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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/8/2017 - Regular May 9, 2017 191 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 May 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. Chairman McNamara then recognized the school officials in the audience. 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: PROCLAMATIONS, RESOLUTIONS, RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS 1. Proclamation declaring the Month of May 2017 as Business Appreciation Month in Roanoke County (Jill Loope, Director of Economic Development) The proclamation was read by the Clerk. Mr. Brian Sass, President and CEO of Double Envelope was in attendance to accept the proclamation on behalf of the business community May 9, 2017 192 IN RE: NEW BUSINESS 1. Resolution approving the Roanoke County Public Schools (RCPS) budget for fiscal year 2017-2018 upon certain terms and conditions (Mr. Tim Greenway, School Board Chairman, Roanoke County Public Schools (RCPS); Dr. Gregory Killough, Ed. D. Superintendent, RCPS; Mrs. Penny Hodge, CPA, SFO, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and Operations, RCPS) Dr. Killough started off the presentation. Supervisor McNamara commented they have the lowest per pupil cost, second best out of 132; he is proud of what they do. Supervisor Bedrosian indicated he has a different perspective, citizens’ money. Based on charts provided in an earlier joint meeting, there is a decline of 1,000 students over 10 years, yet the spending continues to go up. He home schooled his children so knows a little bit about. Supervisor Bedrosian stated he does not think it is sustainable. He stated with regard to illegal immigration, we cannot talk about so some of his dollars are going to people illegal. This bothers him and is something needs to be looked at. Next he stated the average teacher pay is $50,000; entry pay is $33,000. The average student grant is approximately $10,000. Classroom costs $250,000 a class, giving the teacher $50,000 where is the other $200,000 going? It just seems too much and thinks we need to look at those. Debt load is final thing. He never really could understand why the buildings get bigger; don’t really need these huge buildings. There are a lot of different channels now: online, home schooling, tax credits, Enrollment seems to decline more and yet we continue to building big buildings. He advised it is totally unsustainable for the future, but the Board continues in lock step. Supervisor Peters commended the school office on their work. He indicated education is all about where our Economic Development will go. He added it is nice to have the base here. He commented on the EMT program noting not everybody is college bound. RESOLUTION 050917-1 APPROVING THE ROANOKE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS BUDGET FOR FISCAL YEAR 2017-2018 UPON CERTAIN TERMS AND CONDITIONS WHEREAS, State Code 22.1-93 requires the governing body of a County to prepare and approve an annual budget for education purposes by May 15 or within thirty (30) days of the receipt by the County of the estimates of state funds, whichever shall later occur; and WHEREAS, the Roanoke County School Board approved their fiscal year 2017- 2018 budget on March 30, 2017, and subsequently amended the budget on April 27, 2017. May 9, 2017 193 THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia that the fiscal year 2017-2018 Roanoke County Public Schools budget as set forth by the School Board’s adoption on March 30, 2017, and incorporating approved amendments to that budget on April 27, 2017, a copy of which is incorporated by reference herein, is hereby APPROVED, and the County Administrator and the Clerk are authorized to execute and attest, respectively, on behalf of the County, any documentation, in form approved by the County Attorney, necessary to evidence said approval. On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor Assaid and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian 2. Resolution granting signatory authority to the County Administrator, or his designee, to execute project administration agreements with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) (David Holladay, Planning Administrator) Mr. Holladay outlined the request for resolution. Supervisor McNamara asked if once the project was approved does the project get delayed because of this signature? Mr. Holladay responded in the negative stating it could happen. There was no motion to approve so the resolution was denied. IN RE: PUBLIC HEARING 1. Public hearing for citizen comment on the proposed fiscal year 2017-2018 Operating Budget and the proposed fiscal year 2018- 2027 Capital Improvement Program (Christopher R. Bever, Director of Management and Budget) The following citizens spoke: Mary Jo Fasie, President of the Roanoke Valley Sister Cities and a resident of Roanoke County in the Hollins District. Today, she would like to ask the Board to continue support of the organization, which involves quite a few residents in Roanoke County. She provided a brochure that she will go through rapidly. They are seven sister cities, one is Opole, Poland and Roanoke County has an agreement with Opole, Poland as its Sister City. The other sister cities also have a large participation from Roanoke County residents. Roanoke Valley Sister Cities is committed to fostering and encouraging