REGULAR BOARD MEETING of January 16, 2008, with Mayor Don Mullen and
Comms. Hank Ross, Dennis DeWolf, Larry Rogers, and John Dotson present;
Comm. Amy Patterson was out of Town.
Also present were Richard Betz, Bill Coward, Lamar Nix, Joe Cooley,
Selwyn Chalker, Kim Lewicki, Linsey Wisdom, Alan Marsh, Bill Staley,
Ted McGavran, Ed Sullivan, Dwight Bryant, Joanna Baumrucker, Bob
Kieltyka, John Shearl, Sabrina Hawkins, and others.
I. Call to Order.
The Mayor called the Regular Board Meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
II. Approval of Agenda.
Copies of the agenda had been distributed by mail. The Town
Administrator requested addition of one item of New Business,
settlement of the Carolina Transformer PRP Group matter. The
agenda was approved by consensus.
III. Approval of Minutes.
Copies of the minutes of the January 9 Regular Board Meeting had been
distributed by mail.
MOVED BY COMM. ROSS, SECONDED BY COMM. ROGERS, AND UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED
TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS DISTRIBUTED.
IV. Reports.
1. The Mayor reported that he and several Board
members had attended the County Commissioners meeting Monday night and
had been impressed by the openness and cooperation; the Recreation
Funding agreement for $500,000 had been finalized, and the Transfer
Station construction was moving forward.
2. Comm. Ross reported that the Public Works
Committee had met earlier in the day and discussed the request from
McGavran Engineering to amend the contract with the Town; this item was
on the agenda under New Business. The Committee had also reviewed
a steep slope behind the new D.O.T.-installed sidewalk at Birney
Robert's residence on Chestnut Street, and recommended installing a
boulder wall using donated rock and Town forces.
Comm. DeWolf reported that the Recreation Committee had met on January
15 and finalized a decision on new fitness equipment at the Civic
Center; the equipment would cost between $45,000 and $47,000 and new
carpet was also being included. The Recreation Director thought
some of the old equipment could be sold.
3. The Town Administrator reported that architects
Mitchel Sorin and John Fisher could meet with the Board on February 27
at 7:00 p.m. to review Town Hall conceptual plans, rather than on
February 12 as tentatively scheduled at the previous meeting; the Board
agreed by consensus to set a Special Meeting for the 27th.
He also reported that informal bids had been advertized for mowing and
landscaping as requested at the December 5 meeting. The bids had
been tabulated and opened, and the low bids were as follows:
Landscaping Town Property
Tate Landscaping Services Inc. $9,600
Mowing Cemetery
J & J Lawn Service $610/week, $23/hour
Mowing Recreation Park/Ball Park
J & J Lawn Service $16,008
The Board approved the low bids by consensus.
V. Old Business.
1. Several amendments of the Subdivision and Zoning
Ordinance, subject of a public hearing on December 5, 2007, had been
reviewed by new Planning Director Joe Cooley; each Board member had
received copies of the amendments and a report from Mr. Cooley.
The Town Administrator noted that Comm. Patterson was not present but
had told him earlier in the day she had several concerns over the
Subdivision amendments, and he suggested that the matter be deferred
until she could be present. The Board agreed by consensus to
defer it until the February 6 meeting.
2. The Board again considered several stormwater
proposals from McGill & Associates, as discussed at the January 9
meeting. Town Engineer Lamar Nix was present and recommended the
following projects in order of priority for this year:
● Draft Ordinance Creation [already underway] $10,800
● Stormwater Utility/Impact Fee Analysis 8,100
● Debris removal form streams 60,000/$250,00
construction
● Hydraulic Modeling of Lakes 15,800
He felt that the debris removal could be done in-house by Town
crews. He also felt that the Hydraulic Modeling project could be
limited to Harris Lake and the Highlands Biological Station Lake.
The other projects priced by McGill - off-line water quality/ quantity
wetland/basin design and road crossing upgrade, could be deferred until
next year when a Clean Water Management Trust Fund grant application
might be successful.
MOVED BY COMM. ROSS, SECONDED BY COMM. DEWOLF, AND UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED
TO MOVE FORWARD WITH THE PROJECTS RECOMMENDED BY THE TOWN ENGINEER,
EXCEPT FOR THE DEBRIS REMOVAL TO BE DONE IN-HOUSE.
