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HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/15/2017 - RegularMINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 15, 2017, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON, VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Keith N. Liles Sabrina McCarty Janet Scheid P qiiliiiiiiiilj� l��i,�ll�illi����l�!111��ill�ll��11111 I 11111� � 11 lic iii! STAFF PRESENT: Barry W. Thompson, Town Manager Susan N. Johnson, Executive Assistant/Town Clerk Pete Peters, Assistant Town Manager/Director of Economic Development Theresa Fontana, Town Attorney Anne Cantrell, Treasurer/Finance Director Tom Foster, Police Chief Anita McMillan, Planning & Zoning Director Donna Collins, Human Resources Director Joey Hiner, Public Works Director The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at 7-00 p.m. The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Liles, Council Member McCarty, Council Member Scheid and Mayor Grose present. Vice Mayor Hare was absent, Roll call After a Moment of Silence, Council Member Scheid led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Under upcoming community events, Council Member McCarty announced the following events: September 1-17-Enemy of the People will be playing at the Star City Playhouse; August 18-Party in the Park with The Tams -Farmer's Market and August 19-Creekfest-Vinton Farmer's Market from 5-10 p.m. The last Mingle at the Market was very successful. Chief Foster announced that his Department took the Mobile Community Services Unit to the July 4 1h Event, the Gladetown Reunion and National Night Out and have several other events scheduled in the community. Under requests to postpone, add or to change the order of agenda items, the Town Manager requested to add two items under Section G, Item No. 4—report from Chief Oakes of the Vinton Volunteer Fire Department and Item No. Introductions of employees from Public Works, :n under Section M, Item No. 2 — Litter Committee. I Council Member Liles made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member McCarty and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0-1; Yeas (4) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent The next item on the agenda was the recognition of Douglas Robertson and Josh Blake. Chief Tom Foster made brief comments regarding a recent pursuit after which a suspect began to struggle with Officer Danny Cox and attempted to disarm him. Mr, Robertson assisted the Officer in subduing the suspect. The Mayor and Chief Foster recognized Douglas Robertson with a Certificate of Appreciation. Josh Blake was not present at the meeting. Chief Tom Foster read his Memo selecting Officers Andrew DiCarlo and Dustin Bray as Officers of the Month for July, both who were *resent at the meeting. The next item on the agenda was a report on the Vinton Volunteer First Aid Crew for July 2017. Chief Wayne Guffey reported the volunteer truck hours was 489 of 492 possible hours for 99%; a unit was in service 100% of the volunteer time; there were 194 total calls with the volunteers handling 98 with a medic truck marked up 89% and a BLS Unit 11 %. They responded to 83 out of 98 calls for 85% and handled 79 out of 98 calls during volunteer hours for 81%. The Fractile Response time was 9.49. There were 2,185 man hours for the month and a total of 130 transports with the volunteers handling 51. There are currently 54 members and three recently became certified — Morgan Elkins and Ethan Sweeney as EMTs and Chris Sayre, Assistant Chief received his EMT-1 certification. Chief Richard Oakes with the Vinton Volunteer Fire Department reported that the members have agreed to staff a truck two nights a week on Tuesday and Saturday nights until they are able to increase the membership. They will be working with Roanoke County Chief Simon and the Town Manager to establish a recruitment process in order to increase the membership. Chief Oakes, on behalf of the volunteers, expressed thanks to I Regular Council meeting of July 18, 2017 0 Council for the budget funding that was granted to the Department for advertising and recruitment and requested another meeting with Council and the Town Manager to continue the open dialogue from the prior meeting. He also indicated that he was going to try and give an update to Council each month. - oey mer ma e n comments ani�Fj—nfir—o-duced William "Bo" Herndon as the new Assistant Public Works Director and Kenny Sledd as the new Utility Systems Manager. The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution appropriating funds in the amount of $4,057.50 to cover travel costs to send a detective to the Forensic Science Academy training session. Chief Foster commented that Detective Todd Bailey had been selected to attend the Academy and only 12 are accepted each year. The training is free, but the Department must cover the travel costs. They are requesting that this amount be taken from the ATF Forfeitures Fund, which is an approved use for those funds. Council Member - Scheid made a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member Liles and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0-1; Yeas (4) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent Adopted Resolution No. 2209 appropriating funds in the amount of $4,fit, .50 to cover travel costs to send a detective to the Forensic Science Academy training session The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution appropriating funds in the amount of $1,820.00 received from the Foundation for Roanoke Valley, Melva P. Jones Fund for Music and Art, to purchase equipment and other needed supplies for the Mobile Community Services Unit. Chief Foster commented that this grant is only i awarded to the Town of Vinton and they plan to use the funds to purchase art supplies to hand out to Adopted Resolution No. 2210 students in the two elementary