HomeMy WebLinkAbout1/13/2015 - RegularJanuary 13, 2015
Roanoke County Administration Center
5204 Bernard Drive
Roanoke, Virginia 24018
The Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia met this day at the
Roanoke County Administration Center, this being the second Tuesday and the first
regularly scheduled meeting of the month of January 2015. 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: CALL TO ORDER
Chairman McNamara called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m. The roll call
was taken.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Supervisors Al Bedrosian, Joseph B. "Butch" Church,
Joseph P. McNamara; Charlotte A. Moore and P. Jason
Peters
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: Thomas C. Gates, County Administrator; Daniel R.
O'Donnell, Assistant County Administrator; Richard
Caywood, Assistant County Administrator; Amy Whittaker,
Public Information Officer, Paul M. Mahoney, County
Attorney; and Deborah C. Jacks, Deputy Clerk to the Board
IN RE: ORGANIZATION OF COUNTY BOARD
1. Election of Officers
a. Chairman
Supervisor McNamara nominated Supervisor Peters to serve as
Chairman. Supervisor Peters was elected by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, Peters, McNamara
NAYS: None
b. Vice Chairman
2 January 13, 2015
Supervisor Peters nominated Supervisor McNamara to serve as Vice
Chairman. Supervisor McNamara was elected by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: Supervisors Bedrosian, Church
Supervisor Church commented he felt having the same two members as
Chairman and Vice Chairman was sending the wrong message.
Chairman McNamara adjourned the meeting at 2:04 p.m.
IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES
Before the meeting was called to order an invocation was given by Dr.
Eddie Crabtree of Valley Word Church. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all
present.
IN RE: CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Peters called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m. All members
were present.
IN RE: PROCLAMATIONS, RESOLUTIONS, RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS
1. Presentation and request to accept and allocate funds in the
amount of $12,000 as a donation from the Roanoke Valley
Detachment 426 of the Marine Corps League to Camp Roanoke
(Doug Blount, Director of Parks, Recreation and Tourism)
Mr. Blount outlined the request to accept the donation for its 19th year. In
attendance for this presentation were Commandant Shepherd and several other
members of the Marine Corps League. All Supervisors offered their thanks.
EEG Ii Ki El51
Supervisor Church moved to approve the staff recommendation to accept
the donation. The motion carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
January 13, 2015 3
2. Recognition of Gavin Dent for being named a grand prize winner
in the Library of Congress writing contest, "A Book That Shaped
Me" (Diana L. Rosapepe, Director of Library Services)
Diana Rosapepe introduced Gavin Dent and outlined his paper. Also in
attendance were Gavin's parents and brother: Greg and Jane Dent and Chase Dent.
All supervisors offered their congratulations.
3. Resolution of appreciation to Joseph P. McNamara for his service
as Chairman of the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors in 2014
All supervisors offered their thanks.
RESOLUTION 011315-2 OF APPRECIATION TO JOSEPH P.
MCNAMARA FOR HIS SERVICE AS CHAIRMAN OF THE
BOARD OF SUPERVISORS IN 2014
WHEREAS, Joseph P. McNamara served as Chairman of the Roanoke County
Board of Supervisors during 2014; and
WHEREAS, during Mr. McNamara's term as Chairman, the County achieved a
variety of accomplishments, including:
➢ Major projects in economic development exceeding $70 million, while
creating and retaining more than seven hundred (700) jobs. These
projects included Allstate Insurance, Ardagh Group, The Retreat
Apartments, Friendship Health and Rehab, Hilton Garden Inn at South
Peak, Walmart Neighborhood Market, Suncrest Apartments, The Townes
at Hidden Valley, Goodwill Industries, Virginia Department of Forensic
Science Laboratory and Medical Examiner Facility, Potentially Chic,
Berkshire Hathaway Real Estate Brokerage, Greenbrier Nurseries
Farm2Table, Southern States Capacity Expansion, Explore Park, Pure
Barre, Promenade Park Renovation, Brambleton Computer, McDonalds in
Clearbrook and Chick-fil-A in Bonsack;
➢ Successfully completed the award-winning, anti -littering campaign;
➢ Roanoke County Police Department and surrounding law enforcement
agencies were accepted into the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area
Program within the Office of National Drug Control; protecting the safety
and security of our region in our highest priority in law enforcement;
➢ Information Technology launch of an award winning new generation of
public geography information system (GIS) on a state, national and
international recognition;
➢ Completion of the Criminal Justice Academy
4 January 13, 2015
➢ Upgrade of Glenvar High School with a complete overhaul of the facility
➢ Brambleton Area Merchants Association
WHEREAS, Chairman McNamara spearheaded a Board priority to fund
stormwater requirements within our current revenue streams; and
WHEREAS, Mr. McNamara guided the Board through the hiring process of the
new County Administrator, Thomas C. Gates; and
WHEREAS, Chairman McNamara emphasized sound financial strategies and
practices and promoted regional projects and initiatives to benefit all the residents of the
Roanoke Valley.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County, Virginia, does hereby extend its deepest appreciation to Joseph P.
McNamara for his service as Chairman during 2014 and for his belief in democracy and
championing of citizen participation in local government.
On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, and carried by the
following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: BRIEFINGS
1. Briefing on the old William Byrd High School surplus property
giveaway on December 13, 2014 (Doug Blount, Director of Parks,
Recreation and Tourism)
Mr. Blount provided the briefing.
Supervisor Church thanked Mr. Blount and Deputy Sheriff Warner for all
their hard work on this project.
Supervisor McNamara asked Mr. Blount when he anticipates some sort of
plan for the remaining 20,000 items. Mr. Blount advised staff would like to be able to
come back to the Board within the next thirty (30) days with a plan to be able to address
the other items. He indicated staff needed to do more research as to what would be
some of the best methods to be able to distribute the items. One of the challenges with
the site is the access points for getting in and out. Even out of the main building, there
is more limited parking than what we currently have down below where the event was
hosted. He is very concerned about being able to have safe ingress and egress of the
site, being able to have vehicles loaded in a timely manner and to be able to exit the
facility. Staff still needs to do some work and to work with Mr. Gates to look at other
options. They would like to come back to the Board in the spring. Mr. McNamara
congratulated and thanked Mr. Blount for all his hard work and suggested the original
idea was to have the Lions Club organize and do this project at their labor and expense
and keep the proceeds. Given what we know, we might give them that opportunity
January 13, 2015 rJ
again and see if they are interested. They may not, but the whole idea is that we have
all the desks we are going to sell for a dollar and we do not want it to go to one area of
the County and this, that and the other. If we got rid of a thousand items and it cost
$5,686, it cost us over $5 to get rid of it and we have another 20,000 items so 20,000
times five (5) is another $100,000 to go. He stated he thinks that it is a big undertaking
and if we can have somebody that wants to assist us, he thinks we should go back to
the original idea.
Chairman Peters advised the Lions Club is no longer interested.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he appreciates all the hard work on this
issue. He stated he felt Mr. Blount did it exactly right. He had people come up and
make comments regarding the time, but for the condition that it was staff did the exact
right thing. When we look at this, hopefully we learned a valuable lesson. The citizens
were able to come and get the item they needed, but we should never have to do this
again outside of William Byrd. Hopefully, we learned a lesson that when we are going
to a new building, i.e. Glenvar or the library that we deal with those items immediately
and they do not get stored somewhere and create another problem. When he looks at
this, this may be a lesson for us that may cost us some money, but thinks that is okay it
is the way it is. Next time, he thinks a lot of the ideas are good ideas; narrowing the
scope to Roanoke County residents and he feels that this was paid basically by
Roanoke County citizens through taxes so he thinks it should go back to Roanoke
County citizens. If you schedule the times, you broadcast it and a citizen comes up to
the county building and say they like Friday, between 1 and 2 and we allocate twenty
people for that time so there are small groups coming at certain intervals and that way
you can handle the traffic. He thinks it is doable if we have on a schedule. They could
get a ticket. At one time, there was talk about $5 that each citizen would pay and does
not know if we can do that or if we could auction items and have people pay, but he is
not sure why we could not have citizens pay a fee per truckload, something minimal.
He appreciates what staff did and is looking forward to seeing what staff puts together
for next time.
Supervisor Moore thanked Mr. Blount and his staff, the Police Department
and the citizens who came out and helped, i.e. Chris Craft. She thanked all of the
citizens for being so patient. She added that it appears he has some great ideas and
thanked him for his continued efforts and hopefully next time will go a lot smoother and
we will get rid of everything.
Supervisor Church stated he had spoken to Mr. Blount about money and
costs when he was onsite. What amazed him was at the end of the day when
everything was gone, there wasn't enough left over to put in a commercial dumpster.
Mr. Church thanked Mr. Craft for being there. What about the tipping fee if they had
taken that amount, it would be wash so we really did not go into a deep red. We did not
have to take it to the landfill and pay the normal rate. He stated he thinks staff is on the
right track and considering everything, they did a great job.
Chairman Peters thanked Mr. Blount and the Sheriff's Department, knows
6 January 13, 2015
it was a huge undertaking. He does have a lot of concerns. He received reports that
trucks were going through Vinton all night long carrying this stuff out. The traffic
problems that we were having on Rt. 460 that we were having issues with that morning.
