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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/18/2018 - Joint MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINT N TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2018, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS 7F THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINT N, VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley F. Grose, Mayor Keith N. Liles, Vice Mayor Janet Scheid Michael W. Stovall MEMBERS ABSENT: Sabrina McCarty PLANNING COMMISSION N MEMBERS PRESENT: Robert A. Patterson William E. Booth Robert W. Benninger David R. Jones Keith N. Liles STAFF PRESENT: Barry W. Thompson,Town Manager Susan N. Johnson, Executive AssistantlTown Clem Jeremy Carrell, Town Attorney Pete Peters; Assistant Town Manager/Director or Economic Development Anne Cantrell; Treasurer/Finance Director Joey Hiner„ Public Works Director Thomas Foster, Police Chief Anita McMillan, Planning &Zoning Director Mary Beth Layman, Special Programs Director Chsity Barbour, Facilities Manager Eabricio Druond, Assistant Police Chief Valerie Cummings, Detective Sergeant Nathan.McClung, Principal Planner The Mayor called the joint work session to order for a briefing of the final draft of the Public Realm Design guidelines and the Action Plan for the Downtown Urban Development Area (LID A), and the framework for the zoning and subdivision ordinances revisions. Anita McMillan introduced Vlad Gavrilovic with FPR-PC and Max Pastore with Rhodeside & Farwell, the two consultants who provided the professional consulting services. Mr. tavrilovic commented that the Town received the first UDA Grant to establish Urban Development Areas and this is the second one. This is a State program and no Town funds were expended for the grant. Mr. gavrilovic next shared a PowerPoint presentation on Vinton UDAs — Round ll. A copy of the presentation is on file in the Town clerk's Office and will be made a part of the permanent record.) Mr. Booth asked if the landscaping recommendations would be mandatory. Mr. Gavrilovic responded that they are mandatory now, but only in certain districts and zones. The recommendation is that they be mandatory across all districts. Mr. Booth next asked if there were recommendations for certain species. Mr. Gavrilovic responded no, but they would recommend the standards set by the American Nursery& Landscape Association. Mr. Jones asked if the mandate for medical sods approximately three years ago would go along with the Accessory Dwelling Units AEU), recommendation. Nor. Gavrilovic responded that a lot of people use AD Us to provide for family members or individuals they are caring for. However, the medical pods would be independent because the state legislation has specific requirements and that provision should remain in the Town Cade, Council Member Scheid commented that we will need to have some discussion at a future time about Allnbs and V BO because this would begin to more easily allow ADUs and they would become more popular. Council Member Scheid next commented that these are recommended guidelines and nothing would change our current zoning ordinance at this point in time. Ms. McMillan responded that we will have a Public Nearing to adopt the Downtown Action Flan and the Guidelines. Over the next six months there will be a review of the e whole zoning ordinance to see what changes treed to be made. There was further discussion on the requirement for the owner of a primary dwelling unit to live on site in order to build an AEU.. Mr. Pastore next shared a PowerPoint presentation on the Downtown Public realm Design Guidelines and Downtown Action Plan.. (A copy of the presentation is on file in the Town Clerk's Office and will be made a part of the permanent record.)' Council Member Scheid asked how we would incentivize people to make faade improvements to their buildings. Mr. Pastore responded that you could require property owners to use these guidelines in order to participate in the fa ade grant program in downtown or begin to 2 implement more local historic districts. There was further discussion on how to use the guidelines, Ms. McMillan commented that most of the time when someone comes in about the faade grant they ask if we have any incentives. We tell them that if they meet these guidelines they can get up to 50% so at leash we have something they can show to their architect. The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at 7:15 p.m. The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Scheid, Council Member Stovall; Mice Mayor tiles and Mayor Grose present.. Council Member McCarty was absent.. boll call Aftera Moment of Silence, Riley Cummings, led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Chief Faster read a quote from reed Rogers, "Often when you think you're at the end of something, you're at the beginning of something else".. Council Member Scheid made a motion to Approved minutes of Regular Council approve the Consent Agenda as presented, the meeting of December 4, 2018; adopted motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Liles and Resolution No. 2275 appropriating funds carried by the following vote, with all members in the amount of $ ,936. 