Town of Woodland Board Minutes
Date: November 3, 2022
7:00 PM

Board/Staff Present:

Randy Beale - Mayor
David Cooper – Commissioner
Ricky Morris - Commissioner
Brian Christison – Commissioner
Eddie Hoggard – Police Chief
Raymond Eaton - ORC
Donielle McDermott – Town Clerk

Commissioner Outland was absent.

Call to Order: Mayor Beale called the meeting to order at 7pm. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited followed by a moment of silent reflection.

Approval of Agenda: The first item of business was the approval or amendment of the agenda. Commissioner Christison made a motion to add item 10c Surplus Items as well as a closed session to the agenda and approve the remainder of the agenda as written. Commissioner Morris seconded and the motion carried.

Approval of Minutes: The next item on the agenda was the approval or amendment of the minutes for the regular meeting dated October 6, 2022. Commissioner Christison made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Commissioner Morris seconded and the motion carried. The closed session meeting minutes from August 4, 2022 were never submitted.

Consideration of Bills: Commissioner Cooper excused himself from this portion of the meeting due to his business having an invoice to be approved. Commissioner Morris made a motion to pay all the current bills and to also pay all the regular bills that come in throughout the month. Commissioner Christison seconded and the motion carried.

Public Comments: No public comments

Fire Department:
• The fire department recently had a meeting with the Woodland Olney Apartments concerning fire safety concerns. In response to that meeting, Chief Collier wrote an email to the apartments listing the fire departments specific concerns and sent a copy to the town as well. The fire department also spoke with Tony Burnette, the county’s emergency management director. Mr. Collier said he will keep the town updated.
• The annual deer tournament is coming up on November 12, 2022.
• Open house is tentatively scheduled for the first of the year or spring, no specific date yet.
• St. John’s donated a portable 3,000 gallon dump tank to WVFD.

Rivers & Associates:
a. Blaine Humphrey joined the meeting via Zoom. Mrs. McDermott explained to the board that Rivers & Associates was the only firm to submit a statement of qualifications after the RFQ for engineering for call services was publicized. Commissioner Christison made a motion to approve Rivers & Associates as the Town of Woodland’s engineer for on-call services. Commissioner Morris seconded and the motion carried.
b. Commissioner Cooper asked how long this short term agreement is good for. Blaine Humphrey said this agreement is specific to this Water AIA project only, and for future projects, separate agreements will be written. Commissioner Christison made a motion to approve agreement between Rivers & Associates and the Town of Woodland for the Water Asset Inventory Assessment. Commissioner Cooper seconded and the motion carried.
c. The advertisement for bids for the Peachtree/Chestnut Street Sewer Replacement CWSRF Project will be in the Roanoke Chowan News Herald and the Greater Diversity paper within the next week. A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for November 22, 2022 at Town Hall at 2:00 pm and the bid opening will take place December 8, 2022 at 2:00 pm. Commissioner Christison asked if this was enough time to do the pre-bid and then bid opening. Mr. Humphrey said yes, it is mandatory that the pre bid meeting happens at least ten days prior to bid opening, and this gives us at least ten days.

Police Report:
• Trunk or Treat went well. There was a nice crowd to attend.
• November 10, 2022, Chief Hoggard will be in Ahoskie all day qualifying.
• The board asked Chief Hoggard about the possible new officer. Chief said he is tentatively scheduled to do his qualifications in two weeks, however, he may wait until January to do them.
• Commissioner Morris asked Chief Hoggard to please put a requirement in our policy for the part time officers to work a minimum of 24 hours per month. Chief Hoggard said he has it written up and will send it to our attorney to review.

Clerk Report: Mrs. McDermott told the board that our billing and accounting software has been upgraded from Citi-pak to FMS. With this change, she asked the board for permission to close the water deposit checking account and combine it with the general fund checking account. This will make the accounting much easier when it comes to customers’ water deposits and refunds when they close accounts. Commissioner Cooper made a motion to approve closing the water deposit checking account and combining it with the general fund checking account. Commissioner Christison seconded and the motion carried.

Maintenance Report: Mr. Eaton read the maintenance report. Kenny Godfrey is registered for the C-Well class in December.
a. A notice of violation for February 2021 and June 2022 was received. Raymond Eaton is taking care of the paperwork for both violations.
b. The quote for the solenoids was discussed during the planning meeting regarding the Office of State Budget Management Grant held prior to this meeting.
c. The maintenance department has a bunch of old valves and pipes that Mr. Eaton asked the board for permission to take to the junk yard for scrap. The board agreed this is a good idea. The maintenance department also has surplus items and equipment they would like to put up for bids. This list includes a John Deere 3 way blade, a 4 inch disk, air compressor, 96 Ford Truck, Yanmar tractor, Honda air compressor, and a military portable light. Mr. Eaton asked to include the John Deere 2440 and the 962 Bush hog backhoe but the board agreed these two items were still useful to the town. However, they did agree to deem the other items as surplus and put them up for bids. We will advertise these items “as is” and that we have the right to reject any or all bids.
d. Mr. Eaton asked for permission to purchase another golf cart after discussing this during the planning meeting. Commissioner Christison made a motion to purchase a street legal golf cart using American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds with a cap of $7,500. Commissioner Morris seconded and this motion carried.

CDBG: Mayor Beale attended the Upper Coastal Plain Council of Government meeting this past month.
a. The monthly report for the CDBG is in the Minute Book.

Comments from the Mayor: Mayor Beale thanked everyone for all they do. He asked Robbie Collier to get back with him if Tony Burnette does not respond within thirty days to the email regarding the Woodland Olney Apartments fire safety concerns.

Comments from the Commissioners: Commissioner Morris asked for an update on the county providing internet to their citizens. Mrs. McDermott said it was in the paper that the county signed an agreement with US Cellular to use them as the internet provider.

Public Comments: Robbie Collier said it’s nice to have a board that listens and communicates well.

Chief Hoggard stated that Mrs. Beale called recently and said that cars are getting hit by basketballs behind the apartments when there are kids playing ball. He said Mrs. Beale stated that is the only place for them to park. Chief Hoggard suggested putting some sort of barrier up to block the balls from hitting the cars.

Adjourn; At 7:52 pm, Commissioner Cooper made a motion to adjourn from the open meeting, take a five minute recess, and then go into closed session. Commissioner Christison seconded and the motion carried.