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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3/14/2017 - Regular March 14, 2017 131 Roanoke County Administration Center 5204 Bernard Drive Roanoke, Virginia 24018 The Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia met this day atthe Roanoke County Administration Center, this being the second Tuesday and the first regularly scheduled meeting of the month of March 2017. Audio and video recordings of this meeting will be held on file for a minimum of five (5) years in the office of the Clerk to the Board of Supervisors. IN RE: OPENING CEREMONIES Before the meeting was called to order a moment of silence was observed. The Pledge of Allegiance was recited by all present. IN RE: CALL TO ORDER Chairman McNamara called the meeting to order at 3:01 p.m. The roll call was taken. MEMBERS PRESENT: Chairman Joseph P. McNamara, Supervisors George G. Assaid, Al Bedrosian, Martha B. Hooker 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; Ruth Ellen Kuhnel, County Attorney; Amy Whittaker, Public Information Officer and Deborah C. Jacks, Chief Deputy Clerk to the Board IN RE: REQUESTS TO POSTPONE, ADD TO, OR CHANGE THE ORDER OF AGENDA ITEMS Mr. Gates requested the addition of a Briefing to recognize the new Registrar. There were no objections and Chairman McNamara added as the first briefing. March 14, 2017 132 IN RE: BRIEFINGS 0. Briefing to introduce the new registrar Anna Cloeter (Ron Keith Adkins, and Dana Martin, Board of Elections) Ms. Cloeter was introduced. 1. Briefing to provide an update concerning parking, signage and safety on Rt. 311 at McAfee Knob (Lindsay B. Webb, Greenway/Blueway Planner) Ms. Webb provided a PowerPoint presentation. Dan Collins, Salem Residency Administrator for VDOT addressed the speed limit issue. 2. Briefing to provide a public service announcement concerning safe driving on St. Patrick's Day (Howard B. Hall, Chief of Police) Chief Hall provided the public service announcement reminding citizens to not drink and drive. 3. Briefing to discuss with the Board of Supervisors the County Administrator's Proposed Fiscal Year 2017-2018 Operating Budget (Thomas C. Gates, County Administrator; Christopher R. Bever, Director, Management and Budget) Mr. Gates gave a brief introduction and Mr. Bever provided a PowerPoint presentation. Supervisor McNamara commented this is the County Administrator’s budget and now this is the starting point of the Board’s deliberations. Staff has met the list of parameters. Of note, there is no increase in taxes and no stormwater management fee. Supervisor Peters thanked Mr. Gates and Mr. Bever for the work on the budget. IN RE: FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES 1. Ordinance appropriating funds in the amount of $335,000 from revenues collected by the County of Roanoke Library System to the General Government Library Department for fiscal year 2016- 2017 (Christopher R. Bever, Director, Management and Budget; Toni Cox, Assistant Director of Library Services) March 14, 2017 133 Mr. Bever outlined the request for ordinance. There was no discussion. Supervisor Peters’ motion to approve first reading and set the second reading for March 28, 2017 was seconded by Supervisor Hooker and approved by the following vote: AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: None IN RE: CONSENT AGENDA RESOLUTION 031417-1 APPROVING AND CONCURRING IN CERTAIN ITEMS SET FORTH ON THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AGENDA FOR THIS DATE DESIGNATED AS ITEM H- CONSENT AGENDA BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as follows: That the certain section of the agenda of the Board of Supervisors for March 14, 2017, designated as Item H - 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. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of Supervisors to Donald E. Bryant, Solid Waste Equipment Operator, upon his retirement after more than fifteen (15) years of service 2. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of Supervisors to D’Ann F. Atkinson, Real Estate Clerk II, Commissioner of the Revenue’s Office, upon her retirement after more than ten (10) years of service 3. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of Supervisors to Katherine Barnette Family Services Specialist, Social Services, upon her retirement after more than ten (10) years of service 4. Confirmation of appointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals (District); Roanoke Valley Greenway Commission (At-Large) On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara NAYS: None March 14, 2017 134 RESOLUTION 031417-1.a EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY TO DONALD E. BRYANT, SOLID WASTE EQUIPMENT OPERATOR, UPON HIS RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN FIFTEEN (15) YEARS OF SERVICE WHEREAS, Donald E. Bryant was employed by Roanoke County on February 26, 2001; and WHEREAS, Mr. Bryant retired on February 1, 2017, after fifteen years and eleven months of devoted, faithful and expert service to Roanoke County; and WHEREAS, Mr. Bryant, through his employment with Roanoke County, has been instrumental in improving the quality of life and providing services to the citizens of Roanoke County; and WHEREAS, throughout Mr. Bryant’s tenure with Roanoke County, he has worked in the Solid Waste Division providing citizens with excellent service through skillful operation of both the automated and rearloader collection vehicles. Roanoke County residents have benefitted from his attention to detail in collection and careful driving habits for his part in keeping Roanoke County clean and attractive while operating equipment at the most efficient level possible. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County expresses its deepest appreciation and the appreciation of the citizens DONALD E. BRYANT of Roanoke County to for more than fifteen (15) years of capable, loyal and dedicated service to Roanoke County; and FURTHER, the Board of Supervisors does express its best wishes for a happy and productive retirement. On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara NAYS: None RESOLUTION 031417-1.c EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY TO KATHY L. BARNETTE, FAMILY SERVICES SPECIALIST, UPON HER RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN TEN YEARS OF SERVICE WHEREAS, Kathy L. Barnette was employed by Roanoke County Department of Social Services on October 16, 2006; and WHEREAS, Ms. Barnette retired on February 28, 2017, after 10 years and 4 months of devoted, faithful and expert service to Roanoke County; and March 14, 2017 135 WHEREAS, Ms. Barnette served as a Social Worker and a Family Services Specialist, during her tenure with Roanoke County and has served with professionalism and dedication in providing services to the citizens of Roanoke County; and WHEREAS, during Ms. Barnette’s time serving the citizens of Roanoke County, she provided services to the adult population working in both the Adult Services and Adult Protective Services programs. Ms. Barnette was very passionate and diligent about her work with the citizens she encountered in these roles. Ms. Barnette assisted the individuals she worked with in improving their quality of life. Ms. Barnette provided services to prevent abuse, neglect and exploitation of older adults and incapacitated adults. Ms. Barnette also provided education to the community about Adult Protective Services and Adult Services. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County expresses its deepest appreciation and the appreciation of the citizens of Roanoke County to Kathy Barnette for more than ten years of capable, loyal and dedicated service to Roanoke County; and FURTHER, the Board of Supervisors does express its best wishes for a happy and productive retirement. On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara NAYS: None RESOLUTION 031417-1.d EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY TO D’ANN F. ATKINSON, REAL ESTATE CLERK – COMMISSIONER OF THE REVENUE, UPON HER RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN TEN (10) YEARS OF SERVICE WHEREAS, D’Ann F. Atkinson was employed by Roanoke County on January 16, 2007; and WHEREAS, Ms. Atkinson retired on March 1, 2017, after ten years and two months of devoted, faithful and expert service to Roanoke County; and WHEREAS, Ms. Atkinson, through her employment with Roanoke County, has been instrumental in improving the quality of life and providing services to the citizens of Roanoke County; and WHEREAS, throughout Ms. Atkinson’s tenure with the Commissioner of the Revenue’s office, D’Ann demonstrated integrity, competence and the highest quality of service. She presented a positive professional attitude and willingness to go the extra mile for the public. D’Ann’s desire to service the public arose from a profound devotion to her family, faith and the citizens of Roanoke County. March 14, 2017 136 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County expresses its deepest appreciation and the appreciation of the citizens D’ANN F. ATKINSON of Roanoke County tofor more than ten (10) years of capable, loyal and dedicated service to Roanoke County; and FURTHER, the Board of Supervisors does express its best wishes for a happy and productive retirement. On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara NAYS: None A-031417-1.e IN RE: CITIZENS’ COMMENTS AND COMMUNICATIONS Mr. Tickle advised he has been a Roanoke County citizen since 1956 and Salem two years before that.In his mail box a few weeks back he found tax assessments. Later, he noted assessments had went up involving my home not the land. Thinking how can that be. My roof is years old. I found a leak then repaired it. Is it that the repair job made my roof more valuable? That was the only thing new Basement, all walls years old, foundation too. He has never forgotten some guy showing up during the flood of 85 said he was in the flood zone. He said how's that as he is miles from the Roanoke River behind a mountain and way above the river. He didn't seem to appreciate me not agreeing with him and