Christian Peterson
Riverbend News
On Tuesday, Nov. 9, the town council of White Springs held their regular town council meeting. The meeting started at 6:30 p.m. and was held at White Springs town hall located at 10363 Bridge St, White Springs. In attendance were Anita Rivers, Nicole Williams, Jacqueline Williams, Joel Foreman, Mary Berry, Vanessa George, Audre’ J. Ruise, and Cynethia Williams. The meeting began with an invocation followed by the Pledge of Allegiance. The council then quickly amended their agenda before motioning to accept it.
The board then moved to public comment, first to the stand was Bruce Mitton. Bruce had a couple questions about the logistics of the Christmas parade, but most importantly he offered to be the Santa Claus. Saying that he owns his own outfit for it and everything, the council was more than pleased and happily accepted the proposal. Next up to speak was Scott Gay who has been trying to help the council out with their planning and zoning. Gay had a couple questions about things in the budget, firstly he asked why the sewer rate was going up by 38 percent and the water only 5 percent when they are usually a multiple of each other. The council responded that while it seemed strange it was the only way to help White Springs out of their deficit. Gay then questioned why their water plant maintenance funds seemed so low. The answer from the council pleased Gay, as they said that the reason it was so low was because they have warranties on everything that would cost money. Gay then asked why there was a 200 percent increase of funds for Life and Health Insurance, and asked where the ordinance for the raise in the town council salaries was. The council responded that they did not have the ordinance with them, but would get it too Gay as soon as possible.
The conversation then moved to a power pole recently erected in White Springs, that was wrongfully approved and isn’t up to code. Gay questioned whether any action had been taken to remedy the situation. The council replied that they had not handled the situation yet, but were planning on it. Gay asked why it was approved in the first place when it is clearly not up to code. At this point the council revealed that they are missing a large amount of literature from town hall due to failures of previous councils. Gay realized he was the only one with a copy of the code book, and the council made clear that they would all appreciate a copy of it as well, which Gay quickly agreed to provide. Gay then moved to his final concern regarding the zoning map they needed to have done. Citing that it looked like the town had paid Kimly-Horne $6,000 and that should entitle them to the data they needed for the map. Foreman then made everyone aware that Kimly-Horne is actually ready to present, however due to the fact that White Springs has no planning and zoning board, there is no one to present too. The council argued with Gay for a moment saying they had tried and could not get enough people to be on the board. Gay then asked the council if they would mind him pursuing finding people to be on the board. All agreed that would help and that as soon as possible they would have a planning and zoning board up and running. Following this there was a few more public comments, all of which were quickly solved, and the council moved to approve the minutes of a previous meeting.
After this the council turned to Foreman as he explained the new rental and lease agreement he was working on. Foreman included in the agreement everything from fee waivers, to security protocols. He only needed the councils help on their pricing and fee schedule. The council agreed to help, but wanted to do it in a workshop so that they could have public input as well on the pricing, as the agreement would be a benefit for everyone in the town. Foreman agreed to do a matrix of a fee schedule for the council just to help out, and the council approved the form for the moment. The council then moved to new business where they announced “Breakfast with our Vets” a special event held at the Nature and Heritage Tourism Center to honor veterans. The event was Thursday, Nov. 11 and even included a guest speaker Dr. Lawrence Davis, a retired Lt. Colonel. The board then approved a change order and an amendment. Both in relation to a loan they had taken for sewer rehab, their contract went up $84,000 and the time on it was extended by 45 days. The council then asked for department head reports, and only the Fire department was there. They reiterated they are still working on smoke detector test and donations, but that they had been approved to clean the air ducts at the fire house. The meeting was then adjourned. The next White Springs town council meeting will be Tuesday, Dec. 14, at 6:30 p.m. The meeting will be held at White Springs town hall located at 10363 Bridge St., White Springs.