June 16, 2020
The Town of Glen St. Mary held the regular monthly meeting on Tuesday,
June 16, 2020 at 7:00 P.M. at the Town Hall with Council Members Hodges, McCullough, Reneau, and Rhynehardt present. Mayor Dickie Foster presided over the meeting. 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– The Town Clerk has not finished with the minutes yet. She will type all four sets before leaving her position.
Policy Agenda Items:
A) Vote to Execute Impact Fee agreement for Glen Oaks Resort, LLC – There was a slight revision made today to include the Engineer’s figures. The Town will need to make sure the pressure is maintained. The Town will need to modify the capacity fee rates within the Town Ordinance, perhaps it can be done by resolution. On a motion by Councilman Rhynehardt, second by Mayor Foster, the Board voted to execute theImpact Fee agreement for Glen Oaks Resort, LLCwith the given changes made to it. (Vote 5-0)
B) Ask Council to Allow Mayor to Advertise for the Fence around the Park to be fixed. – Mayor Foster told Council when he contacted several fencing companies that no one wanted to do it. Councilman Rhynehardt stated he understood the Town maintenance employees were going to do it in their spare time. Council wants to put out a request for bids, but Mayor Foster told Council with his experience as a contractor, he estimates the cost would be between $7,000 and $8,000 to fix the park fence. On a motion by Council member Hodges, second by Council member Reneau, the Board voted to place an ad for bids to fix the park fence. (Vote 5-0)
C) Vice Mayor and Council member Amanda Hodges met with Macclenny’s City Manager and Assistant City Manager last week. She has invited them to come and answer any questions the Council or citizens may have. – The City of Macclenny’s representatives included Mr. Mike Griffis, the Assistant Manager, Mr. Phil Rhoden, the Town Manager, and Mr. Scott Crews, the City’s Fire Chief. They were present to answer any questions the Council may have. Mr. Phil Rhoden told Council they are not looking to take over the Town of Glen, but that Gen came to them and they are here to help us. Mayor Foster told Council he went to the Property Appraiser’s office and got the Ad Valorum tax report. He read off several figures from the report. Mr. Rhoden then spoke of several things that could be affected, but they would be based on individual circumstances from property to property. The water and sewer rates would probably decrease. The City of Macclenny offers garbage pickup at a rate of $18 per month, but the costs could offset each other. Mr. Crews stated he hasn’t heard back about the ISO rating, but they have full-time employees in their fire station. Mr. Rhoden stated it may affect the Town’s CDBG grants if this moves forward. Both entities would need to look at more things relating to the matter. Councilman Rhynehardt said his main question is about the property taxes and whether or not they were going to go up. Mr. Rodent od Council they could run figures for each citizen to see what they would be. The property figures are based on the previous year values. Mr. Shell Byrd was present and addressed the Council saying he has lived here since he was 15 years old. He would love to see the Town stay the way it is right now. He told Council that a lot has come along in the Town since he held the position of Mayor for three years. He would like to see the Town grow out to the interstate and increase its revenue base. He then gave a bit of background of the Town. Council member Hodges explained the Town would retain its identity, much like the Town of Baldwin, but get its services from Macclenny. Mr. Charles Reneau then asked why Council wants to abandon ship and go with the City of Macclenny. Councilman Rhynehardt replied that it is not his first choice, but if things don’t change, we are going to lose the Town, based on what has happened in the past several months. Council then discussed the Clerk and maintenance worker both walking out this morning. Council excused the City of Macclenny representatives from the meeting. Mayor Foster told Council that Clerk Loadholtz said she chased money for two hours yesterday and he showed a report that had been left on the desk showing who owed what amount while she was out of the office. He wrote down the payments on this paper, but wrote no receipts and threw away all payment stubs and envelopes with customer names and amounts on them. Council asked Donna to explain the situation. She told Council she came in to find a stack of cash in one spot and a stack of checks in another spot and he had thrown everything away again. Mayor Foster responded he had gotten everything back out of the trash. She told Mayor Foster she wasn’t chasing this stuff around. She stated that if he didn’t understand how to do it, to leave it alone and she will show him how when she gets in just like she showed him payroll recently. Attorney Bense responded that from a legal stand point receipting is required. Mayor Foster replied he has not worked or trained on the billing software. He stood and told Council he will make this easy for everyone and presented his letter of resignation before walking out. Councilman Rhynehardt made a motion