But, he has also learned back in the late 1980's, the School Board was selling these
items for about $5 a desk. So, there is no reason why we could not at least charge
enough to offset our expenses. We spent $5,700 just to get rid of a thousand (1,000)
items and with 20,000 left there is going to be a huge expense. He believes that
collectively as tax payers we did pay for this, however, there will be a certain few that
will benefit from this in the end even if only a couple of dollars per item whatever. At
least it will make it a cost neutral for the County. He would encourage staff to look at
that and the other thing he would encourage is that we sell our Police vehicles, fire and
rescue, computers on the public surplus site, which is definitely a way to get it out there
as well to minimize the issues on the County as far as having people in there and out.
IN RE: NEW BUSINESS
1. Resolution authorizing and approving the First Amendment to the
Ground Lease Agreement between the County of Roanoke,
Virginia, and the Western Virginia Water Authority for the location
of a water tank (Paul M. Mahoney, County Attorney)
Mr. Mahoney outlined the request for the resolution. He added that the
Water Authority was not interested in doing the negotiations. There was no discussion.
RESOLUTION 011315-3 AUTHORIZING AND APPROVING THE
FIRST AMENDMENT TO THE GROUND LEASE AGREEMENT
BETWEEN THE COUNTY OF ROANOKE, VIRGINIA, AND THE
WESTERN VIRGINIA WATER AUTHORITY FOR THE LOCATION
OF A WATER TANK
WHEREAS, by Ordinance 121013-17, Roanoke County authorized and approved
a Ground Lease of approximately ten thousand (10,000) square feet of space (Portion
of Tax Map #026.18-01-15.00-0000) to the Western Virginia Water Authority (WVWA)
for the location of a water tank to provide potable water to North Roanoke County; and
WHEREAS, the County and the WVWA wish to amend the Ground Lease to
provide the County with the authority to negotiate contracts or sub -leases with any
potential cellular providers wishing to locate telecommunications equipment on the
water tank; and
WHEREAS, Section 18.04 of the Roanoke County Charter states in part that
"after any such ordinance shall have taken effect, all subsequent proceedings incidental
thereto and providing for the carrying out of the purposes of such ordinance may ... be
taken by resolution of the board.".
January 13, 2015 7
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
OF ROANOKE COUNTY as follows -
1 .
ollows:1. That the Board hereby authorizes and approves the First Amendment to
the Ground Lease Agreement between the County of Roanoke, Virginia, and the
Western Virginia Water Authority for the location of a water tank, which First
Amendment provides Roanoke County with the authority to negotiate contracts or sub-
leases with any potential cellular providers wishing to locate telecommunications
equipment on the water tank; and
2. That the County Administrator, or any Assistant County Administrators,
either of whom may act, are authorized to execute and deliver the First Amendment to
the Ground Lease, all of which shall be approved as to form by the County Attorney.
3. That this resolution shall be effective from and after the date of its
adoption.
On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, and carried by the
following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
2. Approval of execution of a contract for the purchase of property
contingent upon completion of due diligence measures and to
contract for any incidental expenses in connection with the
acquisition of 1.24 acres identified as "Lila Drive", a part of the
Plantation Road, Bicycle, Pedestrian and Streetscape
Improvement Project (Paul M. Mahoney, County Attorney; Richard
Caywood, Assistant County Administrator)
Mr. Mahoney outlined the request. He advised staff needs funds to do the
due diligence for this property before moving forward.
A-011314-4
Supervisor Bedrosian moved to approve the staff recommendation to
approve the execution of a contract and move forward with the due diligence. The
motion carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
8 January 13, 2015
IN RE: SECOND READING OF ORDINANCES
1. Ordinance appropriating $2,042,611 from various sources for the
Department of Social Services Building Renovation Project and
authorizing an internal loan in the amount of $1.5 million from
Major Capital to this project (Rebecca Owens, Director of Finance;
Richard Caywood, Assistant County Administrator)
Mr. Caywood advised this was the second reading. There are no changes
from the first reading on December 9, 2014. He advised there is additional analysis
provided in the Board packet.
Supervisor Bedrosian advised he wanted to go back to make sure this is
clear. It is his understanding that the original funding was $3,126,921 that was agreed
upon by a prior Board and the work needed to be done is currently being done and staff
needs an additional $500,000 to finish that scope. Mr. Caywood responded that he did
not agree. He advised they increased the scope with the concurrence of the Board and
primarily those included an addition of a sprinkler system, replacement of all the the and
grid in the building. Staff changed the membrane and renovated the entire Fifth floor.
So, from the original approval back in June of 2013 to today, there was some change in
scope and that is why the dollar amount has grown to complete the work that is
currently under way. Supervisor Bedrosian stated so to clarify the $3.1 million that was
approved and now you are asking for three (3) more pieces of money. He just wants to
make sure he is understanding, $292,000, $250,000 and $1.5 million. Mr. Caywood
responded in the affirmative. Supervisor Bedrosian stated the $292,000 and the
$250,000 are needed to finish what is currently being done with Mr. Caywood
responding in the affirmative. The $1.5 million is to do some other things that are felt
necessary and while you have the people there is kind of a whole new project scope
with Mr. Caywood responding in the affirmative. Supervisor Bedrosian stated he
disagreed with this kind of approach and he can see that sometimes you cannot
estimate exactly and there are some extra funds needed, but we are adding another
$1.5 million and he just thinks that is not the right way to do it. He stated he thinks that
if we agree on something in the beginning, there are a lot of different projects that are
competing for money and at the time the $3.1 million is what was designated for that
project and now to come back and kind of add another $1.5 million he gets very
sensitive about that because as everybody knows $190 million in debt and we just keep
adding more money and we are taking from the major capital fund, which to him should
be used for emergencies. He just sees that if we start doing jobs like this all the time
and no matter what we say about them or how important they are to the people, if all
projects are done like this we are in big trouble. He stated he thinks we need to stick
with the plan we had for the $3.1 million. He would not be able to support this.
Supervisor Church stated with all due respect to Supervisor Bedrosian this is anything
but a normal process. The Board helped exacerbate the problem and the only way to
January 13, 2015 9
understand it is to go back to the beginning; not a month or two ago the beginning years
ago. When the Social Services DSS building was an absolute top priority, it stayed at
the top, #1 most important and a previous Board decided that another project in their
district, no reflection on anyone sitting on this Board, a library was skip jumped over the
DSS. So, with respect to Supervisor Bedrosian, the amount of money was never
sufficient at the beginning. If you think back the original estimate when we were looking
at a new building was in excess of $10 million and asked Mr. Caywood to verify. Mr.
Caywood confirmed and stated he had a few facts he could share. Supervisor Church
stated so fast forward to the here and now. In November of 2014, then Chairman
McNamara had encouraged himself and Dan O'Donnell and said this is the way to go.
We can even on a 4/5ths vote waive the second reading because it makes sense. It
made sense to everyone. That did not happen in November to the point that he knew
that three (3) votes would defeat it. By the way, it is not in his district. This serves the
entire Roanoke County including the Town of Vinton. With all due respect, he concurs
with staff and all the people who basically had the rug pulled out from under them. They
were expecting and he would have done the same that the November project would
have gone in no problem. So, some of that $500,000, the rollover money that the DSS
Department had put in there so it is not like we piled on and got something extra. We
are trying to recuperate when we found out we have turmoil going on and need to find a
way to make DSS whole again. The roll-over funds were put out in good faith. So,
keeping up with the project as he is the Liaison to the Board on the DSS Advisory
Board, he knows when the building is going to be paid off, in late 2015/2016. We were
able to get the first floor that was rented out to a bank. So, we have an amount of
money that is coming to us and by the way we have taken money in the past from
capital reserves. One that comes to mind is the $600,000 to $700,000 fire equipment.
The roof is in so ill repair that it is leaking and water is coming through to the workers up
there on the fifth floor. Can you image the citizens, the indigent people, the people in
need up there asking for food stamps and assistance and have water coming in on
them. They are sitting in the floor. The conditions are horrible. Asbestos was found up
there. Consequently, when the staff and our Administrators were talking to the
contractor in good faith and the estimates were coming in better than what they thought.
Therefore, staff evacuated the fifth floor and moved our people into another part of the
building. Now, we have people off site. This is a real serious dilemma; we have the
judicial system across the street and we are not just talking about people coming in to
get food assistance. We are talking about disruptive families, child protective orders,
abuse orders and everything you can image. This is why it is located in the City of
Salem; the courts are the main functionality of it. Everything comes through the courts.
They are very sincere and adamant about having a viable place to service the people
who need it the most. Therefore, we are left in limbo. Why, because of our own doing.
We put an item out there that everybody, all of you, in good faith. He stated that he has
not ever seen so many people in his 15 '/2 years on the Board, so in concert, so in
agreement about an item. This is one that everybody saw the need for. Everybody
10 January 13, 2015
knew this is the right thing to do. According to Mr. Gates, our new Administrator, who
has given us an elaborate dissertation of it; it just makes financial sense. It is important
that our new Administrator is in favor of this. Supervisor Church then asked Mr.
Caywood to explain why we are moving people off the fifth floor and then find out this is
a proposal that can be worked. People have asked why did we not have a bid. Well,
the contract is there and we have a real good handle on what the cost is expected to be.
