HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-18-12Minutes of the Town Council meeting held September 18, 2012 at 5:OOp.m. at the Train Station, 20 South
Washington Street, Pulaski, Virginia.
Present were: Jeffrey S. Worrell, Mayor
,Council: Heather L. Steele, Gregory C. East, David L. Clark, H. M. Kidd, Joseph K. Goodman,
James A. Radcliffe
Staff: John Hawley, Town Manager
Patricia Cruise, Clerk of Council
David Quesenberry, Asst. to the Town Manager
David Warburton, Town Attorney
Gary Roche, Police Chief
Tony Meredith, Police Captain
Dave Hart, Parks and Facilities Director
John White, Economic Development Director
John Saul, Sr., Police Sergeant
Others: Janet Golden Lori Saul Jim Henegar
Alec Price Bucky Murray Mike Williams, Press
Melinda Williams, Press
Mayor Worrell called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. and welcomed the visitors to the meeting.
Councilman Goodman moved to add item 9b, regarding the Pulaski Redevelopment/Renewal Plan to the
agenda. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on voice vote.
Councilman Kidd moved to adopt the Consent Agenda consisting of the August 21, 2012 Council minutes a&
ntten. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on voice vote.
The next item on the agenda was Employee of the Month. Mayor Worrell introduced Police Sergeant John D.
Saul. He read Sergeant Saul's press release aloud and advised that in addition to the honor of receiving the
award, he would receive an additional paid day off from the Town and would be eligible for the Employee of the
Year Award at the end of the year.
Mayor Worrell moved onto Public Operations.
The first item was VDOT/JMT Seeping report for Route 99.
Mayor Worrell advised that Route 99 improvements had been worked on for many years. He asked Mr. Hawley
to summarize the project.
Mr. Hawley advised that the Town of Pulaski requested an Urban Construction project in 1995 to four lane
Route 99 to the interstate. He noted that the Town currently had approximately four million dollars to use to
rescope the project. He introduced Jim Henegar, the Project Engineer from the VDOT Salem office overseeing
the rescoping coordination and Alec Price from Salem VDOT and Bucky Murray, from Johnson, Mirmiran and
Thompson (JMT), the consultant selected by VDOT to handle the project.
Bucky Murray gave a Powerpoint presentation overviewing the Corridor Study and reviewed the
recommendations of VDOT and JMT.
September 18, 2012/Page 1 of7
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Following the presentation, alternate options were discussed. It was felt that input was needed from the bike
community regarding a stand alone bridge. Additionally, it was felt that discussion should beheld with the
County regarding the visibility from the interstate especially lighting and clearing trees.
Mayor Worrell moved on to Pulaski Furniture Short Term Goals. ,
Mr. White provided an update noting that estimates for use of a crane had been received for removing the
pipes at North Madison and were being gathered for removing trees on the property.
Next, Mr. Pedigo summarized the progress made on Route 11 including that the parking lot plans for the Maple
Shade Center had been received from the County. He added that staff and the County continued to fine tune
those plans. He noted that the work on the outside of the Museum was nearing completion and the interior
work was continuing.
Mr. Hawley suggested removing a portion of sidewalk on Commerce Street and replacing itwith green space
as well as a few other changes. He asked if Council had any suggestions regarding the plan.
Mayor Worrell asked whether a time line for completion of this project was available?
Mr. Pedigo responded that the plans were simply emailed to him and that he had not had an opportunity to
discuss the plans with the County.
There being no other comments from Council, Mayor Worrell moved on to the Volunteers Short Term goal.
Mr. Webb advised that the Committee met and discussed organizational planning of the group. He noted that
they still lacked some direction and purpose in regard to what is expected of the volunteers and what kind of
things the volunteers are to do. He added that discussion had ensued as to whether the volunteers should be
treated as employees and complete application forms and time sheets and discussion of what type of reward
for their work on projects.
,
Mr. Hawley advised of a volunteer who had agreed to help with the Cruise In next year and also expressed
interest in helping with the Ratcliffe Museum golf tournament next year. He added that bike community
volunteers have been working in the flower bed at Route 99 and Duncan Avenue. He felt that volunteerism
was beginning to be more active.
Councilmen East and Goodman felt that all volunteers should be treated the same as Town employees with
applicatioh forms, time sheets, rules etc.
Mr. East added that perhaps a data base could be created to utilize when volunteer opportunities occurred. He
added that the Town was getting to a point where volunteers were going to be needed on a more frequent
basis.
