Minutes of Council Meeting Buchanan, VA

Minutes of Council Meeting Buchanan, VA

December 11, 2017

Present:Vice-Mayor James Manspile Councilwoman Jane Kneisley Councilwoman Della Hylton Councilman Mike Burton

Vice-Mayor James Manspile called the Council meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Town Clerk Christy Hensley took roll call with all Council members present. Following roll call, a moment of silence was held and all that were present stated the Pledge of Allegiance.

Vice-Mayor Manspile began with an explanation regarding the monthly meeting minutes. Due to a computer going down and other issues, the meeting minutes will be available for review as soon as possible; however, they will not be available for the Town Council to approve until the January meeting. The first item of business was to consider approval of the November 2017 Financial Report. A motion of acceptance was made by Councilwoman Della Hylton. The motion was seconded by Councilman Mike Burton. Vice-Mayor Manspile asked for discussion.With no further discussion the motion to approve the November 2017 Financial Report was passed with a vote of 4-0.

Next on the Agenda was to consider approval of unpaid bills. A motion of acceptance was made by Councilwoman Della Hylton. The motion was seconded by Councilman Mike Burton. Vice-Mayor Manspile asked for discussion. With no discussion, the motion to approve paying the unpaid bills was passed with a vote of 4-0.

The next item of business was Awards, Recognitions and Presentations. Chairman of the Awards Committee, Councilman Mike Burton presented a special award recognizing the contributions of Buchanan’s first Town Manager, Mary Zirkle. Councilman Burton stated that it was always a challenge to be the first person establishing a new position in any organization, because the organization has to change and relationships have to change, but Ms. Zirkle has met the challenges with a smile and set the standards pretty high for anyone who will follow. Councilman Burton continued that he wanted to let people know how hard Ms. Zirkle has worked for the community, and how much time she has put in aside from the normal work hours such as taking work home, working nights with the Business meeting, the Planning Commission, weekend hours for Special Events such as the dedication of the Habitat for Humanity house and working most nights of the carnival for the past three years. Councilman Burton stated that Ms. Zirkle has given so much to the Town, and on behalf of the citizens of Buchanan and the people in attendance, want to thank her for everything she has done for Buchanan, wished her well in the future, assured her that she will be missed, and presented her with a plaque in appreciation of her dedicated service to the Town of Buchanan as Town Manager for the years of 2014-2017. Ms. Zirkle stated it has been her honor to be the first Town Manager and she knew she was not doing the job for herself, but for the ones who would come after her and it has been a great honor, she hopes she has professionally represented the town, and it is with sadness that she is leaving Buchanan because she had so much she had hoped to continue, but she knows Buchanan will do great things and she looks forward to hearing how wonderful it will be in the future, and she thanked everyone for allowing her to have that privilege.

Next on the agenda was to hear Citizen Comments. Craig Bryant, 35 Southwest Ave, had a comment and words of encouragement as the Town moves forward. Mr. Bryant stated the Town obviously has some challenges ahead of it over the next few months as it works through its leadership changes and it will be very challenging and he asks that everyone be tolerant of each other as the Town works through the challenges and moving forward, asked Town Council to move forward with a process and sense of transparency, and a sense of what the town needs that can move the Town forward together, and asked the Town Council to please be transparent with the process and selection of a Mayor, and that there may be people in the audience and in the community who might like to step up and be part of the team to help take Buchanan forward another step. Cleatus Newcomb, town resident, asked Mr. Bryant if he was putting his name in the hat. Mr. Bryant responded that yes, for the record, he is interested in the role of Mayor for the town of Buchanan and he would be glad to speak with anyone who would like to ask questions about his credentials. Vice-Mayor Manspile stated that the Town Council has 60 days to pick a replacement for Mayor, and the Councilmembers have discussed things and intend to have the process done by the January meeting, but in the absence of having a Town Attorney, calls have been made and there is only one other locality, Troutville, that has dealt with similar circumstances and the Town Council does not want to take any chances and want to do things right, and are open to their options. Vice-Mayor Manspile thanked people for calling and lending support, but he did not run for Town Council to move into the Mayor position and never expected to be Vice-Mayor, and was taking his name out of the hat because there are too many things that whoever the Mayor is has to handle, and the Council has talked and they want the Committees to work and he would have his hands full with Public Works and water and sewer in the Town and there is no way he could do the Town justice as Mayor, and he has never been one to be handed things in life and he does not want to be handed the Mayor position without being elected by the general public and he has no intention of running and would like to stay right where he is at, and the Town Council needs to find out the process and open it up. Vice-Mayor Manspile continued that the Town Council is supposed to pick a Mayor within 60 days, and that is a daunting task for 4 people when in November the whole town picks the Mayor and Town Council, and the plan is that the Council will have meetings worked around the Holidays, and what Mr. Bryant stated regarding transparency, there will be transparency and the Town will know everything the Town Council is doing, but they are waiting on legal guidance. Cleatus Newcomb, 159 Pattonsburg Lane, asked if he could finish his question and statement, and stated that he had a petition that had been going around that and they had collected close to 150 signatures for a person to be considered for Town Council that he had been prepared to submit, but if he was understanding that the Town Council will be choosing a Mayor outside of the Town Council, and asked for confirmation that the Council seat would not be vacant, to which the Town Council confirmed that there would not be a vacant seat. Mr. Newcomb then stated that if that was the case, they would not submit it.

