Stokesdale Town Council meeting

June 9 / MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

as reported by PATTI STOKES

Mayor Mike Crawford called the monthly meeting to order with Mayor Pro Tem Derek Foy and council members Jim Rigsbee, Tim Jones and Jimmy Landreth present. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, Councilman Rigsbee gave an opening prayer.

The meeting agenda was unanimously adopted.  4  1 (Jones opposed) to approve the Aug. 12, 2021 meeting minutes. Before casting his vote, Jones said he objected to being forced to vote on approving minutes from a meeting in which he wasn’t serving as a town council member (Jones was sworn into office in December 2021).

PUBLIC SAFETY

Stokesdale Fire District Chief Todd Gauldin reported the department responded to 93 calls in May; of those, 11 were fire-related calls, 44 were medical related and 38 were “other” (miscellaneous).

Safety message: Gauldin encouraged citizens to always remember to put a smoke alarm on every level of the house, inside and outside of any room that is a sleeping area, and to periodically test the alarms to ensure they are working and change the batteries at least once a year. He note that smoke detectors are available for those who are hearing impaired.

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NEW SYSTEM INSTALLATION • SERVICE • REPAIR

Ask about special fi nancing

Subject to credit approval, see store for details

Town clerk Dale Martin said water bills would go out the week of June 13.

Martin said the town has received 120+ resumes for the deputy clerk position; a notebook in Town Hall has been updated with the revised water system specifications approved at last month’s meeting. Also per council’s approval last month, a performance bond was released for the Coldwater Terrace subdivision.

Staff recently worked on extending the approval period for running water lines to Phases 3, 4 and 5 of Northwest Meadows and an application to extend water lines to the North Ridge subdivision, Phase 6, has been submitted to the state.

The Clean Water Needs survey, required by DEQ, has been submitted to the state and the Consumer Confidence Report on the water system is posted on the town’s website, Martin reported.

FINANCIALS

Town Finance Officer Kim Thacker provided balances in the General Fund account. Foy asked about the .5% interest rate for the funds in the Bank of Oak Ridge checking account, which is more than the rate the town is getting on its CDARS.

“I’m surprised that a checking account is returning more than a CDARS account,” Foy said, and Thacker agreed to research this as well as confirm the maturity dates for the town’s CDARS.

CITIZEN COMMENTS

 On behalf of Friends of Stokesdale, Eileen Thiery requested Fire Chief Gauldin correct the statement he made at last month’s council meeting in which he indicated a representative(s) of the nonprofit attended a fire department board meeting a few years ago and presented a plan to put a town clock on the department’s front lawn “with the agreement that the nonprofit would be responsible for the electricity cost and the maintenance of the site.”

Thiery said FOS members have confirmed that no one from their group appeared before the fire department’s board, but they did accept responsibility for maintaining the area around the town clock that is on the front lawn of Stokesdale Fire Department.

“Therefore, we will be returning the check the town issued to the Friends of Stokesdale,” Theiry said, referring to the council’s vote last month to donate money to FOS in appreciation for the work they have done in beautifying the downtown area.

Thiery also said FOS would appreciate Gauldin submitting a corrected statement to the town council.

Council members discussed whether it was necessary for FOS to return the check for the donation, since it was not a payment, and Theiry said she would leave that between the council and the group’s president.  Town Clerk Dale Martin read a letter from Summerfield resident Maria Adams, a parent and self-described children’s advocate, who wrote of two Northern Guilford High School parents who challenged a book assigned by an AP English teacher because of its sexually explicit content.

Although the teacher who assigned the book, “Salvage the Bones,” gave the option for students to read a different book because of the content, parents were not informed of the explicit content, Adams wrote.

Adams said that after reading the book, a student in the AP English class told his parents he found it to be “disturbing,

pornographic and inappropriate.”

The two parents who challenged the book’s inclusion on the assigned reading list were upset the teachers had not communicated its content to parents and took their concerns to the school’s principal, who instructed them to complete a form challenging the book. Two meetings were subsequently held with the school’s advisory committee, which ultimately voted 12-1 to keep it as an option on the assigned reading list.

Adams said she supported the “two brave ladies” who challenged the book, and regretted they have since been “mislabeled and disparaged in social media and printed publications.”

She encouraged parents to take the time to know what their children are being taught in school and to take any concerns they have to the Board of Education. Those wishing to send comments of support for the two parents who challenged the book were invited to email maria@mariaadamsdesigns.com. PUBLIC HEARING

With no public comments for or against, the council passed combined General Fund and Water Enterprise Fund operating budgets totaling $2,233.581.75 ($432,000 for the General Fund and $1,801,581.75 for the Water Enterprise Fund). Once again, the town’s budget does not include a property tax. (See budgetrelated article on p. 4.) OLD BUSINESS

Drink machine in town park. Continuing discussions over three previous council meetings, Mayor Crawford said that earlier in the day he had attempted to reach a representative with Coca-Cola to discuss the removal of a Coke machine in the town park, but had not been successful.

Rigsbee then motioned to unplug the Coke machine in the town park and Jones offered an amended motion that the machine be wrapped up with a tarp and an “Out of Service” sign be placed on it.  5  0 to approve Jones’ amended motion.

NEW BUSINESS

 5  0 to approve four budget amendments in the current fiscal year’s General Fund budget and six budget amendments in the current fiscal year’s Water Enterprise Fund budget, per the finance officer’s recommendations; she noted the budget remains balanced. Audit contract. Council discussed whether the contract approved in 2020 with Rouse, Rouse, Rouse & Gardner for auditing services was for two years or three years, but was not able to confirm this during the meeting.  2  3 to continue discussion while confirming whether the contract has expired (Jones and Rigsbee in favor; the motion failed).  3  2 to adopt the contract with the Rouse firm for the upcoming annual audit (Landreth and Jones opposed). Preparing draft minutes. Council has received two proposals from applicants interested in preparing draft minutes of past town council meetings. The proposals were sought by Jones, who noted both applicants have agreed to work for the town as independent contractors.

Particularly in light of the recent departure of deputy town clerk Robin Yount, council members agreed it is critical to get help preparing the minutes from past meetings so the town doesn’t fall farther behind.

Rigsbee suggested contracting with one of the applicants, who is the son of Valerie Halvorsen, a former Summerfield town clerk, to do one set of minutes, and then extend the contract after a review of those

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