Newsletter about the City Council meeting of November 19, 2013

I began recording the City Council late last year, because of my desire that the City do it on their own as any modern 21st century community began doing long ago. I had people tell me that they couldn't make it to the meetings, but they would like to see what is going on. I was also told by some council members that my summaries did not truly reflect the record, so having a video/audio recording cannot be misinterpreted.

So below is the City Council meeting. With each agenda item, you can click on the links and it will take you to that specific point in the meeting. You can always drag the marker on the video display to the point in the broadcast that you are interested in seeing.

Agenda about the City Council meeting of November 19, 2013 

Highlighted Links below take you straight to that point in the video.




Special Presentations
A. (1:55) Presentation of the Business Well Crafted Award by David Gissy of the Business Development Committee, to Dan Causey, President and Doyle Keever, Vice President of Keever’s Key and Repair Service.                      (From City Action Agenda Minutes) -   Mr. David Gissy of the Business Development Committee discussed the purpose of the Business Development Committee. He gave background information on Keever’s Key and Repair Service, which started in 1920 as Hickory Nut Shop on Union Square. He presented the Business Well Crafted Award to Mr. Dan Causey, President of Keever’s Key and Repair Service.                             Mr. Causey thanked everyone for the recognition and the Committee for recognizing Businesses that have been in business for more than 75 years.                 


B. (14:15) Neighborhood College Class Graduation - (From City Action Agenda Minutes) - Mrs. Dana Kaminske, Communications Specialist spoke briefly about Neighborhood College and asked some of the graduates to the podium to speak.                      Mrs. Erin Jones and Mrs. Alicia Hubbard, both City Employees; Ms. Bonita Hawkins, a new resident of the City; and Ms. Peggy Fullwood, a long time resident of the City, shared their experiences with Neighborhood College.                 Mrs. Kaminske, the Mayor, and City Council presented diplomas to the Neighborhood College Class of 2013: Jeff Bartlett, Bari Cooper, Jerisha Farrer, Peggy Fullwood, Juliet Good, Ardellia Hawkins, Bonita Hawkins, Alicia Hubbard, Erin Jones, William Kanupp, Donald Lewis, Reverend Logan, Phil McCaul, Ken O’Neill, Tracy Ray, John Robson, Rebecca Simpson, and Walter Smith.

Persons Requesting to Be Heard (33:45)
Mr. T. Anthony Spearman addressed Council on a Resolution regarding the Voting Rights Act of 1965. He asked the members of the Hickory Branch of the NAACP to the podium to stand with him. He appealed to Hickory City Council, on behalf of the Hickory Branch NAACP, for support of the Resolution and any other action that would prevent the upset of decades of well established practices that help to make sure that voting is fair, and that Council would stand publicly against any act that appears to abridge voting rights and disproportionately affect the voting ability of any minority by encouraging the Congress of the United States of America to fully restore and reactivate the Voting Rights Act of  1965.

The Hound: Always good to see people stand up for their rights... don't expect any of the requested action from this Council. 

Consent Agenda:  
Item A removed from the Consent Agenda and briefly discussed

A. Approval of Resolution to Surplus Library CD/DVD Display Case and to Donate the Case to the Hickory Music Factory, a Local Non-Profit Organization. -  The Library requests approval to surplus a CD/DVD display case that is no longer in use or needed by the Library and to donate the display case to the Hickory Music Factory, a local non-profit organization. Public Notice advertised on November 8, 2013 in a newspaper having general circulation in the Hickory area.

Consent Agenda approved Unanimously.

New Business - Public Hearings
1. (47:20) Rezoning Petition 13-12 for Property Located at 1024 and 1030 4th Street NE, as well as Two Vacant Lots - Presentation by Cal Overby. Video shows the Powerpoint presentation

New Business -  Departmental Reports: Presentation by Warren Wood, Asst City Manager - Video shows the Powerpoint presentation


1. a. (57:10) Memorandum of Understanding between the City of Hickory and Hickory Baseball, Inc. regarding Additional Projects to be Under-taken at L.P. Frans. Stadium. - Staff will outline what these projects are and who has responsibility for them. Additionally, there will be a budget amendment to fund the City’s additional projects in the amount of $391,000.

b. (1:13:05) Budget Ordinance Amendment Number 9.  - To provide funding for additional improvement projects at L.P. Frans Stadium as described in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the City of Hickory and Hickory Baseball, Inc. Therefore a $391,000 appropriation of General Fund balance to the L. P. Frans Stadium Capital Improvements line item is necessary.

The Hound: I appreciate having baseball in Hickory. I think having a sports team is good for the city. I don't know what the profitability picture is for the City or for Don Beaver. I've been to a couple of games in the past few years and the attendance definitely isn't what it used to be.

As part of the agreement with the Crawdads, I would have liked to have seen the city secure a certain number of tickets. These tickets could be given to kids that make good grades so that their families could go enjoy a game. Whay not have a couple of games dedicated and promoted as being kid friendly? Kids go to High School football games on Friday nights. Why not have some Young Fridays and/or Saturdays during the summer while school is out? This would be a whole lot better than kids out cruising all night long on the weekends. Have a concert after the game. End it all around midnight.

The Crawdads wouldn't make money off of such an exchange, but it would help to boost awareness of their product and create some enthusiasm. I remember when that stadium was first built that there were concerts there. I'd like to see some more concerts brought to the venue. Thinking outside the box, I wonder if there could be a way to hold a high school football game there. It certainly would be a bigger venue than Hickory High. You could hold the Hickory vs Newton- Conover or Maiden games there and I believe it most certainly would fill the place. I don't know about sodding the infield portion and the expense of that, but it certainly would be nice to see the venue used for more than it is.

I just think we need to look at all of the possibilities. We also need to look at getting some kind of a Return on Investment from this facility to mitigate some of its costs.

General Comments
(1:17:35) Mayor Wright comments about the election.