HomeMy WebLinkAbout4/12/2016 - Regular
April 12, 2016
165
Roanoke County Administration Center
5204 Bernard Drive
Roanoke, Virginia 24018
The Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia met this day atthe
Roanoke County Administration Center, this being the second Tuesday and the first
regularly scheduled meeting of the month of April 2016. Audio and video recordings of
this meeting will be held on file for a minimum of five (5) years in the office of the Clerk
to the Board of Supervisors.
IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES
Before the meeting was called to order an invocation was given by
Executive Pastor Joey Lyons of the Bridge Christiansburg Foresquare Church. The
Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all present.
IN RE: CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Peters called the meeting to order at 3:05 p.m. The roll call was
taken.
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Chairman P. Jason Peters,Supervisors George G. Assaid,
Al Bedrosian, Martha B. Hooker and Joseph P. McNamara
MEMBERS ABSENT:
None
STAFF PRESENT:
Thomas C. Gates, County Administrator; Daniel R.
O’Donnell, Assistant County Administrator; Richard
Caywood, Assistant County Administrator; Ruth Ellen
Kuhnel, County Attorney; Amy Whittaker, Public Information
Officer and Deborah C. Jacks, Chief Deputy Clerk to the
Board
IN RE: PROCLAMATIONS, RESOLUTIONS, RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS
1. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of
Supervisors of Roanoke County to John F. Patten, Facilities
Manager, upon his retirement after more than twenty years of
service(Rob Light, Acting Director of General Services; Anne
Marie Green, Special Assistant to the County Administrator)
The resolution was read by the Chief Deputy Clerk.
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RESOLUTION 041216-1 EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION OF
THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY TO
JOHN F. PATTEN, FACILITIES MANAGER, UPON HIS
RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN TWENTY YEARS OF
SERVICE
WHEREAS, John F. Patten was employed by Roanoke County on September 5,
1995; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Patten retired on April 1, 2016, after twenty years and seven
months of devoted, faithful and expert service to Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Patten was employed by Roanoke County to be our first
Facilities Manager and has been the driving force in improving the quality of our various
buildings to ensure that our citizens and staff have access to safe and efficient buildings
while conducting daily activities; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Patten transformed the Building Maintenance and Custodial
Divisions into an integral part of Roanoke County operations while building and
maintaining working relationships with Roanoke County employees as well as vendors;
and
WHEREAS, Mr. Patten has used his expertise to bring Roanoke County facilities
management into the 21st century by supporting and implementing access to high-tech
solutions that have provided utility and operational cost benefits including integration of
building automation systems in major buildings to control heating and air conditioning
and modernization of lighting and plumbing fixtures based on life cycle cost analysis;
and
WHEREAS, Mr. Patten has also been an essential part of the project
management teams for the construction of the Court Services Building and the Fleet
Service Center, as well as providing guidance in the construction of the Public Safety
Center, South County Library, Glenvar Library, and the Vinton Library; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Patten was responsible for overseeing the Capital Maintenance
Budget and other capital project budgets to ensure that expenditures and decisions
were made in cost effective ways that provided the most benefit to Roanoke County
citizens; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Patten successfully researched and initiated the use of a web-
based work order system for building maintenance and custodial requests and to track
utility costs and usage to provide a data-driven program to identify areas that may need
monitoring and correction and to track costs related to individual buildings in one
comprehensive program; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Patten was a valuable asset to Roanoke County and helped the
division achieve its goal of providing expert service in the most cost effective manner to
Roanoke County citizens; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Patten served his Country honorably in the United States Navy;
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NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County expresses its deepest appreciation and the appreciation of the citizens
JOHN F. PATTEN
of Roanoke County to for more than twenty years of capable, loyal
and dedicated service to Roanoke County; and
FURTHER, the Board of Supervisors does express its best wishes for a happy
and productive retirement.
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor
McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
2.Proclamation declaring April 10 through 16, 2016, as National
Public Safety Telecommunicators Week in the County of Roanoke
(Susan Slough, Assistant Director of Communications and
Information Technology)
The proclamation was read by the Chief Deputy Clerk. Mr. Hunter
outlined the request for the proclamation and introduced several of the Communications
.
staff members
IN RE: BRIEFINGS
1. Briefing by the Roanoke Regional Partnership (Beth Doughty,
Executive Director of the Roanoke Regional Partnership)
Ms. Doughty provided a PowerPoint presentation, a copy of which is on
file in the office of the Clerk to the Board of Supervisors
2. Briefing to the Board of Supervisors on the Community Strategic
Plan (Daniel R. O'Donnell, Assistant County Administrator)
Mr. O’Donnell provided the briefing and advised there would be two final
focus group meetings on April 25, 2016 and April 28, 2016. The next step would be to
draft the plan by July for final approval by the Board in August.
Supervisor Bedrosian commented he thinks this is a great idea but
cautions everyone not to look to government to provide everything they want.
Supervisor Peters commented he was pleased with the turnout and added
it has been a great process. He noted it is our government and hopes to see the
citizens some out to the final meetings. It is an open door.
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IN RE: NEW BUSINESS
1. Resolution approving the Regional Airport Commission budget
for fiscal year 2016-2017(Rebecca Owens, Director of Finance;
Tim Bradshaw, Executive Director, Airport Commission)
Ms. Owens outlined the request for resolution. Mr. Bradshaw advised it
was a challenging year; revenues are down.
Supervisor McNamara stated there has been some talk and some
progress and wanted an update relative to enjoining the various local governments and
industry, the major airport users, as far as creating a stop loss for potential expansion of
carrier. Mr. Bradshaw stated in another couple of weeks there was another opportunity
to submit a grant to the federal government they could use to possibly provide an
incentive for an air carrier to come in here. They have had very successful talks lately
with American Airlines about adding Dallas service and feels it is getting closer. They
are also pushing for Denver as well. When the time comes, we would come to all the
partners in the region to help us provide the stop gap to ensure the airline is successful
in their first year or two. Supervisor McNamara inquired if they would need to win a
grant in order for that to be successful. Mr. Bradshaw responded in the negative stating
they are attempting to do in on their own. The Dallas service for example, we actually
have the market to support it; we would not be chasing it if we didn’t. It is a sustainable
market and with their own in-house incentive, we may be able to accomplish. He added
that he will be meeting with them in a couple of weeks and he will know then if there are
further incentives involved.
RESOLUTION 041216-2 APPROVING THE ROANOKE
REGIONAL AIRPORT COMMISSION BUDGET FOR FISCAL
YEAR 2015-2016 UPON CERTAIN TERMS AND CONDITIONS
WHEREAS, Section 24.B of theRegional Airport Commission Act and Section
17.(a) of the contract between the City of Roanoke, Roanoke County, and the Roanoke
Regional Airport Commission provides that the Commission shall prepare and submit its
operating budget for the forthcoming year to the Board of Supervisors of the County and
City Council of the City; and
WHEREAS, by report dated March 28, 2016, a copy of which is on file in the
office of the Clerk of the Board, the Executive Director of the Roanoke Regional Airport
Commission has submitted a request that the County approve the fiscal year 2016-2017
budget of the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke
County, Virginia that the fiscal year 2016-2017 budget and proposed capital
expenditures for the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission as set forth in the March
28, 2016, report of the Commission Executive Director, a copy of which is incorporated
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by reference herein, is hereby APPROVED, and the County Administrator and the Clerk
are authorized to execute and attest, respectively, on behalf of the County, any
documentation, in form approved by the County Attorney, necessary to evidence said
approval.
On motion of Supervisor Assaid to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor
Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES
1. Ordinance accepting and appropriating funds in the amount of
$8,000 from the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Unit and the Marine
Corps League to Camp Roanoke from the 20th Annual Marine
Mud Run(Doug Blount, Director of Parks, Recreation and
Tourism)
Mr. Blount outlined the request for ordinance. There was no discussion.
Supervisor McNamara’s motion to approve the first reading and to
establish the second reading and public hearing for April 26, 2016, was seconded by
Supervisor Hooker and approved by the following vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: SECOND READING OF ORDINANCES
1. Ordinance accepting and appropriating funds in the amount of
$10,000 to the Roanoke County Public Schools for architectural
and engineering fees (A&E) for the William Byrd High School
locker room(Rebecca Owens, Director of Finance)
Ms. Owens advised there were no changes from the first reading. There
was no discussion.
