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Thursday, December 6, 2012

Newsletter about the City Council meeting of December 4, 2012

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 12/4/2012 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.

 All materials and maps for this meeting are provide at this link:
City Council Action Agenda - December 4, 2012


Lower right hand square in the Youtube box takes you to full screen mode.




Invocation by Rev. Bill Garrard, Retired United Methodist Pastor

*** (3:40) - (The Hound) - Cliff Moone addresses the City Council about the Council's new policy odf making a motion to allow citizen's to address the City Council about items on the Agenda. Cliff and all members of the Citizens for Equity in Government feel that the Council is proverbially flying by the seat of their pants on this. Second they are not following proper protocol, because this is nowhere to be found on the Public Agenda, so technically it is a matter not on the Agenda and should by statute come at the end of the meeting after Citizens Requesting to Be Heard, which takes us back to square one. Hickory Inc. wants to say what's the big deal and we agree. Since it isn't a big deal, then formally put in on the agenda and quit with the ruse.

Election of Mayor Pro Tempore for Calendar Year 2013 Pursuant to NC General Statues §260- A70 and Section 2-54 of the Hickory City Code. - Hank Guess was appointed unanimously for the upcoming year.

Appointment of a City Attorney for Calendar Year 2013 Pursuant to the Hickory City Code, Section 4.151 of the Charter.  John Crone was appointed unanimously for the upcoming year. Stated as being his 20th year.

Special Presentations
A. (5:50) Presentation and Recognition of Neighborhood College Graduates - Dana Kaminske presentation.


Consent Agenda:
A. Call for Public Hearing – Voluntary Annexation of City owned property located at the corner of 21st Street NW and 9th Avenue Drive NW. (Authorize Public Hearing for December 18, 2012)

B. Approval of moving the regular scheduled Council Meeting of January 1, 2013 to Wednesday, January 2, 2013 due to the New Years Holiday.

C. Special Event/Activities Application, applicant Crockett Davidson, Lead Pastor, Vintage City Church, for A Very Vintage Christmas, Christmas Concert, Monday, December 24, 2012, 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Union Square.

D. Special Event/Activities Application, applicant Connie Kincaid, Hickory Downtown Development Association, for Hickory Hops 2013 Saturday, April 20, 2013, from 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Government Avenue and 2nd Street SW.

E. Special Event/Activities Application, applicant Molly Underwood, Student Teacher, Hickory High School Band, Flute Choir Caroling, Saturday, December 15, 2012, from 2:50 p.m. to 4:30 p.m., on Union Square NW.

F. Transfer of a Cemetery Deed from Winfred Scott Bedington and wife, Beth H. Bedington, and William David Bedington, to James Claude Richardson Jr. and wife, Judy Wright Richardson in Oakwood Cemetery

G. Change Order No. 9 to Pizzagalli Construction for Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant
(NEWWTP) Upgrade Project deducting $20,673. Change Order No. 9 consists of seventeen (17) items related to unanticipated conditions and/or design omissions during the plan modifications prior to the start of the project, totaling $65,345 and four (4) deductive items including acceptance of installed equipment or materials and reconciliation of unused allowance items, totaling $86,018. Staff recommends Council approval of Change Order No. 9 to Pizzagalli Construction Company as a deductive change order in the amount of $20,673 for the Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant (NEWWTP) upgrade project.

H. Approval of Proclamation for Bill of Rights Day, December 15, 2012 I. Budget Ordinance Amendment No. 8 To budget a $28,607 insurance claim check from Argonaut Great Central Insurance Company in the Police Department Maintenance and Repair of Equipment line item. This insurance claim check is payment for damage to a chiller unit. There was a power outage at the Police Department on 09-11-12 and when equipment was powered back on it was found that one of the chillers was damaged.

New Business - Public Hearing
1. (31:35) Amendments to Hickory City Code Chapter 16 – Junk and Secondhand Dealers, Regarding how Pawnbrokers, Precious Metal Dealers and Secondary Metals Recyclers record and report their purchases from the general public. - This public hearing was advertised on November 23, 2012 in a newspaper having general circulation in the Hickory area.





New Business - Departmental Reports:
1.(42:40) Research Regarding Demolitions to Mitigate Dust, etc. Staff Attorney Arnita Dula will give a presentation on mitigating the impact of demolitions. The presentation will focus on existing building codes, state statutes, and local ordinances relevant to this issue, practical considerations in addressing the issue, and possible options for addressing the issue.

*** Video had to be restarted at the beginning of this presentation and the Story Board says November 20, 2012, but it is the December 4, 2012. Sorry for the mistake.




















2. (1:11:55) Approval of an Agreement for Shared Costs for the Upgrade and Expansion of the Hickory-Catawba Wastewater Treatment Facility (HCWWTF). - The City of Hickory and Catawba County agreed in a contract signed September 20, 2006 to jointly pursue design of an upgrade/expansion to the HCWWTF. The design has been completed. Funding for the engineering design has been split proportionally between the City and the County with the City serving as the contracting agency. The City and the County are proposing the cost sharing agreement to equally divide all construction costs associated with this upgrade, expansion, and construction administration. Each party will pay 50% of the total annual debt service cost and any other expenses related to this project. The purpose of this contract is to stipulate the terms on which the City of Hickory will be reimbursed by Catawba County for the mutual construction of the upgraded and expanded
HCWWTF.  







This was passed 6-1 with Alder Fox being the dissenting voice. She made a statement that she was going to be the odd man out. She understands shared growth... she is weighing in on the side of investment in Hickory... what about developments here and developing here.

The Hound says way to go Alder Fox. We don't invest in Hickory in anything other than a superfluous manner -- rearranging deck chairs. Look at Conover and the Conover Station and the Manufacturing Solutions Center. Those projects are unique and create value. Hickory Inc. is only worried in their buddies small potatoes investments.

Hickory is constantly the lead municipal investor in all of the multi-jurisdictional developments and constantly we see initiatives going elsewhere. This falls squarely on the shoulders of the Rudy Wright, who says that economic development isn't in his job description. That it is all Scott Millar. I think Scott Millar is as tired of hearing that as I am. Go read Pat McCrory's profile on Wikipedia. It tells you all about the personal hand that he had in Charlotte Economic Development while he was Mayor and I am sure he will do the same as Governor. And that is how he became Governor. That's what Big Boys do!



Matter not on the Agenda - Manager Berry wanted a second reading on Item G on the Consent Agenda. Change Order No. 9 to Pizzagalli Construction for Northeast Wastewater Treatment Plant (NEWWTP) Upgrade Project deducting $20,673. Mayor Wright did not want to do this until the next meeting. Alderman Lail moved to consider moving forward with the second reading and it was seconded by Alderman Meisner. Tyhen it was voted upon unanimously by the Council.

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