left. Later he found out he had convicted me of being in the flood zone. So how is my home more valuable being convicted this way? Then I decided to do an elevation on my own and found out he was actually appx 220 ft. above, ABOVE the Roanoke River. So, if there is a flood in Roanoke valley all buildings, homes etc. Will be completely submerged underwater even interstate 81 before flooded water gets anywhere near my property. The one thing different is that my taxes have gone up for 2017. Many times lately hearing taxes are not going up, he did the math. So it is true public schools aren't getting the job done teaching addition. Actually, subtraction will never need to be known. It will never happen to be needed. For now he is glad to pay more taxes. He can barely afford it and it keeps people from moving in and getting crowded. Governance will get the opposite of what they say they want. Folks and industry aren't looking to tax toasted. They'll stay away. Governance and he will get what we actually want. We like it here, not too crowded like some huge city. We have the vistas, parkway, Appalachian trail, beautiful Catawba, etc. Keep the taxes. That will protect us. He does not like the debt and interest on the debit. Let's fix that. Keep the taxes going; not too much though. That hurts. Folks will just drive-by, spend some money and keep on going. We like that. March 14, 2017 137 Chairman McNamara asked if Mr. Tickle would like him to check with Billy Driver and Community Development with Mr. Tickle responding, “no thanks.” IN RE: REPORTS Supervisor McNamara moved to receive and file the following reports; Supervisor Peters seconded the motion. The motion carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Moore, Bedrosian, Church, McNamara Peters NAYS: None 1. Unappropriated, Board Contingency and Capital Reserves Report 2. Outstanding Debt Report 3. Treasurer’s Statement of Accountability per Investment and Portfolio Policy as of January 31, 2017 IN RE: REPORTS AND INQUIRIES OF BOARD MEMBERS Supervisor Bedrosian stated he appreciates everybody putting together the budget, but cringes every time he sees the budget because he has been on the Board for four years and when he came in we were at $174 million and now we are basically at $187 million. We have gone up $15 million in the budget over the last four years and when he does his calculations, and he has gone through this before, dividing every million dollars by the number of citizens who live in Roanoke and figured out if we gave it back to the citizens, how much would it be? Basically it would be roughly $50 for a family of four for every million that we spend. When you go up $15 million over the last four years, the average family of four just lost the power of $700 plus dollars. We do it like that and that is why citizens do not realize they don’t have as much spending power as they used to because while they are trying to work on a certain budget; government keeps pulling more of that money in. A good example is the assessments. It is a small thing, but it happens all the time so more money goes to the government and less to the citizens, but he wants to be very clear. If we are going to spend $15 million more in government and the average family of four over the last four years has had $700 less to spend. So, that concerns him. The only way he knows how to fix that is that we have to set the number up front; the Board does, and tell the County Administrator this is the number we are spending this year. We do it this way, which becomes very difficult because the number comes to us and over the years we just tweak it about a few thousand dollars, but it really makes no difference. He does not know if that is the way they should be doing it. The other thing that he heard that was a little concerning to him today was that we find ourselves in a situation where we are going to have a hard time continuing basic services with the way the revenues increase, March 14, 2017 138 it is just a slight increase and the pressures are being put on the Board. Every family in the Roanoke Valley deals with this and governments act like it is something new. We continue to borrow money for things like Broadband; for buying property at Woodhaven and all these things that are really not in mind with what he thinks we should be doing for basic services. He knows the people on this Board will argue that it is all about Economic Development and that is the “rabbit” you chase forever. He always hears it. You hear it at the federal government level; you hear it at all levels. The reason is they are always investing, investing, etc. and we get deeper and deeper in debt. He has a hard time with that argument. Economic Development is for the private sector to do and if we would just let them do it, he thinks things will work out just fine. This is his viewpoint on this. On the national level, he thinks it is important to bring this up. He always talks about the fact that everything that happens on the National level is really a local issue, but everybody lives in a local area, they don’t live in the National government. They live in cities, towns and counties. The big debate right now is the whole heath care debate. He would strongly urge every citizen to call their congressman or senator and get involved in this debate. When he has listened to it, he has not heard anything more convoluted in all of his life. He thinks it is the culmination of really the dumbing down of America and how involved government is in every aspect of our lives. We are now debating every aspect of someone’s health issues and the way they want to buy healthcare. It really is not the business of the government to be involved in this at all. It made him think of a great economist, Milton Friedman, who he has read several of his books and thinks he is a superb intellectual on the economy and he talks about the complexity of making a pencil. He read through all the gyrations about it and all the parts you had to get, wood from certain places, the rubber tips from jungles somewhere where they produce the rubber to make the tips, the lead you had to get, the metal you had to get for the pencil and he brought up how complex it was when dealing with countries that could not even speak the same language and yet it all came together without government involvement and pencils were produced. Pencils today are produced and he does not know if he has ever bought a pencil, actually. He thinks he gets them for free. They are just always around. You can get them anywhere. If you think of all the complexity, all the countries that are involved and all the things that have to happen to get a pencil and it is almost free. If government ever got involved in making a pencil, it would cost $50 a pencil and we would have lines waiting to buy a pencil, but when the free market does it for some reason and it is still a little mystical to him how it all happens, but when you just leave people alone and let them do on their own, prices plummet on everything because people compete. They want customers. They compete for those customers, which in turn drives prices down. We are doing something that is totally opposite, which is driving all the prices up. It just frustrates him so much that we could have it so good and yet we want to complicate things. It is a good lesson, even for our local government. We should not get involved in a lot of things we get involved in and we drive the price up of everything; we need to leave it to the free market. In closing, he also heard that we are talking about next time to get March 14, 2017 139 together to talk about funding for local non-profit agencies. We do that all the time he usually puts zeros on everything. He just does not think we need to fund the local agencies. The one that gets highlighted a lot is the United Way. He personally does not appreciate them funding Planned Parenthood and why we would ever fund them. We need to leave that also to the private sector. Local non-profit agencies, there are tons of them, a lot of them do good work, a lot of them just have a lot of high-paid executives. We do not need to be funding those people. Let them do it on their own and that will be fine. Let the churches get involved, let agencies get involved, let people on their own donate money. The last time he looked, we had over $1 million of tax- payer dollars that we going to fund local non-profit agencies, which is not our role. Let the private sector do it. Supervisor Hooker stated she just had a couple of quick comments. The first is that she would like to mention a local hero. His name is Jerry Caldwell. In 1974, he joined the Catawba Volunteer Fire Department, which formed in 1949 and eventually became known as Station #4. At the time Jerry joined, however, it was a crew of local men who wanted to help protect their fellow citizens and that is what he continues to do. In 1977, Jerry became Volunteer Fire Chief and actively served in that capacity for thirty-eight years. As a result, he holds the accolade of being the “Longest Serving Volunteer Chief” in the history of Roanoke County Fire & Rescue Department. She just wanted to ask for our citizens to remember Mr. Caldwell, he was serving his citizens this morning and was in a serious accident and is currently in the hospital. This is a great man, and would just ask for your thoughts and prayers on his behalf; Jerry Caldwell, continue to think of him. One more thing, there is a workshop series, titled “Violence in the Workplace” that is in partnership with Roanoke County and Roanoke City. It is a thth two-part series on March 28 and April 4 and it is going to be an intense two-part course designed to assist our business community in preventing, planning and responding to workplace violence and active shooter incidents. Unfortunately this is a necessity in our day and time and just want to encourage businesses to participate. Supervisor Peters stated he had a couple of items to touch on. First is that he really enjoyed the presentation of McAffee’s Knob. He thinks that highlights the outdoor recreation here in the Valley. He thinks