schools in the Town. appropriating funds in the amount of Council Member McCarty made a motion to adopt $1,820.00 received from the the Resolution as presented; the motion was Foundation for Roanoke Valley, seconded by Council Member Scheid and carried by Melva P. Jones Fund for Music and the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Art, to purchase equipment and other Vote 4-0-1; Yeas (4) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, needed supplies for the Mobile Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent (1) — Hare. Community Services Unit 0 Kits. Chief Foster commented that the intended use of these vests would be in the event of a school shooting or a workplace violence incident to provide our officers with sufficient body armor to go into these situations with maximum protection. He then showed Council a sample of the vest that will be purchased with the grant funds. They will purchase 20 vests with the grant funds and an additional four out of their operating budget so they will have one for each officer. Council Member Scheid commented that Chief Foster attended the Finance Committee meeting and brought a sample of both vests and that these vests would be kept in the trunk of the police vehicle and used only when there is an active shooter incident. : Adopted Resolution No. 2211 Council Member Scheid made a motion to adopt the appropriating funds in the amount of Resolution as presented; the motion was seconded $5,093.00 received from the by Council Member McCarty and carried by the Department of Criminal Justice following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote Services and the Town's required ',-0-1; Yeas (4) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Grose; match of $566.00 to purchase 20 Nays (0) — None, Absent (1) — Hare. Shooter Response Kits The next item on the agenda was to consider appropriating funds in the amount of $3,403.65 for the receipt of an insurance claim made on a Ford Super Duty Truck (ReHab2) of the Fire/EMS Department. The Town Manager commented that on July 18, 2017, this vehicle was damaged during a response to an incident on the Roanoke River. As a result of the incident the iroroi�cer insuntnce-Omg wo�L-I made with the Town's insurance carrier, VML, and payment had been received and deposited into the Recoveries and Rebates account. The Town had to pay the $500.00 deductible out of the Fire/EMS operating budget. This matter was reviewed by the Finance Committee and as a result of the use of this vehicle, the Executive Committee of the Volunteer First Aid Crew will be invited to attend the next Finance Committee on September 21't, Council Member Scheid commented that the Finance Committee had questions about the damage to this vehicle and would like to review the procedures with the Executive Board of the First Aid Crew to ensure this does not happen again. Council Member Liles made a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented; the Adopted Resolution No. 2212 motion was seconded by Council Member McCarty appropriating funds in the amount of and carried by the following roll call vote, with all $3,403.65 for the receipt of an members voting: Vote 4-0-1; Yeas (4) — Liles, insurance claim made on a Ford McCarty, Scheid, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent Super Duty Truck (ReHab2) of the (1) — Hare. Fire/EMS Department The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution authorizing the Town Manager to execute a Performance Agreement to accept a $50,000 Virginia Brownfield's Assistance Fund (VBAF) grant from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VDEP) for the Environmental Phase I and Phase If for the former Holdren's Country Store/Gish's Mill property, Pete Peters first commented that in order to accept the grant funds Council must authorize the referenced Performance Agreement and also agree to effectively monitor the grants outcomes towards reaching our project goals. This grant requires a 50% match, but the Town's purchase of the property more than exceeds this amount. This grant will pay for the assessment and, in the event any environmental concerns are found, will put the Town in a pool of resources to mitigate any of those hazards. Upon approval of Council, we have drafted a contract with Draper it Associates to conduct this environmental review concurrently with the feasibility and conceptual plan study being done by Hill Studio. This will allow the Town to have a basis to move forward with future rehab grant Adopted Resolution No. 2213 applications as well as remove any concerns for authorizing the Town Manager to potential developers of the site. execute a Performance Agreement to accept a $50,000 Virginia Council Member Scheid made a motion to adopt the Brownfield's Assistance Fund (VBAF) Resolution as presented; the motion was seconded grant from the Virginia Economic by Council Member Liles and carried by the following Development Partnership (VDEP) for roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0-1; the Environmental Phase I and Phase Yeas (4) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Grose; Nays (0) — 11 for the former Holdren's Country None; Absent (1) — Hare. Store/Gish's Mill property Anita McMillan commented that in August of last year through the UDA Planning Grant, the Town designated eight development areas after a very involved planning process. In July of this year she was informed of a Tier 3 Grant from OIPI to assist in revising the Town's zoning and subdivision ordinances. For the last five years we have been wanting to revise our very outdated ordinances having only revising them piece -mill to meet the State Code requirements. 