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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10-07-75~~~1 Minutes of the regular meeting of the Pulaski Town Council held October 7, 1975 at 4:OO P. M. in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building. There were present: Mayor Raymond F. Ratcliff, presiding. Councilmen: C. William Hickam, Jr., Andrew L. Graham, Mason A. Vaughan, Blair B. Brookmeyer, Bob J. Clark, James M. Neblett, William A. House Absent: Councilman Arthur L. Meadows Also present: Town Manager: J. E. Marshall Clerk: Gladys R. Dalton Toqn Treasurer: Roger A. Williams Visitors: J. R. Schrader, Jane Graham, Debbie Hudson Mrs. Sheila P. Sayers Sue Biskin, RAFT, Inc. The invocation was given by Councilman Graham.. The minutes of the regular meeting of September 16th and special meeting of September 24th were approved as recorded. Sue Biskin appeared bef ore Council to discuss the program of RAFT, Inc. Many aspects of their programs were discussed which was followed by questions from the Mayor, Members of the Council and Town RAFT,INC. REPORT Manager. She was thanked for having made the presentation. Council received a petition by letter from Matthew J. Sayers, Jr. and Sheila P. Sayers for the rezoning ~of Lot 131 as shown on Town Tax map 72-10 which lot is located on Route 99 and Hickory Street, across from the Cruze Typewriter Company. Mrs. Sayers advised Council that one half of this lot is zoned Industrial - M-1 and the other half is SAYERS zoned General Business - B-2, and it was their desire that the Iot be REQ. FOR REZONING rezoned Industrial - M-1 in its entirety in order that an Auto Body OF LOT OFF RT. 99 Shop can be constructed thereon. Councilman Graham moved that the petition for rezoning be accepted and referred to the Town Planning Commission for a recommendation from that body, and that a joint public hearing with the Town Planning Commission be advertised to be held as soon as legally possible. The motion was seconded by Councilman Neblett, and carried on the following recorded vote: C. William Hickam, Jr. - aye William A. House - aye Anew L . Graham - aye Bob J . Clark - aye Blair B, Brookmeyer - aye Arthur L. Meadows - absent Mason A. Vaughan - aye James M. Neblett - aye 5g~~2 October 7, 1975 Councilman Hickam had no report. Councilman Graham reported that the Utilities Committee had SCREENS FOR PEAK CREEK PUMPING STA. BEING CON- SIDERED met with the Town Manager and staff and considered screens for the Peak Creek Pumping Station and plans for same are being finalized and it is hoped. these will be completed by the next Council meeting, as well as obtaining some inf ormation regarding the pumps at the Pumping Station by the next meeting of Council. Mr. Graham the further reported that/Committee will meet soon and go over the draft and policy on outside of corporate limits installation of water and sewer which was submitted by the Town Manager. Councilman Brockmeyer reported that the Town Manager and Town LANDFILL REPORT COMPLETE & Engineer have completed the report on the landfill and it has been WILL BE REVIEWED BY reviewed by the Committee, and that it will also be reviewed by ALL MEMBERS OF COUNCIL the remaining members of Council. Councilman Vaughan had no report. Reporting for the Finance Committee, Councilman House stated that in order to clarify the Town's records and comply with book- keeping methods, it was necessary for Council to appropriate the REVENUE SH. FUNDS TFR. amount of X13,111.45 from Revenue Sharing Funds to Revenue Sharing TO REV. SH. ACCOUNT 4049 Account No. 4049 for use on repairs to the Central School Gym CENTRAL GYM for the present fiscal year. The motion was seconded by Council- man Clark, and carried on the following recorded vote: C. William Hickam, Jr. - aye William A. House - aye Andrew L. Graham - aye Bob J. Clark ~ aye Blair B. Brockmeyer - aye Arthur L. Meadows - absent Mason A. Vaughan - aye James M. Neblett - aye Councilman House then moved that the Town Treasurer be authorized to reimburse the General Fund for actual expenditures GEN .FUND REIMBURSED previously appropriated from Revenue Sharing Funds for Project 4014 - $21,303.14 FOR ACCOUNT- Accounting Equipment - in the amount of $21,303.14. The motion ING EQUIP. was seconded by Councilman Clark, and carried on the following recorded vote: C. William Hickam, Jr. - aye William A. House - aye Andrew L. Graham - aye Bob J. Clark - aye Blair B. Brockmeyer - aye Arthur L. Meadows - absent Mason A. Vaughan - aye James M. Neblett - aye Councilman Clark advised Council of the meeting of the RECREATION COMMITTEE Recreation Committee to be held Thursday, October 9th, at TO MEET AT CENTRAL GYM 5 p. M, at the Central Gym for the purpose of reviewing plans 1 e-Q October 7, 1975 J``~~-~~ for the use of the Gym, and invited all members of Council to be present. Mr. Clark also reported that re-seeding at Loving Field and Macgill Village