Town of Woodland Board Minutes
Date: August 6, 2020
7:00 PM

Board/Staff Present:

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

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 Cooper made a motion to approve the agenda as is. Commissioner Christison seconded and the motion carried.

Approval of Minutes: The next item on the agenda was the approval or amendment of the minutes of the Regular Board Meeting dated July 9, 2020 and the Special Called Meeting dated July 21, 2020. Commissioner Cooper made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Commissioner Outland seconded and the motion carried.

Consideration of Bills: Commissioner Cooper excused himself from the consideration of bills since Bryant and Lassiter had a bill to the town. 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 Morris seconded and the motion carried.

Public Comments: There were no public comments.

Fire Department: Donielle McDermott read the checking account balance as $59,648.65. Raymond Eaton reported the response log summary for the months of January through July. This report will be included in the Minute Book.

Commissioner Christison asked Clerk McDermott to put an advertisement in the paper asking for bids for demolition of the old building and construction of the new building. Commissioner Cooper said to be sure there is a standing fire department building committee.

Police Report: Chief Hoggard read his monthly police report which will be included in the Minute Book. Chief Hoggard stated the new Chevy Tahoe will be here next week.

Clerk Report: Donielle McDermott shared with the board the Coronavirus Relief Fund proposed spending report to be turned into the Northampton County Manager’s office. Commissioner Cooper suggested we add the cost of educational pamphlets and advertising to our relief fund budget.

The Woodland Town Board reviewed the CDBG-1 Quarterly Progress Report prepared by the UCPCOG. Commissioner Cooper asked Mrs. McDermott to be sure Blaine Humphrey changed the original project description to include “replace pump station” not just “replace pump”.

Mrs. McDermott asked the board to help her find a Spanish interpreter who would be willing to translate when needed. This is someone the town needs to find to be in compliance with the CDBG regulations.

Maintenance Report: Raymond Eaton read the report which will be included in the Minute Book.

Zoning Report: No report at this time

Clean Water State Revolving Fund: Mrs. McDermott reminded the board of the upcoming Zoom Orientation Meeting on August 12, 2020 at 4:30. The board asked Mrs. McDermott to check with Blaine Humphrey to see if he has heard back from the state whether or not we can scale down the project which will in turn scale down the cost.

Armory: The board decided not to finance the Armory; instead they would rather take a lower bid with a one time payment. Clerk McDermott will contact the gentleman, Mr. Canning, and ask him to submit a bid without the option to finance.

Library: Clerk McDermott read a letter from citizen Barbara Gosney in reference to the possible library. This letter will be included in the Minute Book. Mrs. Gosney said she has spoken with most of the people who originally expressed willingness to volunteer work toward setting up the library. There are a few people who will volunteer time setting up the facility and there are also interested parties who will volunteer their time to work at the library once the labor is finished. Commissioner Cooper said there needs to be a committee with a chair established and see if they have the volunteers needed. Commissioner Christison said the town needs to have some sort of cost estimate of what it will take to turn the building into a functional library. Commissioner Cooper said a committee needs to be established first and then they can give a vision of what they want with a cost estimate.

Commissioner Christison asked Clerk McDermott to call Dr. Stanley’s family and ask them if they would be willing to wait until we get a committee together and get some of this information before the town makes a decision on accepting the building.

Comments from the Mayor: Mayor Beale encouraged everyone to continue being safe. He stated he was very impressed with the board and the employees during the employee meeting this afternoon.

Comments from the Commissioners: Commissioner Cooper suggested that the town compose a letter to REA asking them if we could get a tower put on the water tower to supply internet service in Woodland. This would allow people in Woodland to have better internet service.

Commissioner Christison said how thankful he is for the employees the town has.

Public Comments: The consensus on the FaceBook live video was that they could not hear the meeting very well at all.

Adjourn: At 7:57 p.m., Commissioner Cooper made a motion to go out of open session into and into closed session pursuant to GS 143-3181(a)(6) for personnel matters.