The following members of the Council were present:

Mayor Marcia Almond

Councilmember Daniel Shields

Councilmember Nilofer Couture

Councilmember Larry Ingersoll

Stephanie Gibson, Clerk

The following members of the Council were absent:

Councilmember Robert Kehrberg

The following non-Council members were Present:

Jim Hartley, Resident, Planning Board

Donna Harris, Resident, Planning Board

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

     2.  Announcements:

Reminder – Please silence cell phones for meeting. 

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

     4.  Approval of Meeting Minutes for September 03, 2024, 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 September 03, 2024, Councilmember Couture seconded the motion, unanimously approved. 

     5.  Acceptance of Financial Report & Checklist for the month of September 2024: (All financial reports are posted on the Forest Hills website once approved.) The September financial report will be emailed to Council this week and approved at the October meeting due to internet and power outages.

     6.  Public Comment:  None

     7.  TWSA – Daniel Manring:  Mr. Manring did not attend the meeting. 

     8.  Swearing in of Planning Board member:  Mayor Pro Tem Shields swore in new Planning Board member Donna Harris.

     9.  Reports: 

Mayor’s Report: Marcia Almond – Mayor Almond shared that Catamount Electric had completed updating the lighting and wiring at the Village entrance and Council agreed that the entrance and sign were more visible and the new lighting looked nice.

Mayor Almond said she had met with residents regarding the dog complaints and felt the issue was resolved.  She noted that animal control had been notified about the biting incident and they had spoken with the owners of the dog reported.

Mayor Almond said that Council should look at Jackson County’s ordinances regarding animals and shared that she had looked at some of them and she thought that Webster’s “Vicious Dog” ordinance was good.

Mayor Almond met with the new owners of the former University Inn apartments and said that they have additional parking space now that they might be willing to donate to the town.

Mayor Almond called Victor Lofquist to ask about an Engineering study but has not heard back.

RPO/TAC:  Mayor Almond said she attended the meeting and that they are asking for members to complete a survey regarding childcare.  She noted that Southwestern Commission has small grants available for 1-5k available and are trying to find Childcare resources.  There are approximately 600 kids 0-5 that are not in daycare,

Dogwood Health and Southwestern Commission are holding a training in Waynesville on 10-2 from 10-12pm on Recovery Friendly workplaces, they are hoping to have employers attend to become certified to become a recovery workplace for citizens who are recovering from addiction and/or criminal offenses.

Roads: Larry Ingersoll – Councilmember Ingersoll said that mirrors, signs, brackets, and posts are at the Assembly Hall, he has spoken to Robby and said that due to weather and illness the signs are not up, but Robby will get them installed as soon as possible.

Councilmember Ingersoll said that there was a water leak on Caves Spring Road and it had been repaired by CWS.

Councilmember Ingersoll said that he checked the village for damage and trees down throughout the village, he picked up some limbs fallen from the storm and noted that there was a tree limb down on one resident’s home but that there was minimal damage.

Ordinance Violation update:  Councilmember Ingersoll said that the owner of the dogs that had bitten a resident have been contacted and that Mayor Almond met with them and someone had reported the issue to animal control.  He said that he encountered a dog that was loose while he was on SCC and said there were two people walking and that the dog growled at them, he said he blew his horn and called the dog and it followed him as he drove to the residence, he had seen the dog at before, he advised that the dog needed to be on a leash.  Councilmember Ingersoll recommended that the village contact Attorney Fox about adopting an ordinance for “vicious dogs”, Councilmembers agreed that there needed to be an Ordinance for the Village in addition to the County Ordinances to protect walkers on Village roads and hopefully prevent any other residents from being harmed. He noted that the current ordinance requires that dogs be on a leash when they are walking through the village.

Speed Limit Signs:  Council had previously discussed one of the Village speed signs that says 25mph instead of 15mph, Councilmember Ingersoll said that he had spoken with DOT about the signs on the state-maintained road.

Village Safety:  Councilmember Couture said she had no received a patrol report or a report for 911 calls.

TWSA:  Councilmember Kehrberg was absent. 

Planning Board:  Mayor Almond asked Jim Hartley with the Planning Board if a meeting had been scheduled and he said not yet.  Council discussed the Planning Board looking at the ordinances and reviewing any potential changes needed.         

    10.  New Business: 

    11.  Unfinished Business: 

•          Ordinance Violation Updates:  Mayor Almond spoke with the resident who had been bitten and the owners of the dogs.   Animal control met with one owner of a dog who injured the arm of a resident and told them the notice was their warning and that any further complaints could result in them having to surrender the dog.
  
•         Update on Grants:  Councilmember Couture will follow up with Patty. 

•         Planning Board Members:  Mayor Pro Tem Shields swore in new member Jim Hartley.  Donna Harris will be sworn in at the October meeting.

     12.  Additional Comments:  None

     13.  Adjourn: At 8:10pm, Councilmember Shields made a motion to adjourn.