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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-22-834 ~~ Minutes of a ,Special Meeting of the Pulaski Town Council held March 22, _.,1983,_ at ;7:00 p.m. in ,the Council Chambers in the Municipal. Building. Thexe, were present: Mayor Raymond ~' . Ratcliffe, presiding , Councilmembers: John A.Johnston, Pauline G.Mitchell, Earl D. Cabaniss, C. E. Boyd, Jr. Andrew L. Graham, Jr., Ira S. Crawfoxd, Alma H. Holston, Glen K. Aust Also: pr.es.ent; G~rne,tt:-Moore, Town Attorney .. H. R. Coake,.Town Manager ; . Ruth A.Harrell, Clerk Visitors: :~ Shadroui, WDBD Television Jr. Dee Lindsey, George of ;the News Media William. L.;~ate Robert A. Hudson C. W. Hickam, Jr. William B. Sanders, Mrs. Patty Williams Paul Cox. Charles Bushong Ann Koch Approximately 60 area citizens The invocation was given by Councilman Aust. Mayor Ratcliffe stated it was nice.to see so many fine citizens at DISCUSSION ,this meeting. This, meeting .was not supposed to be a public hearing, but OF that was what it turned out; to be. The,.motion had.. been made at our last CONSOLIDATION Council Meeting that we have a meeting tonight in .order to discuss with our Attorney the legal aspects of the Consolidation Agreement. Courtesy extended to the visiting citizens to make whatever remarks .they wanted to make. .Councilman Boyd made a motion that_our three representatives on the Advisory Board Committee be given .the opportunity t,o answer whatever questions that might be coming on the minds of our,Councilmembers and I think they will answer the majority of the questions that citizens might have, seconded by Councilman Crawf ord and: so carried.. Mayor Ratcliffe asked Council if they had questions they would like ro address to the three.representati,ves. [; Councilman Boyd questioned the low income .housing, FmHA for shires of Dublin, Pulaski and the County. Mr. Tate answered that the head of FmHA has been contacted and he advised. that not only will there be no changes, but one benefit to the citizensof the Town of Pulaski, if it bocomes a .shire of Pulaski in a consolidated county and .that is they will no longer be in a densely populated area that does not qualityfor FmHA loans. If consolidation goes through, the entire citizens of consolidated county of Pulaski will be eligible for Farmers Home Administration loans. Mr. Tate feels there will be many side benefits due to consolidation. Councilman Aust asked Mr. Hickam, in Exhibit "B", it shows that our revenue would be $657,530. In Exhibit "D", it shows that the expenditures will. be $657,530. Mr. Aust believed he was correct in .stating that the chairman stated that the 207 deduction which amounts to six cents per hun- dred was coming from the arninga of the interest on the bonds that we had in the bank. If we do this, how can be balance the, $6.57,530 with that $75,000 being in it. Mr. Hickam stated that audit reports had. been studied. They hid noticed and forgotten about the down having money that they put in various banks that draw interest that is excess money. Because of the cash flow, Town ,always has so many CD's out. They did: not include the money for those CD's in the original calculations. The $75,000 re- flects the interest that the;Town would obtain,fro~ CD's. that they have. Councilman Aust stated that have this amount listed in Exhibt.'~B" as being revenue. If we lose this $75,000, which we will in 18 months, how is the shire of Pulaski going to get it back to operate under the $675,000 Mr. Hickam replied that this is a first year budget proposed, that you gain $75,000 from interest. and cut the taxes by $75,000, it is balances. Council- man Aust stated that by the time we get through paying Pepper';s Ferry, etc. and this money is not there, where is the $75,000 coming from. Mr. Hickam -`~ S ~ March 22, 1983 ( ~~•~~ replied it would still be from CD's and. la ter on we would have different budgets that would have to be analyzed. Each year it would be entirely different. This is a guide- line for the very first year. .The. taxes for the Town of Pulaski for the extra services which mainly are full time firemen, street lights, street .maintenance, and law enforcement. Councilman Aust further stated that the biggest thing he was concerned about was taking the $75,000 out to get the six cents off. If we spend the money, and we don't have the $75,000 coming in, where is it coming from two years from now. Mr, Hickam replied that the Town has always obtained interest from excess money. Things will change year-in and year-out. Mr. Hudson advised that this was based on 8~, interest. Councilman Graham asked interest does not include the $700,000 plus we have ear- marked for Peppers Ferry, with Dr. Hickam replying it was a separate fund. He stated certain funds will be kept separate and accountable. Councilman Graham questioned the .ARC money we have set aside for special projects in the Town, are they counting that. Mr, Tate stated that the ARC was not counted. Councilman Crawford stated this was the interest that was earned off money on taxes we have collected and not spending until later in the ,year. Mr. Hickam stated they took one date so all three jurisdictions had the same date. All the numbers are based upon the same starting date. Councilman Graham questioned the 8~ of the $78,000 - we have-about a million and one- half, about half of this is for Peppers Ferry, $100,000 cemeteries, and he cannot get $78,000 out of this., as he sees it. He doesn't see how they come up with $78,000. Councilman Johnston questioned on the debts of the Town of Pulaski and Dublin should be assumed by the Consolidated County of Pulaski. He was wondering what are the legal ramifications, if any, in terms of the Town of Pulaski, which has just indemnified for the County of ,Pulaski about $2.3 million dollars for Peppers Ferry, We did this because the county was not able under the legislation of the Code of Virginia. Is it legal that the county consolidated government could take over these guarantees which Peppers Ferry vitally needs. Mr. Hickam stated-that on the debts, the contract states that each person is responsible for the debts that they had. Councilman Johnston stated this was a guarantee that if anything happens to the muni- cipality of Pulaski County, if somebody backs out, we have guaranteed that much of it. Money will be there to protect the investors that buy