Martin Brothers if they get a little crazy on the numbers, we will say stop and you are out
of there. We are benefitting because they have everything on site and are doing a good
job. So, they are not getting a blank check, they are being watched like a hawk. To get
it done and get it done properly. We are serving all of Roanoke County and the Town of
Vinton.
Mr. Caywood stated he could speak to a couple of points that Supervisor
Church raised so we are all on the same page. One thing that he thinks is important to
remember is when this project first started in late 2012 early 2013 and at that time the
fifth floor was occupied and the roof was leaking and it was an urgent situation and it
deteriorated rapidly from that point forward and at the time we made the original
presentation to the Board, a study had been completed and they made some cost
estimates both to renovate the building and to replace the building and used numbers in
2012 dollars so he is going to use the 2014 dollars, which is the closest to us in time
today. At the time, their renovation estimate for the building was $8.4 million and to do
a complete replacement project was $13.2 million, which did not include acquiring land.
So, when we made the original request for $3 million to replace the roof, at that point in
time, it looked like doing a full renovation at that time was financially out of reach.
Estimating on this project, which is all done by folks outside of staff, has been a
challenge. In hindsight, that estimate for the renovation was high as was the estimates
we had for even the limited scope when we took the project to bid. So, the market is
very competitive now. We got very good pricing and if you add up everything you would
have a total project value of $5.1 million to $6.9 million. To compare that to the estimate
we had from the study of $8.4 million, you can see it is financially advantageous for us
and there are two reasons for that. One is market conditions but the second, which he
feels is important to state is that we are also doing a less elaborate redo of the building
than what was envisioned back when this estimate was done, which he feels is prudent
for the County and its finances. In other words, we are leaving some of the walls in
place, we are not completely gutting the building and Joyce and her staff have come up
with a plan to do that and make that work. The other reason and he will point out briefly
to the analysis that he worked with County Administrator Gates to develop and what he
really wants to point out that staff is bringing this to the Board because we feel there is
an opportunity that outweighs the risks that are also in play. Certainly when you have to
negotiate work versus bidding, there is a risk associated with that, which is probably
somewhere between zero and ten percent (0 to 10%), what premium are you going to
pay because you don't have that work on the market. If you look at that in terms of
dollars for the additional work and using a fairly conservative number for the additional
January 13, 2015 11
renovation work, our extensive work with the contractor has a value somewhere
between $1 million and $1.2 million, if you took a ten percent (10%) risk on that, which
he thinks would be excessive, it would be $120,000. So that is your potential, perhaps,
penalty over doing this in a perfect world. So if you look at the cost at doing the work
later, we are anticipating an increase of cost if you did a single project in the future
when you had the funds of $765,000 or if you did it in pieces, which was our original
plan, floor by floor, a little over $1 million. Both of those figures represent what he
would consider to be sort of a minimum or a floor. So, we come to the Board really
because not only would it be less disruptive but they really think it would recognize a
real savings and we think the benefits would far outweigh the risks. The last thing and a
critical fact that is not always present when doing a change order to a project is in this
case we did have the fifth floor work, so we had five (5) bidders give us a price for that
fifth floor work. So, we know at least for the time doing this while we were adding
something that was completely new you can still estimate the value even if you did not
have the market take a look at it. The bids that we got were very serious bids, they
were tightly spaced, very competitive and significantly below our estimates. He has a
good level of confidence that when five (5) different bidders looked at the fifth floor
renovation work, they really wanted the work and the prices give us a good
thermometer to go by for those renovations.
Supervisor McNamara stated he would like to congratulate staff on a very
thorough presentation and board report. Who came up with the $8.4 million estimate?
Mr. Caywood responded that estimate was done by Thompson Litton in a study dated
February 13, 2012. Supervisor McNamara stated so that was done a couple of years
ago and people who are experts in the field with Mr. Caywood responding affirmatively.
Experts in that field thought it would be $8.4 million, we did a competitive bid and ended
up with what? Mr. Caywood stated staff did not bid exactly what was in there in order to
be fair, we are looking at with a little reduced scope about $5.1 million. So, part of that
is estimating future market conditions and is always difficult, but part of it is market and
part of it is scope and part of it is estimates are often conservative. Supervisor
McNamara stated if he went back and looked and in talking about whether there is a
need for the project or not. He does not have any doubt for the need for the project. He
is somewhat perplexed why the prior Board did not fund the project before funding other
things. If something is at the top of your list, you fix it and move on to the next thing on
your list and that is part of a disciplined capital approach, but we did not do that and we
have another funding round coming up that we could go back and look at it, but we have
in his opinion a solution on a floor by floor renovation. A solution that is funded within
the building. He stated he thinks that solution that is funded within the building makes
sense to him. When we say from the Board report, "a substantial fiscal advantage to
incorporating floors one to four in the building renovation effort and completing the
project without delay." As demonstrated, there is a substantial fiscal advantage. His
question is how do we know there is a fiscal advantage. We don't know, we are
guessing. Just like experts guessed at something that would cost $8.4 million and
12 January 13, 2015
ended up being $5.1 million, experts in the field. He stated he thinks it is an unusual
project, so he would say when he looks at Supervisor Church's reference to his sixteen
(16) years on the Board, he does not recall where we have ever done a $1.5 million
project without a competitive bid. Are we not giving a fair playing field to $1.5 million
worth of Roanoke County business to other contractors because we have one in place
and we are going to rely on our own expertise as opposed to the competitive market
place to determine what that price is. He stated he thinks that the project as it sits has
two (2) huge problems. One is we are doing too large a project without a competitive
bid and secondly, we are doing a large project outside of the scope of our capital
program. Our capital program has defined limits. We can pull things out of major
capital. Major capital items should be on the CIP and should really be coming out of
minor capital and then what happens five years down the road, we go back at our debt
level and say we are out of balance. Well, why are we because we are not following our
own policies. He thinks there was a solution and he thinks it should be done floor by
floor and it could end up being a fine building. He thanked Mr. Caywood for doing a
very nice job of laying everything out and giving us an option.
Mr. Gates asked to be recognized. He stated he just wanted to respond to
a couple of things that have been addressed and acknowledge this process for this
particular project is atypical. This is certainly not the way we would intend to execute a
capital project and it is certainly not the way we would intent to plan a capital project.
He stated from staff's perspective, however, we recognize that this does continue to be
a priority of the Board. That being the case, we do not have the ability to rewind the
clock and do this. We are here today and trying to provide for the Board information
that allows you the opportunity of choice to commit funds to this project today at
approximately $1.5 million or the other alternative would be do the project in phases or
in some other fashion in an extended period of time, which is likely to produce a higher
cost. We are estimating and thinks it is a fair and valid estimate from staff that the
additional cost will be somewhere between $750,000 and $1 million. Of course, there
are always variations, there is potential in that, but think we have a very significant
amount of recent experience with this project and know specifically what is going on
inside that building and therefore, he thinks that we had a fairly solid cost estimate of
what is it likely to be for us to defer this project to either next year or implement in
staged implementation. He stated he does agree that this is not the way to go about
capital project budgeting and capital project implementation, but here we are and here
are the choices.
Supervisor Moore stated she concurred with what Mr. Gates stated and
feels this is a great opportunity for us to move forward with this project not only to make
it safer for our employees and for our families that have to visit there, but it is going to
be less expensive. It is just common sense that if something is less expensive and we
can do it now and we have that opportunity we should do it and she certainly supports
the project and also would like to add that it is under the watchful eye of the project
manager and staff and that you will be able to keep a day to day record and log and
January 13, 2015 13
actually manage the project and keep it within budget and maybe even under budget.
Mr. Caywood stated one more point that he would like to make and feels it
is very important to remember when you think about bidding this work in the future
versus doing it now is that work that you do now is actually different. The example
would be this Board room. If we were going to change the HVAC system and install a
sprinkler system in here and let's say you had walls like an office building where you
had to clear everything out; take things apart to put that in. If you want to do more work
while it is taken apart, you don't have to take it apart again and put it back together
again. So, if we do the work later, you do additional work because you have to put it
back together and take it apart steps that you avoid by doing it now. Another example
would be every time you have your timing belt replaced you get your water pump
replaced while you are in there before the water pump is $100, but taken the engine
apart is $1,000 so it is almost free once you are there. This is not quite the same, but
did want to make that point because it is fundamentally different from a decision that we
would like to do a change order versus doing it tomorrow because then in those cases
you really are not doing additional work, just making a decision on when to do the work.
This is the thing that is most unusual about the decision that is before the Board. The
opportunity today won't exist tomorrow and again it is just like the car with the water
pump.
Supervisor Bedrosian asked if fixing the roof is in the $3 million. Mr.