91 The grant application is due the end of August and is in the amount of $65,000. Just like the LIDA grant, the OIPI will select the planning consultant to help us to analyze our existing zoning and subdivision ordinances. One of the requirements in submitting the application is for one member of the Planning Commission and the Town Council to serve on the Grant Steering Committee during the process. We should know if we receive the grant by September. The process would begin soon after that and we hope to complete it by December of 2018. Ms. McMillan further commented that when we were discussing updating our two ordinances, two consultants informed her it would cost at least $65-75,000 and she was pleased to find out that this grant is available. Council Member Liles commented that this matter was brought before the Planning Commission at their last meeting and they unanimously approved submitting the application. Council Member Scheid asked if the OIPI would choose the consultant and Ms. McMillan responded yes, but she was hoping they would hire Renaissance to work with us since they were the subcontractor that worked with us on the UDA grant. This consultant is also working with Botetourt and Franklin Counties, Approved submitting an application for the Virginia Department of Council Member Liles made a motion to approve Transportation's (VDOT) Office of submitting the application as requested; the motion Intermodal Planning and Investment was seconded by Council Member McCarty (OIPI) Tier 3 Grant to support and carried by the following roll call vote, with all planning for and adopting revisions to members voting: Vote 4-0-1; Yeas (4) — Liles, the zoning and subdivision codes of McCarty, Scheid, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent the designated Urban Development (1) — Hare. I Areas (UDA) The next item on the agenda was to consider! adoption of a Resolution authorizing the Town Manager to execute a Contract for Professional Legal Services between the Town of Vinton and Roanoke County Commonwealth's Attorney. The Town Manager commented that on June 25, 2015, the Town entered into a Contract for Professional Legal Services with the Roanoke County Commonwealth's Attorney for a two-year period beginning July 1, 2015 and ending June 30, 2017 * That Contract had originally been established in 2004 B-far"MRAMY AMOR No a new two-year period beginning July 1, 2017 and ending June 30, 2019. Town staff has met with the Commonwealth's Attorney in order to make a determination of the feasibility of renewing said contract and has discussed the same with staff from Police, Planning & Zoning, Finance and Administration, At a prior Council meeting, Council had referred the matter to the Finance Committee, After compiling the information and reviewing the contract, staff recommends that it not be renewed. Council Member Scheid commented that the Finance Committee has reviewed this matter over the past several months and met with the Commonwealth's Attorney and then the Police Chief, The contract has also been discussed with our Town Attorney and we can use her in those situations where we do need counsel to represent us. The Finance Committee recommends that we do not renew this Contract, Both Roanoke County and the Commonwealth's Attorney's office will need to notified of the action taken. Council Member Scheid made a motion to adopt the Denied Resolution No. 2214, as Resolution, as revised; the motion was seconded by revised, authorizing the Town Council Member McCarty and carried by the Manager to execute a Contract for following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote Professional Legal Services between 0-4-1; Yeas (0) — None; Nays (4) - Liles, McCarty, the Town of Vinton and Roanoke Scheid, Grose; Absent (1) — Hare. County Commonwealth's Attorney The next item on the agenda was a briefing on petition of Ty Braxton for a Special Use Permit (SUP) to operate a flea market at 1125 and 1135 Vinyard Road, Tax Map Numbers 60.20-3-81.02 and 60.20-3-81.03, zoned GB General Business District. Karla Turman commented that this property is the former Colonial Downs building on Vinyard Road. The Planning Commission had a Public Hearing on August Td and there were two citizens that spoke, one was for the proposed flea market and one was against it. Since the Public Hearing, one other citizen and business owner also commented that they were not in favor of the flea market. The Planning Commission voted 4-1 to recommend denial of the petition, The four members that voted to deny the petition stated that it was a great idea, but the wrong location. The one that voted in favor of it stated it was a good location, would bring in more revenue and felt the Town did not need s-mother building to sit vacant like the old Rite -Aid i_uilding. 0 Ms, Turman further commented that with a Special Use Permit, Council could add special cot such as limiting the hours of the business and the types of items that can be sold; requiring that all permit vendors have a business license and even require that the access road between Niagara Road the traffic off of Vinyard and Hardy, Mr. Braxton had furnished a copy of his application and rules and regulations for his vendors and Ms. Turman provided Council with a copy. Mr. Braxton was in attendance at the meeting. Council Member Scheid asked if Council could restrict the use of the property to only indoor and Ms. Turman responded yes. Council Member Scheid next asked what would be allowed with regard to signage on the property, Ms. Turman responded that the signage that has been proposed is to reface the existing free-standing sign, but she did not have the exact amount of sign area that is allowed for that building. We do allow five permanent signs in the General Business District and there is one on the building and the free-standing sign. Mr. Braxton has stated that he would allow individuals to advertise, but that would be on the inside of the building. The Town Clerk indicated that Council will have their Public Hearing on the matter at their September 5th meeting. Council Member