Village of Folsom
Mayor – Bettye M. Boggs
Alderwoman – Paulette Lee Andree Core - Municipal Clerk
Alderwoman - Jill Mathies Ronnie “Beau” Killingsworth -
Alderman – Lance Willie Chief of Police
Delbert G. Talley –Village Attorney
Public Hearing
7:00 p.m.
October 12, 2015
Mayor Boggs called the Public Hearing to order and the municipal clerk established a quorum. Mayor Boggs led the invocation and the pledge.
Item I – Ordinance No. Chapter 30-2015-1 (Annexation on Hwy. 25)
Mayor Boggs stated that the one item for Public Hearing tonight was for the Ordinance No. Chapter 30-2015-1 and it is for the Annexation for the property on Hwy 25. Mayor Boggs addressed the question from the audience regarding the location of the property and that that the owners were present in the meeting tonight. Mayor asked if there was anything from the public or the board. No questions or comments were made, so Mayor stated that the Public Hearing is hereby closed.
General Meeting
October 12, 2015
(Following Public Hearing)
Approval of Agenda
(The quorum was established in the preceding Public Hearing.)
The General meeting was called to order and Mayor Boggs stated that the first thing is the approval of the agenda. Alderman Willie stated to move the introduction of Senator Candidates to be before old business. He also requested to add introduction of Ordinance of Sales Tax and to add the Northlake Homeless Coalition to new business. Mayor asked if Alderman will would like to make a motion to amend the agenda. Alderman Willie made a motion to amend the agenda to include the above stated items, it was seconded by Alderwoman Lee, and the motion carried (3 yeas, 0 nays).
Item I – Introduction of Senator Candidates
Mayor Boggs asked for Alderman Willie to take over this since he set this up. Alderman Willie stated that he has been contacted from some of our senators to be able to come and speak at our meeting. He would like introduce each of them and to give them an opportunity for them to inform us what their campaign is about and what we can expect from them if they take office. Alderman Willie stated for each candidate to stand and introduce themselves and that they each will have a five minute limit. The candidates for Senator that spoke included Mr. Mickey Murphy, Mrs. Beth Mizell, and Mr. Brett Duncan. The candidates each spoke informing their campaign
Approval of Financial Statement
The approval of the September financial statements was presented to the board. Alderwoman Lee stated that she did have some questions and she would like some consultation at a later date and if the issues still remain she would like to present them next month. Mayor Boggs stated that there were some figures out of the ordinary and that she will get with our CPA for better clarification.
Mayor Boggs asked for motion to approve financial statements. There was a motion from Alderman Willie to approve the September financial statements, seconded by Alderwoman Mathies, and the motion carried (3 yeas, 0 nays).
Old Business:
Item I – Ordinance No. Chapter 30-2015-1 (Annexation on Hwy. 25)
Mayor Boggs stated that this is the Ordinance we just presented at the public hearing. Mayor Boggs read the Ordinance No. Chapter 30-2015-1: Enlarging the boundaries of the Village of Folsom, Louisiana describing the area to be added there to and the new boundaries of said municipality. Mayor asked for any discussion from the board. Alderman Willie stated he was just happy that Doc is finally apart of the town. Mayor Boggs asked for any discussion from the audience. No discussion. There was motion to approve the Ordinance by Alderman Willie, seconded by Alderwoman Mathies, and the motion carried (3 yea, 0 nays).
Item III – Contract for Mowing
Mayor Boggs stated that we are looking into the possibilities of contracting our mowing. She did not proceed with more bids but if the board would like for her to then she will proceed to getting some more bids. Alderman Willie stated that he would like for her to and be able to sit down with the Mayor and Scott on this before the next meeting. He stated that he would like to create a breakdown of the man hours it would take compared to what we would pay someone to do this and then determine the possibilities of contracting it out. Mayor Boggs stated that based upon the first bid figures it would average out as a salary and that this leads us to the next item on the agenda.
Item IV – Status of Maintenance Employees
Mayor Boggs announced that the village has recently hired a new employee in the maintenance department. Mayor Boggs stated that we are now looking into instead of hiring another maintenance employee to bring the department back up to four they are considering looking into the possibility of having a mowing contract. She said to keep in mind we are looking at village equipment, gasoline, wear and tear on equipment, and for our employees to be able to do other things.
Alderman Willie stated that he recommends before hiring a new employee that he would prefer Scott to get a bigger picture first working with two workers now. He said that during the next couple of months he would like for Scott to look into how much spare time they have while the grass will require bare minimum. And then he would like to reevaluate this and what Scott at a later date. Mayor Boggs addressed the question from the audience regarding the number of contracts received and that we presented it at our last meeting. Alderman Willie stated that Wesley Burris informed him that he would like to come back and work for the village but he did not put in a bid yet. Mayor Boggs stated that anyone that we hire has to have workers comp and liability insurance. Mayor asked for further discussion from audience. No discussion.
Item V- Contracts/Agreements
Mayor Boggs asked if Alderman Willie had anything to present to us tonight. Mayor Boggs stated that Alderman Willie addressed that we did not have a written policy at our last meeting and he stated that he would like to have a written policy. Alderman Willie did not have anything to present at this time. He stated that the board is having a meeting tomorrow night with LMA on discussing policy and roles. He was going to wait until after to get a better understanding before putting policies in place. Mayor Boggs stated that hopefully after the meeting the board and her will get together and have something together to present at the next meeting.
Item VI- .5% Sales Tax for Police Department
Mayor Boggs stated that she would like to add this item to the below New Business. All agreed.
