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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-26-83March 26, 1983 tr (J Minutes of a Specia-1 Meeting of the Pulaski Town Council held March 26, 1983, at 1:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers in the Municipal Building. There were present: Mayor Raymond F. Ratcliffe, presiding Councilmembers: John A. Johnston, Pauline G. Mitchell,,Ear1 D. Cabaniss, C. E. Boyd, Jr., Andrew L. Graham, Jr., Ira S. Crawford, Alma H. Holston, Glen K. Aust Also present: Garnett Moore, Town Attorney H. R. Goake, Town Manager Ruth A. Harrell, Clerk Visitors: Dee Lindsey, WDBJ Television, George Shadroui=news media William L. Tate Robert A. Hudson C. W. Hickam, Jr. Approximately 22 area citizens The invocation was given by Councilman Graham. WAIVER OF NOTICE OF SPECIAL MEETING We, the undersigned, duly elected members of the Council of the 1 Town of Pulaski, Virginia, hereby waive notice of a Special Meeting o$ said Council at 1:30 p.m. on the 26th day of March, 1983, for the purpose to consider final action upon the Consolidation Agreement between the Town of Pulaski, Town of Dublin and the County of Pulaskii=-sn3~ was-i~.t y -1-ega~Ll.-y--oeme-b~o'e e -~he~ . WITNESS our signatures this 26th day of March, 1983. .-~ c 0 n s 0 1 i d a t i 0 n r~ i ~. .`' t_~. c~~',rQ ~ Mayor Ratcliffe advised that the purpose of this meeting was to consider final action on the Consolidation Agreement between the Town of Pulaski, Town of Dublin and the County of Pulaski. v~ ~ March 26, 1983 Mr. Bill Tate stated that on the night of the 25th, he iaas visited Concerns by member of Council and handed a copy of a Resolution that had been adopted Peppers by the Peppers Ferry Wastewater Treatment Authority along with a copy of a Ferry letter from the legal counselors of said Authority to Mr. Phil Sadler, legal counselor of the Consolidation Advisory Committee of Pulaski County. He was requested to read and consider the Resolution and letter before the meeting of Town Council on Saturday. The meeting of the Town Council was to consider the contract that had been drawn up by the Advisory 'Committee. He was advised that other members of the Advisory Committee were also being given copies of the Resolution and letter. The letter they were given addressed certain concerns that the Peppers Ferry Regional Wastewater Treatment Authority had about the contract that had been drawn up, and the Resolution attached asked that these concerns be addressed bef ore a final ratification of the contract took place by this Council. The Advisory Committee feels quite comfortable with the manner in which the Peppers Ferry Regional Wastewater Treatment Authority question was covered in the contract, especially in view of the fact that the committee had repeatedly sought advice and expertise from members of the authority and others and. had been told on several occasions that these matters had been adequately addressed. It is the feeling of those members of the Advisory Committee who could be reached, that if indeed there are still un- answered questions and legitimate and constructive concerns by the Authority, they should be addressed by the Advisory Committee before the fin~.l vote is taken by the Pulaski Town Council on ratification of the contract. He stated further that a great deal of work has been done in addressing these concerns including several conversations with the legal counselor for Peppers Ferry, Mr. John B. Spiers, Jr. They were told that Mr. Spiers would be at this Council Meeting, however, he assumed that Mr. Spiers was busy with other legal affairs happening today. It is the feeling of both Mr. Spiers and the Committee that only very minor changes in the wording of a few select paragraphs of the contract will be re- quired to adequately address the concerns presented to the Advisory Committee. Due to the time limit, it was impossible to get the entire Advisory Committee together for a meeting to address these concerns.. However, there is a regularly scheduled meeting of committee on March 28, 1983, and these issues will be addressed at that time. He is confident they will be answered to everyone's satisfaction. He respectfully requested that Council continue this meeting until 7:00 p.m. Tuesday, March 29 at which time they can consider the changes that will have been made by the Advisory Committee and then give their final vote of approval to the contract. Councilman Boyd made the motion that Town Council continue this meeting Tuesday night at 7:00 p.m. 29th day of March, 1983, seconded by Councilman Crawford . Mr. Moore stated that he did not feel the concerns that had been stated in the Resolution from Peppers Ferry Regional Wastewater Treatment Authority and he thought it