Yeah, I I would Can you hear me? Yes. Yes. Oh, I'm getting saying noticing the host is not allowing me to unmute myself. So glad that I was able to be unmuted. Um, yeah, I I would agree if you're one of the people up for the election, then it'd be best to recuse yourself from this vote. Okay, with that being said, I'd like a motion to accept a list of candidates for the April 28th election, please. I like to make Oh, go ahead, Councilman. So moved. Second.

Is there any discussion? All those in favor? I. All those opposed and anyone that has abstained. Okay, motion is carried. My on board just went down. Okay, here we go. Uh, we need to set a location, date, and time for meet the candidates tonight. So, Nick, you're here. Um, April 13th. Does that work?

Uh, that's when we typically April 13th is a Monday. Didn't we typically do it on a Tuesday? It's either gone back and forth between the Monday that we are not meeting or the Tuesday. Okay. I'm fine with either. Okay. Um, in that case, can I have a motion to have meet the candidates tonight on Oh, and times. Can we set the times from 6:00 to 8 as well? In the motion, I need a motion to set the time from 6:00 to 8 on April 13th, please. At town hall, I'd like to make a motion that we uh schedule the meet the candidate night for April 13th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at town hall.

Second. All those is there any discussion? All those in favor? I I those opposed and those have have abstained. Motion is carried. Okay. like a motion to is um Tori, what are we doing with this? Where you at?

So, this is this is a resolution. Um and we do this and and Danielle can kind of step in a little bit better for me and explain a little better. Um this is where we do a resolution yearly for the um the tax bills um that are coming in the assessments. Um can we do it inclusive or does it have to be individual?

So so I'll jump in here. Okay. So under under the charter once a year we have the opportunity to add to the tax bills all other amounts that are owed to the town. And by doing that then it makes it possible for us to collect those in the same manner that we collect outstanding taxes. Right? So if you have outstanding grass cutting fees because you've gotten violations and didn't cut your grass, those get added to the tax bill. Um and frankly any other amounts that are owed. So what we're doing here is we're authorizing the addition of that list to the resolution, right, and to the taxes. And then what happens is this will then get posted. Everyone will have everyone in town will have a chance to review that list and see if their properties on it and see if there's something they want to dispute. And then they can file an appeal with the um with the town council which will be heard on like April 6th, I believe it is. Yep. April 6th at 5:30. So what this resolution does is kind of all-encompassing. It authorizes us to add those additions to the tax bills. It sets the date of that appeals day. It outlines Vice Mayor Karine Upure, Councilman Miles, and Councilman Drew as being the individuals who will be sitting on the uh appeals board, appeals committee. They kind of gather information and then council makes the final decision, not them. They're just kind of a gathering. And so all of this is wrapped into the one resolution. And so we can just go ahead and um approve the resolution.

Okay. I'd like a motion to accept resolution 003-26 additions to property tax bills including penalties from March, April, and May to approve the posting of the assessment list and including the previously approved date, time, and members for appeals. So moved. Second. So what is what is the assessment list? Is that the county list? No, we don't do anything with the county. Tori, do you want to jump in? All the different bills added together. Is that what you're talking about?

No, it's it's our town assessment list for 2026. Um, so again, we have not adopted the county's assessment yet. So, we've we've been using ours and I I can't tell you exactly how far back it's been, but it's the same town of Smina Tax assessment that's been probably the last 20 years. We just need to adopt it. It's the same one as it was last year and the year before. Right. Is there any other discussion? All those in favor? I I those opposed. Anyone that's abstained? I abstained.

And Barrett, how do we do that? Do we ask for a reason for that? No, I don't think so. Okay. Um Okay. It has been moved that we accept resolution 003-26 additions to property tax bill including penalties from March, April, and May to approve the listing of the assessment list and to include the previously approved date, time, and members for appeals. Okay. And for a motion, the proposed amendment to the town charter pertaining to election procedures, impact fees, and frequency of council meetings.

I'd like to make a motion uh for approval to the proposed amendment to the town charter pertaining to election procedures, impact fees, and frequency of council meetings. Second. Is there any discussion? Yes, I have some discussion. Okay.

Um I think it's a big mistake to put the the deciding of qualifications for office on the board of elections and taking it away from the city council is that I think you don't really want non-elected people deciding on the qualifications of elected people. And I think import that's an important enough matter that we should uh decide it as a as a city council. And I also am not for making the board of elections terms three years instead of the one year that it's been. And I also had a question of why are we trying to change the dates of the council meetings or get rid of the statute to to that we have the meetings on Monday.