Ruth Dudley, 404 Bridge Street N, told Vice-Mayor Manspile that she ran into a couple that used to live in Buchanan and due to what was printed in the paper and things that the ex-mayor stated, they are blaming him for everything, and it made her mad and she stood and talked to both of them for a long time because the way the ex-mayor had stated things was that Vice-Mayor Manspile was pushing out the Mayor in order to take his job, that she knew he wasn’t and everyone that knew him knew that was not the case. Vice-Mayor Manspile responded by saying he was not going to sit there, and the one thing he will not do to her or any citizen in town is lie to them, that they would get the truth and it might not be what they liked, but he shoots straight and tells them the truth and there has been a lot of blame going around. Vice-Mayor Manspile continued that there had been a lot of things going around in town, and he did not want to put Mary through it, everyone could talk what they want to but if they did not get it from the horse’s mouth then it’s in their imagination what they’re dreaming ups been said, and the 4 members of Council did not give Ms. Zirkle an ultimatum to move to town, did not tell her she had to live in Buchanan 365 days a year, and most certainly did not tell her she had to choose between her farm in Bedford and husband and be in Buchanan, and he challenged anyone who had been running their mouth about it to find it in the public record because last month there was an executive meeting and they called Ms. Zirkle to the meeting and they all had a good conversation and she thanked them, and she can divulge what was said if she wants to, but it was made clear that was not what the Town Council intended.Vice-Mayor Manspile asked if there were any more Citizen Comments or petitions. With no further comments, Vice-Mayor Manspile moved forward with the remaining items on the agenda.

The next item of business on the agenda was to hear new business, beginning with consideration of the 2018 Town Council Meeting calendar. Vice-Mayor Manspile stated that the calendar will be the same as always, the 2nd Monday of each month with the exception of Tuesday, October 9th due to Columbus Day on that Monday and Tuesday, November 13 for Veterans Day that is on a Monday. A motion to approve the 2018 Town Council Meeting calendar was made by Councilwoman Della Hylton. The motion was seconded by Councilman Mike Burton. Vice-Mayor Manspile asked for discussion. With no further discussion, and with a vote of 4-0, the motion to approve the 2018 Town Council Meeting calendar was accepted.

The next item of business was consideration of Inclement Weather Policy for continuation of Council meetings. Vice-Mayor Manspile read the proposed resolution that stated due to §15.2-1416 of the Code of Virginia grants the Town Council of Buchanan the authority at its annual meeting to fix the day or days to which a regular meeting shall be continued and if the mayor, or vice-mayor if the mayor is unable to act, finds and declares that weather or other conditions are such that it is hazardous for members to attend the regular meeting, the regular meeting shall be continued until the immediately following Monday, with the exception of holidays, then the meeting shall be continued until the Tuesday immediately following the holiday. A motion to accept the Inclement Weather Policy for continuation of Council meetings was made by Councilman Mike Burton. The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Della Hylton. Vice-Mayor Manspile asked for discussion. With no further discussion and a vote of 4-0, the motion to approve the Inclement Weather policy was approved.