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ORDINANCE 041216-3 ACCEPTING AND APPROPRIATING
FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $10,000 TO ROANOKE COUNTY
PUBLIC SCHOOLS FOR ARCHITECTURAL AND ENGINEERING
FEES (A&E) FOR THE WILLIAM BYRD HIGH SCHOOL LOCKER
ROOM
WHEREAS, William Byrd High School was partially renovated in 2009 with the
addition of fourteen new classrooms and a new cafeteria to accommodate the increased
enrollment of the school, however during that time, the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms
were not included in the scope of work for the project; and
WHEREAS, due to the very poor condition of the boys’ and girls’ locker rooms,
Roanoke County Public Schools would like to commission an architectural and
engineering firm to redesign both areas to include fire suppression systems, new HVAC
for proper ventilation, new lockers, plumbing fixtures, floors, finishes, and tile walls; and
WHEREAS, the $10,000 will be given to the School Board from the William Byrd
High School activity fund which is not held by the County; and
WHEREAS, Section 18.04 of the Roanoke County Charter provides that funds be
appropriated by ordinance; and
WHEREAS, first reading of this ordinance was held on March 22, 2016, and the
second reading was held on April 12, 2016.
BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as
follows:
1. That the sum of $10,000 is hereby appropriated to the Roanoke County
Public Schools; and
2. That this ordinance shall take effect from and after the date of adoption.
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the ordinance, seconded by Supervisor
Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: PUBLIC HEARING AND SECOND READING OF ORDINANCES
1. Ordinance authorizing the granting of a new public drainage
easement by Baron Enterprises of Virginia, Inc. to the Board of
Supervisors of Roanoke County on property owned by Baron
Enterprises of Virginia (tax map nos. 076.11-02-29.00 and 076.11-
02-29.01) for the purpose of facilitating storm water management,
Windsor Hills Magisterial District (Arnold Covey, Director of
Community Development)
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There were no changes from the first reading. Chairman Peters opened
and closed the public hearing with no citizens to speak on this item.
ORDINANCE 041216-4 AUTHORIZING THE GRANTING OF A
NEW PUBLIC DRAINAGE EASEMENT BY BARON
ENTERPRISES OF VIRGINIA, INC. TO THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY ON PROPERTY
OWNED BY BARON ENTERPRISES OF VIRGINIA (TAX MAP
NOS. 076.11-02-29.00 AND 076.11-02-29.01) FOR THE
PURPOSE OF FACILITATING STORM WATER MANAGEMENT,
WINDSOR HILLS MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT
WHEREAS, the Roanoke County has requested that Baron Enterprises of
Virginia, Inc. (“Baron”) grant the County a new twenty (20)-foot public drainage
easement across Baron’s County property (Tax Map Nos. 076.11-02-29.00 and 076.11-
02-29.01) said new drainage easement to adjoin an existing culvert easement currently
located on the same parcel; and
WHEREAS, the new public drainage easement will facilitate storm water
management along McVitty Road in the Cresthill Development, which is a residential
area; and
WHEREAS, Section 18.04 of the Roanoke County Charter directs that the
acquisition and conveyance of real estate interests be accomplished by ordinance; the
first reading of this ordinance was held on March 22, 2016, and the second reading and
public hearing was held on April 12, 2016.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke
County, Virginia, as follows:
1. That the County shall acquire a new twenty (20)-foot public drainage
easement across property belonging to Baron, adjacent to McVitty Road, more
specifically identified on Tax Map Nos. 076.11-02-29.00 and 076.11-02-29.01,
containing 2,386 square feet and shown on the attached plat prepared by Lumsden
Associates, P.C., dated December 16, 2015, and such conveyance is hereby authorized
and approved.
2. That the County Administrator, or any Assistant County Administrators,
either of whom may act, are authorized to execute, deliver and record the deeds, and
any other documents on behalf of the County and to take all such further action as any
of them may deem necessary or desirable in connection with this project. The form of
the deed is hereby approved with such completions, omissions, insertions and changes
as the County Administrator may approve, whose approval shall be evidenced
conclusively by the execution and delivery thereof, all of which shall be approved as to
form by the County Attorney.
3. That this ordinance shall be effective from and after the date of its
adoption.
April 12, 2016
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On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the ordinance, seconded by Supervisor
Assaid and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
Ordinance authorizing the granting of a greenway on property
2.
owned by the County of Roanoke (Tax map no. 60.11-04-
17.00.0000) for the purpose of completing the Glade Creek
Greenway Project, Vinton Magisterial District (Doug Blount,
Director of Parks, Recreation and Tourism; Jill Loope, Director of
Economic Development)
There were no changes from the first reading. Chairman Peters opened
and closed the public hearing with no citizens to speak on this item.
ORDINANCE 041216-5 AUTHORIZING THE GRANTING OF A
GREENWAY EASEMENT ON PROPERTY OWNED BY THE
COUNTY OF ROANOKE (TAX MAP NO. 60.11-04-17.00) FOR
THE PURPOSE OF COMPLETING THE GLADE CREEK
GREENWAY PROJECT, VINTON MAGISTERIAL DISTRICT
WHEREAS, the Town of Vinton has requested that the County of Roanoke
("County") grant an eighty-foot (80’) greenway easement across County property (Tax
Map No. 60.11-04-17.00) to complete Phase 2 of the Glade Creek Greenway Project,
which is the creation of a ten-feet (10’) wide, shared use trail beginning at Walnut
Avenue in the Town of Vinton and ending at Gus Nicks Boulevard; and
WHEREAS, the new greenway easement will provide connections to and from
Town of Vinton and City of Roanoke neighborhoods and commercial areas; and
WHEREAS, Section 18.04 of the Roanoke County Charter directs that the
acquisition and conveyance of real estate interests be accomplished by ordinance; the
first reading of this ordinance was held on March 22, 2016, and the second reading and
public hearing was held on April 12, 2016; and
NOW, THEREFORE, be it ordained by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke
County, Virginia, as follows:
1. That the granting of a new greenway easement to the Town of Vinton
across Roanoke County property located off Vale Avenue, N.E., further described as
Tax Map No. 60.11-04-17.00 containing approximately 89,720 square feet and shown
on the attached plat prepared by the Roanoke County Department of Community
Development dated February 24, 2016, instrument No. 201601665, is hereby
authorized and approved.
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2. That the County Administrator, or Assistant County Administrators, any of
whom may act, is authorized to execute, deliver and record the deeds, and any other
documents on behalf of the County and to take all such further action as deemed
necessary or desirable in connection with this project. The form of the deed is hereby
approved with such completions, omissions, insertions, and changes as the County
Administrator may approve, whose approval shall be evidenced conclusively by the
execution and delivery thereof, all of which shall be approved as to form by the County
Attorney.
3. That this ordinance is in full force and effect from and after the date of its
adoption.
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the ordinance, seconded by Supervisor
McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: PUBLIC HEARING
1. Public hearing for citizen comments on the proposed fiscal year
2016-2017 Operating Budget and the proposed fiscal year 2017-
2026 Capital Improvement Program (Christopher Bever, Director
of Management and Budget)
Mr. Bever outlined the request for public hearing. The following citizens
spoke:
Karen Kalbfleisch, thanked the Board of Supervisors for allowing her to
speak on behalf of the Southwest Virginia Ballet (SVB). She advised she is the
Executive Director for SVB, a non-profit, regional youth ballet company that has served
the citizens of Virginia’s Blue Ridge for twenty-six years. She brought forward a student,
stating she is SVB. She advised she hoped the Board was familiar with the signature
production of the Nutcracker at the Berglund Center, but they also produce a full-length
production each spring. Their mission is to make the performing arts experience
available to all ages from all walks of life. SVB provides professional level training and
performance opportunities to young dancers and do it free of charge. They are
committed to offering outreach opportunities for underserved and at-risk children and
adults from across SW Virginia. The company has 57 dancers, 18 are Roanoke County
residents. Professional instruction, costumes and performance shoes are all free of
charge. SVB spends over $6,000 per year on each dancer and they rely on grants,
ticket sales, individual and corporate donations and hundreds of hours of volunteer time.