that Council accept his letter of resignation. Attorney Bense stated that the letter left by Mr. Foster stated through the end of the month or verbally stated “tonight”. Councilman Rhynehardt then made a motion that Council accept Mr. Foster’s letter of resignation effective immediately. Council member McCullough seconded the motion. (Vote 4-0) The question of the Town’s keys were mentioned to be returned. Council then discussed the matter of the Clerk’s qualifications for a newspaper ad to be placed. Attorney Bense told Council he doesn’t believe there will be an election this year because the Council seats are set up for odd years. Council member then asked about the resignation letter from the Town Clerk that was given at the previous week’s meeting, which had been accepted with a two-week time period. Attorney Bense told Council the ad was not put in per his advice, stating it is not the Clerk’s job to do, but the Council’s discretion. It will now be up to the Council to review and send the ad. Council member Hodges told Council she already has her letter of resignation on file at the Supervisor of Elections office that is effective October 31st because she is running for a school board seat in this election. The question of merging with Macclenny was briefly discussed as well as the confusion of the vacant seat when Mayor Amanda Hodges is gone November 1st. Mr. Reneau asked if Council member Hodges will be in the office as the Mayor. She responded she has been assisting when needed, but can’t be here all the time because she has small children at home. She is willing to serve and keep things running. Attorney Bense told Council it is a lot to process and that she did not run for this office. Ms. Padgett told Council that the Town is at the mercy of the City of Macclenny for any growth as it is now. The Town has grown a lot for the limited number of people here. The Town needs more employees, but there are no funds for employees when they are out. We need to have more people trained. Council asked about the Town Clerk duties and the money paid to the Mayor. What money does the Town have to run on. Council needs to make sure the Town does what needs to be done to run the Town. Mr. Byrd suggested using the Mayor’s salary and hire a part-time helper, which some Council said has been the plan for the last few months. The City of Macclenny’s structure was discussed in that the Mayor only runs the monthly meetings, sign checks, and review bills. The salary of the Mayor of Macclenny is reflected in the lesser duties they are responsible for. Mayor Hodges told Council there several other items not being understood by some people such as payroll, and zoning issues. When she met with the City of Macclenny, she was amazed with the different departments they have with someone running each individual department. Our clerk does what six to eight of their people do, on a smaller scale. She has also had to learn as she goes, but some have been put on her that isn’t hers. Councilman Rhynehardt said the Town is growing so much and is only paying the new maintenance worker $11.00 per hour. They work until a new job comes along. The Town needs another person to help with the mowing. There is a lot to be done. Maintenance was budgeted for two men at 35 hours per week, but these hours have varied a lot this year. They had asked for mowing contracts, but the prices were extremely high. Council asked Matt if there was anything else he needed to bring to them. He told Council he had been told that Mr. Foster told him last week that he was going to resign after the pledge tonight, but then today told him that he was going to stick around until Donna actually left and then he was going to resign the next day. This is why he left earlier today because he depends on his paycheck to pay his child support. Council member Rhynehardt addressed the days Clerk Loadholtz doesn’t take off because there are things to be done. Mr. Reneau questioned the Council saying they are wanting to jump ship and go to Macclenny. He didn’t feel the new Mayor would be willing to do all the work based on the current council pay. Mayor Hodges rebutted that they had just said they are wanting to reduce the Mayor’s salary to be able to pay for more workers. An ad needs to be put in the paper for a vacant Council seat. Attorney Bense suggested Council review the ad for the Clerk’s position. Council member Rhynehardt made the suggestion that they pull her resignation letter since it hasn’t been advertised. Council member Reneau told Clerk Loadholtz she thinks she does a great job, but asked if things would change since Mr. Foster has left. She felt that every time the Clerk would get aggravated, she would put in her resignation. Ms. Padgett disagreed and said the Clerk had only resigned one time, and Council member Reneau stated it was twice. Ms. Lacey Martin, the Clerk’s sister asked to speak on her behalf telling Council what she has experienced throughout this whole ordeal and how she did not want to see the Town go through any of this. Attorney Bense added to the conversation and that the second resignation came based on his suggestion. Councilman Rhynehardt then made a motion to ask Town Clerk Loadholtz to recind her letter