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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-01-07Minutes of the Town Council meeting held May 1, 2007 at 7:00 p.m. in the Auditorium of the Pulaski County Administration Building. There were present: Charles L. Wade, Mayor Town Council: Jeffrey S. Worrell, Dan Talbert, Jr., Lane R. Penn, Joel B. Burchett, Jr. David L. Clark, Larry Clevinger, II Staff: John J. Hawley, Town Manager David N. Quesenberry, Asst. to the Town Manager Patricia Cruise, Clerk of Council Dave Hart, Parks and Facilities Director Gary W. Roche, Police Chief John White, Economic Development Director Barbara Tate, Community Relations Director Sherry Boyd, Finance Director Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer Bill Webb, Fire Chief John Goad, Filter Plant Carson D. Cox, Filter Plant Brenda Shelton, Administrative Secretary Randolph D. Eley, Jr., Town Attorney Others: Betty Quesenberry Sheila Nelson Jennifer White Carol Wade Carl Bopp Robert Bopp George D. Akers Johnny Howlett Dean Cox Pam Whitesell Joel Burchett, Sr. Nick Glenn Randall Vaughan M. E. Sutphin Glenna Sutphin Jen Akers J.D. Akers Gale Grantham Jim Wallis Dayna Stewart Don Stowers Larry Morrisett Tim Powell Jeff Bain Roger Fillmore Marianna Filmore Barry Collins Diane Collins Janie Hurd Akers Jane Amburn Dave Cook Candia Cook Kaitlynn Cook Lynn Loftus Edna Loftus Jo Ann Davidson Elbert Sawyers Charles Hoback Gloria Mabe Llona Hoel Betty King John Goad Al Smith David Spangler Ronnie Burke Malinda Burke Sam Whitt Charles Hall Elmer Hanks Leona Andrews Ann King Donald Martin Katherine Martin Tom Lawley Roberta Epperly Dave Dean David Edney Linda Hall Andrew Cocke Pam Austin Joe Rees Doris Rees Tamara Farmer Ellen Farmer Renita Owens Ashley Hall Luke Fisher Michael Hall Toni Ayers David Woods Margaret Woods George Edwards Connie Clark Rickie Crandall Allen Powers Opaleen Powers Elrica Graham Gary Cox Glenna Cox Polly Mitchell Lincoln Whitaker Paul Manning Brian Grist Roger Asbury Mildred Keller John McElroy Roger Dunbar Mary Dunbar Paul Dellinger, Press Melinda Williams, Press Mayor Wade called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Councilman Clevinger led the Pledge of Allegiance and Councilman Worrell gave the Invocation. Mrs. Cruise called roll for Council and Mrs. Shelton called roll for the Planning Commission. Following roll call, Councilman Burchett moved to modify the Agenda by adding item 12a-1, Motion to rescind Hogan’s Dam property vote. Additionally, Councilman Penn moved to add a Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A-3), Acquisition of Public Property. Both motions were seconded by Councilman Talbert and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry Clevinger, II - Aye Next, Mayor Wade announced that the Employee of the Month award for May 2007, was being presented to the entire Water Treatment Plant Staff consisting of John M. Goad, William P. Johnston, John J. Crockett, Carson D. Cox, William E. Connor, Russell D. Burton, Mathew W. Smythers. He read a press release aloud and congratulated the staff and presented them with an award. The Mayor noted that in addition to this honor, the staff would receive an additional paid day off and be considered for the Employee of the Year Award in December. The next item on the agenda was Resolution 2007-07, Honoring Kaitlynn Cook. Councilman Penn moved to adopt Resolution 2007-07, Honoring Kaitlynn Cook, seconded by Councilman Talbert and carried on voice vote. Mayor Wade read the Resolution aloud, presented it to Ms. Cook and offered Council’s congratulations. At 7:20 p.m., Councilman Penn moved to enter into Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A-3), Consideration of the disposition of public property. The motion was seconded by Councilman Talbert and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye Council returned from Closed Session and adopted the Certification Resolution on motion by Councilman Talbert seconded by Councilman Penn and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye Mayor Wade moved on to Public Hearings. The first item was a continuation of a Public Hearing on Planning Commission Case 2007-01SE, concerning a request for a Special Exception for construction of a new building at 241 Randolph Avenue. Councilman Penn commented that the building would be very close to the property line and expressed concern in the case of a fire. He reminded Council that he had previously suggested that the current setback requirements be changed. Councilman Burchett commented that it appeared that the footprint of the proposed building would be very similar to the original building. Following discussion, Councilman Burchett moved to grant the Special Exception for construction of a new building at 241 Randolph Avenue, and directed to staff to draw up the appropriate paperwork, seconded by Councilman Clark and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - No Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye Mr. Hawley commented