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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-18-20Minutes of the Pulaski Town Council Work Session held at 5:00 p.m. Tuesday, February 18, 2020 in the Council Chambers of the Municipal Building at 42 First Street, N.W. 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 Press: Melinda Williams, Southwest Times Mike Williams, PC Patriot Staff: Kim Caudill, Admin. Mgr. Public Works Chief Robbie Kiser, P.F.D. Rebecca Leeper, Finance Director Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer David Quesenberry, Clerk of Council Nathan Smythers, Engineering Technician Chief Gary Roche, P.P.D. Others Present: Ronald Cox Elaine Holeton Justin Kemp Cathy Stripling Randy Trail, Jr. 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. 3. Modification of the Agenda. No modifications were requested for the agenda. 4. Guests and Visitors. Mayor Clark welcomed all in attendance. 5. Consent Agenda. a. January 21, 2020, Council Work Session Minutes. Mayor Clark moved on to the Consent Agenda and called for a motion to approve the minutes of the January 21, 2020 Council work session. Mr. Dawson moved to approve the January 21, 2020 work session minutes. The motion was seconded by Mr. East and approved by a unanimous voice vote of Council. There being no public hearings, Council proceeded to "Presentations" to receive information about Pulaski on Main and prospective grants from Ms. Catherine Van Noy. Before continuing with the presentations, Mayor Clark asked that the video prepared for the HGTV submission be played for those who could not attend the screening, the previous Sunday at the Pulaski Theater. Mr. Utt then played the video for the meeting. After the video, Council heard from Ms. Van Noy concerning Pulaski on Main and prospective grants. Page 1 of 15/February 18, 2020 Concerning the Main Street requirements, Mr. East asked, since emphasis was placed on traditional main street districts, was one way traffic on Main an issue. Ms. Van Noy responded that it was not. Mr. East asked about the boundaries of the Main Street District and what it included. Ms. Van Noy said the district started at the "gateway" and had expanded to include 5th Street, Calfee School and Maple Shade. Mr. Goodman commented that citizens had asked him what the difference was this time regarding main street programs in light of the last 40 years. Ms. Van Noy, mentioning a similar question from Bill Shelton, (DCHD), replied that a number of things were different and mentioned: the Hagan investments; deployment of successful EPA brownfield grants; and Critchfield and West Main Development investments. Regarding outdoor recreation, now recognized by DHCD as an economic engine, she mentioned: the Dora Trail and the Draper Mountain trails. All of these things together, along with investors and small business made sense to Mr. Shelton. She added that the Virginia Main Street practices made sense in focusing on those initiatives. In addition, social media has made a difference in getting people's attention and building audiences. If focus is lost she added, then these things go away Mr. Goodman asked Ms. Van Noy what was being done differently to engage investors to attract folks to open a business Downtown. Ms. Van Noy responded that she did not know what was done before nor how extensive the efforts were. She did believe in a comprehensive full-bodied approach which was being applied across the four points, as well as using transformation strategies to identify assets and potential to build across the four points (e.g. Pedal Pushers; public art opportunities). Mr. East felt Mr. Goodman was alluding to getting caught up in the process which had happened before. A successful Downtown he felt had to come from the grassroots and the Town could only facilitate the process. He noted Mr. Dawson's comments that a director would be needed which resulted in a new position and new money. What would happen he asked if the money were spent on directly marketing the Town? Ms. Van Noy replied the question she would ask would be who was doing the marketing. Mr. East felt that social media would make that easier. Mr. Radcliffe said he was looking at the bigger picture of selling the whole town. He asked what could be done regarding the whole Town. He noted that Giles County had two new business and was nowhere near the Interstate. Somebody was somehow selling that community, but he did not know how. He added that the Town could not continue to "wail" on Main Street only. Mr. East said regarding the two businesses mentioned, that Galax had a healthy recruitment program. While approving of the concept of Pulaski on Main, Mr. East said that regarding his time on Council he has become somewhat of a skeptic. Grants he noted had many strings attached and sometimes it felt that it was a "circular back scratch". A lot of time was used chasing grants. Once the grant was received an engineering or research firm was hired to evaluate whatever and nothing happened. What he as a Council member wanted to see was the "rubber hitting the road" or how to get the "rubber to hit the road". It would not happen in the Council Chamber or elsewhere. He felt it would happen by pulling in all the local folks/businesses, and drive things from that aspect. Mayor Clark thanked Ms. Van Noy for her presentation. Council next heard Ms. Van Noy's presentation concerning two prospective grants. b. Prospective Grants, Catherine Van Noy 