HomeMy WebLinkAbout1/17/2015 - SpecialJanuary 17, 2015 35
Roanoke County Administration Center
5204 Bernard Drive
Roanoke, Virginia 24018
The Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia met this day at
Explore Park for the purpose of a Board of Supervisors Retreat. No audio and video
recordings of this meeting are on file.
IN RE: CALL TO ORDER
Chairman Peters called the meeting to order at 9-01 a.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman P. Jason Peters, Supervisors Al Bedrosian,
Joseph B. "Butch" Church, Joseph P. McNamara and
Charlotte A. Moore
MEMBERS ABSENT: None
STAFF PRESENT: Thomas C. Gates, County Administrator; Daniel R.
O'Donnell, Assistant County Administrator; Richard
Caywood, Assistant County Administrator; Paul M.
Mahoney, County Attorney; W. Brent Robertson, Director of
Management and Budget; Rebecca Owens, Director of
Finance and Deborah C. Jacks, Deputy Clerk to the Board
FACILITATOR: Kristi Dooley
IN RE: DISCUSSION OF GROUND RULES
Facilitator Kristi Dooley explained today's retreat was to build a foundation
to build a really strong 2015. She asked the following two questions- what does being
a leader in the community mean to each Board member and what does that mean for us
in the upcoming fiscal year and how to apply as the budget is created. She advised that
she would ask that everyone would agree to six (6) things- authenticity, engagement,
embracement of healthy conflict (debate), listen actively to one another, assume a
positive intent, curiosity and sharing of air time.
36 January 17, 2015
IN RE: REVIEW OF CURRENT CONDITION
1. Community strengths
The Board indicated that the community strengths were the beauty of the
people and community, close-knit, great employees, strong staff, good services, fiscally
in good shape and operationally strong.
2. Board Member perspectives
The Board members cited the following items as needing improvement -
personnel issues have been a distraction; have not done a great job of thinking and
planning strategically and setting priorities; Board is at times their own biggest barrier as
they do not work together do not listen well to each other; do not have a consistent
strategy for economic development.
The legacy from the Board would be for the County to be more
prosperous, attract business and business friendly. This should be a place that people
feel heard that we listen and respond.
The Board was then asked what the new County Administrator, Tom
Gates, should focus on. The answers were open transparent management practices,
thinking and planning strategically, leadership in assisting the Board to stay on track
and move forward.
Next, the question was what improvement in how the Board operates
would they like to see. The answers were getting out of their individual silos, deliberate
and move beyond the magisterial districts and into the greater good. Other answers
were listen more, have more dialog and the ability to understand each other; to reach
out across the aisle and find common ground to advance as a community; disagree
professionally and with the utmost respect for each other at meetings; more positive
experience at Board meetings.
Supervisor Church stated he felt it was a really good meeting especially
with the three new Board members.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he took exception to the County being fiscally
sound. He is very uncomfortable with the debt. He added that he does not understand
with regard to the discussion. Sometimes by saying something to express your opinion
is considered conflict and he would not want to eliminate because he feels would be
unhealthy. He stated there does not need to be name calling but feels there needs to
be thought out discussion and good debate.
Supervisor Moore stated she felt healthy debate is good; transparency is
good. She advised she personally does not like condemning our employees and staff in
open meetings. Additionally, when staff is making presentations sometimes it gets on a
personal note, which she does not like.
January 17, 2015 37
The Board members were asked the most important reason they are on
the Board and if they would make one request to make it a better and more positive
experience what would it be.
Supervisor Moore stated serving the citizens, listen and do the best they
can to resolve the issue. She stated she feels positive when she sees the issue or
problem corrected and implemented.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated to ask questions and voice an opinion that
the people would like to ask. Giving a voice to the citizens, which is one of his duties.
He feels very positive now; but would love to be on the winning side.
Supervisor Church stated the most important thing is that is a sacred trust.
Does not expect perfection, but demand they represent their interests. By doing so they
feel they have a part in the decision making process or giving them a voice. He advised
he feels it would be more positive if we could truly understand each other; not just a few
talking about a few; Communication and more inclusive versus exclusive.
Supervisor McNamara stated the most important value is leaving Roanoke
County in a better place especially from a financial perspective, i.e. stewardship. If
Board members are not attacking directly or indirectly one another would make him feel
more positive.
