Norris City Council Minutes Monday March 21, 2011 BE IT REMEMBERED THAT THE CITY OF NORRIS CITY COUNCIL MET IN REGULAR SESSION ON MARCH 21, 2011 WITH THE FOLLOWING COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT: JACK BLACK, LOY JOHNSON, TOMMY MARINER, CHRIS MITCHELL, AND JOY WILSON Mayor Mitchell called the meeting to order at 7:00pm. I.        HEAR THE PUBLIC:    Gene Oates made the suggestion that the topic of gullies and ditches be put on the Planning Commission agenda to be discussed. II.     MINUTES:             Minutes of the February 28, 2011 City Council meeting were reviewed. Motion made by Tommy Mariner to accept the minutes as written; Motion Seconded by Loy Johnson. Motion passed unanimously. III.   OLD BUSINESS:  1.       Ordinance 525 To Revise Purchasing Procedures adding Purchasing Card (P-Card) policies.  Tommy Mariner moved to pass on the second reading. Seconded by Mr. Black. Ordinance passes unanimously. 2.       LPRF Grant Contract, Proposed Playground at Ridgeway Park:  City Manager Hester stated a couple of key points regarding the contract. 1) If the city moves ahead and signs it, it is a contract to receive the grant funds. 2) If and when the contract is signed the designated areas will become a park forever and a day. After this land becomes a park under a LPRF grant it can never be sold for any reason. Chris Frierson, Executive Director of Camelot at Norris Academy, stated that the recently retired CEO of Camelot, John Harcourt, wanted to help build a playground for all Norris children by giving the city a gift of $50,000. Tommy Mariner asked if the money came with any restrictions, Ms. Frierson stated that no conditions are placed on the cities use of the money. Questions were asked regarding the proposed playground regarding various aspects such as size, parking, would there be a water fountain, could there be a water feature, and should there be speed controls on the adjoining roadways and will there be fencing. City Manager Hester and Recreation Commission member answered the questions to the best of their ability. Gene Oates asked if the grant was property specific, City Manager Hester response was "yes".  Mr. Oates also stated that Oak Street Park could use some work done on it, could any of this $50,000 be used toward it? City Manager Hester stated that the grant requires matching funds of $18,500. If any money over the $37,000 ($18,500 grant + $18,500 match) was left over, yes, it could be used on the other city parks. Joy Wilson stated she had concerns about parking, traffic flow, liability, and fencing. She made a visit to Camelot after her visit she was satisfied with their answers. Joy Wilson encouraged anyone with concerns to call Chris Frierson for an appointment to talk with her and tour the school. Loy Johnson made the motion to accept the State LPRF Grant funds for the proposed park and to sign the contract. Jack Black seconded the motion. Mayor Mitchell asked for further discussion. Tommy has had 11 people voice their concerns; Jack had received 7, and Joy received 5; it was acknowledged that these may be some of the same people contacting council members. Camelot has only received two calls from concerned individuals one which was Joy. Vote was taken, all votes were in favor. Motion passes unanimously. 3.      Boards and Commission Vacancies.  Ellen Bean was appointed to the Library Commission, Alison Greenhouse and Katrina Buckley to the Norris Little Theatre Board. Tommy Mariner moved to accept these individuals to the boards, seconded by Joy Wilson.  Motion passes by unanimous vote. IV.              CITY MANAGER'S REPORT:  See attached report. 3.       Request for Annexation from Robert and Robin Sain to annex their property located at 169 Scruggs Cemetery Lane into the City of Norris.  Tommy Mariner motions to send to the Planning Commission a request to develop and approve a plan of services. Everyone voted in favor. Motion passes. V.                 NEW BUSINESS: 1.      TVA Agreement to utilize space for Norris Little Theatre Storage. TVA has storage space for The Norris Little Theatre seats; however, they are requesting the city to provide a $1,000,000 commercial liability policy. City Manager Hester has asked TVA if they would consider allowing the city put this on the cities insurance with TML Risk Management, instead of a commercial policy. The commercial policy was very expensive about $2,500 a year. Loy Johnson moves to move forward with the agreement with TVA to store the seats providing there is no extra cost to the city. Seconded by Tommy Mariner. Motion passes. 2.       