1. Virginia Dam Safety, Flood Prevention & Protection Assistance Fund 2020, Resolution 2020-05 Ms. Van Noy said that this grant was from DCR-Virginia Dam Safety and was exclusively for a study to update the floodplain ordinance. The grant was a one-to-one match with the Town's portion totaling $5,000. A resolution was required and was in the packet (Resolution 2020-05). Ms. Van Noy asked if there were any questions. Mr. Dawson questioned why it cost $10,000 to update the ordinance. Ms. Hair responded that it was to align the ordinance with national guidelines. Mr. Utt said the community had to have a floodplain management Page 3 of 15/February 18, 2020 10. Legislative a. Resolution 2020-06, Supporting the Reappointment of the Honorable Marcus H. Long, Jr. Mayor Clark then read Resolution 2020-06 as follows: "WHEREAS, the Town Council of the Town of Pulaski, Virginia wishes to recognize and express its appreciation to those persons who have given exemplary service to the community and its citizens; and, WHEREAS, the Honorable Judge Marcus H. Long, Jr. as a 27th District Court Judge in Pulaski County set new standards for future jurists by his fair and impartial administration of the law coupled with his innovations in addressing the issue of substance abuse during his tenure as a 27th District Court Judge in Pulaski County; and, WHEREAS, recognizing the community's acute problems associated with substance abuse and the need for a new strategy to address the issue, Judge Long spearheaded the establishment of the Drug Treatment Court Program in Pulaski County in 2014 in which treatment and accountability met together in a two year plan of intensive judicial supervision to break the vicious cycle of addiction, crime and incarceration; and, WHEREAS, the Pulaski County Drug Court has proven successful in restoring the lives of participants and their families in removing the plague of addiction and its effects on the lives and relationships of program participants and led to the establishment of Adult Drug Courts in Floyd and Montgomery Counties; and, WHEREAS, in addition to his pioneering work establishing Drug Treatment Courts, Judge Long is also noted for applying the law both fairly and impartially, yet showing compassion and a desire for success towards those appearing before him; NOW, THEREFORE be it RESOLVED by the Town Council of the Town of Pulaski, Virginia, sitting in regular session this 18th day of February 2020 that, in light of his unique contributions to the life of our community and his impartial yet compassionate application of the law, the Town Council supports the reappointment of the Honorable Marcus H. Long, Jr. to the Circuit Court for the 27th Judicial District. " Mr. Goodman said he and Mr. Radcliffe were at a meeting where the reappointment issue was brought up. The County, he noted, had approved a similar document. The concern was that a few lawyers in the area were trying to get rid of a judge who had been quite good for the community, in a process that had become political with their efforts to get someone else in that office. Mr. Goodman added that given the work that had been done with the Drug Court that it was inappropriate to play politics with a judge. This was, he explained why this item was placed on the agenda. Being no further discussion, Mayor Clark opened the floor for a motion regarding Resolution 2020-06. Mr. Goodman moved to adopt Resolution 2020-06, as revised. 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 action on the resolution, Council moved on to "Finance" since no matters for discussion were scheduled under "Public Operations". 8. Public Operations There were no matters scheduled to be discussed under "Public Operations." 9. Finance a. Review of FY19 Audit Matters b. Discussion/Review of FY20 Expenditures and Projections Page 5 of 15/February 18, 2020 Mr. Radcliffe noting that decal revenue dropped $23,000, asked why there was such a sudden drop in one year. Mr. Utt explained that when the Town did away with decals, there was a loss of nearly $100,000 because so many citizens moved back and forth between the County and the Town that it was difficult to identify, track or find folks who were registered in the Town on January 1 It. At that time the DMV was not as strict in determining if a vehicle was housed in the County or the Town. Chief Roche added that when car dealers processed registrations at their dealership, they put in the County only. Mr. Goodman said he ran into that issue, while Chief Roche added that he had to get his registration corrected twice. Mrs. Leeper ventured that the default setting for entering the data was for the County. Chief Roche also said that the County had sold County decals to Town citizens. Mr. East said he understood that when the decals were reintroduced it was to be a temporary measure while an alternate method was considered. Chief Roche ventured that over a period of years, $900,000 in revenue was lost. Mr. Utt thought it was $100,000 per year and said the loss was significant. The County Treasurer's Office he added used the DMV debt set off which captured Virginia tax returns. The process was drawn out but was under consideration. He said it was used on the water side and was working. Mrs. Leeper said that it resulted in some revenue, but concerning taxes the records could not be uploaded because they were old and had to be matched. However there was only one tax person on staff. In addition, the person doing the debt set off had to go through state training. The time of year the records were entered was also the time of year that the single tax clerk was doing real estate taxes for the second half of the year. Mr. Goodman suggested contracting with the County. Mayor Clark said the one County Treasurer's employee that dealt with that matter spent 85% of their time doing the debt setoff. Mr. Radcliffe asked if a line item was overdrawn by a large amount, who was responsible for bringing it to attention or did it continue on. Mrs. Leeper replied that it was a combination. Monthly reports were done where each Department Head could see their budget which it was their responsibility to maintain. On the occasion when a line item went over, she would make the Town Manager aware of the issue. She said that sometimes, overages could not be helped (e.g. generator, water breaks, etc.). Mr. Utt suggested bringing budget revisions to Town Council to report back when things like that happened. Mr. Goodman said at his employment that was something he had to go through. Mr. Utt said while budget rollovers were done, revenue projections, etc. had not been done under his tenure. Mr. Radcliffe asked if a budget were rolled over and a department budgeted at $100,000 ended up at $150,000, where did the extra $50,000 come from and how were the funds shifted to cover that. Mrs. Leeper responded that at the end of the year when the budget closed, all monies that were unspent were rolled back into the pool where excess overages were placed. If the budget was still to the good then there were extra funds. If there was overspending, that was when the reserve money came down. Mr. Utt added that he looked at the Department total and not each individual line item. Department Heads could transfer funds between line items so long as at the end of the day they were in the black. Mr. East asked were we aware concerning the paving or was that a conscious decision. Mr. Utt responded that paving was special. The Town received $2 million from VDOT each year for street maintenance. The Town charged back $300,0004350,000 for equipment usage. Mrs. Caudill said the amount was $160,000 the $300,000 was for cost allocation. Both of these amounts were taken from the VDOT appropriation of which the remainder was used for paving, labor, salt, etc. In Mid -May the numbers were reviewed and a "guesstimate" prepared as to how much was left for the rest of the year; in this example $400,000 available for paving. Generally the Town paved approximately $425,000-$450,000 because inevitably VDOT did not give credit for areas it deemed ineligible. If only $400,000 of paving had been done, the Town would have had to pay back VDOT. If paving went, over there generally was a credit where the overage did not matter. In 2019 he said, paving was done for parking lots on First Street; East Main Street; the Bob White Boulevard intersection; and road repairs for waterline work which accounted for the overage ($100,000). Mr. East asked was it a conscious decision. Mr. Utt responded that one was a "must" situation. Using hindsight, Mr. Utt said that what might have been done was to transfer some of that cost from FY 19 to Page 7 of 15/February 18, 2020 Mr. Goodman recommended when there was a spike in collections for one year, not to anticipate that (as income) until it becomes consistent. Otherwise it could be a fluke. He mentioned the spike in Machinery and Tools and observed that it appeared the General Assembly would eliminate that tax sometime in the future. Mr. East asked about the Communications Tax. Mr. Utt said he had calls in to VML and the state. Referencing the Communications Tax, Mr. Goodman pointed out that once the state empowers itself to collect a tax on behalf of the localities and distribute it. If the state has a budget shortfall they will take the local revenues. Mayor Clark said the same thing occurred with the streets, by making certain things ineligible that were once eligible (for state funding). Mr. Utt observed the Communications Tax had decreased rather rapidly. Mr. Goodman said that a VML alert had been received that communications companies no longer had to pay to use existing easements. Neither the property owner nor the locality would receive revenue under the proposed law. He urged that the state representatives be contacted to oppose the measure. Concerning what was taken from reserves, Mr. Goodman said his understanding was that Council had to authorize funds coming out of that account. If for example he continued, if there were $1.3 million in the account at the start of the fiscal year, unless it was authorized by Council to come out... how did that actually happen. Mr. Utt replied that there expenses that did come out that were voted on. Referring to the earlier discussion with Mrs. Leeper on overages and underages, he ventured that was where the oversight needed to be to make sure that Council was better educated as to what was happening. Mr. Goodman asked at what point in the last fiscal year did staff recognize there was problem. Mr. Utt replied "Not soon enough." Mr. Goodman then asked why Council didn't hear about it then. What concerned him most was that he had to wait for the auditor to tell him six months into the current budget. He thought that those numbers would have been available to the staff. Mr. Utt referring to the spreadsheet, said the spreadsheet was updated monthly if not two or three times a month. He pointed out the totals on the last page