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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-01-20Minutes of the Pulaski Town Council Meeting held at 5:30 p.m., December 1, 2020 in the Council Chambers of the Town Municipal Building at 42 First Street, N.W. The session also featured a general broadcast to the public via Facebook. In attendance were: Mayor: Shannon Collins, presiding Councilmen Present: G. Tyler Clontz; Brooks R. Dawson; Greg East; Lane R. Penn; James A. Radcliffe; Michael P. Reis Administration: Darlene L. Burcham, Town Manager Legal Counsel: Spencer A. Rygas, Town Attorney Staff: David Quesenberry, Clerk of Council Jordan Whitt, Social Media Manager 1. Call to Order Mayor Collins called the meeting to order at 5:30 p.m. 2. Roll Call of Council The roll was then called. Present for roll call were Mayor Collins; Mr. Clontz; Mr. Dawson; Mr. Penn; Mr. Radcliffe. Absent from Roll Call were Mr. East and Mr. Reis. With four Council members present a quorum existed for the conduct of business. 3. Modifications to the Closed Session Agenda Mayor Collins asked for a modification of the Closed Session agenda to add one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (a) (7), consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members or consultants pertaining to actual or probable litigation, where such consultation or briefing in open meeting would adversely affect the negotiating or litigating posture of the public body. Mr. Penn moved to approve the modification to the Closed Session agenda. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dawson and approved on the following roll call vote: Lane R. Penn -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Absent Michael P. Reis -Absent 4. Closed Session Mayor Collins then requested a motion to go into Closed Session for the following matters: one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (a) 1, personnel matters concerning discussion of prospective candidates for employment; one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (a) 3 concerning acquisition of property and disposition of publicly owned real property; and, one item under Va. Code 2.2- 3711 (a) 7, consultation with legal counsel pertaining to real or probable litigation. Mr. Dawson moved to enter Closed Session as requested. His motion was seconded by Mr. Clontz and approved on the following roll call vote: Page 1 of 7/December 1, 2020 Lane R. Penn -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Absent Michael P. Reis -Absent Closed Session began at 5:33 p.m. Mr. East and Mr. Reis arrived at 5:34 p.m. and entered the Closed Session 5. Certification of Closed Session Council returned from the Closed Session at 6:49 p.m. Mayor Collins then requested a motion that Council only discussed those items for which it went into Closed Session: one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (a) 1 personnel matters concerning discussion of prospective candidates for employment; one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (a) 3 concerning acquisition of property and disposition of publicly owned real property and, one item under Va. Code 2.2-3711 (a) 7 consultation with legal counsel pertaining to real or probable litigation. Mr. East moved to approve the requested closed session certification motion, which was seconded by Mr. Dawson and approved on the following roll call vote: Lane R. Penn -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye Michael P. Reis -Aye 6. Pledge of Allegiance At 7:00 p.m., Mr. Clontz then led the Pledge of Allegiance. 7. Invocation Following the Pledge, Mr. East gave the Invocation. 8. Modification of the Public Session Agenda No modifications to the Public Session Agenda were required 9. Guests and Visitors Mayor Collins welcomed online guests to the meeting. Council then heard to a presentation on the Utility Disconnect Moratorium. 10. Presentations a. Utility Disconnect Moratorium Mrs. Burcham informed Council of the Governor's Moratorium on utility disconnects which was part of the last actions taken by the General Assembly. The moratorium was signed on November 18u' and encompassed all residential utility customers unlike the previous moratorium that involved only those utilities that were SCC regulated. Previously the Town, which owns its utility system, did not fall under the earlier moratorium, but will be affected now because this moratorium includes public utilities. The moratorium will be in effect until the Governor determines that public and economic health conditions have improved to a point where it could be released, or 60 days after the state of emergency ends, whichever comes sooner. Utility systems that have arrearages in excess of 1 % of its operating budget could apply for an exemption. However that was not the case for the Town since its arrearages were not that high at the present moment. Page 2 of 7/December 1, 2020 Within 60 days of the moratorium's enactment (dating from November 181), the Town must notify all customers that are at least 