January 2017

VILLAGE OF FOREST HILLS
COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES
JANUARY 03, 2017

 

 

 

The Council meeting for the Village of Forest Hills was held at the Jackson County Recreation Center at 6:00pm on January 03, 2017.

 

The following members of the Council were present:

Mayor Kolleen Begley

Councilmember Carl Hooper

Councilmember Clark Corwin

Councilmember Debbie Rowland

 

The following Non-Council members were present:

Stephanie Gibson, Clerk

Jason, The Sylva Herald

 

  1. Call to order:  The meeting was called to order at 6:00 pm by Mayor Kolleen Begley.
  1.  Announcements:   a) 2017 monthly Council meeting schedule is set for the first Tuesday of each month at 6:00pm at the Jackson County Recreation Center in Cullowhee with the exceptions of : June, July & August, the alternate meeting place on June 6, July 11, and August 1st will be the Southwestern Commission office on Bonnie Lane in Sylva.  July 4th is the first Tuesday in July so the meeting will be July 11th.

        b)  Chili’s Restaurant in Cullowhee will hold its grand opening on January 9th.

  1. Approval of Agenda:  Councilmember Hooper made a motion to approve the agenda; Councilmember Corwin seconded the motion, unanimously approved.
  1. Approval of Meeting Minutes from the December 06, 2016 Council Meeting:  Councilmember Hooper made a motion to approve the meeting minutes; Councilmember Rowland seconded the motion, unanimously approved.
  1. Acceptance of Financial Report & Checklist for the month of December, 2016:  Councilmember Rowland made a motion to accept the Financial Report for December; Councilmember Hooper seconded the motion, unanimously approved.  Council reviewed the year to date budget totals.  Clark made a motion to move $6,000 from Streets, Non-Powell to the Professional Services budget line, Carl seconded the motion, unanimously approved.
  1. Public Comment:  None
  1. Appoint new board member for open Council seat:  Mayor Begley opened the floor for nominations and discussion.  Council discussed potential people that have been contacted but are still waiting on follow up from them. Council voted to move nominations forward to the February meeting pending that follow up.
  1.  Reports
  • Mayor’s Report:  Kolleen Begley - Mayor Begley said that she and Councilmember Rowland met with Chloe Collins, the SCC student that created the new Village logo, and awarded her the $100 stipend for her work and took a photo that will be put on the website. 

Mayor Begley said that the replacements for the stolen road signs have been ordered and will be shipped to B.H. Graning, the invoice will be brought before the Council for approval when received.

  • Planning Board:  Clark Corwin - Councilmember Corwin said that the Planning Board will be addressing the Village Mixed Use District ordinance and set a public hearing for it.  Council noted to hold the Planning Board public hearing at the February 20th Planning Board meeting at 7:00pm for the addition of the Mixed Use District ordinance, revisions to the Noise ordinances and revisions to the Sign regulations.  Council voted to have a public hearing at the March 7th Council meeting to vote on the same items.

Councilmember Corwin gave an update on the report provided by J.M. Teague Engineering and Planning Transportation Specialist, Reuben Moore, regarding the safety concern at the intersection of Cave Springs Road and S Country Club Drive brought to the board by David & Kay Shapiro.  He noted that the engineer’s report addresses the road concerns and in his opinion the response states that the Village has provided more than adequate actions to address the concerns and honor its responsibility.  The report noted that a standard red Stop Sign could replace the current wooden Stop Sign as further effort.  Councilmember Corwin made a motion to purchase a standard red Stop Sign for the end of Cave Springs Road at the intersection of S Country Club Dr., Councilmember Hooper seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

Mayor Begley would like the meeting minutes to reflect that the Village Council has heard the Shapiro’s concern, responded with research and professional inquiries, installed 2 Caution Signs (one in each direction) on Cave Springs Road at the intersection of South Country Club Drive, notified property owners on Cave Springs Road of the accident last year, and purchased and will be installing a traffic mirror at the top of the initial incline on Cave Springs Road.  Aside from the Council’s response, the residents on Cave Springs Road installed a Stop Sign at the intersection a few years ago, they keep 2 barrels with bags of ice melt and sand on the roadside for their own use, and they noted a reminder of caution with winter driving at their HOA meeting this past October. 

In addition to the responses for that specific intersection’s safety concern brought forth by the Shapiro’s, Mayor Begley asked that these minutes reflect that the Village has been and will continue with their road maintenance schedule which includes:  contracting with a snow removal contractor and ice melt contractor for inclement weather, filling pot holes on pavement, resurfacing per the schedule prepared by the Planning Board, ditch pulling and culvert clearing, and cutting back the right-of-ways twice/year on Village-maintained roads. Also noted - the Village enacted a 15mph speed limit on all Village roads in 2015 and said speed limit signage was installed on all Village roads.\

  • Safety & RPO Board:  Carl Hooper - Councilmember Hooper reported that the only item during the Village patrol was that the officer checked on a couple that were hanging around the cemetery.  Council discussed increasing the patrol hours during various times.   

RPO – Councilmember Hooper said he did not attend the last meeting.

  • Roads:  Debbie Rowland – Councilmember Rowland noted that she will contact the real estate agent for the private property behind the entrance sign to inform them that the property is being used for parking spaces.  Councilmember Rowland also reported that she will be contacting the Jackson County 911 Addressing Dept. regarding the North and South Country Club road name signs that are missing and need to be replaced.
  1. Unfinished Business: 
  • BH Graning & Landscapes completed Phase 1 of entrance work (demolition of bushes in front of rock wall, removal of dying cherry trees behind rock wall, fence repair) – next steps for installing plant material

Councilmember Corwin said that he spoke with Dan Pittillo about recommendations for low maintenance vegetation and plants for the entrance.   Council discussed reviewing these recommendations at the February work session in order to define a response to BH Graning for completing the next phase of work at the entrance.

  • Tag Line ideas & new entrance sign: Council voted to move this discussion to the March meeting work session.

 

  10. New Business: 

  • Calendar idea: Councilmember Corwin would like to discuss creating an informational calendar for 2018.  Council voted to discuss the calendar at the April meeting work session.
  • New logo on website:  Mayor Begley is going to put the new Village logo on the website.
  • Virginia Lane:  Councilmember Rowland noted that Virginia Lane dead ends and would like to discuss purchasing signage that reads “No Outlet”.  Councilmember Corwin said that he would like to talk to a few homeowners on Virginia Lane about it and revisit it at the next meeting in February.  Council agreed to add this to the Road Report for February. 

   11.  Additional Public Comment:  None

   12.  Adjourn:  At 7:10pm Councilmember Hooper made a motion to adjourn; Councilmember Rowland seconded the motion, unanimously approved.