mutual understanding, friendship and peace through cultural, medical, economic, educational and professional exchanges. May 9, 2017 194 Through our programs, we have our seven sister cities on four continents. There is a list of our programs in Roanoke County that have involved residents of Roanoke County and activities that are coming up in the New Year. So, 36% of Roanoke County members are also members of our sister cities. So, it is not just a Roanoke City organization, it is a valley-wide organization. Some of the programs that we have done for the past year that have involved Roanoke County residents are celebration of the Chinese Lunar New Year at the Taubman, a trip to Saint-Lo France, which involved a lot of Roanoke County students and South County Library presentation on the Kisumu, Kenya Safe Water Project. We have celebrations, so we do have a good time and we have celebrated in Roanoke County restaurants and parks and in addition we are sending a delegation to Opole, Poland, which will be leaving in May. We have interns from Saint-Lo France. We have had Polish food at Local Colors. We have had two delegations coming from Lijiang, China and we have had an artist coming from Saint-Lo France who went to William Byrd High School and worked with the students. We always try to connect with the schools with our visitors. We had an International Cookie Sale at Old Salem Days. We had a specialist on the Zika virus coming from Florianopolis who spoke to residents. We have had interns, we do an exchange with interns. In addition, she just finished an artist competition for young artists in the valley and the top three prizes went to Roanoke County students. She applauds the art program in Roanoke County. So, they are looking forward to sending an artist this summer to Opole, Poland and students will be coming from Saint-Lo, France and they will be housed by residents of Roanoke County. Other celebrations and activities will be going on throughout the year. In addition, they will be having a Christmas Gala to celebrate Christmas customs throughout the world and in our seven sister cities and are looking forward especially to a Polka Fest. They are bringing in a polka band for a band fest, which will be in 2018. So, they would like for the Board to continue to support their organization. Wesley Best stated that the last time he was before Roanoke County Administration was talking about mountain biking at Carvins Cove, some 18 years ago and he is here to talk about mountain biking at Explore Park today. Specifically, he would like to make sure that the funding that is in place for Explore Parks in the coming budgets gets the attention it deserves. Explore has gone through many iterations over the years. The one thing it has been consistently successful with is the outdoors and outdoor recreation at Explore. A big part of that has been mountain biking, trails that the volunteers have built out there and there is a real opportunity now that our local International Mountain Biking Association Club, Roanoke IMBA, has been working on in conjunction with Roanoke County to provide a type of facility for mountain bikers that does not exist in the valley. Roanoke is very well known these days for mountain biking. He was at Carvins Cove at the parking lot that Roanoke County allowed the City to build. May 9, 2017 195 For many years he was out there on Sunday riding and he counted when he arrived somewhere around 11:00 am, there were 27 cars in the parking lot, including Dodge Sprinter Vans from Florida who were there using the trails at Carvins Cove. That is the kind of thing that people are coming into our community to do. Both when they are visiting and also bringing businesses to our area. It is giving youngsters the opportunity to get out and actually be healthy; getting away from video games and he wishes he could get his own child interested in that. This kind of place is going to give an opportunity that does not exist at a lot of those other places. That, in conjunction with the other plans to make it a real outdoor recreation destination, is an economic development issue and the health of the community issue. He would just like to ask that real consideration be given to that as the budget it looked at and whether funding is going to be there for Explore because he thinks it should be. Kristine McCormack stated she is the President of the International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) and she resides at 2037 Sherwood Drive, SW in Roanoke at 24015 and she was here last year to speak in support of adoption of the Master Plan for Explore Park, so she wanted to say thank you for approving that plan, we are very excited. As President of the Roanoke chapter of IMBA, she is back today to ask that the Board support funding of the Master Plan for Explore Park. Now, as an IMBA chapter, she considers themselves to be partners with the County in development at Explore Park through community fund raising, industry grants that we can bring to the table, boots on the ground labor to build and maintain the trails. Explore Park has the potential to be an amazing destination for outdoor recreation. It is about getting visitors off the Blue Ridge Parkway to spend time and money in Roanoke County so that helps with development, but she is also here today to talk as a mom and a female mountain biker, to talk about what an asset the skills park