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Hertford council orders past-due business license invoices, hires maintenance worker and OKs two utility grant filings
Summary
At a March 28 work session, the Town of Hertford council agreed to send past-due business privilege license invoices, hire an additional street maintenance worker to take over cemetery mowing, and authorize two DEQ Viable Utility Grant applications prepared by Withers Ravenel at $3,750 each. Several votes were unanimous on procedural items.
Mayor Earnell Brown presided over the Town of Hertford work session on March 28, where councilors moved to address a series of budget and operations items ahead of the new fiscal year.
Council discussed low business privilege license collections after the Police Department was disbanded, noting only $250 had been collected representing ten businesses. Councilman Jerry Mimlitsch moved and Councilwoman Connie Brothers seconded a motion to send past-due invoices to businesses and place the matter on the consent agenda for the April 11 regular meeting so firms will receive bills for FY 2021–22 past due amounts and the FY 2022–23 charge due July 1. The council approved the motion by voice vote.
Interim Town Manager Janice McKenzie Cole told the council that several service contracts expire June 30, 2022, including the auditor's contract and the cemetery-mowing contract. Cole said the auditor advised the town it cannot enter a new contract until the current audit is completed and estimated a new contract would cost about $1,000 more than the existing agreement. Cole recommended hiring an additional street maintenance worker and bringing cemetery mowing in-house. Councilman Mimlitsch moved and Councilwoman Sandra Anderson seconded the hire; the council approved the motion by unanimous voice vote.
Cole also reported that Hertford qualifies as a "distressed" utility for the North Carolina DEQ Viable Utility Grants Program and that Withers Ravenel has SEARCH grant data ready to support at least two applications. She said Withers Ravenel charges $3,750 to prepare each application and that the grants are due May 2, 2022. Mayor Pro Tem Ashley Hodges moved and Councilman Mimlitsch seconded approval to file the DEQ grant applications prepared by Withers Ravenel at $3,750 per application, leaving it to the manager's discretion whether the fee is charged to enterprise funds or another source; the motion passed by voice vote.
Council members also discussed the auditor contract timing and the cemetery-mowing alternative as part of the personnel motion. The council took no final action at the meeting on the auditor contract itself beyond noting the timing constraint described by the auditor.
The meeting record shows procedural motions (including approval of the meeting agenda) passed by unanimous voice vote; when the council later voted to rename a small park area as described in a separate item, the minutes record that Mayor Pro Tem Hodges abstained because he objected to the matter being handled at a work session.