Caywood responded in the affirmative stating the $3 million, the roll over from 2013 and
what was proposed for 2014 and the building fund does the roof, HVAC system,
sprinkler, ceiling the and grid. Supervisor Bedrosian stated the reason that he is asking
is that he felt the Board was being led to believe that if we don't do this, water is going
to drop on everybody. So, that was the big project that needed to be done and you
could say an emergency. Mr. Caywood responded in the affirmative. The extra $1.5
million is for what? Mr. Caywood stated it does two main things, first, if you have been
to that building, you will know it is an older building that has not had any major work
done to it since probably its construction. We are reconfiguring a number of walls in the
building for an efficient layout of staff because we started out as a tenant in just a small
part of the building and now we have the entire building as the Social Services staff has
grown. It is reconfiguring the spaces, but also replacing all the surfaces. So, essentially
when you are done, you will have a building that does not look brand new, but a building
that has been heavily renovated and should not need significant work for a long period
of time. With the combination of the change of layout and things like carpet and paint.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated the reason he brings that up is that we had one, which was
more of an emergency thing, and one that he thinks is fair to say that when we move
into other areas we need to say, "Can we afford it?" "Is it in the budget?" It is kind of like
him and his house, okay let's move all the furniture we are going to paint, while we are
painting the walls, let's get the new carpet where we did not have the money to do that
and basically if we are $190 in debt, every penny we are spending is more debt money.
The reality is unless it is a real absolute life or death kind of emergency to him, looking
14 January 13, 2015
out for the citizens of Roanoke County, he just finds it hard to do. Every project that we
ever do would be a whole lot cheaper if we did everything while we were in there.
Where do you stop? Like with his home, every time the contractors are in, he could just
up the tally because it may be cheaper because you are already here to do all these
things, but it may be cheaper not to do these at all and save $1.5 million is the way he
looks at it in the situation that we are in. When we talk about it, Supervisor Church
brings up a good thing, we had projects in prior years and other projects moved ahead
and that is our responsibility up here and he thinks sometimes there are consequences
if that we supposed to be done, but now the library got done. Maybe that can teach us
all a lesson from now on. Don't move up projects that really aren't critical projects and
we need to force it upon ourselves to be disciplined about that because he can see right
now by doing this the next time something comes up we will just blame somebody else.
He says the buck stops here, right now. This year let's start doing it differently. Let's
start saying we have a certain amount of money and that is all we are going to spend
and next time we have a project, let's just take the most absolutely necessary projects
we have and let's do them. $1.5 million is a lot of money and he keeps reiterating the
fact for an average family of five (5), if you took the money we spent for every million it
is about $50 for an average family of five. If you took the population of Roanoke
County, divided by a million dollars and took an average, every time we spend money
we may think we are doing good for this one group, but we just took it out of the pockets
of another. He thinks these are important things to consider. Every project is important.
We all sit up here with projects, i.e. the water tower to every little thing that we do we all
claim it is important and we are not being disciplined. We need to have a disciplined
approach to spending people's money.
Mr. Gates stated he completely agreed that $1.5 million is not an
insignificant amount of money for this project or any project. We will have an
opportunity to talk about capital projects and prioritizing capital projects in the upcoming
budget cycle. We will bring to you in the coming months as we work through what the
Board's priorities are for fiscal 2016 for both operating and capital and lay out in a
logical way the kinds of capital projects and capital outcomes that you would like to
address as a Board.
Supervisor Church asked Chairman Peters to comment as he had not
weighed in and after their conversation earlier he is looking for a third vote to help
Roanoke County.
Chairman Peters stated he has a lot of concerns. Mr. Church is correct,
we did speak earlier about this and his concerns are still there. He asked Mr. Caywood
that he had made a statement in December that the A & E work is not complete. Is that
still the case? Mr. Caywood responded in the affirmative stating part of what this
appropriation does is authorize us to complete the work. We have done essentially as
much work as we can to stay under our 125% limit that we have to increase that
contract amount without the Board's authorization. So, that work cannot be completed
until we receive this authorization. We have done enough to complete one more floor
January 13, 2015 15
within our existing authorizations, but we just do not have the authority to do everything.
Chairman Peters asked what is the appraisal of the building. Mr. Caywood stated he
did not know the real estate appraised value of the building. He asked if another staff
person could provide that information. Chairman Peters stated he is just going down his
list. The concerns that he had and referenced the household, part of this he
understands. He understands the need of it and he also understands if his heat pump
goes out today is it going to be far less expensive to replace it today so he understands
the cost savings, but at this point he feels like we are treating this as if it is the Poff
Building; go do it and end up with a $77 million project that started off with $60 million,
on a very small scale because we are also not doing a competitive bid. He could not
find on any other project that we have done in the County that we have not had a
competitive bid and that really bothers him and that is what he expressed to Supervisor
Church earlier. The market is going to dictate what this project is really going to cost us.
He understands the need, he understands we can borrow our own money and we are
not paying any interest. Mr. Bedrosian tells us we are paying $11 million a year or
whatever it is in interest. We have an opportunity to use our own money; he gets that
part too, but he has a lot of heartburn that the fact we are going to go out here and we
are not giving them a blank check, but we are kind of surmising from what we have.
Let's be honest, all the heavy lifting is being done right now: HVAC, roof, moving of the
antennas so how can we really use that number to say we can keep it within the scope.
You said a moment ago that it may only be $1.2 million. Why are you asking for $1.5
million? So, there are a lot of moving parts here and today he is not comfortable. If it
was tabled to get more information; he did not understand that the A&E work was
contingent upon this. He thought it had been competed similar to our Fire House in
Vinton. He thought it was just not finished yet. He was led to have that opinion so that
we could proceed to some kind of bid process. He had spoken to Mr. Gates earlier
about that.
Mr. Gates stated in order to clarify one of the comments earlier, there was
a competitive bid on the first portion of this project, the $3.1 million. What has been
proposed with the expanded scope, floors 1 through 4 will be conducted under the
existing contract. So, originally the project was procured competitively. Supervisor
Peters inquired of Mr. Gates if he would not agree in the scope of that project that is
where all the heavy hitting is being done. At this point, and again please correct him if
he is wrong, we are going to be shifting some walls around, painting and putting some
carpet in; not near the scope of what is currently taking place. There are a lot of moving
parts and that is why he goes back to if the building is only worth $3 million and we are
going to put $5.1 million in it, we are going into a landlocked building in Salem. He is
not advocating a $13 million building, but at some point the County has to understand
that we are going to grow and he feels sure that this department is not going to get
smaller, it is going to get bigger. What are we going to do?
Mr. Caywood asked to respond to one question about the difference about
the scope in the work. He stated that is one problem that he does not think we have is
16 January 13, 2015
because the way we did the original project was alacart basically. The bidders did not
know which pieces and parts. There was the core part and everything else was
alternates so they did not know ahead of time which ones we would select. So, you are
correct in the sprinkler and the HVAC are bid separate from the renovation work on the
fifth floor; i.e. moving walls and the more aestic type of work. That was priced and
identified separately. So, since they don't know ahead of time which ones will be
awarded, they have to price it honestly because they cannot spread the cost around
because if we don't pick the pieces they anticipate they could be in a really bad place.
So, he does not think we have that issue; it certainly could happen but it did not on this
particular project. He thinks that is one of the things that gives us some comfort. The
other thing he wants to speak to is the $1.2 versus $1.5. It is not that he does not think
we need the money we are asking for, it is just all the cost does not go to the contractor.
For example, part of what you are approving goes to the architect and to the supervisor
of the construction because we have an architect representative on site every day. So,
the overall project budget is larger than the work order piece, which is why he used the
smaller amount just to give the illustration of what he thought was the risk with respect
to negotiation versus bid because all of the dollars are not there. The last point that he
thinks is very important in terms of the work we have already started, it is absolutely
critical that the funding be approved to do the work that is currently underway. Even
though they are together in your appropriation, we do have both issues. So without
some approval from the Board in the very near future, we would have to start making
some decisions about the current project as well because as of today that is not fully
funded.
Chairman Peters stated he wanted to know for his personal aspect and he
is sure viewers that are watching this, you keep referring to tearing up floors one
through four. Why are they doing work on floors 1 through 4 if you are coming in here
asking for money to renovate those floors?
Mr. Caywood responded in order to install the new HVAC system, that is
pretty invasive and the sprinkler system. As of today, we have demolished the fourth
and fifth floors because they were the two floors they are working on currently, but that
is going to happen on all floors in order to do the work that is in the original project. So,
that is the whole purpose that brings us here. While you are paying to do all of that
demolition and you are taking the building apart that is where we saw the opportunity to
just finish everything at a much lower cost. Regardless of what happens with the $1.5
million, we still have to go down through the building in order to get the new HVAC and
sprinkler system in place and online and until we get the new HVAC and sprinkler
system online we cannot fix the roof. That is sort of the path that ultimately led us to
today; seeing that opportunity. Joyce has to clear the floor, staff has to move out. So,
right now, we have floors four and five vacated. We would have to repeat that process
in the future.