bonds, etc. If Town can make this kind of obligation, and is no longer a town, the.. county has that obligation, and he is wondering if they can legally have that obligation; not whether they are willing to take it, but will that not affect our standing because they can't accept. Mr. Moore stated that no one, until we mentioned it in here, knew about it as far as he knew. Mr. Moore has no woxries about it. It is the same thing as the Town owes an obligation and it will be paid from the Town's assets, if the Town ever has to. If it goes into the County, that is not like the County to have to have a referendum, that will be an obligation. Dur guarantee just-goes to the point where bonds will be sold and then thewhole thing will be paid off. This is starting up funds that the Authority had to have. Councilman Graham-stated we are negotiating with the County now on a portion of the line from here to Fairlawn, amount to several hundred thousand dollars in the Countyk•s part - do you foresee any difficulties in Pulaski shire negotiating that after the facts, etc. Mr. Hickam stated no, and hopes they do it before. Mayor Ratcliffe stated•that if Pulaski County made these guarantees it would have to go through a referendum. Councilperson Holston asked if the Pulaski Shire would still get their revenue sharing, or would this go to the County. Mr. Hickam advised that revenue sharing would go to the County. It would go to the general fund for the County to operate from. Counci'Lperson Holston also questioned the debts due to the Town of Dublin,Pula3d and County, that debts due to us, $41;478.79, that this money will go to the County; and debts due us will go to the consolidated government, Mr. Hickam advised that credit will be given to the different shires. The $41,000 referred to is back taxes and does belong-to the~Tawn of Pulaski and-will be given credit to the shire of Pulaski. Councilperson Holston stated that doesn't seem to be what it says. She also stated that Mr .'Hudson had spent three hours with her going over the consolidation, and she-had asked the question about utility taxes to the county. She stated that Mr, Hudson advised it was included, but she could not find it. She knows now that the county pays a utility tax, but when we consolidate, the county does not pay a utility tax? Mr. Hudson advised that what we were taking about was the yield under utility taxes named a figure of $78,530. This is the yield, in the difference that the people in the shire of Pulaski pay above what the people in the county would pay and the shire of Dublin. This additional amount is returned to the shire of Pulaski as a credit, '7~ ~4 March 22, 1983 Councilperson Holston questioned again, does the county pay a utility tax or is this a tax only on the residents of the Town. Mr. Hickam stated that all three juris- dictions had,a utility tax. The utility tax in the. Town of Pulaski is higher than the other jurisdictions. The Town collects about one-quarter million dollars. worth of utility tax. Of this, the Town charges a higher rate and this high rate will be given back as credit to the shire of Pulaski which amountato $78,530; It was answered that "yes" the county would have a utility tax. Councilman Graham .stated that we have. $250,000 estimated for utility tax and as he-understands it, the consolidated government will take it all and will return $78,000 to the Pulaski shire. Mr. Hickam stated this was correct. This is the equal amount of what the other two would pay, County and Town of Dublin. Councilman Boyd asked Mr. Hudson to address the subject of our Police Department and alto pay rates of our new Police Department. Mr. Hudson stated the shire of Pulaski shows 13 additional law enf orcement officers, $195,000. There are 9 other officers that come from Town's population based on state's formula so the shire .would actually have 22 people assigned to it. At. this. time, the Town has 29 law enf orcement officers.. The difference on this is 7. Those 7 people are the Chief, supervisory people and communications people. As far as the actual law enforcement officers in the shire of Pulaski, it appears-that it .would be as .equal or better, under consolidation. Councilman Crawford on clarification,. that Mr. Hudson was actually saying that the actual number, of ;people we have out on the streets doing the job is going to stay the same. Mr. Hudson said it should be the same or better. Mr. Hudson also stated the 7 reductions would be in, supervisory and communication personnel. Councilman Johnston questioned there are 9 duputies now that are. in the Pula County Sheriff's Department that are assigned there based on the Town Pulaski's population, but those people are not now ser~zing the Town of Pulaski. Mr. Hudson stated he did not formulate the laws for the State of,Virgina as to. how they are allocated to the Sheriff's Department. They are allocated through population and the Town of Dublin and Pulaski is included in that population. He also stated that he did not believe Chief McKeever would want the duputies from the county patrolling his streets. I would be wanting to operate my Police,Depart- ment the way Town Council wants it operated. Councilman Johnston feels we are losing some police protection ,under this plan. Councilman Graham stated that some of, the supervisors patrolled also during their shift as part of our police protection for Town and asked if they were. going to eliminate considerable amount of that. Mr. Hudson stated we were really not eliminating because it would be picked up in the Sheriff's Dept. The super- visory situation would be still in place, He also stated there was. a very wide margin between.