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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07-24-18Minutes of the Pulaski Town Council Work Session held at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 24, 2018 in the Council Chambers of the Town Municipal Building at 42 First Street, N.W. In attendance were: Mayor: David L. Clark, presiding 2. Roll Call. Following the call to order, the roll was taken with all members present and a quorum for conducting business established. 3. Modification of the Agenda. Mayor Clark asked for a motion to modify the agenda to add: (1) Item 13c under "Human Resources" concerning an appointment from the Town to the elected official's position on the board of the New River Valley Regional Commission and (2) a Closed Session item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (A) 7, consultation with legal counsel pertaining to actual or probable litigation concerning a West Main Street property. Mr. Goodman moved to modify the agenda as stated. 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 4. Guests and Visitors. Mayor Clark welcomed guests and visitors attending the meeting. Page 1 of 9/July 24, 2018 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 Press: Melinda Williams, Southwest Times Mike Williams, PC Patriot Staff: Dana Bishop, Finance Department Debbie Bivens, I.T. Department Kim Caudill, Public Works Gary Martin, Public Works Sandra Miller, Finance Department Jackie Morris, Finance Department Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer Chris Phillips, Public Works David Quesenberry, Clerk of Council Chief Gary Roche, P.P.D. Angela Viers, P.P.D Others Present: Joel B. Burchett, Jr. Robert "Nick" Glenn H.M. Kidd Katelyn Martin Clark Payne 1. Call to Order. Mayor Clark called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. 2. Roll Call. Following the call to order, the roll was taken with all members present and a quorum for conducting business established. 3. Modification of the Agenda. Mayor Clark asked for a motion to modify the agenda to add: (1) Item 13c under "Human Resources" concerning an appointment from the Town to the elected official's position on the board of the New River Valley Regional Commission and (2) a Closed Session item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (A) 7, consultation with legal counsel pertaining to actual or probable litigation concerning a West Main Street property. Mr. Goodman moved to modify the agenda as stated. 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 4. Guests and Visitors. Mayor Clark welcomed guests and visitors attending the meeting. Page 1 of 9/July 24, 2018 5. Consent Agenda. a. June 19, 2018, Council Work Session Minutes. b. June 26, 2018, Council Budget Meeting Minutes. Mayor Clark asked for a motion to approve the minutes from June 19, 2018 and June 26, 2018. Mr. Penn moved for approval of the minutes. His 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 6. Public Hearings. There were no public hearings scheduled for the meeting. 7. Presentations. a. Resolution 2018-23, Resolution of Appreciation for Robert "Nick" Glenn. Mayor Clark asked Mr. Glenn to join him at the front of chambers, whereupon he read Resolution 2018-23 commending Mr. Glenn for his fifty-eight and one-half years of service in various capacities to the Town of Pulaski. Mayor Clark then asked for a motion to approve Resolution 2018-23. Mr. Goodman moved to adopt the resolution. His motion was seconded by Mr. Penn and was approved on the following roll call vote: Mr. Kidd expressed his appreciation to the gathering and said it was an honor. c. Joel B. Burchett, Jr., Comments on Council -Manager Form of Government Mayor Clark moved to the next item on the agenda, comments on the council-manager form of government by Mr. Joel Burchett, Jr. Mr. Burchett referenced a recent article he read in the June 8th issue of the Southwest Times which mentioned a change in the Town Charter. After reading the article he said he had concerns and wondered why that question was being asked. He questioned if the issue was under consideration because: it would make things better; be a way to "rattle people's cages"; or was there an identifiable, consistent breakdown in the current model of administration that did not allow things to get done. He added that he did not know why this question was being asked. From his perspective, Mr. Burchett said unless the issue was under study because things could not be accomplished any other way, he felt there was no reason to pursue a charter change. He had a lot of concerns, as a former Council member, with Department Heads reporting directly to the Council. He questioned if Department Heads were answerable to Council, what would be the role of the Town Manager and his staff. He felt that the proposal could "neuter" the Town Manager's authority. Page 2 of 9/July 24, 2018 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 the vote, Mayor Clark presented the resolution to Mr. Glenn and thanked him for his service to the community. b. Resolution 2018-24, Resolution of Appreciation for H. M. Kidd. Mayor Clark asked Mr. Kidd to come forward for the reading of Resolution 2018-24, which recognized Mr. Kidd for his ten years of service on Town Council. Upon Mayor Clark's call for a motion on the resolution, Mr. Goodman moved to adopt Resolution 2018-24. The motion was seconded by Mr. Penn and approved on the following roll call vote.