November 2022
The following members of the Council were present:
Councilmember Nilofer Couture
Councilmember Ron Yount
Councilmember Marcia Almond
Councilmember Daniel Shields
The following members of the Council were absent:
Mayor Jim Wallace
The following non-Council members were Present:
Stephanie Gibson, Clerk
Judith Lambert, Village Homeowner
Larry Ingersoll, Village Homeowner
Timothy Eckard, Village Homeowner
- Call to order: at 7:00pm Mayor Pro Tem Almond called the meeting to order.
2. Announcements:
Reminder – Please silence cell phones for meeting
3. Approval of Agenda: Councilmember Yount made a motion to approve the agenda, Councilmember Couture seconded the motion, unanimously approved.
4. Approval of Meeting Minutes for October 04, 2022, Regular Council Meeting:(All meeting minutes are posted on the Forest Hills website once approved.) Councilmember Yount made a motion to approve the meeting minutes for October 04, 2022, Councilmember Shields seconded the motion, unanimously approved.
5. Acceptance of Financial Report & Checklist for the month of October 2022: (All financial reports are posted on the Forest Hills website once approved.) Councilmember Shields made a motion to accept the financial report, Councilmember Yount seconded the motion, unanimously approved.
- Public Comments: Tim Eckard said that he would like to address the issue of short-term rentals in the Village. He said that currently there are several, one he is aware of near his residence is 1483 SCC Rd., it is an Air BNB called Shalet Karma. He and other homeowners attending, Larry Ingersoll and Judith Lambert that also live near the short-term rental are concerned with the noise, animals being loose, and the extra traffic created by these types of rentals.
Councilmember Shields made a motion to adopt a similar set of restrictions to Highlands, Sylva and Asheville, their restrictions state that no rentals under 30 days are allowed. Councilmember Yount seconded the motion made by Councilmember Shields. Council discussed and decided that each of them would review the restrictions as written for the areas nearby. Councilmember Yount will review Highlands’s restrictions, Councilmember Shields will review Atlanta’s, Councilmember Couture will review Sylva’s and Councilmember Almond will review Asheville’s and report details at the next meeting.
7. Reports:
Mayor’s Report: Jim Wallace – Mayor Wallace was absent
Roads: Ron Yount – Councilmember Yount said the roads looked good.
RPO/TAC: Marcia Almond – Councilmember Almond said she will be out of town for the next meeting.
Planning Board: Rick Cardona was absent
Village Safety: Nilofer Couture – Councilmember Couture said that the village was patrolled a total of 40 hrs. for the month, she said law enforcement received 33 - 911 calls for the month and that 60% of them came from Prospect.
Councilmember Couture said that there was a notice of a funding opportunity for safe streets, Mayor Wallace mentioned looking into asking a Grant Writer to investigate the potential of writing a grant to make a two-lane road. Councilmember Couture said she would send Mayor Wallace the information.
- New Business:
- Municipal Grant due in January: Councilmember Couture suggested completing the Municipal Grant proposal early that is due in January and getting a quote and proposal for work needed on the opposite side of the road from the entrance sign.
- Mendoza Tree Service quote: Stephanie said that Mendoza gave a quote of $3200 per day to trim trees that needed to be cut or trimmed along village roads. Councilmember Yount said he would speak with Mendoza and see what they were planning to trim or cut for the price and will follow up.
- Unfinished Business:
- Village Social updates: Councilmember Couture said we should offer items to raffle for the village social and put tickets in the invitations and note that attendance is required to win the raffle.
Councilmember Almond said she would get a tree, decorations, and food order.
Stephanie will have the invitations/cards printed by the Print Haus and mail those along with two raffle tickets in each envelope, she will purchase tickets from Wal-Mart. Council decided to have a quick zoom call on 11-15 at 7:00pm to discuss the village social details.
- Planning Board meeting/member status: Councilmember Almond asked Councilmembers to ask friends or neighbors who might be interested. Village Homeowner Tim Eckard said that he would consider being on the Planning Board. Councilmember Couture asked that he take a Planning Board manual to review, and Councilmember Almond said she would contact Rick Cardona and other residents that said they would be on the board and check the status of them being sworn in and report back.
- VFH SW Corner Property: Councilmember Almond said the contract has been signed by the Village, but she said the Dillard’s did not like the wording and wanted the contract amended by the attorney and she hasn’t heard back on closing the purchase of the parcels.
- Discussion of entrance work not covered by the Municipal Grant: Councilmembers discussed the work on the left side of the entrance quoted by BH Graning and said that we needed to get two additional quotes for the work not covered by the grant since the amount is over $5K. Councilmembers discussed the property being surveyed as well and agreed that they should be done prior to closing if possible. Mayor Wallace will speak with the surveyor and ask that the survey be done as soon as possible.
10. Adjourn: At 8:50pm, Councilmember Almond made a motion to adjourn, Councilmember Yount seconded the motion, unanimously approved.