that the plans would have to be approved by the Building Inspector and the Fire Marshal before any further action could be taken by the applicant. The next item on the agenda was a joint hearing with the Planning Commission regarding a request to permit therapeutic schools for minors, residential and nonresidential, as a permitted use in the R-4 Residential District. Dayna Stewart, Vice President in Corporate Development from Camelot group, addressed Council providing a short background of Camelot. She advised that they proposed to set up a therapeutic school for minors, residential and nonresidential at Claremont School, providing evaluation services, and focusing on special needs and autism. She advised that currently, children in the area were being sent up to five hours away to get the help that they needed. She summarized the services that the school could provide. Mayor Wade opened the Public Hearing. Elrica Graham, James Wallace, Jeff Bane, Dr. Don Stowers, Joe Reese and Betty Quesenberry spoke for the proposal and asked Council to amend the zoning ordinance to allow it. Michael Smith addressed Council speaking against the proposal advising that he had provided a written copy of his concerns and asked that Council consider his concerns. He advised that he was not against the concept of the school, but did not feel that it should be in Claremont School. At 7:45 p.m., Mayor Wade closed the Public Hearing. The Planning Commission adjourned to discuss the request. Mayor Wade moved on to the Public hearing for the Comcast Cable franchise. Mr. Hawley advised that Comcast Cable was taking over Adelphia Cable and a new franchise agreement needed to be adopted. He added that staff was reviewing several model agreements and hoped to have the document ready for approval in June. He introduced Steve Pollock, Government and Public Affairs for Comcast. Mr. Pollock advised that the draft franchise agreement presented to Council contained basically the same information and language as the agreement the Town had with Adelphia Cable. He offered to answer any questions from the public or Council. Councilman Penn inquired how the company can charge a late payment fee when the bill is paid in advance? Mr. Pollock advised that the late charge does not go into effect until the service has been used. From the public, Glenn Baublitz advised that a town wide effort was being made to keep the Town neat and clean and he requested that Comcast keep the grass mowed at their office in Town. There being no further comments, the Public Hearing was closed. Mayor Wade moved on to the Public Hearing for a proposed real estate tax increase. Mr. Hawley summarized the proposed real estate tax increase and explained the reasons for the increase. At 8:00 p.m., Mayor Wade opened the Public Hearing. Jennifer White, the Executive Director for the Pulaski Theatre advised that if a tax increase was required, then she withdrew her recent request for funding for the Theatre. Mrs. White also advised that speaking as a citizen, if the tax increase was for services, then she was in support of the increase. Jane Amburn, Gayle Grantham, Charles Hoback, Glenn Baublitz, Andrew Cocke and Michael Hall spoke against the increase. They suggested deleting shoes and uniforms for the Public Works department employees, reducing the insurance benefits for employees or requiring them to pay part of the insurance bill, cutting the monies for ball parks and extras, and they suggested enticing businesses to Town and building up revenue in other ways. Mayor Wade commented that he had a heard a number of times that the Town has turned away businesses. He advised that to his knowledge, the Town has never turned away business that wanted to locate in the Town. He added that the Town works very diligently to draw businesses to Town. He advised that the Town even waives business license taxes on the first $50,000 of gross receipts to encourage business. He added that it was time for the Town and its people to pull together to help the Town. There being no further comments, the Public Hearing was closed at 8:25 p.m. The next item on the agenda was the Public Comment Period. Roger Fillmore, President of HDI Group, LLC addressed Council regarding the acceptance of the Thornspring Group, LLC proposal for Hogan’s Dam. He felt that his proposal was not given fair and equal treatment based on the requirements of the Town of Pulaski’s RFP and the Virginia Public Procurement Act. He summarized his proposal and that of the Thornspring Group and the action taken by Council. (Comments included in the original minute book). Next, Tim Clontz addressed Council advised that he had been working with a representative at Jack Nicklaus Design Golf Course to find investors to work with the property at Hogans. He advised that at 5 p.m. that day, he had received an email and a fax from an attorney in Nashville with a proposal to buy the Hogan property, and a deposit of $100,000. They asked for time to meet with Council to discuss the offer. He