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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-20-05Minutes of the Town Council meeting held December 20, 2005 at 5:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building. There were present: Charles L. Wade, Mayor Council: Jeffrey S. Worrell, Dan Talbert, Jr., Bettye H. Steger, Lane R. Penn, John T. Bolen, Joel B. Burchett, Jr. Staff: John J. Hawley, Town Manager David Quesenberry, Asst. to the Town Manager John White, Economic Development Director Bill Webb, Fire Chief Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer Dave Hart, Parks and Facilities Gary Roche, Police Chief Randolph D. Eley, Jr., Town Attorney Patricia Cruise, Clerk of Council Others: Debbie Linkous Susan Bain Gloria Surber Arnold Argenbright Cathy Coble Jane Wysor Dennis Folsom Kelly Barker, Press Paul Dellinger, Press Mayor Wade called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Following roll call, Mayor Wade advised that the first item on the agenda was a Public Hearing for the Bond Anticipation Note for Hardie site preparation. He opened the Hearing at 5:02 p.m. There being no comments the Hearing was closed. Mr. Hawley advised that because of some cost over runs of from one half to one million dollars on the railroad siding, the industrial access road, the storm water management pond, and the sewer line installation at the Hardie site, the Town was looking at additional financing. He advised that the County had agreed to add another $192,000 in addition to the two million dollars they had already supplied for the site. After research, staff had decided the best option was to issue general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed one million dollars. Following questions from Councilman Bolen, Mr. Hawley advised that the bonds were tax exempt. The rate would be 3.86% and would allow the Town to go up to one million dollars. Councilwoman Steger summarized that it would allow staff to utilize the funds on an as needed basis so that they did not have to come to Council for every bill. Additionally, it would allow the Town to only pay interest as monies were borrowed. Mayor Wade added that these monies would only be used for the Hardie project. There being no further comments, Councilman Penn moved to adopt Resolution 2005-47, Authorizing General Obligation Public Improvements Bond. The motion was seconded by Councilwoman Steger and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye John T. Bolen - No Bettye H. Steger - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye The next item on the agenda was Ordinance 2005-44, Amending Ordinance 2005-16, Permitting the retention of property by Ercell C. Rhudy by Power of Attorney Susan R. Bain and payment of cash equivalent to the Town of Pulaski. Mayor Wade opened the Public Hearing at 5:04 p.m. There being no comments, the Hearing was closed. Mr. Hawley advised that with Ordinance 2005-16, the Town agreed to swap approximately 50 acres on the old Warden Springs property for two parcels adjacent to the current Pulaski Business Park owned by Mrs. Rhudy totaling approximately 25 acres. Subsequently, the Rhudy family requested that they be allowed to pay $3,000 per acre and retain the 13.153 acre tract. Ordinance 2005-44 would allow that purchase. Councilman Penn moved to adopt Ordinance 2005-44, seconded by Councilman Talbert and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye John T. Bolen - Aye Bettye H. Steger - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Next, Councilman Bolen moved to adopt the Consent Agenda consisting of the minutes of October 18, 2005 as written, seconded by Councilman Penn and carried on voice vote. Mayor Wade moved on to Project Updates. The first item was a zoning amendment – referral of developing special regulations for cluster housing. Mr. Hawley advised that per Council’s request, the Planning Commission had reviewed cluster housing and made a recommendation that cluster housing be in the R-3 zone as an overlay district. Council will consider that recommendation at a later time. He added that staff has worked on standards for cluster housing and requested that Council send this to the Planning Commission for consideration. Councilwoman Steger moved to refer discussion of standards for cluster housing to the Planning Commission for consideration. The motion was seconded by Councilman Talbert and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye John T. Bolen - Aye Bettye H. Steger - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye The next item on the agenda was Peak Creek property of Jack Bane. Mr. Hawley advised that Jack Bane had offered to donate a lot next to Randolph Avenue Bridge to the Town. He added that Mr. Bane owed $5.94 in delinquent taxes on the property. Mayor Wade asked the Finance Director whether any taxes were due the County on the property? Ms. Boyd responded that she did not know, however, she offered to check the next day. Mayor Wade commented that if the property were to be accepted, he thought that any other liens on the property should be cleared by Mr. Bane first. Discussion ensued regarding liens that were on other property owned by Mr. Bane. Following discussion, Councilman Talbert moved to accept the donation with the following conditions: That there are no other liens or title defects on the property. That Mr. Bane understands that acceptance of this property does not forgive any other liens on other property. That the $5.94 lien on this property is forgiven in exchange for the property. The motion was seconded by Councilman Penn and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - No Lane R. Penn - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye John T. Bolen - Aye Bettye H. Steger - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - No Mayor Wade moved on to the Hogan’s Dam RFP. Mr. Hawley advised that the Review Committee met. He asked Councilman Burchett to summarize the meeting. Councilman Burchett advised that four proposals were received and reviewed. Upon review, there was found to be quite a bit of variation in the expertise and what they could offer. He added that the Committee was going to meet with each group to obtain more in depth answers before making a recommendation to Council. The next item on the agenda was survey of Peak Creek. Mr. Hawley advised that Council had previously appropriated $5,000 to survey Peak Creek. The lowest bid to complete the survey was $10,200. He added that this did not include money for the legal costs. He stated it might be possible to move a portion of the CDBG streetscape line item to cover this cost. Following discussion, Councilwoman Steger moved to direct staff to move money from the Block Grant to supplement the $5,000 that is included in the budget, to complete the survey of Peak Creek. Councilman Penn seconded the motion and it carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye John T. Bolen - Aye Bettye H. Steger - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye The next item on the agenda was a Planning grant for Magnox. Economic Development Director John White addressed Council advising that staff had been working with NanoChemotics, an industry evolving from Magnox. He advised that a meeting had been held with Todd Christensen of the Department of Housing and Community Development to discuss the possibility of a planning grant that would enable some planning work on the business feasibility of a nanotechnology park. He advised that the match for the grant would be from private sources, so no Town monies would be needed; however, he asked for Council’s authorization to host the grant. Councilman Bolen moved to direct staff to host the planning grant for nanotechnology, seconded by Councilman Penn and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye John T. Bolen - Aye Bettye H. Steger - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Councilman Worrell inquired whether Council could have a presentation in the future on nanotechnology and what exactly that is. Mr. White advised that he would ask Mr. DiNitto and Mr. Hopkins to give a presentation in the near future. Mayor Wade moved on to Ordinance 2005-45, Regarding Adult Businesses. Mr. Hawley advised that before Council was a draft Ordinance for Council’s review. He stated that the topic had been in the news recently and made staff aware that the Town has no regulation in place. In an effort to remedy this oversight, staff had drawn up a draft Ordinance. Mr. Eley, the Town Attorney explained that he took a model Ordinance that was being considered in other communities and tried to amend it to fit the needs of the Town. He suggested that Council review the Ordinance in depth before making their decision. He pointed out that the Police Chief did not wish the permit to be issued through his department. Mr. Eley advised that a decision could be made administratively as to who would issue the permit. He suggested that the Ordinance could be adopted for the short run and when the Comprehensive Zoning Plan and the Comprehensive Plan were reviewed and amended, adjustments could be made to the Ordinance if necessary. In response to a question from the Mayor, Chief Roche advised that he had some technical and procedural issues with the Ordinance and with his department issuing permits for the businesses. He stated that he was responsible along with his department, to help assure the standards, and the morals in the community and he didn’t feel that his name should be on the wall of an adult oriented business permitting its operation. Mayor Wade asked whether the department would be doing the necessary background checks for the permit? Mr. Hawley responded that all the requirements would have to be met. The business license would not be issued until all the requirements were met. Each department would sign off on their portion of the requirements and then the designated administrator would sign the actual permit. Mayor Wade confirmed with Mr. Eley that Mr. Eley was suggesting that Council adopt the Ordinance as presented, and then amend the zoning ordinance and the Comprehensive Plan at the next review. Mr. Hawley commented that the current Ordinance contained the wording that the permits would be obtained from the Chief of Police. That would need to be modified. He offered to have the language changed and bring it back to Council. Mr. Eley agreed with Mr. Hawley and added to modify the wording to put the burden on the applicant to demonstrate that all requirements have been met. Councilman Penn pointed out a typographical error in the first paragraph of the fourth page. Following discussion, Councilman Penn moved to adopt Ordinance 2005-45, An Emergency Ordinance to Provide for the Regulations and Permitting of Sexually Oriented Businesses. The motion was seconded by Councilman Bolen. Councilman Talbert confirmed that Council would look at revising the Ordinance. The Mayor confirmed the fact. The motion carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye John T. Bolen - Aye Bettye H. Steger - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye Next, Councilman Bolen advised that he had been asked by a Town tax paying citizen to ask Council to publish the delinquent tax list in the newspaper. He advised that he had been told that the Publisher of the newspaper had commented that it would not cost thousands of dollars to publish the list as had been represented by the staff. Further, that the Publisher had advised that he would charge reasonable costs and work with the Town to complete the job. Councilman Bolen moved to public the delinquent tax list in the newspaper. Councilwoman Steger asked whether staff had already hired the firm to collect the delinquent taxes? Ms. Boyd responded that the contract had been signed. Councilwoman Steger suggested waiting to see the results from that collection effort. Councilman Bolen responded that they had been waiting years. Mayor Wade affirmed that it had been a long wait, but there was now some action being taken and he suggested waiting to see the results of the collection effort before taking additional steps. Councilman Burchett commented that he would not mind having a quote as to the cost of publishing the ad. Mr. Hawley advised that staff based their estimated cost on what it had cost to run other ads with the newspaper. If the newspaper was offering to give a discounted price, staff could try to get a quote. Mayor Wade suggested that staff get an estimate from the paper and then Council could make a decision. Councilman Bolen agreed to the suggestion and the motion failed for lack of a second. Mayor Wade moved on to the Round Table discussion. The first item was Peppers Ferry Wastewater Treatment Authority. Mayor Wade suggested that the discussion be postponed because the Committee did not have a quorum at the last meeting. The next item on the agenda was a Closed Session. At 5:50 p.m., Councilwoman Steger moved to enter into Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A-1) Discussion and consideration of assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of specific public employees. The motion was seconded by Councilman Penn and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye John T. Bolen - Aye Bettye H. Steger - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye At 6:36 p.m., Council returned from Closed Session and adopted the Certification Resolution on motion by Councilwoman Steger, seconded by Councilman Penn and carried on the following recorded vote: Jeffrey S. Worrell - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Dan Talbert, Jr. - Aye John T. Bolen - Aye Bettye H. Steger - Aye Joel B. Burchett, Jr. - Aye There being no further business, the meeting adjourned on motion by Councilman Bolen, seconded by Councilwoman Steger and carried on voice vote.