30 days in arrears of the COVID-19 Relief Repayment Plan. The plan may not include any new deposits, fees, penalties and may not have any eligibility criteria. Customers will have to complete an application and sign an affidavit that they are experiencing a financial hardship as a result of the COVID-19. The Town had applied, as of 11/30/20, for $14,389.30 in special CARES Act funds that the Federal Government had made available specifically for the purpose of helping utility customers. Mrs. Burcham noted that the Town currently had 71 accounts that were at least 30 days in arrears and 47 that were 60 days in arrears. She added that if the Town received any of the utility relief funds, which she was uncertain of the date Town would be advised, those funds would have to be applied to the most delinquent accounts first. She noted that the funds would be applied first to the accounts 60 days in arrears, then to accounts 30 days in arrears if funds remained from the $14,000 allocation. Mrs. Burcham told Council that the Town did not disconnect for non-payment for the months of March, April and May of this year which was a voluntary action at that time. There were also no penalties assessed during that time frame. Mrs. Burcham then briefed Council on the financial status of collections for previous months. On average the Town disconnected 150-175 accounts per month. At the end of March there was just under $29,000 (over 300 accounts) due in outstanding utility bills. At the end of April the amount of outstanding utility bills was $37,000 (400 accounts). By the end of May the amount of outstanding bills had increased to $197,000. By June there was $170,000 outstanding, $18,000 of which was at least 2 months past due. Upon resumption of disconnections in June, the Town cut off those accounts that were past due for March and April. There were 108 accounts disconnected that were at least two months behind at that point. In July, 240 disconnections were performed for accounts that were past due in May and June. From that point, Mrs. Burcham said cut-offs had been on time and that the numbers were pretty good. Mrs. Burcham opined that with the enactment of the moratorium, she expected to see the number of unpaid accounts to increase coupled with a significant loss of revenue if the Town wasn't allowed to recapture bills for an extended period of time. The repayment plans set out in the moratorium proposed giving up to 24 months to repay any arrearage. Mrs. Burcham ventured there would be a lot of paperwork to keep track of in addition to maintaining contact with more customers than before, who otherwise would be eligible for disconnection, to create repayment plans. The funds that had been made available were only for arrearages through an October date. Mrs. Burcham said the concern was that the Town did not know what would happen with accounts going forward, if there was a second wave of funding for those accounts. Mrs. Burcham said she wanted to make sure the Council was aware of this situation. From personal experience she added that in another community they did not perform disconnects for several months. Many customers that normally paid on time, elected not to pay because they knew they would not be disconnected. Every community had individuals who were normally disconnected and end up paying reconnect fees and other things. While the program was predicated on some good reasons, it would have an impact on water and sewer funds as things Page 3 of 7/December 1, 2020 moved forward. She concluded her presentation noting that Council would be kept informed on a monthly basis. The Clerk then distributed information sheets to each Council member. Mr. East ventured that any available funding would be through the Federal Government. Mrs. Burcham responded that the Federal Government made the funds available specifically for utility disconnects which were funneled to the state Department of Housing and Community Development. They (DHCD) would be creating the forms that would be used as an application probably containing an affidavit that individuals have a hardship under COVID. The applications would be received as warranted but any funds would go first to accounts that have 60 days or more arrearage. Once the $14,000 was gone, the Town would not be able to assist financially getting individual's current with their bills. Those who should be disconnected but would not under the moratorium, could have a payment plan set up, but those plans have limitations in terms of the client deciding what they could afford to pay with a minimum of 6 months or maximum of 24 months to repay. It remained uncertain what would happen if a person failed to meet their repayment plan. Mr. East ventured based on the numbers given for March, April and May, there was a real potential for a tremendous revenue loss. Mrs. Burcham agreed. Mr. Dawson felt it was really important to do everything that could be done to make the citizens understand that they would be held financially responsible (for the utility bill) at