was a matter of general law; that all these things can be taken care of. Mr. Moore stated that when we met as a group we discussed the security arrangements for Peppers Ferry financing and Mr. Moore indicated that what Mr. Spiers is concerned about is the fact that the County cannot enter into a security agreement for ths, but also feels that if the consolidated county takes overall assets of the two towns, they also take over any obliga- tion. Mr. Moore had no great concern about the county obtaining capacity in the sewer lines and pump station and that this could be an agreement between the two towns and the county for the capacity. He feels we are going to have to go forth with that immediately. Once this is established, it would be similar to the .agreement we now have with Dublin, only it would include the Town of Dublin, Town of Pulaski, and Pulaski County. We should do this because we've already advertised for contract 3-A, 3-B and contract 5. These three have already been advertised and bids will be opened around the 14th of April. Agreement of dollars and cents cannot be agreed upon until that amount is determined. If the committee feels that they want to take another look at it and add some additional words of precaution, he would not oppose this. CoLmcilperson'Mitchell asked Mr. Moore if there was a possibility of our funding changing from 75% Federal and 25% local to 55% Federal and 45% local. Mr. Moore stated there was if we keep on delaying the issue. Mr. Moore stated .that if there was a request for expansion of the plant to provide for additional capacity the funding would probably change. We would deal with request for additional capacity by taking the total excess capacity that everybody has and allocating a certain amount of the unallocated capacity to Pulaski County. It would also deal with the capacity of the pump station and sewer lines and there is an agreement between the Towns of Dublin and Pulaski for this purpose. Also, the Town of Pulaski and County are negotiating for capacity in the facilities from Pulaski to Dublin. 1 March 26, 1983 ~~ / Councilman Boyd stated that Mayor Ratcliffe and Councilman Johnston represented Town of the Peppers Ferry Authority and they had insured Council that this situa- tion had been properly addressed. Councilman Johnston advised that he and Mr. Coake (acting as Mayor Ratcliffe's alternate) had attended the Peppers Ferry meeting and met in executive session to discuss some legal matters with the Authority's attorney. It was pointed out that the attorney for Peppers Ferry (acting in this capacity for a very short length of time), the Bond Counsel in Richmond and financial advisors in Norf olk had discussed the consolidation agreement as it might impact on the Peppers Ferry Authority, and as it might impact on the User Agreement. As most people know, the User Agreement between Montgomery County, City of Radford, Dublin, County of Pulaski and the Town of Pulaski is probably the best example of cooperation in consolidation that this area has had in many years. After they had seen the consolidation agreement, they felt there were some concerns that should be addressed; they were either not treated to the satisfaction of Bond Counsel or to the satis- faction of the financial advisors and at that time, Mr. Spiers wrote the letter to Mr. Sadler and the Authority passed the Resolution. They had expressed that the consolidation of Pulaski County was a subject they were not going to get into. Their only interest in it was looking to see how it affected grant participation, frore the EPA, State Water Control Board, fromthe Health Department, as to how it might affect this project. (33 million dollar project, over a long period of time). Any questionable activities on the part of the Authority or any of its members could jeopardize the successful conclusion of the project. We would hate to jeopardize our 75% grant money and this is the reason for our concern. These concerns were of a legal nature of which Councilman Johnston and Mayor Ratcliffe were not familiar with. Mayor Ratcliffe advised that Council at last Council meeting, approved a document that guaranteed the county's portion of the 2.1 million dollar up- front money to fund the Peppers.Ferry until it got underway. Mr. Moore stated that the Town of Pulaski could set up an escrow account for the total amount that we would possibly be obligated to, and have this, and when the money goes over to the county on January 1, it would carry that escrow account on for that particular purpose., The percentage bhat the.Town of Dublin and the Town of Pulaski is underwriting for the County is a definite figure and an escrow account for that purpose would be binding upon~,any other government that took us over . Councilman Crawford stated that he felt .the whole Resolution was a blatant attempt to try to put a negative effect on consolidation,-and read the following statement: This meeting was called for the purpose of voting on tle consolidation agree- ment and allowing it to go to the referendum. That is what we should have accom- plished here today. I want to make a few comments on the resolution from Peppers Ferry Wastewater Treatment Authority. This resolution appears, in my opinion, to be a very timely, deliberate comspiracy of the Council members opposed to this consolidation. The resolution was delivered to my home at approximately 9:30 p.m. and within 25 minutes of receiving the resolution, I received a telephone. call from a local newspaper reporter to see if my position on consolidation had changed in light of the resolution. I would like to remind everyone that the Town's paid representatives to Peppers Ferry are Councilman Johnston and Mayor Ratcliffe. They had the inf ormation contained in the consolidation agreement for months. Their committee met with the Consolidation Committee on February 1, 1983, and apparently found ,no fault with the consolidation agreement as far as it pertained to Peppers Ferry. Why now, when it is time to vote, do these concerns surface? Many oppor- tunities have been given all leaders to express concerns. Why wasn't this concern expressed weeks .ago. It is a clear attempt to defeat consolidation. The Town of Dublin and the County have ratified the consolidation agreement. We must do so also. Then, if there is an issue concerning Peppers Ferry, it will just be a matter of all involved attorneys drafting an amendment to correct the issue. The local government would only have to be concerned with whatever, if ang, appropriate amendment to address the issue referred to in Mr. Spiers' letter. I strongly feel it is Council's democratic responsibility to allow our citizens to decide their own form of government.. The.. citizens of Pulaski are much more capable of deciding what is best for themselves than this Council. I stand ready to vote on it. Councilman Cabaniss stated that with such expressions in the letter from Mr. Spiers such as "at least that is the legal advice I have heard", "it would appear that", "reliably advised", "may be adversely aff acted", "it should be so before", they are not saying anything except speculation. Mr. Moore stated that if he were a bond counsel and the man lending the money, he would want everything he could cramed into any agreement to lessen his responsibility and obligation. Councilman Cabaniss asked if we had an approval from all three jurisdictions, bef ore the Judge z ~v~s March 26 would approve it to go to referendum, would not the Judge look at any dissensions that we may have legally. Mr. Moore stated he thought he would. Usually, the court will review the agreement and then direct the legal advertisement, This agreement proposes that you have a legal advertisement first and then present that to the judge, Councilman Graham wished to make a few remarks on financing of Peppers Ferry. This is a $33 million dollar project, 75% Federal/25% local funding. Question has been raised that the funding could change to 55% Federal/45% local. How will thisaffect the Town of Pulaski. at 46~ of the $33 million on the 75/25% funding, it will be $3.8 million plus interest. This is a conservative figure. It is estimated $2,1 million from Pulaski to Fairlawn. On 45/55 funding, Town still has 46% of the $33 million project and our amount would be $6.86 million. He feels we have to be very cautious and make sure what we are doing is correct. Councilman Johnston explained the delivery system on the Peppers Ferry Resolution. Upon receiving copies at the Peppers Ferry meeting after the resolution had been passed and given to the press, Mr, McMillian took copies for his council, the advisory committee in Dublin, Mr. Wampler, Mr. Clower and members of Board of Supervisors. Mr, Coake and Councilman Johnston took copies for the three advisory members, Town Attorney, Mayor and Council members. First stop was to the hospital to give copy to Mayor Ratcliffe. As Mr. Graham was coming out of hospital, they gave him his copy and he was requested to deliver copies to Mrs. Holston, Mrs. Mitchell and Mr, Tate, Councilman Johnston and Mr. Coake delivered copies to Mr. Boyd, Mr. Rust, Mr. Hudson, Mr. Hickam, Mr.Crawford, and Mr, Cabaniss. vote. Councilman Johnston further stated the resolution was passed by unanimous Councilman Boyd asked if Peppers Ferry had changed the date of their meeting with Councilman Johnston answering that they had, to take advantage of the fact we were meeting early. Councilman Crawford asked why this meeting was not held prior to yester- day. Councilman