of resignation, seconded by Council member McCullough, the board voted to ask Town Clerk Loadholtz to recind her letter of resignation given on June 9, 2020. (Vote 4-0) Clerk Loadholtz told Council it was never her intention to leave the Town, but she has lived it and no one has any idea what it was like. Attorney Bense told Council there were many avenues that may have been taken based on all that was going on, but this was the least expensive avenue to take. Clerk Loadholtz added that this was never a game, but Council has already been shown what has been claimed to have happened. She is overwhelmed with the work that is here to be done, but she has to answer to the auditors. Council member Reneau suggested to hire someone to help her. Council said this is what they have been trying to do. She told Council that when she came back in there were stacks of money and checks sitting on her desk and a young guy comes in saying he was here for the job. Mr. Foster says the Clerk will be doing the interview. Clerk Loadholtz asked Mr. Foster if he had talked to the Attorney, because she will not be doing any interviewing. This hasn’t even been advertised. This was just her first five minutes back in the office. The doors and the safe were left unlocked. Council member Reneau asked if we can stop talking about this as Mr. Foster has resigned, and just move forward. Council asked Clerk Loadholtz about staying. Attorney Bense told Council he asked her to stay until the end of the fiscal quarter. The end of the quarter turns into the 10th, and never ends. She told Council she would need to discuss it with her husband first, but agreed to stay until the end of the quarter. Council discussed the clerk ad for the paper. Attorney Bense told Council they can advertise outside of the Baker County Press for employment ads. Public notices need to be advertised locally in the Press, but help ads can be sent outside to draw a larger base. Council then briefly discussed the park fencing. It was previously said they needed to have footers poured under the columns. They discussed contacting the grant coordinator to see what may be available. On a motion by Councilmember Rhynehardt, second by Mayor Hodges, the Council voted to explore the options of the Town to get the park fence repaired or replaced. (Vote 4-0) Council then discussed the time frame for the vacant Council seat. Appointing a new Council member is the cheapest and easiest. Attorney Bense told Council the as far as an election, the Charter addresses the vacancies of the Council, but not the Mayor. It is past the qualifying period, but the Council can appoint a member until the next election. We have one vacant seat now. The Mayor and Clerk positions are on the same accounting line. The Mayor’s salary will now go to Mayor Hodge, but will only be here three months. The prior code enforcement fell under the executive budget line, but we aren’t ready to deal with that. We need to deal with the Clerk duties and outline the Charter relating to duties. Council discussed the list of things needing to be returned by Mr. Foster and prorating his final check. They also discussed the concerns of leaving the Clerk alone in the office. Mayor Hodges made a motion to appoint Councilman Rhynehardt as the Vice-Mayor as he is the longest serving member on the Council and has helped the Clerk when needed. Council member Reneau seconded the motion. (Vote 4-0) Mayor Hodges told the Council she would like to make it clear that she did not run for this position, and that with her seeking information from the City of Macclenny, that none of the options were pretty. Attorney Bense added that this isn’t the first time the Town of Glen Council has discussed this matter. Council then discussed the maintenance department’s working hours and the comp time hours they receive on Saturdays and after hours. Matt’s family life has changed since this started and could benefit to increase both back to 35 hours per week. Matt stated he could use 40 hours and William to work 30 hours. Mayor Hodges stated she was good with those hours and re-evaluating the matter at our July meeting. Councilman Rhynehardt made a motion to increase the maintenance hours back to the budgeted amount giving Matt 40 hours and William 30 hours to try to get things caught up and reevaluate at the July meeting. Council agreed to run an ad for the Clerk’s position and thought that the Press could put it on their Facebook page. Attorney Bense asked if the Mayor is going to be able to be in the office full time. She responded she will be in the office tomorrow, but can’t define hours on the spot tonight. She will call the bank tomorrow morning to see what she needs to do to change everything. Council will circulate a draft of the Clerk assistant qualifications to be finalized at the next meeting.
D) Review Prior Month’s Expenditures (Check Register) – Council had no questions about the prior month’s expenditures. Councilman Rhynehardt made a motion to accept the prior month’s expenditures, second by Council member McCullough, the Board voted to accept the prior month’s expenditures. (Vote 4-0)
On a motion by Councilman Rhynehardt, second by Council member Reneau the Town meeting was adjourned at 9:30 P.M.