as the number he considered important. The General Fund was $344,404 short while the enterprise funds were $280,643. In 2019, cash flow -wise he said the Town was $63,000 ($344,404 - $280,643) to the bad. He attributed the ($344,000) as showing the transfers that would have zeroed that out. Within that amount were the VDOT issue and the erroneous revenue projections. On the accrual side as used by the auditors, Mr. Utt said that while the blame did not fall on the pre -auditor, the transition to a new firm and the different ways they had of tracking, accounted for the audit. The audit was based on accrual while the Town used cash. It was difficult when accrual was not used, which Mr. Utt added was on him. While the Mrs. Leeper could assist, he continued, ultimately he was the Town Manager and he needed to be using the accrual side also. At the moment the problem was recognized, he added in his mind it was not as bad since out of a $15 million budget, it was only $63,000 down. Mr. Utt said that now we had to find out what happened. Mr. Goodman said the Water and Sewer Funds were enterprise funds. In stating that the budget was $63,000 down, the enterprise funds and the General Fund were being co -mingled. Enterprise funds he said, did not always fix damages to the General Fund. In addressing the $344,000 deficit in the General Fund, he said the water and sewer fund monies were not supposed to be used. Mr. Utt responded that in his mindset the Water and Sewer Funds were paying for themselves through cost allocation and transfers. Those transfers had not been done this fiscal year. In hindsight he thought that a budget amendment taking those transfers out of the budget would have been done. He felt he could come up with $344,000 when looking at the VDOT, real estate, personal property, and communication overages and underages. Mr. Dawson said there was a difference between cost allocation for water and sewer (1) paying for things that they should pay for, which instead were charged to the General Fund and (2) looking at overages and shortages in the water and sewer fund as overages and shortages in the General Fund. He emphasized Page 9 of 15/February 18, 2020 Town had put the complex off for half a decade ...half a century. The amount in question he continued was half -a million but in reality it was more than that. The situation Mr. Goodman said would require some extreme belt tightening which he felt was not optional. He did not believe it was an option to tell the citizens that the public safety complex would be put off. Noting the age of the fire station and the use of closets by police officers, Mr. Goodman said we have got to find it (funding). The citizens had been very blunt in their opposition to tax increases and were still recovering from the tax increase for the middle school. There simply was no "wiggle room" left. It was a lot more than $600,000 that the Town needed to come up with. Regarding this year, Mr. Dawson wanted to be sure what was to be done. Ultimately he observed it came down to two things. The first was that $238,000 would come from a hiring freeze of five out of seven vacant positions. Mr. Utt responded there were seven vacant positions to which Mr. Dawson asked what those positions were. According to his notes and Mrs. Caudill's data, Mr. Utt said there were the following openings: 1 in Police; 1 in the Garage; 1 in Streets; 2 in Water and Sewer; 4 in General Properties. Chief Roche added that he might have a resignation in P.D. the next day. Mr. Dawson noted that there was $55,000 that was a one-time shot in recreation that would show some improvement in the finances by that amount. For this fiscal year, there would be a hiring freeze which he viewed as eliminating those positions until it could be afforded to pay for them this year. Decisions would have to be made for next year as to whether or not the positions that were frozen were put back in, which would bring the $238,000 problem back. The question was not about the positions but the dollar amount which came from eliminating seven salaries for the remainder of this fiscal year. Mr. Utt remarked that five of those positions were vacant already in the fiscal year. Mr. Dawson said Department Heads budgeted for a position that they felt they needed, which Mr. Utt observed that they could not fill. To balance the budget, Mr. Dawson continued, the place to find the money was in saying we could not afford those positions which was $238,000. Referencing Mr. Goodman's comments, he said that the problem was clearly larger than that. The unassigned fund balance dropped by $600,000 which showed how big the problem was and also showed how much it would actually take for the current revenue level to drive the creation of reserves. Concerning this fiscal year Mr. Dawson asked if the other members of Council were comfortable that those seven positions were to be taken off the table until a way to fund them was found. Or, he asked, were those the right seven positions? Mr. Dawson said he was pretty sure that if Mr. Utt had seen a solution that did not involve positions, then he would not have offered that up as his only solution to balance the budget. He said if there was money somewhere else, that Mr. Utt would have found it since that was his nature. Unfortunately he continued, every department in this town and any organization that was partnered with this town was caught up in the same whirlwind of identifying core services, as well as