-the pay scales under consolidation. Councilman Graham questioned the money we get fromthe state (33?) with the duputies within the shire of Pulaski, .will we receive an equal amount of dollars to support our police per patrolman or for duputy as those out in the county. Mr. Hud50fl answered yes. Mr. Hudson Stated that a lieutenant in the Pulaski Police Dept. makes approxi- mately $16,700. As a lieutenant in the Sheriff's Dept., he would make $21,000. A sergeant makes approximately $15,800-16,000 in the Pulaski Police Dept. and in the Sheriff's Dept. he makes $19,000. An investigator in the Pulaski Police Dept. makes $10,600 starting out, and in the Sheriff's Dept. he makes $19,000. A Patrol- man in the Townof Pulaski $11,000; a Deputy in the County makes $15,000. The committee was very concerned about personnel, especially to decrease., is something that they don't like to do, but that is what consolidation is about. He feels that if they do their job, and the Town does its job in .educating employees, .that they have. equal rights to apply for every job that is offered as far as the basic departments are concerned. Employees will find th at the job in the new consolidated county (if it comes about) their pay increases would be significant. This is a very important aspect as it leads to less turnover; when you have less turnover, the Town spends less money in training new employees. He feels that one of the real problems that government is faced with today, especially operating under a shoestring budget, you want to employ a more qualified person, but if you let that person go that you are paying a low salary, who-are you going to get to take the job. He thinks if we don't have consolidation, the-Town of Pulaski is possibly faced with future-tax increases very shortly,. or remove some, employees. They are concerned about every Town employee.. This is why they put the $2,000 in the contract for dislocated employees. [' C March 22, 1983 ~~~~~ Councilman Graham questioned were salaries based on the same classification entry level for both Town and County. Mr. Hudson's reply was yes. Mr. Moore stated salaries for county Law enforcement officers were set by the Compensation Board in Richmond. Mr. Hudson stated it was a significant salary increase in law enf oreement and he felt it was pertiment to bring this out at this time. Mr. Hickam stated that under consolidation, most of these gentlemen would get a $3,000 to $4,000 raise and still would come up with the savings that they forecasted. Commenting on the 58 full time people that would lose their jobs, Mr. Hudson stated that on the Police Dept., we have now three Chiefs, consolidation will have one Chief,' so we lose two Chiefs, lose a Captain, two Lieutenants, four Sergeants, a few Investigators and seven Dispatchers. There will be just one central location for dispatching. In the report, it shows zero loss of Duputies. The shire of Pulaski gets credit for the nine Deputies in the calculation. He also stated that Mr. Coake's position would be eliminated; there would be one building department; engineering budget is greater than what it is today. In hig hway maintenance,-would have 20 people working in shire of Pulaski. Actual loss of eight. Dn general property, there would be a loss of three, (21 to 18 on general properties). In central garage would lose only one person. Landfills has six people working and this would go from six to five. In purchasing, it only takes one man to do all the purchasing, with purchases. amounting to $1,300,000 spent by all three jurisdictions. Councilman Graham questioned if the landfill would be used up more rapidly by the county with burden being on the Pulaski shire. Mr. Hickam stated it would be on the county; because the county is really responsible for landfills. Mr. Tate advised Dr. Johnston that he had the same concerns about the police protection for the citizens of the Town of Pulaski. He could not make the figures come out to his satisfaction, and he personally visited Frank Conner, asking .him some direct questions. They have, what Mr. Tate calls a mobile unit; they do not have patrolmen. He asked will we have the same level of service as far as street patrols and Sheriff Conner had replied "absolutely". Sheriff Conner had stated that they were qualified to investigate automobile accidents and do this every day. Regarding the radar unit, they do not do it, but Sheriff Conner's men could take training and if consolidation came in, they would be qualified to operate it. He had also stated to-Mr. Tate that the level of police protection in the shire of Pulaski would not only be equal to present protection, but much better. Councilman Aust asked Mr. Tate if Mr. Conner's men would resign just like ours would and they would be picked at random. Mr. Tate .replied he thought they were a little bit premature when they said everybody would be required to submit their resignation. They have changed this. Those employees of the Town of Pulaski, Town . of Dublin and Pulaski County-who are not employed by the consolidated Pulaski County, if consolid ation goes though, will not actually be asked to resign; they just will not have employment as of January., 1, 1984. Sheriff Conner's men will put in applica- tions just like our Town men. Mr. H}ckam stated .there were three extra men on the transition team, on police personnel. Me also stated that seniority dates would be carried with the empaoyee, and employee would have the choice of keeping ha retire- ment as he now has it or to take the county retirement. Mr. Tate stated he believed Mr. Aust's question was answered in section 24, paragraph 5 "in matters pertaining to the additional staffing required in the Sheriff's Dept, for the Consolidated County, The Chief of Police for the Town of Dublin and Pulaski shall serve as additional members of the transition team in formulating the. team's recommendation for staffing the additional law enf oreement positions created by consolidation". Councilman Aust stated: he was very concerned about our people. Mr. Tate advised that he shared in Mr. Auat's concern. Councilman Graham asked about the six special investigators; 2 in county, 3 in Townof Pulaski and one in Dublin and this would be cut in half. Will this be more productive investigation. Mr. Tate answered he could not answer specifics, he could not tell what is going to be better as far as law enforcement is concerned, but he has been assured by Mr. Conner that it was going to be better. It was doted that there is a misprint in the agreement and there should be one more investigator in the report. Councilman Aust noted that our Fire Depa~'tment would-stay the same and he was advised that this was correct. Councilperson Mitchell stated that the shire of Pulaski pays for the additional firemen that we were keeping on. Mr. Tate said this was correct. Reimbursement for county calls will be better than it is today. Mr. Tate advised that he would not say ~y. March 22, 1983 `~`~ ~~ there might not be changes as far as consolidating the Fire Departments later on. As our Advisory Committee ,looked at the~job that was given them to formulate