Newsletter about the City Council meeting of October 21, 2008

This newsletter is about the Hickory City Council meeting that I attended this past week. City council meetings are held on the first and third Tuesdays of each Month in the Council Chambers of the Julian Whitener building.

At the bottom right of this page under main information links is a Hickory, NC link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the bottom of the page you will see the future dates for meetings scheduled for this year.

At the top of the page, if you click on the “Documents” link, you will find historic Agenda and Minutes links. Agendas show what is on the docket for the meeting of that date. The Minutes is an actual summary of the proceedings of the meeting of that date.

Here is a summary of the agenda of the 10/21/2008 meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below.

The Invocation was made by Rev. Deborah McEachran, Associate Pastor of First Presbyterian Church.

Special Presentations were made by Tracy Nester, Vice President of the Hickory Downtown Development. She reported that although she didn’t have all the facts on economic impact that this years Octoberfest was better than ever. She thanked Councilman Seavers for his contribution and direction toward the Castle of Cans.

The next presentation was the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the year ended 6/30/2008. Deanna Rios, Hickory’s finance director, and John Rosenthal, the auditor from Dixon-Hughes, made presentations.. Mr. Rosenthal said that the audtor’s gave a clean opinion of the books. There was one problem with certain grants, dealing with the Davis-Bacon Act, but he reported it to be a technical compliance error and the city has since corrected the issue. He complemented the finance department saying that they found no errors in the report.

Ms. Rios stated reported on statements of assets and Business activities of the city (such as sanitation). Net assets were reported at $190 million. Fund Balance was over 10.5 million. City has more net assets. Fund balance is in line with last year’s numbers considering the Clement Boulevard project and increased fuel expenses.

Council Reaffirmed and Ratified Second Readings of the last meeting

The City Confirmed Several Projects including the Voluntary Annexation of the Property of Lewis Ray Wagner Heirs, Approved Rental Agreement with Avis Rent-A-Car at the Hickory Regional Airport. Renewed Contracts with JM Aircraft Sales, Corporate Aircraft and Pilot Services, and CAPS for Office Space at the Hickory Regional Airport.

Approved a Contract For Modification of Waterlines regarding the Clement Boulevard Road Project in the Amount of $135,400.00. Approved the use of Union Square for the Girls on the Run 5K Event on December 6, 2008


The Budget was Amended to the tune of $176,577 for tables needed at the airport, Police Department OT pay, Glenn Hilton Park recreational equipment, The new stoplight at L-R, and waterline project at Clement boulevard.

Informational Items: City Manager Berry’s Travel to Richmond, VA on September 19 – 23, 2008 to attend the ICMA 94th Annual Conference cost $1981.18

Councilor Hoyle’s Travel to Charlotte, NC from October 11 – 14, 2008 to attend the NCLM 2008 Centennial Conference cost $1159.45


New Business:
1) Presentation of the “Redevelopment Plan of 8th Avenue Drive, SW” by Todd Hefner: The city is selling a portion of the land that it owns in the Ridgeview area in conjunction with property it is buying to develop affordable housing. Habitat has already developed 15 houses in the area and wants to purchase 12 lots from the city to build more.

The Hounds View: I am glad that we are fixing blighted areas. I would tweak this idea by challenging the Ridgeview community developers to look towards building some modern structures that focus on building up, instead of out.

I know people have bad thoughts about such projects, but if we encourage these residents to police their own community and show zero tolerance toward illegal activity, then these multi-family residences could be a powerful tool in dealing with those that need affordable housing.

Done right, these units would be much more secure than single unit houses that are in close proximity to one another. No one can argue that Habitat is an integral part to any redevelopment of affordable housing, but the community needs to think about what will be good for the future. The best way to get to that future is to start developing those plans now. Redeveloped Ridgeview property would be a valuable asset for the African-American community. By not allowing sprawl, more land can be used for future commercial endeavors. Commercial property would create value for this community.

2) Resolution and Order Closing a Portion of 2nd Ave Court, SW as Requested by Dennis and Merlin Detweiler – This issue has been delayed until the next meeting, because of unresolved issues on the part of the Detweilers.

3) Petition to Rezone Property of Charles and Loretta Ivey Located at 815 2nd Street, NE From R-5 Residential to O&I-1: This issue was unanimously approved with the exception that a 14 foot strip of property that leads to 8th Ave NW won’t be rezoned.

4) Petition to Rezone Property of Grady and Gayle O’Neal Located in the 500 Block of 10th Street Boulevard, NW From C-5 Commercial to R-6 Residential. Mrs. Fox had issues with the changing of the zoning of this property. She said that it was becoming a hodgepodge area that has an issue with transients. She believes that plans for the area need to point people in the rights direction as far as development goes. The council approved this property with Mrs. Fox being the lone dissenting voice.

5) Voluntary Annexation of the Property of Mountain View Baptist Church Located at 4266 River Road: The church wants to expand and can’t do so without new plumbing and utilities. An agreement stated that the city would have to annex the property before it could be hooked up to city services. Mrs. Fox questioned whether the police could properly service this property. The council unanimously approved this annexation.