7 in the General voting. Vote -t Yeas 4 Scheid, Stovall, Fund to the Senior Recreation Program Liles, Grose; Nays g) — None; Absent (1) - account for two luncheon events for McCarty. participating members of the Senior Program and Resolution No. 2277 appropriating funds in the amount of $30,000.0 received from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development HCD) for an Urban Housing Rehabilitation Planning Grant in the General Fund to the CCD Neighborhood Grant account Hoer awards, n roduct on resentations, Chief Foster made brief comments and introduced Mandie Ramirez, the new Records Manager in his Cepartent The next item was the recognition of Mary Beth Layman; Special Programs Director, who would be retiring from the Town at the end of 2013; Council Member Stovall read a Proclamation and presented it to Ms. Layman, The Mayor presented Ms. Layman a print of landmarks in the Town and made comments. After comments from other Members of Council and former Vice Mayor blare in the audience, M . Layman made closing comments. Under citizens' comments and petitionsMatt Aare of Aragona Drive, expressed his appreciation to Town staff for their work during the recent snow event. The next item on the agenda was the consideration of pudic comments concerning the proposed rate changes for the Vinton War Memorial, the Charles R. bill Community Center and Contractual Police Services for the Vinton Police Department; effective January 1, 20% The Mayor opened the Public Nearing at 7.-41 p.m. Public Hearing opened Anne Cantrell commented that the War Memorial currently has a per person adopted rate structure. Staff' has proposed a fixed-rate schedule, which can be advertised on the website and would allow more flexibility based on an -hour or 4-hour block. There is also an hourly, weekday and weekend rate in addition to a wedding or special event rate. With regard to the Community Center, Ives. Cantrell commented these rates are a slight increase from the current rate and include a resident rate of t/hour, a non-resident rate of 0/hour and a frequency rate of $ 5/hour: Both of these rate schedules include a 10% discount for Town employees, non-profit organizations and veterans. With regard to contractual police services; Ms. Cantrell commented that they checked with neighboring jurisdictions and looped at our costs. Currently we are charging $42.00 per lour with two hour minimum and staff is requesting to increase the rate to$4 .0C per hour. Council Member Stovall asked wheat the rate would be for a wedding during the week at the War Memorial. Ms. Cantrell responded that they are charging the business rate, Council Member Scheid commented that the Finance Committee has reviewed the rate schedules and it is important that our police officers working an event get paid the same as officers from a neighboring locality. Hearing no further comments, the Mayor closed the Public Hearing at 7:45 p.m: Public Hearing closed Council Member Stovall made a motion to adopt the Resolution approving the Rental Rate Schedule for the Vinton War Memorial as presented, the motion was seconded by Council Member Scheid and carried by the following vote, Adopted Resolution No 2278 approving with all members voting: Vote -0, Yeas (4) the Rental Rate Schedule for the Vinton Scheid, Stovall, tiles, Grose; bays (0) — bone; liar Memorial Absent t - McCarty. 4 Vice Mayor Liles made a motion to adopt the Resolution approving the Rental Rate Schedule for the Charles R. Hill Community Center a presented, the motion was seconded.by Council Member Scheid and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote -0; Yeas (4) - Adopted Resolution No. 2279 approving Scheid, Stovall„ Liles, Grose; Nays (0) None; the Rental Rate Schedule for the Charles Absent( )- McCarty: R. Hill Community Center Council Member Scheid made a motion to adopt the Resolution approving the increase in rate for contractual police services as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member Stovall and carried by the following vote, with all members voting. Vote -0; Yeas (4) -- Scheid, Adopted Resolution No. 2280 approving Stovall, Liles; Grose, Nays (0) None,Absent(1) the increase in rate for contractual police - McCarty. services The next item on the agenda was a presentation of the ,tune 30, 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report by Brown Edwards & Company, LLP and consider adoption of a Resolution approving and accepting said Report. Anne Cantrell commented that Brown Edwards has put a lot work and effort in our Audit Report and it was presented to our Finance Committee this afternoon. lbs. Cantrell next