Chairman Peters stated this area is the largest metropolitan west of
Richmond, he wants to see the area grow, create jobs and economic development.
Focus on growth to keep our area alive and well and growing. More positive,
communication is to a relationship as blood is to a body. Open communication provides
better understanding.
Mr. Gates stated he valued efficient and effective services and will work
toward with Board and staff- all a team to work at the highest possible level and be a
high performing organization.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated there needed to be open communication,
comes to a point that what you are communicating is not what they want to hear and
just do not agree with it. He advised he can understand but simply does not agree. He
advised he wants to see the valley grow, jobs, however it should comes from a free
market and does not view government that way. Let the private sector handle. He
agrees with the bottom line, but is different on how we get there.
Supervisor Church stated there are six (6) or seven (7) economic
development departments and the State of Virginia and competing against each other
and feels it is wasted. He would like to see a combined Roanoke Valley Economic
Development engine and feels that would benefit the entire Valley.
Chairman Peters stated the Western Virginia Regional Industrial Authority
is not getting the traction. Open communication is not about government leading
anything. He advised he does not want the government to take over, but become more
business friendly. Need to remove the red tape. We, as a Board, have to create the
environment; an overall environment to make it more business friendly.
38 January 17, 2015
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he totally agrees with that concept, but define
business friendly. Does it equate to spending more dollars or lowering taxes. He likes
the idea of removing the red tape.
Supervisor Moore stated she believes we need to support new businesses
but also support existing business, i.e. Brambleton and Plantation Road plans.
Chairman Peters stated they needed to engage the community, but how
do they do that.
Ms. Dooley asked what is going to help build a different level of
understanding.
Supervisor Church commented there needed to be talk and discussion,
which Tom has already stated. He likes the idea of getting information to the Board as
quickly as possible.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated it feels that everyone likes having the issue
settled before the meeting and that concerns him. He does not want the answer to
everything ahead of time. In his opinion, part of the meeting is to uncover things. Staff
should be able to answer on the spot and the Board needs leeway to ask questions.
Mr. Gates requested that Mr. Mahoney provide guidance for the Board on
what constitutes a meeting.
A recess was called at 10-42 a.m. and then back into session at 10-57
a.m.
IN RE: IDENTIFICATION OF CHARACTERICTICS OF THE COMMUNITY WE
WANT
Ms. Dooley asked each Board member to choose a picture, explain what
the picture is and why; what are the characteristics of the community you want?
Chairman Peters stated his picture is of a father helping his son learn; we
should always train our replacement, i.e. succession planning.
Supervisor Moore stated her picture was of someone repelling. We
should take risks and make decisions we are not always comfortable with. Would like to
see repelling at Explore Park; a challenge.
Supervisor McNamara stated his picture is of fruit loops and mile, pure
simple and no problem until fruit loops are gone.
Supervisor Church stated his picture is of five individuals jumping out of an
airplane and somebody yelling two of your parachutes don't work. Citizens would
benefit from the trust and belief in each other.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated his picture was a tree with all the roots
underneath. Everyone doing their thing, whatever it is, serving the community, calm,
tranquil.
The Board was then asked to describe the characteristics that you want to
create in this community.
Supervisor McNamara stated a caring community that helps one another.
January 17, 2015 39
Chairman Peters stated a community of involvement and
consecutiveness.
Supervisor Church stated a safer and vibrant community.
Supervisor Moore stated environmentally safe, public safety, connected
greenway, high speed internet, underground utilities, sidewalks and lot of businesses
where pedestrians could connect easily.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he thinks of himself as a referee in a game
and likes it when the referee stays out; community should thrive on its own. He further
stated a community of prosperous people, not just financially, but innovative that love
what they are going and wants a community representative of that; free market place
innovation.
Supervisor Church stated it is not the referee's job to be the main
attraction and the goal is to give both teams an equal opportunity to win.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated the referee makes sure that both sides abide
by the rules and not to help either team- give everybody an equal chance.
Supervisor Church stated� everyone is equally important and should be a
balancing act.
Mr. Gates commented he would add educated. Citizens capable of being
prosperous in their own right.
Supervisor Moore stated she agrees with the STEM program, which is not
just academic but also vocational.
Supervisor Peters commented there is a lack of skilled labor.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he sees lots of opportunity other than just
public education. There are innovative ways to educate our community, which he feels
gets left out of the equation.
Supervisor McNamara asked Mr. Bedrosian if government should be
involved.
Supervisor Bedrosian responded in the negative, just thinks they are
forgotten about and need to be brought into the equation.
Supervisor Peters stated it should be more higher education.
Supervisor Bedrosian then commented regarding a survey by the
Roanoke Regional Metropolitan Planning organization. He advised they did a survey
that indicated ninety percent (90%) responding wanted more bike paths. He questioned
whether or not they were asked if they would be willing to pay for these paths. He
stated there is a cost associated with all of these characteristics and then you get
trapped and it becomes a bigger problem. He advised it makes his alarms go off
because of the way he thinks. It is a wish list that is hard to disagree with.
IN RE: PRIORITIES AND AREAS OF FOCUS
40 January 17, 2015
Next, the Board was asked, "What are the most important things we can
focus on." Somewhere there needs to be prioritization. How do we create a situation to
maximize this?
Supervisor Church stated every District needs to hear the same thing-,
consistency is an attribute that we should aspire to. Do not have different guidelines
and different rules.
Ms. Dooley stated effective leadership is collaborating on a platform on
how we progress. How do we draw the best out of everyone to become the best
stewards of the resources?
Supervisor Moore used AEP as an example by stating she did not expect
them to take the existing towers down, but be consistent in placing the new ones
underground; look at the long range pictures.
Ms. Dooley then asked the Board what priorities they feel are the most
important to focus on to begin this community; what is most important.
Supervisor McNamara advised everything revolves as a part of economic
development. We need to create our niche and support it. We need to support schools
and public safety. If we do this, then where we need to be from an economic standpoint
will happen as an outcome.
Supervisor Moore stated she agrees with Supervisor McNamara and if we
have right ordinances in place so that people can develop and build energy efficient
buildings and underground stormwater facilities. If we have those, they will have a
guideline on how we expect them to build. This is what we want.
Supervisor Peters stated that he thinks the developers do not know what
we want. We need to let them know what it looks like and then set the priorities so that
the developers know what is required of them from day one.
Supervisor Church stated these things cost money and are added costs.
If we are too one-sided, we will discourage some developers. We need to be "user
friendly."
Supervisor McNamara advised we need to determine whether to have
reactive or proactive economic development; this is what we need to figure out.
Proactive would be to figure out what our niche is, i.e. healthcare, education, etc. and
have our policies support that type of business development. Do we want to create
retail incentives at the expense of stormwater management?
Supervisor Bedrosian stated in his mind the community is created by the
people who live in it, not the Board. We are trying to create something that people
should create for themselves. They should have the ability to do what they want to do,
it all works together.
Mr. Gates commented it is in the nuance of the language. In order to
shape, we need to talk to the community. As elected officials, they each have their own
perspectives, but cannot do without citizen input.
Supervisor Church commented you need to find the middle ground and
see what we can afford financially.
January 17, 2015 41
Supervisor Bedrosian asked if the people even know; they just do what is
simple.
Supervisor Moore stated she felt community involvement is important. We
should pay attention to the MPO.
Supervisor Bedrosian commented sometimes when you expand to
something bigger and better you lose site of the existing businesses.
Supervisor Peters stated everyone has missed the fact that approximately
2,000 jobs walked out of Roanoke last year. So, do we raise taxes or lower service?
He noted with an incentive of delaying the collection of taxes, we are getting in a
competitive environment.
Supervisor Church commented on the job Melinda Cox was doing for
existing businesses. The businesses rely and are excited about her involvement. He
suggested we expand that aspect; it is value added.
Supervisor Peters stated as a Board taking action is a sense of "We have
your back, Economic Development.
Recess was called from 12-04 p.m. until 12-30 p.m.
IN RE: OPERATING AGREEMENTS
Ms. Dooley remarked this is a "reboot" year, we have a new year, new
Chairman and a new County Administrator. This is the time to decide how we are
going to do things. She then asked what agreements would the Board like to have in
place to make this work productive and a great experience.
Supervisor Peters stated he would like to spend more one on one time
with each Board member.
Supervisor Church stated he would like to have the Board member
discuss with him the pros and cons of an item bring brought forward on the agenda.
Supervisor Bedrosian asked Supervisor Church to provide an example.
Supervisor Church stated he would not necessarily change his mind, but
he would feel more included.
Supervisor Peters stated this would enable him to have a better
understanding of the Board members thoughts and would not get blindsided at the
meeting. An example of this would be the William Byrd surplus.
Supervisor Bedrosian commented there is a difference between having
everybody love everybody and 5-0 votes.
Supervisor Church stated the Chairman should be all inclusive, regardless
of political affiliation.
Supervisor Moore stated there should be no opinion from the Chairman -
they should vote as they see fit. She stated she feels the Board should be bette�
informed on how the department handles the issues.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he views his job as more the citizen
representative versus working in government. He commented concerning the amount
42 January 17, 2015
of paperwork associated with the agenda; eighty to one hundred (80 to 100) pages
management but two hundred (200) plus is too much. He is resistant to getting friendly
with each department. He added that maybe this is just a challenge he has and find
there is too much; it is a struggle. Most of all he wants to represent his people.
Supervisor Peters stated he disagrees. He has spent over sixty (60) days
spending time with a lot of the Department Heads to get a better understanding so he
will know what they are talking about. He spent time with the Police, Sheriff and
General Services and it helped him understand the interworking of the County.
Supervisor Moore stated they should respect one another and not attack
one another in the media.
Supervisor Bedrosian asked what does that mean.
Supervisor Church stated there is a Code of Conduct and not one Board
member has adhered to it.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated is it calling someone a derogative name or
because you disagreed with their opinion. The definition needs to be defined. He likes
the passion of issues. He does not want to become sterile; does not see an issue.
Supervisor Moore stated an example is personnel issues then a
personality debate. She feels the Board should be sticking to the issues. She is
talking about saying something about what somebody has done or not done is making
it personal.
The Board took another recess from 1-07 p.m. until 1-13 p.m.
IN RE: OVERVIEW OF THE COUNTY'S FISCAL CONDITION
Brent Robertson, Director of Management and Budget and Rebecca
Owens, Director of Finance provided the Board with a PowerPoint presentation of an
overview of the County's fiscal condition. A copy of this presentation is on file in the
office of the Clerk to the Board of Supervisors.
IN RE: DISCUSSION OF FISCAL YEAR 2016
1. Budget considerations and funding issues; consideration of
Board Guidance
Mr. Gates asked the Board for guidance with regard to the upcoming
budget.
January 17, 2015 43
Supervisor McNamara advised with regard to compensation, the
employees were told that we would finish the market adjustment this year and he would
like to finish. Otherwise, they lose credibility. With regard to the health plans, he is a
proponent of the high deductible plan and would like Burman Clark to come in and sit
down with everyone and explain. With regard to service delivery, he feels that we
should maintain our level of service as much as possible; are we comfortable with
where it is. He added concerning capital projects that we need a continuing funding
source for item such as trash trucks, fire trucks, etc.
Supervisor Bedrosian commented with regard to compensation in the
private sector if you are going to get more money it is a pay raise. In the County, there
are market adjustments, cost of living increases, pay raises or a one-time bonus. He
wants to know the truth. This is what an employee made last year and what the
increase is. Is there a way to streamline; he does not feel he understands and has a
lack of clarity as it relates to compensation.
Mr. Gates then explained for Supervisor Bedrosian the difference between
each item.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he wanted to make it transparent for public
perception.
Supervisor Peters commented his preference is for market adjustments
versus a blanket raise. He would like to see evaluations.
Mr. Gates advised he would be looking at the criteria.
Supervisor Moore commented that she would like to look at having a
building maintenance fund so we do not have issues like the DSS building.
As a wrap up, Ms. Dooley asked what the Board felt worked well.
Supervisor Bedrosian stated he liked putting things in writing.
Supervisor Church stated this was a good chance to air differences and
communicate.
Supervisor McNamara commented on the good job that Mr. Robertson
and Ms. Owens did on the financial presentation. He also commented that he felt it
beneficial that the Department Heads were in attendance.
Mr. Gates commented he appreciates hearing the Board's perspective.
Supervisor Peters stated he would like to hear what the Department
Heads think about what is going on.
01
IN RE: ADJOURNMENT
January 17, 2015
Chairman Peters adjourned the meeting at 2-57 p.m.
ubmitted by- Approved by:
borah bks ;P. J on Peters
Deputy Clervtol the Board Chairman