HomeMy Public PortalAbout11-09-2009 Regular MeetingMINUTES
HILLSBOROUGH TOWN BOARD
November 9, 2009
7:00 PM, Town Barn
November 9, 2009 Regular Meeting
Approved: December 14, 2009
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PRESENT: Mayor Tom Stevens, Commissioners Evelyn Lloyd, Mike Gering, L. Eric Hallman,
Frances Dancy, and Brian Lowen.
STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Eric Mr. Peterson, Assistant Town Manager/Public Works
Director Nicole Ard, Town Clerk/Director of Administration and Human Resources Donna F.
Armbrister, Planning Director Margaret Hauth, Town Engineer/Utilities Director Kenny Keel,
Police Chief Clarence Birkhead, and Town Attorney Bob Hornik.
Mayor Stevens called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.
1. PUBLIC CHARGE
7:00:40 PM Mayor Stevens did not read the public charge but noted it would be followed.
2. INTERVIEW VOLUNTEER TO FILL ONE VACANCY ON THE HISTORIC
DISTRICT COMMISSION
7:01:11 PM Candice Cobb provided some brief information regarding her background and
interests, noting she was a big fan of historic preservation, of volunteerism, and of Hillsborough.
She stated she had watched the HDC work together for some time and was impressed with the
current Board. Ms. Cobb said she would be very interested to serve on the HDC.
Mayor Stevens thanked Ms. Cobb for her previous volunteerism, noting that the HDC was one of
the more challenging Boards to serve on due to the expertise required.
Commissioner Lowen said he had been pleased to learn that Ms. Cobb was retiring from her
State job and would now have the time to devote to the HDC, noting it reminded them all what a
commitment it was to volunteer on the different boards. He added his thanks for her willingness
to serve.
7:02:58 PM Mayor Stevens noted the Board would be voting on her appointment later on
tonight.
3. AUDIENCE COMMENTS REGARDING MATTERS NOT ON THE PRINTED
AGENDA
7:03:13 PM No comments were offered at this time.
4. AGENDA CHANGES & AGENDA APPROVAL
7:03:26 PM Commissioner Gering said he wanted to talk about the Water Bill Late Penalty,
noting that might be covered during the departmental reports. Town Manager Eric Peterson
stated that Finance Director Greg Siler would not be present this evening and believed that
discussion would need to be delayed until Mr. Siler could be present.
Commissioner Hallman added an item regarding the Land Trust Board and a potential conflict.
Mayor Stevens added an update on Elizabeth Brady Road and the various alternatives regarding
that road.
Mr. Peterson added a second Closed Session item to allow the Board to receive updates on the
Webb Grove decision and the Couculas Knight case from the Town Attorney.
7:05:34 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Lowen, the
Board moved to adopt the Agenda as amended by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared
passed.
5. APPOINTMENTS
November 9, 2009 Regular Meeting
Approved: December 14, 2009
Page 2 of 16
A. Appoint one volunteer to fill a three -year term on the Historic District Commission
7:05:54 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Gering, seconded by Commissioner Dancy, the
Board moved to appoint Candice Cobb to fill a three -year term on the Historic District
Commission by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed.
B. Reappoint Al Hartkopf to a second full term on the Board of Adjustment
7:06:21 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Lowen, seconded by Commissioner Dancy, the
Board moved to reappoint Al Hartkopf to a second full term on the Board of Adjustment by a
vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed.
C. Reappoint Holly Snyder to a second full term on the Historic District Commission
7:06:41 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Lloyd, the
Board moved to reappoint Holly Snyder to a second full term on the Historic District
Commission by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed.
D. Reappoint David McCullough to a second full term on the Historic District
Commission
7 :07:01 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Lowen, seconded by Commissioner Lloyd, the
Board moved to reappoint David McCullough to a second full term on the Historic District
Commission by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared passed.
6. COMMITTEE REPORTS (Critical)
7:07:15 PM No Committee reports were offered at this time.
7. REPORT FROM THE TOWN MANAGER
7:07:28 PM The Manager offered no report at this time.
8. DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS
November 9, 2009 Regular Meeting
Approved: December 14, 2009
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7:07:37 PM Town Clerk/Director of Administration and Human Resources Donna Armbrister
said that because of their membership in TJCOG they had access to a video produced by Graphic
Action as a pilot program on health and wellness which was being distributed throughout the
State for use on Government Access channels. Ms. Armbrister said there would be no cost to the
Town, explaining that the program was developed to inform, educate, and entertain using
information provided by the USDA and the American Public Health Association. She said the
video was 44 minutes long and focused on topics of diet, daily exercise, taking care of your
family and yourself, senior health and wellness, and safety in the office, home, and car. Ms.
