THE FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY SEVENTH SESSION OF THE BOARD OF ALDERMAN

VILLAGE OF ALAMANCE
December 16, 2013 – 7:00 PM

Present: Mayor Bundren, Mayor Pro Tem Tichy, Alderman Clemmons, Alderman Sharpe, Alderman Slaughter, Alderman Gregory and Clerk York.

Absent: Alderman Crouse

Alderman Clemmons gave the invocation.

Alderman Tichy moved to approve the November 25, 2013 meeting minutes. Mayor Pro Tem Sharpe seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

Swearing in of Mayor and Board Members

Clerk Ben York administered the Oath of Office to Cathera R. Bundren, Mayor. This was followed by the signing of the oath by Mayor Bundren.

Clerk York administered the Oath of Office to Myra Slaughter, Alderman. This was followed by the signing of the oath by Alderman Slaughter.

Clerk York administered the Oath of Office to Naydine Sharpe, Alderman. This was followed by the signing of the oath by Alderman Sharpe.

Clerk York administered the Oath of Office to Don Tichy, Alderman. This was followed by the signing of the oath by Alderman Tichy.

Clerk York reminded the Board this is the time that reorganization of the Board departments takes place. He presumed that the Board members wanted to stay in the same departments. Clerk York advised that a new Mayor Pro Tem needs to be appointed. Mayor Bundren asked if anyone was interested in this position. Alderman Tichy responded affirmatively, in regard to the appointment of the new Mayor Pro Tem. Alderman Sharpe made the motion to appoint Alderman Tichy as the new Mayor Pro Tem. The motion was seconded by Alderman Gregory. The motion passed unanimously.

OLD BUSINESS

Report on Cabin Pump Station Project

Mark Reich reported that progress was being made. Surveyors are in the process of finalizing the eastern maps; they hope to have these completed in the next week or so. They got behind due to “Project Swordfish.” He will be having a meeting with Arnold Allred. They have talked about adding a little shelter, maybe with some lights, to make it better when Arnold has to work at night or in the rain. They will try to incorporate this as well. Mayor Bundren thanked Mr. Reich for his report.

ORC Report

Arnold Allred presented the ORC Report. At the Cabin Station, Pump #2 is back in service. Everything is working well there. Everything else is working well at the other stations. It would be nice to have the shelter for working in the rain. On the distribution side, a lead and copper sampling was completed. He is hoping, that after these results come in, they can receive reduced monitoring. The samples for THMHA5 have been done. One did come back slightly over; he is not sure what this will do to the average. The average is .065. They will look at this, but Mr. Allred indicated he thinks this will be alright. Next week, they will be doing manhole inspections and the yearly inspection. All the valves, except one, have been exercised. Mayor Bundren thanked Mr. Allred for his report.

Liberty Drive Paving

Mark Reich reported that plans are to do the paving work on Wednesday, weather permitting. It must be 50 degrees or more, in order to do the paving. Alderman Clemmons asked if this information had been communicated with the residents that would be impacted. Clerk York commented that he would be glad to take care of the communication.

There was no additional Old Business.

NEW BUSINESS

Subdivision of Property on Deerfield Drive

Clerk York handed out copies in relation to this item. The property is on the ETJ, out on Highway 62, turning onto Porter Sharpe Road. It is one large piece of land that they are cutting into four lots. Each lot is well over an acre or two acres. The smallest lot is 2.02 acres. This is certainly within the guidelines for minimum lot size in the ETJ. There is a private road that comes off Deerfield Drive. There is a road maintenance agreement; Clerk York has a copy. Attorney Charles Bateman has reviewed the agreement and is okay with it. Access is taken care of , and the planning board approved the plat. Mayor Bundren asked if there were any questions. There were no questions. Alderman Clemmons made the motion to approve the subdivision. Alderman Slaughter seconded the motion. The motion passed unanimously.

New Computers for Town Hall

Clerk York announced that both computers at the Town Hall need to be replaced. A virus has been found on both computers; both have been repaired. Some bug is causing the computers to run very slowly; it is taking up all the memory space. They have tried to knock it out with virus software, but that hasn’t worked. Also, the computers are Windows XP, which Microsoft will not support any longer, after April. The Village will need to have a Windows 7 or Windows 8 computer. Comtech has suggested that the Village purchase a computer from Lenovo. Clerk York recommended that a 500 gig hard drive, 4 gig memory computer be purchased. The computers will cost $719.00 each; a tower computer with a stand-up CPU. Clerk York has compared this with the options from Dell. The Lenovo has an I-5 core processor. The Dell, with the same processor, costs a little more. Clerk York explained that it may be important to have more memory for the computer in the future. Mayor Bundren commented that if the Village plans to use Comtech for support, and the Lenovo is typically what they work on, it makes sense to stay with what is more common for them. Mayor Bundren added that Lenovo is obviously one of the big sellers in computers. Clerk York noted that the Lenovo that Comtech recommends is an I-5 Core Processor, with 4 gig memory, and a 500 gig hard drive. It comes with a monitor. Each computer will cost $719.00. Clerk York recommended that the additional 4 gig of memory be purchased for $39.00. The total cost would be $758.00 per computer. Mayor Bundren asked about the line item in the budget for this expenditure. Clerk York responded that the money has not been set aside for this expenditure. The funds would come from Miscellaneous or from Data Processing Supplies. Mayor Pro Tem Tichy asked if this purchase could be made from Capital Expenditures. Clerk York agreed that this could be done, with $12,000.00 in that budget line. Mayor Pro Tem Tichy said that he did not like Dell computers. Clerk York noted that the Dell computer, with the same processor as the Lenovo costs about $100.00 more. He added that he didn’t have the background knowledge to know whether the Village needed the I-5 processor, or would be fine with the I-3. Alderman Clemmons asked about the compatibility with QS/1. Clerk York responded that he would ask about that and make sure. There was some discussion about the pros and cons of Windows 7 and Windows 8. Clerk York read the specifications of the computer. Mayor Pro Tem Tichy made the motion to purchase the computers, with Windows 7. Alderman Davis seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Clerk York added that he will need to purchase new recording software. He will not be able to transfer the software from the old computer. He will need to purchase new software at a cost of $1100.00. There is money in the budget for this expenditure. Clerk York is currently working with a “borrowed” version. When the Village obtains the new computers, the new software will need to be upgraded.

Approval of Board Meetings Dates for 2014

Mayor Bundren asked the Board members if they had reviewed the meeting dates for 2014. All meetings will be held on the fourth Monday, except for the May 19th and December 15th meetings. Alderman Clemmons made the motion to approve the Board meeting dates for 2014. Alderman Slaughter seconded. The motion passed unanimously.

Finance Report

Clerk York reported that the CD won’t mature until Thursday, so there is not Finance Report in the packet. It is an $110,000.00 CD. With interest, it could be at $111,000.00. It was at .6% interest before; now at .3%. Clerk York will call other banks to see if they can do any better. There are only a couple of banks that are even dealing with public funds CDs right now.

OTHER BUSINESS

Clerk York observed that the Town Hall will be closed Tuesday through Thursday of next week, for the Christmas holiday. He will be taking vacation on Monday and Friday, but Judy Cobb will cover the Town Hall hours on those days.

Mayor Bundren shared Christmas greetings and presented gifts for the staff.

There was no other business.

Public Comment

There was no other public comment.

Alderman Gregory moved to adjourn and Alderman Clemmons seconded. The motion passed unanimously and the meeting was adjourned.