also advised that Russ Turpin, who has developed golf courses all over the world, was on his way to Pulaski, but could not arrive in time for the Council meeting. He added that the Town had been talking about changing our community and he felt that bringing a high dollar development such as the golf course would bring that change. He asked that Council consider the offer. The next speaker was Joel Burchett, Sr. He spoke against the sale of the Hogan property to Thornspring Group, LLC. He felt that the access to the property would be from the Draper Valley side, therefore bypassing the Town. Additionally, he expressed dismay that an offer two times higher than Thornspring’s offer had not been considered. He reminded Council that they were supposed to do what was best for the Town and do the will of the citizens. He asked them to rescind their earlier vote to sell the Hogan property to Thornspring Group, LLC. Next, Stan Moran, Managing Member of the Thornspring Group, addressed Council. He advised that his group had been working on this project since March 2006. He advised that ads were run nationwide through several avenues on August 4, 2006. He summarized the process that his group went through as required by the Town, and stressed that they met all deadlines for the RFP that were required by the Town.. He advised that their proposal included 16 of 19 highest and best uses advocated by the consultant. He advised that he looked forward to completing the project with the Town. The next speaker was Polly Mitchell. She felt that her taxes would go up because the Town was taking the lowest bid for the Hogan property. She expressed concern that they might timber the land for profit. She was against selling the Hogan property at any cost. Diane Collins asked Council who the real estate tax would go to if the land was sold. Mayor Wade advised that the currently, the tax would go to the County, however, the Town was discussing revenue sharing with the County. Jennifer White asked for a simple explanation of the problem with Hogan’s Dam. Mayor Wade advised that in 2005, an estimate of $800,000 was given to repair the dam. Since then DCR requirements have changed, so the cost would probably be closer to 1.2 or 1.3 million dollars. The Town does not wish to borrow the money to repair the dam. The Town has tried to get state and federal funding to no avail. Mrs. White asked whether both proposals offer the same points for the dam? Mayor Wade advised that two of the proposers wish to own the dam and both will protect the water. He added that those points would be covered when the contract was drawn up. There being no further comments, the Hearing closed. Mayor Wade advised that the Planning Commission had returned and asked for their recommendation on the zoning amendment. Mr. Quesenberry advised that the Planning Commission recommended unanimously that the zoning amendment be adopted as written. Councilman Talbert moved to adopt Ordinance 2007-10, Amending the Zoning Regulations to allow Therapeutic Schools as a permitted use in the R-4 Residential District. The motion was seconded by Councilman Penn and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye Next, Councilman Burchett moved to “rescind the action taken by this Council on April 3, 2007, recorded in the minutes of Council as follows: It is ‘moved that staff be directed to prepare the necessary sales agreement to sell the Hogan’s Dam property to Thornspring Group, LLC.” The motion died for lack of a second. The next item on the agenda was Ordinance 2007-09, Approving Sale of Hogan’s Dam. Mr. Hawley advised that per Council’s direction at the April 3, 2007 Council meeting, Ordinance 2007-09 was drawn up and was ready for Council’s vote. Councilman Burchett had a question regarding the language in the contract under item C. He inquired whether the language in the agreement about access to the property and to the trails where possible, was considered exacting language or would the Town wake up ten years down the road and find out we have no access to the property simply because of the way the contract was written? Mr. Eley advised that as he understood the question, it was whether the current wording guarantees the Town access to recreational use of the property? He answered, no it does not. He continued that it does say that the purchaser in this case, will use best efforts to make some trails and recreation available to the public of the Town and County of Pulaski, Virginia and will make a good faith attempt to establish a link between said trails and the national forest and Gatewood Dam and recreation areas owned by the Town of Pulaski.” So the standard is good faith and best efforts. Councilman Burchett inquired whether it would be proper to ask questions of any of the other proposers at this point? Mr. Eley responded that it was up to the Chair as to whether to entertain questions of other proposers. Councilman Burchett asked the Chair (the Mayor) to allow him to present information that he had pertaining