March 8, 2016
MINUTES OF THE BROOKNEAL TOWN COUNCIL
7:00 PM – The regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council
The municipal government of the Town of Brookneal met with the following members present:
Phyllis Campbell, Mayor
James Nowlin, Vice Mayor
Robert Jean, Joseph B. David, Jr., Mark Wilkes, and Richard Adams, Council Members
Russell Thurston, Town Manager
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Mike Crews, Public Works Director
Richard Baldwin, Chief of Police
Absent: Barbara Laprade, Council Member
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Richard Adams, and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the March 8, 2016, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, Council approved the minutes for the February 9, 2016, Town Council meeting.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Campbell asked that the March 2016 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by James Nowlin, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of February 10, 2016 to March 8, 2016, in the amount of $16,552.28.
PUBLIC COMMENT
Scott Miller, the Brookneal representative on the Campbell County School Board, appeared before Council to give an update on what is going on with the schools. He said that the school board is working on the 2016-2017 budget. He said that the budget is around $44,500,000-$44,600,000 (he said in 2008 this was $55,000,000). He said that the school board is going to ask for the same amount of funding from the board of supervisors as it got last year. He said they are getting a little more money from the state this year; however what happens is that any new money they get is eaten up by the fixed expenditures such as the teacher raise earmarked by the state of 2%, health insurance increases (12.5%), life insurance increases ($200,000) and VRS increases ($133,000). He said that it leaves no money for new programs for the kids. He said the school board has asked school superintendent Dr. Robert Johnson to go to the board of supervisors and ask for another $100,000 to $200,000 to be earmarked for programs for the kids. He said that a 25 year capital improvement plan of $180,000,000 was presented to the board of supervisors at the beginning of the year, but they have not acted on it. He said that that plan calls for no new schools except for a new Rustburg Middle School.
Conner Francis, William Campbell liaison to the Brookneal Town Council, thanked everyone for their support of the political forum that was held on Friday, February 26, 2016. Conner commented that all the schools are controlled by the SOL tests; the days of old fashioned learning are gone. He said the teachers are so stuck to the curriculum that they can’t deviate from it at all to even allow the kids to do something such as a science experiment. He said students are not taught to explore. He also said that he would like to see more teen involvement in items that they can’t control. He said in Fairfax County they have a student representative on their school board, and he would like to see that done here.
POLICE REPORT
Police Chief Richard Baldwin presented the police report for April 2016. He said there were 75 calls for service in February of which 64 were answered by the Brookneal Police Department and 9 were answered by Campbell County Sheriff’s Office. He said they had a rash of vehicles in the Town that were ransacked over 3 or 4 nights. He said nothing much was taken out of any of them, but he said they have a possible suspect in the incident. He said the suspect was picked up the next day in Halifax after these incidents, and there have not been any more incidents since he was picked up. Chief Baldwin also told the Council that Officer Jeremy Brown has accepted a full time position with Appomattox, and will no longer be working for the town. He said that he and Officer Mason are going to be doing some training for church security. He said the grant application through USDA for another police vehicle has been completed. He said he is working on a class pertaining to fraud prevention to be held in April.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews said they have had several water leaks and sewer issues in Town including Webb Street, Southeast & Charlotte Street, and a water leak at the Bank of Charlotte. He said the Brookneal Dixie Boys and Girls are having their opening ceremonies on April 9.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston said that the staff is continuing with their budget meetings with the next one being held on Wednesday, March 9. He said that there is a 9.5% increase in health insurance and a small increase in VRS contributions.
He said there was a lot of overtime with the Town crew that were involved in the fire at the Dan River property. He said the Brookneal Fire Department met with him, and they asked if the Town would be interested in helping them with installing a dry hydrant at the Staunton River. He said they wanted the Town to help with funding of this project. He asked the Council if they would be willing to help the fire department with this project. Chief Baldwin said that there may be grant money available from the forestry service to do this.
- MOTION CONCERNING BROOKNEAL FIRE DEPARMENT REQUEST FOR FUNDING ASSISTANCE WITH A DRY HYRANT AT THE STAUNTON RIVER
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to authorize the Mayor to appoint someone to work with the fire department for further discussion on the installation of the dry hydrant. They decided by consensus at this point to turn this over to the physical development committee.
RESOLUTION FOR USDA FOR A POLICE CAR GRANT
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to adopt the following resolution for USDA for a police car grant.
RESOLUTION OF GOVERNING BODY OF
TOWN OF BROOKNEAL
The governing body of the Town of Brookneal, consisting of 7 members, in a duly called meeting held on the 8th day of March, 2016 at which a quorum was present RESOLVED as follows:
BE IT HEREBY RESOLVED that, in order to facilitate obtaining financial assistance from the United States of America, United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, the Town of Brookneal, in the development of a new police vehicle to serve the community, the governing body does hereby adopt and abide by the covenants contained in the agreements, documents, and forms required by the Government to be executed.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Town Manager Russell Thurston of the Town of Brookneal be authorized to execute on behalf of the Town of Brookneal the above-referenced agreements and to execute such other documents including, but not limited to, debt instruments and security instruments as may be required in obtaining the said financial assistance.
This Resolution, along with a copy of the above-referenced documents, is hereby entered into the permanent minutes of the meetings of this Board.
TOWN OF BROOKNEAL
BY__________________________
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the above resolution was duly adopted by the _____________
_________________________ of the _________________________ in a duly assembled
meeting on the ________ day of ________________, 20_____.
________________________________________
Secretary/Clerk
A verbal vote was taken as follows:
Mr. Jean Aye Vice Mayor Nowlin Aye
Mr. Adams Aye Mayor Campbell Aye
Mr. David Aye
Mr. Wilkes Aye
FY15 AUDIT
Clerk/Treasurer Bobbie Waller called attention to a few key points in the audit report. She noted that on the utility fund there was a loss of $153,618 due to depreciation of equipment. She also noted that on the general fund there was a $45,379 excess of revenues over expenditures which goes into the Town’s cash and cash equivalents. She noted that the audit was quite a bit thicker than last year due to the information that had to be included on the Virginia Retirement System.
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council approved the FY15 audit report. A verbal vote was taken as follows:
Mr. Jean Aye Vice Mayor Nowlin Aye
Mr. Adams Aye Mayor Campbell Aye
Mr. David Aye
Mr. Wilkes Aye
REQUEST FOR TRANSFERS OF APPROPRIATION
Upon motion by Joseph David, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to approve the following transfers of appropriation:
REQUEST FOR TRANSFER OF APPROPRIATION
To: Brookneal Town Council
Date: March 8, 2016
The following Appropriation Transfer is requested for FY2016:
Category---Expense INCREASE New Total Balance in Account
Public Works—Overtime--1-4101-1002 $1,500.00 $ 6,500.00 $ 1,143.27
Category—Revenue INCREASE New Total Balance in Account
Contingency Fund—01-8102-7010 $1,500.00 $ 3,939.87 $ 3,939.87
To cover the cost of overtime over budget in the public works department.
Respectfully requested by:
_________________________________ __________________________________
Treasurer Date
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
There were no committee recommendations.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
Councilperson Robert Jean noted that there is a lot of trash on the other side of the bridge going out of Town into Halifax County. Mr. Thurston said he would talk to the county administrator in Halifax County about that.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion by James Nowlin, seconded by Joseph David, and unanimously carried, Mayor Campbell announced that the March 8, 2016 Council meeting was adjourned.
___________________________ ____________________________
Bobbie A. Waller Phyllis Campbell
Clerk/Treasurer Mayor