- ote:Lane LaneR. Penn -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Mr. Kidd expressed his appreciation to the gathering and said it was an honor. c. Joel B. Burchett, Jr., Comments on Council -Manager Form of Government Mayor Clark moved to the next item on the agenda, comments on the council-manager form of government by Mr. Joel Burchett, Jr. Mr. Burchett referenced a recent article he read in the June 8th issue of the Southwest Times which mentioned a change in the Town Charter. After reading the article he said he had concerns and wondered why that question was being asked. He questioned if the issue was under consideration because: it would make things better; be a way to "rattle people's cages"; or was there an identifiable, consistent breakdown in the current model of administration that did not allow things to get done. He added that he did not know why this question was being asked. From his perspective, Mr. Burchett said unless the issue was under study because things could not be accomplished any other way, he felt there was no reason to pursue a charter change. He had a lot of concerns, as a former Council member, with Department Heads reporting directly to the Council. He questioned if Department Heads were answerable to Council, what would be the role of the Town Manager and his staff. He felt that the proposal could "neuter" the Town Manager's authority. Page 2 of 9/July 24, 2018 With respect to day-to-day operations, Mr. Burchett questioned if a Department Head faced an immediate time sensitive issue that required them to report to someone, who would make the call if they were answerable to Council. In addition he asked, how would Council interface with Department Heads? Would time be set aside in the work day or would there be staff meetings instead of Council meetings? Regarding alternatives he suggested that Council seek out other Towns that had a successful manager - council form and find out what they are doing right that can be applied back to the Town's administrative model. No change to the current model of the Town would be required. Mr. Burchett said he felt there were three possible outcomes that could occur if the Town were to change: (A) invest time, effort and money to study it and get an improved result that would make it worthwhile; (B) a neutral effect in which the model is changed but nothing improves; and, (c) the change is tried and is a failure. Given that two of the three outcomes were not good, Mr. Burchett felt the odds were not in favor of the Town. Following his remarks on the charter change, Mr. Burchett wanted to personally thank Chief Roche and his staff for their assistance to Critzer School during a recent incident. He also thanked the Town Manager for trimming the budget and suggested that part of the savings could be used to benefit the employees with the balance applied to reducing the tax rate or doing something for the citizens. After these remarks, Mr. Burchett concluded his presentation. Mayor Clark thanked Mr. Burchett for his comments. 8. Public Operations a. Town Charter Update Next item on the agenda was the Town Charter Update. Mr. Utt asked Mr. Quesenberry to review research conducted concerning appointments of department heads by councils. Mr. Quesenberry reviewed the information he compiled for Council's review. A sample of 37 municipalities was compiled from a list from the Manager's Office and from another list adding several regional communities. The population figures for each community were updated using the latest estimates from the Census Bureau. Following this, the charter and ordinances for each community were examined to see which positions were appointed by councils. Afterwards, each community was contacted by telephone to verify the information. In addition, information from each community on the frequency of appointments and the positions under contract were also included. Concerning the results, Mr. Quesenberry prepared tables for Council's review and use. One table ranked the sample communities by the number of positions appointed, while the other table ranked the sample communities by population. Also added were two summary tables. The first showed the communities grouped by the number of positions appointed, while the second listed the most common council appointments by the number of positions appointed. Regarding the previous Charter Amendment of 1998, Mr. Quesenberry presented documentation consisting of: the minutes of December 17, 1997; Ordinance 97-22 requesting the General Assembly to amend the Charter; Acts of the Assembly -1998, Chapter 171 showing the changes made; and the minutes from April 14, 1998 showing the notification from the Town Attorney that the amendment had been approved. Following his presentation on the research, Mr. Quesenberry concluded his remarks. Mr. Radcliffe remarked that he and Mr. Goodman hoped by August to visit some of the communities and get the pros and cons (of council appointments). Mr. Quesenberry said that that listings by population and number of appointments were prepared to allow Council to pick communities to contact either by population or by the number of positions appointed. Mr. Radcliffe ventured that the communities that would be contacted would be close in population to Pulaski. Page 3 of 9/July 24, 2018 Mr. Penn said the reason for the original charter amendment was a lot of confusion caused by Council members, who were chairman of various committees, interfering with the departments. For example he said, one person tried to tell the Police Department how personnel should be dispersed and rode with officers getting in their way. Another went to the Fire Department to answer phones and interfered with that department. Mr. Penn said that he suggested that such incidents be stopped and the responsibility go to the Town Manager. Mr. Goodman said that that his and Mr. Radcliffe's job would be to collect information to bring back. If there were specific issues that Council wanted to be addressed, he asked to be notified so he could be sure the questions were asked. There being no further comments, Council moved to the next agenda item on economic development recruitment efforts. b. Economic Development Recruitment Efforts Mr. Utt said the recent announcement of Magic Mart's closing led to questions as to what