identifying what had to be paid for and covered. In determining that, Mr. Dawson said ultimately there would be a dollar amount that would be expected to be spent and no more. That would be the most that would be spent to remain fiscally responsible. He used as an example limiting the General Fund to $9.5 million to carry out the core responsibilities. Everything would have to fit into that amount somehow. The bottom number he concluded had to be a bottom number. That would give the Town what it needed to accomplish what it was supposed to be doing. Mr. Radcliffe cautioned that Couoncil had to be careful regarding First Responders. One incident could result in payment many times more than the bottom line. He added he was not willing to discuss it (cuts) and described Public Works as the "red headed stepchild" which were the ones that were usually hit first. He would not discuss cuts there either. They were short staffed and worked hard and were always the ones, as he described it to "take the beating." Parades and other things could be cut out. If we were not careful he concluded, it always seemed to trickle down to the "small man." Mr. Dawson said he agreed. He said there were six departments in the Town. Nothing could be done with Police, Fire or Public Works. In addition there was the Town Manager, the Finance Department and Page 11 of 15/February 18, 2020 As a town, Mr. Dawson said the Town paid people more, but did not do the other side at all. There were a couple of examples where things were completely changed; the IT Department; Gatewood; and Joint Dispatch. The whole world was having to do that. Mr. Dawson ventured there had to be change at some level with what the Town was doing. He did not know how it was physically possible to accomplish all the different things that were said without changing and reshaping how these six departments look. Mr. Dawson said that was what he thought was a comprehensive plan for the Town was to reshape and remold to look in a certain way. He felt there was nothing that should be off the table. There also should be action on the part of the Town to pursue restructuring and discussions with other regional entities to find ways to spend less money and serve them better. That was the direction he said he would like to see taken. Mayor Clark expressed appreciation for the discussion and noted that the Town Manager had been given much to do for the budget session in March. Mr. East said that the Town had to grow itself out of the situation. He said that the Town had not pursued business like it needed to. It needed to be priority one to get every business that we come across looking at our town. Doing nothing was not an option. Although it would not help next year's budget there would be other budgets in the future and it would be nice to have additional revenue. That would take work and the thought that it had not been done. There being no business under Public Utilities, Safety, and Human Resources, Council moved on to the Round Table Discussion. 11. Public Utilities There were no items scheduled for consideration. 12. Safety No issues were scheduled for discussion. 13. Human Resources No issues were scheduled for consideration. 14. Round Table Discussion Mr. Clontz, Mr. Dawson, Mr. East, Mr. Goodman and Mr. Penn had no comment. Mr. Radcliffe said he had spoken to an individual with Norfolk Southern (NS) during the recent flooding concerning the trestle at the east end of Town. The individual said that if the Town could get NS engineering involved, they could come in and, hopefully using grant money, redesign he trestle. He proposed that the Town Manager send a letter to NS from the Friends of Peak Creek and the Town of Pulaski, requesting that a representative from NS attend one of the meetings where they could be approached for assistance. Mr. Radcliffe noted that on the day of the flooding, NS officials had been at the trestle and had seen where one channel under the trestle was blocked, which he felt helped back up the water into the Town. Whether assistance from the railroad was possible, given the recent shutdown of NS in Roanoke, he did not know. In any event, he requested that a letter from the Friends of Peak Creek and the Town be sent to NS regarding the trestle. Mr. Radcliffe then expressed frustration that for the last two and one half years the Council had been working on the vans (Vuhvanagon) and that its case had been postponed again. He said the Town was sitting on warrants that Ms. Hodge had taken out and asked for the reason that the matter was not heard by the Court that day. Mr. Rygas said it was misdemeanor appeal day and that there was not time for a trial to be held. Mr. Radcliffe asked why it was set for that day. Mr. Rygas responded that the Court automatically set the day. Mr. Radcliffe then said he wanted the warrants on Ms. Hodge's desk put in envelopes and sent to the Sheriff's Office to be served by the Sheriff's Department. Mr. Rygas asked if he was referring to the new warrants and notices. Mr. Radcliffe confirmed it was the new warrants and that they needed to be served since it had gone on long enough. Mr. Rygas explained the registered agent of the entity was a person who, Page 13 of 15/February 18, 2020 There being no further business, Mr. Goodman moved to adjourn the meeting. The motion was by Mr. Dawson and approved by unanimous voice vote of Council at 7:19 ATTEST: David N. Quesenber Clerk of Council M. Mayor Page 15 of 15/February 18, 2020 rk