Armbrister said it could be scheduled to play once in the morning and once in the afternoon
either daily or on some other schedule.
Ms. Armbrister said since it was not Town government information, and since nothing else was
on that channel except for a short information blurb on the H1N1 virus, she wanted to determine
if that video was something the Board might want to broadcast. She said the video had a lot of
useful information in it, and the Town's nurse had viewed it and found it to be useful. Ms.
Armbrister said if the Board was interested in viewing the video, she would provide that and they
could determine if they wanted to broadcast it.
7:09:14 PM Commissioner Lowen asked if other communities were using it. Ms. Armbrister
replied some were. She reiterated that there would be 110 cost to the Town, and it was a
professionally produced video.
Commissioner Gering asked how busy the regular broadcast schedule was. Ms. Armbrister said
since it was 44 minutes long it was not something they would not want to place in the regular
rotation of bulletins, but rather have play on various days at particular times. She said since they
did not have a lot of new bulletins coming out now it would be good to share some new
information.
Commissioner Dailey said she believed it would be a good tool to use perhaps twice a day. Ms.
Armbrister agreed, reiterating it could be played daily at a particular time. She asked if the
Board wanted to view it prior to making a decision.
Mayor Stevens suggested playing the video on a two -week trial and see if they got any
comments on it. He said they could advertise the times the video would play and the Board
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could then relay their comments to her. Several Board members agreed that was an appropriate
way to proceed.
7:11:28 PM Commissioner Lowen asked if there was some way to determine how many
people were actually viewing the Government Access channel. Ms. Armbrister said not that she
was aware of any way for the Town to find out that information.
Mr. Peterson said they could ask that question on the citizen survey in June, something like do
you watch and if so how much.
Commissioner Dancy asked if Ms. Armbrister would provide her a copy of the video to view.
Ms. Armbrister agreed.
Mayor Stevens said he got several comments a week from citizens who viewed the channel, so if
there were times that the Town could provide helpful information he believed it would be well
received. He added that he believed that the short announcements were the ones that actually
caught people's attention.
Mr. Peterson said staff was working on an idea put forth by an employee in terms of doing some
features on various Town operations. He said that Catherine Wright and Ms. Armbrister were
working with the employee to put together some pilots for consideration.
7:13:16 PM Commissioner Hallman said he remembered a discussion that Mainline was going
to do some continuing work in Gold Park, but understood they had filed for bankruptcy under
Chapter 7. Planning Director Margaret Hauth that Mainline had gone out of business, and she
had a number of calls in to the bond agency but with no response as yet as to how to get the work
done. She said they had to get the bond agency's authorization before the Town could hire
someone else to do the necessary work.
Commissioner Hallman asked if the Town was exposed in some way. Ms. Hauth replied no, that
they continued to hold $20,000 to pay the subcontractors but the work needed well exceeded that
amount.
7:14:16 PM Mr. Hornik stated that Mainline owed far more than the Town owed Mainline on
their contract. He said he had talked with Gary Wright with Mainline who had realized that if
the Town were to pay them the $20,000+ that they owed them, Mainline would still owe their
subcontractors around $70,000 which may be one of the reasons they were now in Chapter 7.
Commissioner Gering asked had Ms. Hauth had any discussions with the Waterstone owners
about their Master Plan revisions. Ms. Hauth said she had a phone call last week, noting they
had retained the services of a firm other than John R. McAdams and would be in contact with the
Town very soon to get that started.
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Commissioner Gering said he thought they were working towards a December deadline. Ms.
Hauth said they had, but the State intervened and extended all deadlines. She said the only
deadline the Town could still impose was the one for the dedication of the park.
7:15:24 PM Mr. Homik said the approval deadlines had been pushed forward by the State by
about two years. He said the State Legislature in August had adopted a Sessions Law that said
that essentially any permit that expired between January 1, 2008 and now would get a two -year
extension. Ms. Hauth agreed, noting it covered everything including things that had already
expired when the Sessions Law was adopted, so those that had expired between January 1, 2008
and August had gotten two more years to be completed. She said that was a very unusual
occurrence and it had been challenging to calculate the timeframes for projects affected by the
law because there were different interpretations that could be applied.
7:16:28 PM Commissioner Hallman asked about the water and sewer rights. Mr. Homik said
all water and sewer extension agreements were to the benefit of the extension.
Ms. Hauth added the projects that had benefited from the legislation included Bellevue and
Corbinton Commons.
Town Engineer/Utilities Director Kenny Keel stated that the water and sewer permits for
Corbinton were almost at the point of expiration but had been renewed for two more years by the
State's actions.
7:17:27 PM Mr. Peterson said he had read through the recent legislations that affected
municipal government, and had determined that such projects were able to keep their assigned
water capacity, but it was legal that if other projects came forward that actually got their capacity
allocated then they could be put in front of those projects. So, he said, even if other projects got
an extension that did not necessarily mean that they got to keep their water capacity if other
projects were completed ahead of them.
Mr. Keel mentioned that next week was the NC American Water Works Association conference
where the wastewater plant would be receiving the Operation and Maintenance Excellence
award. He said representatives would be coming to make a formal presentation to the Board but
he did not yet know when that would be.
Mr. Keel said in addition to that award, they had just been informed that Will Baker, their
Utilities Director, would receive the Golden Manhole award which recognized individuals who
had made significant contributions to the advancement of systems design, education, training,
certification, construction, operations, maintenance, and management of wastewater collection
systems. He said for years before Mr. Baker had joined the Town and continuing even now he
had been an instructor at the annual certification schools for water and wastewater that the State
put on.
Mayor Stevens asked Mr. Keel to extend to Mr. Baker the Board's congratulations on his
recognition.
7:19:39 PM Police Chief Clarence Birkhead handed out his departmental report to the Board,
noting that their numbers indicated a slight decrease in crime.
9. ITEMS FOR DECISION — CONSENT AGENDA
A. Consider Approval of the Minutes of the September 14, 2009 Regular Town Board
Meeting; the September 28, 2009 Monthly Workshop; the October 12, 2009 Regular
Town Board Meeting; and the October 12, 2009 Regular Town Board Meeting Closed
Session
B. Consider approval of Revised Contract from Dixon Hughes, PLLC, to perform the Town
of Hillsborough audit for Fiscal Year ending June 30, 2009. An increase of $2,500 is
requested for a single audit of grant monies totaling $500,000 or more
7:20:20 PM Upon a motion by Commissioner Dancy, seconded by Commissioner Lowen, the
Board moved to adopt the Consent Agenda as submitted by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was
declared passed.
10. ITEMS FOR DECISION — REGULAR AGENDA
November 9, 2009 Regular Meeting
Approved: December 14, 2009
Page 6 of 16
A. Receive update on repair progress at 153 W King Street (former Colonial Inn)
7:20:40 PM Ms. Hauth said the last deadline on the Demolition by Neglect process passed on
November 3, and she would have a final inspection report from Stephanie Trueblood in the near
future. She said much work had been done, but believed the report would show that all of the
work that was ordered was not done. Ms. Hauth said there was a difference of interpretation
with Mr. Henry, the owner, regarding how the ordinance worked related to the complaint letter
received and whether items that could not be seen from the public right -of -way or were not
specifically listed in the complaint, for example something on the south side of the building
rather than something on the west side of the building, would be relevant. She said as soon as
she received the final inspection report, she would be responding to Mr. Henry and informing
him of her findings either pro or con on the work done and whether the order had been fully
fulfilled.
Ms. Hauth said the work that was done was of high quality, and Ms. Trueblood would be
providing in her report before and after pictures so that the Board could view exactly what work
had taken place. She said from the pictures she had seen and what she had observed, the quality
of the work was outstanding and had made significant improvements to the building and its
longevity. Ms. Hauth said they may not have reached their goal, but a lot of very good and very
positive work had been done. She said she would share the report when it was received.
7:22:36 PM Mayor Stevens said he believed the building was now in much better shape and
stabilized. Ms. Hauth said significant work was done that was not in the order, and some of that
was Mr. Henry's choice and some was work that had to be done in order to address what was in
the order, such as removing the windows and having them re- milled to detail.
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Approved: December 14, 2009
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7:23:10 PM Commissioner Gering asked was the missing front wall not a part of the original
complaint letter. Ms. Hauth said it was, noting that part of the reason Mr. Henry was not
finishing that was because work on the inside had to be done first. She said she understood that
Mr. Henry had done what he was able to do at this point.
Mayor Stevens asked if Mr. Hornik and the Town were in agreement on interpretation of the
ordinance. Mr. Hornik said he would have to get more information before commenting on that.
Ms. Hauth said Mr. Henry's interpretation was that if the complaint letter said the siding on the
west and north walls was deteriorated, then that work had to be completed. She said her
interpretation was that when they had inspected the property and found that condition to exist on
all four sides, then they had cited him for all four sides but Mr. Henry's reply was that he was
responding to the complaint and not so much to the order. Ms. Hauth said in her view, if the
Demolition by Neglect of the building was causing demolition on one side then it would cause it
on the other sides as well if the same condition existed.
7:24:27 PM Mayor Stevens said he believed they had been very careful about detailing the
items that needed to be addressed. Ms. Hauth said that was a difference of opinion they had
experienced by Mr. Henry from the very beginning of the process, but he had chosen not to
appeal it in the initial timeframe. So, she said, now that the final inspection had been made and
the deadline had passed, it was time to make that determination.
Mr. Hornik said all the complaint letter had done was to trigger the investigation and the
inspection, and the inspection had resulted in the order. So, he said, he believed that Mr. Henry
was neglecting what the order had ordered him to do and was instead responding to the items in
the complaint letter. Mr. Hornik said the order was the appealable decision and was what had
directed the work Mr. Henry was ordered to do.
Ms. Hauth said in sending the response letter it would trigger something else that he could appeal
to the Board of Adjustment and they could get a somewhat quicker resolution without going to
court.
7:25:33 PM Commissioner Gering asked what exactly the process would be from this point
and what role the Town Board would have in that process. Ms. Hauth said the Board would have
no role until such time as she sent Mr. Henry the letter to inform him he continued to be out of
compliance and he had "x" number of days to either appeal or comply. She said when those
times passed she would be bringing it to the Board to refer to Mr. Hornik as an enforcement
action. Ms. Hauth said it would likely not be until the new year that the Board would see that
come back to them.
Mr. Hornik said what would happen at this point was that Ms. Hauth would inform Mr. Henry as
to whether or not he had complied with the Demolition by Neglect order, and he would then have
the opportunity to appeal Ms. Hauth's determination to the Board of Adjustment if he chose to
do so. He said then the Board of Adjustment would act and they would then be in a position to
either say that Mr. Henry had complied or had not complied, and if not then some remedy would
be fashioned such as giving him 30 days to comply. He said if Mr. Henry did not comply in the
given timeframe, the Town would be in a position to begin assessing penalties once again.
7:26:45 PM Commissioner Gering asked if Mr. Henry would have any further steps for an
appeal. Mr. Hornik said he could appeal the Board of Adjustment's determination to superior
court.
Mayor Stevens said the Town had determined that certain work had to be done to stabilize the
building, and despite the fact that much good progress had been made that was highly
appreciated, they still needed to reach the goal as spelled out in the order.
B. Discussion of potential Event Policy and public review of draft policy
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Approved: December 14, 2009
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7:27:44 PM Ms. Hauth said she had provided the Board an update on what had been provided
at the September workshop, put in a better organized format to more closely represent what
could be Code language, and although it was not quite at that point it was ready for further
discussion. She said she had provided several dates in December if the Board wanted to move
forward at this time.
The Board briefly discussed the dates suggested and conflicts with their schedules. Ms. Hauth
said it was not as important for the entire Town Board to be present as it was for the community
leaders that organized such events to be present, as well as Chief Birkhead and her.
7:32:08 PM Mr. Peterson stated that unless they believed they would have too many attendees,
they could work in that discussion at a regular Board meeting with a lighter agenda so that two
meetings would not be needed. Ms. Hauth said they had experienced a large turnout at the last
meeting, but that was in part because the discussion included fees. She said she believed they
may have a large turnout for this discussion as well.
After some discussion, Mayor Stevens noted it appeared that Thursday, December 3, was the
most preferred date. Ms. Hauth said the material for that meeting would include mention of fees,
but their primary purpose was to gain feedback on the process involved, and fees would be
discussed after that point unless the Board decided otherwise.
Mayor Stevens said he had mentioned in the past that perhaps they could have use fees for the
use of shelters and things of that sort, but it could be that people who got their permits far enough
in advance would avoid fees. Ms. Hauth said she believed that people would expect to pay
nothing in either case, noting they did not want to pay a fee to reserve a building or a shelter, or
for the Town to provide rollouts, or anything else that the Town could assign a hard number to.
She said they just wanted to hold their event, based on the feedback from the summit, and
proposing fees would begin that discussion all over again.
Ms. Hauth said there were certainly fees that she was not sure they could fairly waive, such as
the cost of reserving the park or providing rollout containers because that was trash that the
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Town had to pay to dispose of. She said the fee it appeared that they always waived was the
staff time to help organizers plan and manage an event.
7:34:52 PM Mayor Stevens asked was there something different they could call a permit fee,
such as a use fee. Ms. Hauth said staff had wanted to charge for rollout carts, which had been
discussed at the summit. Mayor Stevens said he would call that a use fee. He said if someone
was holding an event the Town would need to handle that trash, and a use fee would cover that.
Ms. Hauth said she was not sure that type of fee would be different in the minds of the event
sponsors. Mayor Stevens said it was one thing to have people just tell the Town about an event
but it was another thing to have people pay for the costs to the Town which could be disposing of
trash, the use of Police officers, or the use of the shelter. He said for instance, there was not a fee
for signing up to reserve the shelter, but there may be a fee to use the shelter. Ms. Hauth said she
was not sure they were envisioning a permit fee that was not necessarily some sort of use fee.
She said staff certainly felt that there was a lot of time spent on such events and it could easily
and fairly be charged for, but they had not developed the idea of a fee that was not a use fee.
7:36:13 PM Commissioner Lloyd said she believed that when the Town furnished such things
as rollout carts, and employees frequently had to work past their normal work hours in order to
service them, then it was fair to charge a fee for that. She said when the park was used it had to
be kept clean and the Town had to pay for that, so it was fair to charge a fee for events held in
the park. Commissioner Lloyd said it was also fair to charge a fee when Police officers were
used for events.
Mayor Stevens said he recognized that there were people who did not want to pay fees of any
kind, but believed that was something they would just have to deal with. He said in his mind he
saw a difference between service fees that provided services above and beyond just a permit to
use a facility, and he would like to see any permitting fees at a low cost or at no cost. Ms. Hauth
said at the workshop they had talked about a sliding scale, such as if a reservation was made
before a certain time it would be free or if made at the last minute there would be a higher fee,
with a sliding scale between. But, she said, she did not recall having talked about any dollar
figure to go with that sliding scale.
7:38:38 PM Commissioner Lloyd said the Town had lost $7,000 with the race track event, and
that fee should have been paid. She said payment of that fee would certainly have helped with
the expenses born by the Town. Commissioner Lloyd said she had no problem giving out the
permits, but it was after the permit was given that they should be looking at recovering the
Town's expenses.
Commissioner Lowen said he agreed that they should discuss that when the time came.
Mr. Peterson said the idea was to use the occupancy tax to help offset the Town's costs for
events, but on further analysis they did not believe they could use that tax to offset those kinds of
expenses. He said you might be able to use a very small portion of it, but to do so they would
have to create a tourism authority that had a different type of representation than their current
Tourism Board. Mr. Peterson said as well, two- thirds of the tax had to go towards promoting
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travel and tourism, which included pamphlets, market research, advertising, and those types of
things. He said the other third could be used for tourism - related expenses, and that was defined
as expenditures that in the judgment of the tourism authority were designed to increase the use of
lodging facilities, meeting facilities, or convention facilities in the Town, or to attract tourists or
business travelers to the Town, and included tourism - related capital expenses. Mr. Peterson said
using the funds for something like the Wayfinding signage program was permitted under the
one -third use, but using it to pay for Police or to pick up trash while not necessarily completely
banned would be stretching the intended use.
7:41:46 PM Commissioner Gering said then that would mean that they should not use that
template legislation, noting there was nothing to prevent them from crafting their own. Mr.
Peterson said what he understood from talking with others throughout the State was that if
Hillsborough wanted to get an occupancy tax, then the standard template was the way to go. He
said in the past there had been different versions of the occupancy tax, and the lodging industry
had protested that the taxes were being used in ways that were not appropriate and not going
back to the people that were being taxed. Mr. Peterson said the State had basically clamped
down on that, and over the last three years the only occupancy tax legislation passed had been
worded exactly the same for all municipalities. He said he had the impression that they would
have an uphill battle if they wanted to do something different. Mr. Peterson said because they
had only two hotels in Town, he was not sure how much it would benefit them to pursue that.
7:43:16 PM Commissioner Gering said he believed they had already calculated the figures of
what the tax would bring, and believed it was on the order of $100,000 a year. Mr. Peterson said
he would do some further research about that and about what kind of fight they might expect if
they wanted to amend the occupancy tax bill somewhat. He said they would also need to think
about how they would want to use that one -third amount, whether it was for capital items or
reimbursing themselves for various expenses, and did not know whether there was a right or
wrong answer for that. Mr. Peterson said there was a question in his mind as to whether or not it
would be worth the extra fight to pursue an occupancy tax that was worded differently than the
template.
7:44:55 PM Mayor Stevens said he believed they needed to focus first on getting the
permitting so that they knew what events were planned so they could be managed, and secondly
they needed to determine how the costs to the Town would be handled, whether it be through a
tax, through shifting budgets somewhat, or some other method.
Commissioner Dancy suggested they invite Lauri Paolicelli with the Orange County Visitor's
Bureau to sit in on that meeting, noting her expertise would be helpful. The Board agreed.
C. Discussion of Cemetery Issues
7:45:59 PM Commissioner Lowen said that recently his uncle had passed way and he had sold
his two cemetery plots to his aunt so that his uncle could be buried in Town. He said his aunt
had been unaware that the Town had no more cemetery plots, and that issue had been out there
for some time. He said there had even been a petition from a group of citizens asking that the
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Town purchase property for a Town cemetery, and the Town Board had decided against doing
that and he had agreed with that at the time.
Commissioner Lowen said he had then purchased plots at Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens, which
was exactly 41/2 miles south of the Hillsborough Town limits He said he had talked with the
owner of that cemetery about the fact that there were no more plots available in Hillsborough,
and asked if there was something they could do to offer residents of Hillsborough a reduced
price. Commissioner Lowen said he had provided the Board with a copy of the email he had
received from the owner.
7:48:01 PM Commissioner Lowen said you could see in the information that plots could be
offered at a reduced price. He said the current price was $1,200 for a cemetery plot, and if
purchased pre -need the cost would be $750 and if purchased at -need it would be $950, a savings
of $250 over the current price. Commissioner Lowen said from his research that was actually
the going rate, and even if the Town were to purchase land and offer cemetery plots, they would
not be able to do it at that price.
Commissioner Lowen said when talking with Mr. Peterson about that, Mr. Peterson's concern
had been that it would not be a good idea to have a contract or agreement for cemetery plots
because they would be promoting a private cemetery enterprise. He said he wanted to know if
perhaps the Town might want to promote some other private cemeteries within a certain area to
offer plots to Town residents at a reduced cost. Commissioner Lowen said he heard frequently
from people who knew the Town had no plots available and wanted the Town to purchase space
for a cemetery. He said he continued to agree that it was not a wise investment for the Town to
do that, but did wonder if there was a need for the Town to put the issue to rest by announcing
that they had made an arrangement whereby citizens could purchase a plot at a nearby cemetery
at a reduced cost.
7:50:47 PM Mayor Stevens wondered if there was some exchange of consideration required.
Commissioner Lowen said it would not cost the Town anything.
Commissioner Gering stated the second paragraph of the letter indicated that the reduced price
would require support and advocacy from the Town.
Commissioner Lowen said he had asked about that, and by support it meant that the Town would
direct citizens inquiring about plots to Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens.
Mayor Stevens said then essentially they were asking for the Town's endorsement in exchange
for the reduced cost of the plots.
Commissioner Lowen said that was correct, and there was no financial consideration from the
Town whatsoever. He asked if they did that, would they have to structure some process so that
other private cemeteries in the area got the same consideration.
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7:52:11 PM Mr. Hornik said his question was whether and to what extent the Town could
endorse a particular private enterprise. He said he did not have an answer to that at the moment,
but it did cause him concern.
Commissioner Hallman asked how it would be different from a public /private partnership. He
said that was the question he would need to answer, and to see if there were any limitations to do
something like that.
Commissioner Lowen said to him it would be a public /private partnership where the Town had
basically decided it would no longer provide cemetery plots but they would have an agreement
where a private entity would provide that service for them and they would simply directly
inquiries for plots to that private entity.
7:54:07 PM Ms. Armbrister asked what the private entity would require from the Town or
from the resident in order to be entitled to the reduced price.
Commissioner Lowen said it would be determined by your street address. He said the cemetery
would provide you with a deed so you had to have a Hillsborough address in order to get that
discount. Commissioner Lowen said the same owner also owned the Oak Grove Memorial
Gardens in Durham as well as Briar Creek Memorial Gardens in Raleigh. He said the owner had
said he would be willing to change the name of Chapel Hill Memorial Gardens to make the name
more demographically acceptable to citizens in the northern part of the County. Commissioner
Lowen said he would like for the Town to at least consider the offer so that they could put the
issue to rest by offering an alternative to their citizens.
7:55:49 PM Mayor Stevens said he appreciated Commissioner Lowen taking the time to make
the contact and get the details, noting he believed it was an interesting idea. He said he was
somewhat concerned about endorsing a business, and suggested that the cemetery could offer the
reduced price whether the Town endorsed them or not, so there may be different ways to look at
the issue.
Mr. Hornik said there were programs that the Town could perform itself, in that it either
contracted with or made contributions to Habitat or to the Land Trust to essentially provide a
service that the Town was authorized by law to provide itself. So, he said, there was precedent
for that kind of thing, generally speaking, in that the Town could own and operate its own
cemetery. Mr. Hornik said if you used that analogy, then could they make a contribution, so to
speak, to some other entity that provided that service.
7:57:18 PM Mayor Stevens said in other words they would be negotiating on behalf of their
residents for that service. Mr. Homik said he would look more closely into that to see if there
was some definitive information that made sense.
Commissioner Lowen said he would like that information to come back to the Board for further
discussion.
Added Item — Land Trust Board
November 9, 2009 Regular Meeting
Approved: December 14, 2009
Page 13 of 16
D. Discuss scheduling FY10 Budgetary Planning Retreat on January 30, 2010
7:58:26 PM Mr. Peterson noted that the first choice for a date of the retreat was Saturday,
January 30, 2010, with the second choice being Saturday, February 6, 2010. He noted that
Donna Warren from the School of Government was available on both of those dates to facilitate
the retreat.
Mayor Stevens said he believed they should go ahead and schedule the retreat for Saturday,
January 30. Mr. Peterson stated the retreat would be held at the Town's new training room.
8:00:17 PM Commissioner Lowen stated that Ms. Warner had done a good job in the past and
had developed a good relationship with the Board.
Mayor Stevens stated that he would work with Mr. Peterson to work out a format for the retreat.
8:00:49 PM Commissioner Hallman stated that Commissioner Lowen had been the Town's
representative on the Community Land Trust Board but because of his work schedule he had
taken over as the alternate. He said he now realized that he was on the Home Committee that
decided on funding for the Land Trust, and he was not comfortable serving on both.
Commissioner Hallman said it was similar to serving on the Habitat Board or the
EmPOWERment or similar boards, and it was somewhat self - serving for that board to have
elected officials. On the other hand, he said, they were actually funded by tax dollars so he
understood the need for a public official to serve on it.
Commissioner Hallman said because the Land Trust met every month there was a time
commitment, but he was not comfortable serving on both boards. He asked how the Board
wanted to proceed, noting he had notified Executive Director Robert Dowling that the Board
may decide to appoint a non - elected official as a Hillsborough representative, noting there were
other elected bodies represented by non - elected officials.
Mayor Stevens said at their next meeting they would be having an organizational discussion, and
perhaps they could wait until that time to make a decision.
The Board held a brief discussion on the various entities that the Board members served on, with
a few members stating their preference to stay on their already assigned boards.
Mr. Peterson suggested that the Board members email to Ms. Armbrister the meeting day and
times of the boards they served on, and then they would compile all the information and
distributed it to everyone.
8:06:27 PM Ms. Armbrister said she had a list that was put together last year that she would be
happy to distribute so that the Board members could make the necessary changes to it and return
it to her.
Added Item: Elizabeth Brady Road
November 9, 2009 Regular Meeting
Approved: December 14, 2009
Page 14 of 16
8:06:29 PM Mayor Stevens said he had wanted to provide the Board with an update on
Elizabeth Brady Road, and asked if everyone was aware of the environmental impact meeting on
December 7. Ms. Hauth noted that they had received the environmental impact study and the
map, although just flipping through it she did not find that it made any clear recommendation.
She said it talked about the different alignments and the various impacts, but it was not a
document that provided a specific recommendation on a particular alignment.
Ms. Hauth said the document said that this alignment had this many displacements and this
alignment had this kind of noise impact, and the like. She said it appeared that at this point DOT
was going to wait for the public to weigh in on the various alignments and then make some
determination as to which was the most feasible.
8:08:15 PM Commissioner Lowen said just prior to the meeting tonight, Commissioner
Gering had the suggestion that at the Board's public hearing in January that they add this to the
agenda and provide a large map with the various options so that the public would have more of
an opportunity to see which alignment would take the out the most houses or cause the most
impacts.
Mayor Stevens said the Board had also looked at ways to alleviate traffic, with some discussions
with NCDOT about that. He said he would at least like to find a way to put all the alternatives
Oil the table, noting that he had contacted Secretary of Transportation Gene Conti to see if they
could line up a meeting to talk about it.
8:10:36 PM Commissioner Gering said it had been his assumption all along that this Board
needed to evaluate the data irrespective of what DOT did. He said they needed to gather public
input and make a decision on their own and then convey that to DOT. Commissioner Gering
said he would be interested in finding a process to get them to that point, and it would be nice to
do that parallel to the other process. He said it appeared that whatever happened that DOT
would still be into its standard process of public hearings and feedback, and the Town should
weigh in with its own decision after the public hearing.
Commissioner Gering asked if the Town reached its own conclusions regarding the
environmental impacts, was there a meaningful way for them to digest the information in the
study to make an informed decision. He asked what the Board could do to better prepare them to
make an informed decision without scouring every line of the study. Ms. Hauth said there was a
summary that spoke to the impacts of the various alignments, but it never went beyond simply
summarizing those impacts. She said in 10 or 15 pages she believed they could get a really good
summary of the study and have at least a good feel for the variety of impacts and perhaps assign
some kind of weight to them. Ms. Hauth said her one thought given the timing of all of that was
that the challenge might be to convince the DOT to not reassign their money out of the current
year. She said it might help, if they could possibly do so, to have a meeting before the DOT's
hearing. Ms. Hauth said they could digest the study to the extent possible and put out the list of
November 9, 2009 Regular Meeting
Approved: December 14, 2009
Page 15 of 16
alternatives that they would like DOT to study as the Town's "package," then release that to their
citizens, hold a hearing, and then if citizens preferred the Town's package then that could be
conveyed to DOT at DOT's hearing which might generate some additional support for the
Town's alternative package. She said she did not know if that would be possible or if there was
a date available to do that, but believed it was worth considering. Ms. Hauth said they had a long
list of things they believed would work, and it might be worthwhile to have the public's opinion
and suggestions prior to DOT's meeting.
8:14:47 PM Commissioner Hallman said he had a lot of ambivalence about that, noting it
could be muddying the waters. He said for people to complain to Secretary Conti without
knowing what alternatives the Town was looking at but just saying they were opposed would not
get the Town very far. Commissioner Hallman said he believed that Secretary Conti was open
minded, but without sufficient knowledge about what was going on with the Town Board then it
would not serve their interests.
Mayor Stevens said the intent was to gain some support for the Town's preferred alternatives.
Commissioner Gering said it sounded like what Ms. Hauth had suggested would be useful. Ms.
Hauth said the timing was not good, noting from looking at the calendar that November 30 was
the most appropriate date, and they would likely need to find a larger meeting space since the
public tended to want to talk about Elizabeth Brady Road.
Mayor Stevens said he believed people would be interested in the information even if they did
not have all the answers. Ms. Hauth said they could list out the things that could address
congestion issues in Town and tell the public which package the Town was looking to promote,
and see what comments they received. She said that would give them a week in case there were
other suggestions that came forward that they had not yet had a chance to think about, and it
would also give people a week to think about whether the Town's package was better than
DOT's.
8:19:03 PM Commissioner Gering said he believed that was a good idea.
Commissioner Lloyd said she understood this was a draft environmental impact report, but asked
when the final report would be available. Ms. Hauth said it would likely be a year before the
hearing process was completed and it may take another year or so after that, but the final report
would include the selection of an alignment.
8:19:36 PM Mayor Stevens said he believed there was consensus on going forward with a
Community Information Meeting on November 30, perhaps in an open house format, so that
people could drop in and collect information, get copies of the maps, and ask any questions and
provide any comments. He said Ms. Hauth could provide the location once that had been
determined. Ms. Hauth said by the end of this week she would provide the Board with a
summary out of the environmental document and the Town's draft list of projects.
E. Discuss possible "Hot Topics" for the November 23, 2009 Workshop
8:20:46 PM Ms. Hauth said at the November 23 workshop the Board would receive the
Diagnosis and Annotated Outline of the new draft ordinance.
Mayor Stevens said it appeared that should be the only topic of discussion. The Board agreed by
consensus.
11. CLOSED SESSION
November 9, 2009 Regular Meeting
Approved: December 14, 2009
Page 16 of 16
A. A Closed Session as authorized by North Carolina General Statute Section 143-
318.11 (a)(6) regarding Personnel Matters.
B. Added Item — Closed Session as authorized by North Carolina General Statute
Section 143 - 318.11 (3) to meet with Town Attorney regarding current Litigation
status.
8:21:34 PM Upon a motion made by Commissioner Lowen, seconded by Commissioner
Dancy, the Board moved to go into Closed Session by a vote of 5 -0. The motion was declared
passed.
12. ADJOURN
Upon returning to Open Session and upon a motion Commissioner Lloyd, seconded by
Commissioner Lowen, the Board moved to adjourn the meting at 8:50 p.m. by a vote of 5 -0. The
motion was declared passed.
Respectfully submitted,
Donna F. Ms. Armbrister, MMC
Town Clerk