In terms of outreach, our dancers perform at many free community events throughout the
season including the Virginia Science Festival, Dickens of a Christmas, Carillion Clinic,
Festival in the Park and the Taubman Museum of Art.
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Last year, they participated in the Roanoke County Tree lighting program at the South
County Library that reportedly had over 1,800 people in attendance and are committed
to participating again this year. They also partner with the Roanoke Symphony
Orchestra and Opera Roanoke. They provide over 500 free tickets to their production of
the Nutcracker each year to clients to Human Service organization. Free and
discounted tickets are available to our school outreach for the performance of the
Nutcracker, a sold-out performance for over 2,000 students. Last year, 361 Roanoke
County students from Back Creek, Clearbrook, Ft. Lewis, Mt. Pleasant and Oat Grove
Elementary Schools attended the production. When Back Creek Elementary School
called two days before the performance that they were unable to afford the $10 per
student to attend, SVB provided free tickets so the students would be still able to enjoy
the holiday event. Southwest Virginia Ballet is also committed to providing community
members with performance opportunities. Each year as many as 150 community
members from the age of 7 to 70 are part of our Nutcracker. We provide weekly
rehearsals and costumes for all of these participants. In summary, Southwest Virginia
Ballet provides professional level experiences for our dancers and the community. We
are committed to outreach and providing performance opportunities free of charge. We
bring recognition to Roanoke by partnering with professional organization and by
performing in major performance venues from Roanoke to Prague. We deeply
appreciate your consideration of our request for funding so that they can continue their
mission.
Lauren Mason thanked the Board for the opportunity. She advised she is
in attendance representing Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project or SURCAP.
We provide water, wastewater, housing and community development services to low-
income, rural communities across the Southeastern United States from Delaware to
Florida, however, we are headquartered right here in the Roanoke, Virginia area and
when we were founded in 1969, one of their first projects was in the Hollins area of
Roanoke County. So, they just wanted the opportunity to thank the Board for their
previous support of SURCAP and for further consideration to add them to the budget this
year and continue the support so they can continue to provide water and wastewater
services to residents of Roanoke County so they can have clean, safe drinking water and
environmentally sound septic facilities.
Noah Tickle, Roanoke County resident since 1956 stated this will probably
be the beginning of a series of pretty colored lights, three minutes or shorter citizen
comments of his for some time. A listing of, “I want Roanoke County out of debt
comments.” It is unjustly deceptive to raise real estate assessments and not raise taxes
as a method of raising the taxes of the low information unthinking citizenry. That is the
obvious plan. He wants Roanoke County out of debt to be the shining star on the
mountain example for all counties nationwide. We live here because it is “so nice”.
“We like it.” Keeping it nice and likable is low taxes to no taxes. It can be done, as “we”
grow lean, not fat on the State status of my epitaph as stated previously, “dead and
gone after being taxed to death.”
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We the people left our European kingdoms to flee the tax of tyrannical kings and their
kingdoms of taxes. Kings tax, a republic of sovereigns do not. American individuals are
sovereigns and responsible for their governance and their welfare. At this late date, our
governance has it intentionally backward, on purpose, as the European kings did. How
well did that work for them? This is the wrong mind set on our way forward. His friend,
Charlotte Iservet indicated this many times in her book, “The Deliberate Dumbing Down
of America.” He could not put it down. She says local governance is the way. Every
American needs to read her book with passion, many times over, because she tells it
like it is.
IN RE: PUBLIC HEARING AND ADOPTION OF TAX RATES
1. Public hearing for citizen comment on the following items: (a)
Calendar Year 2016 Real Estate, Personal Property and Machinery
and Tools Tax Rates(Christopher Bever, Director of Management
and Budget)
Chairman Peters opened and closed the public hearing with the following
citizen speaking:
Max Beyer commented on the budget of this year, the revenue portion of
it, talking about tax rates and the revenue shows an increase of $4.6 million. Last year
it was about $4 million and according to his numbers last year there was about $8
million, reprogramming was available for new projects and the year before that
approximately $3 to $4 million increase. In the last three years, revenue for Roanoke
County has grown from $12-$15 million. Of that, consideration for tax payers was
miniscule, $35,000 for business taxes last year. When are the citizens going to have a
chance? The budget for this year, proposed fiscal year 2017 operating budget, calls for
or says it is the County Administrator’s proposed 17 operating budget priorities.
Nowhere on that is there anything about tax decreases; anything for the tax payers. Of
course, we as citizens do not look to the administrator, he takes care of the County. We
look to the Board to take care of taxpayers and we are not being taken care of, he does
not think. Another thing, the administrator has laid out a multi-year program for the
future and that does not have anything to do with taxes. We take care of replacing
vehicles, equipment, modernize, and nowhere in that plan for the next ten years is any
indication of any relief for tax payers. Of the increase this year, $1.5 million is for real
estate alone and that is due to assessments. The many ways that we can come up with
that would be to stretch out the CIP, combine the Police and Sheriff’s office, for
example, all these controversial things and we could also give guidance to the
administrator for him to reduce up to one or two percent (1 or 2%), which is about $1.8
or $1.9 million.
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It can be done, but we have to plan for it. He added he has two
suggestions. First, based on the $1.5 million this year is a two percent (2%) decrease in
the real estate tax rate this year and secondly to include revenue reduction or tax
reductions in the plans; priorities that are laid out by the County Administrator going
forth in the ten-year plan. There should be some indication to the citizens that you are
looking out for them. People complain about big government, expansion of
government, the only way to stop that is to cut off the spigot or reduce the spigot. This
is a way to do it.
2. Request to adopt the following tax rates for calendar 2016:
(a)Order setting the tax rate on Real Estate in Roanoke County
for the calendar year
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he was taking from what some of the citizens
have said. There are some valid points there about spending and how we look at
spending. He is only going to speak for himself. There are five members on the Board
and each person has to make their own decision and we all view spending, as our own
personal spending in a way and we all have been in government, Mr. Assaid, the
shortest amount of time, but we have all been in government for the last couple of
years. Since he came on the Board, we have increased the budget $12 million and as
one of the speakers said, everybody talks about limited government and trying to keep
things under control and yet we are a living example that we are not doing that because
we are allowing it to expand at a rate that is very fast and very large. Now, the only
perspective he can bring and he wants to share this because you need to bring your
own testimony to what you do. It is how you run your own life. He has brought this up
many times. He was brought up in a family where we were told not to spend more than
we had. If you had to get into debt, buy that first house, etc. get out of it as quickly as
possible; pay it off so you can live free and you don’t have bills that are piling up that
you cannot pay and you are living beyond your means. He has done that. In fact, his
brother and his sister, we have all done that. We have all done that, we own our
homes, we do not get into debt, and we have it available for a quick emergency and
then pay it off. So, when he comes to the Board, he brings that example to the Board.
He should not act any differently. The Board members have to deal with it on their own,
but if this is how we are spending money in the homes that are represented on this
Board that is one thing, if we are doing something different at home than with other
peoples’ money that is another thing and it bothers him, the kind of spending we do.
April 12, 2016
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One thing too, the perspective of government, he does not look at himself as necessary
to be in government, he is a representative of the people and he is in this building to
represent them, but every meeting he has been to where we talk about revenues, we
look at the fact that if we reduce a certain tax by a certain amount, i.e. real estate tax,
reduce it by one cent, then we lose $800,000. This is how we look at it in this building
and that bothers him because he looks at it if we reduce taxes by one cent, we are
pushing $800,000 into the economy of Roanoke County and we all on this Board
continue to talk about economic development, but we do nothing about it. That would
be a nice boost for economic development is to give $800,000 back to citizens and let
them spend it where they want instead of us directing it. It is continual. Every meeting
he goes to, every time we talk about it, we look at it as revenue, a positive thing for the
County. We don’t make money in any way, we are taking it from citizens and we have
to come to the realization that if we just keep taking from citizens, citizens can never
benefit. Even when the economy starts to grow. We then get bigger. When
assessments get bigger, when our house value goes up we never cannot benefit from it
because government takes more money from us. There was an interesting article
written by our own Budget Director a few years ago and he made the comment that
even in a bad economy where most of the time spending would go down, it is not the
same in government. Spending actually increases in a bad economy because more
people need government services. So, it seems like the public gets the shaft at both
ends. If things go well, taxes increase, if things don’t go so well, taxes increase and the
citizen is left there not being able to benefit from a vibrant economy. With that, he
thinks we should amend or put a substitute motion to lower the taxes, but we have
gotten this year we sold a piece of property on Rt. 419, $1.5 million, the two increases
the gentleman at the podium discussed, real estate tax rates or assessments went up
so we are giving another $1.5 million and the property tax is a little over $1 million,
roughly $4.6 million of increased revenues is coming into Roanoke County, which we
really did not do something for. We don’t have to expend anything to get that revenue.