is being done. Councilman Neblett had no report. Mayor Ratcliff advised Council he was in receipt of a letter from Mr. Lewis B. Lawson, Director for the Energy Commission for the TOWN TO State of Virginia, in which letter he advised there will be a meeting SUBMIT COMMENTS in Georgia on October 21st and if the Town has any comments, asked RE:ENERGY COMMISSION that they be submitted prior to the meeting. Mayor Ratcliff stated he planned to contact some of the local industries to see if they have comments to submit. Mayor Ratcliff displayed a Charter from Sister Cities International under the U. S. Sister City Program, which states as follows: "Sister CHARTER FR. SISTER Cities International awards this Charter to the Citizens of Pulaski, CITIES INTERNATL. Virginia, U. S. A. in recognition of the contrib,~tion to International PRESENTED TO COUNCIL understanding evidenced by their community affiliation with Ashburton, New Zealand". Mayor Ratcliff stated a similar Charter will be forwarded to Ashburton, New Zealand. Town Manager Marshall stated that at the last meeting of Council Mr. and Mrs. Max Trompeter appeared bef ore Council and presented REPORT OF their problem regarding damages to a house owned by them located at TOWN MGR . ON MAX 209 South Washington Avenue, and Council requested that he make a TR OME'ETER WATER report. Mr. Marshall stated that the records of the Fire Department MATTER indicated afire occurred on February 13th at the above address, the alarm having been received at 12:40 P. M. and the equipment returned to the Fire Station at 1:15 P. M. Also, the report indicated the fire was caused by an electrical short in a lamp and the estimated loss or damages due to the fire was $5,000. From the records of the Utility Billing office and conversations with the service man, a request was received on the 13th of February that the water be turned off at 209 South Washington Avenue, and this was done by the service man. It was later verified by the records and by the Director of Public Works, who was returning from lunch on the 13th and saw the service man turning off the water at that address, at approximately the time stated 5~~~ October 7, 1975 by the service man. Mr. Marshall stated the records showed that Mr. Trompeter was billed - marked final following the turning off of the water on February 13, 1975. He further stated the normal billing period for January and February ran from January 7, 1975 to February 7, 1975, and due to the fire being on February 13th and a final reading taken at the time the water was turned off, the February bill and the six days beyond the billing period (February 7th) was included and labeled "final bill" and then mailed to Mr. Trompeter. Mr. Marshall stated that as a normal practice, MANAGER'S during the reading of meters, the meter reader check each meter box and where one is on that should not be it is reported and if REPORT there has been any consumption following the cutoff, it is noted and a bill sent for the amount and the property owner so advised. RE: TROMPETER All of this inf ormation is recorded in the meter reader's book eitherby the billing clerk if it is an office matter, or by the meter reader if it is a matter that arises during the reading of the meters. Further facts indicated that after Mr. Trompeter's request on February 13th that the water be turned off and the service man turning the water off on the 13th, on March 12, 1975 the meter reader, during their normal meter reading process, found that 49,000 gallons had passed through the meter from February 13 to March 12, 1975, but at that time the meter reader noticed that the meter was not turned on. As a matter of folLowup, the service man was asked to again check this on March 18, 1975, and determined that 44,000 additional gallons in six days had passed through the meter. At this discovery the Public Works Director was advised and the meter was removed on March 18, 1975. Following Mr. Trompeter's complaint that the Town had failed to turn the water off as requested, a member of the water and sewer department coctacted a neighbor in the 200 block to determine if they noticed anyone tampering with the meter box, and they advised they had not, but that they had noticed people in the house following the fire. October 7, 1975 ~~~ Mr. Marshall stated Mr. Trompeter was sent several bills following the fire and following the month of March. Mr. Trompeter then con- tacted the Town Treasurer, Mr. Williams, and Mr. Williams then dis- cussed the matter with him (Town Manager), and during this conversa- tion it was concluded that since the excess water had run into the house as a result of a broken pipe and did not run into the sanitary sewer, the sewer charge was reduced to the minimum of $3.50 since MANAGER'S it was assumed no one was living in the house at the time. This inf ormation was communicated to Mr. Trompeter by letter from Mr. REPORT' Williams, dated