Mayor Worrell moved on to Finance.
The first item was Impact of budget reductions
Mayor Worrell advised that Council had previously asked staff to provide the impact to the departments with
5%, 10% and 15% reductions in the budget. He added that some of the departments had given their
presentations at the past Council Work Session. The remainder were scheduled for this meeting.
Mr. Hawley advised that one set of line items not falling under a specific department was Contributions.
He noted that the amount in the current budget was $113,238. He added that Mr. Quesenberry had prepared
some options for Council to review including a local emphasis budget that focused on areas that benefited the
September 18, 2012/Page 2 of 7
Town and eliminated other contributions totally. He emphasized that these were not recommendations from
staff, but other options for Council to consider.
Mr. Quesenberry summarized his suggestions for the Contributions line items.
'Councilman Goodman commented that "several contributions are going either outside the Town limits or they
don't have a direct impact on the citizen's health and wellness". He felt those were the "two most important
factors of how we continue our contributions". He continued that "some organizations, we have helped themto
establish their presence and the question is do we continue that"? He added that he was not afraid of hard
decisions. He opined that this was one area where changes could be made.
Councilman East complimented Mr. Quesenberry on his summary. He commented that Council needed to
decide where they could get the "best bang for our buck". He noted that hard decisions had to be made.
He added that they should look at any area where there might be redundant services. He commented that
where Mr. Quesenberry suggested increases, that we look at other programs in the Town that may offer similar
or the same services. He opined that "we need to look at redundant services and then at where do we get the
most benefit for our investment".
Mr. Hawley advised that if Council had any question as to what an agency does, he would gather more
information. Another aspect that he felt had to be considered that for some agencies, every dollar that we cut
results in another dollar cut from other funding sources for the agency.
Councilman East interjected that in regard to the Pulaski Area Transit, he had suggested in the past that they
post advertising on their buses. That would provide a potential for revenue. Additionally, he advised that he
had a recent conversation with Mr. Heinline and that he had mentioned that he was looking at converting some
of the vans to an alternate form of fuel. He noted that while there would be upfront costs associated with that
conversion, in the long run there should be savings. He commented that those were the type of things he felt
would be interesting to look at for potential savings.
'Mr. Hawley advised that he would get that information from Mr. Heinline.
Next, Hawley advised that Council would review Engineering, Building Inspection and Public Works.
Mr. Pedigo provided his calculations for reductions in the Engineering Department, Building Inspection, Fire
Marshall, and Public Works, including Streets, General Properties, Cemeteries and Vehicle Maintenance.
Councilman Goodman inquired what would be more helpful to Public Works: a staff position returned or vehicle
improvements or capital improvements?
Mr. Pedigo advised that it would be more helpful to have a staff position returned.
Councilman Goodman replied that part of the exercise was to look at areas of shortfalls the Town has as well
as looking at cuts.
Councilman East inquired why the Fire Marshall works for the Town Engineer?
Mr. Hawley advised that decision was made in approximately 1999.
Mr. East stated that he was curious and asked why?
Mr. Pedigo advised that when the Fire Marshal position was first created, it was felt that he was more of a
Code Compliance type person because heworked so closely with the Building Official with plans, restructuring
~nd remodeling. He noted that our Fire Marshal handles a lot of Code Compliance problems as well.
September 18, 2012/Page 3 of 7
Mr. Hawley added that he is able to back up Building Inspection and handle other Nuisance Abatement
problems.
Councilman Goodman inquired whether the Fire Marshall's duties were more oriented toward Code issues or
Fire Marshal duties. ,
Mr. Pedigo responded that depended upon the time of the year. In the fall, he had the responsibility of Fire
Prevention Week and the work that entails in addition to his other duties. He estimated that he lost the Fire
Marshal to those duties for a couple of months at that time of year. He added that it would be nice if the Fire
Marshal could focus on fire prevention year round, however, itjust wasn't practical.
Next Ms. Boyd reviewed her proposed reductions for the Finance Department.
Councilman Goodman advised that one time Ms. Boyd had proposed changing the hours of operation of the
Finance Department to reduce overtime costs. He inquired whether that was something she still suggested?
Ms. Boyd responded that in her current budget, overtime was $5,000. She continued that change would not be
enough to eliminate the overtime, but it would certainly help.
Mr. Hawley interjected that the Department had also changed their procedures so that they were not
accumulating as much overtime as they did.
Ms. Boyd responded that she had implemented some changes that have reduced some of the overtime.