It is just coming in. Why can’t we give $1.6 million back as a boost in the arm back to
the economy and let people do with it what they want. Why is there such a barrier to
doing that on this Board; he does not understand? It seems like we take the money we
get and we match it, keep riding it and then we spend it. We don’t have a limit. He
closed with each year that he has been on the Board, he has talked about the fact that
we should set a limit, which to say the budget is going to be $180 million, not any
higher. County Administrator get paid $180,000, figure it out to the best of your ability
on how you can spend that money and provide the services in Roanoke County, but we
don’t do that, we look at how much revenue we are going to get and we spend it. We
do it every year, not just Roanoke County, every government does it. How’s it working?
$19 trillion in National Debt. It does not work this way; he is blue in the face saying it is
not going to work; you have to set a limit before you start thinking about spending
because if you don’t, you are going to spend it all and when you don’t have enough, you
are going to borrow and that is what we do in Roanoke County. The motion is already
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on the table to pass this, but he would tell Board members to seriously think about
putting a substitute motion to lower the tax rate by two cents. ($.02). Why not? Why
can’t we live within our means? Why can’t we push some money back to the citizens of
Roanoke County?
Supervisor Peters responded it is the County Administrator’s job to present
the budget based on what the needs of the County will be. He will be honest; he has
asked Mr. Bedrosian in a meeting back in February, where would you like to cut? He
has asked publically here in this room a month ago, what cuts would you like to make
because he presents to the Board what the County’s needs are and then it is up to us
as elected officials to make that decision as to where the cuts need to be. He has yet to
receive anything before we vote on this tax issue, but there is still time before the
budget is passed. It is evolving into our budget. This is where we will make our
decisions of what needs to be trimmed from the budget and he is going out on a limb,
but Channel 7, Channel 10 and others have documented in the last week some of the
needs we have in our Public Safety. Those are the needs that are not going away.
They are real and he would say over time those situations are only going to get worse.
We need to prepare for that. We do need to provide that service to our citizens, but it is
up to us to figure out if we are going to trim it where it will be.
Supervisor McNamara stated he wanted to put a little bit of context into our
budget. There is a lot of numbers floating around and government finance is probably
the most complicated of all finances because there are funds and money goes into
funds and out of funds. Forget for just a moment about the funds and just talk about
Roanoke County money. If we take the $1 million that we are giving to the schools for
their additional funding, which is based on expanded student enrollment. There had
been declines in past years, they are up currently and are projecting expanded
enrollment again next year. Roughly $1 million additional funding is going to our
schools, which is our number one economic driver in his opinion. He would also
suggest as Ms. Hooker has pointed out in past meetings, Roanoke County’s school
system operates at a lower cost per pupil than any school system surrounding us. So,
they are very good stewards and they do a great, great job. Once he takes the $1
million for the schools and he takes our transfer out, our budget is roughly $115 million.
We have roughly additional $2.3 million additional funding and that is two percent (2%),
which when you take that two percent (2%) and you evaluate it for a changing price
level, which we might like to imagine that there is not a change in price level, but there
is. When you evaluate that two percent (2%) for a changing price level and positive
change in population that we are serving; not huge but it is positive, we are probably
from a real basis running the government on less money than we were prior to last year.
So, to just put that in perspective, there are a lot of figures that keep getting thrown
around that are not exactly accurate.
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Supervisor Bedrosian stated he thinks we have a misconception of
thinking the government is static, but we have to increase funding every year.
Government does not have to be static thing. If you spent $175-$178 million last year
and now we have to add to that and that is why we are in the problem we are in across
the nation is because we always do that. We always have the last budget as the
baseline budget and of course prices have gone up, we have to increase. It is a totally
invalid argument. At home, he never does that. He never says well last year we spent
$60,000, but this year we are going to spend $60,000 and we are going to add to it.
Only in government would you do that so that you can make the case we are only
increasing two percent (2%). What about all the other things, the payments that we
have stopped. There are things that end that should reduce what we were spending
last year and now we should not be starting at the same base line. He would like to
take that argument totally off the table. It is an irresponsible argument and that is what
is going to get us into trouble if every year we are just looking at last year and saying we
have to go up obviously this year. The reality is if we were actually responsible about
our money we could be spending less next year and actually provide more services
because we would not have debt on our shoulder and that is really the driver in this
thing, debt. You talk about the schools, and he had given suggestions in fact he does
not think we should be building a new Cave Spring school, we should not be spending
the $1.5 million that we are going to spend on putting up the plans because we don’t
have the resources. It is not that we shouldn’t do something, we don’t have the
resources to do it because we have been irresponsible in the past and we ballooned up
our debt. Now, we stopped borrowing $10 million for the last two years, but we are
going to have to borrow money again to do the schools. We continue to give the
schools more money every year when they had a declining enrollment. So, if you look
at over the last several years, we have given several million dollars more to the schools
and the school enrollment for the last ten years was going down. Other areas we could
stop, broadband. We are putting money in for broadband. We are going to borrow $3
million for that and spend $300,000 a year. We are diving into Explore Park, which we
should not be doing. We are doing other projects so if you want suggestions, these are
the things we ought to take off the table and stop spending money on because we do
not have it. He thinks that is the thing. Everybody says, “These are such nice projects”,
yeah, but when you don’t have the money and you are not responsible about spending
money then don’t do them. It is like going into a new car showroom, but you don’t have
the money and looking around and saying isn’t that a nice car. Yeah, it is a nice car.
Again, you don’t have the money to spend and it becomes irresponsible because he will
tell you as he has said, last years was $180 million, what is so critical that one year
passes and we have to spend $4 million more. How did we do it last year? How did we
do it two years ago? What is it and now causes an emergency to spend more? He will
tell you and thinks what it is that we always spend the amount of money given to us,
which shows him that it is not really that we need it or it is an incredible coincidence that
the amount of money that comes in we spend it all. Is that a coincidence that our
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180
budget is always the same amount of revenue? We also continue to borrow money.
The responsible way to budget is to set a limit and say that is it and everybody try to
figure out how to do it with this money. To look through a budget that is that thick and
try to pick out one or two items is an impossibility because everybody will have an
excuse. He was here last year when we looked at four (4) trucks and everybody had to
have four (4) new trash trucks instead of taking two (2) at that time and then think about
two (2) the next year. No one on the Board wants to limit anything anymore. We don’t
want to limit new spending. We always have to have everything that is available and he
will tell you that the reason we cannot do that is because we have been irresponsible as
a Board over the years, we have been irresponsible: accumulated debt and that is what
puts the pressure on every year is the debt burden and we have to continue to pay it off
and we just don’t have those resources. Every year it is tight and every year we can
barely get what we want to get and never look at reducing spending. He gets it;
everybody has their way of looking at it. He would just like for once for this Board to
think about that one cent reduction, which would mean giving back to the citizens of
Roanoke County $815,000 instead of looking at every time that we are not going to get
that $815,000 to spend as a government. He just wished that we would look at it that
way for once; maybe it will happen.
Supervisor Peters stated he would like to outline that Supervisor Bedrosian
brought up as projects are all capital improvements. We were talking about our
operating budget, the cost to operate this County. At the end of the day and after the
transfer to the schools, we are only about $115 million and Mr. Gates if you would help
him out, eighty percent (80%) of that goes to Public Safety. Mr. Gates advised probably
a lesser amount than that. Mr. Bever stated it was $48 million that is spent on public
safety when you include social services. Staff has a work session this afternoon with
the breakdown of all the different details. There is a number of other transfers in there.
