ADJOURNED SESSION BOARD MEETING of March 19, 2008, with Mayor Don
Mullen and Comms. Amy Patterson, Hank Ross, John Dotson, and Dennis
DeWolf present. Comm. Rogers was not present.
Also present were Richard Betz, Lamar Nix, Joe Cooley, Bill Harrell,
and Selwyn Chalker.
The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:30 a.m. and noted that the
meeting had been continued on March 12 to this time and this location,
the Highlands Civic Center.
The Board discussed job descriptions and training with the Town
Administrator and Department Heads.
The Board agreed by consensus that the meeting be continued to
reconvene at 8:00 a.m. on March 26 in the Conference Room.
________________________________
Richard Betz, Town Clerk
REGULAR BOARD MEETING of March 19, 2008, with Mayor Don Mullen and
Comms. Amy Patterson, Hank Ross, Dennis DeWolf, Larry Rogers, and John
Dotson present.
Also present were Richard Betz, Lamar Nix, Joe Cooley, Josh Ward,
Melody Spurney, Kim Lewicki, Jim Lewicki, Cynthia Strain, Bob Kieltyka,
Buck Trott, Eric NeSmith, Linsey Wisdom, Max Kimmel, Marc Pittman, Bill
& June Hogue, Bill Nellis, Andrew Parker, and many 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 two items of new business: parking
passes for the Chamber of Commerce and a personnel matter. Comm.
Patterson requested addition of one item: parking lot at the
Performing Arts Center.
MOVED BY COMM. DEWOLF, SECONDED BY COMM. PATTERSON, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE AGENDA AS AMENDED.
III. Approval of Minutes.
Copies of the minutes of the March 12 Special Board Meeting and the
March 12 Regular Board Meeting had been distributed by mail.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON, SECONDED BY COMM. ROSS, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES AS DISTRIBUTED.
IV. Reports.
1. The Mayor reported that the Highlands, Franklin,
and Macon County governing boards had met in a very cordial dinner
meeting the previous evening; meetings would be scheduled three times
per year in future, and he felt they would be an important step in
discussing common problems. He also said that the Board had
attended the Chamber of Commerce retreat earlier in the day.
2. The Public Works Committee had looked at the
sidewalk along Hickory Street at US-64 discussed at the previous
meeting; they asked that this be placed on the agenda of the March 24
Special Meeting when the property owner could be present.
3. The Town Administrator reported that he had
written letters discussed at the previous meeting to the D.O.T., the
Corps of Engineers, and Congressman Shuler's office.
V. Old Business.
1. The Board again discussed the budget requests to
Macon County, Jackson County, and the Chamber of Commerce, as discussed
at the previous meeting. The Town Administrator was authorized to
write the recommended letters after discussing the Macon County request
with the County Manager to see how he wanted to handle it; the
Recreation Committee offered to meet if necessary.
VI. New Business.
1. Max Kimmel was present from Mountain Environmental
to present an assessment of the Big Creek Arm of Lake Sequoyah prepared
by both his firm and Altamont Environmental. He distributed
copies of the assessment, which consisted of mapping of the lake,
consideration of options, and recommendations. The final
recommendation consisted of hydraulic dredging of 42,000 cubic yards of
silt, on-site centrifugal de-watering, and hauling de-watered sediment
to the Macon County landfill as part of the close-out. The
estimated cost was $2,000,000, and he recommended dredging the entire
42,000 cubic yards. The operation would take four to six months
and could be done in the off-season.
