COUNCIL MINUTES

                                                                 VILLAGE OF FOREST HILLS

                                                                              May 13, 2014

 

 

The regular meeting of the Village of Forest Hills was held in the meeting room at the Jackson County Recreation Center at 6:00pm on May 13, 2014.

 

The following members of the Council were present:

Mayor Kolleen Begley

Councilmember Clark Corwin

Councilmember Carl Hooper

Councilmember Ron Mau

Councilmember Dan Perlmutter

 

The following Non-Council members were present:

David Moore, Village Attorney

Stephanie Gibson, Finance Officer/Clerk

Rick Cardona, Planning Board Member

Todd Collins, Planning Board Member

Jayne Buchanan, Planning Board Clerk

 

1. Call to order: The meeting was called to order at 6:00pm by Mayor Kolleen Begley.

    2.  Approval of Agenda: A motion to approve the agenda was made by Councilman Perlmutter, seconded by Councilman Hooper, and unanimously approved.

    3.  Approval of Meeting Minutes from April 01, 2014 Council meeting: a motion to approve the minutes was made by Councilman Hooper, seconded by Councilman Perlmutter, unanimously approved.                                         

    4.  Acceptance of Financial Report for the month of April, 2014: Stephanie Gibson provided copies of the Financial Report for April. Revenues for the month included $4,494.80 in Ad Valorem Taxes, Sales Tax, and Interest earned. Expenditures for the month included $420 for Police Protection, $575.00 for administrative fees and fee to Jackson County for assistance with the Zoning hearing, $49.78 for notices, $1,007.00 for Attorney fees, $41.63 for handbook from the School of Government, $375.00 to Avenet for Web Construction, and $73.37 on Entrance operating fees. As of April 30, 2014 there is $140,550.96 in the General Fund bank account and $16,714.90 in the Powell Bill bank account. 

A motion to accept the financial report was made by Councilman Hooper, seconded by Councilman Corwin and unanimously approved.

    5.  Public Hearing: Fiscal year 2014-2015 Proposed Budget Introduction: Mayor Begley provided copies of the proposed budget along with a budget summary she prepared outlining the Village expenditures and revenues, tax rate, Unreserved Fund balance policy, and recommendations for the upcoming fiscal year.             

Todd Collins asked if the Sales tax revenue was given to all Municipalities and if it was based on per capita, Mayor Begley replied that it was.

Councilman Corwin mentioned Patrol services and asked if there is something else that we need from them or to address with speed issues.  Councilman Hooper suggested having speed bumps installed. 

Mayor Begley asked about unmarked versus marked vehicles, council noted that although officers are off duty they are in marked police vehicles. 

Councilman Mau suggested trying speed bumps in one area to see how they work before installing throughout the Village. 

Councilman Perlmutter mentioned the possibility of installing cameras. 

Rick Cardona mentioned that there is a lack of police presence; he recommended having Police patrol Thursday through Sunday. 

Mayor Begley mentioned the possibility of getting the signs that police install that target speed.  Also, she asked if we could have a representative from the Sheriff’s office attend the next meeting to discuss concerns, Councilman Hooper said he would check with the Sheriff’s office. 

A motion was made to approve the Budget by Councilman Hooper, seconded by Councilman Mau, unanimously approved.

    6.  Jackson County Economic Development: Rich Price, Director – Mr. Price had to cancel the meeting until the June Council meeting.

    7.  Planning Board Presentations: Rick Cardona / Jamie Van Pelt, WCU intern (Any points to be addressed will be on the June Council meeting agenda) – Rick Cardona presented a Power Point presentation of the Capstone project that Jamie Van Pelt prepared on the Village of Forest Hills, he noted that it was a draft and needed additional information but would be a good start. Rick and Todd Collins worked with Jamie to gather historical information and spoke with Jackson County to obtain a copy of the original survey map of the Dillard property, the map shows right-of-ways.

Mayor Begley noted that the map of the Dillard property would not show the entire Village, it was dated before the Village was Incorporated in 1997.

Rick said that the power point presentation he shared needed work but could be a “Road map for the future”. He would like to distribute hard copies of a Municipal plan at the next meeting. He noted that Jamie looked at surveys that had been done in the Village to determine resident’s opinions and he also submitted a future Land use plan.

Rick recommended tweaking the draft and invited suggestions from the Council.  Todd said that he feels Jamie's project was ambitious, he feels that there is a lot of good information but that the formatting could be changed.  He feels that a more focused task for future student involvement would be helpful.  

Rick feels that the Planning Board can move forward with the draft with Council support.

Mayor Begley suggested taking points from the draft, Council reviewing, and emailing her suggestions to discuss at the next meeting.

Councilman Corwin said we could use student involvement in the future.  Todd said that all students have to do a Capstone project.  Councilman Mau suggested having ideas for students in place by August.

Councilman Corwin discussed planning within the Cullowhee Community group, he said that he likes their process and feels that it is more active and better than surveys, Councilman Perlmutter agreed that their process gets more people involved.

