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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-31-20Minutes of the Pulaski Town Council Work Session held at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, 2020 in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building at 42 First Street, N.W. The Town also provided a live -cast of the proceedings on the Town's Facebook page. In attendance were: Mayor: David L. Clark, presiding Councilmen Present: G. Tyler Clontz; Brooks R. Dawson; Gregory C. East; Joseph K. Goodman; Lane R. Penn; James A. Radcliffe Administration: Shawn M. Utt, Town Manager Nichole L. Hair, Deputy Town Manager Legal Counsel Spencer A. Rygas, Town Attorney Staff: David Quesenberry, Clerk of Council Chief Gary Roche, P.P.D. 1. Call to Order. The meeting was called to order at 5:00 p.m. by Mayor Clark. 2. Roll Call. Following the call to order, the roll was taken. Present were: Mayor Clark, Mr. Clontz, Mr. Dawson, Mr. Goodman, Mr. Penn and Mr. Radcliffe. With all members of Council in attendance, a quorum was present for the conduct of business. Following Roll Call, Mayor Clark read the following, statement into the record: "In light of this emergency and the guidelines on public assembly, we are providing, for our citizens, a real- time broadcast of our meeting this evening on the Town's Facebook page. The Council packet for this meeting is available on the Town's website. Copies may also be e-mailed or mailed to those citizens wishing to have a copy. Please contact the Clerk of Council if you wish to have the packet sent to you. In addition we are making an audio recording of this meeting to provide another record of the proceedings. Concerning the notification for this evening's meeting, the Town published notices in both the Southwest Times and the Pulaski County Patriot, in addition to placing a notice on the Town's Facebook page. Since this is a work session, Council will not be taking public comments. Citizens are most welcome to submit questions and comments by email, telephone, and regular mail. Any voting during this evening's meeting will be conducted by roll call vote and duly recorded in the minutes of the meeting. In spite of this emergency, the essential business of the Town is still being conducted. It may require some adjustments and adaptations as the situation develops, but it is the intent of the Council, Administration and Staff that we shall continue to serve our citizens to the best of our ability. " 3. Modification of the Agenda. Following his reading of the statement, Mayor Clark asked for a motion to modify the agenda to move Item 10, the "Legislative" portion of the agenda, (Items 10a, b and c), to where Item 9 "Finance" was and move Item 9 (Finance) into Item 10's (Legislative) former place on the agenda. The motion was made by Mr. East, seconded by Mr. Goodman and approved on the following roll call vote: Page 1 of 8/March 31, 2020 that long. He emphasized that a group of fifteen (15) attorneys from around the state had worked on the ordinance to insure its legality. It had also been reviewed by Mr. Rygas the Town Attorney. Mr. Utt recommended Council's consideration for approval, unless there were any questions. Mr. Goodman asked if the ordinance could be done for seventy (70) days in line with the Governors' actions. Mr. Utt said it could not since the state code required the ordinance to be reauthorized every sixty (60) days. Mr. Utt noted the document was available on the Town's website for the public. Mr. Goodman moved that the Council adopt Ordinance 2020-01 an "Emergency Ordinance to Effectuate Temporary Changes in Certain Deadlines and to Modify Public Meeting and Public Hearing Practices and Procedures to Address Continuity of Operations Associated with the Pandemic Disaster" as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. Penn and approved on the following roll call vote: Lane R. Penn -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye c. Resolution 2020-10, Procedures for Electronic Meetings Mr. Utt informed Council since an ordinance was in place, the Council needed to approve a resolution that stated the Town was in a disaster as defined by state code and meeting in groups of greater than ten (10) persons was not permitted and unsafe for those in attendance. The resolution was the final step for opening opportunities for electronic meetings. While Mr. Utt felt that the Town would not be doing many of them, he felt it would be beneficial to have it in place because of the uncertainty that the Governor would issue more restrictive measures. The resolution would keep the business of the Council moving forward. Mr. Goodman moved that Council adopt Resolution 2020-10 "Resolution Authorizing the Adoption of Procedures for Electronic Public Meetings and Public Hearings to Ensure the Continuity of Government During the COVID-19 Pandemic Disaster", as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. East and approved on the following roll call vote: Lane R. Penn -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Following passage of the resolution, Council next proceeded to the "Finance" portion of the agenda to discuss the FY 20-21 Budget. 9. Finance a. FY 20-21 Budget Review Mayor Clark observed in light of the climate the Town was in and how fast it was changing, the less public meetings that were held, the better it would be for all involved. With the situation being fluid and changing from hour to hour, he did not see that there was a way to predict where things would end up. All that could be done he ventured, was to wait and see how things went and maintain continuity of operations in the meantime. Mayor Clark then asked Mr. Utt to proceed with his remarks. Mr. Utt asked to begin discussion on the current budget given the past discussion on the need for a budget amendment so there would not be issues like last year with overspending and underspending. Instead the budget would be corrected to match what the projections were. Mr. Utt said he had revised the projections largely basing them on the meals tax and occupancy tax to a degree, which was not as big a hit as was expected as with the meals tax. From now through the end of the year, indications were that restaurants were seeing a 40% to 60% loss in sales. For the next budget year, Mr. Utt had projected out as far as October. Concerning the current year he thought the required hearings could be held on one day. He said there would have to be a budget amendment public hearing for the current year; a budget public hearing for the coming year; and a second meeting for budget adoption. Page 3 of 8/March 31, 2020 Mr. Radcliffe urged that the budget be kept on pace. He added that the budget needed to be kept moving forward and keep the way of life of the citizens as comfortable as possible. Frills should be put to the side. Council had the right to make adjustments anywhere down the road as they got accurate numbers. He again urged that a budget be passed and that adjustments could be made down the road. The businesses were taking a beating he observed, but if their doors could remain open he thought things would be all right. Mr. Radcliffe said to Mayor Clark that his recommendation was to set the schedule and move forward with it and make adjustments as needed. Mayor Clark replied that it would be more like when, not if, adjustments were made. Predictions were what they were today and tomorrow they might be different because the situation was so unpredictable. He expressed appreciation for the comments. Mr. Goodman felt that Council needed to be a little more than ultraconservative and ventured that next year's budget, even if the revision increased, would not be towards the numbers that were expected. Council he said needed to put more effort into the budget before it was adopted. Mr. Goodman mentioned the $100,000 shortfall in the meal's tax in this year's budget. Mr. Utt said the shortage was more like $25,000 to $30,000 since the revenues were running so far ahead. Mr. Goodman opined that was factored in to some of the corrections that had been discussed for this fiscal year. There were more cuts that needed to be made right now to the current budget because no one wanted to take any more money from the reserves. That meant, he continued, that if a budget correction was done for this year there would have to be cuts to offset it. In looking at next fiscal year, Mr. Goodman continued, that sewer bills were going up $100,000 and that we were legally obligated to do certain increases for a loan we received. The Town needed to go ahead and make those changes. There was no desire to raise rates, but the Town was obligated to do it. The Town had to pay the sewer bill and make sure there was income to do that. Mr. Goodman asked if the initial budget proposal was $9 million. Mr. Utt responded that it was $8.9 million. Mr. Goodman felt that now they were looking at an $8.6 million to $8.7 million budget. Mr. Utt replied that there was a balanced budget with cuts that was approximately $8.7 million. Mr. Goodman, referring to Mr. Radcliffe's mention of "no fills", said that an attempt to balance things had to be made because by June 11 th people would be out and about. The Town would need to do things for the community to allow them to relax. Hopefully Pulaski baseball would start on time, but there was still going to be things for people to do. The Town had to consider that and how it could be done affordably. Mr. Utt said he would have a revised FY 20 budget for those projections. Now that electronic meetings had been permitted, Mr. Goodman said that the Council was responsible to the citizens to put in the most effort they could now to develop an appropriate budget. There was a point he said, that the tough decisions were put off until later. Mr. Utt responded that the difficulty was not knowing what those decisions were. How bad was it going to be he asked? Was it going to be a 50% cut in sales tax or 5%? Mr. East said that some of those tough decisions alluded to by Mr. Goodman don't relate necessarily to the sales tax. He said there were still some things worthy of discussion that were needed to be discussed as well as avoiding a "rubber stamp mentality". Council still needed to do its best to get the best budget the first time with the understanding that it's going to change. Mr. Goodman opined that he thought there would not be a massive cut in the sales tax. People still needed to buy things and there were still things to buy. Others were going on-line and, given the change in the tax laws, those taxes are supposed to be paid back to us. He asserted there would be a cut, but not as you would see with the meal's tax. Page 5 of 8/March 31, 2020 Mr. East had no comment. Mr. Goodman also wanted to complement staff on the efforts made. He also reminded staff that they needed to communicate with all of Council. There had been some press releases issued and Council had not received a "heads up" before their release. He mentioned there were press releases on Facebook that were not in Council members email or decisions that were made (without notification). Mr. Goodman suggested using the phone since emails sometimes weren't fast enough. Mr. Clontz had no comment. Mr. Radcliffe complemented Mr. Utt on getting the lights on in Jackson Park. He said there were 500 hits on the Town's site within an hour of their being cut on. He also said Dr. White had requested lights on the gazebo. Mr. Radcliffe also commended the County's teachers and the School Board for their work in getting lessons to the end of the year into the hands of their students. He described their effort as "beyond amazing" the way the lessons were laid out for each day and each week to keep their students on schedule, despite having only a day or two to prepare. He suggested after the current situation settled that some form of recognition be given. Mr. Radcliffe believed that despite the current situation, the community would come out of this stronger than before. He said the community was fortunate to have good first responders if the virus hit here badly, which he prayed that it would not. If it did, we would be in the best hands. He urged everyone to "hang in there" and that we would be o.k. Following reception of comments and discussion, Council then went into Closed Session. 15. Closed Session Mayor Clark then explained to online viewers the process of the Closed Session and that the live cast on Facebook would cease since the Closed Session would be in the Council Chambers. Mayor Clark then requested a motion to enter Closed Session for two items under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (A) 8, consultation with legal counsel concerning a loan modification request and a boundary adjustment. Mr. East moved to enter Closed Session. The motion was seconded by Mr. Goodman and approved on the following roll call vote: Lane R. Penn -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Council began Closed Session at 5:39 p.m. and ended Closed Session at 6:30 p.m. Upon Council's return from Closed Session, Mayor Clark asked for a certification motion that Council only discussed two items under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (A) 8, consultation with legal counsel concerning a loan modification request and a boundary adjustment. Mr. Goodman moved to certify the closed session. The motion was seconded by Mr. East and approved on the following roll call vote: Lane R. Penn -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Mayor Clark then asked for a motion. Mr. Goodman moved to authorize staff to work with Mark Hale to authorize the Town to amend the collateral position on the roof loan for 74 West Main to include a first lien position on 84 West Main and a second Page 7 of 8/March 31, 2020