Town of Woodland Board Minutes
Date: May 23, 2023
7:00 PM

Board/Staff Present:

Randy Beale - Mayor
David Cooper – Commissioner
Brian Christison – Commissioner
Ricky Morris – Commissioner
Eddie Hoggard – Police Chief
Raymond Eaton – Public Works Director
Brittany Burgess – Town Clerk
Terri Bolton – Part Time Clerk

Commissioner Outland was absent.

Call to Order: Mayor Beale called the meeting to order at 7 pm. 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 Morris made a motion to approve the agenda. Commissioner Christison seconded and the motion carried.

Approval of Minutes: The next item on the agenda was the approval or amendment of the regular meeting dated April 6, 2023 and the approval or amendment of the closed session meeting dated April 6, 2023. Commissioner Christison made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Commissioner Cooper seconded and the motion carried.

Consideration of Bills: Commissioner Cooper 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: 5/4/23 : Robbie Collier read the monthly report. Mr. Collier informed the board of the Fire Department’s Open House that is tentatively scheduled for June 24th, 2023 from 10 AM -2 PM. Commissioner Cooper told Mr. Collier that the new sign is very nice. Saturday, May 6th 2023, they are having a Trout Plate Sale catered by Nixon’s from 12 PM – 6 PM at the Ladies Auxiliary; it is eat-in or take-out. Update on the budget request from last month is that Mr. Collier has not heard anything from county manager, but he is taking it as no news is good news. The hope is that each department gets the same amount, not on a call basis. Rich Square EMS officially closed. Commissioner Cooper told Mr. Collier that we appreciated everything that they do, Commissioner Christison agreed. Mr. Collier thanked the town for their support. 5/23/23 : Commissioner Cooper informed the board that Mr. Collier is to have open heart surgery the day after Father’s Day.

Police Report: 5/4/23 : Chief Hoggard read the monthly report. He informed the board of a break in at the Armory, where a dirt bike was stolen. The Sheriff’s Office got word of where the dirt bike was supposed to be, but upon inspection it was not there so it has yet to be found. Chief Hoggard went over the two quotes from All Traffic Solutions for new Radar Signs. The most expensive one is designed to upload the data collected to a digital cloud where it will be stored, the less expensive one would require the data to be uploaded manually. Commissioner Cooper asked if after buying the Radar Sign, would we then have to buy a trailer for it to stationed on? Chief Hoggard replied that the sign comes mounted on a sign with a solar panel, so it can be moved or kept stationary. Chief Hoggard added that we have a trailer that we can use, there is a trailer over at Public Works that they (he and the Public Works crew) are trying to figure out how to construct it for the sign. We already have one sign that was bought with the grant that is sitting in the back room here at Town Hall, so we have another one that we can put on another trailer. Then we will have two that are mobile, and two that can be mounted on a sign if the Police Department is approved to get the new signs. The other quote is for VPN to be installed for Police where they won’t have to come into the Town Hall building to do their report, they can do it from where they are stationed at that moment. Commissioner Christison asked which sign does Chief Hoggard prefer to have and use. Chief Hoggard replied that it doesn’t really matter to him. Commissioner Cooper says that he likes the way that the signs are set up and are chained to something secure so they can’t be stolen. Chief Hoggard also said that the difference between the two quotes is that one comes with a strobe light and the other one does not, just with a speed display. Commissioner Christison asked if the sign quote that is less has the light, Chief Hoggard confirmed that. Chief agrees that he likes the alert strobe lights because it gets the people’s attention. Commissioner Cooper and Commissioner Christison agreed. Commissioner Christison says that he would lean towards the lesser one with the strobe light just because of the light. Commissioner Christison and Commissioner Cooper agreed that the money is in the Police’s budget to get the sign so it doesn’t need to be voted on and Chief is good to go on buying it. Commissioner Christison wants to know if Chief orders the sign, how quickly can he get it. Chief Hoggard says he didn’t ask about that, but he can find out. Commissioner Christison just wants to make sure that the sign will get here and be paid for before the Fiscal Year ends. Chief Hoggard says that if he orders it, he can ask them for the invoice and then we can go ahead and pay it. The sign that has been approved to be bought costs $7,715.80. Commissioner Christison asked where the signs would be placed, Chief replied Main Street beginning of 25 by the Grapevine and George by the railroad tracks.

5/23/23 : Chief Hoggard reported that the Radar Signs came in on May 22, 2023. He plans to find somewhere to put them.