a contract for the consolidation of the two Towns and the County, they tried to take what was there, leave it intact, and:put together a contract as integral as they could with the thoughts that there may be changes made that would be more effective after the consolidation came into being. They have taken what is there and have formulated this contract based on figures that were supplied them, the expertise and concerns that were expressed to them and Mr. Tate wanted to pay Council a compliment - the concern that Council had given them; first in our letter to them in November and finally through the Mayor's assistance on the Advisory Committee and through the .meetings they have .had, have made this contract a much more workable contract than it .was without Council's help and expertise. They have appreciated Council's help and have a stronger contract because of it. For Mayor Ratcliffe, and each .Council member, they extended their congratulations and appreciation for the help. Councilman Boyd stated that a lot of citizens are concerned with the 18 months freeze on the tax rate that will be set and also the water and gaxbage rates. He asked how they arrived at 18 months. Mr. Tate stated that what brought it about were the concerns of the citizens of Dublin who are somewhat under the gun as far as water rates from the Public Service Authority. They have a contract that has just been raised a small amount. The rates that the citizens of_Dublin are paying today are not equal to the cost of the pro- duction of the water.- This contract .expires. in August, 1983.. It was anticipated at that time that the Public Service Authority would try to negotiate higher rates and then come back immediately to get the rates of the citizens of Town of ,Dublin up to at least pay for the cost of producing the water that .they are using. In order to relieve their fears and treat them in a more. equitable manner, an arbitrary figure of 18 months was felt to be fair. Mr. Tate stated ,four criteria of the committee - in looking at the formulation of .this contract, they were going to be honest, fair and above board, and they were going to seek adviEe and .help of knowledgeable people. Those are the things they tried to live up to. Councilman Graham questioned if the 18 months covered real estate and property taxes. Mr. Tate answered not personal property, but real estate. Councilman Graham questioned how we got the extra six months. Mr. Tate stated we would have the benefit of the additional .six months.. Real estate taxes are set on calendar. year. Mr. Tate had asked three attorneys if it were possible for them to be set on a six month interval, without a definite answer. Councilperson Mitchell asked if we were keeping 13 in Town of our Police. Mr. Hudson replied there would be 13 additional positions added to the Sheriff's Dept. which would be for the shire of Pulaski. Councilperson Mitchell further asked if we get nine more deputies and duputies are already on the payroll. As she under- stands it, the duputies are based on every 2,000 population. We have 10,000 in the population of Pulaski, how do we get nine deputies when there are only five. Mr. Hudson stated this was not definitely correct .because the Sheriff's Department right now has 49 employees and there are 35,000 people in the county. There would be an additional 22 duputies created in the entire Sheriff's Department; out of this, 13 is for the shire of :Pulaski in addition to the 9 that .the Town has provided under the state formula. Councilperson Mitchell asked if this picked up any extra money from the State for these people. Mr. ,Hudson advised that nine of the people come under the State compensation plan. Mr. Moore stated this was a question that might have been overlooked in look~.ng for savings.; The County would come under the general law., The general law provides the method in which deputies will be allowed to coun- ties. He sees no reason why next year, after the first one, that you would not petitign for what we need under the general law that establishes the number per county. Councilman Crawf ord stated that we seem to get caught in some "Witty-gritty" .;,about the utility tax, revenue sharing, sales tax, who gets what and what alloca- tion goes where. If we go to consolidated. government, we do become one government. .This can be put into prospective. If you look at the Town of Pula 3+z for year ended in June, we had revenues of $2,200,000; expenditures of $2,176,000. If this is related to what is happening now, the share of Pulaski's revenue ,of $657,000 versus expenditure of $b57,000, he thinks you can see what is happening. Some things are going up in the county, but our basic portion is actually reducing and staying in the shire of Pulaski. u March 22, 1983 ~t,~~~ Councilperson Mitchell stated they were talking about eliminating the position of Town Manager, but this does not eliminate a position because he will probably be in another position. He could be put in a position that has not been addressed in this charter. Mr. Hickam advised that now we have three people heading up three governments. You would have one government and one head. Mayor Ratcliffe stated that we could not take time to try to direct where each individual is going to be. Councilman Boyd stated that the committee had looked at going to a BPOL type tax which would be one tax for merchants, professional people, etc. Mr. Hudson advised they had a feasibility study made for BPOL tax and this is the first time that a BPnL tax has been established where every business or professional person has been put into it based on a fair, equitable percentage as to state guidelines. As of right now, the County has a merchant's capital tax which is based on inventory.. This tax would be eliminated and the BPOL tqx would be the only tax that would be levied on any business people in the county. He brought to Council's attention a discrepancy in the present BPOL tax. Mr. Moore stated this was a matter of interpretation of what is a professional and what is an urndertaker. Mr. Hudson stated that Dr. Knapp was widely known throughout the State for compiling BPOL revenue and he received all his inf ormation from the Town of Pulaski. Councilman Johnston asked if there was anything in the agreement that could not be immediately changed by the new Board of Supervisors as might be elected after consoli- dation. Mr. Tate advised