Scheid commented on the work that staff had done on this matter and that the Memo from Pete Peters of his assessment from an economic development perspective of this use was very helpful, The next item on the agenda was a briefing on Amendment to the Extra -Territorial Arrest Agreement between the City of Roanoke, County of Roanoke, Town of Vinton and City of Salem. Chief Foster commented that this Agreement allows all of the officers with the cooperating other partnering jurisdictions. This agreement was first entered into on April 13, 2013 and has remained in effect since that date. Recently in a review with other Police Chiefs, it was discovered that Section 3, Notification, referred to the RACJIN database. The RACJIN qystem no longer exists and they thought it was important to revise that section to make it comply N with the database systems that are currently being used, In further review by the Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Betty Jo Anthony, she indicated that having the reporting procedure in the agreement was not necessary. It could complicate the matter somewhat in an arrest situation that could lead to dismissal of some cases by giving more opportunities for dispute in a Court hearing. Based on her recommendation and in agreement with the other Chiefs, they elected to remove that section entirely from the agreement. The Mayor indicated that the agreement will be o the next agenda for Council's consideration an], pproval. The next item on the agenda was a report from the Finance Committee. Council Member Scheid commented that the Finance Committee met yesterday and many of the items they discussed have already been covered such as the Commonwealth's Attorney's contract, the damage to the Rehab vehicle and the follow-up with the Volunteer Fire Department. The Committee continues to analyze the Valley Metro ridership data so they can make a proposal to both Council and Valley Metro as to how we are going to revise our service. This will require a series of public hearings and we want to make sure we have the total package of revisions before we schedule these public hearings. They are hoping to meet with the Valley Metro personnel at their next meeting on September 21 5' to review the hour - by -hour, stop -by -stop data that they have provided to us so we can make an informed decision and recommendation back to Council. The Committee also discussed the issue of Stormwater and the need to move forward with hiring a consultant to get that study completed so - we can figure out what we need to do about a Stormwater fee. The next item that was added to the agenda was a report from the Litter Committee. Council Member Scheid commented that the Committee met today and that the Lake Drive Shopping Center is looking better especially where the recycle bins were once located. She thanked Planning and Zoning for sending out information flyers to some of the commercial properties in Town with regard to their dumpsters, trashcans I 9 and parking lots and the Committee requested that the same flyer be sent to all of the commercial properties in the Town. I The Committee will be requesting the Vinton Messenger to do an educational piece on not just the litter issue in the Town and what steps we are taking, but also the garbage collection issue with putting the trash in bags and in cans. They continue to be pleased with the Sheriff's Department and their monthly clean-up of the Town. The Chief will be working with the Sheriff to designate certain streets to be cleaned up. The Town Manager commented on some of the old trashcans that were downtown that are being refurbished and placed at some key locations by Public Works and expressed appreciation to them for assisting with the litter efforts. Council Member Liles commented that he recently saw Mike Bandy and the Kroger Manager picking up trash and the Town Manager commented they have had a very good response from Kroger, Bob Lewis from McDonald's and the manager of the Goodwill. Council Member Scheid commented that all three of them have attended at least one of their meetings. They have learned a lot about what we are trying to achieve and we have learned a lot from them about the challenges that they have. The Town Manager commented that Council Member Scheid's passion about litter has caused us to move forward in a lot of areas and he thanked her for her efforts. The Mayor commented that we are trying to schedule the Council Retreat for Friday, October 27th, and asked that Council Members check their schedules. He commented on an email that went out concerning the Town Manager's evaluation and that a suggestion has been made that we limit that to just the evaluation portion and do the goal setting at the retreat or some other time. The Mayor commented on the hard work by staff and the Council Committees. Under comments by Council: Council Member Liles commented on the success of the Gladetown Reunion. Council Member McCarty commented on the success of the Gladetown Reunion; welcomed Anne Cantrell back and commented on Chief Foster and Pete Peters recent television spots, ITE Council Member Scheid commented on the eveffI that happened in Charlottesville over the weekend and stated that it is all of our responsibility to stand up against intolerance, racism and violence and we have to advocate, preach and teach love, kindness and the beauty of civil rights. She then stated the names of the three people who died defending our rights —Heather D. Heyer, Lt. H, Jay Cullen and Trooper Berke M. M. Bates. Council Member Liles made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Council Member McCarty carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0-1; Yeas (4) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent (1) - Hare, The meeting was adjourned at 8:39 p.m. _ Meeting adjourned Bradley E. Grose, Mayor TBT: ,,� Y Susan N. Johnson, C C, Town Clerk im