could be done to improve economic development recruitment efforts. Since there was little or no land within the Town for industrial recruitment, for which the Town was deferring to the County, this left the Town a growth base in retail. Mr. Utt ventured that a Downtown economic development restructuring study, presented by Ms. Hair, might provide some feedback and direction from Council as to what they would like to see. Ms. Hair reviewed the Downtown Study by the New River Valley Regional Commission (NRVRC) and a survey performed by student interns. Although the NRVRC study targeted the Downtown, Ms. Hair said the results were applicable to the entire Town. With 68 retail establishments in the Town, the top sectors were auto -dealers; supermarkets; gas stations restaurants and general merchandise stores. Retail leakage calculations were performed which estimated the difference between retail sales in a given area and spending by local consumers on those items. The retail leakage was determined for a 15, 30 and 60 minute drive from the town. For a 15 minute drive, results indicates sales well below in demand in furniture, electronic/appliance stores, sporting goods, hobbies, and additional clothing and accessories. Results for a 30 minute and 60 minute drive from Town, showed demand for furnishings, shoe stores and alcoholic beverage stores. A survey performed by student interns indicated a strong need for restaurants, clothing stores, bakeries, entertainment, live music opportunities, bookstores and shoe stores. Ms. Hair said the results could give direction as to how the Town could target these businesses. Another important consideration was the need for retail business to have an on-line presence allowing them to have traditional retail and on-line sales. After having new residents tell her that there were financial restraints on rehabilitating blighted properties, Ms. Hair suggested, following research, that programs from the Town's former enterprise zone could be used to assist these residents. Nuisance abatement funds could be used to offset the cost of roll -backs. Given the loss of time caused by court cases, incentives could be used to help clean up properties. Mr. Utt ventured that the nuisance abatement funds could be used for landfill fees for demolitions. He added that it was possible that infill development would result from the removal of blighted structures for a small investment on the Town's part. Mr. Dawson asked if nothing was available from a residential standpoint. Ms. Hair replied that nothing was available, but incentives from the former enterprise zone could be used for residential assistance. Mr. East asked what the Enterprise Zone offered. Mr. Utt replied the Town did not have an enterprise zone but would use leftover programs from it for housing development. Mr. East ventured that marketing was the key and that the larger picture required a marketing strategy to attract investors who saw a reason to invest in the Town. The three areas of potential development he felt were retail, small investors in residential, and larger investors investing in a larger number of properties who should be targeted by a marketing plan. Page 4 of 9/July 24, 2018 While using the study data made sense with respect to retail, Mr. East said as a parallel there must be patrons. He felt the Town could work with realtors and that there should be a marketing strategy from a retail, residential and commercial standpoint. Mr. Utt said there were opportunities to apply UDAG funds, possibly to fund a Buxton study. Mr. Goodman said the common complaints on residential life in the Town, involve lack of certain kinds of retail, food amenities, etc. He felt that working with realtors to provide a volume of sales coupled with a list of contractors would provide the resources needed to spur investment. He emphasized getting the message out on the positives of the community. Mr. Penn cautioned Council that they must get rid of the community's negative label or nothing would be accomplished. Mr. East felt that the Town had to control the marketing and the message. He felt the Town needed a messaging and marketing plan using local resources or talent, for example, to place the message on social media. Regarding the negative label, the Town had not countered that. Mr. Goodman added that the positives were not promoted despite the positive changes that were taking place. Chief Roche said another piece of the strategy was educating our business establishments as to good business practices and making a business looking inviting for patrons to enter. When merchants don't sweep their walk or restaurants windows are filthy, people notice that and do not go in. He urged that businesses be shown how to make their store appealing. Mr. East said he would like to see a marketing plan covering the issues discussed with an implementation strategy for implementation as soon as possible. Mr. Goodman asked if a draft plan could be ready in 45 days by the August work session. Mr. Utt and Ms. Hair replied that it could be done. 9. Finance There were no items scheduled for consideration on the agenda. 