2. John Gaston, President of the Board of Trustees of
Hudson Library, was present with plans for expansion. A survey
and needs assessment had been completed, and Paul Schmitt had prepared
plans for an addition; size would be increased from 8500 SF to 14,000
SF, with a 5,000 SF second-story addition. Mr. Schmitt presented
the plans and reviewed them in some detail. 38 parking spaces
would be created, some of them consisting of grass pavers; only 28 were
needed. The required parking would be dependent on a request to
amend Section 302 of the Zoning Ordinance to one space per 500
SF. Planning Director Joe Cooley had reviewed the request and
said that most other public libraries had a similar parking
requirement. Mr. Gaston said he would also be requesting funding
for renovation of a multi-purpose room in the library before the April
1 deadline.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON AND UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED TO SEND THE PROPOSED
AMENDMENT OF THE ZONING ORDINANCE TO THE PLANNING BOARD FOR REVIEW.
3. Bob Kieltyka was present on behalf of the
Highlands Chamber of Commerce to request use of Pine Street Park and
closing of all of Pine Street for an antique auto show on Saturday,
September 13, benefitting the Hudson Library; the rain date was
September 20. Bank of America and Macon Bank had also agreed to
permit use of their parking lots for the show, and there would be many
side attractions.
MOVED BY COMM. DOTSON, SECONDED BY COMM. DEWOLF, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE CLOSING OF THE STREET AND USE OF PINE STREET
PARK FOR THIS EVENT.
Mr. Kieltyka also requested renewal of permission to issue parking
passes as it had in the past. He said that 107 had been issued
last year, and Police Chief Bill Harrell had indicated that there had
been no problems.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON, SECONDED BY COMM. DEWOLF, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE PARKING PASSES FOR THE SEASON.
Each Board member had also received a letter dated March 19, which had
been discussed earlier in the day at the Chamber retreat, requesting
1500 SF in the new Town Hall complex for the Chamber and the Visitor
Center. It was agreed that the letter would be forwarded to the
architects for the project.
4. Cynthia Strain was present to request use of Pine
Street Park for Saturday and Sunday of both Memorial Day and Labor Day
weekends for an arts and crafts show; setup would begin Friday, and
booths would also be set up in Highlands Village Square, but would not
involve Pine Street itself. The Highlander Newspaper had already
reserved the park for Memorial Day, but Eric NeSmith was present and
said they had agreed to share the space.
MOVED BY COMM. ROGERS, SECONDED BY COMM. PATTERSON, AND UNANIMOUSLY
CARRIED TO APPROVE THE USE OF PINE STREET PARK FOR THIS EVENT.
5. Comm. Patterson, noting that she was a member of
the Performing Arts Center Board, asked the Board to consider putting
in more parking off Laurel Street, extending the rain garden into a
retention pond in the rear of the property, and creating several
parking spaces with grass pavers and sod. She thought that the
grass pavers could be used as a demonstration site to see how they work
in Highlands. She had already consulted with the Town Engineer on
the project and she said most of the work could be done by Town forces;
the cost was unknown, but paving would be minimal and could be included
with the Spring paving contract. Comm. Rogers said he would like
to see the site, and the Board agreed by consensus to defer a decision
until the March 24 Special Meeting.
6. MOVED BY COMM. ROSS, SECONDED BY COMM. ROGERS, AND
UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED TO GO INTO CLOSED SESSION PURSUANT TO
G.S.§143-318.11(A)(3) TO CONSULT WITH THE TOWN ATTORNEY ON
POSSIBLE LITIGATION WITH OLD EDWARDS INN INC., AND PURSUANT TO
G.S.§143-318.11(A)(6) TO DISCUSS A PERSONNEL MATTER. All
present left the room except the Town Administrator, the Planning
Director, the Planning Code Enforcement Official, and Town Attorney
Andrew Parker.
A. The Board consulted with Town
Attorney Andrew Parker and gave him instructions.
B. The Board discussed a personnel
matters.
MOVED BY COMM. PATTERSON AND UNANIMOUSLY CARRIED TO GO INTO OPEN
SESSION.
VII. The Board agreed by consensus to adjourn.
There being no further business to come before the Board, the meeting
was declared by the Mayor to be adjourned at 9:30 p.m.
________________________________
Richard Betz, Town Clerk