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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of June 21, 2011

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 right of this page under Main Information links is an Hickory's City Website link. If you click on that link, it takes you to our city’s website, at the left of the page you will see the Agenda's and Minutes link you need to click. This will give you a choice of PDF files to upcoming and previous meetings.

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 6/21/2011 meeting. There were a couple of important items that were discussed at this meeting and the details are listed further below:

Please remember that pressing Ctrl and + will magnify the text and page and pressing Ctrl and - will make the text and page smaller. This will help the readability for those with smaller screens and/or eye difficulties.

Invocation by Rev. Bud Zehmer, Pastor, Church of the Master

Consent Agenda:
A. Approve Acceptance of North Carolina Health and Human Services 2011 Get Alarmed NC Fire and Life Safety Non-Matching Grant to Provide 800 Smoke Detectors, 600 Carbon Monoxide Detectors, and Funding for a Part-Time Position to Manage the Program in the Amount of $13,950 from October 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012 - For several years, Hickory Fire Department has been offering smoke detectors and carbon monoxide detectors to target groups throughout the jurisdiction by utilizing matching and non-matching grants from federal and state funded programs. Due to the ongoing program and the high level of distribution in years past, the Fire Department requests approval to accept this non-matching grant which offers 800 smoke detectors, 600 carbon monoxide detectors and funds to staff a part-time position to manage the program from 10-1-11 to 6-30-12. This grant requires no matching funds, and


B. Citizens’ Advisory Committee Recommendations for Assistance Through the City of Hickory’s Housing Programs - The following applicants are being recommended for approval for assistance under the
City’s Housing Rehabilitation Program:
Gayle Bumgarner - Amount not to exceed $10,000 3364 Treadwell Lane, Newton (Blue Sky Court Neighborhood)
Detrol Ellison - Amount not to exceed $6,500 447 1st Street SW
Shaimaica Ferguson - Amount not to exceed $7,500 3368 Treadwell Lane, Newton (Blue Sky Court Neighborhood)
Brian Maddalon - Amount not to exceed $6,500 1031 14th Avenue NW
Louise Adams - Amount not to exceed $2,500 1330 5th Street NE
Dorothy Connor - Amount not to exceed $10,000 590 30th Avenue Circle NE
Harlan Crutchfield - Amount not to exceed $10,000 823 2nd Street SW
Felicia Sherrill - Amount not to exceed $10,000 610 5th Avenue SW
Funds are budgeted for these items through the City of Hickory’s former Rental Rehabilitation Program income received in FY 2009 and/or program income received through the City of Hickory’s Community Development Block Grant Program. The following applicants are being recommended for approval for assistance under the City of Hickory’s 2010 Urgent Repair Program for amounts not to exceed $5,000:
Edward Cunningham  - 61 5th Street SE, Hickory
Geneva Heavner - 1424 17th Avenue NE, Hickory
The Citizens’ Advisory Committee recommends approval of the above applicants.


C. Renewal of Taxicab and Other Passenger Vehicles For Hire Franchises
Company Taxicabs / Other Passenger / Vehicles For Hire
Mile High Enterprises d/b/a Hickory Hop / 0 / 5
Yellow Cab / 10 / 4
Diamond Cab of Hickory / 3 / 0
Select Car Service / 0 / 1
Hickory Limousine / 0 / 3
Total / 13 / 13
Annually, these companies apply for a renewal of their taxicab and other passenger vehicle for hire franchise. The fee for FY 2011-12 is $22.50 per vehicle. A total of $585 (26 vehicles) has been collected.


D. Budget Ordinance
1. To transfer $12,107 from the Inter-basin Transfer Project Legislative Lobbying line item to the Water and Sewer Fund Balance Appropriated line item. This amendment is necessary to close the capital project and return $12,107 of unspent monies to the original funding source.


E. Capital Project Ordinance
1. To decrease the Inter-basin Transfer Project Legislative Lobbying line item by $12,107 and transfer to the Water and Sewer Fund. This amendment is necessary to close the capital project and return $12,107 of unspent monies to the original funding source.

New Business - Public Hearings:
1. Request by Hickory Police Department for Approval to Apply for 2011 Justice Assistance Grant in the Amount of $37,161 - Hickory Police Department and Catawba County have received notification of
approval to receive a combined allocation of $52,713 (Catawba County is applying for $15,552 of the Grant and hickory the remainder) under the 2011 Justice Assistance Grant Program. Cities and counties are required to file joint applications for the available funding. Hickory Police Department requests permission to apply for a grant in the amount of $37,161 to soundproof interview rooms and upgrade the camera security system and door-locking security system at the police department. The City of Hickory has agreed to serve as lead agency in the grant application process. There is no match required.

