02/15/15 — Council agenda light for Monday's meeting

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Council agenda light for Monday's meeting

By Staff Reports
Published in News on February 15, 2015 1:50 AM

The Goldsboro City Council will have a light agenda for its meeting Monday evening.

There will be no public work session before the meeting. Council will have only a closed session at 6:30 p.m. to discuss a personnel matter prior to the regularly scheduled meeting at 7.

During the meeting, there will be three presentations, two of which are resolutions expressing appreciation for the work of city employees. The final presentation will be a six-month fiscal year financial update.

There will be one public hearing regarding closing an alley running from Gulley Street to its terminus between Pine and Corney streets.

The council has six items on its consent agenda, one of which is an update to animal ordinances in the city. The amendment to Chapter 91 of the animals ordinance would allow 10 hens to be kept in a resident's back yard, as opposed to the current six. Roosters will still be prohibited, and an enclosed space of 10 feet must be provided for each chicken. All housing for hens must be placed 15 feet away from all property lines.

Also on the consent agenda is an item determining how residents of Balsam Place will pay for sanitary sewer improvements in the area. Originally, residents would have paid $17 per frontage foot of property toward the total cost of more than $19,000 for the improvements. After residents appeared at the last council meeting with a petition to divide the cost equally, regardless of the amount of frontage on each property, the council is recommending the option to divide the cost equally among the residents. Residents would pay $1,739.29 per property if the item on the consent agenda passes.

The third item on the consent agenda calls for the hiring of Carr, Riggs, and Ingram for the completion of the 2014-15 fiscal year audit of the city. The city has used the firm for its previous audit, and is recommending the same firm be used for its next audit. The audit will cost $45,000.

Also on the consent agenda is an item allocating city funds for a city sponsored tent at the 2015 Wings Over Wayne air show. Having a city-sponsored tent at the air show will cost $15,000, and the money will come from the city's occupancy tax fund if the item on the agenda is approved.

The last item on the consent agenda is a request by the Public Works Department for the replacement of a 1994 utility truck used for collections and distributions. The existing utility truck has more than 187,000 miles and also needs a new engine, which would cost between $2,000 and $3,000. The truck has already incurred more than $6,000 in maintenance costs over the years. Sufficient funds are already available in various line items of the Public Works budget, and purchasing a new Ford F-350 diesel truck would cost just under $40,000.