that this answer from legal counsel, was that those matters that are of a constitutional nature cannot be changed except by either a referendum oi~ an act of legislature. Example: anything dealing with rates, special taxing districts. Mr. Tate also stated that they looked at what they had to work with today, looking down the road they see a great many more savings than were indicated in the contract. They have come up with one hidden today; that is, as far as the Farmers Home Administration. Councilman Johnston further stated he was trying to picture in his mind a seven member Board. of Supervisors who, five years from now, are looking at tremendous, in terms of tens of millions of dollars of necessary costs that we-are going to have within the County in terms of sewage service for the customers. Thosethings bother. him in light of the fact of what he sees in the contract is a broader base of utility paying people, mainly the Town of Pulaski broadening the base of a utility department'by changing the concept of the agreement., Councilman Johnston further stated we wish the county well, but he, personally, wished no part of a sewer system for the county of Pulaski and he sees this as a necessary cost of tens of millions of dollars. Mr. Tate advised this in his judgment; would come under the constitutional.sec~ion of the contract, that are set in concrete. Councilperson Mitchell asked if anytime they feel. they want to make change, it will have to come to a referendum.' Mr. Tate answered no. It depends on what change is acid what it pertains to as far as the contract. Ordinances can be changed .Councilperson Mitchell stated she was talking about down the road; PSA that is in debt, or putting in .the sewer system for the County of Pulaski. Mr. Tate stated those were utility rates, and this would not go to a ref erendum. This applies only to class five customers. Three and four are also connected to the Public Service Authority. Councilperson Mitchell asked if there was any way the Town of Pulaski would ,ever be pulled in to pay on the Public Service Authority or the sewer system for the Countyouf Pulaski, with Mr. Tate stating it was his understanding that the citizens of the shire of Pulaski, if, in fact, they have a consolidated county, will pay the utility rates under class one and two as designated by this contract. .They do not allow for their participa- tion in paying off the debts of the Public Service Authority. Councilman Graham stated that the boundaries- of such service districts may be altered from time to time by ordinance of the governing body duly adopted after a :public hearing. Would this change one class of customer to become another class in the future? Mr.. Tate stated this would depend on where the boundaries may be changed. He does not feel the intent is there. Without knowing where the boundaries are, he did not feel he could answer this question. If they fall within the area-where the Class 2 customers now are served by .the Town of Pulaski but are outside the corporate limits, they would remain in that Class. If they are being served by the Public Service Authority they would continue to be served by the Public Service Authority. He felt this was somewhat a hypothetical question and pretty difficult to answer. ~~~~ March,. 22, 1.983 Councilman Auat 3;tated.we cannot obligate another governing body two. or three.. years from now... Mr .. Mogre advised-"thiscouncil", a~dthat they could in .some inatanees- Mr.. Tate stated they: had set the utility customers as such. He does not think this aan be,changed except,by set of the, General Assembly. Mr. Ault stated for example; all this sales tax money years ago, the governing bodies-that come in and can cut a couple of times; the same thing can happen. Mr. Moore stated that you let franchisee to Appalachian, .andtelephane.for 20,years, anc~ those„are binding, It depends on what you are talking about. Special service districts are districts that may be altered from time to time by ordinance by the governing body duly adopted after a public hearing. He-feels you could not operate if we did not. All. the shopping centers that might come into the shire,_ Mr .,Hu,dson made the.f ollowing closing statement;. Mayo.r.Ratcliffe, and Members Qf Town Council - I wish to take this opportunity to thank ,you for. the honor to serve you and our town in the preparation of the Consolidation.Contr.act.. Many hours have been,~spent by-the entire committee of nine to gather the pe~~inentrfacts..f or, what I feel is honestly a,fair contract for all of our citizens. I know of no two Finer representatives than Bill-Hickam and Biil Tate whom you have chosen, that I have had the provilege to serve with.. They have held .the highest pri.ncipl.es and integrity in the, concerns .of the citizens. of our c®mmunity, The three of, us are lift-time res~.denta . of-the Town of Pulaski a,nd we have all truly had c©ncerns of our community at heart. I know of no greater mandate than to prQyide our citizens with as equal. of services in the future under consolidation than we have been,accustomed to in the past at less cost to our taxpayers., phis we have done ,and we are proud. of .our work.. None of us are happy to see loss of jobs, - however,.thi' becgmes a reality due,to..,dup,lication of.jobs. It is my_personal and. honest feeling that, through consolidation our county employees will_recei.ve excellent wages.f or, their work.. This enhances,five areas; lower turnover, better morale, leas cost to teta~p new employees and more team oriented organization and better management.. It is my feeling that. Town Council has a solenr- obligation to properly educate the. Town employees of the opening positions and the excellent pay scales which they will have .the opportunity o apply for in the consolidated county.,_ Toq many self-conceived ideas come about from lack. of proper .understanding of the contract... We have an obliga- tion as the Advisory .Committee to defend every detail on the contract. ;You have an obllgation.as the elected representatives of Pulaski-to kngw,and understand his contract,. and to do evc?r.ythi~g in your p.owex.to see that it is undezstood by your numbers. ,It.becomes a fact of life that all .citizens.