Supervisor Church asked Joyce Earl, Director of Social Services to come
forward. There seems to be a lot of moving parts and actions by some Board members
January 13, 2015 17
and past Board has created that moving belt, so to speak. Our Chairman, with all due
respect, asking the value of the building. Here are the things you would not possibly
know since you have only been here a year. When we started looking for a
replacement, the cost was out of sight plus the Judges in the Court System commented
we could not move and buy a building out in Roanoke City, Town of Vinton because
they need to be adjacent to the courts. There is a value in there. A value that you will
not see on an estimate. Here is what bothers him as liaison Board member to the DSS
Advisory Board. You need to go back, good intended folks from DSS and staff have
moved forward under the premise that this was going to be done. They were so sure
that it was going to be done because back in November before a new County
Administrator was appointed the Chairman asked him to come into Mr. O'Donnell's
office because we have something you may be interested in. He is a CPA and a
financial expert and he was ready to go with the original plan and not a word has been
said why he has suddenly abandoned this. This bothers him; it should bother anyone
looking and watching because we don't need to be doing something left, right,
backwards and forwards. We need to show some consistency on this Board. He is not
for blowing money, but it was a viable project and he said at the time, "Sounds good to
me." I give credit to Mr. O'Donnell because it was all worked out, not a risk, not a pie in
the sky. Now, let's go forward to the meeting in November when he pulled it from the
agenda. By his own admission, Mr. Chairman, you were ready to support this and said
so to your appointee to the DSS Board. Well, there is three votes right there that are
needed today and he has to beg the question, where has it gone and why. Nothing has
changed materially. Suddenly, the floor disappeared so you are using your roll over
money, you are now into your budget and no explanation. Nothing has happened at all
that will change the value of the circumstances of that building that was proposed and
verbally agreed upon on the fourth floor on whatever day it was that he happened to be
in the building. There is a lot of questions and hopes that those at home are asking
yourselves what is going on. This is not some risky endeavor. We have done this
before and we have done it for far more money. Unfortunately, we would not be here
today if the prior Board and for political reasons that they jump skipped the library over a
number one project a few years ago. That library was number 7 and was not on the top
tier. Now, if you want to speak about financial and injustices for the people. We are
watching this money, we have people who are experts that are watching this process.
We are not doing a Taj Mahal, we are not doing anything extraordinary. He is going to
leave with this comment. There is no sense to table anything. We are at a critical stage
and it has been brought forward and brought forward. For the life of him, he does not
understand and this is very important. Supervisor Moore and himself are the only two
(2) Board members that have stepped foot in this building. Don't you think that says
something? He then asked Ms. Earl to comment as it is her building and her
department.
Ms. Earl stated she just wanted to mention the fact that those of you who
have not been over to visit our building, it is not paint or cosmetic fix that we are looking
18 January 13, 2015
for in our building. We are asking for a healthy environment for her employees who
work there and for the citizens that come there. She thinks all these points are very
valid about the building, the money and due diligence but what she does is run Social
Services and we are missing the point. We have thousands of Roanoke County, Town
of Vinton and City of Salem residents coming through there. She has 104 employees;
not all of them are there right now because some of them are offsite. It is not healthy.
She has people that type with gloves that plumbers wear because it is so cold in there.
She herself wears long johns to work most days. It is not a healthy environment. We
are just asking for a sprinkler system. We have a five story building without sprinklers in
it. So, everyone has done a lot of hard work and she appreciates it all, but she thinks
we are losing sight of the point. The point is they are the Department of Social Services
and are here to serve the citizens and we need to be able to do that.
Chairman Peters asked if the sprinkler system is covered under the $3.1
million that is being done now. What is the time line for the A&E work? Mr. Caywood
responded pending the Board's approval to extend the contract, you would probably
need another thirty to forty-five (30 to 45) days to finish the design work on the
remainder of the project that cannot be done under the present contract. We finished
the fourth floor design work and we have the first floor mostly finished and essentially at
a financial stopping point. So, you would have to do floors two and three (2 and 3) and
complete floor one (1). Given the amount of time this item has been before the Board,
his intention would have been if the Board was favorable to the proposal, would
immediately get the contractor to price the renovations on the fourth floor so that he can
continue working while they finish the plans. Without the Board's authorization, we
cannot move to finalize the plans. Chairman Peters asked if they are already tearing
out the floors. If they are already tearing out every floor to put the sprinklers and HVAC
system in, he is still struggling with the cost. That part has not been competitively bid
and he understands that stuff will have to be torn out. He understands the value and
Supervisor Church is correct. He spoke to his DSS individual and said from a cost
standpoint he does understand this. He gets it. He is struggling with you are asking me
to approve a dollar amount that he has nothing to go on other than what you have put
together based on what is out there now. He does not give that kind of authorization to
anyone and that is what he sees here. There is not a competitive bid, there is not
complete A&E work. He understands the fact that everything has to be torn out and
they are going to have to put it back today anyway. So, what is left? Walls and floors.
Mr. Caywood stated the numbers we presented are based on an estimate but we have
also gotten a "not to exceed" quote from the contractor based on projecting the fifth (5th)
floor renovations to the building. We had that when we brought the proposal initially.
Again, to staff that would represent a high end and negotiate down from those numbers
as you give them more detailed design work. But, also in regard to the sprinkler system
and the HVAC, so far the contractor has essentially not touched floors one through
three (1 through 3). He will have to ultimately as he goes through the building. They
will have to vacate the floor in order to do that. The current scope requires that he has
January 13, 2015 19
to take it apart and put it back together again, which is part of what he bid and he would
just repeat that process again. Chairman Peters stated again, so you are left with walls
and carpet and moving those walls around. At the end of the day, he still is seeing $1.5
million. Mr. Caywood advised they had a bid price current awarded for the fifth floor just
renovation work was $236,000 and again that is really what you would ultimately base
your future pricing for the other floors on. Some floor have more walls because they
have more offices. The fifth floor had more conference space originally and you would
take that amount, which was competitively bid and then just proportion that out to how
much work you would be doing on the other floors. That is our starting point for how
you would analyze those prices. The floors are more similar than they are different. So,
when he was using, just to give an illustration just to talk about $230,000 a floor but
would expect the negotiated price to be less than that because that would give you a
worse case for your risk on negotiation. But that was market bid and in his mind, it is as
close as you will probably ever have to a contact as far as viewing a potential change
when you have a very similar item that was already competitively priced, which again
makes it a little less risky in his opinion.
Ms. Earl stated she thinks it is important to remember that they are asking
to borrow some of the money. We do have the means to pay some of it back. It is not
that they are asking for a loan. She could go into how much money social services puts
into the economy here, which is over $100,000 per month in food stamps alone but we
did that when we came to the Board initially. It is not that we are a drain on the
economy so much as people often think. We do bring a lot of money back into the
valley's economy and a large portion of this is a loan to social services.
Chairman Peters stated he understands this as well, but at the end of the
day, he would like to have something in front of him. He goes back to the Vinton Fire
House, he could not bid out the renovations until he had something to put out there and
that is why he is struggling with it.
Mr. Caywood stated if you wanted to consider this as an option and again
he stated he thinks the time window is very rapidly closing on the project on the terms of
prosecuting the work. Another way to have gone about this is to have the Board to
authorize completion of the A&E work and have the contractor price it. It is still not
going to be competitive in the sense that if you introduce another bidder, you have
eliminated all the advantages of having the first guy do it because then you would have
an unmanageable project. As far as securing prices, he thinks that is a little easier
hurdle and in terms of time you could do that floor by floor because one thing that is
imperative to the County whether it is the original scope of worth or something new, we
have to keep the contractor moving or else we start incurring costs for him not moving.
For example, the fourth floor renovation could be given to the contractor this week to
price it and they do have options, if seeing those prices is the critical thing, we could
bring them back as something that is negotiated. Those are options that we would have
available, but only if we make some decision today so that the contractor knows it is
going to happen because essentially he has done about all the work he can do on four
20 January 13, 2015
and five (4 and 5) and he needs to either move down in the building or know that his
scope is changing on four (4) so he can finish that work.
Chairman Peters then stated he had one final question. He stated that Mr.
Caywood had made a statement they are tearing it out, they will put it back and if we did
it floor by floor later on, they would have to tear it out again. Why would they have to
tear out again assuming the tiles are brand new now? Mr. Caywood responded they
would be destroyed when you are changing the walls. The idea of salvaging very much
of that when you take the walls out of the building, the walls go up to the the and it is all
kind of interconnected. While theoretically you can reuse the and grid, from a practical
standpoint it is all going to end up damaged and also a lot of your surface work that you
have to do today, for example, it will have to be humpty-dumpty back together. Our
estimate for that in terms of your total cost, the most conservative number he has in the
analysis is that would represent probably twenty percent (20%) of your total cost would
be the rework cost. The other thing you would have to do is move some of the sprinkler
system as far as some of the head locations would change particularly on floors two and
three (2 and 3) and then also some of the HVAC units would likely move as well
depending on how they fell with the new floor layout. You would use the same systems,
you would have to do plumbing work to move things around.
Supervisor Church moved approval of the item as proposed and stated he
thinks this is very important and asked permission to read something. Where is the
outrage from our citizens, government spending, with respect to Supervisor Bedrosian
and his $50 per person whatever. Please listen. "Health of America's poor, aged and
sick the reason for the US Department of Health and Human Services reason for being.
Hundreds of the top officials are traveling in style at taxpayer expense. Records
obtained by the Washington Examiner under the Freedom of Information Act show that
HSS executives spent $31 million taking 7,000 first class trips between 2009 and 2013,
including 253 trips for a one-way ticket costing in excess of $15,000. Half the records
listed, the price of a coach ticket for comparison. For that portion alone the upgrade
boosted the cost by $14 million, from $4.9 million to $18.5 million. Federal employees
are allowed business or first class if the flight is longer than fourteen (14) hours, but only
1,400 out of 7,000 flights met that description." Where is the outcry, how much is that
costing every tax payer in Roanoke County and no one seems to recognize $15 million
and is one department that is supposed to be helping the most needy? So, he thinks it
is relevant to say that in this setting. We have background. This Board to a person has
boasted on the competency of our staff, our accuracy, hard work and he is saying yes,
let's do it again today. We have people that have been studying and doing work and if
you guys had been in that building you would see what we are talking about. You would
see the horrible conditions that we are having employees work under not to mention the
neediest of the needy that come in there. Are we asking for something crazy, no.
