The Greenville Town Council met for regular session on Monday, Feb. 8.
After the minutes for the council's previous meeting held on Jan. 11 were approved, citizen participation began. Trish Hinton took to the podium and expressed her concerns with the council, stating that Kim Reams is in violation of Article II, section 5a of the Florida Constitution since she is both Acting Town Manager and Town Clerk of Greenville. This section of the Florida Constitution states “no person holding any office of emolument under any foreign government or civil office of emolument under the United States or any other state, shall hold any office of honor or of emolument under the government of this state. No person shall hold at the same time more than one office under the government of the state and the counties and municipalities therein, except that a notary public or military officer may hold another office, and any officer may be a member of a constitution revision commission, taxation and budget reform commission, constitutional convention or statutory body having only advisory powers.”
This influenced the council members to add an item to the agenda in order to discuss whether or not they should advertise a position for Town Manager.
On the agenda, the first item up for discussion was the budget amendments. Reams brought forth the balances of the Town of Greenville. These amendments were all approved.
Reams then informed the council that Greenville was awarded a grant in order to update information in the county and County Planner Jeanne Bass and Ray Greer of StanTec will be discussing these updates during a special session that will be held on Monday, Feb. 15 at 6 p.m.
Next, Reams asked the council to consider and discuss making a parcel of land of 10.89 acres a surplus property. A citizen inquired about the property, which is a landfill area. The citizen never disclosed their intended use for the property and the council asked Reams to get in touch with the citizen and bring the parcel up at the next meeting.
Last on the agenda, the council discussed the possibility of advertisement of Town Manager position. Council member Kovacherich Arnold was concerned about the mention of the violation of the Florida Constitution and growth of the town. Despite several objections from other council members, Arnold did not see the issue with advertising the position. “The top concern [for the town] is economic development,” said Arnold. “I'm concerned we need to find someone for that again. The town needs to do better. I think we owe our citizens that.”
“It's [Reams'] first [meeting],” said council member Alphonso Young. “Give her a chance! I think it's fair. If she can't handle it she'll drop back [to her position of clerk].”
Mayor Barbara Dansey asked Schnitker to check into the statute being discussed and bring it back to the council.
The discussion was tabled for the next meeting and the item will be kept on the agenda until the issue is resolved.
As part of department reports, the fire department reported that they gave out 58 smoke detectors to the community on Feb. 6 and that there are plans to set another day to distribute smoke detectors to the north side of town. There are currently 50 smoke detectors at the fire department for anyone who needs one.
The next meeting will be held at the Greenville Town Hall on Monday, March 7 at 6 p.m.