During a work session held Tuesday, Mayor Rockey Burgess updated councilmembers on a variety of items including property purchases, restroom upkeep and renovations, work at Brookdale Park, trail expansion, problems at Veterans Park and garbage trucks. A large part of discussion was about whether the town or a resident is responsible for sewer problems.
Mayor Burgess said purchase of a Scott Street property, which failed to get approval by a 2-2 vote during a recent special called meeting, could possibly be brought back up for another vote at the next meeting of Council on April 7.
The purchase was put on hold with a tie vote at a special called meeting held Mar. 18. Mayor Burgess and Councilman Chris Alexander were in favor. Councilman David Rogers and Councilman Tony Hagood were opposed. Councilman Lee Cole was not able to attend the meeting, but told The Journal that he intended to vote in favor of the property purchase.
Acccording to Mayor Burgess, the small lot once had a trailer on it and if purchased by the Town, would be combined with the adjacent lot the town already owns. A donated house would be moved from the present location at the corner of Rogers Street and Mauldin Street to Scott Street and placed in the center of the combined lots.
There was some discussion about the purchase of property owned by Trinity Church that the Town is considering. Burgess said that two realtors he spoke with told him the asking price of $275,000 is on the high side if the property had street frontage. It does have access to Anderson Drive and the church offered to sell additional property to allow access to Belton Highway, but most of the property is located behind the church. There was some discussion about use of the property if the Town did purchase it and the need for a survey.
There was brief discussion about an across the board raise for town employees.
Burgess said the Town is looking at better daily maintenance and possible renovations to the main restroom facility in Mineral Spring Park.
Burgess said he had talked with a builder about expanding the facility by adding a storage room for supplies on the back and other renovations including adding a mini split HVAC system and expansion of facilities for mens and womens restrooms. “He said it would be cheaper to tear down and build all new,” the Mayor said.
Burgess said he will ask Council to consider tearing down the structure or renovating it and would recommend budgeting up to $200,000 for the project. Funding would come from the Hospitality Tax fund.
Burgess said planned work at Brookdale Park is to replace the old tennis court area with a football field which could be used by the Town of Little League football. There was mention of closing Crescent Drive and filling in a ditch to allow for more parking.
Burgess said the Town recently had bid openings for the Mineral Spring Trail expansion into the Veterans Park and that the project will be under budget.
According to Burgess, to get the trail off the creek and not in a wetland, an easement on private property would be required. He added that the ARC grant will not allow the trail to be on private property. “It doesn’t go as far as I wanted,” Burgess said. He suggested adding exercise equipment along the trail if there are enough funds available.
There was also discussion about the bridge across Big Creek going into the Veterans Park, which need major repair. The bridge was compromised during Hurricane Helene and “is not safe”, according to the mayor.
Two new subdivisions being constructed on Mahaffey Road and Brock Lane are proceeding, Burgess said.
The Town currently has two recently purchased used trash trucks and a third one which will be used as a backup. Burgess said the Town will sell two older and smaller trash trucks and could receive $20,000 to $30,000 for them.
There was considerable discussion about water and sewer lines and whether the Town or a resident is responsible for problems. Mayor Burgess said he had established an administrative policy in December to clarify who is responsible when a problem occurs.
The Town has guidelines for town employee response but there is no infomation for customers and what they have is vague with gray areas, the mayor said.
Examples included multiple houses on one sewer line, tap connections that are across the road from a residence and who is responsible if the roadway needs to be dug up to fix a problem. Burgess said he would like for Council to codify the sewer policy so that the Town is consistent and fair in dealing with residents to fix a problem.
He also suggested a fee structure for services provided, specifically for multiple calls for the same problem.
Approximately seventy percent of the Towns lines are located in the middle of the street and most problems are on the customers side.
Some of these issues are expected to be addressed at the April 7 Council meeting which will be held at 6 pm.