will be for our community and that is the graphic here (provided the Board with copies). For the last 12-18 months since she has been sitting on a committee and they have been working on obtaining a National designation to be designated a ride center from IMBA; it is actually an international designation. What this does is recognize the Roanoke region as a ridge center for mountain bike tourism. She has spent time traveling to Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina and Alabama as a tourist for mountain biking and we would like to get those people to come to Roanoke and through the work that we have done through this committee trying to obtain this designation we have realized that we have amazing mountain biking in the region, but we also have been working on a gap assessment and we have realized that we don’t have really any beginner friendly options. So, looking at this plan that we have put together in conjunction with the Parks and Recreation Department to offer this concept of a skills park is sort of the missing piece. The piece that we don’t have to encourage people to get out on bikes. This is a progressive skills park design so it essentially starts with children on balance bikes. May 9, 2017 196 They don’t even have to know how to ride a bike to take advantage of the skills park. It helps them build their skills and learn this sport in a safe environment. Having this concept and having this bike park as part of the Explore Park Master Plan, she believes as a mom and a female mountain biker would be an asset to our community. So, she is urging the Board to approve the budget for the Explore Park Master Plan as part of the Parks and Recreation budget. IN RE: FIRST READING OF ORDINANCES 1. Ordinances to appropriate funds for: (a) Fiscal year 2017-2018 operations budget and approval of the Classification and Pay Plan for fiscal year 2017-2018 for Roanoke County, Virginia; Mr. Bever outlined the request for these ordinances. There was no discussion. Supervisor McNamara’s motion to approve the first reading and set the second reading for May 23, 2017, was seconded by Supervisor Hooker and approved by the following vote: AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian (b) Fiscal year 2017-2018 capital budget for Roanoke County, Virginia; Supervisor McNamara’s motion to approve the first reading and set the second reading for May 23, 2017, was seconded by Supervisor Peters and approved by the following vote: AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian (c) Fiscal year 2017-2018 transfers to and on behalf of Roanoke County Public Schools budget for Roanoke County, Virginia; Supervisor McNamara’s motion to approve the first reading and set the second reading for May 23, 2017, was seconded by Supervisor Hooker and approved by the following vote: May 9, 2017 197 AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian (d) Fiscal year 2017-2018 operations budget for Roanoke County Public Schools; Supervisor McNamara’s motion to approve the first reading as amended and set the second reading for May 23, 2017, was seconded by Supervisor Hooker and approved by the following vote: AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian (e) Fiscal year 2017-2018 capital budget for Roanoke County Public Schools (Christopher R. Bever, Director of Management and Budget) Supervisor McNamara’s motion to approve the first reading and set the second reading for May 23, 2017, was seconded by Supervisor Hooker and approved by the following vote: AYES: Supervisor Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: Supervisor Bedrosian ABSTAIN: Supervisor Assaid Supervisor Assaid stated that since he was the Director of Facilities and Operations for the Schools and the Board is voting on an item that provides money for capital projects for the schools and after consultation with the County Attorney’s office, while he has determined that he does not have a legal conflict of interest in voting on school issues, he wants to avoid all appearance of impropriety in his vote today so he will be abstaining on the schools capital budget. 2. Ordinance authorizing the vacation of a portion of a 16.5 foot public utility easement (PUE) located on 5501 Valley Drive, Windsor Hills Magisterial District on Tax Map No. 067.10-01-21.00- 0000 in Farmingdale Subdivision (Tarek Moneir, Deputy Director of Development Services) Mr. Moneir outlined the request for ordinance. There was no discussion. May 9, 2017 198 Supervisor McNamara’s motion to approve the first reading and set the second reading and public hearing for May 23, 2017, was seconded by Supervisor Assaid and approved by the following vote: AYES: Supervisor Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: None IN RE: SECOND READING OF ORDINANCES 1. Ordinance accepting and appropriating $200,000 to the Roanoke County Public Schools from the sale of surplus computer equipment (Michael Lawrence, Network Manager; Mark Trull, Systems Analyst, RCPS) Ms. Hodge, Assistant Superintendent of Finance and operations, advised no changes from the first reading. There was no discussion. ORDINANCE 050917-3 ACCEPTING AND APPROPRIATING FUNDS IN THE AMOUNT OF $200,000 TO ROANOKE COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS FROM THE SALE OF SURPLUS COMPUTER EQUIPMENT WHEREAS, the Roanoke County Public Schools has a laptop program for grades 9-12; and WHEREAS, during the school year 