10. Legislative a. Council Rules & Procedures Amendment 1. Draft Resolution 2018-25, Resolution Adopting Electronic Participation 2. Draft Resolution 2018-26, Resolution Amending Council Rules for Electronic Participation Mr. Utt reminded Council that there had been two members, Mayor Clark and Mr. Goodman, who had participated electronically in a meeting but were not able to vote. Recent changes to the FOIA law he continued, allowed local government bodies to have members participate electronically provided that there was a quorum of the body present at the meeting place. Mr. Utt said there were two steps to the process and asked Mr. Quesenberry to brief Council on the steps needed. Mr. Quesenberry said the first step in electronic participation was to have a written policy that must also have an approval process, by which members could electronically participate in a meeting. The second step was to take the policy and place it into the Council rules and procedures. The first resolution (draft Resolution 2018-25) created the policy. Sources of the policy he continued, were a Virginia Municipal League (VML) draft policy; the James City County Planning Commission electronic policy; and Va. Code 2.2-3707.2 He then briefly described to the Council the circumstances under which remote participation could be used (personal matter; disability or medical issue); the basic provisions for notification, quorum and approval; the standards for the Council's approval (uniform; strict application); the recording of approval/disapproval and the reasons thereof; and the limitation on using remote participation for personal matters (twice per calendar year). Page 5 of 9/July 24, 2018 Concerning general rules, the state code required that the remote participant's voice must be audible to all persons present. In addition, the policy for remote participation could also be used for committees. Mr. Quesenberry suggested that Council consider: if they wanted to do remote participation; if the policy would apply to committees; and what matter of approval process would be used. For the approval process, the state code required a process but did not specify what the process would be. He suggested that the approval could be automatic which would be noted in the minutes. The second step he continued, involved integrating the policy into the rules and procedures of Council. Mr. Quesenberry then reviewed the attachment to Draft Resolution 2018-26, highlighting the changes made which included: the policy for electronic participation; an amended order of business; provisions for voting and determination of a majority; and application of the process to remote voting in a committee. Mr. Quesenberry then concluded his presentation. Mr. Utt said there were several issues to be considered including the adoption of the policy to allow electronic participation and the amending of the rules to document it. He asked Council for their direction on the two resolutions. Mr. Penn questioned if a majority or a quorum of Council was required. Mr. Utt ventured that it should be quorum. To make the policy more clear, he recommended that a quorum of Council should be present and that remote participation be automatically approved. Mr. Rygas noticed that there was no mention of voting by Council if a disability was involved nor was there a limit on use of the policy for a disability. His other concerns were: who would determine if a disability existed; potential exposure of the Town under HIPAA; and potential claims of a disabled Council member claiming a denial of participation based on their disability. A short discussion ensued on distinguishing a personal matter and a disability; how a disability would be determined; and also what constituted a "personal" matter. Mr. Rygas ventured if Council approved the change, a pattern would be set on what was considered a "personal" matter. He added that he did not feel it would be appropriate to block one person's request when an identical request was approved. Discussion continued concerning the possibility that a person did not want to use one of their two remote opportunities and whether or not a person could log in and speak but not vote. Another issue discussed, given ADA and HIPAA concerns, was a limitation on accommodating a disabled member. At the conclusion of the discussion, Mr. Quesenberry and Mr. Rygas were directed to do more research. Council then moved to a discussion of additional issues involving Council rules and procedures with respect to communication and timing. Mr. Dawson felt procedures would not necessarily need to be changed to accommodate the communication needs that would improve current communication within Council and between the Council and Manager. Final agendas, he noted had to be issued by Friday. He felt there was no reason that proposed agendas could not be made available as soon as they were ready. Mr. Dawson said he would like to see within the framework of a communication plan the following: (1) by Monday of the week before a meeting there would be a preliminary agenda; (2) a weekly summary with possibly changes on use and contents; (3) scheduled meeting times with Council (e.g. phone call, personal meeting) at the convenience of both Council and the Manager. He asked Mr. Utt to come back his idea for an efficient, effective means of communicating better. Mr. Dawson asked others for their input. Mr. East agreed with Mr. Dawson and felt that the Council should be more engaged and should drive the agenda. The agenda would be more of a planning process on what matters were to be discussed. Council only had two times a month to discuss important issues and it needed to be made sure that each member was participating in bringing the important issues forward. More reactive issues could be addressed between important issues or over several meetings. Page 6 of 9/July 24, 2018 Mr. Goodman mentioned regarding agenda modifications, that he would like to see a near prohibition on that because it does not give Council members time to prepare for the item. While he understood things will come up, sometimes the digital packet did not get updated. He suggested using Board -Docs where a citizen could at least see the agenda items and the attachments to them. Mr. Utt was to review possibilities and report back to Council by the August 7th meeting. On project charting, Mr. East felt that it was important to have dates and responsibilities assigned with the reasons for any hold placed before the action item. The use of dates would allow goals to be met and, if they were not met, understand why. Mr. Goodman suggested that it might not be necessary to go through the chart by line, but instead ask if there were questions on the chart. If not, Council could move to the next item. Following the discussion, Mr. Utt said he would contact the County and get information on the use and cost of the Board -Docs program. 