Something that can contain the costs, yes, we are right on top of it. If the Martin
Brothers go out of range at all, we can stop them right then and there. We have
safeguards built in; we have a history already knowing the top floor. He stated he is
January 13, 2015 21
asking sincerely for a third vote to help these people who have been ignored for the
past fifteen (15) years.
Supervisor McNamara stated everything seems to be revolving around the
need for social services building renovation and he does not think there is any doubt
that there is a need. For the last two (2) meetings, in fact go back to November, he was
willing to vote to appropriate an additional $542,611, which is what we agreed on to
finish the project at $3.1 million. So, he de does take exception, if the suggestion first of
all he stated he is curious if Supervisor Church knows everywhere he has been. He
takes exception to the accusation of one never being in the building, which is false and
two he takes exception to the accusation or the implication that in that case he has not
properly prepared for this agenda item. That is not true, either. He also takes exception
to the interpretation, which he has not mentioned in past Board meetings. The
interpretation that in November we sat down and we did a deal; a done deal is
something close to what you said. What happened in November was the Acting County
Administrator said, "Hey, we are looking to finish off the renovations for this building, do
we want to look at trying to it now." Absolutely, why wouldn't we look at it? If it makes
sense, let's look at it, let's evaluate it. But to suggest that you and I had a meeting and
we had already come to an agreement without doing our due diligence, without airing it
to the public, without having first and second readings he would think would be
outrageous. To cut a deal, you of all folks, talking about cutting a deal. Supervisor
McNamara stated the deal that he believes is a very reasonable approach, you might
disagree with that and that is fine. It is a very reasonable approach to fund $642,000 to
finish additional floors as money becomes available. It has absolutely nothing to do with
whether there is a need. Many of the major needs in that building are being fixed,
including the need to wear long johns going forward with the HVAC systems. The
suggestion that somehow he does not like people who use social services or he is not
doing his research; absolutely not. His reasons are very clear. At the meeting in
November, if you did not have four votes, Supervisor Church certainly had an
opportunity to revisit it with three votes as a first reading. You did not need to pull it
from the agenda and still be talking about it three (3) months later.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated just from this discussion in the past, it shows
him that this is no way to manage a project. He does not like this at all. We allocate
funds to do certain things and all the stories about all these terrible things over there,
but that is what the money, the $3.1 million is allocated to fix. There are some other
things that we cannot get to right now because quite frankly they were not in that $3.1
million, but that is part of prioritizing things and allocating money that you have. You
hear everything, but thinks sometime the impression is that nothing is being done over
there, people are in terrible conditions over there, but that is what the $3.1 million is
allocated for. He sometimes worries that we put all of this emotion into it, but there are
things that are being done and he thinks it is prudent upon us as we watch taxpayer
dollars is to do things when we can at the right pace that we have the money. Just to
go back to a comment and he agrees with several items that Supervisor McNamara just
22 January 13, 2015
stated. He purposely did not go over to that building. So many people were asking me
to go over there and understands when you go over there you are going to be lobbied.
He personally thinks there are many buildings here in Roanoke County, many schools
that could do the same thing by showing you all the areas that need to be done. The
fact is there is a process to do this and he thinks to him it is best to do what was
allocated for it. He would suggest a substitute motion and cover the first two items put
the $292,000 and the $250,000 as one item and get that passed, fix what we are
supposed to be doing as that is what you say you need to actually complete the project
you have right now. Do that, let's get it done; it is a good compromise. The $1.5 million
needs further discussion and he feels personally we need to get multiple bids because
that is a good process to continue. Don't get lazy doing it this way, but he could see this
in future projects the same way, we are already there, let's let them do it as it is cheaper
this way. He thinks as Supervisors we should not go down that path so he knows there
is already a motion on the floor to do the whole thing, but he would like to make a
substitute motion to remove the $1.5 million and do the other two items. Get that done.
Chairman Peters reiterated the substitute motion to appropriate the
$542,611 with Supervisor Bedrosian confirming.
Supervisor Church stated this is heartfelt and should be heartfelt by all of
us. Supervisor McNamara knows him well enough to know that he is not going to sit
here and have these things just brought out. It wasn't a "done deal," if you go back on
this tape and look at this, you will see that he did not say anything about a "done deal."
This Supervisor did not even bring it up; he stated it looked good to him after Supervisor
McNamara and Mr. O'Donnell said, "Looks good." He does not call that a "done deal." If
it was a "done deal," he would have been jumping for joy and clapping. He knew it had
to come to a vote and he always knew the potential for something else to happen.
Everybody knows him, he does not do "done deals" anywhere. Supervisor McNamara
should know that because "done deals" over the years and he has not stood for it.
What we are talking about here is a bonafide need. We are talking about a situation
that everyone in the staff did not think they had an absolute voted issue because they
know staff has to come to the Board, but he can guarantee if you poll the employees of
Roanoke County and they have a Chairman and another Board member and all the
staff combined thinking this looks pretty good, he thinks they are going to feel good
about it. But that is not called a "done deal." They felt like we are moving the right
direction; help is on the way. There is no "done deal" on the fourth floor. Simply he was
asked to walk into an office, unsolicited by himself. He did not bring this up, Supervisor
McNamara brought it up to his attention. Dan O'Donnell knows that, he is here and in
good faith he went forward and he feels the same as the employees and the citizens
that something has been pulled from under them. He thinks it is a shame. He cannot
support a substitute motion. Once again, we are leaving not just a need, it was a
situation that was jumped over years ago, wrongly jumped over and now we have a
chance to take care of it and do it in good faith and probably come in under the amount.
Supervisor McNamara called for the question.
January 13, 2015 23
Chairman Peters advised the call for the question is not debatable.
Supervisor Bedrosian asked for clarification and Chairman Peters advise the vote would
be on the substitute motion. Supervisor Church advised the vote would be on stopping
debate with Chairman Peters confirming. The motion was denied by the following roll
call vote.
AYES: Supervisors Bedrosian, McNamara
NAYES: Supervisors Moore, Church, Peters
Chairman Peters stated he had one final comment. As he stated before,
he does believe and thanked Mr. Gates for his email, we are the stewards of the
taxpayer's money and their property. Again, he has no problem with the money that
needs to be appropriated and has a hard time and guesses this is the final piece that we
are telling a contractor or anybody out there that is watching that the Board has already
approved $1.5 million for this so we can push it up to that when they could have done it
for $950,000. He has a really hard time with that. He understands the need Ms. Earl
and understands what you are going through and he knows what is going on up there
as he has talked to a number of people, but he has a hard time with that piece of it
because he is a steward of taxpayer money and he thinks a competitive process needs
to happen. If it means finishing up the A&E work and getting that two-way contractor
can do it for a specific price instead of saying, "let's go ahead and put $1.5 million out
there and we are going to run with it."
Supervisor Church commented that anyone that has gone to the Social
Services building knows it is a closed building. You will not get off the first floor without
being recognized by anyone on the staff. It is not an open building and he is sure the
Supervisors would have been notices by everybody there.
ORDINANCE 011315-5 APPROPRIATING $542,611 FOR THE
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES BUILDING
RENOVATION PROJECT
WHEREAS, the renovations to portions of the Department of Social Services
building in Salem is underway and the construction phase has begun under a contract
with Martin Brothers; and
WHEREAS, these renovations include roof replacement, HVAC system
replacement, parking lot repairs, addition of a sprinkler system and renovations to the
Fifth Floor of this building, and replacement of the ceiling the and grid throughout the
building (the "Project"); and
WHEREAS, additional funding of $542,611 is required to complete the
renovations outlined above; and
24 January 13, 2015
WHEREAS, completion of design work for future renovations of floors one
through four will require modification and an increase to the contract with Thompson &
Litton for design since this work will increase this contract by more than twenty-five
percent (25%) of the amount of the existing contract, as required by Section 2.2-4309 of
the Code of Virginia; and
WHEREAS, funds in the amount of $250,000 are available in the operating
accounts of the Social Services building fund and recommended to be used towards
the Project; and
WHEREAS, funds in the amount of $292,611 are available from the year end
expenditure savings from the Department of Social Services operating budget and
recommended to be used towards the Project; and
WHEREAS, account balances remaining in fund 175 (Salem Bank and
Trust/Social Services Fund) will carry over one hundred percent (100%) and be re -
appropriated to the Social Services Building fund for additional renovations; 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 December 9, 2014, and
the second reading was held on January 13, 2015.
BE IT ORDAINED, by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as
follows -
1 .
ollows:1. That the sum of $292,611 is appropriated from the 2013-2014 annual
budget rollover amounts to the Social Services Building fund for the purpose of
completing the renovations to the Department of Social Services Building.
2. That the sum of $250,000 is appropriated from the Department of Social
Services Building Account to the Social Services Building fund for the purpose of
completing the renovations to the Department of Social Services Building.
3. That account balances remaining in fund 175 (Salem Bank and
Trust/Social Services Fund) will carry over one hundred percent (100%) and be re -
appropriated to the Social Services Building fund.
4. That the County Administrator or Assistant County administrator is
authorized to execute such documents or to take such actions as may be necessary to
accomplish the purposes of this Ordinance. In addition the County Administrator or
Assistant County Administrator is authorized to execute modifications of existing
contracts with Thompson & Litton for design in excess of twenty-five percent (25%)
above the original contract award amount in order complete the renovations described
in this Ordinance contingent upon the architect providing competitive pricing for the
additional work.
5. That this ordinance shall take effect upon its adoption.
On motion of Supervisor Bedrosian to adopt the ordinance, and carried by the
following recorded vote:
January 13, 2015 25
AYES: Supervisors Bedrosian, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: Supervisors Moore, Church
IN RE: CONSENT AGENDA
RESOLUTION 011315-6 APPROVING AND CONCURRING IN
CERTAIN ITEMS SET FORTH ON THE BOARD OF
SUPERVISORS AGENDA FOR THIS DATE DESIGNATED AS
ITEM I- CONSENT AGENDA
BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as
follows-
That
ollows:That the certain section of the agenda of the Board of Supervisors for January
13, 2015, designated as Item I - Consent Agenda be, and hereby is, approved and
concurred in as to each item separately set forth in said section designated Items 1
through 4 inclusive, as follows -
1 .
ollows:1. Approval of minutes — October 28, 2014
2. Resolution of appreciation from the Roanoke County Board of Supervisors to
Jan Killgore, Program Support Specialist, upon her retirement after more than
eighteen (18) years of service
3. Request to accept and allocate grant funds in the amount of $10,000 from the
Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) to the Roanoke
County Fire and Rescue Department for the purchase of a trailer to transport
and apply fire suppression foam
4. Confirmation of appointments to the Blue Ridge Behavioral Healthcare Board
of Directors
On motion of Supervisor Church to adopt the resolution, and carried by the
following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
RESOLUTION 011315-6.a EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION
OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY
TO JAN KILLGORE, PROGRAM SUPPORT SPECIALIST, UPON
HER RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN EIGHTEEN (18)
YEARS OF SERVICE
WHEREAS, Jan Killgore was hired on June 17, 1996, and has worked as a
Secretary and Office Support Specialist during her tenure with Roanoke County; and
26 January 13, 2015
WHEREAS, Mrs. Killgore retired on December 31, 2014, after eighteen (18)
years and six (6) months of devoted, faithful and expert service with the County; and
WHEREAS, during her time serving Roanoke County, Mrs. Killgore was
responsible for providing excellent customer services to the Roanoke County
departments, the Western Virginia Regional Jail Authority and the Roanoke County
School system; and
WHEREAS, during recent years Mrs. Killgore was focused primarily on
purchasing card administration; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Killgore was instrumental in setting up the purchasing card
program, assisted internal customers with the purchasing card program, provided
training and documented procedures; and
WHEREAS, Mrs. Killgore was supportive of and worked closely with other
County departments and school staff to help process and ensure the accuracy of the
monthly transaction interface for all purchasing card transactions; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of
Roanoke County, Virginia expresses its deepest appreciation and the appreciation of
the citizens of Roanoke County to Jan Killgore for eighteen (18) years and six (6)
months 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 Church to adopt the resolution, and carried by the
following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
A -011315-6.b
A -011315-6.c
IN RE: CITIZENS' COMMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS
The following citizens spoke:
Chris Craft stated he was here to speak to the Board about the surplus.
Mr. Blount and his crew did a wonderful job. He is a City resident, but he was there at
5:30 a.m. along with them in the cold helping people load, take pictures, move and it
went fairly well once we got things started. He does have some recommendations.
One, like Mr. Peters said, the bigger stuff should be put on the esurplus like they do the
rest of the government stuff so that some of the money from the heavy stuff can pay
back. If they do pay one or two dollars ($1 or $2 a piece for items or say $10 a truckload
that would help reduce what the County citizens have to pay. The second one was it
January 13, 2015 27
was his honor to be there. It was great to see Mr. Church and Mr. Bedrosian come
back; they showed up with the work was done like some people in the City. Anyway, he
is sure when it is done again, it can be done better, faster and he would even volunteer
to maybe a couple of days a week to sit over at the Vinton Library and give away or sign
people up for times, give them tickets and say you have to be here say Friday between
2 to 3, be here at that time and put their name on the paper and when they get there,
Doug will have that name and if they come before that time they will be told it is not their
time. He runs the back -to -school extravaganza for Roanoke City Schools every year
when we give our school supplies and that is exactly what we do. They get there, we
give them a time that they can go in and cannot go in before then and that would be an
excellent way to get more stuff gone if they preregistered, get a time, get a number and
go through. He appreciates all the hard work that Doug Blount does; he did a great job
and hopefully next time when we have the next one all five (5) Board members will be
out there to help load.
IN RE: REPORTS
Supervisor McNamara moved to receive and file the following reports.
The motion carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
1. General Fund Unappropriated Balance
2. Capital Reserves
3. Reserve for Board Contingency
4. Outstanding Debt
5. Comparative Statement of Budgeted and Actual Revenues as of
November 30, 2014
6. Comparative Statement of Budgeted and Actual Expenditures and
Encumbrances as of November 30, 2014
7. Accounts Paid — November 30, 2014
8. Treasurer's Statement of Accountability per Investment and
Portfolio Policy as of November 30, 2014
9. Treasurer's Statement of Accountability per Investment and
Portfolio Policy as of December 31, 2014
10. Proclamation signed by the Chairman
IN RE: REPORTS AND INQUIRIES OF BOARD MEMBERS
Supervisor Moore stated first of all she wanted to welcome Supervisor
Peters as our 2015 Chairman. She then invited everyone to a public safety meeting
28 January 13, 2015
that will be held this Thursday, January 15, 2015 at South County Library in the
auditorium. There will be representative from all of our public safety personnel there to
answer questions on preventing and from the Roanoke County School System. This is
a meeting that will be focused on how to prepare in case of an emergency. This could
be anywhere from a snow storm, an ice storm and if all the phones go out are you
prepared to meet your family and friends somewhere. Also, in lieu of the all the hostile
situations taking place all over the world, this is a good opportunity for us to be better
prepared if we did have a situation occur.
Supervisor Bedrosian also congratulated Chairman Peters and
commented he is looking forward to a good year. A good year does not always mean
that everybody votes lockstep with each other. A good year is the Board is doing the
job we should be doing, which is getting into these issues, discussing them, battling
back and forth. This is good for a representative republic that we have. He looks
forward to a very spirited year. Supervisor Bedrosian welcomed Mr. Gates and advised
he looked forward to working with him this year and all of staff. We just got done with a
very spirited debate and he will say it says a lot about what we need to look at for the
year ahead of us. He is learning a lot, but two things struck him. One, how do we
manage projects and he just got a very good idea of some of the things that come up
and he thinks we really need to be disciplined in how we manage these projects. He
will tell you and he thinks Supervisor Church brought up a good example in past years
and he has heard it from everybody. It is not just the Vinton Library; there are other
projects that everybody has their own special one and it gets moved up ahead of others
that maybe should have been allocated the funds. Well, doing that also is a broken
process and it causes hardship in years to come. Now we have a project and maybe
money should have been allocated to this one but it got allocated to another one and it
is very important as Supervisors really think about every project that we are allocating
money to. There is not an unlimited amount of money. There is a limited amount of
resources unless we want to tax the citizens more. There is a limited amount of money
and we have to be very prudent in how we spend the money. So, we have a
management process on how we do projects and he thinks we need to be disciplined;
that is the biggest word, that word, disciplined about we approach these things. Also it
says a lot about how we are spending taxpayer dollars. Maybe people are sick and
tired of hearing about it, but every dollar we spend is not our money. It is taxpayers
dollars and because he is a simple guy, he just takes it right down to that dollar amount.
He takes the population of Roanoke County divides it by a million and get basically $11
a person and with a family of four (4), it is roughly $45. For every dollar we spend up
here, we could have given them $45, so today when we were getting ready to spend
another $1.5 million, average family of four (4), we could have given them back $75.
When we spend $10 million, these numbers just add up so he likes looking at it that
way. Every dollar to him, even that little million, we spend a lot of those little millions, is
something to a family. If we don't spend it, possibly we can give it back and he thinks
that is very, very important. This year, we have a great opportunity to give money back
January 13, 2015 29
to the citizens and he wants to make sure that the citizens realize that we have a $1.5
million increase in our assessment. Basically, it means we are going to get $1.5 million
in revenue based on assessments going up. This is a great time to reduce real estate
tax rates; neutralize it, make it revenue neutral. We don't need to take in $1.5 million.
We are going to be getting it on the assessments so give it back to the residents of
Roanoke County. Lower their tax rates by at least $0.02; that would actually make
everybody even. If we raised assessments this year, we are hurting families in
Roanoke County. We are taking money from the citizens of Roanoke County. In fact,
we are removing $1.5 million from the Roanoke County community and putting it into
government instead of letting it stay in the community and be spent, either by
businesses that employ people or by the citizens themselves. He thinks it is a great
opportunity for us without causing any pain to Roanoke County. When the
assessments go up and we get $1.5 million more, we did not do one (1) thing to earn it.
We are basically getting a windfall of $1.5 million because it just so happens property
values are going up. It doesn't cost Roanoke County any more money when property
values go up, so give that money back to the citizens and let them spend the money.
Let them do the things they want to do with it. He thinks that is very important. He
would like to end with this. He ran for office as a Republican and we don't talk much
about parties on the Board. He ran because of the creed of the party and would like to
state that creed here because he wants everybody to understand where he is coming
from as we go throughout the year, his second year on the Board. This is why he says
the things he says and does the things that he does, it is based on this creed that he
pledged to and why he was running. The Republican Creed of Virginia, "We believe
that the free enterprise system is the most productive supplier of human needs and
economic justice." He agrees wholeheartedly with a free enterprise system, that is
where it is as that will supply more human needs and economic justice than any other
system. "That all individuals are entitled to equal rights, justice, and opportunities and
should assume their responsibilities as citizens in a free society." This is very critical to
the operation of society. "That fiscal responsibility and budgetary restraints must be
exercised at all levels of government." This is absolutely critical; we have to maintain
ourselves. It is so easy for five (5) of us to vote millions here and there. We have got to
put those restraints on ourselves. They have to be self-imposed restraints. They have
to be but the system is not going to work. "That the Federal Government must preserve
individual liberty by observing Constitutional limitations." He agrees with that. "That
peace is best preserved through a strong national defense." When you take it to a local
area, Fire and Rescue, Police, all those people help us preserve peace in our
community and he definitely agrees with that. We may disagree sometimes on money
allocations, but the reality is that we all agree that it is very important and we need to
have this structure in place to preserve peace in our community. Finally, "That faith in
God, as recognized by our Founding Fathers is essential to the moral fiber of the
Nation. He knows many people get upset when you talk about religion and your faith in
government, but the reality is that is one of our tenants of the Republic Party in
30 January 13, 2015
recognizing faith of our founding fathers. He is looking forward to a great year.
Supervisor Church stated he too wants to congratulate Mr. Peters
selected unanimously as the Chairman. He stated he thinks he has a golden
opportunity to display an open dialogue and an open heart and mind to the citizens of
Roanoke County that we serve. He truly believes he will. He is going to stay in that
belief. He wanted to publically welcome Tom Gates, feels like he has been here
forever. We are glad to have you and are looking for a lot of good things. Change
sometimes brings heartburn, but you know what, change is inevitable. Nobody likes to
change the route they drive, the car they drive, the clothes they wear or the appliances
they use. That is just the way it goes. Sometimes, changes are really beneficial and he
has always said that if nothing changes, nothing changes. So we are looking for some
good, positive change. You have a Board that is more than willing to work with you, on
the same side you will need to direct us. He stated he wanted to take it one step
further, Mr. Chairman, we have discussed this in work sessions and whatever, but he
wants to look left and right and knows it is not official; you cannot vote on it and with the
citizens at home and with a nod of the head agree on one thing that is very important.
Our Board appoints citizens to the CIP Committee for a reason, Capital Improvement
Projects. We appoint them and they work in conjunction with staff and with a nod
publically so the citizens can know, he is ready to make an agreement that however
they are prioritized that is how they stay. They are there for a reason, we would not be
discussing item G-1 to be honest with you because it would have been done a few
years ago. So, let's take the politics out of it and make sure we adhere to the
committee and the staff members. They go around the County and they evaluate.
They are not giving you something in their own district. You would be surprised; it is all
over and an evaluated system. He for one pledges his support to the CIP ranking. If he
does not see a no shake of the head and he is going to say he does not see a no
shaking of the head. Let's agree, forget about the politics, forget about the districts and
pay attention. If we are not going to pay attention to them, let's disband them because
we are wasting a lot of good time and money. He then congratulated, he is so fortunate
to represent two (2) State champions. Before Glenvar won, Northside could boast they
are the only football State champion school in Roanoke County forever, now we have
added the Glenvar Highlanders; they still have not come down from the clouds. On a
brutally cold afternoon at the Salem Stadium. Everybody thought the two Salem teams
would win in reverse order that Glenvar would get beat and Salem would win. Salem
High School went to Lynchburg and were defeated by a really superior team. Glenvar
won 20-14 in overtime. It was an unbelievable game; the house was packed. The wind
and the bitter cold was unbelievable; they jumped out to a 14-0 lead and the next thing
you know it is 14-14 and it is the end of the fourth quarter. The wind was so hard that a
punt would come back at you and land five (5) yards behind you and he is not joking
and these kids can punt the ball. So, as usual they let me get down on the field with the
players and is right on the sidelines with Coach Clifford with a quarterback left end run
into the end zone in overtime and the place went crazy. He is so proud of Glenvar.
January 13, 2015 31
They will get a State championship ring; they are so excited. There are citizens all over
his area that their children play for the team. There will be a big banquet and it is
something to be joyful about because not only is it their first championship, it is
Glenvar's first time to play in a State football championship ever. This is quite an
accomplishment. Giles is the perennial "big dog" and have won the last two or three
years State championships and let's not forget about three (3) weeks before the season
ended, Glenvar had to go to Giles and they were defeated 33-0. Three weeks later,
they go to Giles again and defeat them 35-0. So, go figure. They have the hearts of a
lion and he is so proud of Glenvar and the whole community. So, if you get the chance
from the Glenvar area, Glenvar schools, please say congratulations.
Supervisor McNamara welcomed Mr. Gates and thanked him for coming
to Roanoke County; we are delighted to have you. Chairman Peters, welcome and
congratulations; delighted to have you at the helm this year. It hasn't been mentioned
so let me mention we will be meeting as a Board this Saturday out at Explore Park and
it is public and we will be having a retreat. The purpose of the retreat is essentially to
set priorities. We are not going to put a strategic plan together; we are not going to
work a budget in six (6) hours, but we are going to start the process. You have to do
step A before you do step B, C and D and on. Some of you are aware we had
discussed having a retreat the third to fourth quarter of last year and decided to wait
until the new County Administrator was on board. He stated he thinks we are also
fortunate from the perspective that folks that have studied Mr. Gates background, he
does have significant amount of experience in the strategic planning process. We are
going to rely on that expertise and look forward to a great day. It is open to the public; it
will be at Explore Park; it is supposed to be 50 to 55 degrees on Saturday a little cold to
do much outdoors but perfect weather to ride out to Explore Park if you are interested in
watching our debate.
Chairman Peters also welcomed Mr. Gates and remarked he already has
enjoyed his conversations with him. As Chairman he knows he will be spending a lot of
time together. He also added that he is very humbled to be chosen to be Chairman. As
Mr. Church mentioned, the CIP Committee, which is where he started. He started on
the CIP Committee six or seven (6 or 7) years ago and then moved over to the Planning
Commission for a three-year stent there and here he is. It is a very humbling
experience to be chosen as Chairman and hopes to lead the County well along with his
staff. He will lay out a couple of priorities and one of them as he mentioned last year
was strategic planning. I know it is something in his opinion that the County desperately
needs. The second part is and he has already made mention to her hiding behind our
PIO Officer is Jill Loope. One of the things he would like to concentrate on is our
Economic Development and given the tools to move the County forward. He thinks
everyone on the Board wants to see taxes lowered, debt reduced and we also need to
encourage businesses to come here, which is one of the ways you are going to
accomplish that through that free market. Mr. McNamara mentioned that we are having
32 January 13, 2015
our retreat on Saturday. We look forward to anyone that can be there and hope you
can attend.
IN RE: CLOSED MEETING
At 5:18 p.m., Chairman Peters moved to go into closed meeting following
the work sessions pursuant to the Code of Virginia Section 2.2.3711.A.3 Discussion or
consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose, or the disposition
of publicly held real property, where discussion in an open meeting would adversely
affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the Board of Supervisors (419
Library)
The motion carried by the following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
The closed session was held from 5:39 p.m. until 6:25 p.m.
At 5:19 Chairman Peters recessed to the 4t" floor work session and closed
meeting.
IN RE: CERTIFICATION RESOLUTION
At 6:30 p.m., Supervisor Peters moved to return to open session and
adopt the certification resolution.
RESOLUTION 011315-7 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
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 .
nowledge: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
January 13, 2015 33
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, and carried by the
following recorded vote:
AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara, Peters
NAYS: None
IN RE: WORK SESSIONS
1. Work session on Roanoke River Greenway progress in Roanoke
County (Doug Blount, Director of Parks, Recreation and Tourism)
In attendance with Mr. Blount for this work session was Liz Belcher,
Roanoke Valley Greenway Coordinator; Lon Williams, Parks, Recreation and Tourism
and Lindsay Blankenship, Greenway/Blueway Planner.
Mr. Blount and Ms. Blankenship provided the Board with a PowerPoint
presentation (a copy of the presentation is on file in the office of the Clerk to the Board
of Supervisors) outlining the progress of the Roanoke River Greenway. Mr. Blount
advised they were seeking approval for the first reading of an ordinance to approve
funds at the January 27, 2015 meeting. It was the consensus of the Board members to
move forward on these appropriations.
The work session was held from 6:32 p.m. until 7:00 p.m.
IN RE: ADJOURNMENT
Chairman Peters adjourned the meeting at 7:00 p.m.
Submitted by: Approved by:
Deborah C. s P. J on Peters
Deputy Clerk t the Board Chairman
Kiv
January 13, 2015
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