September 10, 2007

MINUTES
Snow Hill Board of Commissioners Regular Meeting
Monday, September 10, 2007—7:30 p.m.
Snow Hill Town Hall
201 North Greene Street, North Carolina 28580

The Snow Hill Board of Commissioners regular meeting convened at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, September 10, 2007, in the Snow Hill Town Hall with the following members present: Mayor Don Davis; Commissioners Percy Edwards, Phyllis Burruss, Geraldine Shackleford, Allison Thomas, and Lorrine Washington; Acting Town Clerk Michelle Strickland; Town Administrator Bob Clark; and Town Attorney Brian Pridgen.

  1. Call to Order – Mayor Davis sounded the gavel and called the meeting to order.
  1. Prayer – Commissioner Percy Edwards offered prayer.
  1. Pledge of Allegiance – The pledge was recited.
  1. Roll Call – With all members in attendance Mayor Davis suspended roll call and a quorum was declared.

5.  Consider Approving Meeting Agenda – Motion was made by Commissioner Edwards, seconded by Commissioner Shackleford and carried unanimously to approve the meeting agenda with a change to 8, N/A should be changed to Neighborhood Affairs Committee report.

6.  Consider Approving Meeting Minutes: August 29, 2007 regular meeting – Mayor Davis suspended the reading of the minutes.  Motion was made by Commissioner Shackleford, seconded by Commissioner Washington and carried unanimously to approve the minutes as drafted.

7.  Report of Officers:

    1. Mayor:
    • 1. Report on Snow Hill Town Council 2006-2007 Strategic Goals and
    • Objectives – Mayor Davis presented a PowerPoint presentation (a copy hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of these minutes)
    • to the Board of Commissioners that reported the Town’s goals and how the Town Board had achieved an A- by meeting 22 of 24 goals. The Board consented to receive this report.

2. Recommend setting work session at September 26, 2007 for updating goals

    • and objectives – Mayor Davis asked that this be suspended until after the remainder of the presentations.

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September 10, 2007 Regular Meeting

    1. Town Administrator/Planner:
    • 1.   Around-the-Town Report – Mr. Clark handed out to the Board his Summer 2007 edition of the Around-the-Town report (a copy hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of these minutes) and discussed things that were going on around the Town. The Board consented to receive this report.
    • 2.   Department status report – Mr. Clark continued where Mayor Davis left off in the PowerPoint presentation (a copy hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of these minutes) and discussed the status of several things going on in the Administration Department. The Board consented to receive this report.
    • 3.   Announcements:
    • a. Community Center Enhancement Project groundbreaking
    • (September 14, 2007 at 4:00 p.m. at the Community Center) – Mr. Clark announced that the groundbreaking at the Community Center would be on Friday, September 14, 2007 and invited everyone to attend.
    • b. WNCT Channel 9 community forum on September 24, 2007
      • at 7:15 p.m. – Mr. Clark announced the community forum to be held by WNCT at the museum where citizens would have an opportunity to address the Channel 9 team; he invited everyone to attend.
    • c. Public Works & Utilities Director: Department status report – Mr. Hill continued with his portion of the PowerPoint presentation (a copy hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of these minutes) and reported on the status of projects that the Public Works department has been working on and things that they would be taking on soon. The Board consented to receive this report.
    • d.  Town Clerk/Revenue Collector: Department status report – Ms. Strickland gave a presentation on her portion of the PowerPoint presentation (a copy hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of these minutes) and brought the Board up to speed on the status of things in the areas of collections and clerk responsibilities. The Board consented to receive this report.

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September 10, 2007 Regular Meeting

    • e.  Acting Finance Officer: Department status report – Mrs. Watson thanked the Board for the time that she had with Cathy, the Harris representative that had come in for training and finished up the PowerPoint presentation (a copy hereby incorporated by reference and made a part of these minutes) with her portion.  She presented to the Board what she had been working on and upcoming things that she would be looking into with regards to financial aspects of the Town. The Board consented to receive this report.