it puts a renewed look at Explore Park. That is something that all of our folks are looking at and there are a lot of people looking for that and we have a great area and people want to be out to enjoy it. Secondly, we like to talk about free market. We like to talk about promoting free market and talking about entrepreneurships. There is a group, and Annette Patterson is here today. He appreciates her being here; the “Hive” and it is down in Vinton. They had over 50 entrepreneurs in the last gauntlet and there are 84 in the gauntlet now. He is truly thankful for what she is going. She is taking them through classes, “How to be Entrepreneurs” because the free market is where it is. As an entrepreneur our Chairman would appreciate the leadership and the classes you can take early on and probably make your job as a business person a lot easier. He encouraged the Board to get with Ms. Patterson and talk with her about what she is doing. He thinks we should March 14, 2017 140 look at how we can help support her in that effort to promote entrepreneurship in our Valley and our County and ultimately the entire region. It is a growing process and thinks we need to be a part of it. As he ends every meeting, he thanked the employees. They do a great job for us and always ready for the storms that may or may not come, but appreciates everything they do. Also in talking about the budget presentation, a lot of hard work went into that and he appreciates it. Supervisor McNamara stated he had a few things. As was touched on a minute ago, he wanted to give thanks again; putting together a budget is a huge job especially for an organization as large as this. He knows, he has heard that our employee base as Supervisor Peters refers to is a part of it. They are a part of the decision making. They take responsibility and he is real proud of them all. A couple of meetings ago, there was an elderly gentleman from the City of Roanoke who lived in Farrington Apartments in Roanoke City and was inquiring about Roanoke being able to have Roanoke County transit that is available for our elderly and disabled come into the city and ride transport. He would like to thank the County Administrator for providing a response, but essentially since the gentleman is a City resident, the City will not take their residents into the County. They only take their citizens to other places in the City. Roanoke County does take its residents to another location in the County or we will take them to the City. So, again, another little reaffirmation of what a good job the staff is doing and what we try to do for our citizens. He did want to close the loop because he thought he had some good questions. Roanoke County unfortunately does not have the answers. Anybody that is looking for something to do Thursday, March 23, 2017, the Reimagine 419, we are going to have a draft plan reveal of where we are in this process. We have renderings that will help illustrate the look and feel of the future development. The Planning Team will propose the key elements including the five-year implementation strategy and a twenty-year framework for really creating something that is walkable, connected and active for the 419 area. So, if you have any interest at all, it is going to be a great presentation. He does caution, Roanoke County are not developers. We are trying to create the vision and we will be looking toward the private sector to work with us. We certainly will commit our expertise and may do some things from a zoning perspective, but we are truly not the developers, but thinks it is a great process. So, Thursday, March 23, 2017 at the South County Library. If you cannot get there and you live in the County, you can take Cortran. If you live in the City, you have to get Roanoke County to let you come to the County for the meeting. IN RE: CLOSED MEETING At 4:41 p.m., Supervisor McNamara moved to go into closed meeting following the work sessions pursuant to the Code of Virginia Section 2.2-3711 A 1 Personnel, namely discussion concerning appointment to the Virginia Western Community College Board of Directors (At-Large) The motion carried by the following recorded vote: March 14, 2017 141 AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara NAYS: None The closed session was held from 4:55 p.m. until 6:25 p.m. IN RE: CERTIFICATION RESOLUTION At 6:25 p.m., Supervisor McNamara moved to return to open session and adopt the certification resolution. RESOLUTION 031417-2 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. Only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting which this certification resolution applies; and 2. Only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia. On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor Peters and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara NAYS: None 142 March 14, 2017 IN RE: ADJOURNMENT Chairman McNamara adjourned the meeting at 6:26 p.m. iemitted by: Approved by: / I /� r� � � .,___ yC:,,2,s_________, AY Deborah C. J.i s s 'h P. McNamara Chief Deputy ' lerk to the Board airman