6) Voluntary Annexation of the Property of Pruitt and Huntley, LLC Located at 2950 Sandy Ford Road: The council unanimously approved this annexation without reservation


Departmental Reports:
Appeal of Public Nuisance Decision Regarding Jeanette Wester Located at 1217 10th Street, NE On August 19, 2008 the Hickory Police Department Code Enforcement Unit received a complaint from Chief Adkins regarding a junked/nuisance motor vehicle located at 1217 10th Street NE. Code Enforcement responded to the complaint and identified a white pickup in front of 1217 10th Street, NE, which was found to be in violation of Hickory City Code Chapter 18, Article 6. After notification of the property owners, it was discovered that the owner of the vehicle, Jeanette Wester, is a tenant at the residence. Once a nuisance has been investigated and determined a nuisance, the owner of the property is given ten days to correct the nuisance. If nothing is done after ten days, a sticker is placed on the vehicle giving the owner seven additional days to correct the nuisance before the vehicle is towed. In this particular case, the property owner was initially contacted on August 22, 2008, which has well exceeded the seventeen days allotted to correct a nuisance. Ms. Wester contacted the Code Enforcement Unit and requested additional time to remove the vehicle, which was agreed upon by Sergeant Baer. Ms. Wester filed an appeal with the City Attorney approximately two days later. Ms. Wester’s appeal will be heard as a quasi judicial matter and will follow the appeal hearing procedures.October 21, 2008.

Ms. Wester did not attend the meeting citing illness by written letter. She wanted the hearing postponed to November 18. Mayor Wright was in favor of moving this meeting to November 4th. Councilman Lail asked John Crone what standard procedures were in most judicial proceedings and Atty Crone stated that varies greatly. Sally Fox, Jill Patton, and Bruce Meisner stated that the lady has had enough time to remedy the situation. The council voted 4-3 to allow the hearing to move forward. The dissenters were Mayor Wright, Danny Seaver, and Z. Anne Hoyle.

Officer Reed Baer presented the above details and said that this issue was brought forward by the Highland Development Association. He did not speak to the state of the lady's mental or physical condition and he did not speak to any attempted private remedies proposed by the Highland Development Association. From what he said it sounded like the police department did everything that they could to work with this lady following proper public procedures.

The Council voted 6 to 1 to site the property as a Nuisance and to allow the truck to be towed off. Ms. Z. Anne Hoyle was the lone dissenting voice. Even Mayor Wright and Councilman Seaver agreed that it was a nuiscance, but they stated that they would have rather waited to November 4th to give the lady an opportunity to show up for the hearing.

The Hounds Take: I detest nuisance laws. Many times they are administered arbitrarily and that lends itself to abuse. I grant you this lady’s truck can be construed as being unsightly (and therefore can be defined as a nuisance).

We all have aspects to some form of property that we own that someone else could define as a nuisance. I have an apple tree on my property that is diseased. It still produces apples, but it isn’t pretty any more. I also have a dead tree on my property that a neighbor could consider a nuisance. What is a nuisance? One man’s nuisance might be what another man considers valuable property.

I know that we don’t have all the facts to this issue, because the lady wasn’t present at this Council meeting. I have known other people that have been under similar circumstances. We didn’t get a chance to observe this lady and whether this might be a mental or physical health issue. Sergeant Baer never addressed this issue and no legal authority present ever addressed whether he could address the health issue.

I wish someone could tell me whether the Highland Neighborhood Association ever approached this lady? Did anyone offer to help her move that truck to her backyard? What were the issues with her landlord? Were they against her moving this truck to her backyard? If the lady, under those circumstances, was not accommodative to the city’s needs, then I could understand the city having the truck towed away.

If that was not the case and this is just a matter of following some sort of mandated city guidelines, then I feel that this is a shame – and I am not trying to be a second guesser. My Church had a group called Genesis Now. We went and volunteered to help indigent individuals clean up their houses, paint, or basically do anything we could to help them out and it cost us little other than time.

I think our city government should encourage such groups when it comes to issues of reclusive indigents pertaining to these nuisance statutes. I fully understand the notion of the greater good, but what has happened to individual rights? Individual rights are defined in the U.S. Constitution pertaining to our dealings with government.

We can hide behind issues of liability and lawsuits (although the city apparently has no problem entering into a lot of legal issues about other subjects) all day long, but don’t these Police Officers (and the city) deal with issues of liability the second that they step onto the property involved?

I believe this particular issue can still be dealt with a better way. I think that someone should ask the lady if she would mind if this truck were pushed to the backyard. If she agrees, then (even with a flat tire) someone could put the truck in neutral and push it to the backyard. If she doesn’t agree then by all means tow it off. I am sure we could find volunteers willing to help this lady move the truck.

There has to be room for compassion in these circumstances. We have frail people living in our community and situations like this are going to become commonplace as the population grows older. Everything shouldn’t be pigeon holed into the template that fits the community’s idea of what is or isn’t the norm.