December 15, 2020
The Town of Glen St. Mary held a regular monthly meeting on Tuesday,
December 15, 2020 at 7:00 P.M. at the Town Hall with Council MembersMcCullough, Padgett and Reneau present. Mayor Steve Rhynehardt presided over the meeting. Council Member Oca was absent. Council member Reneau opened with prayer followed by the flag salute.
Note: These meeting minutes are a summarized version of the actual discussions at the meeting. These are not verbatim transcripts. For a complete audio recording of the discussion please contact Donna Loadholtz at glenstmary3777@glenstmary.org.
Minutes: Consideration:
A) Approval of minutes of November 17, 2020 - Regular Monthly Minutes: On a motion by Council member Padgett, second by Council member McCullough, the Board voted to approve theminutes as presented. (Vote 4-0)
Policy Agenda Items:
A) Council Information Regarding Next Year’s Election – Mayor Rhynehardt told Council that Council members Padgett, Oca, and McCullough’s seats would be up for a four-year term in September and Council member Reneau and his own seat were up for a two-year term in September to finish out the remaining time to put their seats back in rotation.
B) Vote to Approve 2021 Holiday Schedule - On a motion by Council member Reneau, second by Council member Padgett, the Council voted to approve the holiday schedule as presented. (Vote 4-0)
C) Sunshine Law and Ethics Information – Mayor Rhynehardt told Council he has researched the ethics requirements and anyone that was elected Prior to March 31st is required to take the Ethics class by December 31st of this year. Anyone elected after March 31st is not required to take it until the following year. Council member Reneau has already completed her course. Council member McCullough stated she is scheduled to take the class tomorrow, December 16, 2020. Attorney Bense agreed with the information given by Mayor Rhynehardt. Attorney Bense went on to tell Council he felt they would learn more from a class than they would from him putting together a presentation on the subject matter. He generalized the guidelines in that they can’t discuss anything of Town business and they can’t use their position for personal gain. They must be careful to differentiate. Council member Padgett mentioned that town clerk Loadholtz had sent an e-mail out to all council members and Council member McCullough sent a question back and Council member Padgett responded directly back to Council member McCullough. Attorney Bense responded it would depend on what the subject matter was regarding. He told Council that public records requests could include their personal e-mails if they were used with Town matters.
D) Discussion on Waste Water Grease Traps – Attorney Bense told Council he sent the important part of Macclenny’s sewer regulations but they have a lot more going on than what is in this paperwork. We are talking about grease traps or that was the initial request and now we have branched out from there. We are talking about discharge and how we regulate it. Macclenny’s regulations that deal with commercial/industrial users are much more robust. We have certain regulations regarding septic tanks. Are we going to redo everything or just supplement what is in our ordinance? He is not familiar with what all is in Glen commercially and wants to do a little bit more research. We are in contract with Macclenny to service our needs, so we are nothing more than a commercial customer to them, per the agreement so we are subject to all of their laws. If we don’t have our residents abiding by the same laws, then the Town would be the ones that would get in trouble for it. This is where he needs to get us in line so that the residents aren’t putting us in jeopardy of getting in trouble with the City of Macclenny. He urged Council to review what he sent from Macclenny’s regulations and even look up on municode the rest of Macclenny’s laws so that they know what we are subject to. He has been trying to put all the information into an ordinance, but it is only 13 pages so far and depends on what all the Council wants to add. He is looking for guidance from the Council. This is probably a workshop situation so Council can come up with details. He told Council he will send them what he has put together so far so they can see. His paperwork has five pages of just definitions so far. Council can’t just say do what Macclenny does. The Town has private sewers where homes have in-house drain fields. State statutes say if you are within 200 feet of a sewer line you have to hook up to the line, but if you are more than that, you have the option to do a septic tank and drain field, which is very similar to Macclenny’s rules. Macclenny allows more, but is more regulated than what we have. We want to get the regulations in place before we have more activity and it becomes an issue. He recommended making it more comprehensible than just addressing grease traps for future needs. He recommended including all that Council has now and branching out with more. The more robust the guidelines are, the longer it will take, but it needs to be addressed. Mayor Rhynehardt told Council the three restaurants have grease traps, but he needs to check on the laundromat to see what is in place there. Attorney Bense said there are pretreatment guidelines to be done before going into the sewer. He will send the guidelines for that too. The main other thing Attorney Bense asked Council to think about was permitting. He pointed out the City of Macclenny requires commercial users over a certain amount to obtain a permit and he recommends the Town do something for high users as well. He believes it is 25,000 gallons per day.
E) Review Prior Month Expenditures – Council member Padgett pointed out the General Operating Profit & Loss is almost $6,000 to the good and if that keeps up, we may not have to add the reserves to the budget to balance for the year. Council had no questions about the prior month’s expenditures. On a motion by Council member Padgett, second by Council member McCullough, the Board voted to approve the prior month’s expenditures. (Vote 4-0)
Mayor Rhynehardt updated Council with old business. It has been discovered that the meter at Wildcat Drive is bad. The City of Macclenny is having it replaced. The #4 high service pump has been repaired. We have received the parts for the well shut off valve for well #1. He told Council that there are a lot of things starting to break down around the Town because everything is about 15 years old now and near its life expectancy, but we are doing the best we can with what we’ve got.
Mayor Rhynehardt then updated Council with new business. He told Council the RV park has installed their meter and flushed the lines. They will be getting a water bill the 1st of the year and have used a lot of water. We hope to start making a little bit of money with it now. Council member Padgett asked if they paid a security deposit. They paid about $10,000 in security deposit fees.
Council member McCullough revisited the issue of cats in Town. She said she has reached out to Rollies Angels, which is a local cat rescue that got a small grant but is has been used up already. She will try to get more contact information after the first of the year to see if they can help get some fixed. Mayor Rhynehardt told Council that according to animal control, the guidelines to trap them would include: if it is on your property or on your car, it is considered a nuisance and you can then trap them.
Questions were asked in regards to the 8-inch line and whether anything has been done. Mayor Rhynehardt responded that we are still waiting for a fire test to be done by the RV park. According to our engineer, it is going to work. Neither fire chief will certify the test. Our engineer says it is the RV Park’s job to have it certified. We understand the RV Park and contractors are arguing back and forth as to who’s responsibility it is. Our engineer says whoever put the line in is responsible for the certification. We have five hydrants up to the entrance of the RV park that will be our responsibility. Water plant operator, Matt Torgerson, found out the RV park is supposed to have 70,000 gallons of water on reserve for fire protection. Council member Padgett had questions about stagnant water sitting in the lines and cross contamination.
Council members were pleased to see the Christmas decorations were put up this year.
On a motion by Council member Reneau, second by Council member McCullough, the Town meeting was adjourned at 7:33 P.M.
