COUNCIL MINUTES

                                                                 VILLAGE OF FOREST HILLS

                                                                               December 1, 2009

The regular meeting of the Village of Forest Hills was held in the lobby at the University Inn at 6:00pm

on December 1, 2009.

The following members of the Council were present:

Clark Corwin

Carl Hooper

Suzanne Stone

Gene Tweedy

Jim Wallace, Mayor

The following Non-Council members were present:

Kolleen Begley, Clerk

(1)    Call to order 6:06pm by Mayor Jim Wallace

(2)    Swearing-In Ceremony  The following members of the Council and Village Departments were sworn in for the new term:

            Mayor – Jim Wallace 

Mayor Pro Tem: - Suzanne Stone

Councilperson – Clark Corwin

Councilperson – Carl Hooper

Village Clerk – Kolleen Begley

Jim Weir, Finance Officer, was not present at the meeting for swearing-in.

(3)    Approval of meeting minutes for November 3, 2009.  A motion to approve the minutes was made by Suzanne Stone, seconded by Carl Hooper, unanimously approved.  

(4)    Financial report for the month of November, 2009.    Jim Weir was absent from the meeting and will give the November and December financial report together in the January meeting to be held Tuesday, January 5, 2010                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

(5)    Lt. Kim Hooper addressed the Council’s concerns and questions.  Lt. Hooper patrols the Village and schedules other officers to patrol the Village.  Mayor Wallace asked if it was legal to have a vehicle towed if obstructing the roads within the Village and Lt. Hooper responded that the property owner can have the vehicle towed at the owner’s expense but the Village should not.  The Village should call law enforcement if the property owner was not available.  Mayor Wallace opened up the discussion for Council members or residents that had questions.  Suzanne Stone and Kolleen Begley asked if the policemen were patrolling the Village in marked or unmarked vehicles and Lt. Hooper replied “both” but the officer will be in a uniform regardless of the vehicle.  The Village can not request one or the other according to Lt. Hooper.  A resident that had her house broken into a few months ago asked if there was anyone apprehended for the break-ins and Lt. Hooper replied that he was unsure but would get back to Mayor Wallace with an answer after he checked and to his knowledge there have been no break-ins since then.  Mayor Wallace talked about the Neighborhood Crime Watch Program being put in place.  Resident Ken Dickert asked what could be done about disruptive parties and underage drinking and Lt. Hooper responded that their policy is to issue a warning the first time, and a citation for the second complaint under the noise ordinance violation, but that he does not go in and check everyone’s identification for underage drinking unless they are standing in the streets.  Clark Corwin asked if the officers could enforce the Village ordinance but Lt. Hooper said he would check with their staff attorney and get back to everyone on that question.  Lt. Hooper stated that they would be able to put the speed trailer up at the entrance and that they have had periodic driver’s licenses checks to potentially apprehend drunk driving.

(6)    C.U.R.V.E. Presentation   A group of 7 local citizens teamed up to form a Non-Profit 501(c)3 volunteer organization called CURVE which stands for: CUllowhee Revitalization Endeavor.  Their past agenda has been to beautify old Cullowhee – the area behind campus -  with some landscaping, etc. but because Cullowhee is not incorporated, they have run into blocks when searching for financial help from the federal or state governments or grants, etc.   WCU is interested in creating an area of Cullowhee for a “town center” (area by Camp Lab) which again can not be done unless the area is incorporated.  There is no interest on the part of WCU to incorporate WCU and there has been some discussion about the potential of Sylva doing a spot annexation of that area.   CURVE’s current agenda is to have a voice  in controlling the outcome of that town center so the purpose of the presentation was to inquire about the level of interest the Village may or may not have in guiding a controlled growth, one of the ways being a potential annexation of that area to the Village.  The group didn’t want to explore this option further until they knew if there would even be an interest in the Village annexing that area.  Mayor Wallace opened up the discussion to include any questions from Council or residents on this potential idea.  Discussion evolved about another option to explore incorporating Cullowhee.  Mayor Wallace asked if the group could obtain and return with more information, for example the borders/ETJ’s of the area and what scheduled days their group meets and he will find someone to represent the Village and join them in their meetings.       

(7)    Guest Speaker Miles Komuves with WCU Dept. of Student Community Ethics is the coordinator of alcohol and drug education on campus.  Mr. Komuves was asked to come to the meeting to address some of the concerns about student’s parties and underage drinking and brainstorm some ideas to incorporate his efforts with the Village issues.  Mr. Komuves takes a personal proactive approach to discussing alcohol and drug issues with WCU students through education and outreach and help them understand the expectations that exist on and off campus.  He started this 2 years ago.   He also feels it viable to address the homeowners to let them know that they are liable for the conduct of their renters.  Gene Tweedy asked how the Village can make the landlords more responsible for parties or disruptions and discussion evolved around the ALE and enforcing Village ordinances in a systematic manner.  Mr. Komuves mentioned that the campus police may be an untapped resource for the Village to inquire about working with the local police on these issues.

(8)    Community Watch Program update.    Block Coordinators include Gurney Chambers, Linda Dickert,  Jim Wallace, Carl Hooper, Clark Corwin, Dawn Gilcrest, Gene Tweedy, Suzanne Stone and Kolleen Begley.   

NEW BUSINESS:  Gene Tweedy to replace Kay Shapiro to represent the Village on the Waste Management Board. 

New Planning Board members to be addressed in January’s meeting. 

Wes Stone has retired from the Zoning Administrator position so that position needs to be filled.  Kolleen Begley will post the position opening on the website and Mayor Wallace asked that everyone spread the word to find anyone that would be interested in taking over.  Ron Mau will act in the interim.

OLD BUSINESS:   Wes Stone worked with attorney David Moore on letter templates to go out for ordinance violations.