Chief Tom Adkins made the presentation. Jag Overview – The JAG Program, administered by the Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), is the leading source of federal justice funding to state and local jurisdictions. The JAG program provides states, tribes, and local governments with critical funding necessary to support a range of program areas including law enforcement, prosecution and court, prevention and education, corrections and community corrections, drug treatment and enforcement, planning, evaluation, and technology improvement, and crime victim and witness initiatives.

JAG Formula – The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) calculates, for each state and territory, a minimum base allocation which, based on the congressionally mandated JAG formula, can be enhanced by: (1) the state’s share of the national population. (2) the state’s share of the country’s Part 1 violent crime statistics. Once the state funding is calculated, 60 percent of the allocation is awarded to the state and 40 percent to eligible units of local government.

Hickory Police department and Catawba County have received notification to receive a combined allocation of $52,713 under the 2011 Justice Assistance grant Program (JAG). The JAG program is a formula based grant through the Office of Justice Programs/ Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) that utilizes Uniform Crime Reporting statistics of all law enforcement agencies to determine eligibility for direct federal grant awards. Cities and Counties are required to submit joint applications for the available funding. Catawba County is eligible for a direct award of $15,552 and the City of hickory is eligible for a direct award of $37,161. There is no match required.

The Benefits of Soundproofing Interview Rooms: State Law requires homicide investigation interviews to be recorded. Interview rooms at HPD are next to each other which makes it difficult to interview multiple suspects/witnesses at the same time. The recording for court will be clearer without any noise from the second room.

Benefits to upgrading camera & security system at HPD: Current camera System can not keep up with volume of recordings. Door key pads are starting to fail. Provides for greater security of HPD assets and coworkers. Provides officers with video evidence from booking that can be used in court cases to increase successful prosecutions.

New Business - Departmental Reports:
1. Second Reading – Budget Ordinance Amendment No. 23 Due to the closing of FY 2010-2011, staff is requesting a second reading be held on this matter.

2. Second Reading – Capital Project Ordinance Amendment No. 5 Due to the closing of FY 2010-2011, staff is requesting a second reading be held on this matter.

3. Update on 800Mhz Radio System by Chief of Police Tom Adkins (Deputy Chief Clyde Deal Presentation) - Benefits of the new system: System is compliant with public safety standard (P-25). System can move data as well as voice. Architecture allows for low cost cell site expansion. Changes in radio programming can be made over the air instead of having to take radios and co-workers off the street. Logistic overhead is reduced, as well as service cost, due to radio integration. Rebanding funds were available to help offset the coat of new system. System has the flexibility to adapt to future technology.

Alder Patton does mention a Hot Dog - Ice Cream Social to be held in the Kenworth Community next to Christ Lutheran Church this Saturday June 25, 2011 from 11am to 2pm to support the Zahra Baker Park Fund. Everyone is invited. The Mayor announced that he is very much pleased with how much money has been raised thus far and said that donations are well ahead of the pace that everyone expected.

The Hound: Not much happened at this meeting. It's summer and usually things slow down around Independence day and the vacation time that surrounds it. There will be an upcoming meeting of the Citizens for Equity in Government in July after the holiday is over, The last meeting lasted about an hour and a half and it was great, even if only 13 people attended. I hope that some of you will think about attending that upcoming meeting. Once the date is set, I will get the information out on this blog ASAP.


These are perilous times in which we live. That may be hard for some people to accept, but if people pay attention to what is being exposed by the non-mainstream media and what is happening behind the scenes, then they will understand what we talk about here on the Hound is the news. I would be wasting my time if I just spread propaganda. You can get that anywhere. I know the people who read this blog are thinkers and now is the time to take it a step forward and start talking. If we don't talk about this stuff, then we who are vulnerable will be subject to the whims and fantasies of people who are basically sociopaths. These people don't care about you or I. If we are going to right what is wrong with our economy, then we are going to have to look to the interests of everyone, not just those who think they are better than us.

Don't buy into the fake politics any more. In the upcoming election, don't buy into Professional Wrestling Politics. If you play the party game, they will continue to party over those who are ignorant enough to fall in line. You want change, then you are going to have to change!!!

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