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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03-03-20Minutes of the Pulaski Town Council meeting held at 7:00 p.m., March 3, 2020 in the Council Chambers of the Town 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 Staff: Kim Caudill, Administrative Manager, Public Works Sherri Gallagher, Building Official Chief Robbie Kiser, P.F.D. Rebecca Leeper, Finance Director Jessica McKinney, Permit Technician Bill Pedigo, Town Engineer David Quesenberry, Clerk of Council Chief Gary Roche, P.P.D. Nathan Smythers, Engineering Technician Others Present: Jacob Adams Shannon Collins Matt Conner Jeremy Cox Ronald Cox Travis Cox Matt Hall Elaine Hawkins Adam Hodge Todd Hurst Justin Kemp Nathan Lawrence Blake Le Jaime Long Andy McCready Rankin Ring Terry Smusz Johnny Turner 1. Call to Order Mayor Clark called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 2. Pledge of Allegiance The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Councilman Dawson. 3. Invocation The Invocation was given by Mayor Clark. 4. Roll Call After the Invocation, the roll was called. Present were Mayor Clark, Mr. Clontz, Mr. Dawson, Mr. East, Mr. Goodman, Mr. Penn and Mr. Radcliffe. Since all members were in attendance, a quorum was present to conduct business. 5. Modification of the Agenda No modifications were requested or made to the agenda. 6. Recognition of Guests and Visitors r„ Mayor Clark welcomed those persons in attendance and thanked them for giving of their time to attend. Council next heard a presentation by Ms. Terry Smusz on behalf of New River Community Action. Page 1 of 11 /March 3, 2020 L'^ This pilot program was limited to Pulaski and Giles counties in the New River Valley. It would have a high level of case management intensity and, unlike Swift Start and RESTORE, would have resources available to address child care, transportation and tuition costs. It was anticipated that the program would be funded for five years. Funding for the successful Swift Start program would end in June. Ms. Smusz expressed regret at the loss of this successful program but felt that with RESTORE and Whole Family, similar services would be available to carry forward the same type of program as Swift Start. Ms. Smusz expressed appreciation and thanks for the Town's financial support. She asked if there were any questions. There being no further questions or comments, Council next moved to the Public Comment Period. 8. Public Hearings No public hearings were scheduled on the agenda. 9. Public Comment Period Mayor Clark said he had two registered speakers for the comment period and asked Mr. Ronald Cox (2011 Darst Avenue, Dublin) if he would come forward and address the Council. Mr. Cox said he and some others attended the last Council meeting and talked with Mr. Goodman, Mr. Clontz and Mr. Utt. He added that he and some others had come to follow up and to see where they stood with access to Gatewood, since they were denied access last year both during the season and off-season. He told Council that one of the others in attendance had contacted Mr. Valach who told him he did not want more than one tournament a month this year. The reason given was there was not enough parking for everyone, which they did not understand. Mr. Cox added that he had emailed both Mr. Utt and Mr. Goodman. Mr. Cox then concluded his comments. Next speaker recognized was Mr. Rankin Ring (Wytheville). Mr. Ring complained about the diminished use of the lake caused by the current management of Gatewood limiting their access to it. They could no longer get into the park during the hours that people normally fish, which for them was at night. The reason given for the limited access was due to parking. Mr. Ring asserted that in the 30-40 years he fished at Gatewood he had never noticed parking to be an issue. His group's boats were parked along the road at the picnic area and not in the parking lots so it had never been a problem. Mr. Ring said regarding parking for the hours that they wanted to fish, there was nobody there, but the gates were locked. In the past the group would pay the "honor box" which he had never failed to do. In addition, he bought a season pass last year which he cannot purchase this year. The restrictions remained even though there were few if any people in the park. Mr. Ring said he was retired and had hoped to go fishing in his retirement years. Many of the group felt they were contributing something to support the lake. Mr. Ring said that two members of their group spent more than $3,000 at Gatewood last year. It was not like the group did not use the other facilities at Gatewood he said, but they spent money there. Denying them entry did not seem reasonable. He offered that the group was willing to buy a season pass or whatever to let the Town know they were there. The group was open to compromise but just did not want to be denied access to the lake. Mr. Ring then concluded his remarks. Mr. Radcliffe asked if this group was a club or if they had a "go to" person. Mr. Ring replied that they were just friends competing between each other and having a fun day fishing. Mr. Radcliffe then asked if there was a meeting with the vendor. Mayor Clark responded that he did not know if there was a meeting set up or not, but there would be more discussions about this. Addressing Mr. Ring, Mayor Clark said that he did not have UM any answers at this point Page 3 of 11/March 3, 2020 Currently he continued, the prepared budget included some rate adjustments and increases. Regarding the rate for municipal solid waste, a rate that had not changed in 10 years, Mr. McCready said that an increase of one dollar per ton was proposed. However, he wanted to make Council aware of two other issues. First, there was a rate proposal to increase the Alternate Daily Cover (ADC) rate which applied to material that could be spread upon the landfill to cover the refuse. He wanted to call that to Council's attention because of an industry within the Town that generated waste composed of sand and cement. Given that the industry was in the Town and there was a proposal to substantially