    8. Reports:

Planning Board:  Councilman Corwin said that Rick gave a preliminary report at the meeting. He suggested having a Community Cleanup Day, providing refreshments, and having bags/tools for cleanup, etc.  Council feels that Mayor Begley should put VFH Cleanup Day on the June agenda.  Todd said that there are students looking for Community support activities that could assist with clean up.  Councilman Corwin said that residents feel there are not enough Community activities. 

Councilman Corwin said that the Planning Board is interested in joint working meetings and he offered to call Ron Hancock, Councilman Perlmutter felt that would be a good idea, he feels that we need to organize ordinances and codes, Council agreed.

Councilman Corwin asked about purchasing books for the Planning Board from the School of Government.  A motion was made by Councilman Perlmutter to order 7 books at $36.00/ea. from the School of Government for Planning Board members, seconded by Councilman Hooper, unanimously approved.  

Safety:  Councilman Hooper said there was only one contact last month, an officer saw three suspicious individuals at the Water tower and the officer got their names and asked them not to return, that they were on private property. 

Councilman Hooper told the Sherriff’s office that the Village would like one night of patrol between 11:00pm and 1:00am.  He shared that officers have to volunteer for those hours for it to be available.

Roads:  Councilman Perlmutter said that he has distributed the survey and some of the recommendations were pot holes needing repair and that South Country Club has more ware due to traffic.  Also, he noted that the gravel roads were holding up well and that the drop off on Caves Spring Road is dangerous, and he would like to see railings on the bridge.

Mayor Begley asked the Council if it would be acceptable for Councilman Perlmutter to get estimates on repairing pot holes, Council agreed.

Councilman Corwin said that the boulders on S. Country Club Dr. are massive and asked if they are on the right-of-way, Councilman Hooper replied that they are the state’s responsibility.  Also, he said that Rick Bennett had approached him and said that there is a big wash near his property. 

Mayor Begley noted that Tim Green has not completed ditch pulling for two years.  She said that she notified Tim Green and Ben Graning of the schedule adopted by the Council.

Zoning:  Councilman Mau said he has not seen a Garage permit but he will get with Ken Dickert to discuss.

Mayor’s Report:  Mayor Begley said she met with Rich Price to discuss the Village needs.  She shared that she and Councilman Corwin attended the Cullowhee Planning Meeting.

Mayor Begley said that she sent the proposed budget to the SOG for review and the gentleman she spoke with discussed a program for Municipalities, NC Cash Management, created to offer local governments a higher return on investments.  She asked Stephanie to get more information on the program and report at the June meeting.

    9. Jackson County Historic Resources Commission: Gerald Green sent an email stating that the term of the Village of Forest Hills appointee to this Commission, Carl Iobst, has expired. The board needs to reappoint or replace him.

Council Mau made a motion to contact Carl Iobst to see if he would be interested in being reappointed, Councilman Hooper seconded the motion, unanimously approved.

 10. Old Business: 

a. Conditional Use Permit submitted to Village:  Kingdom Care Ministries withdrew their CUP application.

b. Construction Management students update:  Councilman Mau provided a report of the work that Construction Management students prepared listing the culverts and another map of the Village with the culverts listed.  The report shows the size of the culverts and the conditions (ie; whether they are blocked and what they are blocked with.) 

Mayor Begley noted that the students did a great job on their report.  Councilman Mau said that students could participate in future projects.

c. Map/List which roads are Village roads or State roads inside the Village boundary lines:  Councilman Perlmutter is reviewing this and will report in June.

  11. New Business:

 a.  Any from Council? Councilman Hooper suggested implementing compensation for the Council members, Mayor Begley asked him to elaborate. He suggested maybe $25. for each meeting.

Attorney Moore said that he believes the Council has to have a discussion to determine the details; he suggested that Councilman Hooper have a discussion with the League of Municipalities. 

Mayor Begley feels that compensation does help with accountability and suggested that the Council discuss and report back. 

A motion was made by Councilman Hooper to discuss the matter further at the next meeting, seconded by Councilman Perlmutter, unanimously agreed.

 b.  Additional mileage qualifies for Powell Bill Funds:  Mayor Begley stated that all roads that are not State maintained in the Village qualify for Powell Bill funds; they all have a 16’ span including the right-of-ways which she confirmed is the requirement. Also, Stephanie and Kolleen will need to ask Victor Lofquist to certify the roads including the new mileage that has been eligible before time to submit the certified map for the Powell Fund requirements in July.

 c.  Planning Board seat needs to be filled – Nominations? Kolleen asked Jayne to find out if Kent Briggs was resigning from his seat. If so, she asked the Council to bring recommendations to the June meeting to fill his seat. Kolleen mentioned that Steve Brown (currently on the Zoning Board of Adjustments) may be willing to serve.

   12. Additional Public Comment: (Sign-up sheet, set time per speaker) None

   13. Adjourn: At 8:50pm Councilman Hooper made a motion to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Corwin, unanimously approved.