Public Safety is the largest. Supervisor Peters commented he guessed the other thing
to look at is what we are not funding. Again, not to belabor our Public Safety, we need
more Public Safety people; where is that money coming from. What are we not funding
that potentially that we are going to have to at some point. This is the other concern.
The budget document is thick. We have had two months to look at it and another month
and a half to review it. He would encourage any changes that you would like to be
made are provided to the Board.
ORDER 041216-6 SETTING THE TAX RATE ON REAL ESTATE
SITUATE IN ROANOKE COUNTY FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR
2016
BE IT ORDERED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, that
the levy for the twelve-month period beginning January 1, 2016, and ending December
$1.09
31, 2016, be, and hereby is, set for a tax rate of per one hundred dollars of
assessed valuation on all taxable real estate and mobile homes classified by Sections
April 12, 2016
181
58.1-3200, 58.1-3201, 58.1-3506.A.8, and 58.1-3506.B of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as
amended, situate in Roanoke County.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the order, seconded by Supervisor
Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian
(b) Order setting the tax levy on Personal Property situate in
Roanoke County for the calendar year 2016 operating budget
Supervisor Bedrosian commented that lowering taxes spurs economic
development and economic development is one of those buzz words, but lowering taxes
spurs free enterprise activity. If you would lower taxes you would generate more
revenues. Our real estate tax is already the third highest in the State. He would
suggest lowering the personal property tax by twenty cents. Why not, $1.6 million that
could go back to the citizens and the businesses to everybody and spur economic
development. Again, we have already passed the motion to leave it as it is, but he just
wished the Board would think about things more creatively and lower taxes to spur
economic development.
Supervisor Peters stated he would like to add again that when you
compare us to other counties we do provide city services. So, the floor is open to
Supervisor Bedrosian to move to stop trash collection or fire and rescue; some of the
expenses we have that other jurisdictions do not. He thinks that we are providing a
good service to our citizens.
Supervisor Bedrosian responded that we always go back to we are not
going to be able to pick up your trash if you lower the taxes. He added that argument
just falls so flat all the time because there are so many other things that we spend
money on. He is with you. If you could limit government spending to just the bare
necessities and let government do those basic things that people really rely on and then
stop the other things we spend money on you would have his full support, but we
always continually add other things and then when there is an issue we always come
back to trash collection. Trash collection does not cost $180 million. There are so
many other things that we do that are really not required by government. For example,
the broadband discussion we will have in about ten minutes. We are willing to go along
with that and proves to him that it is not about basic services anymore. It is about
expansion of government and using taxpayer dollars to do it.
Supervisor Peters stated again for clarification purposes for the public’s
sake, it was brought out last year from Mr. Church that if you took out our police
department, paid fire and rescue, trash pickup the effective tax rate is about $0.78 if he
remembers correctly. Those are the services that we are paying for and one of the
reasons we have a higher tax rate. He just wanted to clarify for the public sake.
April 12, 2016
182
ORDER 041216-7 SETTING THE TAX LEVY ON PERSONAL
PROPERTY SITUATE IN ROANOKE COUNTY FOR THE CALENDAR
YEAR 2016
BE IT ORDERED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as
follows:
1. That the levy for the twelve-month period beginning January 1, 2016, and
$3.50
ending December 31, 2016, be, and hereby is, set for a tax rate of per one
hundred dollars of assessed valuation on all taxable, tangible personal property,
excluding that class of personal property generally designated as machinery and tools
as set forth in Section 58.1-3507 of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, and
excluding all those classes of household goods and personal effects as are defined in
Sections 58.1-3504 and 58.1-3505 of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, but
including the property separately classified by Sections 58.1-3500, 58.1-3501, 58.1-
3502, 58.1-3506 in the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, of public service
corporations based upon the assessed value thereof fixed by the State Corporation
Commission and duly certified.
2. That there be, and hereby is, established as a separate class of personal
property in Roanoke County those items of personal property set forth in Section 58.1-
3506 of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, and adopted by Ordinance No.
121592-11, and generally designated as Motor Vehicles for Disabled Veterans.
3. That the levy for the twelve-month period beginning January 1, 2016, and
fifty (50%) percent
ending December 31, 2016, be, and hereby is, set at of the tax rate
established in paragraph 1 for the taxable, tangible personal property as herein
established as a separate classification for tax purposes and as more fully defined by
Section 58.1-3506 of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, and generally designated
as Motor Vehicles for Disabled Veterans.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the order, seconded by Supervisor
Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian
Supervisor Bedrosian commented that lowering taxes spurs economic
development and economic development is one of those buzz words, but lowering taxes
spurs free enterprise activity. If you would lower taxes you would generate more
revenues. Our real estate tax is already the third highest in the State. He would
suggest lowering the
April 12, 2016
183
(c)Order setting the tax levy on a classification of personal property
- Machinery and Tools - situate in Roanoke County for the
calendar year 2016
ORDER 041216-8 SETTING THE TAX LEVY ON A CLASSIFICATION
OF PERSONAL PROPERTY - MACHINERY AND TOOLS - SITUATE
IN ROANOKE COUNTY FOR THE CALENDAR YEAR 2016
BE IT ORDERED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as
follows:
1. That there be, and hereby is, established as a separate class of personal
property in Roanoke County those items of personal property set forth in Section 58.1-
3507 of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, and generally designated as machinery
and tools.
2. That the levy for the twelve-month period beginning January 1, 2016, and
$2.90
ending December 31, 2016, be, and hereby is, set for a tax rate of per one
hundred dollars of assessed valuation on all taxable, tangible personal property as
herein established as a separate classification for tax purposes and as more fully
defined by Section 58.1-3507 of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, and generally
designated as machinery and tools.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the order, seconded by Supervisor
Assaid and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: CONSENT AGENDA
RESOLUTION 041216-9 APPROVING AND CONCURRING IN
CERTAIN ITEMS SET FORTH ON THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS AGENDA FOR THIS DATE DESIGNATED AS
ITEM L- CONSENT AGENDA
BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as
follows:
That the certain section of the agenda of the Board of Supervisors for April 12,
2016, designated as Item L - Consent Agenda be, and hereby is, approved and
concurred in as to each item separately set forth in said section designated Items 1
through 7 inclusive, as follows:
1. Approval of minutes - January 26, 2016; January 30, 2016; February 9, 2016
April 12, 2016
184
2. Confirmation of appointment to the Grievance Panel (At-Large); Library Board
(appointed by District)
3. Resolution granting a waiver to Hollins University under Section 13-23 of the
Roanoke County Code to the provisions of the County’s Noise Ordinance,
Article II. Noise of Chapter 13. Offenses – Miscellaneous
4. Observance and Proclamation of Friday, April 22, 2016, as National Arbor
Day in Roanoke
5. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County to Joseph K. Martin, Jr., Paramedic/Firefighter, upon his
retirement after more than sixteen (16) years of service
6. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County to Sandra G. Price, Program Support Specialist, Social
Services, upon her retirement after more than twenty-five (25) years of
service
7. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County to Willie L. Bryant, Solid Waste Equipment Operator, upon
his retirement after more than forty-three (43) years of service
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor
McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
A-041216-9.a
RESOLUTION 041216-9.b GRANTING A WAIVER TO HOLLINS
UNIVERSITY UNDER SECTION 13-23 OF THE ROANOKE
COUNTY CODE TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE COUNTY’S
NOISE ORDINANCE, ARTICLE II. OF CHAPTER 13.