some point and would be legally obligated, even if it (the bill) was delayed. He felt this would help prevent a citizen from making a decision for short term gain only to find out a year or 24 months from now that they were being legally held liable. Anything that could be done to prevent that would benefit the citizen and the Town in every way possible. He did not know of additional measures to communicate that but he felt it would be easy for someone to see an opportunity (from the moratorium) only to get hit with the charges later. Mrs. Burcham said the only thing that would be waived from the traditional disconnect was penalties. The standard bill would remain as an obligation. In a previous community where she worked, Mrs. Burcham said when the Council saw how many customers were not paying, they asked staff to send out monthly letters reminding the customer of how much they had accumulated in charges and that it would still be due and payable when the emergency was over with or in the case of the moratorium, as soon as a repayment plan was in place,and that they would have to start making payments. She agreed with Mr. Dawson that there was a need to communicate as soon as more details were received, particularly concerning the application which was under development. The Town would try to do as extensive a public information effort as possible. 11. Public Comment Period There were no comments received during the Public Comment Period. 12. Consent Agenda a. Consideration of November 17, 2020 Council Meeting Minutes Mayor Collins then asked for a motion to consider the minutes from November 17, 2020. Mr. Dawson noted that he was counted as being present when, in fact, he was absent. Mr. East moved to adopt the minutes of Tuesday November 17, 2020 with the correction of the presence of Mr. Dawson. Mr. Clontz seconded the motion which was approved on the following roll call vote of Council: Page 4 of 7/December 1, 2020 Lane R. Penn Brooks R. Dawson Gregory C. East -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye -Aye Michael P. Reis -Aye 13. Old Business a. Street Naming Ordinance, Ordinance 2020-11 Mr. Reis thanked the Clerk and the staff for putting the ordinance together. He added that it should be put in place with the idea that if there were any issues it could be amended as appropriate. Mrs. Burcham said she would add the Town Attorney to the list of staff that worked on the ordinance recalling that last time he suggested ways to simply the language and not have repetitive language in different sections. Mr. Reis then moved to adopt Ordinance 2020-11 as written. The motion was seconded by Mr. Radcliffe and approved on the following roll call vote: Lane R. Penn -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye Michael P. Reis -Aye After the vote Mrs. Burcham mentioned that the action Council took at its last meeting to rename a portion of Main Street had been completed with the installation of the new street sign b. UDAG Fund Mrs. Burcham told Mayor Collins that that at the last meeting Council requested specific language from the auditors for this matter which was highlighted in the attached memo. Mr. Reis asked if the motion would be to transfer one million dollars from the UDAG restricted balance in the General Fund to the unrestricted as it is unlikely to be repaid. Mrs. Burcham replied he was correct. Mr. Reis thereby made his statement a motion which was seconded by Mr. Dawson and approved on the following roll call vote: Lane R. Penn -Aye James A. Radcliffe -Aye Brooks R. Dawson -Aye G. Tyler Clontz -Aye Gregory C. East -Aye Michael P. Reis -Aye 14. Manager's Report Mayor Collins then asked for the Manager's Report. Mrs. Burcham reviewed several items for Council as follows: • She congratulated Public Works and Mr. Whitt for their work on the "virtual tree lighting" that took place the previous Thursday. Mrs. Burcham also complemented Public Works for their work Downtown and with the addition of more lights to the Gazebo. Given the public interest expressed on-line and the visitation by the public, she felt that good decisions were made in terms of how it was handled. • The Christmas Parade was still on for this coming Thursday although there would not be as many entries as previously anticipated, there were still 18 entries. Other communities had cancelled their parades or had much smaller parades. Signs were already being Page 5 of 7/December 1, 2020 placed so people would not be parking in spaces designated for the floats and the number of blocks had been reduced due to the small number of floats. • A new bench made of recycled products had been donated to the Town and placed in front of the Municipal Building. Mayor Collins added that Trinity Lutheran Church had partnered with the Resource Authority in the effort. Mrs. Burcham said she understood that a second bench was planned for placement on the Courthouse side of Main Street. • Mrs. Burcham proposed with Council's permission a joint public hearing of the Council and Planning Commission at 6:00 p.m. on January 19th. She was asking Council now, in order to meet the advertising requirements. Council consented to her request. • Mrs. Burcham told Council that there was a water break in progress and that she would advise Council if there would be an extended outage. Normally service would be discontinued in some portion of the Town to stop the flow of water to make repairs. 