-will not agree on any con- tract.. You could write it 50 times and it would not satisfy everyone. There always seems to be something that someone get a.upset_about. If eons,oli.dation fails, you know as well as I do that taxes are going to have to be increased very shortly in order for our Town to operate. If taxes are not increase, personnel wil-1 have to be cut. Let~~ doslt kld ourselves about this matter... It is a fact.. I know of no greater challenge than for everyone to lay paat,dif~erences aside and for all of us to work hard together to reduce waste, excessive taxes and to provide our citizens with a better government for all. It concerns me greatly to see the citizens who .are on fixed,i,ncomes; the wox'ker sho spends,-every dime he has to ,provide hi.s family with. the basi,c.necessit.ies to survive and has to borrow money to, take his fam~,ly on a week's vacation... Times.have changed and we canno longer have duplication and afford its price tag. The fip,est tribute that I have ever had from my community, was the hgner to work for .you in formulatingthe.agreement for .c,onsolidation. Mayor Ratcliffe called for questions from the audience. William B, Sanders, Jr, stated he wanted Council to unite in giving the .citizens of the Town of Pulaski the opportunity themselves to wte on this referendum. Mayor Ratcliffe, in replying to this satement, from every angle this Council has never endeavored to keep this from the people. Even i:f we chose to., we could not because there is an amendment to the statute that says 57 of the'citizena can file a petition to the judge and he will have it anyhow. Council is trying to fully evaluate this contract. We have to get the very best contract that we can, because if we consolidate, it is what we are going to have.. to live by, A iot of time and~e~fort has been put into this contract, trying to make it work~ile, , Mr ,- Sanders further stated if Council- feels that way, he .would .like to see us unite with a unanimous vote for the consolidation. A gentleman from the audience wanted to thank the three gentlemen. on the Advil ory Committee and felt answers they were giving were explicit. { 1(' ~ March 22, 1983 '~cr ~9 Mrs. Patty Williams stated that in the contract, we have four sources of revenue for the shire of PtilaSki, and she wanted to"know if all of the other revenues that we currently receive' will be going to the County. Mr. 'Hudson replied that right now the budget is 2.2 million,' to pay aLl expenditures. Under consolidation, there would be one government so there would not be a Town of Pulaski. The shy of Pulaski will have some extra services over and above what the county folks have.. This is-about • $600,000. She further .asked for a yea or no to her-question, with the gnawer •being yes. Mr. Paul Cox also expressed appreciation to the committee for the job that they have done and also what the county has done. Mr. Cox feels the whole county :should be made aware of consolidation. Mr. Hickam stated that is is their hope. that a public relations committee get. out the facts. to the county via the news media. Mr. Cox further stated that many citizens do not receive newspapers, and feels .that groups should go out and discuss this. Mr. Hudson stated that the Jaycees are taking this project to formulate meetings throughout the county. Mr. Charles Bushong also appreciated all the work that everyone had done. He under- stood that Council had the contract now for about six weeks.. Mayor Ratcliffe stated it was closer to three. Mr. Bushong further stated that they had elected CouMCil to decide for the citizens, and we needed to decide to go for it and have a referendum and let the people decide and Council decide if we-are going to.get the referendum. He feels Council should endorse the contract and give them the privilege of voting.- Mr Moore stated the schedule was to do this by the 28th"and it isn't the 28th yet. Mayor Ratcliffe advised that the original copy of the contract must be signed by all three of .the governing bodies, delivered to the judge with a request to hold a referendum and he will take this and publish for four weeks in the newspapers as we present this to him. Mr„-Moore advised that you might not like one li.~` l~ item in it, but this would not keep you from voting for the whole thing and it.doesn't keep you from being against it later or try to change it He feels you•have to vote on'it or you don't vote~on it. One gen.'.l.c~,nen asked if we go by-the 28th, what would be the date of the referendum. Mr. Moore stated that.schedule'had not been worked out exactly: There~are.things to take in mind; first, the federal government civil rights department has to approve this; secondly; you have to have another election and there are a very definite number of days that you can lave the general election. It has to be as many as 60 days prior to the regular general election on November 8, this will being it back to sometime in latter August or September that will be the last time you can vote on seven supervisors. Council can recommend date to the judge.. Mr. Hickam stated that you could have the referendum in July and then if it passes in July, that would give Mr. Coake, County Administirator, and the Mayor of Dublin six months to do-the transition work., Them there would be an election in September for the seven on Board of supervisors. -This would give them time to determine their problems also. We have three months to educate the public and the transition team has six months to work on it. Mr .'Sanders asked the Mayor; is there any reason why you cannot vote on this-thing tonight because he feels time is of essence; and he feels Council has. enough knowledge of the contract in the past three weeks, and he would like to see Council vote tonight. Mayor Ratcliffe advised Mr.