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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01-17-17Minutes of the Town Council Work Session held January 17, 2017, at 5:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building, 42 First Street, NW, Pulaski, Virginia. Present were: Robert N. Glenn, Mayor Council: James A. Radcliffe, Gregory C. East, David L. Clark, Joseph K. Goodman, H. M. Kidd, Lane R. Penn Staff: Shawn Utt, Town Manager Spencer Rygas, Town Attorney Nichole Hair, Deputy Town Manager Dave Quesenberry, Assistant to the Town Manager Patricia Cruise, Clerk of Council John White, Economic Development Director Robbie Kiser, Fire Chief Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer Gary Roche, Police Chief Anthony Meredith, Police Department Captain Dave Hart, Parks and Facilities Director Others: Melissa Looney Karen Thompson Tim Kirtner Brad Nester Tim Barnes Diane Newby Chris Akers Melinda Worrell Pete Huber Kim Wright Jared Linkous Anthony Akers Andrew Williams Mike Williams, Press B. J. Wood, Press Mayor Glenn called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. The first item for consideration was the Consent Agenda consisting of the November 15, 2016 Town Council minutes. Mr. Kidd moved to adopt the November 15, 2016 Town Council minutes. Councilman Radcliffe seconded the motion and carried on voice vote. The next item for consideration was Resolution 2017-03, Recognizing the Service of Peter M. Huber to the Citizens of Pulaski County, Virginia. Mayor Glenn read the Resolution aloud and presented it to Mr. Huber with his thanks. Mr. Huber received a standing ovation. Councilman Goodman moved to move item 12a, Pulaski County Combined 911 Communications Center update to item 7b, Presentations. Councilman Kidd seconded the motion and carried on voice vote. Chris Akers, Executive Director of the Pulaski County Joint 911 Communications Center addressed Council with a request to hire one additional employee for the position of warrants clerk with secondary responsibilities as a communications officer. He explained his reasoning for the request. He also explained the Smart911 program. Following discussion, Councilman Clark moved to agree to additional funding up to $15,860 for the 2017-18 budget for a Warrants Clerk for the Pulaski County Joint 911 Communications Center. Councilman Penn seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe - Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye January 17, 2017/Page 1 of 7 1 Mayor Glenn advised that he needed a motion adopting Resolution 2017-03, Recognizing the Service of Peter M. Huber To The Citizens of Pulaski County, Virginia. Councilman Clark moved to adopt Resolution 2017-03 as written. Councilman Goodman seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye The next item for consideration was Public Operations and Roles & Responsibilities for Council Committees (Human Resources and Finance). Mr. Utt advised that he was struggling with coming up with rules and responsibilities for the Human Resource Committee. He continued that he had not been able to locate a Council or Board of Supervisors in Virginia that had a sub -committee or committee of Council for Human Resources. He asked Council for suggestions. He advised that he expected that the Finance Committee would attend the budget work sessions and if issues came up, would report back to the full Council. Councilman Radcliffe responded that his expectation of the Finance Committee would be that the Committee would work with each Department Head and report back to Council if they felt changes should be made in the department. Mr. Utt felt that Council and staff could continue the way they had been doing the budget work sessions in years past and that would be the Finance Committee meetings. Councilman East agreed with Mr. Utt. Mr. Utt continued that he needed guidance on the Human Resource committee. Councilman Penn advised that he saw no need for a Human Resource Committee. He continued that he led the charge to eliminate that Committee when he had been on Council previously. He felt that the Committee had been micro -managing issues. He felt that the Town had a consistent Town Manager, Deputy Town Manager and Human Resources Manager. He advised that he was in favor of the Finance Committee, but against the Human Resource Committee. Councilman Goodman commented that the Human Resource committee would not be involved in the individual personnel issues as that would violate the Town Charter. He continued that his expectation of the Committee would be to review what typically was included in Council agendas. He added that right now, discussions would be in relation to potential position changes, some job description changes as retirements occur this year, and some potential structural changes to how departments are situated this year. He felt the Committee would meet often in the next six months to a year, but long term, the Committee would have fewer meetings than the Finance Committee. He added that the Finance Committee would look at how things are structured for the coming fiscal year, while the Human Resource Committee would look at how staff was structured and create new positions, delete positions, move departments around etc., but not be involved with particular