The following members of the Council were present:

Mayor Kolleen Begley

Councilmember Clark Corwin

Councilmember Niall Michelsen

Councilmember Jonathan Brooks

 

The following Non-Council members were present:

Stephanie Gibson, Clerk

Mark Teague, J.M. Teague Engineering & Planning

Anna Sexton, Planner, J.M. Teague Engineering & Planning

 

Work Session

 

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

2. J.M. Teague Engineering & Planning:   Clark Corwin, Mayor Pro Tem

• Introduce new representative

• Discussion about services

• Contract

Councilmember Corwin introduced Anna Sexton, the new representative with J.M. Teague that will be working with the Planning Board and Council.

Council discussed topics they’re seeking input and help on with the representatives from J.M. Teague Engineering. 

Mayor Begley brought up the 15 mph and 25 mph speed limits set on Village roads and the complaints from residents regarding speeding. Mark Teague discussed that his office has tools available that can be placed to record count and speed. Council asked the planners to look at all roads within the Village and give recommendations on what could be done to further mitigate speeding as well as an assessment on all the paving conditions. Mayor Begley said that she would like to have this speed and road assessment on the agenda for October. 

Councilmember Corwin stated that internet connection and speed is another topic important to the Village. He said that WCU power poles are infrastructure already in place throughout the Village and Councilmember Michelsen mentioned that WCU is in the process working on an RFP with a company that would use those poles to provide internet to the area. Mayor Begley noted that fiber currently runs to the Village entrance. Anna asked if there are any issues with cell phone service in the Village, Councilmember Corwin said that service is spotty. Councilmember Brooks said that Craig Fowler with WCU IT services, mentioned trying to get a tower to boost cellular service in the area, he said that he would discuss the cell tower and internet RPF process with him and discuss at the September meeting. Council asked if J.M. Teague would assist in researching any grants available and the facilitation of processes that would pertain to better broadband and cell service. 

Councilmember Corwin asked for a Landscape Ordinance to be considered and Council agreed, requesting Anna work on this with the Planning Board. Councilmember Corwin said that there are Arbor Ordinances that could be used as a template to get started.

Council discussed the roadside and road shoulder parking issue on Village roads and asked the planners to review the parking ordinance for input.

 

Council Meeting

      

1. Call to order: at 7:00 pm Mayor Begley called the meeting to order.    

2. Announcements:

                 Reminder – Please silence cell phones for meeting

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

             4.  Approval of Meeting Minutes – July 3, 2018 Regular Council Meeting: Councilmember Michelsen made a motion to approve the minutes; Councilmember Corwin seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

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

             6.  Reports:  

• Mayor’s Report: (meetings during the month, ordinance violations, parking matters, CWS water repair)Mayor Begley said that there were no ordinance violations reported for the month, she said that the roadside parking issue although less frequent is still an occasional safety issue which has been discussed with property owners. Also reported were some water outage issues with CWS which provides service to part of the Village. Mayor Begley suggested asking a representative from each company to attend a work session with the Council. Councilmember Brooks said that replacing the infrastructure isn’t viable but discussions on maintaining what’s in place and improving service would be beneficial. Mayor Begley said that she would reach out to all utility representatives including Western Carolina Power, TWSA and CWS to see about the possibility of them attending the November Council meeting.                  

• Roads: Councilmember Rice was absent. 

• RPO/TAC: Councilmember Michelsen said that TAC had a phone meeting and that there was a meeting with the Transportation committee to discuss moving forward with road priorities/plans. He said that 107 and 64 are the roads in the area most likely to be addressed in Jackson County, more is going toward Haywood and Buncombe counties. Councilmember Michelsen said that he and Councilmember Corwin attended Southwestern Commission’s annual meeting. 

• Planning Board: Councilmember Corwin said the Planning Board will work with Anna the J.M. Teague planner on attending a Planning Board meeting to look at Landscape ordinances. 

• Village Safety:

  Councilmember Brooks said that he did not receive the patrol and 911 reports for the month. Mayor Begley said that she would contact Rollie James and Wanda Hall again about getting those reports sent to Councilmember Brooks.  

           7.  Unfinished Business:  

• Survey Results Discussion and Actions: Councilmember Brooks said that one of the issues that stood out was noise issues. Mayor Begley said that the Village has noise ordinances but asked if we were doing all that could be done to address the issue. She said that the attorney recommended adding an additional level to the ordinance violations, holding both the owner and renter of a property responsible if there are repeated violations. Mayor Begley said that if an amendment is to be made to the ordinance, a public hearing would need to be scheduled.

  Councilmember Brooks suggested sending notices or annual newsletters that might reach renters and new residents and outline the Village ordinances and pertinent information. Council discussed the first newsletter could address the survey results. Council noted that the main topics to address in this newsletter were noise, speeding, utilities (water, internet, and electric), and roads. Mayor Begley said that she would start a draft newsletter and send to Council for feedback.

  Councilmember Michelsen mentioned including the status of the development, explain ordinances and note that the Village has contractors for snow removal and road clearing as well as a paving schedule for non-state-maintained roads, fire department annual support, etc.   Council also recommended thanking residents for their participation in the survey and note that the plan is to conduct a similar survey every three years.

          8.  New Business:

• Remove old small Village signage on corner of NCC/SCC and replace with road name signage: Council discussed the need for new road name signage to be added on the corner of NCC and SCC for better directions. Councilmember Michelsen made a motion to approve the purchase of new signage and posts to install the signs on the corner of NCC/SCC, Councilmember Brooks seconded the motion, unanimously approved. Councilmember Brooks mentioned donating the old signage currently on that corner to the WCU library for Jackson County historical archives.

         9.  Additional Public Comment: None

       10.  Adjourn: At 8:30pm, Councilmember Michelsen made a motion to adjourn; Councilmember Brooks seconded the motion, unanimously approved.