•Sanders~he was addressing Council, and- he did not have a vote unless there was a tie. Ms. Ann Kbch agreed-with what Mr. Cox had stated: She does not feel that :people at this point are educated on this subject, Committee advised that public definitely needs to be inf ormed and educated on the contract, and their assistance is offered to clubs, etc. She wondered who would appoint such a committee, with Mr. Moore answering that committee would have to know the contract, .and the 11 members have offered to go any place in the county. Councilman Boyd stated if we get the agreement ratified; we definitely will not-miss that last hurdle and that is the education, from the first document we started through this one, and we have the last big hurdle to go. The municipal advisors advise the first group, that"a~udge Harmon chaf~ced, that this is going to be the biggest job yet•to-come. The reason, if you take out total,population of this county, we are looking at a very low grade average of about 8th or 9th graders that we have got to educate to push that button. They said this was going to be one hurdle that will' be tremendous to cover. We are hoping that we will have a tremendous amount of volunteers to help us with our advisory committee also, and others in the community that are interested in helping us to educate our people. We also hope we can depend upon our strong consolidated school system to help do the job that must be done to give all the citizens a true, open light to the whole thing, so they will know the proper way in which to vote. ~~~ March 22, 1983 Councilperson Holston requested that Mrs. Patty .Williams' question should be explained. She further stated that what she thought Mrs. Williams was talking about was the three different accounts of money - The Town of Pula ski's money will be in one account, the Town.of Dublin in another account, and the County in another account. Mayor ..Ratcliffe stated, as he understood it, all the money would be in a general fund and the bookkeeping system would be that each shire will be charged with the services they have. Mr. Sanders questioned again why Council could not go ahead and vote. Councilman Boyd stated he feels that Council should express its gratitude and appreciation to our three members of tNe consolidation advisory committee for their dedicated service to the Town of Pulaski and to our entire community. They have worked exceedingly hard and expended tremendous amounts of time, energy and effort attempting to help create a better government. He supports the contract which they have prepared, and he is strongly committed to its ratification by this Council to fulfill the objective that we originally set out which was to receive the same level of services as we currently receive at the least possible cost to the tax payers.. Bef ore .any further debate, he thought it wise for Council to reflect on what has transpired to this time. First,: as ..our Mayor pointed qut on the evening of September 14, 1982, when Justice Harman's committee presented its findings, "consolidation has been talked about for over a decade. It is not a new concept to us and we have had .plenty of time to think about it. Second, the Council and the other two governing bodies of Pulaski County have spent well in excess of $100,000 of the tax payer's money and devoted a substantial portion of two years discussing, researching, and analyzing the various issues relating to consolida- tion. Third, we appointed three members to the consolidation advisory committee after much consideration and debate. When these appointments were made, it was the opinion of the majority of Council that we had selected three individuals in whom we had confidence and who we were sure could adequately represent the interests of the Town of Pulaski during the formulation of the consolidation contract. Then we met in Executive Session and developed a list of concerns which we submitted to this committee and .asked them to consider during the development of the contract. Everyone of these concerns were satisfied in the contract. Then, our committee came back to Council with a draft of the Consolidation Contract and we spent four hours reviewing,.discussing, and analyzing the contract. Finally, our Council met with the governing bodies of the other two govern- ments and the Consolidation Advisory Committee to review this contract.. This was on Thursday, March 3, 1983, 7:00 p.m. in the Appalachian Power Co. auditorium in an Executive Session. At the conclusion of this meeting, each member of this body, with the exception of one, indicated they were prepared to vote to send the contract to the citizens for their approval. The Advisory Committee told us that they were at our disposal to meet and review the contract until our concerns were satisfied. Not a member of this Council asked for such a meeting. Now, when the time comes to allow the people of our community the chance to decide the issues, certain members of this Council indicate that .they still have new concerns, or that they do not believe the consolidation concept will work after they previously voted to spend significant sums of money, in=excess of $100,000, to enable development of the concept, or, even worse, they indicated that the interests of the Town of Pulaski have ,not been adequately represented. It is ,easy for me to understand why our three representatives on this Ad- visory Committee, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Tate, and Mr. Hickam, might feel .angry, deceived and hurt. It is also not hard to understand why the entire Advisory Committee might not feel that they have been mislead by this Council. Could it be that our new concerns and our new insight is prompted by fear that we are going to lose our seats on Town, Council and our positions of authority in the community. If this is the case, I certainly hope that it will not block the opportunity for our citizens to vote on the consolidation. If consolidation is going. to succeed, we must move ahead with it. I am sure that there will be many problems which we have not expected in both the transition and implementation, but there are problems with anythingthat is new and being implemented for the first time. This cannot stop us. We must succeed. It is clear that our Town and the 1 • March 22, 1983 ~~~~1 remainder of the County, he feels, needs consolidation. He urged members of this Council to be true to your words of honor, and give the Consolidation Advisory Committee and the other governing bodies, a vote to send this contract to the citizens for approval, for it is now their decision as to the future of our community. He feels that moving forward together is the true answer to consolidation to keep our tax rate and our major objective, which is the same level of services, at the least possible cost. Councilman Aust made a motion that this Council meet on March 18 for the pur- pose, and that purpose alone, of asking for a referendum from this Town in order that the people might have a choice of voting. This will be the date that we will vote, seconded by Councilperson Mitchell. Time established at 7:00 p.m. Councilman Cabaniss made a substitute motion that we vote on this tonight, seconded by Councilman Crawford. Councilman Johnston addressed the substitute motion and advised some of the history that had faced the Council. This Council, nor any member of it, has ever said anything to hold a vote from the people on this issue. He further stated that they needed to look at this agreement that we have asked to be prepared for us by our three representatives. He felt we had the three best representatives that Council could have chosen to represent us on this Consolidation Agreement. Councilman' Johnston's personal effort has been to understand the contract as fully as possible in order to be able to represent the people of the Town of Pulaski. His effort has been to learn everything that he could about it from those people even who were not allowed to give input into the contract, and those were the citizens of the Town and the Town Attorney, from other members of Council who had views on this contract. If there might be something that needed to be added to, changed or deleted, in order to better serve the interest of the Town of Pulaski and this .was what Councilman Johnston was looking at. He felt that some input was needed from the citizens of the Town of Pulaski. That suggestion was made at the Executive Session where the three governing bodies were represented. He disagreed with the answer he received from the Committee at that time and that was, this would be the worse possible thing that this group could do, would be to go to the people and ask them for any opinion on this contract before it is referred to the Judge for referendum. He felt that suggestions could be, or might be made that might enhance this agreement, He has never felt any other way but that he would vote to allow the citizens a choice as to whether they wanted consolidation or not. The only decision was to try and get the best possible consolidation agreement that we could possibly have, He was alarmed and upset by the tremendous pressure to get this done before the Council recommended date. Our recommended date was the 28th. He felt this would give us enough time (2 weeks) to discuss this with the citizens and listen to telephone calls from those people who were interested. No changes are going to be made in agreement. Councilman Johnston further stated he did not feel it was a letter per~ect agreement, He feels Council could react by the date as suggested by the com~ittee and sees no reason for moving this date up. Councilman Crawford stated this was an agreement between three governing bodies and we are not at liberty to modify, amend or change it. We either have to accept it or we have to reject it. He strongly feels that consolidation is the way to go. Change will allow tax payers reduction in taxes rather than increases, it guarantees at least the minimum level of services we are now getting, and he is strongly in favor of it and stands ready to vote for it tonight and he urged other Council members to join with him. Councilperson Mitchell stated she would like to express appreciation to the nine member team including our three. Even though she does not agree with everything in agreement, she is ready to vote for the 28th and she hopes they will all agree when they do agree. She further stated that when we vote on this to send to referendum, she hopes that the County of Pulaski, Dublin, and the Supervisors of the County will agree to petition the court for the referendum not to be voted on earlier than July 12, 1983, in order that we may educate our people sufficiently and let them know what they are voting for; whether they agree with Mr, Boyd it is perfectly right, or whether they agree with her, there are some pitfalls in it. The decision is up to qhe voters. Councilman Aust stated the reason he suggested the 28th, he had previously made a substitute motion of the 28th, and the 22nd had been made, and both of them got defeated, but he has no doubt at all that this Council is not going to pass it, they are going to pass it, period. One thing he would like to clear up, he doesn't feel there is one Councilperson sittong on Council, that has spoken out against this thing because they areafraid they will lose their seat. He feels this is the least thing you could think of or even accuse someone of doing. ref tr 2 March 22, 1983 Councilman Graham stated it was obvious that Council was not all in-tune for substitute motion tonight and in his thinking, those who are really dedicated to consolidation to be in a better position to take it to the people, and Council voting in harmony which he believes we will on the 28th. He sees nothing magic in voting tonight, and he could not understand why we have to speed it up at this time. He hoped the gentleman would withdraw substitute motion and that we vote on the 28th. Councilman Boyd stated that it seems the Pulaski Town Council has been pretty well named that really we could not be leaders; we are the followers. We are just voting bn the agreement and he would like to see us mw e forward. Substitute motion that we ratify agreement tonight denied on the follow- ing recorded vote: John A. Johnston - No. Andrew L. Graham, Jr. - No Pauline G.Mitchell - No Ira S. Crawford - Aye Earl D. Cabaniss - Aye Alma H. Holston - No C. E. Boyd, Jr .. - Aye Glen K. Aust - No Mayor Ratcliffe expressed that by the 28th, it is hoped that everybody would be in harmony. Original motion that this Council meet on March 28 for the purpose of asking for a ref erendum from this town in order that the people might have a choice to vote carried on recorded vote as follows: John A. Johnston - -Aye Andrew L. Graham, Jr. - Aye Pauline G. Mitchell- Aye Ira. S. Crawf ord - Aye Earl D. Cabaniss - Aye Alma H. Holston - Aye C. E. Boyd, Jr. - Aye Glen K. Aust - Aye At 9:10 p.m. Councilman Boyd made motion to adjourn, seconded by Council- man Crawf ord, and so carried. APPROVED: ATTEST: Mayor Ratcliffe Cleek of Council WAIVER OF NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING We, the undersigned, duly elected members of the Council of the Town of Pulaski, Virginia, hereby waive notice of a Special Meeting of said Council at 7:00 p.m., on the 22 day of March, 1983, for the purpose of working on the Consolidation Agreement and any other business that may legally come bef ore the Council. WITNESS our signatures this 22 day March, 1 83 / ~~.-'l / ~' Y 6 of/V f ,-~~ 4 r? M~ __ s ,~ _- -_ ; ,. f 't ,.,., .