NOISE
OFFENSES – MISCELLANEOUS
WHEREAS, Hollins University, a private university located in north Roanoke
County, will be holding an outdoor concert known as “Mayfest” for the campus
community on Saturday, May 7, 2016, ending at 12:00 p.m. on the grounds of the
University in the back quad area; and
WHEREAS, Hollins University is also having a formal dance event on April 16,
2016, ending at midnight; and
WHEREAS, in order to accommodate the advertised time frame and to mitigate
economic hardship by enhancing students’ sense of connectedness with Hollins and the
Roanoke Valley through social interaction that supports recruiting and retaining students
that in turn affects the economic vitality of the University and Roanoke County with this
event, Hollins University is requesting a waiver of the County noise ordinance for one
April 12, 2016
185
(2) hours from 10:00 p.m. till 12:00 p.m., on Saturday, May 7, 2016, and two (2) hours
on Saturday, April 16, 2016; and
WHEREAS, Section 13-23 of the Roanoke County Code establishes certain
standards for the Board of Supervisors to grant waivers from the provision of the
Roanoke County Noise Ordinance to avoid undue hardship upon consideration of
certain factors set forth in sub-section (b) of Section 13-23 and after making certain
alternative findings.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke
County, Virginia, as follows:
1. That the provisions of Section 13-21. Specific acts as noise, sub-section
(5) and Section 13-20. General prohibition of Article II. Noise be WAIVED for a period of
two (2) hours until 12:00 P.M. on Saturday, May 7, 2016 and for a period of two (2)
hours until midnight on Saturday, April 16, 2016.
2. That this Waiver is granted specifically to Hollins University for the events
scheduled at the University on Saturday, May 7, 2016 and Saturday, April 16, 2016.
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor
McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
A-041216-9.c
RESOLUTION 041216-9.d EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION
OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY
TO JOSEPH K. MARTIN, JR., PARAMEDIC/FIREFIGHTER,
UPON HIS RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN SIXTEEN YEARS
OF SERVICE
WHEREAS, Joseph K. Martin, Jr. was employed by Roanoke County on
September 27, 1999; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Martin retired on March 1, 2016, with sixteen years and five
months of devoted, faithful and expert service to Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Martin first started his career with Roanoke County as a
Firefighter/EMT until August 31, 2011, and has served as a Paramedic/Firefighter since
that time; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Martin, prior to his employment with the County, selflessly
volunteered his time providing fire and rescue services for eighteen (18) years in
Alleghany County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Martin, throughout his employment, has been instrumental in
improving the quality of life and services to the citizens of Roanoke County; and
April 12, 2016
186
WHEREAS, during Mr. Martin’s time serving the citizens of Roanoke County, he
provided compassionate and dedicated service to countless patients; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Martin served on the Regional Heavy Technical Rescue Team
and provided countless hours of training to numerous personnel in the area of Heavy
Technical Rescue; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Martin has provided EMS training to new recruits throughout
multiple recruit academies; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County expresses its deepest appreciation and the appreciation of the citizens
JOSEPH K. MARTIN, JR.
of Roanoke County to for more than sixteen years of
capable, loyal and dedicated service to Roanoke County; and
FURTHER, the Board of Supervisors does express its best wishes for a happy
and productive retirement.
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor
McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
RESOLUTION 041216-9.e EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION
OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY
TO SANDRA G. PRICE, PROGRAM SUPPORT SPECIALIST,
UPON HER RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN TWENTY-FIVE
(25) YEARS OF SERVICE
WHEREAS, Sarah G. Price was employed by Roanoke County on June 18,
1990; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Price retired on April 1, 2016, after twenty-five years and ten
months of devoted, faithful and expert service to Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Price served as Program Support Specialist, during her tenure
with Roanoke County and has served with professionalism and dedication in providing
services to the citizens of Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, during Ms. Price’s time serving the citizens of Roanoke County, she
provided customer service and administrative assistance for both Social Services as
well as the CSA program. Her job duties entailed managing meeting schedules for five
multi-disciplinary teams, maintaining records of children served through the CSA
program, maintaining documentation for vendor contracted services, and prompt and
courteous communication with internal and external customers.
WHEREAS, Ms. Price was known for her positive disposition in her work and
interactions with others. She took pride in the work she completed, and worked hard to
ensure that her work reflected her attention to detail.
WHEREAS, NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of
April 12, 2016
187
Supervisors of Roanoke County expresses its deepest appreciation and the
SANDRA D. PRICE
appreciation of the citizens of Roanoke County to for more than
twenty-five (25) years of capable, loyal and dedicated service to Roanoke County; and
FURTHER, the Board of Supervisors does express its best wishes for a happy
and productive retirement.
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor
McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
RESOLUTION 041216-9.f EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION
OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY
TO WILLIE L. BRYANT, SOLID WASTE EQUIPMENT
OPERATOR, UPON HIS RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN
FORTY-THREE YEARS OF SERVICE
WHEREAS, Willie L. Bryant began his employment with Roanoke County on
March 12, 1973; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bryant retired on April 1, 2016, after forty-three years and one
month of devoted, faithful and expert service to Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bryant, throughout his employment with Roanoke County, has
been instrumental in improving the quality of life and providing services to the citizens of
Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bryant has worked in the Solid Waste Division for the length of
his employment providing citizens with daily service including manual garbage collection
and the collection of brush debris via the knuckleboom; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bryant, was one of two original drivers that were trained to
operate the knuckleboom in the late 1980’s. Prior to the addition of knucklebooms to
the Solid Waste fleet, brush was collected manually into open barrel trucks. The
successful addition of the knucklebooms under the guidance of drivers like Mr. Bryant
led to Roanoke County providing debris collection in sometimes very adverse
conditions; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bryant was an essential part of the debris collection team during
Hurricane Hugo in 1989, various wind, snow, and ice storms; and, more recently, the
Derecho of June 2013. While operating the knuckleboom during the cleanup after
catastrophic events, Mr. Bryant often sacrificed his own personal recovery activities to
assist Roanoke County citizens in their efforts to recover from these storms by working
long hours in multiple consecutive days and sometimes weeks; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Bryant was a valuable asset to Roanoke County and helped the
division achieve its goal of providing efficient and effective service to Roanoke County
April 12, 2016
188
citizens on a daily basis through his expert use of the knuckleboom and other pieces of
equipment.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County expresses its deepest appreciation and the appreciation of the citizens
Willie L. Bryant
of Roanoke County to for more than forty-three years of capable, loyal
and dedicated service to Roanoke County; and
FURTHER, the Board of Supervisors does express its best wishes for a happy
and productive retirement.
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor
McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: CITIZENS’ COMMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
Wendy Jones, Executive Director of the Williamson Road Area Business
Association located at 4804 Williamson Road stated she wanted to talk about
broadband. She advised that she had looked at some of the things that went on at the
last meeting and wanted to make sure that everybody understood that that this isn’t so
much providing things that don’t need to be there. This is actually providing the
backbone, if you will, for things that do need to be here for us to be competitive in this
region against areas like NOVA, Richmond, etc. that already have some of these things.
This will exponentially repay itself by drawing businesses here with good jobs, by
drawing citizens here who occupy those jobs, by employing the people who are already
here. So this is not necessarily an expenditure or an investment, which is really the way
she looks at it and won’t repay the County. In fact, it is quite the opposite. This is not
countering free market. This is in fact assisting to spur the free market and then
allowing the free market to pick up and go on its own. She just wanted to make a
couple of points really clear. She advised that in Hollins they got a business from
Botetourt that specifically moved to that area because they wanted the walkability
amenity of Waldron Park and things like that in addition to their problem with getting the
kind of high-speed service they need for their business. We are losing our kids to
Northern Virginia and other places. Our kids are studying these technological jobs that
require data to move faster than the speed of light. We need to have this here.
IN RE: REPORTS
Supervisor Peters moved to receive and file the following reports. The
motion was seconded by Supervisor McNamara and carried by the following recorded
vote:
April 12, 2016
189
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
1. General Fund Unappropriated Balance
2. Capital Reserves
3. Reserve for Board Contingency
4. Outstanding Debt
IN RE: REPORTS AND INQUIRIES OF BOARD MEMBERS
Supervisor Hooker commented she had two quick points to make of good
news that she would like to share with the community. (Has several pictures that she
showed.) She advised there was a mock car crash that was put on as a very successful
pre-prom event and it stressed the importance of making good choices when behind the
wheel of a vehicle. It was important for our students to see how the process worked
from start to finish when a severe accident takes place. This event would not have
been possible without the support of the Virginia State Police the office of Roanoke
County’s Commonwealth Attorney, the Honorable Judge Hilary Griffith, Kroger, WXFR
21-27, Oakeys from Salem, Roanoke County Fire and Rescue from Station #9,
Roanoke County’s Sheriff’s Office, Roanoke County’s Police Department and also the
Glenvar High School Theatre students. It was quite dramatic and really made an
impact. It was impressive to see 600 plus students captivated by the process of what
happens with poor decision making when you are behind the wheel and then we went
inside and heard from the Commonwealth Attorney, the DA, and Judge Griffith. It was
quite impactful so she just wanted to say thank you for all that cooperation from those
departments, from the businesses for making such an impact on our students. The
second thing was a quick shout out to the Sheriff’s Department. They responded to a
call for help with a situation where a parcel of land had become quite blighted and an
eye sore and cluttered with garbage and debris and Sheriff Orange sent an inmate work
crew out to pick up trash and to restore order to that area and it was so appreciated.