So um these are all policy decisions for the council to determine, right? And so

I drafted this, but I can put in whatever people would like to see. Now, I would say that on two points, um, the length of the term for the board of elections, it seems that every single year we just appoint the same people over and over and over again to the board of elections. So, it seems that instead of going through that process, um, if we were to make those terms three years, that it would just be a little bit simpler. Um, we don't have to do that. Um, the second point on the meeting schedule, um, I I don't think that this is necessarily actually operating to change the date, instead of it saying that they're going to meet, you're going to meet the first and third Monday every single month, this is saying you will meet at least once a month, that still can absolutely be the first and third Monday, but it would provide flexibility, right? that if at some point council said, you know, it'd be better for us to meet the first and third Tuesday or the second and fourth Monday or Tuesday, this would just give you some flexibility to make those adjustments in the future based on the will of council. Um, so I guess those are two points that I'll just clarify there.

Hey Barrett. Um, also and it also clarifies that um the discussion will happen at the organizational meeting which typically happens uh when a new mayor is elected. Correct. to determine the meaning. Correct. Yep. So, so council again would would be voting in in having a discussion to determine when we meet. Correct.

So, so annually you would be able to determine the frequency and the date of those. And then in here, it's very specific that even though you were to schedule that, you could still reschedule or cancel council meetings as needed. But yes, that would be something. I mean it says the date, time, and place of each regular meeting shall be set by council each year at their organizational meeting. So that would be a determination made annually by the then sitting council and we we do that anyway. Correct. Well, mayor, we do it. We do, but based on the charter, it says we got to meet the first and third. So, we kind of affirm that, but we don't have a whole lot of wiggle room.

Okay. Okay. Um I also want to add a point that I think it makes complete sense that the board of elections that you know council members you know approve of those appointments to the board of elections committee handle discrepancies when it comes to candidate qualification. Uh the reason being is you know obviously last year um there was an issue that arise that went to council and uh you know several people people abstained from that. So I think it makes sense because people on the board of elections specifically you know don't have a pony in the fight right so um I just want to add my comments on that. Hey there.

But I still think that um it'd be better if the council did it and I think it's better that we have the uh dates enumerated the first and third Mondays so everybody knows what's going on so it's clear.

So as and Barrett you can stop me if you need to. as we review our council meetings. We are one of few councils that meet twice a month and our council meetings aren't aren't necessarily getting a lot done when we can be done a council meeting in 25 minutes. I would rather have a council meeting for 25 minutes and then a workshop another meeting or something like that. And if that comes down to there are times that we don't have either, I don't want it to be held against council members for us not having council meetings. If we don't have topics on the agenda, we have to cancel the meeting. So, I think it's better to have that flexibility and and not penalize council members for not having council members than it is to have it hardcore in stone that we're going to meet two times a month and that not happen.

Barrett, we have a notice that we provide for each meeting. Correct. That's required. Yes. So, we publish the agenda seven days in advance and that operates as the notice. And so in in this instance, you'd basically you would have, you know, once a year council would make the determination for the upcoming year, the date and the frequency of the meetings, right? And then over the course of that year, you would publish the agenda notice seven days prior to the meeting every single time you have a meeting. Okay?

So any any changes really wouldn't be, you know, you might have a rescheduling or a cancellation due to unforeseen circumstances. You might have that throughout the year, but basically it would be locked somewhat locked down once a year what it was going to be for the upcoming 12 months. Well, there could always be a room made for rescheduling and cancellation, too. And I think that's part of the uh part of this uh section. Okay. We're still going to be voting in organizational, you know, that organizational meeting when a new mayor is elected. It makes it clear what what we would set forward.

Okay. Is there any other discussion? No, not at this time. Okay. Like a motion to move forward with approving the proposed amendment. Barrett, did you have something? I'm sorry. So, I was just going to say, so just to be clear, the general assembly is the one who would adopt this. And so basically what we're doing is we're making a recommendation to the general assembly that we would like to see these changes made to our charter. So that's effectively what we're doing. We're recommending forwarding this along to the general assembly for their consideration. Do we know when it would go to them, Barrett?

So after this, you know, I mean, in the next couple days, we would get it in the hands of our senator and representative and then it would be up to them. They would push it through their own committees and review process with their attorneys and stuff. And so I don't know when it would actually hit the floor, you know, but presumably sometime in May, probably. Okay. Well, I'd like to make a motion to forward this recommendation um to uh start the process uh to the proposed amendment to the town charter pertaining to um election procedures. Second. Is there any discussion? All those in favor? I I. Those opposed?

No. Those abstain. Motion is carried that we put through the proposed amendment to the town charter pertaining to elections procedures, impact fees, and frequency of council meetings. And the final for this evening is the first reading of ordinance 002-26 amending chapter 26 elections to clarify elections procedures within the town of Hall town of Serno. Sorry folks. Um Barrett, this is a lot. I'm assuming we all receive this well in advance. Does this have to be read word for word? No. No, it does not.

