Town of Holly Springs
Board of Commissioners Regular
Meeting
Tuesday, March 21, 2000
MINUTES
The Holly
Springs Town Board of Commissioners met in regular session on Tuesday, March
21, 2000 in the Town Board meeting chambers, located in Town Hall, 128 S. Main
St. Mayor Gerald W. Holleman presided,
calling the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m.
A quorum was established as the mayor and four board members were
present as the meeting opened.
Board
Members Present: Commissioners John Schifano, Parrish Womble,
Peter Atwell and Hank Dickson and Mayor Holleman.
Board
Members Absent:
Commissioner Tim Sack.
Staff
Members Present: Richard B. Self, town manager; Ernest C.
Pearson, town attorney; Joni Powell, town clerk (recording the minutes); Len
Bradley, parks and recreation director; and Stephanie Sudano, director of
engineering.
2 and 3.
The pledge of allegiance was recited, and the meeting opened with a
moment of silent meditation.
4. Agenda Adjustment – The March 21, 2000 meeting
agenda was adopted with changes, if any, as listed below.
Motion Made By: Womble
Motion Seconded By: Dickson
Vote: Unanimous.
Items Added to Agenda: None.
Consent Agenda Items Moved to New
Business: None.
5a. Warp Tech Waterline -- Mrs. Sudano explained that in
the 1980s, the Town of Holly Springs installed a 12” waterline from NC55
cross-country in a westerly direction to serve a new industry in Town – Warp
Technologies. The waterline was funded
by CDBG funds, and administered by a combination of Town staff (at that time)
and an outside consultant. Mrs. Sudano said records are slim to non-existent on
exactly who had responsibility for administering certain aspects of the
project.
As development of land along the
waterline corridor has occurred in the past five years or so, staff has
required developers and contractors to field-locate the 12” waterline. It has become apparent, she said, that the
waterline was not installed in the location initially shown on construction
drawings (i.e. along property lines).
In fact, not only is the waterline installed in the wrong location, there are no records at all of a dedicated
easement for the waterline, Mrs. Sudano reported, adding that this has been determined
by a thorough search of all available records (Town and other) by engineering,
land owners, and the Town attorney.
Mrs. Sudano said that the waterline,
as it is currently located, interferes with the development of two projects –
Avent Acres Subdivision and Avent Acres Townhomes. She advised the board that both of these developments were
approved by the Town with conditions that required the developer to have the
waterline field-located before proceeding with construction. Once field-location was completed and the
waterline was determined to be in the wrong location, Town staff researched the
easement and found no recorded easement, she said.
The developer of both of these
projects, Mr. Bunn Olive, has agreed to dedicate (for no compensation) the
necessary easement for the 12” waterline to be re-installed in it’s
originally-planned location across his property, she explained. In addition, as adjacent projects have
recently been approved by the Town, staff has required those developers to set aside
needed sections of an easement in anticipation of this required relocation.
Town staff has solicited one
preliminary proposal for relocating this waterline, and the estimated cost is
$60,000, Mrs. Sudano said, stressing that $60,000 is only a rough estimate,
although conservative.
She asked that the board consider
the Town’s accepting informal proposals for the relocation of this waterline to
the new location, bringing a recommendation for award back to the Board at a
later date and that the Town Board also approve the necessary budget amendment
to cover the project.
Discussion
Mayor Holleman asked how many lots were
effected. Mrs. Sudano said there were
two lots that were effected. He
suggested that it might be cheaper to purchase the two lots than move the
waterline.
Mr. Self suggested that the Town
explore both alternatives.
Commissioner Atwell asked if it
would be probable that the developer might dedicate the two lots as open space
rather than having to move the waterline.
Mrs. Sudano said she could not answer for the developer, but expected
that he would wish to proceed with his approved plans.
Commissioners Schifano and
Commissioner Womble supported idea of purchasing the two lots.
Action: TheTown Board
deferred action on this item and directed staff to investigate the option of
purchasing the two lots, obtain informal quotes as to the relocation of the
waterline and report back to the Board with the results of estimated costs of
each option.
Motion By: Womble
Second By: Atwell
Vote: Unanimous
5b. Commercial Corridor Growth Committee – Mr. Self explained that during
the Board’s February retreat, the creation of a citizen advisory committee
dedicated to commercial growth issues was discussed. It was determined that the committee would be comprised of about
14-16 members, including two nominees from each member of the Board of
Commissioners. Rounding out the
membership roster would be representatives of Town staff.