commented that we did have a clean report this year and then turned the meeting over to Travis Gilmer. Mr. Gilmer first commented that this is the required public presentation of the audit for 21 . The results of the audit and related deliverables were discussed in great detail in the Finance"Committee meeting earlier today. This year was very challenging because of the implementation of a very significant accounting standard and the State got the Information to them later The objectives of the audit are to opine on the financial statements and compliance with laws and regulations that are material to the financial statements. The responsibility does not include fraud protection unless it is material to the financial statements and they also provide comments and suggestions for management to consider. Mr. Gilmer neat commented a clean opinion was issued and that the Town did receive the t FOA award again. The first part of the CAFR is the management discussion and analysis, which is a good overview of the numerics and what happened in the Town this past year. Mr. Gilmer next reviewed several sections of the CAPR beginning with page 8 showing the Balance Sheet for the general Fund. The unassigned fund balance is at a healthy level with a slight increase from last year. They always look at how many months of expenditures the Town could pay for out of fund valance. The national average is two and the Town is currently at 4.46, more than double the national average. On Page 14-1 , in terms of the Water and sewer Fund, the change in net position for the water and sewer and stormwater are bath positive; which means both funds were able to generate enough fees to cover their own expenses. Mr. Gilmer reminded Council to keep up with their rate increases. Over the past five years the funds have been self-sufficient. Mr. Gilmer next referred to Page 44, which related to the pension with VRS. Last year it was approximately $ .8 million and this year it went down to $1.4 million. The market did really well last year and the results are measured a year behind. The Town is only required to contribute the rates set by the VR , which is what every single locality is doing. On Page 47, is the new OPEB standard for this year. With VIRS there are other post-employment benefits such as health insurance credit, group liability; disability, etc. These were always buried in the notes previously; but this standard removed them from the notes and put them on the face of the financial statement to show the actual numbers associated with these items. Page 60 shows the implication of this new standard on each of the three funds. r. Gilmer next referred to Page 7 , which showed the principal water and sewer customers and shows that the Town is diversified and not all of the revenue is coming from one single customer. Also, on Page 98, there is a segregation of duties comment, which dates back to over 11 years ago. The Town has done a great job with this as hest they can, but there are no other findings that we had this year. There is also an audit committee later and a management letter as well as a financial analysis. The Mayor and Members of Council expressed appreciation to the Finance Department staff and Brown Edwards and made comments on the good report. 6 Council Member Scheid_made_a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented, the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor files and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4- Adopted Resolution No. 2281 approving 0 Yeas (4) — Scheid, Stovall, Files, Grose; Nays and accepting the June 30, 201 0)—alone; Absent 1 - McCarty. Comprehensive Annual Financial Report The Town Manager wished Council a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Under reports from Council Committees,. Acme Cantrell first commented that the Finance Committee met today at 2.30 p.m. At that meeting,, Brown Edwards reviewed the CAFR. Information was provided on an upgrade to our website to Version 5 and the County has worked to negotiate a cost to the Town of $6,125. The Committee has directed staff to look for funds to cover this cast or come back to Council for an appropriation. The Finance Department has been given notice by our current provider for our animal license software that they will no longer cover us after April 1 2019 and they are researching ether options. The Senior Program Budget and the Housing Grant Budget appropriations approved under the consent agenda were reviewed. The sales tax legislation was not discussed at this meeting. With regard to the October financials, the cash position looked very goad in October, but was slightly inflated due to the $450,000 we moved out of the CD back into the checking account for the purchase of land. The total cash and Investments in the General Fund was $2. million. The Grant fund was negative $32,000 clue to waiting on a reimbursement. In the Utility Fund, we were at $1.1 million in cash and $713,000 in investments with a total was $1.89 million. We did have cash available in the Storm Ater Fund of $48,000. The total cash and investments at the end of October was approximately$4,300,000. s. Cantrell next commented that with revenues we received 105% of the budget expectation. A good piece of that was sales tax which was $27,000 above what was expected and property taxes are coming in faster than anticipated. Two areas that are being watched that are under target are the fines and forfeitures and charges for services. We are still waiting on some reimbursements for the Grant Fund. 7 In the Utility Fund, we projected $1.1 million and we brought in $1.3 million, which was $152,000 above target. We feel that part of this has to do with meter replacements; more accurate readings on consumption and more timely payments being received in the office. With regard to the Stormwater Fund, we are right on target because that is a transfer between the two funds, s. Cantrell next commented that we are at 3% of our projections for expenditures in the General Fend. We are % of the projections in the Grant Fund which is mainly cede to the Glade Greek Grant that is outstanding for Phase If of 510,000. There is a chance we may be getting close to a single audit in the near future. In the Utility Fund we are at 85% of the budget expectation. We had expected to spend $1.3' million and we only spent $1.1 million, which is due to vacancies are in the departments. The Stormwater Fund is only at 6 %i of budget expectations which is also due to vacancies and the timing of some projects. The last item discussed at the Finance Committee was the budget calendar. We have created a target to try and have the FY2E20 budget adopted on May 21, 2019. Council Member Scheid made a motion to approve the October 2013 Financial Report as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member Stovall and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote -0; Yeas 4) -- Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose, flays 0) — None; approved the October 2018 Financial Absent 1) McCarty. Report The Mayor commented on the success of the Christmas parade, the State of the Town and the ribbon cuttings for the OTB and Blue Valley Vet located in the HIVE. The Mayor also wished everyone a very !Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Comments from Council: Vice Mayor Liles commented on the success of the parade and the Holiday employee lunch,. He congratulated Jenne Cantrell can tieing selected as the employee of the year and commented on the ribbon cutting for the CATS. Council Member Stovall commented on:the momentum of the Town going into 2019 and we have a lot to be proud of Both wished everyone a Merry Christmas. 8 Randy Layman expressed appreciation to Council and the Town generally for taking such good care of his wife; Mary Seth Layman. Also, as the current President of the Historical Society, he invited everyone to visit the Museum when they re- open on January 14 `, Council Member Scheid commented that she wanted to continue the theme of progress and all the things that are happening in the Town and mentioned a series of editorials that were in the paper recounting an article in the Atlantic Magazine written by ,lames l=allows. She then commented that the article spoke about how much faith and positivity there is at the local government level compared to the federal government. Two trends he talked about that are relevant to us are civic stability and long range planning. He also talked about the longevity of Mayers and how that really provides a lot of stability to local governments. Council Member Scheid next commented that the article also talked about libraries and that ten years ago people really wrote libraries oft, but the Town in partnership with Roanoke e County has shown how important a library can be as a place of civic engagement; It is important to recognize that long range planning is important and thinking ahead is important and having the courage to take these big Maps is critical. Vinton has in the past and continues to show the willingness to do that. She then wished everyone a Merry Christmas. William Booth commented from the audience on how much families are an important part of those that serve in public service. Mr. Booth then asked what the current population was of the' own and the Mayor responded approximately 8,2 0. The Mayor also expressed appreciation to Debbie Adams with the Vinton Messenger for her coverage of the meetings and events in the Town. Vice Mayor files made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Council Member Stovall and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) — Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose; bays (l — lane; Absent(1)- McCarty. The meeting was adjourned at 8:25 p.m. Meeting adjourned APPROVED- Bradley E.;Grose,_Mayor 7AEST: Susan N. Johnson; CM,!C, Town Clerk 1