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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11-01-88November 1, 1988 8431 Minutes of the xegular meeting of the Pulaski Town Council held November 1, 1988, at 4:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers inthe Municipal Building. There .were present: Vice Mayor James R. .Neighbors, presiding Council!.Members: .James M. Neblett, Alma H. Holston, Mary Lou Copenhaver Andrew L. Graham, W. H. Schrader, Jr., J. R. Schrader, Jr. Also Present: Frank Terwilliger, Town Attorney .Daniel E. McKeever, Town_Manager Anne Burgess,. Assistant Town .Manager Ruth A. .Harrell, Clerk Visitors: Dee Lindsey and Bob Thomas of the news media Bill Hager Mr. Randolph Mr. and Mrs. Paul Sowers Mr. and Mrs. Bill .Martin Mr. and Mrs. Gresham Nick Glenn 4 Area Citizens The invocation was given by Councilman J. R. Schrader. Councilperson Holston made a motion that the minutes of the regular meeting of October 18,1988, be approved as submitted, .seconded by Councilperson Copenhaver and carried. Vice Mayor Neighbors stated that .next on agenda was the public hearing regarding proposed ordinance to amend Section 29, water and sewer systems of the Town Code. PUBLIC HEAR. Mr. Bill Hager addressed Council regarding this ordinance, expressing he felt WATER & the fees were too high, a lot of things not fair, and asked for explanations of various SEWER sections of the proposed ordinance. Members of Council, Mr. Terwilliger and Mr. McKeever answered Mr. Hager's concerns as he went through the ordinance. It was expressed that the water and sewer fees are not designed to pay for capital expenditures; the connection fees are a one-time charge; the water and .sewer funds are .self-supporting, and Council had given a lot of time and thought to this proposed ordinance. Councilman W. H. Schrader moved that the water and sewer ordinance be adopted with attached fees and with the effective .date of November 15, 1988. Motion seconded by Councilperson Copenhaver and carried on the following vote: ORDINANCE James M. Neblett - Aye Andrew L. Graham - Aye ADOPTED Alma H. Holston - Aye W. H. Schrader, Jr. -Aye Mary Lou Copenhaver -Aye J. R. Schrader, Jr. -Aye James R. Neighbors - Aye Ira S. CRawford - Absent ORDINANCE AMENDING TOWN CODE PROVISIONS DEALING WITH WATER AND SEWER SERVICES BE IT ORDAINED by the Town Council of the Town of Pulaski, Virginia, sitting in .regular .session on November 1, 1988, that Chapter 29 of the Town Code be, and hereby is amended and .redesignated as Chapter 17 of the Town Code and adopted in the form attached .hereto. ` BE IT FURTHER ORDAINED that the schedule of fees. attached .hereto bg and hereby is, adopted. .Said schedule will be published separately from the Code with copies to be .kept in the office of the Clerk of Council and the Town Treasurer and made available to the. public upon .request. This Ordinance is effective as of November 15, 1988, and is adopted this 1st day of November, 1988, by .recorded vote of the Town Council. 8432 November 1, 1988 STREET NAME In .hearing from the. public, George Taylor, Hill Street, requested that Council not change the name of Hi11 Street to High Street, that is now under consideration due to the 911 emergency telephone number. He did state that fire and police personnel had trouble locating houses on Hill Street. Councilman Graham so moved this item be put on agenda for next meeting to enable committee to review, seconded by Counci:Lperson Holston and .carried. Mr. Nick Glenn addressed Council .regarding the .parking lot on .Main Street. Parking He requested that before the final work starts on this lot, the Church and property Lots owners be made aware of this proposal so they .can review. Also, he requested that lights be installed at the First Street Parking Lot and asked for a police drive through .between the hours of 5:00 - 6:00 p.m. Mr. Glenn also stated that the Fire .Department did a tremendczus job during the two fires experienced .recently. Overton Mr. Paul Sowers, Overton Drive,. again addressed Council regarding the .water Drive overflow situation on Overton Drive, and asked that Council .make a study of this problem. It was reported that the Town Manager and Vice .Mayor had toured the area and it was recommended that the Staff be authorized to prepare a study and bring it .back to Public Operations Committee for their review. Councilman W. H. Schrader so moved that authorization