Each commissioner provided two names
for appointment to this board, along with two staff members. Appointees are as follows: Town Staff – Beth
Sarkisian of Planning and Development and Rodney Campbell of Engineering;
Commissioner Sack (who provided his names in advance of the meeting) – Richard
Gallo, 205 Holly Park Drive, and John Wood, 4020 Sunset Forest Circle;
Commissioner Shifano – Mike Ball, 420 Firefly Road, and Anne Allen, 612 Oakhall
Drive; Mayor Holleman – Scott Dixon, 5201 Sunset Walk Lane, and Pat Anderson,
620 St. Vincent Circle; Commissioner Atwell – Marilyn Chappell, 213 Stone Hedge
Ct., and Ann King, 125 Clay Ridge Way; Commissioner Dickson – Larry O’Neal, 412
Trinidad Ct., and Richard Sears, 4716 Salem Ridge Road; and Commissioner Womble
– Carrie Byrd, 613 S. Main St., and Edison Perkins, 225 Douglas Street.
Action: The Town Board
affirmed the list of nominees to the Commercial Growth Corridor Advisory
Committee.
Motion By: Dickson
Second By: Atwell
Vote: Unanimous
5c. Joint Meeting –
Action by Consensus: The Town
Board selected 7 p.m. May 8 or May 11 as two possible dates for consideration
of the Planning Board and Board of Adjustment at their next meetings for a
joint session among the Town Board, Planning Board and Board of Adjustment.
5d. Resolution 00-04 -- Commissioner Dickson explained
that the community-based school assignment bills in the General Assembly, which
advocated giving parents the option of having their children attend public
school closest to their homes (regardless of a school’s population
demographics) died in committee this year. He is hoping Wake County Public
School System will abandon its current trend of favoring school bussing for
socio-economic balance rather than allowing children to attend schools in their
own communities.
He asked that the proposed
resolution be supported by the Board of Commissioners to support the concept of
neighborhood schools and urge Wake County Public Schools to establish
attendance districts that promote community-based schools. He asked that the Board adopt the resolution
and authorize that it be forwarded to many levels of authority with a request
for support.
Action: The Town Board
adopted Resolution 00-R-04.
Motion By: Dickson
Second By: Womble
Vote: Unanimous
A copy of Resolution 00-R-04 is
incorporated into these minutes as addendum pages.
5e. Smart Growth Committee – About a year ago, Mayor Holleman
explained, the Town of Holly Springs appointed former Commissioner Ken Martin
to serve on the Triangle J Council of Governments Smart Growth Committee.
Action: The Town Board
appointed Richard Self or his designee to the Triangle J Smart Growth
Committee.
Motion By: Womble
Second By: Shifano
Vote: Unanimous
At this time, Mayor Holleman asked
the Town Attorney and Town Manager to look into the possibility of the Town’s
initiating its own cable television service.
He said he felt like it was worth looking into. With that, he proceeded to the Consent
Agenda.
6. Consent Agenda – All items on the Consent Agenda
were approved, affecting the actions as detailed below.
Motion By: Dickson
Second By: Atwell
Vote: Unanimous
6a. Resolution 00-R-05 – Resolution 00-R-05
stating that the Town will comply with FCC rules, convene a public hearing to
consider any proposed rate increase submitted by cable franchisees and will
issue a written decision denying or approving any or a portion of proposed
rates was adopted. A copy of
Resolution 00-R-05 is incorporated into these minutes as addendum pages.
6b. Minutes – Minutes of the Board’s retreat
held in Hillsborough during February were approved.
7. Public Comments – At this time, the public was
given a 15-minute opportunity to address the Board on any variety of
issues. The following members of the
public addressed the Board:
None.
8. Other Business: None.
9. Manager’s Reports:
Mr. Self reported that interviews with planning
director candidates are completed and he expects to make an offer to the top
candidate by the end of this week.
The Town Attorney then updated the
Board on the Don Davis Auto case. He
then updated the Board on the Joel Williams condemnation mediation, which
resulted in an impasse. He said the
case will likely proceed to trial.
10. Closed Session – Commissioner Dickson asked if the
Board could go into Closed Session for the purpose of discussing personnel in
regard to the Town Manager.
Commissioner Atwell seconded the motion, which carried unanimously.
No action was taken in Closed
Session.
General Account of Closed Session
3/21/00
The Town Attorney advised that the
Board should return to open session to discuss a procedure for establishing an
evaluation process for the Town Manager.
There was then discussion regarding further details of the pending
litigation between Joel Williams and the Town.
Following, the Board returned to Open Session.
– End of
General Account
Action: The Town Board
returned to Open Session.
Motion By: Womble
Second By: Atwell
Vote: Unanimous.
The Town Attorney explained that the
Town Board will be establishing a performance evaluation procedure for the Town
Manager
At this time, Commissioners
discussed the potential formation of other citizen advisory committees to
provide public input into topics like parks and recreation. They asked that this topic be placed on an
upcoming agenda.
11. Adjournment – There being no further business,
the March 21, 2000 meeting of the Holly Springs Board of Commissioners was
adjourned at 8:48 p.m. following a motion by Commissioner Schifano, a second by
Commissioner Atwell and a unanimous vote.
Respectfully
Submitted on Tuesday, April 18, 2000,
______________________________
Joni
Powell, CMC
Town Clerk
Addendum pages, as referenced in these minutes, follow and are a part of the official record of this meeting.