11. Public Utilities There were no items scheduled for consideration on the agenda. 12. Safety There were no issues slated for consideration on the agenda. 13. Human Resources a. Resolution 2018-27, Allowing Medicare Retiree Benefits Mr. Utt said about a year and half previously, the Council had a presentation from a representative from the Local Choice insurance provider when Council was considering allowing retirees to remain on the Town's policy at their cost after they retire. One part of the presentation dealt with Medicare eligible retirees, and offered a supplemental plan through Local Choice. No action was taken to specifically provide the supplement at that time. The resolution in the packet was to make available to retirees the provisions of that supplement as of October 1St. Mr. Utt said that the supplement was beyond what was available on the open market. There would be no cost to the Town, but the Town would have to let retirees have access to the program through the resolution. Mr. Goodman recalled that there was no actual cost to the Town and that it would not impact calculations of the Town's rates. Mr. Utt confirmed that usage of the supplement would not count towards the Town's rate schedule for health insurance. The resolution simply made the supplement available to the Town's retirees. On a call for a motion from Mayor Clark, Mr. Goodman moved to adopt Resolution 2018-27 as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. Radcliffe 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 b. Resolution 2018-28, Appointment of Mary Teny to the PRHA Next item was consideration of Resolution 2018-28, appointing Ms. Mary Terry to the Pulaski Redevelopment and Housing Authority (PRHA). Mr. Utt informed Council that there had been an effort made to recruit members to the PRHA. He felt that the PRHA would have a key role to play in the redevelopment of the Town. Ms. Terry, a former realtor from Northern Virginia, had a lot of experience in the housing area and volunteered to be a member of the Housing Authority. Given the need to have an Authority meeting soon, Mr. Utt said that the resolution was brought before Council hoping that they would be amenable to her appointment. Mr. East moved to adopt Resolution 2018-28 as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. Penn and approved on the following roll call vote: Page 7 of 9/July 24, 2018 Lane R. Penn -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye 14. Round Table Discussion Mayor Clark asked for comments from Council members. Mr. Penn had no comment. Mr. East asked about progress on the van issue. Mr. Rygas responded there had been no progress since the last meeting. Mr. East requested weekly reports on the issue. Mr. Rygas replied that the matter involved many legal issues some of which could not be put in a report out of concern for the Town's potential litigation posture. However, he understood that Council desired to keep the issue on the "front burner". Mr. East said the issue needed to be resolved in whatever form that resolution took. Mr. Dawson said he appreciated the willingness of others to listen to his concerns. Mr. Goodman commented that the Town had a good weekend with the Ribs festival doing well. Also the new middle school project gave more positive news to promote. He also thanked the staff for their work on the Ribs festival. Mr. Clontz said he appreciated the assistance he had received. Mr. Radcliffe said it had been a great weekend and that he looked forward to more changes. He also shared with Council an article in the Patriot about a visitor who was impressed with the improvements at Calfee Park and how the Town had moved forward. 15. Closed Session Mayor Clark called for a motion to enter Closed Session for 2 items: one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (A) 7 consultation with legal counsel pertaining to actual or probable litigation concerning a West Main Street property; and, one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (A) 8 consultation with legal counsel regarding a retirement incentive agreement. Mr. Goodman moved to enter Closed Session. His motion was seconded by Mr. Clontz and approved on the following roll call vote: Lane R. Penn Brooks R. Dawson Gregory C. East Council entered Closed Session at 6:55 p.m. -Aye Joseph K. Goodman -Aye -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Council returned from Closed Session at 7:23 p.m. Mayor Clark asked for a certification motion that Council discussed only those 2 items for which it went into Closed Session: one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (A) 7, consultation with legal counsel pertaining to actual or probable litigation concerning a West Main Street property; and, one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (A) 8 consultation with legal counsel regarding a retirement incentive agreement. Mr. Goodman moved to certify the Closed Session. His motion was seconded by Mr. Clontz 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 Page 8 of 9/July 24, 2018 16. Future Meetings and Adjournment Mayor Clark reminded Council that there was a budget work session scheduled for July 31 st at 7:00 p.m.; a legislative session on August 7th at 7:00 p.m.; and a work session on August 21st at 5:00 p.m. Mr. Utt said he had placed materials into Drop Box for the budget session. There being no further business, Mr. Goodman moved to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dawson and approved by unanimous voice vote at 7:25 p.m. Approved: L. Clark Mayor ATTEST: David N. Quesenberry Clerk of Council 1 1 Page 9 of 9/July 24, 2018