Item VII- Ordinance No. Chapter 39-2015-1 (Limiting Take Home Use of Village Vehicles)
Mayor Boggs informed the board that since this item was tabled last month due to Mr. Talley having to re-write the ordinance. Therefore I will read the Ordinance:
An ordinance providing that no vehicle owned by the Village of Folsom, Except those used by the Village of Folsom Police Department, shall be driven outside of the village except on official business, and that said vehicles shall be parked at Village Town Hall or at the Maintenance Barn at the end of the day. In effect this is the same ordinance that we discussed last month, with the stipulation and the paragraph amended that I will read now. Be it further ordained that this does not apply to vehicles by vehicles being used by employees who are designated as “on call” employees, since vehicles who are being used for official business and not for personal use.
The Mayor asked for any discussion. Alderman Willie stated to Scott Roth that we will have future employees coming on and they will be driving the vehicles and that they need to be aware of some of the ordinances regarding the cars.
The Mayor asked for a motion to introduce the ordinance. Alderman Willie made the motion to accept the ordinance. Alderman Lee seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion Carried for the introduction of this ordinance and we will place it on the public hearing next month and then have general discussion on the ordinance at that time.
Item VIII- Credit Card Policy
Mayor Boggs informed that she asked for some recommendations from the board and she did not get any recommendations. Therefore, she took it upon herself to draw up a proposed resolution for credit card policy in addition to a credit card holder agreement form that all employees would sign. Mayor asked due to not enough time for board discussion. Alderman Willie agreed that we should table this and asked if we have received the credit card. Alderwoman Mathies asked if the credit card has already been put in use and Mayor replied that we have not yet. There was a discussion with the board on what we would pay with the credit card.
Mayor stated that Alderwoman Lee has mentioned to putting a $1200.00 limit on the card. Mayor Boggs stated that on all our credit card expenses in general we are charging approximately $1560.00 a month and recommends that we have an amount that would not hamper ourselves with a limit. Mayor Boggs also informed that we were able to get a 2% cash back and this will be very advantageous financially for the village. Mayor stated the example we have a $3,000.00 upcoming bill for a new transmission on a vehicle. She said if paid for this with the card will save the village $60.00. Mayor informed the board how we can choose to redeem the money and that we can set it up different ways to credit in our account. Alderman Willie stated that he like for us to check with our auditors on accounting for this money. He said that we need to see exactly how to claim this money since it is a cashback credit on our account.
Alderwoman Mathies stated regarding to the limit that we can put rules to exceed it with proper protocol and purchase order procedures done. Mayor Boggs informed that there is a $25,000.00 limit on the card. Mayor responded to a question from the audience that the credit card will be paid off in full every month. Mayor stated that our auditors cited us for using a debit card and recommended the switch because it produces a better paper trail. Alderman Willie asked to have a system for all the board to be aware of purchases over the limit. He suggested that along with having to have a purchase order approved before for everyone on the board to be aware of what is actually being purchased.
New Business:
Item I – Utility Adjustments
The first adjustment was Bobby McIntosh who had a meter replaced and a credit of $10.61 is due. There was an error on our part, she was being charged the commercial rate instead of the residential rate. Approved by the board.
The next charge is for Debbie Kohler, she discontinued her service and when she picked up her old bill from when she lived on Village Trace. There was a late penalty of $8.26. She said that there was no one there to get the bill and therefore she is asking for a reversal of the penalty that went on the bill. The reason we are doing this is because it is something that is required by our auditors, we cannot adjust any charges without it coming before a public meeting, she said she would like the final bill sent to her new address. She said that she called to notify us to cut the bill off effective 9-2-2015. Alderman Willie asked if this was the bill due on the 10th of the month. The Mayor stated that it was due on the 10th. Mayor asked Mr. Roth, when there is a discontinuation of services from an address is there a forwarding address on the paperwork for them to send the final bill? Mr. Roth stated that he thought there was. Alderman Willie stated that we need to look at the paperwork to see if the proper paperwork was given in time. Mayor Boggs asked if there is an agreement from the board. Or how would you like Alderman Willie to deal handle this.
Alderman Willie stated that he would deal with it tonight if the board agrees, if she gave the forwarding address before the due date and we didn’t forward the address correctly then it falls on us then we pay it. But if she never gave one before the due date then it’s her problem that she didn’t pay the bill. Alderwoman Lee agreed. Alderwoman Mathies stated that she would like to look into the particulars and I will base my decision depending on forwarding address. Alderwoman Lee stated that the post office should have that forwarding address. Mayor Boggs stated that it’s a two to one vote that if there is a forwarding address it will fall on the village and if not it will fall on her.
Item II – Police Department Budget
Alderman Willie stated that he was able to get with Chief Beau and Shilo from the Police Department and I have emailed Minda a couple of times. Alderman Willie stated that the information that Shilo provided is that the police department will be down $34,500 for the 3 months. That is $11,500 each month without the sales tax. Alderman Willie stated that he would like to move the 14% tax that is going to the sewer fund right now. What would happen is that the sewer is never going to make money and the water company can cover the sewer company. He stated that he spoke to Minda and she that the sewer is never going to make money and the water will always carry the sewer with the 14% gone. This 14% will give them an extra $3,000 to go to the Police Department. This will leave $25,000 roughly that they are still in deficient, to keep our Police Department from declining, to keep it running. Alderman Willie stated that he spoke to Minda and they can, as long as we have an agreement, take the $25,000 that they would be down out of the Sales Tax Fund. The sales tax can take that $25,000 and give it back to the Police Fund. He stated that he talked to Minda about borrowing the money and asked Chief Killingsworth if they had ever borrowed money from the sales tax fund?