be given to .make this study, and refer it to the Public Operations Committee for follow-up, seconded by Council- person Holston and .carried. There .being no further comments from the public, Vice .Mayor .Neighbors called for Council Committee .Reports. UTILITIES COMMITTEE Chairman Neblett had no .report. Mr. McKeever gave an update on .pending pro- jects, stating that the water line improvement from raw .water pump station to the plant is about 18 percent complete; the pump station is about 25 percent complete; the water plant contract .has documents signed, bonds .have been verified and orders have-been placed for equipment to be installed; the Oakhurst water line is probably more than 50 percent complete. ORDINANCE COMMITTEE Co-Chairman W. H. Schrader .had no .report. PUBLIC & PERSONNEL RELATIONS, NOMINATING COMMITTEE Chairman Neighbors had no .report. PUBLIC OPERATIONS COMMITTEE Chairman Graham advised that committee .had met October 26. Chairman Graham reported that Mr. Nick Glenn appeared .before the committee stating he appreciated the police foot patrols in the downtown area. Mr. Glenn .had stated that there is still a problem with street people and asked whether anything could be done to solve. this problem. The committee felt that administration could handle the matter. Chairman Graham stated they .were briefed on the traffic signal lights. At TRAFFIC present there are five traffic lights and staff .recommends that four signals be installed in such a manner that they would accommodate two .way traffic or one .way (CENTRAL (BUSINESS DISTRICT traffic. Chairman Graham stated that Mr. McKeever brought up the fact that a consul- tant had .been hired to make a study of our traffic flow in downtown Pulaski. Chairman Graham .was unaware that these consultants had .been hired and that bond money was being used to pay for it. He stated it .was his understanding that any contract that invovled monies, etc. from the town, Council .had to approve and questioned why this was nat brought before Council. Mr. McKeever stated that contract .had not been signed; they were authorized to do a study for us. Chairman Graham stated that Council took no action on this and did not believe November 1, 1988 8433 :~ WATER ~~ J bond money should be used for a study. Mr. McKeever stated that we .have asked the State Urban Engineer what would be involved to install the traffic signals to accommodate whatever traffic flow changes that might occur in the future. To date, we do not .have a response. The activity on this situation started .back in 1986 at the direction of Council. The consultant's report is valuable .because we are .making significant downtown improvements and this is part of part of the bond money (downtown improvements). The final .report does not provide any improved flow. Traffic flow is rated by the State of Virginia as A through F with .level A being the .best traffic flow. No matter what we do under the four alternatives that the report examines, we will always .have level service A. The Public Operations Committee .was asked if we could consider installing the traffic signals in a matter that, in the future, the traffic flow in the downtown got to such a level that it would .require some change, we would already be prepared for that change. The report also recommends that we go to a two way system of traffic. This report is only based on the people who are not residents but visitors or shoppers, have to go to the western part of town to get to .center Main Street. It is a matter of access as opposed to traffic and flow. If we change from the way we are today, the Duncan Bridge intersection will require major reconstruction. We could request that this be programmed into the Urban Construc- tion Fund as the traffic signal system, Commerce Street Bridge or the Pinnacle Street Crossing. Chairman Graham asked for status of water problem in Longview Court. Mr. McKeever reported that Mrs. Long was still getting sediment in her water. A flow off valve had been installed at the hydrant and water blown off on a regu r basis but this did not relieve her problem. We found. 