Minutes
October 5, 2017
The regular meeting of Atkinson Town Board is in session. Members present are Mayor Maulin Patel, Commissioners Tom Gay, Chris Halligan, Julie Woodcock, Steve Woodcock and Deputy Town Clerk Heather Greyvelle, Town Attorney Robert Keenan, Jason Turner, Gary Alsup, Jerry Jacobs, Ken Smith, Jack Turner, Dee Turner, Peggy Barnhill, Cassie Barnhill, Vivian Rivenbark, Hector Ramos, Jeffery W?, Bruce Blackburn, Lori Moore Floyd, Aillun ? , Michael Steeler, Ken Smith, Jess D?
Call to Order By Mayor Maulin Patel
Prayer – Steve Woodcock
Pledge of Alliance to the Flag - All
Julie Woodcock moved to accept minutes from September 2017, Steve 2nd.
Minutes – Approved by Board Members. Motion by Steve Woodcock and second by Chris Halligan.
Library report by Julie Woodcock: See Report
New software system to scan in books, generate reports, check books out and in.
Lee Grissom – presented the 2016-2017 audit. Went over points of audit.
· No new accounting policies
· No problem with management
· Inadequate segregation of duties due to size of town
Clean Audit Report - went over the findings on page 26 of the audit.
· Expenditures have gone over budget for past 2 years. There must be documentation before the town expends beyond the budget amount.
· Looked at page 35 of the audit for overges in the budget. General fund increased by $75,000.00. Overall must do budget amendments to compensate for any overages
· Recommendation to have ?? compared to
· Cash and cash equivalents are approximately $750,000.00
· Page 11 unassigned fund balance of $682,000.00. this is spendable
· Page 13 total expenditures divided by 12 months times 2 equals the minimum fund balance required by LGC. This amount is approximately $80,000.00
Julie Woodcock asked for the pre-audit about how to form a budget.
The auditor’s recommendation to town’s governing body and town finance officer show monthly the budget as compared to the actuals.
Internet Report
· Horizon is dropping customers in rural areas.
· Government is proposing grants for the internet for rural areas. Microsoft is also willing to help with grants. But so far, nothing is happening.
· Atkinson demographics: 12% poverty, 4% unemployment, 12% no high school diploma, 41% high school education only in 18 years old and older, 22% are over 65, 21% have children.
Fire Department Report
· Waiting on a call to go get the new truck
· Disaster plan needs tweaking. The fire department will do their part and get back to the town on it.
· Lights not functioning in the park area. They are not hooked up yet.
· Some of the new lights are not in yet. Julie woodcock will send info on this to the fire department.
· Fire hydrants to be flushed in the usual yearly maintenance.
Maintenance Report
· attached
Christmas Parade
· Will be held December 2, 2017
· All the paperwork is in order: insurance, etc.
· Last year we provided toys for tots for 12 local families. This year do we do the same? Our other option is to give all to Toys for Tots organization and could end up anywhere around the world. We would find families in need here by working through the schools and so on. Decision was to stay local.
· Want the “Welcome to Atkinson” sign cleaned up. It will be decorated.
· The parade Marshal has not yet been chosen.
· Requested town purchase signs to route visitors and parade folks. Commissioner Tom Gay said there is a sign shop in Wilmington that can make these signs for $10 each.
Tom Gay
The no parking signs are going in. we are waiting for the DOT to mark where we can and can’t place them. The signs are all here and ready.
Overview of the Past Month Report is attached.
Cafeteria Report
Gregory Construction Company proposal is $102,472.00. Copy attached.
Design specs and documentation requested a few weeks ago, but no work from mark Walton yet. The town can’t do contract without this. He has not responded to calls, has not returned calls from messages left and one visit to his office he was not there. The process has been about 8 months, and the engineer won’t return calls and won’t attend the meetings.
Motion: suspend the cafeteria roof capital project until the March 2018 meeting. And for the Town Clerk to contact Mark Walton to inform him it has been suspended. Also contact Gregory Construction Company to inform them of this. Made by Commissioner Julie Woodcock. 2nd by Commissioner Chris Halligan. All in favor.