16. Roundtable Discussion Mayor Collins then asked for Council comments for the Roundtable Discussion. Mr. Penn and Mr. Dawson had no comment. Mr. East said he wanted to thank everyone for the fine job on the park and for getting it lit. He complemented the Public Works employees saying it looked very good. Mr. Radcliffe thanked Mr. Whitt for his work on the virtual tree lighting saying he really enjoyed it and had done a great job. He thanked Mrs. Burcham for getting started early on the lighting and that the Town's people loved it. He also complemented her on the persons she had brought to the Town and thought they were outstanding and that they would be the future of the Town, for which he was excited. He complemented Mr. Whitt and Public Works for an outstanding job and encouraged the trimming work on Edgehill Drive to continue since it made the Town look good. He thanked everyone and wished them a great holiday. Mr. Clontz had no comment. Mr. Reis asked Mrs. Burcham about previous discussions of the Martin property and the rest of that area. He thought the Council should begin moving forward with a plan as to what to do with MacGill Park as to opening it up for development or other things. As long as there were no objections, he said he would like Mrs. Burcham to move forward to gauge interest in doing something with that property and to communicate that with the community and open the issue up to as broad of a section of the community as possible. Noting that there was a housing shortage in town, Mr. Reis said he hoped some work could be done to improve the housing stock and diversify it in terms of opportunity to help all of us. Mr. Reis asked if the letter had gone out to Mr. Martin about access to the rear of the property. Mrs. Burcham replied that it had but she had received no response. Mr. Reis ventured that Council would have to make a decision at some point about what to do if a response was not received. He asked when the 30 days would expire. Mrs. Burcham said it would be shortly after Council's next regularly scheduled meeting. Given the uncertainties with the Postal Service, Mrs. Burcham suggested that Council should address the issue after the first of the year. Page 6 of 7/December 1, 2020 Mr. Radcliffe agreed with Mr. Reis that there needed to be a program as to what would be done with this property and stay the course. Homes in Pulaski were needed with Mack coming in and he felt quality homes would go if that was decided. Mr. Radcliffe again said he agreed with Mr. Reis and that the Town needed to "stay the course" after the 30 days and take the next step whatever that was and move on with it. Mr. Dawson said he completely agreed and felt there was an obligation to do something with that 11 acre parcel since it was sitting in the middle of Town and was not doing anything for the citizens and that Council could do better than that. Mr. Reis felt that the citizens should know that Council was also looking at all the property the Town owned that was not being used for its intended use. Mayor Collins reported that a couple of months ago, the County offered additional CARES Act funds to the Town, provided for recognition of the hazards our public safety employees have encountered during COVID-19, as many of our neighboring communities have done. The Council and the Town Manager appreciated the offer but felt very strongly that all of our employees deserved such recognition and asked Mrs. Burcham to work on a plan to make this happen. Mayor Collins said he was pleased to announce that the Interim Town Manager had identified savings in the Town Manager's budget that, coupled with the County's additional allocation for public safety employees, will allow all full-time Town employees to receive $700 and part-time employees to receive $100 from a special check run in mid-December. Council appreciated the County's support as well as Mrs. Burcham's, in helping Council in recognizing our employees for their dedication during this difficult time. Mayor Collins said Council wanted to thank all employees and then thanked Mrs. Burcham for her work. 16. Reminder of Future Council Meetings and Adjournment Mayor Collins reminded Council of the next meeting on December 15, 2020 beginning with the Employee Service Awards at 4:30 p.m.; the Closed Session at 5:30 p.m. and the Public Session at 7:00 p.m. There being no further business, Mr. East moved to adjourn. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dawson and approved by the unanimous voice vote of Council at 7:31 p.m. ATTEST: David N. Quesenberry Clerk of Council 1 Approved: V W. Shannon Collins Mayor Page 7 of 7/December 1, 2020