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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-03-13Minutes of the Town Council meeting held Tuesday, September 3, 2013 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building. There were present: Mayor: Jeffrey S. Worrell Council: Heather L. Steele, Gregory C. East, David L. Clark, H. M. Kidd, Joseph K. Goodman, James A. Ratcliffe Staff: John J. Hawley, Town Manager David Warburton, Town Attorney Dave Quesenberry, Asst. to the Town Manager Patricia Cruise, Clerk of Council Gary Roche, Police Chief Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer Pam Witton, Finance Director John White, Economic Development Director Others: Clark Payne Janet Golden Charles Wade Janet Jonas Betty Quesenberry Tye Kirkner Shannon Watkins, Press Mike Williams, Press Mayor Worrell called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Councilman Radcliffe led the Pledge of Allegiance and Councilman Clark gave the Invocation. Following roll call, Mayor Worrell advised of a modification to the agenda. ~ Councilman Goodman moved to add a Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A-1) Discussion, consideration, or interviews of prospective candidates for the Town Manager's position. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: Ms. Steele -Aye Mr. East -Aye Mr. Clark -Aye Mr. Kidd -Aye Mr. Goodman -Aye Mr. Radcliffe -Aye Mayor Worrell welcomed everyone present. He advised that the first item on the agenda was the Consent Agenda. Councilman Kidd moved to adopt the August 6, 2013 Council minutes. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on voice vote. The next item on the agenda was Project Updates. The first update was in regard to the Dora Highway CDBG. Mr. Hawley advised that the final management team meeting was being scheduled for late September. He added that a Dora Highway "Neighborhood Cookout" would be held after the meeting. He noted that work was finishing at 200 Holly Street and awaiting final inspections and that Community Housing Partners of Christiansburg was scheduled to give a homeowner education class. September 3, 2013/Page 1 of 6 The next update was in regard to the tornado CDBG. Mr. Hawley provided an update on the tornado CDBG including that grading and landscaping work had resumed in late August as well as demolition in the area. He added that the Town was working to qualify the final three rehabs and that due to the completion time line for the grant, a decision had been made to bid the SR at 1018 Melborn instead of using volunteers. The next item was Town drop site. Mayor Worrell commented that this project was moving along nicely. Bill Pedigo advised that the site had been cleared and grubbed into one pile. He added that PSA was placing the chipper on site. Once the sign was installed, a notice would be sent to the press for publication. He noted that he and County staff had a conference call with representatives of Honeywell about the residual lot next to the new drop site. He added that Honeywell seemed receptive to the idea of working something out with the Town and County. Mayor Worrell reminded Council that he and Mr. Pedigo had recently met with the Pulaski Service Authority Board about the new drop site. He noted that the PSA had requested a larger site if Council wished to have a chipper on site. Councilman East inquired whether staff was waiting for some conclusion with Honeywell regarding the residual site. Mr. Pedigo commented that staff was waiting for a response from Honeywell, but planned to chip brush on the site in the meantime. Mr. East inquired into the rest of the project? Mr. Pedigo replied that the rest of it would wait until some things were hammered out before construction began. Mayor Worrell moved on to the next item on the agenda and asked for a report on the Joint Dispatch study. Mr. Hawley advised that the latest meeting involved refining the costs involved in this project. He summarized some of those costs for Council. Mayor Worrell moved on to Old Business. The first item was business recruitment brochure. John White advised that he was working to determine what information needed to be included in the business recruitment brochure including what was to be advertised and how to proceed with branding. Mr. Hawley added that Council needed to decide what they wanted in the brochure. Some of the questions were should it be more statistical, how much statistical data needed to be included and how many pages it should be. Councilman East commented that the branding discussion was somewhat different than the cost of the brochures. September 3, 2013/Page 2 of 6 Mr. White agreed. He felt that the branding should come first and then the brochure. Councilman East felt