Minutes

 Spruce Pine Town Council

September 25, 2006 - 5:30 PM

A meeting of the Town Council was held on September 25, 2006.  Present were Mayor Wes Foy and Council Members John Boone, Gregg Henline, Phillip Hise and Rocky Buchanan.  Staff in attendance included Richard Canipe, Darlene Johnson, Dave Lindsey, Coy Hollifield and James Ramsey.  Other attendees included Nathan Hall (Mitchell News-Journal), Steve Murphy (WTOE), Kay Goins and Dave Cooley.

CALL TO ORDER

Mayor Foy called the regular meeting to order at 5:30 PM and Gregg Henline gave the invocation.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES

Rocky Buchanan moved to approve the minutes of the September 11, 2006 regular meeting.  Phillip Hise seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD – No Comments

APPOINTMENTS

Kay Goins, Main Street Director, updated the Council on Main Street happenings.  A grant from the Phillips Foundation has been awarded to Main Street.  The grant will be used for the town clock project.  Kay hopes that the clock can be dedicated at the 2007 Blacksmith Festival. 

Two workdays have been set for downtown, September 26 and October 3.

A train committee has been established to work on acquisition of the depot.  Members include Richard Canipe, Calvin Hall, Kay Goins, Brenda Pittman, Warren Harding, Davis Godwin and Phillip Frye.

An area of concern downtown is parking.  Employees of downtown businesses should be encouraged to park in the town lots rather than in front of their businesses.

If the bi-weekly car show coincides with the Heritage Festival on October 14, car show organizers should be advised that Locust Street will remain closed until 5:00.

PUBLIC HEARING - none

DEPARTMENTS:

POLICE DEPT.

• Chief Coy Hollifield noted that things are going well.  He hopes to order a new department car in October.
• Phillip Hise moved to adopt a no-parking ordinance for both sides of Creekside Court from the intersection at Harris Street to the city limits on Creekside Court. Gregg Henline seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.  Said ordinance is incorporated by reference and attached to these minutes.

PARKS & REC – Dale absent

• Painting of the pool is complete.
• Shelter reservations will discontinue after September.

WATER & SEWER

• Dave Cooley commended Elbert Stamey for his work on plumbing the new well.

FINANCE

·         Rocky Buchanan moved to release $19.75 in property taxes for Allan and Susan Hylemon as the property is outside city limits.  John Boone seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.

·         Dave Lindsey advised that he hopes to have bank draft services for utility bills in place by January 2007.

·         Approximately 10% of 2006 property taxes have been received.

ISSUES

• Seven of the trash cans for downtown are completed and will be placed.

MANAGER'S UPDATE

• Rocky Buchanan moved to approve the plans of Jonathan Johnson to build the volleyball court and horseshoe pit for Brad Ragan Park for his Eagle Scout project.  Gregg Henline seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
• Richard Canipe commended Elbert Stamey for his work at the new well, noting that we are a couple of weeks away from operation.
• The consensus of the Council was to make a one-time allotment of $2000 to the AMY Library to match a grant intended to update the Spruce Pine children’s’ library.  A letter of commitment will be issued, with the funds to be paid when the grant is received. 
• The consensus of the Council was that the Town of Spruce Pine should be the lead agency in the multi-agency effort to extend water and sewer services to the Ledger area.
• A room at the White House will be decorated in the “Home of the Perfect Christmas Tree” theme, using products from the store.  An HGTV segment on the store is planned.  Richard will look into prices for repaving the Crystal Street sidewalk near the store.
• The NCDOT TIP plans the improvements to Hwy. 19E from Micaville to Spruce Pine for the year 2012.
• The Spruce Pine Business Association has requested that the Town contribute financially to the fireworks for the Christmas Parade.  Council will consider.
• Phillip Hise moved to provide sewer services at outside rates with no annexation to Lee McKinney on Old Hwy. 226.  John Boone seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
• As no bids were received for dredging the Beaver Creek Dam in the second bid opening, tentative plans are to request that some of the grant funds be used to improve the Toe River Intake.  If the intake is improved to improve capacity, the dam could be taken off-line, drained and dredged conventionally.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned upon motion of Wes Foy.