November Minutes
TOWN OF CLINCHCO
COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES OF MEETING ON 11/19/2020
MEMBERS PRESENT: Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman, Herbert Branham, Cynthia Ellis, Stearl Branham, Jelane Mock
MEMBER’S ABSENT: Trevor Counts, Mayor Jarvis Deel
TOWN CLERK: Tina Deel
TOWN ATTORNEY: Greg Baker
Call to Order & Welcome by Mayor:
Town attorney Greg Baker welcomed everyone. Greg Baler asked for a moment of silence.
Roll Call of Council:
Greg Baker took a roll call of all present members. Present members are listed above. All Absent members are listed above. Greg Baker hereby declared a quorum and the meeting may proceed.
COVID-19 restrictions & Governor restrictions:
Greg Baker discussed how the meetings will have to held a little differently due to the new restrictions. Which means we have to have more social distancing and masks are required, and also a limit of 25 person gathering limit. Greg stated that before we go into executive session, we have a couple people who want to speak.
Approval of Minutes:
Greg Baker asked Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman to ask for an approval of the minutes; Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman asked for a motion to approve the October 15, 2020 minutes; Stearl Branham made a motion to approve the October minutes; Herbert Branham seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.
Spearhead Trail:
Shawn Lindsey from Spearhead Trails introduced himself to council and thanked council for the invitation to come to the meeting. Shawn presented to council how it is his job to build economies. He explained to council the economic impact of hunting. Shawn discussed the impact bringing hunting in the area could also build the economy. He gave a similar comparison from an area that is comparable to Clinchco. Shawn presented some maps to council of Clinchco and the surrounding properties that Nature Conservativity owns. Shawn explained how important it will be to work with Nature Conservativity. The map also shows what is owned by the people. Shawn discussed the McClure river and how that is some of the best small bass fishing around. Shawn discussed creek clean ups and how he could get people involved in helping. Shawn explained to council how he had previously talked with Nature Conservativity about connecting an ATV trail from Clinchco to Haysi and the answer was no. But there are other possibilities for Clinchco that Nature Conservativity will assist in. One of the great possibilities for is becoming a great hunting town. People are already hunting here; it is all locals. Shawn discussed why people go to Bath County; it is habit, and its tradition. All different scenarios that could happen in trophy hunting and other hunting ideas. Shawn took questions from audience and council members. Shawn explained why ATV trails would be out of the question for Nature Conservativity. Council members thanks Shawn for coming to the meeting and giving his presentation.
Executive Session:
Greg Baker asked at this time that council move into executive session for the purpose of several items of discussion; I will ask that a motion be made that the Clinchco Town Council enter into an executive session pursuant to Virginia Code section 2.2-3711, A1 being personnel matters, A3 being discussion of real estate matters, real property for public use and #8 for legal consultation with council regarding legal matters, including Cares Act Funding, and budget and financial matters and appropriations that involve legal advice. Herbert Branham made the motion for executive session; Jelane Mock seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor. Let the record show the Town Clerk was invited to stay for the executive session.
Greg Baker stated that pursuant to 2.2-3712 the Clinchco Town Council will reconvene into open session and that each member will certify to the best of their knowledge that only public business matters, meeting requirements under this chapter and only such public business matters were identified in the motion in which the closed meeting was convened; were heard, discussed or considered in a meeting by the public body; Roll Call Vote: Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman, yes; Jelane Mock, yes; Cynthia Ellis, yes; Herbert Branham, yes; Stearl Branham, yes. Greg stated that all members voted affirmative madam Clerk we are back into open session.
Recessed October 15, 2020 Meeting:
Greg stated at this time, but legally it would be closed out at the end of this meeting. Council had a recessed meeting in October when we started this meeting tonight by law it adjourned that meeting. However, for purposes of the record lets have an official motion that the meeting be adjourned. Jelane Mock made a motion to adjourn the October 15, 2020 meeting; Herbert Branham seconded that motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.
Approval of Treasurers Reports:
Greg stated with council consideration with the normal reoccurring expenses each month that they be approved as part of a unanimous consent of the agenda that will be presented to council each month and that they will be paid each month as they come due/invoices come in. Also let the treasurers report show what is left in each line of the budget. Jelane Mock made a motion that we do a consent agenda for the regular reoccurring bills everything else be listed separately. Also, that we add were we are in each budget item onto the treasurer’s report; Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor. Greg Baker was leaving the meeting and thanked council for all of their cooperation tonight. Council went into a 5-10 minutes recess.
Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman stated we will come back into the meeting from a quick recess;
Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman asked for a motion to approve the treasurers report; Herbert Branham made a motion to approve the treasurers repot; Stearl Branham seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.
Agenda:
Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman asked for any additions to the agenda; no additions were made. Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman asked for a motion to approve the agenda; Jelane Mock made a motion to approve the agenda; Herbert Branham seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.
Old Business:
Cares Act & PPE Money:
Let the record show that the items will be called out and voted on in one vote:
Items approved: Hand free hand soap dispenser, computer mouse, (2) external hard drives, new office phone with Bluetooth compatible ear piece, Door Dinger-notification of door opening, (4) laptops – (Jelane Mock voted no, all other members were in favor of the Laptops). Video conference equipment – meeting/mini projector/sony 85”(can purchase smaller but up to 85”) TV, wall mount for tv and telecom, Motorola T460 two-way radio, procaster am transmitter, peavey public announcement system, (2) new desktop computer-for upgrade office computers/technology/docking station. Pull up masks, new fireproof safe.
Laptops will have a liability agreement that has to be signed by whomever takes it outside of the town hall
Jelane Mock made a motion to purchase the above listed items with the Cares Act Money; Stearl Branham seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.
Tabled Items: Internet Café, extra internet line for external use, the thermometer that is attached to the wall, freezers, and filing cabinets. The items requested by the police dept were tabled as well.
Halloween Update:
Heather Lyall stated as an update on the Zombie-Thon was a success and the people really enjoyed it. Heather Lyall asked council to for a refund on the $125.00 donation money. Heather stated she took the checks to the bank and couldn’t get it cashed and she got the money from her own account and were the money was deposited into the town’s general fund account Heather asked for the town to reimburse the money back to her. Jelane Mock made a motion to reimburse Heather Lyall back the $125.00 donation for the Zombie Thon;
Discussion was made of opening a Zombie Thon account with the money that was won but donated back to the town. Council discussed an event account or holiday account. It was decided to wait on the community event account until next month.
Grant Writing Update:
Heather Lyall stated the grant writing update: I have spoke with Debbie Milton she works with DHCD and the Cumberland Plateau, I have talked to her multiple times and she will mentor Tina at any time she needs help. She has passed on her cell phone number, home phone number, email info and willing to help.
Heather stated she had talked to Mckenna this week and she is wanting to bring over a leadership thing. Haysi has done this, St. Paul has done this, other surrounding towns. She works for the office of strategic incentives at the UVA at Wise, and what we need is for 4-6 months it will be two weeks, after that it will be once a month to come down here and use the town hall this is a community engagement thing. If we are wanting to go forward, we will need the community involved. This will bring leadership engagement into the community. Mckenna will get everything together all we need is permission to use the town hall; Jelane Mock made a motion that they can use the town hall; Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.
Heather stated that next month Brad is going to be here he is with the Nature Conservativity, I do want permission from the board to contact one of the engineers, army corps of engineers that is doing all this stuff. With the water and the houses to either be raised if they were in a flood plain. I would like one of those engineers to come into our meeting, January or February and talk to us with the changes that could possibly be happening.
AML Estimate / Project update:
Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman stated that she had spoken with Jarvis today and looks as though James has a high figure on the house. He is saying something around $100,000.00 for a one unit. There really isn’t a timeframe that James is going to be contacting us back. Discussion was made of other options to get information on the houses.
Cigarette Tax Stamps Update:
Tina stated that she really didn’t have any other updates to give council. Tina stated she didn’t know when council wanted her to order the stamps; discussion was made of when to order the ½ roll. It was decided to remain tabled until next meeting to order the stamps.
Traffic Study:
Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman stated that she had spoken to Jarvis and he said he had contacted VDOT about the speed study and they were going to look into as soon as they could. Someone was on vacation.
New Business
Heathers Job Title and Position:
Jelane Mock made a motion to adopt Heather Lyall job title and description that was wrote up by the town attorney, Greg Baker. Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.
Public Comments:
Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman asked for public comments; no comments were made.
Council Comments:
Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman asked for council comments; Vice Mayor Ruby Coleman stated to council that we had checked on the possibility of getting a historical status for the town. Tina contacted Richmond and they came down to Clinchco. They went though took pictures of the town. The good thing is we qualified we could be considered for historical status. Unfortunately, our building and homes puts us out of being able to be qualified for it.
Adjournment:
Herbert Branham made a motion to adjourn; Jelane Mock seconded the motion; a vote was taken and all members were in favor.