to two other offers for public record. Mayor Wade responded no. Mr. Hawley interjected for the public’s knowledge that the Town had been threatened with litigation through newspaper articles and the Town was limited in what it could say at this point. Councilman Burchett advised that he wished to make an additional comment and would leave it at that. He said that since he was a committee member on Hogan’s Dam Proposal Committee and had direct negotiations and conversations with each party or one of its principals, he felt he had a matter of disclosure that should be made since he had knowledge of it. As a Town Council member, he felt obligated to disclose. And he added, he guessed he should leave it at that. Mayor Wade reiterated what Mr. Hawley had said regarding threatened litigation and on the advice of their Attorney, he felt that the topic had been discussed enough. They needed to find out where they were going at this point and time. He asked for a decision on the motion for the Ordinance 2007-09, Approving Sale of Hogan’s Dam. Councilman Clevinger asked whether the wording under Section H, could be amended so that the land could not be commercially logged at any time? Mr. Eley advised that Council could put any provision it wished into the document and then it was up to the purchaser whether to accept the terms. If Council chose to add the language, the amendment would have to be made during the motion. Councilman Clevinger moved to amend Ordinance 2007-09 to include the language under Section H that the land could not be commercially logged at any time. The motion was seconded by Councilman Penn and carried on the following record: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye Mrs. Fillmore asked whether she was correct that Council was “getting ready to vote on a motion to accept a proposal for $300,000 less than what was offered, when I sat here and watched a power point about and listened to citizen comments about what dire straits the Town of Pulaski is in. I just wanted to make sure that I was understanding that correctly.” Mayor Wade responded that a motion had not been made. She said that perhaps she was using the wrong terminology… “You’re considering the contract right now.” Mayor Wade responded that so far she was correct. Following several comments from the public, Councilman Worrell made a statement summarizing the steps that the Town and Council had taken with regard to the Request For Proposals for Hogan’s Dam. He advised that Council advertised a Request For Proposals, set a deadline, extended the deadline, considered the proposals, and made a decision. He explained Council’s reasoning in choosing the Thornspring LLC proposal. He stated that given the choices that were available, he had voted for the offer with less money but also with less risk for the Town.(Comments included in official minutes). He added that if he did not feel this decision was right for the Town, he would not have voted for it. Councilman Worrell moved to adopt Ordinance 2007-09 as amended, Approving Sale of Hogan’s Dam. The motion was seconded by Councilman Penn. Councilman Burchett made the following comments. Bottom line, there are three pretty straight forward phrases from real estate business. It’s not sold until it’s closed. It’s not closed until it’s signed. It is not signed. Now one thing about real estate law that I do know and I know this because I practice this every day and have been a licensed realtor in this state for five years. Until the moment of the last pen stroke on a piece of paper, you must consider – you have an obligation to consider any and all offers and represent the seller to the best of your ability to try and acquire the best possible outcome for the sale of their property. My opinion is we negotiated. I had personal conversations with Stan Moran. He’s in here. I’m certain he would verify he and I talked after the proposal. We discussed issues that I saw were issues for the Town. He spoke to me and answered my questions honestly. I respect him for that. We negotiated after his proposal. I too, spoke with Russ Turpin of Golf Services. I negotiated with them. I was in on a conference call with the Committee to study proposals on this piece of property. I gave the golf folks a chance to come in, amend their deal with the Town, give us rights to the lake. They negotiated that with us. I did not vote for Thornspring for two simple reasons. One is I didn’t think it was a good offer for the Town. Second one is I did not know the full extent of HDI’s proposal. I apologize for not having read it. I said that in the meeting. I stated that I did not vote because I did not know. It came to me after the fact. After the Tuesday vote, an article in the Roanoke Times talks about some of the details. At that point, I felt an obligation to call Mr. Fillmore personally and ask him questions regarding his offer and address what concerns I had heard from other Council members. I’m not aware of any negotiations that would have taken place between