May 12, 2015
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, Mark Wilkes, Barbara Laprade, and Joseph B. David, Jr., Council Members
Russell Thurston, Town Manager
Bobbie Waller, Clerk/Treasurer
Mike Crews, Public Works Director (came in at 7:45 p.m.)
Ricky Baldwin, Chief of Police
Absent: Richard Adams, Council Member
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG
APPROVAL OF AGENDA
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Joseph B. David, Jr. , and unanimously carried, Council approved the agenda for the May 12, 2015, regular meeting of the Brookneal Town Council with the following additions: 1) Dr. William Jones 2) John Vincent
PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE GENERAL FUND BUDGET
Mayor Campbell opened the public hearing for the general fund budget at 7:01 p.m. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the general fund budget; therefore, Mayor Campbell closed the public hearing at 7:02 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE WATER FUND BUDGET
Mayor Campbell opened the public hearing for the water fund budget at 7:03 p.m. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the water fund budget; therefore, Mayor Campbell closed the public hearing at 7:04 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE SEWER FUND BUDGET
Mayor Campbell opened the public hearing for the sewer fund budget at 7:04 p.m. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the sewer fund budget; therefore, Mayor Campbell closed the public hearing at 7:05 p.m.
PUBLIC HEARING ON THE PERSONAL PROPERTY TAX RELIEF ACT (PPTRA) FOR 2015
Mayor Campbell opened the public hearing for the Personal Property Tax Relief Act (PPTRA) for 2015 at 7:06 p.m. No one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the PPTRA; therefore, Mayor Campbell closed the public hearing at 7:07 p.m.
MINUTES
Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Council approved the April 14, 2015 Finance and Planning Committee minutes and the April 14, 2015 Town Council meeting minutes.
TREASURER’S REPORT
Mayor Campbell asked that the May 2015 treasurer’s report be filed for audit.
PRESENTATION AND APPROVAL OF INVOICES
Be it resolved that motion was made by James Nowlin, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, authorizing the payment of the invoices for the period of April 15, 2015 to May 12, 2015, in the amount of $14,111.93.
PUBLIC COMMENT
- DR. WILLIAM (BILL) JONES
Dr. William (Bill) Jones of Brookneal Family Medical Center appeared before Council to ask for help in bringing another physician to Brookneal. He said that right now they have 1 full time doctor (himself), one full time physician’s assistant, and a part time doctor 2 days a week. He said that the practice is not providing the kind of care that he wants to see Brookneal get. He said it hurts him to hear the front desk saying “sorry we don’t have any appointments left, if you want to see a doctor you are going to have to go to the walk in clinic”. He said that Centra is not to blame for all of this. He said our government has attempted to fix our medical system, but he said the burdens have increased as far as insurance, time and computers making him not as productive as he used to be. He said that most medical school graduates are going into specialties and some are becoming hospitalists because they get paid much more than a rural family doctor. He said the average amount of debt for schooling of a doctor is $200,000. He said our legislators are responsible for this too. He said at one time if you went into practice in a rural area, you could have some of your loans forgiven. He said he believed that is no longer in existence anymore. He said that he thinks his employer drug their feet in recruiting for a new physician; he said it probably takes 5 years to recruit a new physician, and that process should have started before Dr. James Rodman announced his retirement which was 5 years ago. He said that he is not sure how much longer Dr. Carwile is going to practice because he is of retirement age.
He said that he heard that Russell Thurston wrote a letter to Centra a year ago, and two of Centra’s executives came down and met with Town officials and the Town was made some promises. He said that he thought another communication to Centra is in order. He said he has been communicating verbally and in writing with Centra, but he has not received a reply yet. He said we need some action or some signs of action on the part of Centra. He said his request is for communications from the Town to be made with Centra and with our legislators.
- JOHN VINCENT-RENTAL OF KERSEY BUILDING
Mr. John Vincent, of Cook Avenue, appeared before Council to request permission to rent part of the old Kersey’s Body Shop Building to work on his old cars. His proposal was to pay $50 a month to rent a portion of the building. He said that if the electricity bill in the building escalates because of his use, he would be glad to pay the difference. Upon motion by Robert Jean, seconded by James Nowlin, and unanimously carried, the Council voted to allow use of the Kersey building to Mr. John Vincent at the rate of $50 per month with the stipulation that the Town retain the portion of the building that it needs. Mr. Thurston said he would work out details of the insurance for Mr. Vincent’s usage.