Clerk Report:
a. 5/4/23 :Mrs. McDermott and Mrs. Burgess informed the board that the Auditor’s Contract for the Fiscal Year ending on 6/30/2023 was received and Commissioner Christison noticed that it is a 22% increase from last year. The Board agreed that Mrs. Burgess needs to check on that price because it is not assumed that a Single Audit will be needed, she also needs to get clarification on if a Single Audit is needed because all the grants together overall equal $750,000 or just the grants received in that fiscal year equal to $750,000.
5/23/23 : Mrs. Burgess informed the board that we are in need of a Single Audit to our grants received being over $750,000. Commissioner Christison made a motion to approve the Audit Contract with the amendment to change Mrs. McDermott’s name to Mrs. Burgess’ name, Commissioner Cooper seconded and the motion passed.
b. 5/4/23 : Mrs. McDermott explained to the Board that the 70 Fund which is ARPA, somehow had $112,022 added twice to equal $224,044. $112,022 should be deducted so it will equal $112,022 to be correct.
5/23/23 : Commissioner Christison motioned to subtract and delete the $112,022 from the 70 Fund. Commissioner Morris seconded and the motion passed.
c. 5/4/23 : Chief Hoggard explained that there have been complaints about a resident in town with multiple chickens and geese running free that are going into neighboring yards and destroying property and being a nuisance. Chief Hoggard says that the owner has a temporary coop for the chickens and is trying to round them all up, he verifies that it is getting taken care of. There have been no reports of the chickens in the roads. The Board believes that according to the Zoning Ordinance the property owner doesn’t have to written approval from the Town Hall if the chicken count is below 25. The Board asks Mrs. Burgess to reach out to other towns to see what their policies are on roosters in the Town limits.
5/23/23 : Chief Hoggard reports that the geese are contained, and the property owner is working on getting the other animals more contained. He says that he is keeping up with it on Facebook. He knows the property owner is trying to get chicken coops built. Commissioner Morris asked about a time limit on something needing to be done. Commissioner Christison asked if we need to send them a bill of $25 because of the number of complaints the Town has had regarding these livestock. Commissioner Cooper and Morris agreed that they still have not seen the chickens in the road. The Board decided that they are going to push it back and see how it all pans out. They agreed not to send a letter and address it at the next meeting.
d. 5/4/23 : Mrs. Burgess brought to the Board’s attention that her computer monitor as well as Mrs. Bolton’s is very small and hard to read at times. She provided a quote from Staples of computer monitors that are 27 inches wide for $129.99, two would be needed. Commissioner Christison and Cooper agreed that the money was in the budget and did not need to be voted on, go ahead and order them.
5/23/23 : Mrs. Burgess informed the Board about receiving a form from the Northampton County Department of Economic Development that she completed and returned on May 15, 2023 for the Town to receive $1,000.
e. 5/23/23 : Mrs. Burgess informed the Board that she received a Notice of Policy Conditional Renewal from National Union Fire Insurance Company PA. She explained that there is nothing to be done on our part, they were just sending the letter as notification.
f. 5/23/23 : Mrs. Burgess asks the Board for the policy, if there is one, on Lunch Reimbursement. For example : someone from the Maintenance Department goes to Greenville to pick up a part and they stop for lunch, then they turn the lunch receipt in to the Clerk to get reimbursement. Mr. Eaton says no and that the employee should buy their own lunch and should not get reimbursement. The Board agrees and understands it for an overnight trip or travel (such as school), but not just for picking up parts. Commissioner Morris asked Mr. Eaton what are the normal lunch hours, Mr. Eaton replied with 12 pm – 1 pm. Commissioner Christison asks if Mr. Eaton takes lunch on those travel days, Mr. Eaton replied he just goes through a drive-thru. Commissioner Christison made a motion that work-related and overnight lunch reimbursement should be State per diem with a cap on it, which is to include day training. Commissioner Morris seconded and the motion carried.
g. Mrs. Burgess informed the Board the WIC will be returning to use the two back rooms of the Town Hall on June 21, 2023 and then every third Wednesday of each month.

Maintenance Report: Raymond Eaton was absent on May 4th, therefore Kenny Godfrey read the monthly report. Mr. Godfrey reports that Spring clean-out pickup is going well and they have taken care of good amount, although he isn’t sure when they will be done. He says that are finishing each block and then moving on to the next. Commissioner Christison asked how Mr. Todd Frazer was doing on the Maintenance crew, Mr. Godfrey replied that he was doing really well and is a great worker, he enjoys having Mr. Frazer on the crew. Mr. Godfrey requests a signed check to pay for his next test and needs it to go in the mail on May 5th, Commissioner Cooper said he will sign it in absence of the Mayor.
A. Mr. Godfrey complains that there is trash on the ground at the park every day, and the Maintenance crew cleans it up every morning. He also reports that there was broken glass all over the concrete floor of Water World. He says that the Town needs to monitor the park more to eliminate the amount of trash left at the park. The Board told Mr. Godfrey to get some more documentation of the trash being left at the park and to collect data to see what days the most trash is accumulated. The Board mentioned that the Woodland-Olney apartments may let us set up cameras around the back the Town can keep a town on the ballpark. Commissioner Christison told Chief Hoggard to check on getting some security cameras and where to put them.
Mrs. Burgess asked Mr. Godfrey when will Water World be open, he replied Memorial Day Weekend. Mrs. McDermott and Commissioner Christison commented that it wasn’t working last they knew of, Mr. Godfrey said he would check on what is wrong with it and try to get it up and running.
5/23/23 : Mr. Eaton was present and informed the Board that Inventory is due August 2024. He reported that 205 Magnolia St. says the haven’t had any water loss but his readings are high. His readings were 9,000 gallons and now it is back to normal. Property owner is not home most of the time and he doesn’t believe he has a leak. He is looking to receive a credit for the high water bills. The Board decided to give him a leak adjustment for his last bill, this will be his first and only credit. Mr. Eaton told the Board that the Maintenance crew installed a water meter at the pool because the owner wanted to clean it. Mr. Godfrey passed his test and has another one to attend in June. The Board discussed the trash at the ballpark and basketball court again. Mr. Eaton told the Board that Lift Station #1 which is a part of CDBG-I #19 is now online.

CDBG:
a. The monthly reports from May are in the Minute Book.
b. 5/23/23 : The Board approved the Fair Housing Proclamation and the Mayor will sign.

Comments from the Mayor: No comments.

Comments from the Commissioners: Commissioner Cooper informed the Board that Commissioner Outland would like to switch Department with Commissioner Morris. Based on health concerns, Commissioner Christison motioned to switch Commissioner Outland to Streets and Sidewalks with Commissioner Morris to Police Department, Commissioner Cooper seconded and the motion passed. Commissioner Morris requested that Chief Hoggard send him Monthly Reports. Mayor Beale comments that our Town has a good team of Commissioners and workers.

Public Comments: No comments

Closed Session: At 8:00 pm, Commissioner Christison made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Commissioner Cooper seconded and the motion carried.