8. Report of the Boards, Commissions, Committees and/or Taskforces: Neighborhood Affairs Committee report – Commissioner Washington announced that the Neighborhood Affairs Committee would be holding a Citizen’s Academy that would run every Thursday night from October 11, 2007 until graduation on November 1, 2007.  Applications will be sent out in The Standard Laconic and can be picked up from Addie Watson.  The Academy will help make citizens more aware of what’s happening in Snow Hill.  Commissioner Washington also asked what the proper procedures were for reporting citizen’s who had let their property grow up and did not cut the grass.  Ms. Strickland informed Commissioner Washington of those that were already on the list for investigation and Mayor Davis explained the steps that one would go through to report the problem.

9. Unfinished Business and General Orders: N/A

10. New Business: Consider recommendation to set a work session for September 26,

2007 regular meeting – The Board consented without objection to set the next regular meeting as a work session.

Mayor Davis asked the Board members to look back at the current strategies and jot down areas of interest they might like to visit.  He also requested that they look at the mission and vision statements.

11. Announcements and Public Comments – Mayor Davis asked if there were any announcements or public comments that anyone would like to make and Mr. Jim Baker stood to ask a question.  Mr. Baker posed a question to Mayor Pro Tem Edwards regarding the Finance and Administration Committee and why there has been no meeting since November 1, 2006. Commissioner Edwards then referred the question to the Finance and Administration Chair Commissioner Allison Thomas. Commissioner Thomas stated that there needed to be a meeting, and raised concerns with regard to Town finances.  While answering Mr. Baker’s question Commissioner Thomas stated “I don’t know why this Town Board tolerates the incompetence of employees over and over and over.”  Mr. Baker asked for this statement to be included in the minutes and asked
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September 10, 2007 Regular Meeting

Town Attorney Brian Pridgen at what point closed session information became public because he was interested in knowing the details of the incompetence of employees.

There was much discussion about seeking for the truth in regards to recent developments within the Town and Mayor Davis rose to go on record to state that Bob Clark nor himself set the schedule for the committee meetings.

Mayor Davis stated that he struggled while reading the most recent edition of the newspaper. He expressed a concern being that he was not provided an opportunity to comment with regard to the Town Administrator and his alleged violation of policies. Mayor Davis said that this was not true. Commissioner Thomas expressed concern that the Mayor and Mr. Clark were in control of day to day operations of the Town and that there had been checks cut that had the mayor’s signature on them.

Mayor Davis expressed that he indeed accepted responsibility as Mayor for the Town, but others also needed to accept some level of responsibility. He added that they did not violate or tolerate policy violations. Mrs. Washington expressed her concern with regard to a previous comment made that members were “in the Mayor’s pocket.” Ms. Mary Dixon raised a concern about the manner in which Board members communicated.

Commissioner Thomas raised concerns about the Town’s auditing process and uncertainty of the Town’s finances. From the audience Mr. Bill Wilkes recommended that the Board bring in an outside party to investigate the Town’s finances.  Commissioner Thomas moved that the Town’s finances be reviewed. After asking three times for a second, the motion died due to a lack of a second. Mayor Davis asked members if they were comfortable with the auditor completing the audit, and members replied in the affirmative.

Mrs. Grantham, a resident in Hillview Subdivision, raised a concern over the high water rates for customers outside of Town limits and the lack of representation that they had being outside residents.  She stated that this was taxation without representation. Mayor Davis stated that outside residents paid more because they do not pay Town taxes. He also mentioned meeting with Hillview residents in the past. Mayor Davis mentioned that there appeared to be differences of opinions from the Hillview community on annexation, but voluntary annexation was always a possibility.

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September 10, 2007 Regular Meeting

  1. Adjournment - Motion was made by Commissioner Washington, seconded by Commissioner Edwards and carried unanimously to adjourn at 10:18 p.m.
          • _________________________________

        • Donald G. Davis

        • Mayor

ATTEST:
_______________________________

Michelle L. Strickland

Acting Town Clerk