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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08-20-13Minutes of the Town Council meeting held August 20, 2013 at 5:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building at 42 First Street, NW, 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 David Warburton, Town Attorney Patricia Cruise, Clerk of Council David Quesenberry, Assistant to the Town Manager Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer Pam Witten, Finance Director John White, Economic Development Director Tony Meredith, Police Department Captain Dave Hart, Parks and Facilities Director Bill Webb, Fire Chief Others: Lane R. Penn Clark Payne Janet Golden Shawn Utt Shannon Watkins, Press Mike Williams, Press Mayor Worrell called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. and welcomed the visitors to the meeting. The first item on the agenda was the Consent Agenda. Councilman Kidd moved to adopt the Consent Agenda consisting of the minutes of the July 16, 2013 Council meeting as written. Councilman Clark seconded the motion and carried on voice vote. Mayor Worrell advised that the Employee of the Month for August 2013 was Police Sergeant Robert Rucker. He read a press release aloud commending Sergeant Rucker and advised that in addition to receiving the Employee of the Month award, he would also receive an additional paid day off from the Town and be eligible for the Employee of the Year award at the end of the year. The next item for consideration was Public Operations. The first item was Friends of the Ratcliffe report. Tye Kirkner and Janet Jonas addressed Council providing a report on the progress of the Friends of the Ratcliffe Board. They presented a framed photograph of the interior of the current Museum to Council. A draft version of the Articles of Incorporation and a Memorandum of Understanding outlining what the Town would do and what the Friends of the Ratcliffe would do in relation to the Museum had been included in the packet. He asked Council if they had any specific questions in the draft Memorandum of Understanding that he could answer. On behalf of the Town Council, Mayor Worrell thanked Mr. Kirkner for the framed photograph. He advised that he had reviewed the Memorandum of Understanding and it met his approval. He noted that Council and staff would need time to review it before Council could vote. il~ 1 Mr. Kirkner commented that the Museum belonged to the Town of Pulaski and "The Friends" would solicit input from Council, but they also wanted to be aggressive in taking care of the Museum within the bounds set by Council. He noted that Council had oversight over "The Friends" and he inquired how often and what type reporting did Council desire? Additionally, he inquired if the billboards in Town could be used by the Museum for advertising campaigns? He encouraged Council to continue funding the Museum and to restore the August 20, 2013/Page 1 of 6 funding they had taken from the Museum in this fiscal year. He asked whether the Town's Museum Selections Committee could be merged with "The Friends" Selections Committee. Additionally, he asked what the process was to add other Board members to "The Friends". Mayor Worrell responded that Council would respond to the questions after considering them. Mrs. Jonas noted that the "Friends" could not apply for their 501 c3 status until Council approved the Articles of Incorporation. Councilman East commented that Council did not wish to micromanage "the Friends". He added that the success of the Museum was with the "Friends". He noted that financial reports as well as information like the number of volunteers and visitors would help Council in the budgetary process for the "Friends". Councilman East inquired where the Town billboards were located. Mr. Hawley advised that one was on Route 99 near Xaloy Way and the other one was on South Washington near Calfee Park. He noted that the one on Route 99 was provided by Lamar Advertising and as part of the contract with the Town, was changed two times a year. Councilman East confirmed that the Museum could use either of those billboards. Mr. Hawley noted that it would cost approximately $600 to change the billboard near Calfee Park. Mr. Kirkner interjected that the Board was soliciting donations to cover the expense of a new billboard at Calfee Park. Mayor Worrell moved on to joint dispatch update. He commented that no information had been included in the packet. Mr. Hawley advised that the last meeting had been cancelled due to lack of a quorum. The meeting had been rescheduled for the following week. The next item on the agenda was Community Development information. Mr. Hawley advised that Council had indicated at the last meeting that they would like more information on the Town of Ashland. He added that staff had gathered some information from the Town of Ashland's website. Additionally, he advised that he had spoken with their Town Manager and had a telephone conference scheduled with the Town of Ashland the next day. He summarized the information in the packet including that their Community Development department had five positions. He noted that they had a separate Executive Director for the Virginia Main Street program. He added that their building inspections were done by the County. He commented that he didn't know how they handled property maintenance issues, but planned to ask that question the following day during the conference call. He noted that he would provide more information to Council after that conference call. Councilman Goodman advised that he would like to know the success or failures that the Town of Ashland had