2016-2017, Roanoke County Public Schools identified 1,600 MacBook Air laptops and 1,000 Dell latitude laptops that are beyond their useful life; and WHEREAS, to ensure proper data removal and destruction of all equipment, the state vendor, Powerhouse Recycling, will perform these services and pay RCPS for the surplus equipment; 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 April 25, 2017, and the second reading was held on May 9, 2017. BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County, Virginia, as follows: 1. That the sum of $200,000 is hereby appropriated to the Roanoke County Public Schools; and 2. That this ordinance shall take effect from and after the date of adoption. On motion of Supervisor Peters to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor McNamara and carried by the following recorded vote: May 9, 2017 199 AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: None IN RE: CONSENT AGENDA RESOLUTION 050917-2 APPROVING AND CONCURRING IN CERTAIN ITEMS SET FORTH ON THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AGENDA FOR THIS DATE DESIGNATED AS ITEM J- 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 May 9, 2017, designated as Item J - Consent Agenda be, and hereby is, approved and concurred in as to each item separately set forth in said section designated Items 1 through 6 inclusive, as follows: 1. Approval of minutes – April 11, 2017 2. Resolution expressing the appreciation of the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County to John D. Loope, Parks Maintenance Worker, after more than fifteen years of service 3. Request to approve fiscal agent agreement with Roanoke Valley Resource Authority 4. Request to approve fiscal agent agreement with Western Virginia Regional Jail Authority 5. Proclamation declaring the week of May 21 through 27, 2017 as Emergency Medical Services Week in the County of Roanoke 6. Confirmation of appointment of the Private Community Resource Provider to the Roanoke County Community Policy and Management Team (CPMT) On motion of Supervisor McNamara to adopt the resolution, seconded by Supervisor Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: None May 9, 2017 200 RESOLUTION 050917-2.a EXPRESSING THE APPRECIATION OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF ROANOKE COUNTY TO JOHN D. LOOPE, PARKS MAINTENANCE WORKER UPON HIS RETIREMENT AFTER MORE THAN FIFTEEN (15) YEARS OF SERVICE WHEREAS, Mr. Loope was employed by Roanoke County on October 9, 2001 on a part-time basis and December 31, 2005 on a full-time basis; and WHEREAS, Mr. Loope will retire on April 1, 2017, after fifteen years and six months of devoted, faithful and expert service to Roanoke County; and WHEREAS, during Mr. Loope’s tenure with the Parks, Recreation and Tourism Department, he has served with professionalism and dedication to provide support for Park Projects, Facility Repairs, Park Entrance Gate and Barrier System Program, and the Parks, Recreation, and Tourism Special Events for the safe and enjoyment experience of our visitors and citizens; and WHEREAS, Mr. Loope provided staunch support to the Roanoke County Street Sign Program in support of the Roanoke County Police Department and County Emergency Operations, and the Parks Work Order Program to benefit all Departments of Roanoke County. 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 JOHN D. LOOPE for more than fifteen 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 Hooker and carried by the following recorded vote: AYES: Supervisors Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, McNamara, Peters NAYS: None A-050917-2.b A-050917-2.c A-050917-2.d A-050917-2.e May 9, 2017 201 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 Assaid, Bedrosian, Hooker, Peters, McNamara NAYS: None 1. Unappropriated, Board Contingency and Capital Reserves Report 2. Outstanding Debt Report 3. Proclamations signed by the Chairman IN RE: REPORTS AND INQUIRIES OF BOARD MEMBERS Supervisor Bedrosian stated this is an important time with Roanoke County doing the budgets and he would like to speak to the people that are watching. “We are spending your money.” It is not we are generous and spending our money, we are spending your money. So, it is very, very important and he takes it very seriously. We all have different ideas of how money should be spent. He thinks money should be spend very frugally and only do the things that we absolutely have to do and let the private sector do the rest. So, with that it would like to dovetail into the speakers that spoke today. In general topics with some of these things that are outside the basic services that Roanoke County provides. He appreciates the passion of people for Sister Cities and the trails and all that. He view on those things is that the private sector should supply the funding for all of that and here is why. One of the big issues that he has always had is with United Way and he has had the issue because just like people asking for money and then they spend money and give money to Planned Parenthood and he does not like it. So, you may say, “Al, who cares what you like or not.” He agrees except when spending taxpayer dollars. Then, he does care how we spend the money. So, he always thinks that the best remedy for all that is not to give anybody any money and let them spend the money the way they want and let them do it. We just really do the basics because he may not have a