Johnston answered that he assumed that the legal counsel had not formulated their concerns at that time. Councilman Crawford further stated that Mr. Spiers had tried on numerous occasions to talk to the County Administrator, so obviously the opinions had been rendered a long time ago. It upset Councilman Crawford that the council- men do not get the inf ormation until the last minute. Councilman Boyd stated that we look to Dr. Johnston and the Mayor to repre- sent Council on this Authority; yet Mr, Graham gives the presentation. Mayor Ratcliffe stated that Councilman Graham was Chairman of the Finance Committee of Pulaski Town Council. Councilperson Mitchell stated that she understood that John Spiers, Jr. bought a copy of the contract, and since Montgomery County, Radford, etc. are involved in Peppers Ferry, they are concerned of what the impact would be. She further stated the capacities and flows are assigned to specific service areas and cannot be altered without risk to the Grants. He is a lawyer and if the lawyers. that made up our contract did not catch this, then .she feels sure that Mr. Spiers is looking out for the interest of the people. These Grants are now at 75/25% basis. We are paying 25%. Other areas would be interested in getting some of the funds now committed to Peppers Ferry. We are reliably advised that if efforts are made to change the service areas and capacity allocations at this time, the grants themselves may be adversely affected. The new grant formula is based on a 55/45% basis which means we would go from 25% to 45% as Mr. Graham stated, and should this be applied to the Peppers Ferry for any reason, the increase in the local funding would be incredible. It would bankrupt us. It appears after the councils and supervisors vote on the agreement, it could not be modified without additional votes on reconsiderations and after a referendum, she assumes, no material changes would be possible. She feels that Mr. Spiers had good reason to bring this subject up for the protection of the people of our Area. She hates to think of us paying six million against two million. Councilman Crawford stated Mr. Spiers was the legal counselor for Peppers Ferry Authority. He has had access to this inf orm3tion as long as the rest of us have had access to it. When they met with the consolidation Committee, why didn't they bring it up. That is the point they would like to have answered. 1 March 26, 1983 14~r1 Councilman Cabaniss stated he would like to go along with what Councilman Crawford stated. He believes this is just another delaying tactic. He would like to vote on it too.. Mayor Ratcliffe stated that a couple of changes had been made and he had tried to explain why this inf ormation came. Once you sign a contract, very little change takes place in the contract. There has been strong effort on the part of Council to try to work out all thedetails in the contract in order to try to have a good contract. This is what we are trying to do. All the concerns have not been answered. We have a motion on the floor and we are presently discussing the motion, whether or not we should postpone the voting until March 29th . Councilman Aust stated he had more years than anyone sitting on Council, and. it hurts him to hear someone say that there is a conspiracy among this Council. He hopes, as long as he lives, whether he is serving on this Council or just a member of this Town, that he never hears this among government in Town anymore. He felt, that through the letter received last night, if there is a doubt anywhere, let's straighten it up. He appreciates Mr. Tate and his presentation in saying they wanted to bok at it and do something about it, fix it and let's vote on it. Councilperson Holston stated that we had been told that if we vote on this and all three governing bodies vote on this, then nothing can be changed. She wants the answers to all the questions in the contract before she votes. She did not want anything coming back to them later. .Motion on the floor that we continue this meeting of Town Council Tuesday night, March 29, 1983, at 7:00 p.m. carried on the following recorded vote: John A. Johnston - Aye Andrew L.Graham, Jr. - Aye Pauline G. Mitchell- Aye Ira S. Crawford - Aye Earl D. Cabaniss - Aye Alma H. Holston - Aye C. E. Boyd, Jr. - Aye Glen K. Aust - Aye 1 At 2:15 p.m. Councilman Boyd made a motion that this meeting be recessed to reconvene at 7:00 p.m. on March 29, 1983, to consider final action upon the Consolidation Agreement between the Town of Pulaski, Town of Dublin, and the County of Pulaski, seconded by Councilman Crawford and so carried. Mayor Ratcliffe declared this meeting recessed until 7:00 p.m. March 29, 1983. APPROVED: y~r Ratcliffe ATTEST: Clerk of Council