The Collinwood City Commission met in regular session on Monday, February 12, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. in the conference/courtroom of Collinwood City Hall.
The meeting was called to order by Mayor Glenn Brown. All commissioners were in attendance, including Mayor Brown, Vice Mayor Jeremiah Stults, Commissioner Kim McFall, and Commissioner Shaundale Hanback. City Manager Gary Victory and City Recorder Dana Simmons were in attendance as well.
The invocation was offered by Vice Mayor Stults, and the Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all.
Commissioner Pigg made a motion to approve the agenda for the meeting, and Vice Mayor Stults seconded. The agenda was unanimously approved.
Vice Mayor Stults made a motion to approve the minutes of the previous meeting on January 8, 2024. Commissioner Hanback seconded, and the minutes were approved.
Department reports were first on the agenda and were distributed to the commissioners for their review. Vice Mayor Stults inquired about the new police officers, and City Recorder Simmons confirmed that the new part-time officers are Mai Kinney and Matt Boutwell.
Regarding the utility department, the commission discussed the many water leaks in the 6” lines that had taken place during the recent freezing temperatures. Vice Mayor Stults and the other commissioners expressed their appreciation to the Utility Department employees as well as City Manager Victory for their hard work on the water lines during the bad weather.
City Manager Victory introduced the new Public Works Director, Andrew Smith.
Next on the agenda was the new proposed access road to the Collinwood schools. Mayor Brown said that this will be a project handled by the county and the state if and when it becomes reality and is still in the very early stages. The county reached out to the City of Collinwood for their input on the best location for a new access road, and the city recommended access from 2nd Avenue as the first choice, and access from Dog Street as the second option. Mayor Brown confirmed that this project will most likely be years in the future for completion and will hopefully be funded by grant funds.
A city employee vacation time resolution was next on the agenda. The resolution will leave the current full-time employee rates for vacation time the same for employees with 6-10 years of employment at 120 hours, and 11 years and up, 160 hours. The resolution increases vacation time for employees with 1-5 years of employment to 80 hours. Commissioner Pigg made a motion to approve the resolution, and Vice Mayor Stults seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously on roll call vote.
Next on the agenda was a new scoreboard at Field #4 at the Dixie Youth Park. Mayor Brown said that the installation of a new scoreboard would not be a problem for the city as long as Dixie Youth pays for it. It was confirmed that increased usage of Field #4 would not interfere with the tractor pull setup.
A Christian music concert at Pat Brewer Stadium scheduled to take place in June of this year was discussed next. City Manager Victory said that he had been talking with organizers of the event, and they said that they expect up to 10,000 people to attend. It was agreed that the city commission will have to meet soon with the organizers of the event to discuss details such as parking availability and security officers.
Next on the agenda was the annual “Music in the Park” series that normally runs monthly during the summer. The commissioners agreed that the concerts have not been successful for the past two years, with low attendance and seemingly not much interest from the public. This was tabled until next month for further discussion and a decision on whether to continue.
Spring clean-up dates were next on the agenda, and the City Manager said that he and City Recorder Simmons would set the dates the following day.
Next was a discussion of water leak insurance for city water customers. City Manager Victory presented the details of the insurance that will soon be offered to customers. The pricing is based on leaks over the last three years, and there will be a limit of two claims per year. Customers may opt out of the insurance if they wish. Information will be mailed out to all customers from the insurance company providing the coverage. Those who do not opt out of the program will see a charge of $2.85 added to their April utility bill, which will be the rate for the coverage that begins in May. This will be for $3,000 coverage for water leaks. Commercial businesses will pay $4.70 per month. Vice Mayor Stults made a motion to approve the water leak insurance, and Commissioner Pigg seconded. The motion carried unanimously on roll call vote.
Next was a discussion about possible entry access locations for the new Prime Physical Therapy building that is being built on Broadway Street next to the Welcome Center. City Manager Victory said that the owner of Prime Physical Therapy will be consulting further with the city for the best location for patient and employee entrances.
Mayor Brown next gave the monthly report for the Wayne County Welcome Center. The Welcome Center was closed for about a week in the month of January due to the snow and bad weather, and January is normally a slow month anyway. The month of January 2024 saw a total of 223 visitors to the Welcome Center from 12 states and Canada. Volunteer of the Month was Steven Wright.
Under other items on the agenda, Commissioner Hanback asked if any decisions had been made about the Collinwood City Pool. City Manager Victory said that none had yet been made, but discussion and final plans about the pool would need to take place very soon. The commissioners agreed that the pool had essentially become a “money pit” over the last few years, and that is not expected to improve. Some discussion took place about converting the pool to a splash pad, but Victory confirmed that a splash pad would be very costly even if supplemented by a grant. It was stated that even if the pool were to close, the restrooms would need to remain open and operable for visitors at the RV park. Although all commissioners agreed that they hated to have to do away with the pool, the city simply cannot continue to operate it due to the cost. No formal decision was made about the pool at this meeting.
City Manager Victory said that he had been contacted by a citizen about the difference between the utility bill at Collinwood Elementary School vs. the bill at Waynesboro Elementary School. The utility bill at CES is always higher than WES, sometimes even double. City Recorder Simmons explained that the rates are very different in that the price per thousand gallons of water used over 100,000 gallons is a flat rate in Collinwood, where Waynesboro has a tiered rate system. The price per thousand gallons used in Waynesboro is tiered so that more gallons used beyond a certain amount are billed at a lower rate, whereas Collinwood does not have a tiered system like that. City Manager Victory went on to explain that the schools are the highest users of water in Collinwood.
Lastly, City Manager Victory said that he had received a complaint about the roof leaking at the Collinwood Library. He said that the roof only seems to leak when it is raining very hard and the wind is blowing. He went on to say that the leak is going to be fairly hard to find, but the utility department will try to identify it and work on it as soon as possible.
With no further business to come before the commission, Vice Mayor Stults made a motion to adjourn. Commissioner Pigg seconded, and the meeting was adjourned.