July 31, 1975, copy of which has been received by the Town Manager. RE:TROMPETER In summary, Mr. Marshall stated that based on the inf ormation obtained regarding this matter, be could not subscribe to the contention of Mr. Trompeter that he is due any adjustment by the Town of Pulaski or its insurance company for water damages to his property by reason of a broken water pipe. With regards to the excess water bill, Mr. Marsha?.1 stated it was his opinion that Mr. Ttompeter is responsible for the full amount of the adjusted bill and he has been so advised by Mr. Williams. Councilman Vaughan moved that the report of the Town Manager regarding the water problems at 209 South Washington Avenue be accepted as presented, and that Mr. Trompeter be sent a bill for $32.50. The motion was seconded by Councilman House, and carried on the following recorded vote: C. William Hickam, Jr. - aye William A. House - aye Andrew L. Graham - aye Bob J. Clark - aye Blair B, Brockmeyer - aye Arthur L. Meadows - absent Mason A. Vaughan - aye James M. Neblett - aye Town Manager Marshall stated that recently there have been questions arising regarding Section 29-45 of the Town Code dealing with sewer connections, and recommended that this be referred to the Ordinance ORDINANCE COMM. TO Committee, Town Attorney and Town Manager to review the above mentioned CONSLDER SECTION Section in order that more clarity regarding specifics therein can be 29-45 REVISION obtained. Councilman Vaughan so moved. The motion was seconded by Councilman Hickam, and carried. ~~~~ October 7, 1975 Town Manager Marshall advised Council that a report had been received from the Air Pollution Control Board relative to the soot complaint from the Compton Lumber Company, which report indicated that the Lumber Company was taken off the gas list during June, July and August of 1975 by the Gas Company and as a result of this, Compton Lumber Company had to start MANAGER'S firing their boiler with oil. Further, the Lumber Company ad- REPORT ON SOOT matted that summer running of the boiler on low fire does COMPLAINT RE:COMPTON create problems when firing with oil, and there was an LUMBER COMPANY incident where a smoke problem arose and soot was emitted DORA HWY. from the stack that was caused when the draft faulted during a low fire setting for oil on the boiler. The report further disclosed the Lumber Company washed off the soot deposits which settled on the home of the complainant, and that the complain- ant has agreed to contact the State Air Pollution office should this problem develop in the future. Town Manager Marshall stated there is a possibility that general revenue sharing will not continue to be funded by Congressional action, and called Council's attention to what MANAGER SUGGESTS might happen should revenue sharing not be continued. As an COUNCIL SECURE example, he stated in the fiscal year 1974-75 the Town received CONGRESSIONAL ACTION FOR $156,137 in revenue sharing as compared to the town's local levy CONTINUED REVENUE of $263,275, and in order to generate thw same amount of revenue SHARING FROG, at the local level, the levy would have to be increased by 59.31%, which he felt would not be possible inasmuch as taxpayers are already heavily burdened. Mr. Marshall recommended that Council adopt a resolution expressing the feelings of Council to the members of Congress, urging they continued support of general revenue sharing. Councilman Neblett so moved. The motion was seconded by Councilman Clark, and carried on the following recorded vote: C. William Hickam, Jr. - aye William A. House - aye Andrew L. Graham - aye Bob J. Clark - aye Blair B, Brockmeyer - aye Arthur L. Meadows - absent Mason A. Vaughan - aye James M. Neblett - aye October 7, 1975 J At the suggestion of Mayor Ratcliff, Councilman Clark moved that the Town of Pulaski go along with President Ford's Proclamation OCTc)BER declaring October 11, 1975 as Count Pulaski Day. The motion was 11, 1975 COUNT seconded by Councilman Hickam, and carried. PULASKI DAY At 5:35 P M. Councilman House moved that Council go into executive session to discuss a personnel matter. The motion was EXECUTIVE SESSION seconded by Councilman Brockmeyer, and carried on the following recorded vote: C. William Hickam, Jr. - aye William A. House - aye Andrew L. Graham - aye Bob J. Clark - aye Blair B. Brockmeyer - aye Arthur L. Meadows - absent Mason A. Vaughan - aye James M. Neblett - aye At 6:33 P. M. Councilman Vaughan moved, seconded by Councilman Clark, that Council return to regular session. Motion was carried. At 6:34 P. M. Mayor Ratcliff declared Council to be back in REGULAR regular session and inquired if there was further business to come SESSION before Council. There being none, Councilman Vaughan moved, seconded by Council- AD:TOURNMENT man Brockmeyer, that Council adjourn. Motion was carried. APPROVED: ;' ~ Mayor Ratclif . ATTEST: 1 //,,,, .~~~~~f- Clerk of e Council