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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09-06-16Minutes of the Town Council meeting held Tuesday, September 6, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. at the Senior Center. There were present: Mayor: Robert N. Glenn Council: James A. Radcliffe, Gregory C. East, Joseph K. Goodman, H. M. Kidd, Lane R. Penn Absent: David L. Clark Staff: Shawn M. Utt, Town Manager Nichole Hair, Deputy Town Manager Patricia Cruise, Clerk of Council David Quesenberry, Assistant to the Town Manager Spencer Rygas, Town Attorney John White, Economic Development Director Rebecca Reece, Acting Finance Director Gary Roche, Police Chief Robbie Kiser, Fire Chief Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer Others: Clark Payne Michael Reis Cathy Stripling Linda Hall Tyler Clontz Steve Critchfield Ron Hall Bob McKinney Janet Jonas Rhonda Loftier Cathy Hanks Catherine Van Noy Ike Jeanes Tim Goff Brooke Wood, Press Mike Williams, Press Mayor Glenn called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Councilman Radcliffe led the Pledge of Allegiance and Councilman East gave the Invocation. Following roll call, Mayor Glenn welcomed the public to the meeting. The first item on the agenda was a Presentation regarding Community U Vision. Linda Hall, Cathy Stripling, Tyler Clontz and Michael Reis presented Community U's vision for downtown Pulaski. Included in their presentation were ways to show progress, quick and inexpensive visual investment projects, sharing success stories and other items. Mayor Glenn asked Ms. Hair what the next step was for Pulaski Community U. Ms. Hair advised that the participants from Pulaski Community U would be members of the Steering Committee along with others for the Community Planning grant. She added that the hope was to have a draft plan presented to Council by the first meeting in December. Councilman East asked when there would be an actionable plan. Ms. Hair responded that the consultant would work with the group to create an actionable plan to move forward. Mayor Glenn asked whether the group would continue to have meetings on a regular basis, Ms. Hair responded the meetings would be held monthly at this point. Page 1 of 6/September 6, 2016 Mayor Glenn commended the group for their time and efforts. He added that not only was Council going to have to help fund these projects, but Council was going to need to assist more with the activities in the future because he felt it was important for the public to see Council working as well. Councilman East commented that improving community appearance had been a topic of ongoing discussion. He confirmed that a presentation was expected at the next Work Session on how to go forward with a code enforcement/community development department. Ms. Hair agreed. Mayor Glenn moved on to Public Hearings. The first item was Proposed Fee Schedule Amendments. Mr. Utt reminded Council that during the August Work Session, he informed Council that staff failed to include the proposed building permit and zoning permit fee schedule amendments in the public hearing for the FY 17 budget. He added that a public hearing had been scheduled to discuss the amendments. He noted that a copy of the advertisement had been included in the packet as well as the proposed fee amendments. He advised that staff felt the proposed fee schedule would be easier to understand. Town Attorney Rygas advised that the ad for the amendments incorrectly showed that the meeting would be held in the Council Chambers rather than at the Senior Center. He recommended holding the Public Hearing at the September 20, 2016 Council Work Session. Councilman Kidd moved to table the Public Hearing until the September 20, 2016 Council Work Session. Councilman Radcliffe 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 - Absent Lane R. Penn - Aye Mr. Utt advised that the same action would be needed for the Public Hearing regarding Proposed FY17 Budget Rollovers. Councilman Goodman moved to table the Public Hearing regarding Proposed FY17 Budget Rollovers until the September 20, 2016 Council Work Session. Councilman Radcliffe seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe - Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Absent Joseph K. Goodman - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye The next item on the agenda was the Public Comment Period. Mr. Ike Jeanes addressed Council regarding the businesses in the area. He suggested some ideas to help struggling businesses. His ideas included expanding the transit system hours to facilitate travel to jobs and creating a database of buildings available for rent and for sale and making it easily accessible to the citizens. Councilman Goodman thanked Mr. Jeanes for his ideas. He especially liked the idea of a database of available buildings for citizens to access. Mayor Glenn moved on to the Consent Agenda consisting of the Council Minutes of the August 2, 2016 meeting. Page 2 of 6/September 6, 2016 Councilman Kidd moved to adopt the Minutes of the August 2, 2016 Council Meeting as written. Councilman Penn seconded the motion and carried on the voice vote. The next meeting on the agenda was