She noted that the part time line item increased and the overtime hours decreased.
Councilman Goodman advised that his understanding was that the Finance Department had the ability to
utilize the time of the IT Support Specialist?
Ms. Boyd responded she could if there was a need. She added that her position is in IT and that was where '
she spent the majority of her time. However, she noted, that one time the Finance Department had three
people out at one time, and it was a time of heavy collection, and the IT person was able to step in. She noted
that because of her IT position, she was familiar with all the Finance programs. She noted that she did not
utilize the IT person any more than she had to.
Councilman Goodman inquired if the ITwas no longer able to help in the Finance Department, would that
increase overtime in the Department?
Ms. Boyd responded in the affirmative and added that her alternative would be more part time help.
At 7:05 p.m., Mayor Worrell called for a ten minute break.
At 7:15p.m., Mayor Worrell reconvened the meeting.
Mr. White reviewed his proposed reductions for the Economic Development Department. He provided a
history of some of the reductions over the last few years and suggested some possible alternatives for the
future. He reviewed some of the tasks that he was responsible for including, but not limited to administration of
grants, administering the Enterprise Zone, participation in the Economic Development Alliance.
Next, Mr. Hawley reviewed the outcome of potential cuts to the Town Manager's Department.
Mayor Worrell reviewed the potential cuts to the Mayor's budget. He then commented that he felt staff was
looking for direction from Council on this matter. He inquired whether there was more information that Council
needed staff to provide? He asked whether Council wanted to take the next month to review the information ,
they had received and then decide?
September 18, 2012/Page 4 of 7
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Councilman East commented that the Pulaski Area Transit and the Museum had not been looked at from a
revenue generating perspective. He added that Mr. White had suggested a revenue generating idea and
asked him to explain to Council.
' Mr. White advised that the Town was in possession of many old photographs and he suggested that some of
them could be developed, framed and sold. Additionally, he suggested that they could be placed on line for
people to view and then ordered online.
Councilman Goodman inquired whether an annual membership fee had been considered to help sustain it?
Mayor Worrell suggested that the next meeting be held on revenues.
Council agreed to the suggestion.
Councilman East moved the discussion back to the expenditures discussed earlier. He commented that a
concern and common theme he had noted throughout several of the presentations, was that staff quickly
arrived at personnel cuts. He added that Council stated early on that the objective was to not have personnel
cuts. He proposed looking at a hiring evaluation process. He did not want to call it a hiring freeze, but _
something that would allow Council to be in the best possible position when the "actual budget decisions ha'fe
to be made without having to raise any taxes". He continued that "as someone leaves the Town through
attrition, that Council and staff have a discussion prior to automatically rehiring someone for that position". He
felt that would allow discussion of how personnel might be cross utilized. He used the example of 2 different
part time positions being vacated and perhaps another department being able to absorb that work. His intent
was to be in the position at budget time to meet Council's goals and not have to reduce employees.
Councilman Goodman agreed with Councilman East. He reiterated that Council did not want to eliminate staff.
However, he noted that the biggest costs in the budget was staff related and Council had to determine how to
eet Capital needs and other costs to come. He felt by implementing Councilman East's suggestion, Council
ould determine whether it was really necessary to fill the position.
Councilman Clark advised that in the seven or so budget's that he'd worked on, the number of employees
working for the Town had dropped a fairly large percentage. He added that what the Councilmen were
suggesting, had already been happening anyway. He continued that as attrition has occurred, a lot of
positions have not been filled, but absorbed within the department. He added that he could not tell Council
how many positions were currently unfilled.
Mr. Hawley interjected that the Town currently had four full time positions that Council authorized that had not
been funded. He listed the positions that were currently not funded. He noted that if Council wished to go in
this direction, they may have to change the Charter as currently Council could not hire or fire any employee
except the Town Manager, the Clerk of Council and the Town Attorney.
Councilman East responded that he thought that Council could adopt a Resolution calling for a hiring review
process involving Council.
Mr. Warburton responded that it was probably coming close to throwing into question some of the Charter
conflicts. He noted that hewas not saying it could not be done. Hewas saying Councilman East was coming
close and he didn't know the answer.
Mr. Hawley commented that if Council cut funding for salaries, it would effectively accomplish what Councilman
East wanted.
ollowing more discussion, Mr. Warburton advised that according to the Charter, he did not think Council could
icromanage inter-departmental decisions. He did not feel that Council could approve individual hiring and
September 18, 2012/Page 5 of 7
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firings. He did not think that Council could do a hiring freeze. He did not think Council could make themselves
a Personnel Committee. He advised that they could do a budget reduction. He noted that he would need to
review the Charter to give a definitive answer to the question.