The next item was the discussion of the process for Selection of Town Manager. Vice-Mayor Manspile explained that it was a daunting task ahead of the Town Council, and the ad is already out for Legal Services, and it has been circulated through town that the recent events are the reason for Mr. Obenshain leaving, which is false, because Mr. Obenshain notified the Town the first week of January 2017 and after bringing Councilman Burton and Vice-Mayor Manspile up to speed with what the 2016 Town Council had been handling, he stated that the Town would need to find new Counsel by the end of 2017 because he was hanging up his legal hat, that is the reason it is in the process, and it has been advertised for two Sundays in the paper and the Town should have selected a new attorney by the January meeting. The Town also wants to sit and review the job description for the Town Manager and will be worked on with the Town Council in some work sessions, and then the Town Council will have to set a selection committee and advertise for applicants and go about the process. The action that was taken on Friday by Town Council placed Vice-Mayor Manspile and Councilwoman Della Hylton were placed in charge of beginning discussions for finding an Interim Town Manager. Vice-Mayor Manspile stated the this process does not have a time limit, but will have to be done until a permanent Town Manager has been seated, that the Town has a time limit to seat a Mayor in 60 days, but that is not the case with Town Manager and it will be a process of talking with people, holding another executive discussion for pay and benefits, and right now the Town Council is searching for the Interim Town Manager.

The next item discussed was not on the agenda and Councilwoman Jane Kneisley led the discussion regarding the issue of adding or authorizing people on the signature card at the bank to allow checks to be signed. The Town Code of Buchanan §2-48, grants the Mayor, Vice-Mayor, Treasurer and Town Clerk authorization to sign checks and each check requires two signatures. In the absence of the Mayor it was discovered that the Vice-Mayor needs to be added to the bank signature card, and the bank requires meeting minutes with an accepted motion in order to change or add signatures. Vice-Mayor Manspile stated that he never added himself since the Town Manager was designated, but with the Mayor’s resignation and the Town Manager leaving, essentially, if this is not passed the Town would shut down on December 31, and would not be able to issue any checks after the first of the year since each check requires two signatures and he needs someone to make a motion to add the Vice-Mayor and the new Town Clerk, Christy Hensley to the signature cards at the bank pursuant to Town Code of Buchanan §2-48. A motion was made by Councilman Mike Burton to add the Vice-Mayor and Town Clerk to the signature cards at the bank. The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Della Hylton. Vice-Mayor Manspile asked for discussion. Councilman Mike Burton asked if this would have to be changed once a Mayor was selected, to which Vice-Mayor Manspile stated that the Mayor would just need to be added. With no further discussion, and a vote of 4-0, the motion to add Vice-Mayor Manspile and Town Clerk Christy Hensley to the signature card at the back was accepted.

The next item of business was to hear Committee reports. For the Public Works Committee Vice-Mayor James Manspile stated that there have been no changes, as far as the Public Works Committee, and there has been a lot of water work down in the town, a monstrous amount and there was still work needed but that the water was not the biggest elephant in the room, the biggest elephant in the room is the sewer system and until the problem arises no one realizes there is a problem, but there are people in town who won’t know if the next time they go to the bathroom if the toilet will flush and that is the type of problems the Town has and it will be a daunting task working out the sewer problems and nothing is cheap, it will have to be money spent because there are not any short term fixes and it will be fixes that if done correctly it will not have to be done again in any of the citizens lifetimes, but there will be construction of new sewer because some of this has been patched and there is no more patching and now the Town will be switching gears and moving from the water to the sewer, there will be more major projects. Vice-Mayor Manspile continued saying as far as other things in public works, the North side of the river was patched with asphalt and there will be some manhole risers to purchase and risers to put in ahead of the North side of the river being paved, and according to VDOT that should be in March or April and if the Town can work through any sewer issues Main Street is supposed to be paved and VDOT has asked if there are any known issues to get them resolved now ahead of the project, and that is just a few expenses in 2018 for Public Works. Next, for the Safety Committee Councilwoman Jane Kneisley stated that she walks every evening and has seen and heard a number of concerns because Main Street has turned into a drag strip and it has become a real safety hazard and asked Town Manager Mary Zirkle if the flashing signs have been ordered, to which Ms. Zirkle responded that the signs were ordered November 30. Councilman Mike Burton suggested speaking to the Sherriff’s department to see if deputies could be in place specific times in the evening to ticket speeders, and Councilwoman Kneisley stated that Buchanan has had really good coverage during the day that has cut down the instances during daytime area.