Project Updates. Mr. Utt provided an overview of the Project Review Chart including that VDOT had decided that despite the project being overbid, they were going forward with the project. He added that it was hoped to see signs of construction within the next four to five weeks. He noted that the project would include the widening of the shoulder from Bob White Boulevard to the Interstate, the streetlights and the new guard rails. He added that the new stop light was on a different contract but work should occur during the same time period. Councilman Goodman confirmed that the Town had enough funds to handle the overage? Mr. Utt responded that even after the over bid, the Town still had approximately 1 and'/2 million dollars left that could go to a different project. Councilman East inquired if the left over funds from VDOT were at risk of expiring. Mr. Utt responded that the funds were not at risk. He added that the funds would probably be used for the replacement of the Commerce Street bridge or the improvement of the Dora Highway/Route 99 bridge. He noted that this would be discussed at a future Work Session meeting. Mr. Utt continued that a project meeting had been held that day regarding the Direct Injection PER for James Hardie; it was hoped to have a prototype for the Wayfinding Signage at the September Work Session; the initial round of bids would be released by mid-September for construction in late fall; departments were in the process of being trained in entering Purchase Orders; the Personal Property tax billings were to be mailed soon, with the due date in October; the Fire Parade would be held October 13; that it was hoped to move forward with the Phase Two review of the former Rice Property soon; the Revolving Loan fund for the roof replacements in downtown had been approved by Rural Development. It was hoped to submit loan applications very soon. He continued that additional well testing was being conducted at Gatewood as required. He advised that staff had been approached by Nordstrom/Xaloy to replace playground equipment at one of the parks. He advised that there had been excellent turnouts for the Special Events held this year. He noted that three Planning Commission members had completed their certified Planning Commissioner's training. He added that there were two Planning Commission vacancies. He recommended that Council consider appointing a Council representative to serve on the Planning Commission as well as advertise for the additional vacancy. He advised that the Jackson Park street lights would be staked off soon and staff was working on locations for the new trees. He added that a few of the existing trees would need to be removed. He advised that the Public Safety Facility Study group was having a kick off meeting with the consultant at the end of the month. Councilman East inquired into the progress of the handicapped accessible play grounds that Councilman Radcliffe had requested. He asked whether there were grant opportunities available. Mr. Utt advised that they had located a few smaller grants, but staff was continuing to research. Catherine Van Noy, the Town's grant writer, named several grants that could be applied for. Mayor Glenn moved on to department update. John White provided an overview of his job as Director of Economic Development and his progress this year. Councilman Radcliffe commented that he was seeing more work being done on the buildings in the downtown area than he had seen in many years. Page 3 of 6/September 6, 2016 Mayor Glenn moved on to Old Business. The first item was Resolution 2016-23, Appointing Town Representatives to the Pulaski County Emergency Communications Board. Councilman Goodman moved to adopt Resolution 2016-23 as written. 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 - Absent Lane R. Penn - Aye The next item on the agenda was sick leave incentive proposal. Mr. Utt advised that this was a topic of discussion at the August 16 Work Session. He added that he wished to provide some additional information to Council. He advised that currently, if staff had been with the Town for less than 5 years, there was no payout for sick time. After 5 years, the payout was the employee's current hourly wage per 8 hour day up to $5,000. The proposed new wording would be the following: (3) Employees who leave employment with the Town by electing to enter into the Virginia Retirement System, the payment of accrued sick leave shall be done by calculating the actual value of the accrued sick leave balance utilizing the employee's current hourly wage. The employee shall receive a payment equal to that actual value up to a maximum of $10,000. This incentive will only be provided to employees who retire through the Virginia Retirement System. Mr. Utt asked for Council's input. Following discussion, Councilman East moved to authorize staff to revise the Town's Personnel Policy to include the language related to Sick Leave as outlined in item 12b-3 of the Council Packet summary. Councilman Radcliffe 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 - Absent Lane R. Penn - Aye Mayor Glenn moved on to New Business. The first item was related to CDBG Community Planning Grant