Following more discussion, Mayor Worrell suggested that staff gather more information for Council and ,
address it at the next Council Work Session.
Police Chief Roche commented that Council needed to realize that the hiring process including training, for an
uncertified Police Officer, took approximately one year. He added that he had promotions and transfers already
planned that needed to stop if a hiring freeze was going to be implemented. He advised that if Council planned
to adopt this process, he needed to know as soon as possible.
Responding to Chief Roche, Councilman Goodman advised that at this time, staff should proceed as usual
with their hiring process. _
Mayor Worrell commented that it sounded like they were going backwards in their discussion.
Following more discussion, Councilman Goodman summarized that Council was aware that over the years, the
budget had been balanced. He added "but one of the things we have not done over the last few years is
substantial amount of capital improvement". He continued "I think we've reached a crisis point or are getting
very close to it. So the question is, how do you, with the revenues that we have, address those capital issues?
And that's where the painful discussions about staff and so forth come into play". He added that Council "is
hoping that we might be able to achieve some cut without bringing staff into the conversation at all". He
continued "Even if revenues stabilize, how do we address capital issues that we most seriously need to
address".
Mr. Hawley commented that there were issues that needed to be dealt with. He encouraged looking at the
overall picture. He added that this process had been a good exercise and education process for everyone
involved. '
Mayor Worrell moved onto Pulaski RedevelopmenURenewal Plan.
Mr. White advised that staff had been working with David Gall regarding a plan to market our properties to
outside investors. A contract had been drawn up for the Town Manager to sign. He added that this would be a
joint effort between the Town and County. The contract was for $25,225, with half being paid by the Town and
half by the County. He noted that legal solicitation regulations had been followed, with no other responses
received.
Mr. Warburton pointed out that splitting the payment had not been included in the contract that had been
distributed.
Mr. Hawley advised that hethought he had email confirmation of this point.
Following discussion, Councilman Goodman suggested putting off the decision until the County had an
opportunity to vote for the split funding with the Town, at which time the agreement could be executed.
Mr. White agreed this could be done. He noted that would mean some significant rescheduling as the
photographer was due to arrive that week to start the project.
Following discussion, Council opted to wait for the vote of the Board of Supervisors before going forward on
this topic.
The next item for discussion was Legislative.
September 18, 2012/Page 6 of 7
recruit someone or a Council member could serve.
Mayor Worrell advised that staff had not been able to determine an Alternate for the New River Valley Agency
on Aging. He suggested that Council would need to recruit someone or a Council member could serve.
Since no one volunteered for the Committee, this item was postponed.
' Regarding appointment to the Greater Pulaski Alliance, Mayor Worrell advised that Councilwoman Steele had
volunteered to serve.
Councilman Goodman moved to appoint Councilwoman Steele to the Greater Pulaski Alliance Board,
seconded by Councilman Kidd and carried on the foll
owing recorded vote.
Heather L. Steele -Aye
Gregory C. East -Aye
David L. Clark -Aye
H. M. Kidd -Aye
Joseph K. Goodman -Aye
James A Radcliffe -Aye
Mayor Worrell moved on to Ordinance 2012-12, Approving a Special Exception at 69 West Main Street.
He noted that this completed action of Council.
Councilman Clark moved to adopt Ordinance 2012-12, Approving a Special Exception at 69 West Main Street.
The motion was seconded by Councilman Kidd and carried on the following recorded vote:
Heather L. Steele -Aye
Gregory C. East -Aye
David L. Clark -Aye
H. M. Kidd -Aye
Joseph K. Goodman -Aye
JamesA Radcliffe -Aye
Mayor Worrell moved on to Public Utilities and the Pump Station update.
Mr. Hawley advised that staff and the consultant were finalizing the actual amount of work that needed to be
included in the upgrade contract for the Pump Station. The bids received were a lot higher than anticipated.
Once every1 hing was approved by the Department of Environmental Quality, he hoped that this would be in
place for Council review at the October 2, 2012 meeting.
Mayor Worrell reviewed the pending Council meetings.
At 8:16 p.m., there being no further business, Councilman Radcliffe moved to adjourn, seconded by
Councilman Clark and carried on voice vote.
%d~~~'
Approved -----------
Jeffrey S. Worrell, Mayor
September 18, 2012/Page 7 of 7