April 2018

Village of Forest Hills
Council Meeting
Tuesday, April 3, 2018 – 6:00 pm
Jackson County Rec. Center, Cullowhee

 

 The following members of the Council were present:

Mayor Kolleen Begley

Councilmember Clark Corwin

Councilmember Niall Michelsen

Councilmember Sharon Stovall

 

The following Non-Council members were present:

Stephanie Gibson, Clerk

Kaitlin Sines, WCU Student in Political Science & Public Affairs

 

  1. Call to order: at 6:00 pm Mayor Begley called the meeting to order.     

  2. Announcements:

  • Reminder – Please silence cell phones for meeting

  • April 23rd at 6:00pm joint meeting with Jackson County and all municipalities at the Dept. of aging in Webster.

  • May’s meeting next month is Wednesday the 2nd. (Ashley will present an Architectural review for residential area).

    3.  Approval of Agenda – Councilmember Corwin made a motion to approve the agenda, Councilmember Michelsen seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

    4.  WCU Student Projects Update: Kaitlin Sines and Todd Collins, Political Science & Public Affairs at WCU 

  • Project #1: Survey – Kaitlin reported that the Resident survey was approved today and should be sent out by the end of the week. 

  • Project #2: Cost/Benefit Taxpayer Services – Kaitlin reported that her Capstone project on the cost benefit analysis for municipalities is underway. She has been researching data from comparable municipalities and provided a copy to Council for any interim feedback. Discussion about the different tax rates and services. Kaitlin will present her final project to the Council at the May Village meeting.

   5.  Approval of Meeting Minutes – March 7, 2018 Regular Council Meeting: Councilmember Michelsen made a motion to approve the minutes; Councilmember Stovall seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

   6.  Acceptance of Financial Report & Checklist for the month of March 2018: Stephanie Gibson provided the Financial Report. Councilmember Stovall made a motion to accept the financial report; Councilmember Corwin seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

    7.  Reports:  

  • Mayor’s Report: Mayor Begley reported that she will obtain any updates from TWSA that Forest Hills needs to be aware of and noted there were no ordinance violations or citations issued by hired patrol.

  • Roads & RPO: Councilmember Michelsen noted that he met with Roger from B.H. Graning to show him where to install the additional 15mph speed limit road signs when the posts come in and that flags were set up where signs are to be installed. Councilmember Michelsen reported that he attended the RPO meeting where they discussed allocations of money to go to certain projects. He said there was a survey emailed and that each county gets two projects that they can move to go forward. He said that they passed a resolution in support of regulations for bicycles and suggested that Forest Hills may want to follow suit with a similar resolution. Council agreed. Mayor Begley said that she would type up a resolution and bring it before the board at the next meeting. Councilmember Michelsen said that they passed the prioritization 5.0 draft for local input methodology. He said the next meeting will be on May 31st.

  • Neighborhood Watch & Safety: Councilmember Stovall will contact Roger with BH Graning to get the new Neighborhood Watch signs installed where the old signs were. Discussion about scheduling a Home and Personal Safety community meeting and ideas for the agenda and who to invite for speakers. Councilmember Stovall took notes on this discussion and will work on an agenda for this Home and Personal Safety community meeting for the Council to review.

  • Planning Board: Councilmember Corwin noted that there was a quorum present at the last Planning Board meeting with 4 members in attendance. He noted that Paul agreed to chair the meeting and Mark agreed to assist. Councilmember Corwin reported that Jayne Buchanan will take care of the board clerk duties and confirming meeting venues. The Planning Board watched a video on Planning Board topics from the webinars purchased.   The next Planning Board meeting will be held on April 16th.

    8.  Unfinished Business:

  • Review paving projects: Mayor Begley asked Council if they thought SCC Drive should be completed and whether they should move forward or see what funds will be available in the new fiscal year. Council discussed and agreed to check with contractors for costs as well as question if the unpaved portions could be paved to appear consistent with the last paving project. Councilmember Stovall said that she would get a quote from Black Bear paving and bring it to the next meeting.

    Mayor Begley said that she called BH Graning and Tim Green and asked if the water breaks that were inserted with the last paving created any problems with using their equipment and they responded that they could work around them. Mayor Begley said that in her conversation with Parker Paving, they said that they could remove water breaks if requested to do so since they were not requested by the board. The board agreed to leave them as is for now.

    9.  New Business:

  • Nominations to appoint new Councilmember to fill vacant seat: Mayor Begley said she sent an email to the list of Forest Hills residents advertising this vacancy and had two responses expressing interest – Linda Dickert and Jerry Rice. Councilmember Corwin suggested having anyone interested in filling the seat to attend the May meeting and bring an introductory summary. Mayor Begley said she would add the vote to the June agenda.

  • Budget Committee members and meeting for 2018-2019 fiscal year municipal budget: Mayor Begley and Stephanie will meet in April to review the budget for fiscal year 18-19 and bring a preliminary draft to the May Council meeting. She noted that this budget needs to be passed before June 30th so a public hearing on the proposed budget will need to be scheduled for the June Council meeting.

  • Roadsides need trash clean up: Mayor Begley said the roads are in bad need of trash clean up. Council asked if the Department of Corrections still does roadside cleanup, Mayor Begley said that she would check with D.O.T. about the state portion of the road. Councilmember Stovall said that she knew some maintenance men who have done work in the Village and would ask about their fees for road cleanup before the next meeting.

  • Councilmember Corwin asked about the renewal of webinars for the Planning Board to review. He said that they could order them in June or wait until after July 1.

   10.  Additional Public Comment: None

   11.  Adjourn: At 8:10pm, Councilmember Stovall made a motion to adjourn; Councilmember Corwin seconded the motion, unanimously approved.