POLICE REPORT
Chief Richard Baldwin presented the police report for May 2015. He said of the 78 calls for service in April, 64 were answered by the Brookneal Police Department. Chief Baldwin said that his officers are going to start doing building checks on night shift.
PUBLIC WORKS REPORT
Public Works Director Mike Crews said that construction on the new gateway traffic light has begun at the intersection of Lusardi Drive and Lynchburg Avenue. He also said that his department is going to need a new dump truck. The current dump truck was towed, but Mr. Thurston was advised that the truck was “dead”. He said it would not pass for an inspection sticker. Mr. Crews said that a Class 2 water operator has been hired part time to help out at the water plant with the vacancy we have in that department.
TOWN MANAGER REPORT
Town Manager Russell Thurston said that VDOT said they would not put up a mirror at the intersection of Main Street and Cook Avenue. He also said that he called and talked to VDOT about work that needs to be done on Cook Avenue.
He said the VDOT project should get started soon. He said a grant application was turned in for a grant to help understand the pieces of the water system that we currently have and how we can get all the components to work together in harmony. He said that he did apply for a sewer study grant in April through USDA.
He said that a meeting was held to discuss ordinance violations mainly grass, trash, garbage, vegetation, and vehicles. He said Chief Baldwin is checking on derelict vehicles.
He said he was working on getting some bids for some small projects that need to be completed before the end of the fiscal year.
REQUEST FOR TRANSFERS OF APPROPRIATON
Upon motion by Mark Wilkes, seconded by Joseph B. David, Jr. and unanimously carried, the Council voted to approve the following transfers of appropriation.
REQUEST FOR TRANSFERS OF APPROPRIATION
To: Brookneal Town Council
Date: May 12, 2015
The following Appropriation Transfers are requested for FY2015:
Category—Expense INCREASE New Total Balance in Account
Telecommunications—01-1228-5203 $ 1,300.00 $ 6,450.00 $ 1,258.57
Category--Expense DECREASE New Total Balance in Account
Streets--Salaries—01-4102-1001 $ 1,300.00 $32,953.00 $ 13,436.10
To cover costs of telecommunications through the remainder of FY15.
Category--Expense INCREASE New Total Balance in Account
Sanitation—Repairs & Maint.--01-4203-5407 $ 800.00 $10,204.93 $ 100.27
Category—Expense DECREASE New Total Balance in Account
Streets--Salaries—01-4102-1001 $ 800.00 $32,153.00 $ 12,636.10
To cover the repairs and maintenance to the 2010 Kenworth Trash Truck over budget.
Category--Expense INCREASE New Total Balance in Account
Recreation—Heating--01-7104-5102 $ 1,838.11 $ 8,181.28 $ 0.00
Category—Expense DECREASE New Total Balance in Account
Streets--Salaries—01-4102-1001 $ 1,838.11 $30,314.89 $ 10,797.99
To cover the cost of heating that went over budget.
Category--Expense INCREASE New Total Balance in Account
Recreation—Heating--01-4302-5102 $ 1,874.40 $ 7,874.40 $ 0.00
Category—Expense DECREASE New Total Balance in Account
Streets--Salaries—01-4102-1001 $ 1,874.40 $28,440.49 $ 8,923.59
To cover the cost of heating that went over budget.
Category--Expense INCREASE New Total Balance in Account
Recreation—Repairs & Maint.--01-7104-5407 $ 866.58 $ 5,556.58 $ 0.00
Category—Expense DECREASE New Total Balance in Account
Streets--Salaries—01-4102-1001 $ 866.58 $27,573.91 $ 8,057.01
To cover the cost of recreation repairs and maintenance that has went over budget.
Respectfully requested by:
_________________________________ __________________________________
Treasurer Date
COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATIONS
There were no committee recommendations.
ITEMS FROM TOWN COUNCIL
Councilperson Mark Wilkes said he had been approached by some churches and Rev. Jerry Stanfield that are interested in refurbishing the Brooke Street Park. He said that they are going to be working on this project and working to raise some funds.
ADJOURNMENT
Upon motion from Robert Jean, seconded by Mark Wilkes, and unanimously carried, Mayor Campbell announced that the May 12, 2015, meeting was adjourned.
___________________________ ____________________________
Bobbie A. Waller Phyllis L. Campbell
Clerk/Treasurer Mayor