had with having the zoning staff under the Community Development department. Additionally, he wanted to know if Ashland had at some point considered having code enforcement in that same department and why. He also wanted to know, since Ashland was not doing Code Enforcement, were they doing the Uniform Fire Code? Councilman East suggested using Ashland's management structure as a starting point for the Town and fine tuning the department from there. He also suggested that this position could work with Department of Housing and Community Development and the Virginia Main Street program. August 20, 2013/Page 2 of 6 Mr. Hawley inquired whether there was any other information that Council needed? He noted that a summary of the conference call would be given to Council and the topic would be added to the September 3, 2013 Council meeting. Councilman East advised that he would be interested in whether their department included grant writers. Councilman Goodman suggested reaching out to communities who had Code Enforcement under the umbrella of the Community Development department and ask about their successes and failures as integrating that into the department. Mr. Hawley inquired whether Council was looking at a department or a position? Councilman Goodman responded that they were talking about a department. He added that it could initially be a position that would expand as needed. Mayor Worrell moved on to two way traffic. He advised of the existence of an on line petition regarding two way traffic downtown. He noted that it had been several years since Council reviewed the option of making Main Street a two way street. He commented that personally, he would be interested in a survey of the Main Street businesses. He asked for a review of some of the obstacles discovered when the last survey was done of Main Street businesses. Mr. Hawley advised that some of the issues were the cost of changing signals, signage, loss of parking spaces, and the potential for issues with delivery trucks. Mayor Worrell advised he did not recall the numbers from the last discussion. Mr. Hawley advised that in 2010, several options were considered including just making portions of Main Street two way. He added that it would cost approximately $35,000 to change out one traffic signal and there were at least two traffic signals that would be affected. He noted that the installation of a traffic signal with the related street improvement at Duncan Avenue would be approximately $400,000 to $600,000. He added that if a traffic circle was installed at Duncan Avenue, the cost would be approximately $600,000 to $700,000. During discussion Councilmen Radcliffe, East and Goodman felt that it was more important to work on the Route 99 project at this time. They felt that two-way traffic could be reviewed again in the future. Councilman Goodman suggested looking at TEA-21 grants as an option for the possibility of making Main Street a two way street. He felt the grant search could be done at the same time as the survey and that the survey responses should be segregated out as merchants versus property owners. Councilman Radcliffe asked Economic Development Director John White what he heard from the businesses on Main Street. Mr. White commented that the people who were advocates of two way traffic were becoming more vocal and that there might be a few more converts to the idea. The people who were advocates of a two way Main Street felt it would cause people to linger on the street, which could improve their business. He advised that Mount Airy had recently changed from a one way street to a two way street. He suggested that they could be asked for more information regarding that process. Councilman Kidd commented that he did not want to take any money from the Route 99 project. He added that one of the problems he had with making Main Street two way was a safety issue as far as Fire/EMS/Police being able to respond to incidents and needing to go through Main Street. Mayor Worrell suggested that Greater Pulaski Alliance could be asked to do the survey regarding two way traffic. August 20, 2013/Page 3 of 6 Mr. Warburton commented that the largest traffic generators on the two one way streets downtown were the County, the library, the courthouse and the historic courthouse. He suggested asking the County for their input. Mayor Worrell moved on to Legislative issues. The first item was Committee/Board update. Mr. Hawley advised that at a previous meeting, Council expressed concerns regarding the need for some Of the committees and boards and which committees and boards the Town was required to have. He added that Mr. Quesenberry had provided a summary concerning what committees and boards were required. He commented that a draft Resolution had been provided in the packet for Council's consideration. Mayor Worrell commented that the issue had been tabled and would have to be removed from the table before further discussion ensued. Councilman Goodman moved to untable Resolution 2013-07. Councilman Clark seconded the motion 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 James A. Radcliffe -Aye Mayor Worrell felt the Resolution should be approved as written. He added that staff prepared the Resolution at the direction of Council and contacted the individuals, who agreed to serve. He noted that the by-laws of each organization dictate what terms they serve. Councilman Clark commented that the Housing Board of Adjustment and Appeals was required by the state. He added that unless Council wished to eliminate the Town Historic designations, the Architectural Review Board was necessary. He liked the fact that the Cemetery Board of