Contracts. Mr. Utt advised that there were two planning grants for downtown through the Department of Housing and Community Development. He continued that one was the CDBG Community Development Block Grant Downtown Planning Grant that was awarded to the Town for $35,000. The other one was the Building Entrepreneurial Economies Planning Grant for $40,000. He advised that the next step would be to hire the consultant(s) that would take the plans and develop an action timeline that would be used to compete for a full construction grant funding in the spring. He noted that staff recommended two consultants rather than one. The first was the New River Valley Regional Commission for grant administration and project development and Hill Studio for project planning and conceptual marketing assistance. He advised that he hoped to have a contract for Council to review at the next Work Session. The next,item on the agenda was Enterprise Fleet Management lease agreement. Mr. Utt advised that as part of the FY17 budget development process, Council discussed an option that was offered to the Town for the replacement of Town vehicles through the Enterprise Fleet Management Lease Program. He added that in the current CIP, staff was proposing the replacement of 2 trucks in the Page 4 of 6/September 6, 2016 1 Water/Sewer department, 1 truck for Maintenance department, and 3 for Engineering, Building Official and Admin. He advised that a draft master lease agreement had been included in the packet for Council's discussion and consideration. Councilman Goodman advised that all of the contracts had jurisdiction outside the state. He asked Mr. Rygas whether that posed a problem for governments. Mr. Rygas advised that he would have to review the law before answering. Following discussion, Councilman Goodman moved to direct the Town Manager to enter into an agreement with Enterprise Fleet Management, Inc. with the stipulation that jurisdiction and governing laws be changed to the Commonwealth of Virginia. Councilman East seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Absent Joseph K. Goodman - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye Mayor Glenn moved on to Our Town Grant, National Endowment for the Arts. Mr. Utt advised that a summary from Catherine Van Noy regarding the Our Town Grant had been included in the packet. He added that the grant's goal would be to develop a "complementary range of colors and visual/narrative themes" that would help provide a more cohesive image for the Town's downtown area. He continued that the end result of the grant would be murals throughout the downtown area, a colorful palate of buildings downtown that would be inviting and more presentable for visitors to the down area as well as additional public art projects. He noted that the proposed cost for the project was $60,000 with the grant providing $30,000 and a $30,000 match requirement. He added that the match could be met in a variety of methods in addition to cash, such a partners willing to participate to help cover the match requirement. Following discussion, Councilman East moved to authorize the Town Manager to allocate the $7,500 toward the Our Town Grant, National Endowment for the Arts. Councilman Goodman seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Absent Joseph K. Goodman - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye The next item on the agenda was The Marketplace management contract renewal. Mr. Utt advised that the current management contract with the Chamber for The Marketplace was approved in December 2014 for a 2 year period and would expire in December of 2016. He added that a copy of the current contract showing a quarterly payment of $1,500 to the Chamber had been included in the packet. He asked for some feedback regarding whether to extend the contract for another two years at $1,500 per quarter. Following discussion, Councilman Goodman moved to authorize the Town Manager to develop a contract to extend and authorize the execution of the Marketplace contract for an additional two years at $6,000 per year. Councilman Radcliffe seconded the motion and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Absent Joseph K. Goodman - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye At 8:35 p.m., Councilman Goodman moved to enter into Closed Session under Virginia Code 2.2-3711 (A-3) (3 items), discussion for consideration of the disposition or acquisition of publicly held property regarding Page 5 of 6/September 6, 2016 First Street NE Parking Lease Proposal, Washington Avenue Property and West Main Street Property. Councilman Radcliffe 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 - Absent Lane R. Penn - Aye At 9:20 p.m., Council returned from Closed Session and adopted the Certification Resolution on motion by Councilman Goodman, seconded by Councilman Kidd and carried on the following recorded vote: James A. Radcliffe -Aye Gregory C. East - Aye David L. Clark - Absent Joseph K. Goodman - Aye H. M. Kidd - Aye Lane R. Penn - Aye There being no further business, the meeting adjourned on motion by Councilman Goodman, seconded by Councilman East and carried on voice vote. Approved: 1 Page 6 of 6/September 6, 2016