Then, just as she was driving this morning on Rt. 11/460 West, she saw a work crew
also mowing the median on Rt. 11/460 and she just appreciates beautifying that
gateway into our community. Thank you Sheriff Orange and your work crew for working
for the betterment of Roanoke County.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he wanted to talk about broadband. It is the
most exciting thing he has ever had to investigate because somebody is lying. It really
comes down to that. He has talked to a lot of providers, in fact, all of them Verizon,
AT&T, Cox, Intelos, Lumos, Comcast, etc. Something is going on. He does not really
know where to start. He put some notes together because he thinks it is a very
interesting conversation. We had people present to us a couple of weeks ago and they
presented fiber strands like it was the first time we have ever seen fiber in Roanoke. It
was the most amazing thing and actually that the world now is using the internet to buy
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and sell. This was the first time this was ever been stated and it was right here two
weeks ago. He almost fell out of his chair. He tells people that he works out of his
home now and telecommunicate with people all over the country and the world and has
video conferencing; he can see their face, we talk, there are five or six people up on the
screen. He is thinking, “What?” This is at a residence. We have had Carillion here and
transmits gobs of data using images that are so refined and technical and they have
been doing it. Now, the issue isn’t that we don’t have it here and have never seen these
little strands of fiber as it was made out to be like, “wow” we are still using phone lines
here in Roanoke. Nope, we have been using fiber for a long time. When you talk to the
vendors and look at the map of Roanoke, it is covered with fiber. In fact, he showed the
video, WDBJ or one of them had a video of talking to the RVBA and they were showing
people out cutting through the roads to lay fiber down and the folks that he talks to
laugh. Because, the technology now is that we don’t drill through pavement anymore,
they borrow underground. They do not disrupt at all with the new technology and the
technology they have. These vendors have been in business for decades where the
RVBA is just coming on right now and just trying to make its inroads. One of the
vendors said in the last ten years they have invested $70 million in this area; way to go
Roanoke County, Roanoke City, Salem just pull the rug right out from under them and
that is just one of the vendors here in the Roanoke Valley that does that. The other
thing that he brought up last time, we keep thinking this backbone is what we are putting
down. Look at the map and look at where all the fiber is being laid. It is not a
backbone. Its segmented parts going in front of businesses, schools and government
that already have a provider. We are going and centralizing in this area and it even
states in the document that we are going for the schools, government buildings and
some industrial parks and some big businesses. We are basically taking the low-
hanging fruit and who are we taking it from? These places are already being provided
internet and broadband. We keep saying this is the newest thing. When I say that to
these vendors that I talk to, they laugh at me. When I say wait a minute, isn’t this the
latest thing we are putting in the ground now? They say, “Al that is not true.” We have
the latest out there. We have more capacity than any business could ever want in
Roanoke or if a business was going to come into Roanoke and ask, it is there. Now, so
it is not about availability and the fact we have never seen this stuff before, it is about
price because government now wants to dictate what the right price is. Okay, he has it.
Let’s just be honest about it then. If government wants to start dictating what the right
price should be; it is not the role of government. At least in his history books, that is not
the role of government. It is the role of a free enterprise system and there are plenty
enough vendors. It is not like it is only one vendor doing it. There are plenty of vendors
out there doing it. The one example he can give of Roanoke County getting involved in
the free enterprise system is the Green Ridge Recreation Center and it is a fiasco.
There are probably a lot of people gasping because they love the Green Ridge
Recreation Center and go there. Here is the deal, this is why it is a disaster. The
Green Ridge Recreation Center loses $1.5 million every year and again people are
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probably gasping. They though we made money. We don’t make money and we have
been through this before. If you don’t count the building and the debt service of that
building, we make a $200,000 a year, but if you actually put in the building, the cost of
the building, which every other provider has to incorporate into their business plan, the
real estate cost. It is about $1.8 million a year, so we actually lose $1.5 million. Now,
he is not happy with that because he is not a member, but he still pays a membership
fee for that place because the loses of it basically make his family (a family of seven)
every $1.5 million is about $17 and he pays $119 in subsidies to the Green Ridge
Recreational Center. So, that is what happens when government gets involved. They
do something that is totally inefficient. If the Green Ridge Recreational Center needs to
be there, somebody in the free market would have done it already. We cannot operate
something like the Green Ridge Recreational Center and do it profitably. We lose
money; the same thing is going to happen with Broadband. Broadband is being taken
care of by vendors in competition. All we are going to do is jump in there and from what
he hears, there are examples all over about municipalities taking it over and pretty soon
selling it for pennies on the dollar because they cannot make it work. You can lay fiber
in the ground, but you have people that can ultimately maintain it. If there is an outage
or if something happens, how are you going to do that? You have to build a huge
infrastructure to make that happen. He went through and looked at a couple of agendas
from the meetings of the Broadband Authority; he had a great weekend, very exciting,
did a lot of reading. One thing that he found that was interesting and is going to ask Mr.
Gates on this because he does not even know if this is right. Right or wrong, licensing
agreement with the City of Roanoke license in lieu of bond. It said here that the
agreements allows the broadband authority to be in Roanoke City right-of-ways and
approximately ten (10) city parcels that will need to be crossed. The resolution is a
guarantee by the Broadband Authority to the City of Roanoke furnished in lieu of one or
more bonds for public work permits. Now, then they went into a vote about adopting a
resolution in lieu of bonds. This triggered in his mind because he knows we have had
discussions about this before that when people do construction, they have to put up a
bond and it costs money. They have to put up a bond to do whatever they do and that
way they are going to fulfill their obligations and that costs money and we have had a
debate here about what that should be set. It is his understanding, and he may need to
ask Mr. Gates or Ms. Kuhnel, is when RVBA is doing its thing, it does not need a bond
to do business. It can just get a resolution passed. What it said was normally you
would have to have a performance bond, which involves costs. A resolution was
presented for consideration by the Bond Authority to do away with having to have a
bond and do a resolution. The motion was seconded by Mr. Gates and carried. So,
again, he wants to know if we are diving into something that is not free market, are we
playing by the same rules that the free market has. It just stuck out at me. Can the
County Administrator or Manager cast a resolution in lieu of a bond. They didn’t even
have to do a bond. Can we do that in government? Can we just pass a resolution?
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Mr. Gates responded he thinks what Mr. Bedrosian was referring to are
performance bonds required by the City for a utility like RVBA to operate in the City
owned rights-of-way. In what you described there is an agreement to forgo the
performance bond in exchange for a guarantee for installing fiber in the City-owned
right-of-ways. In terms of the County and applying that to the County, most of the
rights-of-way, which we would propose to the Broadband Authority for fiber are not
County-owned rights of way, they run in in the public right-of-ways owned by VDOT.
Supervisor Bedrosian then stated his question is are we treating RVBA different than we
would a business when you pass a resolution not to have a performance bond. Mr.
Gates responded he could not speak to what previous agreements may or may not
have been executed between the City and other utilities and other businesses. He
stated he suspects as in most of the cases there is a provision that allows for that
agreement to happen and he would suspect you would probably find other examples
where the City has forgone the performance bond in exchange for some other
agreement. Supervisor Bedrosian stated this one was done in August of 2015. Mr.