VI. New Business.
1. McGavran Engineering had requested at the January
9 meeting that the Town amend its contract with them for the pole audit
in order to accelerate the process due to dangerous violations they
were discovering. Comm. Ross reported that the Public Works
Committee had met earlier in the day and recommended not amending the
contract, but asking them to proceed with the audit including
dimensions for all clearances. Ted McGavran was present and said
that they were finding violations while doing the audit. Comm.
Ross said the contract called for his firm to provide technical
information to put in the database, and he asked if he would perform
the contract; Mr. McGavran said he would complete it as wsritten, but
labelling poles would cost $35.00/hour. The Town Administrator
said that the contract called for the poles to be numbered; Town forces
could apply the labels. Mr. McGavran said that slowing the
process would delay sending out bills based on a per-attachment
basis. The Town Administrator said that earlier surveys had
indicated that the number of attachments were approximately 1.2 per
pole; the Town could simply increase its pole attachment fee to
increase revenue rather than waiting for the audit to be
complete. The Board agreed by consensus to consider attachment
fees at another time.
2. Dwight Bryant was present representing the Board
of Directors of Highlands Playhouse, requesting use of the Civic Center
gymnasium September 22 through September 28 for their annual antique
show. He said the show had been successful the year before last,
and the Playhouse had donated $3,500 to the Town and also improved the
electrical system in the gym. The event was their principle
fund-raiser, netting about $12,000, and the time of year would not
disrupt exercise classes or other events. He said that 86
businesses had been polled after the previous event and 83 had favored
the event, while only one had said no and two had said it did not
matter. He also asked the Board to consider a three-to-five-year
commitment for this event.
The Mayor said that he understood many businesses on Main Street were
struggling due to the downturn in the economy, and some were going out
of business; he thought it was important to do everything we could to
attract people here. John Shearl was present and said the event
appeared to be a win/win for everybody; he wondered what the negative
side was. Bob Kieltyka was present and said he was speaking on
behalf of a unanimous Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce in
support of the event; he said there had been a significant loss in
business last year when the event had been re-located to Sapphire
Valley. Sabrina Hawkins confirmed that the event had helped her
business when it had been held in Highlands; she said she had rented 83
room nights at that time, but had lost $12,000 last year. Comm.
Rogers said he had talked to several business people and they agreed
that the event pumped a lot of money into Town. Comm. DeWolf felt
that the event had a financial impact on the community that
complemented rather than competed with businesses, and was scheduled at
a time when it would not interfere with events; he felt it was thus
consistent with past Civic Center policy and with its hybrid nature as
both a recreation and civic-event facility.
MOVED BY COMM. ROGERS, SECONDED BY COMM. DOTSON, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE USE OF THE CIVIC CENTER FOR THE EVENT FROM
SEPTEMBER 22 THOUGHT SEPTEMBER 28.
3. The Town Administrator said that he had neglected
to point out earlier that each Board member had a revised copy of the
proposed Pole Attachment Ordinance in the agenda package; the Board had
agreed for the Town Engineer to work on the Ordinance with the Town
Attorney, and the revision included recommendations of him, Matt
Shuler, and Ed Sullivan. The Board agreed by consensus to
consider the revised Ordinance at the February 6 Board meeting.
Comm. Ross asked if the Ordinance included any provisions for
underground service; the Town Engineer said it was limited to pole
attachments. Bill Staley was present from Northland Cable TV, and
said his company was committed to working with the Town on cleaning up
the attachment issues and was budgeting money each year to do so.
4. Town Attorney Bill Coward reported that Carolina
Transformer Potentially Responsible Parties (PRP) Group had contacted
the Town concerning a superfund site where Town transformers had
allegedly been shipped in 1977; apparently EPA was working to clean up
the site and customers of Carolina Transformer throughout the Southeast
were faced with contributing to a settlement or ending up in court,
where more money could be owed. The initial settlement amount of
$40,000 had been reduced to $20,000, and he recommended settling the
potential lawsuit.
MOVED BY COMM. ROGERS, SECONDED BY COMM. ROSS, AND UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED
TO SETTLE THE MATTER FOR $20,000.
VII. MOVED BY COMM. ROGERS, SECONDED BY COMM. ROSS, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO ADJOURN.
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting
was declared by the Mayor to be adjourned at 8:00 p.m.
________________________________
Richard Betz, Town Clerk