Mr. Fillmore. I was at work. I was not party to what was said. I had questions after reading his proposal. He answered them. He has presented to me financial documents to the tune of 1.6 million dollars, almost a million in cash, $600,000 guarantee in credit from BB&T in Blacksburg. Had documents from the State Corporation Commission proving that they’ve paid the proper fees to become a national LLC. I have a copy of the state document that has their name on it. We have a legal way out of this. That’s how you do business. That’s how you do real estate. I know this because I get paid to do it. If I was selling someone’s house out here and I knew somebody was coming to me at the last minute with an offer that might be better, I would have an obligation by law to the seller to investigate that third offer and enhance it to the point that… wherever it could go. I did that with each proposal. I did not do it with HDI prior to the vote and that’s all I have to say about it. They’ve got the money and we shouldn’t do this to these people. (Clerk’s note: It should be noted that Council members are not authorized to negotiate unless expressly authorized by Council. Discussions can be had by Council members. This addendum was added by amendment by Council prior to the approval of these minutes on 6-5-07.) Mayor Wade called for a vote on the motion on the table, which was to adopt Ordinance 2007-09 as amended. The motion carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - No Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye Mayor Wade moved on to Resolution 2007-06, appointments to the ARB. Mr. Hawley advised that there were two vacancies on the Architectural Review Board (ARB). He advised that Thomas A Douthat, Jr. had agreed to be reappointed to the Board and that Pam Austin had agreed to be appointed as follows: Name Term Expiration of Term Thomas A. Douthat, Jr. Four Years May 1, 2011 Pam Austin Four Years May 1, 2011 Councilman Talbert moved to adopt Resolution 2007-06, Appointments to the Architectural Review Board, seconded by Councilman Clark and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye Mayor Wade moved on to New Business. The first item was consideration of a Participation Agreement through Virginia First’s Industrial Facility Authority to the New River Valley Community Broadband Network Project. Mr. White recommended delay of consideration of the agreement until the June 5 Council meeting due to the length of the meeting. Mayor Wade commented that the document appeared to him to be another Authority. He asked that staff research the options for getting out of the Authority if the need arose. Mayor Wade moved on to National Police Week Proclamation. He asked Council if they wished to adopt the Proclamation? Councilman Penn moved to adopt the Proclamation declaring May 13-19, 2007 as National Police Week and May 15, 2007 as Peace Officers Memorial Day. The motion was seconded by Councilman Talbert and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye The next item on the agenda was the VML/VACO Steering Committee on Electricity. Mr. Hawley advised that there is a periodic amount that the Town pays the VML/VACO Steering Committee on Electricity to help negotiate electric rates. There being no questions from Council, Mayor Wade moved on to New River Valley Development Corporation tenant recruitment. Mr. Hawley advised that the item was for informational purposes and to make the business public aware of this opportunity. Mayor Wade moved on to Round Table Discussion. He advised that there had been some questions regarding whether there were citizens in Town who had paid their County taxes, but had not paid the Town taxes. He advised that the Finance Department did a random check of sixteen accounts and found that twelve were still delinquent in the County and four had paid their County taxes, but not the Town. Councilman Burchett advised that he had been asked to pass on possible code violations: 1. Corner of State Street and First Street, SW 2. 221 State Street. He thought it was 221. The porch had fallen in, so staff would be able to tell. 3. Lake and 2nd Street SW. Additionally, a group of citizens had been doing landscaping work on Main Street and requested that a valve be attached to the fire hydrant so that they could water the plants in front of the courthouse. At 9:37 p.m., there being no further comments from Council, Councilman Penn moved to enter into Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711, (A-3), Consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose. The motion was seconded by Councilman Talbert and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye Council returned from Closed Session and adopted the Certification Resolution on motion by Councilman Talbert, seconded by Councilman Penn and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Larry G. Clevinger, II - Aye There being no further business, the meeting adjourned on motion by Councilman Talbert, seconded by Councilman Penn and so carried.