4-5 breaks within a 4 ft. span of line. Fire hydrant at other end was also blown off but high turbidity still found at fire hydrant, meter and at the other end at the flow off valve. It was .felt that the best option .was to take the entire line out and put in anew 2" plastic line. Two quotes will be obtained and work will be done under routi,~e maintenance. It was .recommended that a 4" line be installed due to the .water pressure problems that they are experiencing also. Attention should also be focused at 9th Street, off .Randolph Ave., 5th St., and Madison and at Billington's, as it appears that lines are broken in these areas. FINANCE COMMITTEE Chairman Crawford absent. MAYOR'S REPORT Mayor Hancock absent. TOWN ATTORNEY'S REPORT Mr. Terwilliger had no .report but did .have a matter to discussin Executive Session. TOWN MANAGER'S REPORT Mr. McKeever distributed a leaf pick-up schedule which is to .begin November 7 and continue until December 16. In an update regarding the closing of t-he landfill, Mr. McKeever advised that we are putting the top soil on now and it is hoped we will .meet the schedule. There are still routine maintenance things that we have to do. The annual public hearing for the issuance of taxi permits was scheduled for December 6, 1988, 4:00 p.m. on motion .made by Councilman Neblett, seconded by Councilman Graham and .carried. HEALTH Mr. McKeever advised that distributed .was a copy of notice of intent to purchase INSURANCE employee health insurance. The specifications distributed are those that we are currently covered under. It .was .necessary for the Council to declare an exemption from .sealed competitive procure for the reasons outlined, competitive sealed bidding is not practical; the absence of vendors of professional services willing to submit the 8434 ENCROACH- MENT ~ EMPLOYEES I COUNCIL RETREAT November 1, 1988 competitive sealed bidding render the Town unable to obtain the best product for the lowest price. Councilman Neblett made a motion to .declare the exemption from competitive .sealed bidding, .seconded by Councilperson Copenhaver and .carried. A notice will have to be posted. Mr. McKeever .had distributed a letter from .Terry Coble, 3 10th Street, NW, advising that a hedge surrounding, his property is on Town property. Mr. Coble requested that we .permit this encroachment. Mr. .Terwilliger did not feel that we had to advertise this encroachment as it is not .permanent encroachment. Mr. Coble desires to relocate this .hedge. Mr. Glenn requested that a stop sign at this location be reviewed also. The Public Operations Committee will .review this encroachment. Council .Members .were given two .Personnel Operating Procedures governing workers compensation claims and employee .safety. Council W. H. Schrader x ecommended a member of Council or Mayor sit on the Loss Review Committee and the Management Loss Review Committee. Mr. McKeever advised the .retreat .was scheduled for this weekend. Information regarding this event distributed. At 5:23 p.m. Councilman Neblett made a motion that Council go into Executive Session on a legal .matter, 2.1-344 (A6), seconded by Councilman W. H. Schrader and carried. At 5:31 p.m. Council returned to xegulas session on motion made by Councilman W. H. Schrader, .seconded by J. R. Schrader and carried. Mr. .Terwilliger confirmed to the Council that the Town has been negotiating PEPERS through .Peppers Ferry as its agent, with English Construction, for the repair of FERRY - Pump Station 4A. The Town .had indices ed earlier that these negotiations to .get the VIBRATION job repaired in the fastest manner possible would be attempted prior to notifying PROBLEM the bonding company. The .negotiations did x each a point where no progress is being ~1~. made, so, in accordance with Council's earlier instructions, he proceeded to contact Mr. Maus that Peppers Ferry, as our agent, notify Seaboard Surety Co. that we were looking to them to ehlp xesolve this problem;. and that we are looking to them in accordance with the .terms of the bond. A letter went out Friday requesting that they furnish us within .seven .days a timetable for maki;~g the. repairs and putting them on notice that since this problem .has gone on, and since there is a potential that if we get any flood conditions at the pump station we would have .severe problems. That we would treat this .matter as an emergency item if it becomes necessary for us to procure our own contractor. They would then be responsible for any cost incurred. The bonding company has been notified officially to get involved in the situation. At 5:35 p.m. on motion made by Councilman Neblett, seconded by Councilman W. H. Schrader and .carried, Council adjourned. APPROVED: Attest: Clerk Vice .Mayor Neighbors