Okay. just yeah I mean this is you don't need to go through and read it word for word if there's questions we can talk about it if yeah okay there a motion to approve the first reading of ordinance 002-26 I make the motion second is there any discussion yes okay

the thing is is that I was wondering why why we were doing a lot of things on here. I think it'd be nice if we had some explanation like why are we putting in a big section on challengers? Why are we taking out a big section of people present at voting? And why are we replacing a whole article of absentee ballots? So, I can't speak to anything, but I'll speak to a few things. For example, with absentee ballots, the state has adopted regulations for municipal elections and it goes through very detailed the procedures that we have to follow for absentee ballots. And I think that what we currently have probably deviates from those procedures. So instead of us trying to mirror or mimic what's there, it seems simpler to just cover a couple areas where we have discretion and then just defer to the state statute because we have to follow it. no matter what. And so, so with respect to absentee ballots, that certainly seemed to be um appropriate. Same thing, persons permitted in the voting room. This is again just deferring largely to the state statute that we need to be following anyways. Um so,

and also the big section on challengers.

Yeah. So again, you know, what this basically does is each candidate for office may appoint one or more challengers in accordance with the Delaware Code requirement, right? So again, that's bringing that into conformity. And then challengers may be present for the express purpose of observing the conduct of the election and all election records. Challengers shall not be permitted to contact prospective voters via telephone, email, text message, or any other means within the polling place or within 50 ft of the entrance in an attempt to encourage perspective voters to vote. So, this was added in there. You know, I had had some discussions with town staff among others. And I think that there might have been some questions or some concerns about this in the past. And so this is just an attempt to clarify what the standard would be for everyone involved.

You know, I I think that uh it would be nice if we're presented these things that uh say the Delaware Delaware code says this and the Delaware code says that or according to the Delaware Code. Be nice if we had at least had a had a small passage of what the Delaware Code says. And uh Councilman Olsen, you could also do your own research as well.

Well, you know, when you put out this this thing here, you know, we underline the things, we cross them out, and it's it's only right that it should be be ready to hand. Yeah, sure. I could go uh find it all out, but I don't think that's necessary. So the underlining the underlines and strikethroughs over the years we found that to be the most effective way to identify what is actually changing in the ordinance. And so this is you know kind of what the final form looks like and then we send this over to our code editors and then they'll look at the underlying language and add it in in the strikethroughs and take it out. So this is you know just kind of the format that we found most effective. Once upon a time, we didn't do it like that and we said, you know, delete this section, second sentence, and add in a new sentence. And that just got to be really confusing. Now, in the future, I mean, I'm more than happy to provide kind of an expanded synopsis. You know, did you give a little bit more background on why the changes are being made and the purpose of those? You know, that's not a problem at all. I'm h I'm happy to do that to avoid some of the um questions that might arise. I'd also like to point out the general assembly does does it the exact same way.

And Barry, just for clarification, you know, this has to be in alignment, of course, with the uh the state guidelines when it comes to these matters. Correct.

It you're 100% correct. So, the state went through and they adopted um a municipal elections law. The only exemption is the city of Wilmington is exempted. They don't have to follow it, right? But we have to basically follow the state statute. Now, there's, you know, a couple little areas where, and don't quiz me off the top of my head, right? Where we have some flexibility, right? Is there's some, you know, some of those gaps that we can fill in, but for the most part, everything we do has to be consistent with that. And so, over the years, I think we're trying to identify those gaps that we can fill in ourselves and also identify any redundancy where we can eliminate that and just kind of refer to the state statute because that's what we need to follow anyways.

Okay. Thank you. Okay. So, with that being said, uh, like a motion to Yeah. accept the first reading of ordinance 00-26- or 002-26 amending chapter 26 elections to clarify election procedures within the town of Smyrna. So, move. Second. All those in favor? I I those opposed, those that have abstained abstained.

Motion is carried. Um and and maybe if it would help Councilman Olsen as we go through these so that you don't feel that you have to abstain from them. If you want to reach out when we get the agenda, we can go over any questions that you have or help you find the places to get the answers that you need before we get here so that you understand what they are and and are more comfortable with it. Um I don't want you to feel like you're not comfortable answering questions. Um well, I like to ask questions because there's other people that probably have the same questions. Absolutely. That's fair. Absolutely. Um, okay. With that, we need a m motion to adjurnn. Please move wejourn. Second.

It has been moved and seconded that we adjourn at 7:32 a.m. or pm. Sorry folks. Is there any discussion? No. Those approve. I those opposed. Those abstain. Motion is carried. Thank you everyone. Have a good evening. You too. You too. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye.