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HomeMy Public PortalAbout01-23-2012 Workshop MeetingJanuary 23, 2012 Town Board Monthly Workshop Approved: February 13, 2012 Page 1 of 8 Town of Hi11S MINUTES Board of Commissioners Monthly Workshop January 23, 2012 — 7:00 p.m. at the Town Barn PRESENT: Mayor Tom Stevens, Mike Gering, L. Eric Hallman, Commissioner Frances Dancy, Evelyn Lloyd, and Brian Lowen. STAFF PRESENT: Town Manager Eric Peterson, Town Clerk/Director of Administration and Human Resources Donna Armbrister, Finance Director Greg Siler, Town Attorney Bob Hornik. 1. Open the Workshop. Mayor Stevens opened the workshop at 7:00 p.m. 2. Agenda Changes and Agenda Approval. There were no agenda changes. Commissioner Brian Lowen moved to approve the agenda as presented and Commissioner Eric Hallman seconded the motion. Upon a unanimous vote of 5 -0, the agenda was approved. 3. Committee Updates and Reports. Commissioner Eric Hallman said he'd attended a presentation by the Deputy Secretary from DOT who discussed rail corridors, how they're doing, and value capture along rail corridors. Mr. Hallman mentioned to him that Hillsborough had 20 acres and was looking at a partnership. The gentleman said his office would welcome the opportunity to help Hillsborough with that. Mr. Hallman said he hopes to set up a meeting with them at some point since they have done and are familiar with the value capture, taxing, financing, special assessment districts, and so forth, to help build stations. Mayor Stevens said he thought Secretary Conti was going to be the guest at the next Mayors and Chairs Meeting in February. 4. Consideration of Multiple Water and Sewer Project Loan Financing Award. Finance Director Greg Siler said the wait had been to their advantage from a budget perspective. He explained that by not doing the loan this time of year, they won't have a payment due this fiscal year for which they'd originally budgeted $98,000. He said the loan was scheduled to close on February 14`i' but January 23, 2012 Town Board Monthly Workshop Approved: February 13, 2012 Page 2 of 8 now they are hoping for March to meet LGC requirements with the bid process. He stated there was apparently a misunderstanding and he thought it was done and /or Kenny Keel was not aware they absolutely had to have it before they applied for the loan. He said if they don't close in March, they will have to start from ground zero. Town Manager Eric Peterson asked Mr. Siler what they did not have. Mr. Siler replied they had grouped a number of projects into one and the LGC has to have a formal bid on the projects that require them. He said they would see how it goes next month and if for some reason they don't meet the deadline, their application will have to be scrapped. Commissioner Evelyn Lloyd asked which project he was referring to. Mr. Siler responded it was the $600,000 plus for Brady Road. Mr. Peterson asked if they just had the bid opening on that or if it was coming up. Mr. Siler said Mr. Keel sent out an email last week indicating it would take place in February as he recalls. Mr. Siler asked the Board to approve the financing award to BB &T, who had the lowest bid, and they will hope to meet the time frame so this can be closed in March. Commissioner Mike Gering moved to award the bid to BB &T. Commissioner Brian Lowen seconded the motion. Upon a unanimous vote of 5 -0, the motion carried. 5. Hillsborough Tourism Development Authority. Commissioner Mike Gering said at the last meeting they had decided the basic parameters for forming the HTDA with its membership coming two - thirds from the Tourism Board. Since then, Bob Hornik has drafted the changes to their code to establish the HTDA and he drafted a simple policy which expresses what they would like to see from both Boards. He reminded them the Tourism Board and the HTDA have to be separate groups because they have different enabling legislation; they're not identical so they have to administratively manage two different groups. He added, however, the purposes for which they can spend the money are identical. He said most of the operating parameters for each Board are close to identical as well so he believes it is natural for both Boards to have overlapping membership and establish where they can meet jointly and hopefully, unanimously, vote on their actions. He asked Mr. Hornik to walk through the draft ordinance. Town Attorney Bob Hornik told the Board he modeled it on the ordinance prepared for Carrboro a year or so ago and tried to follow to the extent he could the language in the enabling legislation. He said this would mean there's no room for mistranslation over what they're authorized to do compared to what they're doing. Mr. Hornik added that right now the section numbers are 8.A., 8.A.1., 8.A.2., 8.A.3, 8.A.4., 8.A.5., 8.A.6., and 8.A.7. They will have to figure out where they will go in the ordinances and properly label the sections. Mr. Hornik explained the following: • 8.A.1. announces the Town is going to levy the 3% tax on gross receipts; • 8.A.2. talks about the process, who is subject to the tax, the process for reporting and collecting the tax. He said the process is very similar to the process for the food and beverage tax although HDTA will be due on the 20t1 and food and beverage is the 25t1. He said they do want to discuss whether having them all due on the same day would simplify or complicate things. January 23, 2012 Town Board Monthly Workshop Approved: February 13, 2012 Page 3 of 8 • 8.A.3. outlines the penalties for failure to comply, failure to pay tax when due, failure to file reports when due, and the penalties available under the tax statute 105.236 are the penalties available under the ordinance. • 8.A.4. addresses how the taxes collected are to be distributed and also parallels the language of the sections that grant them the authority; subparagraph 1 outlines the cost of administration; 3% of up to the first $500,000 in gross proceeds plus 1% of any amount above that each year goes to cover administration; subparagraph 2 states the gross proceeds of the tax are supposed to be used to promote travel and tourism; subparagraph 3 discusses tourism related expenditures saying the ones collected under the ordinance are appropriate expenditures. • 8.A.5. outlines the makeup of the members of the HTDA; the first paragraph creates the TDA; subparagraph B says the HTDA shall consist of three members appointed by the Board of Commissioners, two of whom shall also be members of the Tourism Board; members don't have to reside in Town; at least one -third of the members must be individuals affiliated with businesses that collect the tax in the Town. Mayor Stevens said that could be any one of the three so it could be a joint board or someone specifically. Mr. Hornik added at least three - fourths of the members must be currently active in promotion of travel and tourism in the Town. Commissioner Gering said that is part of the sessions law and is automatic because if they select two from the Tourism Board, it qualifies two- thirds of them immediately. Subparagraph C sets forth the appointment of a one year term which is a mechanism to make sure the TDA is active and consistent with the town policy. Subparagraph D states members shall serve at the pleasure of the Board of Commissioners. Subparagraph E states members shall serve without compensation. • 8.A.6. describes the requirements for meetings of the TDA. They are a public body so they are subject to abide by the meeting law; a quorum is three members unless there's a vacant seat. All the filled seats are required to be there to have a quorum on the TDA. Mr. Hornik went on to say the Board of Commissioners has to appoint the Chair. • Section 8.A.7. outlines the powers and duties of the TDA stating they have the authority to administer the funds collected under Section 8.A.4., report quarterly, and at the end of the fiscal year to the Board of Commissioners. Mr. Hornik said it's all pretty basic and consistent with what they've been authorized by the sessions law to do. He said he thinks those things where they had some options to choose from, they are options they've discussed and they are trying to fill in the blanks as in the one year term. Commissioner Evelyn Lloyd asked if they were just discussing the Holiday Inn Express or if they were including micro locations. Mr. Gering said it applied to everyone subject to the occupancy tax. Ms. Lloyd said it would then include Daniel Boone and that when she was with the Water & Sewer Advisory Board, it was Donna from Daniel Boone who came to them and complained about the water as that was her responsibility. Mayor Stevens said Teardrop would be included as well. Mr. Hornik said they needed a process for reaching out to those affected by having a public hearing or some type of public session. He said they would need to announce it far enough in advance so people have an opportunity to participate before they actually decide to adopt because they're not compelled to adopt the ordinances but are authorized to do it. Mayor Stevens said they should discuss the policies and then talk about where to go from there. Mayor Stevens said having things due on the same day makes sense to him so he would advocate for that. Mr. Gering asked if the 25th was convenient to have everything due to which Mr. Siler responded yes. January 23, 2012 Town Board Monthly Workshop Approved: February 13, 2012 Page 4 of 8 Mayor Stevens said there should be a way to operationalize the policy. Mr. Gering said they had not discussed the policy yet and that would work by having the Tourism Board and HTDA meet at the same time and place. Mayor Stevens asked if it required a quorum, would they call for a vote twice in the meeting, and /or would there be a blanket policy that says the Tourism Board and HTDA is in agreement. The Tourism Board would have a quorum if two members of this Board were out so he's trying to understand technically how it will work. Mr. Gering said one possibility is if the HTDA doesn't have a quorum, the Tourism Board could take action and it would be like deferred business until the next time the HTDA meets. He said they could vote at a later time depending on the combined vote of both Boards and that may be enough to open it for another vote by both Boards, or it might not be enough to override the majority of the Tourism Board. Mayor Stevens explained he was trying to make sure they don't get in trouble because the Tourism Board can't act on something due to a particular member being out even though they have a quorum. Mr. Gering replied it was probably not legally proper to have default action by a Board that doesn't have a quorum. Mr. Hornik stated he believes the Tourism Board could obviously still act on those things over which it has authority to act but anything that requires TDA authorization or approval, the Tourism Board could still act on it as well, but only to the extent it requires TDA approval. The action could not become effective until the next meeting or whenever the TDA has a quorum next. Mayor Stevens said he wants to know how things will get processed to make sure they do have a quorum and how they act on things. Mr. Gering stated their idea was they would share the same Staff, which is Alliance right now, and that would be the responsibility of Staff to make sure the rules of each Board are being followed. He feels as long as they share the same Staff it will be easier to handle. Commissioner Frances Dancy asked if they had not said the Chair of the Tourism Board and HTDA would be the same. Mr. Gering replied they may have talked about it and he thinks it's their Board that chooses the chair of the HTDA. The Tourism Board chooses its own chair and that could be another thing they write into policy that the policy of this Board is to make the Chairs identical. Mr. Hornik said because of their ordinance, they choose the HTDA Chair, and by ordinance, the Tourism Board chooses its Chair and there is potentially a conflict. Mayor Stevens said they would almost have to state they had to be separate. Mr. Gering asked how much it mattered. He said one possible arrangement would be that HTDA and the Tourism board alternate chairing the meetings and he's not sure it makes an operational difference. Mayor Stevens asked, in the course of a meeting, how it would be conducted and would one meeting end and the other begin. He said he suspects if they can't do a blanket, the HTDA still might authorize the Tourism Board to act on its behalf or something like that. Mr. Hornik said procedurally he thinks it seems redundant but he believes you have to have a vote by the TDA and a vote by the Tourism Board taken separately so they could be recorded separately. He added that they're not the same Boards and won't have exactly the same authority although there is significant and almost complete overlap and he believes you have to make sure for record keeping purposes that you have their separate votes recorded separately. Commissioner Brian Lowen said it seemed redundant if they're going to meet at the same time. Ms. Lloyd said she thought she'd read that they did not have to meet every month. Mr. Hallman said they had to meet at least four times per year. Ms. Lloyd asked if they could meet perhaps 30 minutes before the Tourism Board. Mayor Stevens said there are probably much fewer actions. Mr. Hornik reminded them at the quarterly meetings, it's a floor not a ceiling, so they have to meet at least quarterly but if there is more business to be done, they can meet more. January 23, 2012 Town Board Monthly Workshop Approved: February 13, 2012 Page 5 of 8 Mayor Stevens said these seem like workable problems but he wants them to put some thought to it. Mr. Gering said they could put in the policy or ordinance that they take separate actions with separate votes and keep separate minutes. Mr. Hornik said he didn't think they needed to make that part of the ordinance but he thinks it's a good policy to have. Ms. Dancy said they do have to report to the Board separately. Mr. Hornik added that they're separate authorities acting under different statutory authorization so they want to make sure they can show that the TDA is doing its business and the Tourism Board is doing theirs even though they take place at the same meeting. Mayor Stevens said they're essentially making a policy for the HTDA and Tourism Board but they expect these two Boards to operate in unison. One doesn't have authority over the other but they do expect them to arrive at the same place even though they have very distinct and separate processes to do it. Mr. Gering asked if they were happy with the title of the policy. Mayor Stevens said yes. Ms. Dancy said she was still considering their discussion regarding the Chair person for both Boards being the same. She said that would make them on the same page. Mr. Gering asked if they should write that into their policy or leave it for the future. Mayor Stevens stated because it's hard to anticipate at this point, there should be flexibility that they can be separate or be the same. He said they don't need to predetermine that. Ms. Lloyd asked if there was any conflict when they vote on who is going to be the Chair or if it would matter to the Tourism Board; she asked if it was structured such that they would have a Vice -Chair and the Vice -Chair becomes the Chair and so forth. Ms. Dancy replied they've not had any problems with that as this is just happening now. Ms. Lloyd asked if it would be a problem for the Chair to serve as both Chairs. Mr. Gering said operationally the Tourism board would have to select their Chair and the Town Board would have to select the Chair of the HTDA. Mr. Hornik said the Town Board could essentially say whoever is selected by the Tourism Board as its Chair shall be the Chair of the TDA except that the Tourism Board may select someone who hasn't been appointed to the TDA. Mr. Gering said the next topic was how to involve the hotels subject to this, how to involve the public, and when to hold a public hearing to get them involved. Mayor Stevens said without putting a time to it, he believes a personal contact to each of the hotels would be better than a call. He said they could introduce themselves and make some personal contact. Mr. Gering said when they talked about this in November, Town Manager Peterson had suggested they withhold starting the collection of this until the fiscal year begins and that seemed to make sense. Mr. Gering said Mr. Peterson would have to get their parts in place and Mr. Peterson agreed. Mr. Peterson said they'd want to give Finance Staff enough lead time to set up and psychologically, the businesses would want some amount of time to know it's coming down the pike. He said at this point, the soonest they should do it would be July lst. Mr. Gering asked if they could call a separate public hearing in March or if they should add to the quarterly public hearing in April. Mr. Hornik said he was not sure they were doing one, although they could legally, but the question would be if they want to. Commissioner Brian Lowen asked if the Planning board had to be involved. He said from the public's standpoint, unless they're staying in the establishments, they aren't going to be paying the tax. Mr. Lowen said they could ask Carrboro or Chapel Hill how much turn out they had when they instituted it. Mr. Gering proposed they ask the Mayor to individually contact the hotels and suggest to them that the Town Board would like to schedule a public hearing at the March regular meeting assuming they don't have much other business and make that a working schedule. Mayor Stevens said that could be a January 23, 2012 Town Board Monthly Workshop Approved: February 13, 2012 Page 6 of 8 tentative timeframe and it works for him. Mr. Gering said if any of the hotels say that date is not good for them, they can talk about it and change the plan. Mayor Stevens said he felt there would be some folks concerned about another new tax although they also know this was a preferred route by other stake holders to help increase tourism in the community. He said he would expect to get some turnout since part of it has been discussed but he's not sure it would be a lengthy meeting. Mr. Gering said for anyone who comes out with that kind of interest, it would probably be worth going through with them how they are trying to recoup some of the expenses for these tourism events that everyone enjoys. Mr. Gering told the Board the Tourism Board meets on February 6th and he would be happy to attend and tell them what they've discussed tonight. Mr. Lowen said he appreciated all the work Mr. Gering, Mr. Hornik, and all the others involved, have done on this. 6. Other Mayor Stevens stated he was planning to attend the Solid Waste meeting and asked who else was planning to attend. Mr. Lowen said he was as well as did Mr. Gering. Mr. Peterson said Ken Hines would be there as well. Mayor Stevens told the Board he was interviewing with WCHL earlier and Hillsborough would wait and see what happens but there have been some decisions made in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. He said Mayor Chilton put on a significant proposal recently so there will be discussion at the upcoming meeting, but from Hillsborough's point of view, whatever it decides to do will not particularly impact what Chapel Hill or Carrboro or the County is going to do. He said they would continue to wait and see what the plan is and then decide whether to continue on their way or work on a new agreement. Mr. Gering asked if he was referring to the transfer station. Mayor Stevens said they'd not really talked about that. Mr. Gering stated he believes there are two parts to the agenda and the station was one part, the other was the Rogers Road community and how to fund additional infrastructure or remediation for them. He said he felt the County was asking either Chapel Hill, Carrboro, or all three of them, to find additional money and he wasn't sure what their proposal was. Mayor Stevens said he thought it was primarily Chapel Hill and Carrboro. He said he didn't think there was an expectation Hillsborough would be looking for extra money beyond the fees they're already doing. Mr. Gering said, based on the agenda, the funds they've already spent for Rogers Road community is coming out of the Solid Waste fund that's collected so in essence they're already paying for a portion of it. Mayor Stevens stated they had a Chair and Mayor's meeting today and that issue came up. He believes there is some clarity that the funds that come out of the tipping fees can go only to remediation efforts that are only attached specifically to the landfill. They can do water with that because there's a clear connection between the water quality and the landfill; there is not a connection between the sewer, community centers, and those kinds of things, so funds cannot be used for those. Mayor Stevens added he also thinks they are looking for extra funds from the communities that are closer by to help those things that cannot come out of the funds. Commissioner Eric Hallman said he'd spoken with a couple of County Commissioners and from what he understands, they still don't have a handle on the cost of closure which could be as much as $12,000,000 January 23, 2012 Town Board Monthly Workshop Approved: February 13, 2012 Page 7 of 8 and while they've been putting that money aside, the rules have been changing. Therefore, they're not going to have remediation money and are going to need additional money to close it. Mayor Stevens said Mr. Lowen had been involved in the meetings and asked if there was anything else to add. Mr. Lowen said no and said it appears on paper they are asking for all three municipalities in the county to participate in this and Mayor Stevens said they may. Mr. Lowen said they need clarification on that. Mr. Peterson asked if Chapel Hill and Carrboro weren't actually operators originally. Mr. Hornik said that's one of the reasons they're so tied into the remediation efforts out there. Mr. Peterson said Hillsborough may legally be considered no different than an independent waste hauler. Mr. Hornik replied he would have to look at the contract on that because it's certainly a different status relative to the other two towns and Mr. Peterson added certainly from a legal obligation or contributing certain things. Ms. Lloyd said she read an article in the Chapel Hill news that the Mayor of Carrboro thinks a certain way. She said since he's not up for reelection, it doesn't matter what he thinks so he is thinking and Chapel Hill doesn't necessarily agree with him. She added the Mayor was quite outspoken in the article and she's afraid the meeting will not be very pleasant and may be very long. Mr. Lowen said he didn't know if it would be unpleasant but it would be lengthy. Ms. Lloyd said the tone had bothered her. Mayor Stevens said based on the Mayor and Chairs discussion they had today, the comment was made that the Rogers Road part would not apply to them so it might make sense for them to leave the meeting when it reaches that point. He said he felt different municipalities were going to have different approaches coming in and he's not anticipating there will be any decisions so hopefully it'll be moving forward. He added he did not think Chapel Hill would be in a position to make any type of commitment and that Carrboro has a proposal worth looking at. Mr. Gering said he could not imagine any decisions being made either. Mr. Hallman said he wanted to make everyone aware the State Department of Cultural Resources is having an announcement about some type of smart grant initiative for arts and economic development. He is planning to attend the meeting to find out more about that. 7. Closed Session as authorized by North Carolina General Statute Section 143 318.11 (a)(6) regarding a Personnel Matter. Commissioner Brian Lowen moved to go into Closed Session. Commissioner Frances Dancy seconded the motion. Upon a unanimous vote of 5 -0, the Board moved into Closed Session. 8. Adjourn Commissioner Frances Dancy moved to adjourn the meeting. Commissioner Mike Gering seconded the motion. Upon a unanimous vote of 5 -0, the meeting was adjourned at 8:02 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Donna F. Armbrister, MMC Town Clerk January 23, 2012 Town Board Monthly Workshop Approved: February 13, 2012 Page 8 of 8 -,sowatart* 201201234 10H-ow-Kw m, 4w...tH,FattAtT, WHEREAS: The Town of Hillsborough l'frown."1 has previously determined to undertake a project for a amareditte di an water and sewer oroieet& and dos Finance Officer has now Presented a proposal for the rinciteing of such Pro Rat ft"CfritSREFffillIll REF:CA:VEDf as follows: The f own hereby determines to finance the Project through Branch 3ank tag and Trust Company ("1313&T"), in accordance with the proposal dated January 2012. The amount financed shalt not exceed 31,550,000.00, the annual interest rate (n the absence of default or change in tax status) shall not exceed 2.26%, and the financing term shall not exceed ten (10) years from closing. 2. All financing contracts and all related documents for the closing of the financing (the "Financing Documents') shall be consistent with the foregoing terms. All officers and employees of the Town are hereby authorized and directed to execute and deliver any Financing Documents, and to take alt such further action as they may consider necessary or desirable, to carry out the financing of the Project as contemplated hy the proposal and this resolution. The Financing Documents shall include a Financing Agreement and Deed of Trust and a Project Fund Agreement as B11&1' may request. 3. "file Finance Officer is hereby Authorized and directed to hold executed copies of the Financing Documents until the conditions for the delivery of the Financing Documents have been completed to such offices satisfaction, The Finance Officer is authorized to approve changes W any Financing Documents previously signed by 70,311 officers or employees, provided Mat such changes shall not substantially alter the intent of such documents or certificates from the intent expressed in the forms executed by such officers.. The Financing Documents shall Inc in such final florins as the Finance Officer shall approve, with the Finance Officer's release of any Financing Document for delivery constituting conclusive evidence of such officer's final approval of the Document's final form. 4 The Town shall not take or omit to take any action the taking or omission of which shall cause its interest payments on this financing to Inc includable in the gross income for federal income tax purposes of the registered owners of the interest payment obligations. Thy Town hereby designates its obligations to make principal and interest payments ender the Financing Documents as "qualified tax-exempt obligations for the purpose of Internal Revenue Code Section 265(b)(3). 5. The Town intends that the adoption of this i esoltdiun will Inc a declaration of the Town's official intent to reimburse expenditures for the project that is to by financed from the proceeds ol the tlid&T financing described above. The To'nn intends that funds that have been adflillsboroughd, or that may Inc adHillsboroughd, lion) the Town's general fund, or any other Town fund related to the project, for project 40M may he reimbursed from (Inc financing proceeds 6. All prior actions of Town officers in furtherance of the purposes of this resolution are hereby ratified, approved and confirmed. All other resolutions (or parts thereof) in conflict with this resolution are hereby repealed. to the 3X0/4fil Or (he oorifiii3 735 ro,olioion take effect immediately.