individual staff members. Councilman Clark commented that the Human Resource Committee would meet on an irregular basis as needed with the intent to streamline the Council process rather than change anything about the actual workings of the departments. He continued that rather than getting information during a Closed Session that no one knows anything about and then having to create an extra meeting to make a decision, the Human Resource Committee would meet and get an idea of what was going on and then be able to explain to the rest of Council at the next meeting. January 17, 2017/Page 2 of 7 Mayor Glenn agreed with Councilman Penn that the Committees got out of hand in the past. He felt that the Finance Committee would do more than just the budget. He continued that the Committee would meet year round on different issues. He agreed with Councilman Goodman that the Human Resource Committee would not micro -manage the Town Manager and his staff. However, the Committee needed to look at the same items that the Human Resource Manager does. He felt they would look at the health care issue where he expected big changes on the horizon. He opined that as a Council, they needed to stay ahead of the issue with an occasional meeting. He advised that his primary initiative was to protect the Town employees. He commented that there was a salary study coming up, and a decision regarding how to fund it. He felt the Town was under -paying the employees and the salaries needed to be increased. He added that the intent of the Human Resources was not to micro -manage staff but to take a long term look at the issues and also streamline our employment to make sure that every position is doing something for the people and the departments are getting what they need. Councilman Goodman interjected that another item for the Human Resource Committee was when new positions were created, the Human Resource Committee would come to full Council with recommendations. Mayor Glenn told Councilman Penn that if Council saw the Committee begin to veer off from what Council wants it to be, then it would be up to Council to get control of the Committee. Town Attorney Rygas reminded Council of all of the Freedom of Information issues that relate to Human Resources and advised that it really needed to be a macro level discussion on the Human Resource Committee. He continued that a lot of the issues that might normally be discussed in Closed Session because of sensitivity or specific personnel would be off the table for the Human Resource Committee. He added that hearing the thoughts of the Committee and how the Committee anticipated its development made him feel better about what may have been the thought process on it because there were sensitive issues and these would be public meetings. Mayor Glenn agreed that because these would be public meetings, discussions could not be held regarding positions, but rather policy. He added that he would count on Mr. Rygas to keep Council on the right path. He asked Mr. Utt what the next step would be. Mr. Utt responded that it would be good to pull each of the Committees together and individually come back with the rules and responsibilities for each Committee. Mayor Glenn moved on to Finance, with the first item being draft Fiscal Year 18 Budget calendar. Mr. Utt advised that a draft budget calendar had been included in the packet. He summarized the calendar for Council. He opined that the biggest challenge this year would be the salary study implementation. Councilman Goodman moved to adopt the draft FY18 Budget calendar as presented. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn Aye The next item on the agenda was options for Utility Service accounts. Mr. Utt advised that the last few meetings, Council had discussed options for utility service accounts. He continued that he had been working with staff to develop options in lieu of deposits required for utility service accounts. He proposed allowing an applicant to provide proof of 12 month good payment history — no cut offs - with another utility (water/sewer in another locality, electric bill or natural gas bill) in lieu of the $140 deposit fee. He continued that the $20 new service charge and the $45 deposit for garbage pickup (which is forwarded to the PSA as they provide garbage collection services) would still be charged. He added that the definition for January 17, 2017/Page 3 of 7 "good payment history" would be no cut-offs in the previous 12 months. He did not propose allowing phone bills, cell phone bills, cable bills, satellite bills or internet bills for this use. He asked for Council's input. Councilman Goodman suggested that staff make sure that the proof of good payment history be in the applicants' name. Councilman East suggested that they only use water/sewer bills from other localities to show good payment history. He advised that it may become a bit cumbersome for the Finance Department to try to decipher all the different types of bills. Mr. Utt agreed that it could get cumbersome at the start until everything was organized. Councilman Goodman commented that a lot of people, especially when they are first starting out, have a roommate and have to split their bills. He continued they might not have their name on the water bill, but could have it on the electric bill for example. Mr. Rygas expressed concern that there might be a potential for it becoming a discriminatory issue, even though no one would be actively doing it, in saying that this person with this history, doesn't require this deposit. He felt it could be a very slippery slope to say if we get this information we may consider no deposit. He added that it was not whether staff was actually discriminating, it was whether they were accused of it. Mayor Glenn asked whether there was any information available from the Treasurer's Office as to the differential between people who are renting versus people who are owning. Mr. Utt responded that the rental rate was about 40%. Mayor Glenn then inquired who was skipping out: people who are renting or people who are owning. Mr. Utt estimated that a greater percentage of renters were skipping out. Mayor Glenn advised that the reason he was asking was that the original question came from the public on the issue of landlords and their tenants. He continued that the landlords need a damage deposit and the first month rent and the Town needs $205 to hook up to water, sewer and trash. He added that the landlords were asking the Town to reduce the rate or eliminate the rate if given proof of good credit. He noted that the landlords were not giving way on any of their fees. Mr. Utt commented that under the Town's current fee schedule renters are required to pay the deposit. He added that if you own'the property, you do not have to pay the deposit unless you get cut off. He continued that if that happened, the owner had to pay the cut on fee and also the deposit. Councilman East asked whether other Towns have a similar program in place. Mr. Utt responded that some of them do have a similar program. He continued that the majority of them allow letters of credit from gas companies, power companies and utility companies. Councilman East asked whether other Towns gave any feedback. Mr. Utt responded that most of them had been doing it for a while so it did not seem to be an issue. He added that the Town needed to make sure that the rules and regulations were in place before acting on this issue. Mayor Glenn opined that this was an issue that needed to be sent back to the Town Manager to tweak. He agreed with Mr. Utt that he was not in favor of using letters of credit from telephone or cable companies. Council was in agreement with the Town Manager taking more time to study and fine tune the issue. January 17, 2017/Page 4 of 7 The next item on the agenda was mural proposal. Mayor Glenn opined that the walls in the Municipal Building were very bland. He suggested offering a program whereby businesses could sponsor and pay for a mural in a particular part of the building and have a plaque attached to the mural honoring the sponsor. He added that the art work would be approved by Council. He suggested the stairwell on the Post Office side and the upstairs walls as good locations for murals. He offered to sponsor and pay for the first mural. He advised that he had spoken with Andrew Williams, who painted the murals on the Glenn Insurance building, about subjects that could be used. He introduced Andrew Williams to present examples of work for the building. Mr. Williams introduced himself and provided several ideas for a mural that could be considered by Council. Mayor Glenn felt there might be interest in this idea from the public. He asked Council for their input. Councilman East commented that the Municipal Building was dated, except for the newly remodeled Council Chambers. He asked whether we see updating the entire building in the foreseeable future. Mayor Glenn responded that if Council could put the financing together, he would love to have a new building built including all the emergency services. Councilman East responded that he was wondering about upgrading the Municipal Building rather than new construction. He added that his point was that when you start a project, you need to have an end goal in mind. He asked for the vision of this building in a few years. What do we want it to look like? What image do we want to present to the community and how does a mural fit that vision. Councilman Goodman agreed with Councilman East. He added that there were some things that needed to be done to the Municipal Building to make it look more modern. He continued that the building needed to be painted. Mr. Utt interjected that the hallways needed to be painted. He continued that the offices had been painted recently. Councilman Goodman listed other items that might need improvement in the building, such as ceiling tiles, tiling on the floor, etc. He added that if he were going to donate money for a mural, he would want to know how long the murals would be there. He continued that the rules needed to be in place as to what could be painted as a mural and ensure that it was historically correct. Councilman Glenn commented that these were the ideas he was looking for. He continued that he had no problem setting the groundwork. He added that it was not like the project would be started tomorrow. He agreed that some guidelines needed to be set. He recounted that when the trees were planted on Main Street and the adjacent streets, the Town asked the community to pay for the tree and the Town would put the grate in and install a nice brass placard saying that the tree was donated by or dedicated to. He continued that he purchased 3 of the trees. He added that none of the grates were left and he didn't know where the placards were. He opined that the anticipation at the time was probably that the trees would be there for 100 years, but they were lucky if they got 5. He continued that he did not get upset about it because it was a nice idea at the time and we learn from our mistakes. But he added that we need to have rules and then look at artist renditions that Mr. Williams could provide for people to pick from. Councilman Radcliffe suggested meeting and discussing what they want to do with this building in the future. Mayor Glenn suggested tabling the idea for the moment and during the budget sessions, Council could look at what needs to be done to this building for the public in general and for the staff and their work environment. January 17, 2017/Page 5 of 7 The next item on the agenda was Law Enforcement Directed Towing Advisory Board. Police Chief Roche addressed Council regarding a memo from Captain Meredith that had been included in the Council packet suggesting a proposal for the establishment of a Towing Enforcement Board for the entire County including the 2 Towns. He advised that PD had received complaints from insurance people, adjusters and citizens over the past several months regarding costs for law enforcement towing. He continued that some tow companies were charging exorbitant fees. Councilman East asked whether the establishment of a Board had to come from the County. Chief Roche responded that it did not, but they thought it would be a more workable situation since central Dispatch was the calling point for all tow lists. Councilman Clark interjected that it was also more uniform. He continued that having worked a lot of years with the insurance side of that business, it was terrible to go into a County where you could go 10 miles from one community to the next and have a totally different set of towing ordinances. Councilman East asked if the County Board of Supervisors did this, would the Town just follow it since we are part of the County. Chief Roche suggested that the County and the 2 Towns meet and create a concept and go from there. Councilman Kidd commented that he did towing for a few years and there was a Board through the state. Chief Roche responded that the Board was gone. Following discussion, staff was directed to proceed with negotiations with the County and the Town of Dublin. Mayor Glenn moved on to Update on the Bob White Church of God fire. Fire Chief Kiser provided an update on the Bob White Church of God fire. The next item on the agenda was Appointment of Interim Building official. Mr. Utt advised that a copy of the resignation of the Town's Building Official had been included in the packet. He continued that staff had begun the recruitment process to fill the position but in the interim to ensure compliance with the building code requirements, Council needed to appoint an Interim Building Official. He recommended Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer be appointed. Councilman Goodman moved to adopt Resolution 2017-04, Appointing Bill Pedigo as Interim Building Official. Councilman East seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote. James A. Radcliffe - Aye Joseph K. Goodman - Aye Gregory C. East - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Mayor Glenn moved on to Roundtable Discussion. Councilman Radcliffe advised that he had received complaints from citizens that Peppers Ferry Road, Grove Drive and English Forest all needed some paving work. Regarding paving, Mayor Glenn advised of a company that would provide a service. They would bring in a specialized truck and drive over every linear foot of pavement and submit a report rating the asphalt condition and prioritize the paving schedule. He added that the Town could go in and add the information to the GIS. January 17, 2017/Page 6 of 7 He felt it was worth staff looking into. Council was agreeable to staff doing this research. Councilman East asked that staff partner with Pulaski on Main regarding the Christmas Tree Lighting event and lighting in the Park for next years' event and bring the information back to Council. Mayor Glenn advised that Ms. Hair and he both attended that meeting and would bring it up for discussion at the next meeting. Councilman Radcliffe advised that if assistance was needed for the Employee Picnic, that he would be glad to help. At 6:50 p.m., Councilman Goodman moved to enter into Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A-7): consultation with legal counsels and briefing by staff for discussion of specific legal matters and matters subject to probable litigation regarding UDAG loan request. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: 12 James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye At 7:26 p.m., Councilman Clark moved to adopt the Certification Resolution, seconded by Councilman Goodman and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye There being no further business, Councilman Radcliffe moved to adjourn, seconded by Councilman Goodman and so carried. Approved - Robert W. Glenn, 101ayor January 17, 2017/Page 7 of 7