The following members of the Council were present:

Mayor Jim Wallace

Councilmember Ron Yount

Councilmember Marcia Almond

Councilmember Nilofer Coutre

Councilmember Daniel Shields

The following non-Council members were Pesent:

Stephanie Gibson, Clerk

Larry Ingersoll, Planning Board

Jim Hartley, Resident

Kathy Clemmons, Resident

Judith Lambert, Resident

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

     2.  Announcements:

Reminder – Please silence cell phones for meeting. 

     3.  Approval of Agenda: Councilmember Couture made a motion to approve the agenda, Councilmember Almond seconded the motion, unanimously approved. 

     4.  Approval of Meeting Minutes for October 03, 2023, Regular Council Meeting:(All meeting minutes are posted on the Forest Hills website once approved.) Councilmember Shields made a motion to approve the meeting minutes for October 03, 2023, Councilmember Couture seconded the motion, unanimously approved. 

     5.  Acceptance of Financial Report & Checklist for the month of October 2023: (All financial reports are posted on the Forest Hills website once approved.) Councilmember Yount made a motion to accept the financial report, Councilmember Almond seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

6. Public Comment:  Jim Hartley, Village resident, recently purchased a home at 1691 North Country Club Drive.  Mr. Hartley noted that he had some issues with trespassing.  He said that he is in support of short-term rentals and would like his property to be grandfathered into the proposed short term rental ordinance under the same terms and conditions of the other two active and grandfathered participants should he decide to rent in the future. 

Jim said that they have rented out his property for short term purposes on separate occasions and are actively participating in listings with VRBO and a private management company.  He said that he has rentals in the future scheduled.  Jim noted that they do not allow parties or events and currently restrict the age of renters to twenty-five or older. 

Jim said that should the board require additional or supporting documents supporting his participation in current rental activities, he would be happy to provide such documentation. 

     7.  Reports: 

Mayor’s Report: Jim Wallace – Mayor Wallace mentioned that BH Graning had completed work on the left side of the entrance but that he has concerns about there being enough large rocks at the front of the property to prevent additional parking.  He said that he will speak to Ben Graning.

Roads: Ron Yount – Councilmember Yount said that all the areas in the pavement to be filled are complete except a small area past Tim Echard’s house. 

RPO/TAC: Marcia Almond – Councilmember Almond said the next Southwestern Commission meeting will be next week.

Planning Board: Planning Board member Larry Ingersoll shared that the board had a short meeting, they reviewed the final draft of the ordinance regarding STRs and forwarded to Jim Wallace. 

Village Safety: Nilofer Couture – Councilmember Couture said that the village was patrolled 15 hrs. and there were 45-911 calls, she noted that about 40% of the calls were from Prospect.  She noted that there were several 911 calls from Pincushion Lane.

8. New Business: 

SCC Road – ask about NCDOT potentially reworking the sharp curve as you enter SCC Drive past the Rice property:  Marcia said that Stephanie shared that the NC League representatives mentioned road projects as a funding area for the ARPA funds and that several residents as well as herself, had close calls with two cars trying to pass in the small, sharp curve.  Council recommended contacting DOT to see if a representative might be able to attend the November meeting to discuss possible solutions.  Councilmember Yount said that he knows Travis Williamson who is over the DOT roads in the area and that he would contact him and see if someone could attend the next meeting to discuss the roads. 

9. Unfinished Business: 

• Short Term Rentals:  A public hearing was held at the October meeting to review ordinance changes.  Residents currently operating short-term rentals spoke on behalf of current short-term rentals.  Council reviewed the proposed Ordinance after Attorney Fox made his final review.

Councilmembers voted unanimously in favor of the proposed ordinance change and said that anyone not grandfathered in could ask for a variance if needed. 

• Ron Younts replacement on the Council:  Councilmember Ron Yount resigned his position on the Council.  The council mentioned that Robert Kehrberg said he would be willing to fill that position. 

• Village Social: Council discussed dates for the Holiday social and decided to hold the social on Sunday, December 17^th from 2:00 – 5:00pm.  They discussed food and agreed to have the same catering company owned by John Faulk to cater for the event.  Councilmember Couture made a motion to allocate up to $1300 for the social, Councilmember Yount seconded the motion, unanimously approved.  Stephanie will post the notice on the Village website and order postcards to be printed and mail those to residents.  Councilmember Almond said that she would pick up some Poinsettias and Christmas Cactuses for decoration and to be used as door prizes. 

• Update on Prospect Commercial Space:  No recent updates.  

• Update on Grants:  Councilmember Couture said she would check with Patricia and ask that she be researching grants that might be applicable to the Village.  She noted that she did apply to NCDOT, but the grant was not awarded. 

    10.  Adjourn: At 8:05pm, Councilmember Shields made a motion to adjourn, Councilmember Yount seconded the motion, unanimously approved.