Town of Woodland Board Minutes
Date: March 5, 2020
7:00 PM

Board/Staff Present:

David Cooper – Mayor Pro Tem
Brian Christison – Commissioner
Barbara Outland - Commissioner
Donielle McDermott – Town Clerk
Eddie Hoggard – Police Officer
Marshall Lassiter – ORC

Mayor Beale was absent due to sickness and Commissioner Morris was absent due to knee surgery.

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited followed by a moment of silent reflection.

Call to Order: Mayor Pro Tem Cooper called the meeting to order at 7pm.

Approval of Agenda: The first item of business was the approval or amendment of the agenda. Commissioner Outland asked to amend the agenda to add 5b for her to speak. Commissioner Christison made a motion approve the agenda with the amendment to add 5b Barbara Outland. Commissioner Outland seconded and the motion carried.

Approval of Minutes: The next item on the agenda was the approval or amendment of the minutes from the Regular Board Meeting dated 2/13/20, the Closed Session Meeting dated 2/13/20, and the Closed Session Meeting dated 2/24/20. Commissioner Christison noted the typed minutes for the first two minutes were dated 2/6/20, which was the original date the meetings were to be held. Commissioner Christison made a motion to amend the first two minutes to change the dates from 2/6/20 to 2/13/20 and then approve the minutes as written. Commissioner Outland seconded and the motion carried.

Consideration of Bills: Commissioner Outland 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: Steve Newsome informed the board of a problem with paying for car registrations online at the DMV website. He stated that he recently received his car registration bill in the mail. When he went to pay online, the price was less than the bill he received and he discovered the reason. His taxes were going to Jackson, not Woodland. As a result, he chose to go to the DMV to pay in person. The agent told Mr. Newsome that there was an error online, she fixed the error, so his taxes would now go to Woodland. Mrs. McDermott said she had contacted Northampton County Tax Department after Mr. Newsome informed her of this situation. They told Mrs. McDermott that if there is any discrepancy online with the customer’s address or so forth, it would default to Jackson. They said they have no way of knowing now many are like this and the only way to fix it is for the customers to pay close attention and call the DMV or Northampton County Tax Department if they see a problem.

b. Barbara Outland said she received a call last Thursday from a gentleman named Steve, the old owner of the boat factory. He wants to purchase the Armory and stated he may pay up to $80,000. He would like to pay $10,000 down and $10,000 a year and will be bringing a new business to town. Commissioner Cooper said the town does not need to be in the finance business. After more discussion, the board said they would want to go through the upset bid process like previously decided but also put a minimum bid of $50,000 in place.

Fire Department: The balance in the fire department’s account as of March 2, 2020 was $54,562.24.

Police Report: Chief Hoggard read the monthly police report.
- We are still waiting on Raleigh for Michael Kellett’s paperwork.
- Chief Hoggard sent a list of light poles not working to Dominion.
- Hertford County Chief of Police asked Chief Hoggard if the town would be interested in their old body cameras and he told him yes. If we receive them, Chief Hoggard will put a body camera policy in place.
- AOC has three surplus computers that Woodland Police Department may be able to get at no cost, and there may also be some printers.

Clerk Report: Larry Carpenter, the town’s CPA, sent the audit contract to do the Town of Woodland’s audit for fiscal year ending June 30, 2020. The contract went up from $7,180 to $7,380. Commissioner Christison made a motion to accept the audit contract. Commissioner Outland seconded and the motion carried.

Mrs. McDermott passed out the 2019 audits to the commissioners. The audit looked good. Mr. Carpenter is planning on coming to the town in the near future to go over the audit.

A gentleman by the name of PJ Connelly from “Hometown Strong” called today to announce a meeting on March 25, 2020 at 12:00 in Jackson for municipal leaders. He wanted to invite someone from the board to be there to represent us.

Mrs. McDermott reminded the board that tomorrow is the employee luncheon hosted by Woodland Community Outreach at 12:00 pm.

Maintenance Report:
a. Mr. Lassiter requested to replace some of the galvanized pipe, approximately 435 ft. from Main St. to Oak St. on S. Chestnut St. Mr. Lassiter said he may need to rent some equipment to do this project and the estimated cost for the project is $2,500 as long as the town does the work. The galvanized pipe will be replaced with PVC. Mayor Pro Tem asked how many residents this will cover. Four to five taps run off this line. Mr. Lassiter stated that galvanized pipe has a life expectancy of about 40 years and the current piping was put in around the 1940s. Commissioner Christison asked how much it would cost for the other two abandonments discussed at last months meeting, in which Mr. Lassiter replied that he was not sure of the cost. Mr. Lassiter stated we have between 2500 and 3000 feet of galvanized pipe that will need to be replaced altogether.

b. Samples were pulled from both wells to measure compatibility and these samples were taken to Greenville for testing. The results show they are very compatible. Mr. Lassiter also took some samples from our distribution site and sent them to Raleigh to be tested for asbestos. We are waiting on those results.

c. The 2019 Water Supply Plan was completed and approved. In 2018, our report showed 20% of unaccounted water, but in 2019 the number dropped to 5%. This shows it was a good idea to install new water meters and that the meters are accurately measuring water being used in the Town of Woodland.

Well Report:
a. The new well and the old well are alternately pumping water into the water tank, but the water tank is not being kept as full as Perry Collier is use to and would like. He will probably have to put up with how the wells are pumping the water to the tank for now.
b. A.C. Schutles sent in a final time extension request. Rivers and Associates is currently reviewing the letter, and it was also forwarded to Attorney Culpepper. This letter is requesting 203 days and all the monies previously withheld. This letter will be included in the board minutes.

Zoning Report: Raymond Eaton will be sending a letter to the county for approval of the recommended ETJ board members.

Donielle McDermott asked Mr. Eaton if the dog grooming business recently opened in town is in an area zoned for this and will they need some sort of permit. Mr. Eaton said he will check into this and get back with Mrs. McDermott.

Commissioner Outland asked Mr. Eaton about the Air B&B in town, wondering if this is permissible and if so, what permits are needed. He will get back to the town with this information.

CDBG: The Town of Woodland was awarded a $983,500 grant to fix one of our lift stations. We are still waiting to receive the contract from the state. The town is also currently looking into more grant opportunities.

Spruce Street Yard: Commissioner Christison reminded the board that we may want to do work on this yard to clean it up before the spring and summer comes.

Armory: There has been some interest in the Armory recently. One gentleman put a bid in, but then removed his bid the next day. The board discussed making a minimum bid requirement. Commissioner Christison made a motion to make the minimum bid requirement $40,000 including all the land on both sides of Cherry Street and to be sold as is with a hold harmless agreement to be signed. Commissioner Outland seconded and the motion carried.

Comments from the Mayor: Mayor Pro Tem Cooper said with the recent Corona Virus Pandemic, we need to be careful in our activities. The new doctor’s office was busy today.

He also said a big plus is there has been activity at Dr. Stanley’s house. The family is having some work done and it will soon be for sale.

Comments from the Commissioners: There were no comments.
Public Comments: Raymond Eaton said that Woodland has been great and if we need an asphalt cutter we can use Murfreesboro’s.

Bobby Mann asked if there was any way we can find grant money to replace the water lines on North Persimmon Street. They are still leaking and have been leaking for years, since before Robbie Collier left. He also asked for the ditches to be cleaned out.

Adjourn: Commissioner Christison made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:14 pm. Commissioner Outland seconded and the motion carried.