Trustees was able to handle the details of issues with the cemeteries. Councilman Goodman commented that the Town currently did not have a real process by which to interview citizens appointed to boards. He added that Council did not want to discourage any citizen from participating in a Board, however, he felt that Council needed more information regarding the appointee. He felt that Council needed to develop a process for appointing citizens to Committees and Boards. He suggested that the terms for the appointments in Resolution 2013-07 be changed to six months, which would give Council time to review all of the Committees and Boards. Councilman East felt a review of the Committees and Boards was in order and supported six month terms for those Boards included in Resolution 2013-07. Mr. Hawley advised that the Pulaski Redevelopment and Housing Authority needed a full complement of members on the Board as Council had directed them to look at a request from GPA to create Conservation and Redevelopment districts. He hoped that Council would review this Board first. Mr. Warburton encouraged Council to separate who gets named from what position is going to be open. Councilman East commented that his desire to develop a process for appointments to Boards and Committiees had nothing to do with individual appointees. He wished to look at the structure of the Board and make sure it was still serving its purpose and change the structure if it was needed. Mr. Warburton responded that he did not mean to be critical of any Council person. He added that he only brought it up because he heard both things in the same discussion. August 20, 2013/Page 4 of 6 Councilman Goodman advised that he was not directing his comments toward any individual person. He added that Council did not have a real process and this needed to be reviewed. The consensus of Council was to make the terms for the appointments on Resolution 2013-07 be for six month terms. The next item on the agenda was New River Valley Agency on Aging representative. Mr. Hawley advised that the New River Valley Agency on Aging had requested an appointment to their Board for the term of one year. He added that Lydia Hickam had agreed to be reappointed to the Board Councilman Clark moved to adopt Resolution 2013-08, Appointing A Town Representative To The Agency On Aging. Councilman Radcliffe seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: Heather L. Steele -Aye H. M. Kidd -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye David L. Clark -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Mayor Worrell moved on to Safety. The first item was Fire Department job descriptions revision. Fire Chief Webb advised that the Department had always had some people who were certified in Emergency Medical Technician Basics (EMTB). He added that the potential exists that on duty Fire Department personnel may be required to assist emergency medical personnel with REMSI as an EMTB. He requested that Council add the following to all Fire Department job descriptions "May be required to perform Emergency Medical Services if trained and certified to do so". He noted that EMS is not a Fire Department job requirement, but he felt the addition of this wording was prudent. Following discussion, Councilman Clark moved to direct staff to prepare the change in the Fire Department job description for review at the next Council meeting. Councilman East seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: Heather L. Steele -Aye H. M. Kidd -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye David L. Clark -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye The next item on the agenda was SRO grant match. Mr. Hawley advised of the receipt of an email from the County Administrator Peter Huber, requesting that Council consider some level of participation by the Town in the Student Resource Officer program at the middle schools. Councilman Goodman commented that it was difficult for the Town to participate in funding the SRO officer when the position should be paid for by the School Board. He noted that the Town would have use of the officer for less than one month per year. Councilman Radcliffe commented that the cost was going to grow each year. He added that there was no quick fix. No action was taken by Council. Mayor Worrell moved on to Round Table discussion. August 20, 2013/Page 5 of 6 Councilman East advised that he had seen an email regarding the vultures in Town. He asked whether Council needed to take any action. Mr. Hawley advised that Council had already directed staff to proceed with a contract for wildlife management activities. He planned to sign the contract with the Department of Agriculture to start the process. Councilman Kidd thanked the Fire Department for their help with REMSI calls. Councilman Radcliffe thanked the Senator and Delegate for their attendance at the meeting with VDOT regarding the Route 99 project. Additionally, he thanked the staff for the new business coming to the Town. At 6:35 p.m., Councilman Goodman moved to enter into 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: Heather L. Steele -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye David L. Clark -Aye H. M. Kidd -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye At 7:35 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: 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 announced that a Called meeting was scheduled for July 30, 2013 at 6:00 p.m. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned on motion by Councilman Goodman, seconded by Councilman Clark and carried on voice vote. Approved: S. Worrell, Mayor August 20, 2013/Page 6 of 6