Gates said you are referring directly to the RVBA agreement and there may be others,
but he does not know the specifics of what was agreed to in the City. Supervisor
Bedrosian stated but you passed the resolution. Mr. Gates responded in the affirmative.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated his only thing about that is when he looks at government
getting involved with something that is private sector, it concerns him like the Mountain
Valley Pipeline. The State was coming in and they did not have to follow the rules that
everybody else had to follow because they were the State and they could come in and
do it. Now, he sees where we are doing something similar, just pass a resolution and
you don’t have to do a bond. The other thing that he saw was the director of this
organization is going to make $120,000 a year plus bonuses for if annual benchmarks
are met. This is all public information and he was curious, what are the benchmarks. Is
that an expansion? What would a benchmark be for Roanoke Valley Broadband? Mr.
Gates responded with meeting target dates for installation of fiber; making sure the fiber
is installed on time and within budget would be a metric that might be used for
performance. Supervisor Bedrosian responded so basically we are talking about
someone that is making $120,000 plus, maybe $150,000 to be the head of the RVBA.
This is why he has serious problems with this. We are in direct competition with those
who are out there that already have fiber in the ground, we are laying the fiber in the
ground exactly where others are. One last thing, there was a letter with Roanoke
County in there but said a non-binding letter of intent has been sent to Roanoke County
Schools and he was curious we have negotiations going on with the Roanoke County
Schools to install this if that was meant by the non-binding agreement sent to the
Roanoke County Schools. “Bob Hitchee reported that he had drafted a non-binding
letter of intent to be sent to the Roanoke County School Systems and as of this date no
response has been received.” His understanding when he talked to the private sector
state they have contracts with the School System. Do you know what that letter of
intent was? Mr. Gates responded that he has not seen the document that Supervisor
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Bedrosian was referring to or the date. He stated he believed at some point in the past,
the RVBA Authority did send a letter as suggested to the schools and to other entities
asking about intentions for joining the Broadband Authority or participating in the use of
their service. He has no knowledge of any existing negotiations that are actively going
on between the schools and the Broadband Authority and it is his understanding that in
December of this past year, the school issued and subsequently executed an
agreement for broadband services through an existing service provider that is not
RVBA. The RFP was issued in December and he cannot recall when that agreement
was executed, but they are receiving services from another vendor at this point.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated so basically at that time in September, we were trying to
compete with the private sector. The private sector won out. This letter was dated
September 18, 2015, and was probably sent out the month before. Again, we now have
RVBA competing against the private sector and in this case the private sector won, but
he would really warn people to really think this thing through whether it is our
responsibility with the fact that fiber is all over Roanoke County. It is nothing new.
Believe him when you see the little lights shining at the end, it is nothing new and have
been in the ground for ten to twenty years. We already have it. The final comment he
will make is the CRT, the Technology Center, was wired; fiber was put into the ground
by Cox, one of the people he talked to. Two vendors have gone in there, in fact they
put it there first, and two businesses are in there now. There are still about five empty
lots. They have been sitting empty for about the last five years. It is a great location
between us and Blacksburg, Virginia and they are still there because business do not
operate just under the “if you build it, they will come.” That is only in the movies, you
have to have something to sell, and you have to have a good economy, low taxes and
so many other things. That place is wired; ready to go and we still have five empty lots
and it has fiber. Fiber, the stuff they are showing you on television. It has it, it has the
latest and greatest and we still do not have anybody. He added that he hopes
everybody will consider this as they get ready to vote.
Supervisor Peters stated he would like to start by saying with regard to the
CRT project the site is not ready and needs about $4 million of work to have them ready
for businesses. This has been brought to us before. A couple of things he would like to
point out, first, he was told coming into the meeting that our former Treasurer, Fred
Anderson went through some heart surgery this morning at Duke. He knew he had
been in there since the first of the month. He understands that he is doing well and
hopes this Board and community will send up some prayers for him as he begins what
he is sure will be a quite extensive recovery. He will address because he has had a lot
of comments regarding the news coverage on our Fire and Rescue needs that are out
there. This is a very complex situation with people that are out sick and injured, but he
thinks as a Board we realize that as time moves on that we do have an aging
population, which we have talked about before, services and needs are going to
become greater and that is something we will have to address as times goes on. He
says this so the community knows that we are aware of it and we are working actively
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with the Fire Chief so we can find out what that plan is going to look like. Mr. Gates is
well involved. His last comment is regarding the Focus Groups. He wants to thank all
those that participated, the staff, it has been great to hear from our citizens and their
thoughts and their concerns about where we are as a community and where we are
going as a community and as he has heard from many, how can they help to get to
where we want to be over the next five to seven years. It is exciting because that is
what the Focus Groups were designed to do, engage our citizens not only for four
sessions but hopefully for long-term engagement.
th
At 4:51 p.m. Chairman Peters recessed to the 4 floor for work session and
closed meeting.
IN RE: CLOSED MEETING
At 4:50 p.m., Supervisor Peters moved to go into closed meeting following
the work sessions pursuant to the Code of Virginia Section 2.2-3711.A.5 Discussion
concerning the disposition of publicly held real property, where discussion in an open
meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the
County, namely the Vinton Library.
The motion was seconded by Supervisor McNamara carried by the
following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: WORK SESSIONS
1. Work session to review with the Board of Supervisors the fiscal
year 2016-2017 Operating Budget (Christopher Bever, Director of
Management and Budget)
Mr. Gates started off the work session and started the PowerPoint
presentation. He advise this is the second of a three-part work session. He then turned
the meeting over to Mr. Bever who outlined the presentation. A copy of this
presentation is on file in the Clerk’s office.
Supervisor McNamara asked staff to gradually move away from the non-
contractual community support. Mr. Gates explained they have started the process of
looking at a set of criteria. He advised staff needs to have a better understanding of
what the needs actually are. It was the consensus of the Board for Mr. Gates to make a
list of all the remaining non-contractual obligations, less CCAP and provide Mr. Gates
with each Board member’s recommendations.
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195
Supervisor McNamara stated he was very concerned about adding
positions; he cannot support. He advised the only ones he can live with are social
services and fire and rescue. He commented that he cannot support other positions
over Fire and Rescue. He added with regard to Fleet Services, even if funded, cannot
support. If it is that important go find the money somewhere else. He is concerned we
are adding positions that may not be needed later. Also he has an issue with
broadband. Fund with today’s dollars. He explained in order to come up with $350,000,
cultural, changes from fleet services that will trickle back. There will be some
efficiencies once you go with the bi-monthly. He stated that you need a continued
revenue stream or revenue sharing.
Supervisor Hooker responded she agrees with Supervisor McNamara.
Supervisor Peters advised he does not agree with regard to Broadband;
agrees with everything else. He feels that the monies currently being received from
Ardaugh that we are giving back that expires in 2018 is appropriate. The gap is in 2017.
Mr. Gates advised that Budget Memo #8 on planned borrowings will be
sent out this week. He then asked for guidance regarding positions. It was the
consensus to keep the DSS positions and eliminate the others. Kevin Hutchins,
Treasurer explained the need for his two positions.
Supervisor McNamara requested the fleet service position be done
outside the budget. He added that he wants to see Broadband funded with current
dollars.
Supervisor Assaid inquired about what happens to the funds received
from the sale of the 419 Library with Mr. Gates advising it has already been accounted
for in CIP.
The work session was held from 5:09 p.m. until 7:12 p.m.
IN RE: CLOSED SESSION
The closed session was held from 7:24 p.m. until 7:34 p.m.
IN RE: CERTIFICATION RESOLUTION
At 7:34 p.m., Supervisor Peters moved to return to open session to adopt
the certification resolution.
RESOLUTION 041216-10 CERTIFYING THE CLOSED MEETING
WAS HELD IN CONFORMITY WITH THE CODE OF VIRGINIA
WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia has convened
a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in
accordance with the provisions of The Virginia Freedom of Information Act; and
196 April 12, 2016
WHEREAS, Section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by
the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, that such closed meeting was
conducted in conformity with Virginia law.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County, Virginia, hereby certifies that, to the best of each member's
knowledge:
1. Only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting
requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting which this
certification resolution applies; and
2. Only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening
the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered by the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County, Virginia.
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor
McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Peters adjourned the meeting at 7:35 p.m.
1,_i_ ,
mitted by: Approved by:
AllA /--------/
/ TN A
D- .orah C. atir P. Jason "eters
Chief Deputy Clerk to the Board Chairman