that he had researched business recruitment packages. He continued that they seemed to be four to six pages with main topics of discussion being a brief history, demographics, retail space availability, specific selling points, future vision plans and a map of the area. Mayor Worrell moved on to Community Development research. Mr. Hawley advised that two separate reports from Dave Quesenberry and from John White had been provided to Council regarding a telephone conference held with the Town of Ashland, Virginia. These reports gave different perspectives from each of them. He noted that the Town of Ashland's Organizational chart had been included in the packet. He asked what other information Council needed? Councilman East commented that there had been a lot of discussion on what this position was going to be. He added it gets very large very rapidly. He stated that since he brought this up originally, he looked at where he wanted to go with this. He noted that his concept for this Community Development position became a merger between the Community Development Director and the Business Assistant in Economic Development in Ashland's plan. He added that he merged those two job descriptions into one job description that might apply to the Town. He noted that you can always go back later and add something else. He noted that this position could easily grow from one position to an office that included a number of other elements. He added that he envisioned the position would deal with everything Pulaski, whether retail recruitment, business recruitment, Main Street organization, working with organizations, working with the County economic development folks etc. He distributed a written copy of his plans for the position. Mayor Worrell moved on to revised Resolution 2013-07. He advised that the terms for the appointments on Resolution 2013-07 had been revised to six months per Council's direction. He noted that the persons listed had agreed to the shortened time. Councilman Clark moved to adopt Resolution 2013-07, Appointing Members to the Architecture Board, Cemetery Trustees Board and the Housing Board of Adjustment and Appeals as amended. Councilman Goodman seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: Ms. Steele -Aye Mr. East -Aye Mr. Clark -Aye Mr. Kidd -Aye Mr. Goodman -Aye Mr. Radcliffe -Aye The next item on the agenda was Friends of the Ratcliffe Memorandum of Understanding update. Mr. Hawley advised that staff reviewed the initial Memorandum of Understanding and made some suggestions to the Friends. He advised that Tye Kirkner, President of the Friends was present to address Council. Mr. Kirkner advised that the Friends considered the suggestions from the Town and incorporated that information into their Memorandum of Understanding and approved it at their last meeting. He noted that the updated version had been included in the Council packet. He added that the Friends had commissioned brochures for the Museum. Councilman Radcliffe inquired how close the Museum was to acquiring the 501 c3? Janet Jonas responded that the Articles of Incorporation had been adopted by the Friends. She added that once the By-Laws and the Memorandum of Understanding were adopted, paperwork would be submitted to incorporate. She noted that would take approximately ten days. She added that once they were incorporated, the 501 c3 application could be submitted. She noted that once they had applied, they could begin operating under the 501 c3. September 3, 2013/Page 3 of 6 Councilman Radcliffe inquired what the chances were to partner with other organizations and communities up and down the rail? Mrs. Jonas responded that they would definitely cooperate. Following more discussion, the consensus was that the Friends would give quarterly reports to Council. Councilman Kidd moved to authorize the Town Manager to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between the Friends of the Ratcliffe and the Town of Pulaski as amended. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: Ms. Steele -Aye Mr. Kidd -Aye Mr. East -Aye Mr. Goodman -Aye Mr. Clark -Aye Mr. Radcliffe -Aye Councilman Kidd moved to endorse the By-Laws of the Friends of the Raymond F. Ratcliffe Memorial Transportation museum. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: Ms. Steele -Aye Mr. Kidd -Aye Mr. East -Aye Mr. Goodman -Aye Mr. Clark -Aye Mr. Radcliffe -Aye The next item for consideration was Museum billboards. Mr. Hawley advised that at the last meeting, discussion ensued regarding the use of the Town billboards to advertise the Museum. He noted that the Town's lease with Lamar Advertising includes that they will provide two vinyl panels per year at the location on East Main Street at no cost to the Town. He added that they assist with the artwork in coordination with Barbi Tate and provide all labor. He noted that the Calfee Board on South Washington would cost approximately $600 for the vinyl sign. He advised that if Council wanted to allow the use of the East Main Street billboard by the Museum, it would be at no cost to the Town. Following discussion, the consensus was for staff to present an option back to Council for display on the billboard. Mayor Worrell moved on to discussion of SRO officer. He advised that Councilman Radcliffe had asked that this item be added to the agenda. He added that Councilman Radcliffe felt that the need for the SRO officer was not going to go away. He continued that he and Councilman Radcliffe felt that Council needed to begin a discussion regarding how to deal with this in the future. Councilman Radcliffe concurred with the Mayor. He advised that some of the comments he was hearing on the street after the last meeting were that Council did not want to put an officer in the school. He stressed that this was not accurate. Discussion ensued regarding the cost to the Town of placing a Town officer in the school. Chief Roche reviewed the budget numbers and the logistics and timing for training to place an officer in the school. Following discussion, the consensus was for the Mayor to speak to the Town of Dublin about the officers. The next item on the agenda was leave time liability. September 3, 2013/Page 4 of 6 Mr. Hawley advised that pursuant to the request from the July meeting, the Human Resources Manager had provided comp and vacation leave totals by department. Councilman Goodman advised that part of the reason he brought the subject up was to see the real dollar value of the risk to the Town when employees separate from the Town employment. He added that his concern was that if one year a lot of long term employees left, it could really hurt the Town finances. He asked staff to enforce the caps on the comp and vacation leave. He suggested that Council might want to review how leave is accrued. Mr. Hawley advised that the Department Heads and the Town Manager did not accrue comp time. He advised that they are allowed to use flex time. They are expected to work at least 40 hours per week, but if they work 50 hours one week, the next week they could take time off for example. Councilman Kidd emphasized that staff should be included in discussion of any changes. Councilman Goodman commented that he was not happy with the flex time. He added that he worked for the state and if someone was a department head, they worked until the job was done. Mr. Warburton advised that Council could only change how leave was accumulated from that day forward. Discussion ensued, with the consensus of Council being to place the review of the Town policy regarding leave time on a future agenda for a Work Session. Mayor Worrell moved on to New Business. The first item was DCR grant -Gatewood Dam. Mr. Pedigo advised that the Town had been notified by the Department of Conservation and Recreati n that the Town had been awarded funds in 3 cate ones that totaled $8,300 towards the rnundation study a~ 9 ~ h completion of requirements for the Gatewood O&M certificate. Additionally, he advised that a grant had been awarded to the Town from DEQ in the amount of $32,456 to be used for stormwater management. The next item on the agenda was in regard to VRS-VLDP. Mr. Hawley advised that staff had been researching options for the Town for the Virginia Local Disability Program. He noted that staff had requested an extension to November 1 to make a decision. He added that there should be minimal impact on the budget since this was only for new hires after January 1, 2014. He noted that existing employees could not opt in to the new hybrid retirement plan until 7-1-14. He added this would have to be addressed in the 14-15 budget. At 8:40 p.m., Councilman Goodman moved to enter into a Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A-1) Discussion, consideration, or interviews of prospective candidates for the Town Manager's position. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: Ms. Steele -Aye Mr. East -Aye Mr. Clark -Aye Mr. Kidd -Aye Mr. Goodman -Aye Mr. Radcliffe -Aye At 8:55 p.m., Council returned from Closed Session and adopted the Certification Resolution on motion by Councilman Goodman, seconded by Councilman Clark and carried on the following recorded vote: Ms. Steele -Aye Mr. Kidd -Aye Mr. East -Aye Mr. Goodman -Aye Mr. Clark -Aye Mr. Radcliffe -Aye September 3, 2013/Page 5 of 6 There being no further business, the meeting adjourned on motion by Councilman Clark, seconded by Councilman Goodman and carried on voice vote. 1 Approved: ~~ y S. Worrell, Mayor September 3, 2013/Page 6 of 6