passion for a couple of things that were talked about today, but yet he would be forced to use his money to spend on that. He may have passions for other things and he wants government funding to do those things and make that available because he has a passion for it and then you get into a lot of conflict and that is basically what has happened to our Country over the last several hundred years. Everybody is using the government to put money toward the things they like, which in not really the role of government. So, he just tries to go right down to the basics and just provide the basics and give the people all of their tax money back and then let them do it and let private enterprise do it and let private enterprise grow and prosper based on the fact that they are doing it right and the customers like May 9, 2017 202 them and will keep them in business and keep them profitable. So, it always seems to work the best way and it is not like he does not care for any of these things. It is just that he does not think we would be funding them; which is the real big difference. Also, to go back to the schools and the things he laid out to the schools, again it is back to the basics on that too based on the amount of money we spend to do certain things. He has five children and he loves education and as he has said before, he is an educator himself, so he thinks it is great. It is just how money we spend and is it sustainable. It really isn’t. When he looks forward, he does not know how we are going to keep it going. He thinks every year the Board keeps pushing it further and further. We don’t know how to handle it and we just keep borrowing more money to keep it sustainable; not a good plan. Supervisor Hooker stated she has a couple of things she wants highlighted and has given a few photos to the Clerk to show. She had a great days visiting Laurel Woods last Saturday and they had a “fire-wise” community clean-up day. (Please see the photos.) Neighbors in the Laurel Wood drive community hold annual days for “fire-wise”, which is a national program. They are actually the only neighborhood in all of Roanoke County that goes through these reviews. It is a prevention action to help protect homes within the wooded community on the side of Ft. Lewis Mountain from potentially devastating forest fires. It was just a great community day with neighbors coming forward and there were a couple of other people that she would like to highlight. She thinks most every home was represented by someone coming to help cleanup and work the property. It was their fourth year for this endeavor. The Mason’s Cove Fire Department sends volunteers and they work hard and long for this community. Just really appreciate all of their help, especially Chief Schoonover who is just so valuable in many areas, not just with helping to rescue the people off of the Appalachian Trail; many areas and this is just one more thing that they do for our community. The Virginia Department of Forestry also is represented each year, volunteers, Joseph Boswell, Senior Area Forrester is who helped. It was really a great day. A great day of community working together so she wanted to comment on them. One other thing that she wanted to mention in closing is that the Gauntlet has been an awesome process in the Town of Vinton. They have their awards she believes this Thursday night and she is looking forward to hearing all about that. She appreciates all that The Advancement Foundation has done in that endeavor; great thing for Roanoke County, Vinton. She has a student that is participating in it and is an all-around a great thing. Supervisor Peters stated he would also like to comment on the Gauntlet, which will be taking place this Thursday night. What an awesome thing that Annette Patterson has taken the lead on for the last two years. This is a way to get the entrepreneurs out. A lot of people have an idea, they have a dream, but they don’t know how to make it a reality. What they are doing through the Gauntlet and The Advance Foundation is just a wonderful thing. He believes that truly our communities are the base of our economic development; something we like to sit here and talk about. May 9, 2017 203 Again, he would like to thank our employees for what they are doing. We are going to had another rough weekend with all the rain and sounds like another one is coming. Thank you to everyone for what they do. Supervisor McNamara stated in 10-12 minutes we approved all the first readings of the budgets. The amount of time and discussion that went into those approvals really belies the amount of work and effort that went into creating and gotten it where it is. It is literally full-time work for several departments; full-time work for the last four months and part-time work for the rest of the year as well. Thank you, very, very much. He thinks you all have developed a good budget under the guidance of Mr. Gates, Mr. Bevers, Ms. Owens and the respective department, etc. Thinks you have all done a fabulous job and we are very, very pleased. The final approval of those budgets will be in two weeks, which will be the final reading. IN RE: ADJOURNMENT Chairman McNamara adjourned the meeting at 5:05 p.m.1Su• itted by: Approved by: it aiit/ • ) — „C___________,, �� �•r!� Deborah C. J.c/ J. -• P. McNamara Chief Deputy C erk to the Board .i May 9, 2017 204 PAGE LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY