THE FIVE HUNDRED AND THIRITY SEVENTH SESSION OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMAN

VILLAGE OF ALAMANCE

 

April 24, 2023 – 7:00 PM

 

Present: Mayor Tichy, Mayor Pro Tem Isley, Alderman Andrews, Alderman Hunt, Alderman Cheap, Alderman Crouse and Clerk York.

 

Absent:  Alderman Tichy

 

Invocation and Call to Order given by Mark Reich

 

A motion was made to approve the March 27, 2023, meeting minutes by Mayor Pro-Tem Isley, seconded by Alderman Hunt. Motion carries 4-0

 

Public Comment

 

 

OLD BUSINESS

 

Engineer Report

 

(The engineers report for April 2023 is incorporated and made a part of these minutes)

The DWI hopes to have completed review and emailed comments by the end of the week.

 

King Electric will install the radar signs by the end of next week.

 

Mr. Reich then reported on the street paving contract.  Thompson Arthur-APAC Atlantic plan to start the milling work on April 28^th.  They will place signs along the streets to let residents know not to park on the designated days.

 

Mr. Reich met with Jeff Wood of Duke Energy recently.  We can go through the process of reimbursement for the point repairs once Transsate completes the work.

 

DWI has sent us the scorecards from the AIA grant application.  He has not had time to go through them yet.

 

We sent funding requests for the AIA project, point repairs, and the sidewalk project to Representative Dennis Riddell.

 

NC 62 Sidewalk Project

 

Mr. Reich recently opened bids for a sidewalk project in Mebane.  It came in substantially higher than expected. Based on the numbers he received, he estimated a total project cost of between $260,000 and $280,000 to complete the sidewalk project from Alamance Lutheran Church to the area across from the Post Office.  The portion from the Church to Cardinal Lane is estimated between $160,000 to $175,000.   The portion from Cardinal to Rob Shepard is estimated at $25,000 and the portion from Rob Shepard to across from the post office is estimated between $75,000 and $80,000.   Traffic control will be more for this project than the Mebane Project. (see engineers memo for description and breakdown of price. The Engineers memo on this project is Incorporated into these minutes.)

 

 

ARP Projects

 

Item was moved to later in the meeting to the Water Tower discussion.

 

Plaid Day

 

Alderman Cheap said that there will not be a rain date.  Plaid day is set for May 20, 2023.  He went to the Mebane Dogwood festival.  Vendors there showed interest in Plaid Day.  He passed out a budget for the event. Revenues should compensate for expenditures such that the cost to the Village to be between $2,500 and $3,000.  He believes that they will have around 250-300 people.

 

 

ORC Report

 

Collection System is working well.  An air mixer has been purchased for S NC 62.  A hydrant was hit and on NC 62 the previous week.  It has been fixed.

 

 

 

NEW BUSINESS

 

Public Hearing for Special use Permit for Lot in front of Town Hall (Lot 2-10-95)

 

Alderman Hunt moved to set a Public Hearing for May 22, 2023 at 7pm at the Town Hall.  Mayor Pro Tem Isley seconded.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

Public Hearing for Variance for 4509 Alamance Baptist Church Road.

 

Alderman Cheap moved to set a Public Hearing for May 22, 2023 at 7pm at the Town Hall.  Mayor Pro Tem Isley seconded.  Motion passed unanimously.

 

 

 

Tower for Water Meters

Clerk York presented an amendment to the Grant Project ordinance for the direct money received from the American Rescue Plan.  The amendment allows using $68,979.52 to reimburse the Water and Sewer Fund for expenses occurred for the pump stations and siphon station between April of 2022 and April of 2023.   Our water and sewer fund balance has declined over the last year.  Reimbursing these expenses will help bring that up.  The goal is to get our fund balance to between $300,000 and $350,000, or 85 and 100%.  We will also get reimbursed for the cardinal lane out project’s expenses.  That will come next fiscal year.  Clerk York said that we had a lot of sewer expenses this year.  Mayor Pro Tem Isley pointed out that the expenses for fixing the Birch Station’s control panel were a lot less than expected.  Alderman Andrews moved to approve the amendment and Alderman Crouse seconded.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

Clerk York then spoke about the water tower for reading water meters.  The Village can either place a pole at the entrance and then another at the Historical Museum, or one pole at Alamance Baptist Church.  Each pole is roughly $70,000.  Both locations are Village owned.  The Baptist Church and the homes across the street from the church are privately owned and would require the Village obtain permission.  This may not be easy to get.

 

Alderman Cheap asked if the purpose of obtaining the pole was make it so the Clerk would not have to drive around to read meters.  Clerk York said that it allows for immediate knowledge of leaks and other water information.  We only find out about the kind of information once a month during meter readings.  Clerk York gets a list after the meter readings are complete.  He can then go out to the house and obtain a three month history.  The process takes about three minutes.  Mr. Allred said that this started because of a customer that had a bad leak the year prior.  This was a way to get readings and leak data quicker than what we could do now.  Mayor Pro Tem Isley asked if any other town in Alamance County uses the tower system.  Clerk York said that Mebane does. Someone asked if the water tower could be used.  Clerk York said there was a safety issue involved and it still may not pick up all of the Village.  Alderman Cheap said that we have a responsibility to our citizens and that he wasn’t sure if $140,000 was appropriate to spend just to find a leak.

 

It was decided to table this discussion to the Budget Meeting.

 

 

New Building for NC 62

 

Mayor Tichy said that the building on NC 62 is in bad shape.  We should look at this expense during the budget meeting.  A larger and newer building would allow us to store our recycle carts as well as other records and files we may not be able to store at Town Hall.  Mayor Tichy asked Clerk York to get some numbers on what a new building would cost. There was some discussion about location and size.  20×30 or 40 was discussed.  Clerk York said that he would like to see at least 1000 square feet.

 

Mayor Tichy asked Clerk York to send out an email with dates for a budget meeting.

 

 

Finance Report/Budget Amendment

 

Clerk York proposed two amendments to the General Fund.  One was to add $100,000 to Fund Balance to cover the Street Repair Contract.  The other is to appropriate $1,000 for Legal Expenses.  The water and sewer will cut $1,600 from capital expenditures and add those funds to legal, utilities, and water sampling. Alderman Crouse moved to approve the amendment and Mayor Pro Tem Isley Seconded.  The motion passed unanimously.

 

OTHER BUSINESS

 

Alderman Andrews said she would like to see a regular report on Code Enforcement.

Mark Reich asked if it was ok to put the Cardinal Lane Project out to bid once the approval is received by DWI.

 

Motion to adjourn by Alderman Crouse, seconded by Alderman Andrews. Motion carries 4-0

 

 

                                                                      Don Tichy, Mayor

 

___________________________________ Ben York, Village Clerk