Proposed 2011/2012 Budget Schedule. April 11, 2011              5:00pm. City Manager/City Recorder shall file a consolidated budget document with the Council Members in a budget workshop. Additional workshops may be scheduled at the discretion of Council. May 9, 2011                 7:00pm. Council Meeting. The Council member shall review and adopt the annual budget on first reading. Council members shall also recommend a capital outlay plan.                                     The Council Members shall review a synopsis of the proposed budget and statement of the tax rate required to finance the proposed budget. May 16, 2011               The proposed budget and a notice of a public hearing shall be published in a newspaper having general circulation in the City. June 13, 2011             5:30pm. Public Hearing on proposed 2011/2012 Budget.                                     7:00pm. Council Meeting. City Manager shall present the 2011/2012 Budget to City of Norris Council for final reading of the Budget Ordinance. Tommy Mariner moves to adopt the proposed calendar for the 2011/2012 Budget. Motion seconded by Joy Wilson. No discussion. Motions passes with a unanimously vote. Tommy Mariner asked to have a FEMA alarm system put in the budget. George Miceli asked for the council to adopt the TN Bottle Bill that is in session. Tommy Mariner motioned for the city to adopt a Resolution to support this bill. Loy Johnson seconded the motion. Motion passes. City Manager Hester will draw-up the Resolution. Tommy Mariner motioned to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Loy Johnson, motion passes, meeting adjourned at 9:10pm.       TO:                  Norris City Council DATE:             March 21, 2011 FROM:                        Tim Hester RE:                  City Manager's Report   2010-11 Year to Date (Estimated through February) Budget.   YTD expenditures are in line with the budget, with the exception of legal expenses associated with the annexation of property along Highway 61.     The majority of revenues are on track thus far with State Sales Tax and property taxes tracking to budget (98% of property and personal property taxes were collected through February (this is on pace to last year's collections).  Local Option Sales tax is currently tracking short of budget.  As reported last month, the decline is from reassignment of revenue by the State Department of Revenue.   This means that the projected Local Option Sales Tax revenue will be short by approximately $10,000 to budget.   This State adjustment will have no effect on prior fiscal years and we are working to curb expenditures accordingly.   Grant Updates EECBG.    Engineering specifications are complete and projects are being prepared for bid.  Energy efficient replacement lamps, timers, and thermostats will be purchased by end of March.   Larger projects such as heat system upgrade in the Community Building will be released for bid early April.  Target date for completing the Grant funded projects is June 30, 2011. TEA-21 Sidewalk Grant.   Work has begun!   LPRF Grant.  The Recreation Commission presented an overview of the proposed playground at a Public Input meeting on March 3.   The State contract needs to be signed and returned for confirmation; this process will take approximately 4 months.  FEMA Grants.   The City has been notified by Senator Alexander's office that we will be the recipient of two FEMA grants this year.   The first is a grant for $71,250 to be used in conjunction with $218,000 earmarked from Anderson County towards the purchase of a new fire truck.  The required City match on this grant is $3,750 (we believe the county funds will count towards the match).   The second grant is for $28,516 towards the purchase of equipment, including a thermal imaging device.   The required City match on this second grant is $1,500.   Specifications for a truck are included in packet and the project is ready to bid.   Request for Annexation.  The City of Norris has received a request from Robert and Robin Sain to annex their property located at 169 Scruggs Cemetery Lane into the City.   An Annexation Study will be conducted with the help of the State Local Planning Office.  Once the feasibility of this has been examined, a Plan of Services will be developed.  The Plan of Services from the State Local Planning Office has been completed.   Annexation Update.    The appeal that was filed to the Court of Appeals, Eastern Division, Knoxville, TN has now been withdrawn.   The Motion to withdraw was made on February 25, 2011 and subsequently signed by the Court on March 9, 2011.   This means the annexation of 8 parcels along Hwy 61 will be complete as of April 8, 2011