This will be an agenda item on the March 2018 agenda.
Tom Gay asked if the library septic ok. Chris Halligan said there have been no problems since Ben Pell repaired it, including during the recent storms. The septic guy contacted before Ben Pell’s repair has not been heard from for 6 months. This may need to be revisited once the gym is operating. Tom Gay said he knew a guy (unnamed) who would come and look it over and see if it needed a process to break up compacted soil around the drainage areas. Motion by Chris Halligan: contact the guy Tom mentioned to look at the situation. 2nd by Steve Woodcock. All in favor.
Tom Gay
Looked into tractor with boom and side cutter. Costs and estimates included in the report “Overview of the Past Month.” Range of cost for this is $37,000.00 - $50,000.00. To repair what we have will cost about $6000. Ours has 3300 hours on it. Jack Turner objected to spending so much money when we can repair what we have for so much less. He was told no decision was being made in this meeting. Cutting with a string cutter and hiring help 4 times a year for the canals would be cheaper as we don’t need the massive equipment for the usual, smaller ditches we have in Atkinson.
A guy Tom Gay knows will come look at every ditch on Saturday. He will give estimate on cutting, digging, etc. Houses are getting flooded in storms because of overgrown ditches.
Some ditches are state responsibility.
Gym Project
· Had to replace floor joists and sills. Roof started. Metal roof planned commercial gutters to be put in. No heating or air. Lots of damage, rust, and it would allow carbon dioxide into ducts and is not usable. Must be replaced. No insulation. 6 inches is planned.
· Electricity circuitry boxes and wires to be replaced. No exit signs, fire alarms inoperable. Tommy Battson, the fire marshal will be contacted.
· Motion by Chris Halligan, 2nd by Julie Woodcock to appropriate the sum of $36,000.00 from the town’s fund balance and transfer to 2017-2018 Repair and Maintenance guy line item w/n the budget to fund the following :
o Roof repairs not to exceed $17.500.00
o Electrical repairs not to exceed $6,000.00
o Materials for remaining repairs and insulation not to exceed $6,000.00
o Labor not to exceed $3,500.00
o And $2,842.29 for overages as of October 3, 2017 in the 2017-2018 budget line item for Repairs and Maintenance for the gym
All in favor.
Street Repair
Contractor called? Marjie will be asked.
Ken Smith
Had several complaints:
· 3rd Avenue – tree branches covers light.
· Wants town to shop here in Atkinson, not Burgaw or Wilmington.
· Feels we exceed the fire regulation limits with so many people present for the meeting (23 people).
· The social event to be put on by Tom Gay and Chris Halligan to meet the candidates is illegal. He wants it to be open to all and advertised for a (unspecified) length of time.
· The Town of Atkinson Gym Project FB page (created by Tom Gay) he feels advertised Tom Gay and Chris Halligan for office without official approval. He was not included and feels that is unethical.
· He is administrator for the town page, and is unhappy about Tom making a separate gym page.
Per Robert Keenan, town attorney
· Tom must remove “Town of Atkinson” from the name of the page.
· Social events can be attended by anyone without issue. He read the applicable statute.
· Additionally, the electrical work and the roofing work for the gym project must each have 3 bids and be advertised. The bids must include evidence of insurance, workman’s comp, license, etc.
· The building inspector must be involved in both.
· The bids will be reviewed at the next meeting on Nov 2, unless the bids come in quickly and a special meeting is called sooner. If so, that meeting must be advertised for 2 days, not including weekends or holidays. The electrical or roof work may not proceed until these requirements have been met.
Hector Ramos – complains town looks bad. Complains that he doesn’t like how Ben Pell arranges his workday, that he “bounces around” and is not getting things done.
Jason Turner – loose dogs on Linden. They showed their teeth to him. Small black and brown dogs. In the Brewer neighborhood.
Motion to adjourn by Julie Woodcock and second by Steve Woodcock. Adjourned at 10:04PM