raise this rate, Mr. McCready urged the Town to come to the public hearing and speak against the proposed ADC rate increase. Secondly, Mr. McCready mentioned a proposal to increase the landfill rate for clean wood by $5 per ton, despite the fact that the operation was more than breaking even. It was his view that the rate needed to be held where it is. Again he urged Council to attend the meeting and speak to the Board about holding those rates level. The next topic Mr. McCready said directly affected the Dora Highway Recycling Center. He explained that in the late 1980's, Pulaski County, the Town of Dublin and Radford City took their garbage to the Ingles Mountain Landfill. Following the Town of Pulaski's decision to discontinue its garbage collection and allow the County to take the service over, the Town's garbage was also taken to Ingles Mountain for a number of years. The three entities (Pulaski Co., Dublin, Radford) imposed upon themselves a $5 per ton levy to pay for the perpetual care of the Ingles Mtn. landfill. The levy each locality paid now totaled $4.25 million. The Department Environmental Quality (DEQ) required the members to set aside $1 million for the landfill, but the Board elected to set aside $2 million. That left $2.25 million that could be refunded to the former users. The county's portion would be refunded to the Pulaski County PSA which could use the funds for the Dora Highway Recycling Center. Mr. McCready said that the PSA and the Board of Supervisors wanted to get the Dora Center up and running. If there were a refund of that money, Mr. McCready said it could as a match for the land, labor and effort the Town of Pulaski had put in on the Dora site. A full refund of the $2.25 million would give Pulaski Co. over a million dollars; Dublin over $100,000; and Radford over $500,000. There had been one vote on the refund which both the Town of Dublin and City of Radford voted against despite his information that the City of Radford supported it. Mr. McCready suggested that Council members who knew members of the Dublin and Radford councils contact them concerning this issue and ask them why they did not want a refund of their citizen's money. Each of these communities put a tax on themselves and placed the funds in escrow including the citizens of the Town of Pulaski. The last time there was a refund of the Ingles Mtn. landfill funds, called PDR (Pulaski Co. -Dublin -Radford), the funds were used to build the large item drop site in Dublin. He thought it interesting that when it came to building a similar center in the Town of Pulaski, there seemed to be a little more trouble. Mr. McCready said the NRRA public hearing would be held on Wednesday, March 25th at 12:00 noon at the NRRA offices. He hoped that the Town would send people to the hearing and let it be known that the NRRA should keep the ADC rate and the clean wood rate level. One point that Mr. McCready expected to be brought up was the NRRA received less waste from all contributing localities. He thought that this was due to manufacturers putting less packaging around their products. The bottom line was that Town citizens had money tied up in the NRRA and were not receiving even the interest off the funds. He suggested that pressure be applied so other members understand the importance of this issue to the Town of Pulaski. As a side issue due to a legal opinion, both Giles and Montgomery counties agreements to join the landfill had strong and clear language that they had no contractual obligation concerning the Ingles Mountain bN. Landfill. Over the last five years they had not voted on the issue, but new legal opinion allowed both localities to vote on the issue and they were voting "no". Mr. McCready wanted Council to know that he, Mr. Pratt and Page 5 of 11 /March 3, 2020 was moving forward. Mr. Utt suggested possibly issuing a press release to advertise the program to interested citizens and developers. Mr. Dawson asked for an update on the Filter Plant. Mr. Pedigo said the contractor had started the demolition N"" which was been completed. The process for ordering the filter bed was underway. There had been a problem with the supplier (filter bed) who declined to offer the guarantee the engineers expected. Another manufacturer was located who would honor it with no time extension. Mr. Pedigo ventured that the deadline could still be met to get the filter in. Mr. Utt added that the Town was waiting for the materials to arrive and that the filter bed was cleaned out and looked good. Mr. Goodman asked when the project would be completed. Mr. Pedigo opined that it would be around the end of July. There being no more discussion, Council next considered "New Business" starting with the 2020 U.S. Census Proclamation -Resolution 2020-07. 12. Old Business There were no items for consideration under "Old Business." 13. New Business a. 2020 U.S. Census Proclamation/Resolution 2020-07 Mr. Utt made note of the resolution in the packet that had been approved by the County Board of Supervisors. The resolution was an effort to get the word out on the Census because the more people that are counted, the better off the Town would be. There would be a greater impact by the Census on the County's side than the Town's because the Town did not get as much in Federal funds while the County had more funding tied to the Census. Sales tax revenues the Town received were tied to the Census because of the number of school age children. The Town was working with the County on the Complete Count Committee to insure that the word about the Census got out. Mr. Utt said he understood that the surveys should be coming out in a couple of weeks through the mail. Ms. Hair added that there would be a card showing up in the mail on how the Census could be done on-line. On Mayor Clark's call for a motion, Mr. East moved to adopt Resolution 2020-07 as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. Goodman and approved on the following roll call vote of Council: 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, Council discussed appropriations from the Gatewood Dam Reserves for four DCR grants. b. Appropriation