Council to eye $4 fee for cans left out
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 21, 2015 1:46 PM
If you leave your trash can out too long, $4 could be added to your next bill if Goldsboro City Council passes a proposed pushback fee.
Council members will consider the proposal at their meeting this evening as part of the council's consent agenda. The fee would be assessed for trash and recycling bins left on the curb longer than 24 hours after trash has been collected.
This $4 fee would remain constant, regardless of how many times the city's Public Works department has to push a resident's trash and recycling bins back from the curb.
Also on the council's agenda tonight is an item that would allow the Public Works department to purchase a $239,820 front end garbage loader. This is because the city's garbage packer was damaged by a fire on July 16 and needs to be replaced.
This purchase will be made through the use of installment financing, which was approved by the council at its July 27 meeting when the council approved the purchasing of several vehicles through the use of installment financing for a total of $900,000.
Council also will consider an item approving a resolution to accept $3,521,438 from the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which the city will have to pay back at an interest rate of 1.88 percent over 20 years. No use for the funds is specified on the agenda.
The city also applied for grant funds from the 2015 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant program on June 25, the proceeds from which were to be split between the Goldsboro Police Department and the Wayne County Sheriff's Office. The city has been approved for the grant.
On the consent agenda is a resolution allowing the city to accept funds from the grant in the amount of $39,927. No matching funds are required from the city, and each law enforcement agency will receive $19,963.50.
Council also will talk buses during its meeting Monday.
On Feb. 17, 2014, council was briefed by the Goldsboro-Wayne Transportation Authority director on the need to replace three urban buses. The buses were purchased using Federal Transportation Authority funding, with the city providing a local share of 10 percent toward the purchase.
The GWTA ordered the buses in April, but delivery was not expected until August 2015 at a total cost of $343,091.64. Matching funding of $34,309.16 is required from the city.
Funds for the city's local match were not budgeted for fiscal year 2015-16, and it is necessary for the council to authorize the $34,309.16.
An item on tonight's consent agenda would allow the city to appropriate $34,309.16 from the unassigned fund balance to put toward matching the funds used to purchase the three urban buses.
Council also will be asked to authorize the city to accept $20,447.64 worth of grant funds received from the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety -- Division of Governor's Crime Commission to assist with the Goldsboro Partners Against Crime program. A match of $5,111.91 is required from the city.
Money for the grant match would be allocated from the city's unassigned fund balance.
Also on the consent agenda is an item asking for approval of funds, not to exceed $15,000, to repair the Pat Best track at Dillard Middle School.
The city signed a 15-year agreement in 1989 with the Board of Education for cooperative development of a track and soccer field at the school.
To fund the repairs to the track, the city would use money from its Community Development Block Grant funds.
Council also will consider a request for the United Way of Wayne County's 25th annual Taste of Wayne on Oct. 10. The 200 block of North Center Street will be closed for the event from 5 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
There are three public hearings scheduled tonight.
The first will deal with issuing a conditional use permit to allow the operation of a funeral home with a crematorium on the northeast corner of Madison Avenue and east Beech Street, in the tenant spaces that used to be occupied by the Goldsboro-Wayne Transportation Authority prior to the transportation authority's move to 103 N. Carolina St.
But since the time the request was filed, the applicant has asked that the request for the permit be withdrawn and no longer wishes to proceed with building a cemetery at this location.
Since the request for the permit has been advertised and posted, and adjacent owners notified, the public hearing must go on.
The city planning commission has recommended that, if no objections are expressed at tonight's public hearing, the council should allow the withdrawal of the request.
The second public hearing will consider a request by C.C. Wilkins for a conditional use permit to operate a body and automobile repair shop on the north side of U.S. 70 East between Ash Street and Millers Chapel Road.
The proposed site of the automobile repair shop sits within the 75-79 decibel noise overlay and the accident potential zone associated with Seymour Johnson Air Force Base. Officials at SJAFB have said the proposed business is compatible with site regulations, but that the proposed "Floor Area Ratio" -- or, the size of the building in relation to the lot it sits on -- is not compatible.
City officials have spoken with the applicant for the permit about this issue, and the applicant owns land to the rear of the proposed site and is willing to designate the necessary amount of property to be in compliance with the FAR requirements.
The planning commission has recommended the council take no action on the matter at tonight's meeting, and will return at the next council meeting with a recommendation.
The third public hearing of the night will discuss an application by Evelyn Hernandez for a conditional use permit to operate a combined place of entertainment and events center with ABC permits and seasonal tax office on the west side of U.S. 117 South between Old Waynesborough Road and Carver Boulevard.
There is an existing 8,000-square-foot building on the site, which the applicant would upfit to contain a 6,356-square-foot event area and 1,644-square-foot office area that would also contain restrooms, a bar and storage area.
The applicant has said that the 1,644-square-foot area that would be used for her seasonal tax business would be in operation from January to April, and would remain closed during events.
The area for entertainment and events would operate from noon to 1 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. on Sunday.
The planning commission has recommended no action be taken on the matter at tonight's council meeting, and the commission will return to the next council meeting with a recommendation for the council.
Tonight's council meeting work session begins at 5 p.m. in Room 206 of the city hall annex. The regularly scheduled council meeting begins at 7 p.m. in the council chambers of city hall.