from Gatewood Dam Reserve for DCR Grants Mr. Utt reported that the Town had been working on grant funds to begin the repair process for which reserves had been set aside for Gatewood Dam. The Department of Conservation and Recreation's (DCR) Dam Safety Program utilized 50/50 matching grants. The Town had been awarded four of these grants for engineering reviews. Total funding provided by DCR would be $43,500 which would have to be matched by the Town. Over the last four years, Council had placed $100,000 into the Gatewood reserve fund. Mr. Utt said the local match needed to be appropriated from the reserve fund and placed into the General Fund, which this resolution would do. The Town had officially accepted the grants and was waiting on the agreements, etc. Lbefore presenting the necessary paperwork, for which the Town was now ready. Page 7 of 11 /March 3, 2020 In talks with his neighbors, Mr. Goodman said the solution they asked for would be to have one way traffic between Route 11 and 8th Street. From what he had heard, most persons had requested the one way traffic Ir going "up" Prospect from Route 11 with alternating parking by each block. The alternate parking would force drivers to move to the other side of the street which would slow them down. An additional measure discussed 6W was "rumble strips" to alert drivers to an upcoming stop. In discussions with residents between Route 11 and 8th St., Mr. Goodman said most did not park on the street but indicated their concerns were speeding and running stop signs. The impression he received from these residents were that one-way or two-way traffic would not solve anything, but that a different approach was needed. Residents said they would like to try something for six months, then have a follow up meeting to see if the measure(s) were effective. Mr. Goodman ventured that something might have to be tried for a couple of years to change the use of Prospect as a "cut through". There was interest in measures that were not generally available to the residents. Mr. Goodman noted that proposed legislation in the General Assembly that would allow the Town to drop the speed limit to 15 miles per hour. In general he concluded, residents were interested in a way to increase safety, slow traffic down a bit, and allow for parking. Looking at the map Mr. Goodman remarked that Prospect Ave. simply was not wide enough for two-way traffic and on -street parking. He invited Council members to go and see how many cars were parked on the street in the evening between 6th St. and 8th St. Mr. Goodman added that despite Public Works concern over snow, an additional recommendation would be to place stop signs at the top of Madison and the top of Washington which might help to slow traffic down on Prospect. Mr. Utt recommended that a time be determined to schedule a community -wide public hearing, given the need to hear from more residents than those in the three blocks since a lot of people used that road and its use could not be restricted. The goal was to make the street safer for everyone who lived there and used it. am He thought it would be best to schedule a meeting date as well as a venue different from a regular Council meeting. Mr. Goodman said that the citizens had requested several weeks prior notice before a hearing, so they could adjust their schedules and attend. Mr. Dawson asked since VDOT requirements required 20 feet for two-way traffic and the road was needed for parking, would we be in a situation where the road would, from a safety standpoint, need to be one way. Mr. Utt responded the road (Prospect Ave.) itself was grandfathered. If a new road was brought into the VDOT system it would have to be 20 feet wide for two-way traffic; 28 feet wide for two-way traffic with on - street parking. He added those were parameters to gauge where we should be as compared to where we were. Mr. Goodman mentioned that widening the street would anger the residents. Mr. Utt said it was not an option. Mayor Clark said that most houses were close to the street anyway. Mr. Goodman noted the easement was for a 50 foot right of way which was quite close to his residence. Mr. Radcliffe asked about what the residents thought at the meeting. Mr. Utt thought that the majority of the residents in the room were happy with one-way traffic and on -street parking. In discussions with staff and the Public Safety people, Mr. Utt said they were leaning in the other direction since it was better for public safety to allow two-way traffic with traffic calming measures to slow them down. It would be better to have access without confusion for drivers. Mr. Radcliffe asked Mr. Utt if he favored no parking on Prospect. Mr. Utt responded that was one of the directions, but he preferred to get some feedback from the citizens. He added he personally favored that approach. Mr. East asked if the primary problem was between 8th St. and Route 11. Mr. Utt said that was the worst of it, but the narrow part of the street continued on up to 10th Street. Mr. Goodman said the street was about the same width from 11th St. to 10th St. the difference being that those homes from 8th St. and up were setback Page 9 of 11 /March 3, 2020 Mr. Goodman moved to certify the closed session. The 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 Following the vote on Closed Session certification, Mayor Clark asked if there was another motion. Mr. East moved that Council authorize Town Staff to formally approve a performance agreement for Project Cow and waive revenue sharing for the period of the performance agreement. The 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 15. Reminder of Future Council Meetings and Adjournment. Mayor Clark reminded Council of the budget work session on March 10th at 6:00 p.m. and the Council Work Session on March 17th at 5:00 p.m. There being no further business, Mayor Clark called for a motion to adjourn. Mr. Goodman moved to adjourn. His motion was seconded by Mr. Radcliff and approved by the unanimous voice vote of Council at 10:29 p.m. ATTEST: s David N. Quesenberry Clerk of Council 6. Approve avid L. CI Mayor Page 11 of 11 /March 3, 2020