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HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/18/2015 - RegularMINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 P.K ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 18, 2015, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON, VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Matthew S. Hare, Vice Mayor 1. Douglas Adams, Jr, Janet Scheid Sabrina M. Weeks STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence, Town Manager Theresa Fontana, Town Attorney Ben Cook, Police Chief Donna Collins, Human Resources Specialist Barry Thompson, Finance Director/Treasurer Gary Woodson, Public Works Director Joey Hiner, Assistant Public Works Director The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at' 7:00 p.m. The Acting Town Clerk called the roll with Roll call Council Member Adams, Council Member Scheid, Council Member Weeks, Vice Mayor Hare and Mayor Grose present. After a Moment of Silence, a member of Boy Scout Troop #235 led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag, 111nder upcoming community events, Council Member Weeks announced an After School Bash at the War Memorial on August 30 th from 2 pmto6t pm. She commented on the success of the Vinton Breakfast Lions Club draw -down event this past Saturday. September 12 1h will be the next Mingle at the Market with the band The Worx. Also, on September 17'h is the annual Chamber Golf Tournament at Hidden Valley Golf Club, Council Member Scheid announced that thEl Greenway Commission's annual picnic will b Sunday, October I I th at 4 prn with the location to bi LOlretenitite02,_ M Vice Mayor are commented on the additional information that was requested at the July 21, 2015 meeting regarding the UDA Grant, The Town Manager commented that staff met with VDOT representatives last week and they provided additional information. The six -year plan and their philosophy behind what the State's perspective is of encouraging the Urban Development districts was also discussed. He felt he is now ready to provide a Memo to Council with more details. Also, Council will be requested to approve the grant and authorize the Town Manager to execute the necessary agreement at an upcoming Council meeting. His Memo will be a part of that package. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented; the motion was , Approved minutes for the regular seconded by Council Member Adams and carried meeting of July 21, 2015 and special by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote meetings of July 22, 2015, July 23, Adams, Scheid, Weeks, Hare, 2015, August 5, 2015 and August Grose; Nays (0) - None. 10,2015 Council Member Adams read the Memo from Chief Cook naming Officer Terry Pittman as Officer of the month for July. The Mayor invited members of the Boy Scout Troop to speak. Daniel Webb reported on the attendance at summer camp in Pulaski County in July and other upcoming events, He began his Eagle Scout project at Thrasher United Methodist Church and is building a storage building to replace an older and smaller building. He also commented that the Troop would be available to help with any projects in the community. The Mayor congratulated Donna Collins on her promotion to Human Resources Director. Under citizens' comments and petitions, Roger Overstreet of Vinton, commented on the closing of the pool and that we need to provide something for the children to do in Town. The next item on the agenda was a briefing on Accident Support Services International (ASSI). Chief Cook commented that this is a Canadian based company that wants to establish a vehicle collision center in the United States. If a vehicle accident is considered minor with no injuries and the vehicles are drivable with no other suspicion circumstances, they can be driven to a collision center, At the center, the driver will be assisted in documenting the damage to their vehicle, photographs will be taken and stickers will be put on any dents and scratches. The center can also fill out the accident report and submit it for them and help them contact their insurance company, The concept works well in very urban areas that have a -- lot of accidents and Roanoke County and Roanoke City are interested in for their localities. This could help free up officers' time to allow them to respond to other calls for service. The Virginia State Police are also interested in the concept because of the interstates, K Chief Cook next commented that for the Town his department would continue with the same level of service that they always have by being present on the scene. After visiting a scene, they may refer someone to the center if there are questions about filing a claim with their insurance, In response to a question regarding who pays for the service, Chief Cook commented that the company will staff the center and they do want to have a police officer at the center. His initial thought for a location was to put it at the DMV, Council Member Adams asked what happens when the two drivers involved have conflicting stories on how the accident happened. There will be no pictures unless one of the drivers takes them. Chief Cook said he has some of the same concerns. He also asked if the Courts were in favor of this and Chief Cook said once they go to the collision center, the officer does not issue a summons. After additional comments from Council Members, Chief Cook reiterated that they will continue to offer the same level of service for accidents as they have been. His response to the other localities was because of the size of the Town and the level of service, they will not be participating in full with the collision center. The dispatchers will know that an officer will be contacted for any accident in the Town. It is his understanding that the County and City may go forward with this if they receive approval from their governing bodies. The next item on the agenda was a briefing on the Department of Motor Vehicles DUl Task Force. Chief Cook first commented that the Virginia DMV has grant funds available from the federal government to establish a regional DUI Task Force. The grant will fund the salary and benefits of an officer from each department as well as their uniform and related equipment and will fully equip a police car and all the associated overtime costs. There is a grant submission that is being processed by the Roanoke County Police Department. He would like for his department to be involved and if they do participate, he would put an officer on this Task Force and hire another one. Howeve r, he will IiAl Chief Cook further commented that he is asking for the consensus of Council at this time to pursue the matter if staffing would allow it. Also, they have to N wait to see if the grant is approved or not, which will be sometime in October. Council Member Scheid asked what would the officers on the Task Force do. Chief Cook responded they will go out and set up check points for DUI's, enhance patrol on 419 where there have been issues with DUI's and on occasion may split up into several teams and work more than one locality at a time, Council Member Adams commented that DUI check points are done from time to time, for example, around holidays, Would this be an ongoing every week type of thing in the Valley and could we expect to see it somewhere most every night. Chief Cook said it would be a five day evening shift, for example, and their sole purpose would be to look for drunk drivers. MR= m7 HU "jet Ulflt� III Ult� franf,�15.rju*, WOL it IS aritful aTeTwIT will run from three to five years. They will have to re -apply every year. Once the funds are gone, the officer, the vehicle and equipment will become a part of our department. Vice Mayor Hare asked if the officer would be available for any off -duty work such as events while on the Task Force and Chief Cook responded yes, Council Member Scheid asked how much the grant would be for and Chief Cook responded he did not know the exact amoutt. In closing, Chief Cook commented that if we choose not to participate either Roanoke County or Roanoke City will provide another officer, because the Task Force needs six. Council gave their consensus to proceed with pursuing the matter of participating in the DMV DUI Task Force if staffing would allow. Vice Mayor Hare asked if this officer would be on the Town's payroll. Chief Cook responded that Roanoke County would be the fiscal agent of the grant and they will disperse funds as they are used. This will be discussed further in the upcoming Public Safety Meeting which is scheduled for Monday, August 24 th , at 4:00 p.m. Further discussion was had regarding the upcoming Advanced Citizens' Police Academy beginning�-1 11 September 22 d which will run for six Tuesday nights. Vice Mayor Hare reviewed the June 2015. Financial Report and commented that the figures shown are unaudited results. The General Fund was within $2,000 of expenditures equaling - revenues. The revenues of the Utility Fund were over expenditures by $305,625 as a result of the rate increases. In the General Fund, the 90% of expenditures and 90% of revenues shown on the summary are related to the grant amount of over $600,000. There were also some unbudgeted expenses such as the fire house. With regard to cash flow, overall between the General Fund and the Utility Fund, we are $32,000 less this year than we were last year. This is attributed to accruals that Mr. Thompson made for items that should have been received, but were not until after the cut-off for this fiscal year. The cigarette tax was less than what we had projected by $100,000. That amount was adjusted in the current budget, Vice Mayor next commented that the real estate tax increase went into effect immediately, so we received $91,000 of that increase in last year's budget. Mr. Thompson commented that our sales tax was very strong at 9% above the projection and came in at about $1.4 million, The meals tax was right at 100% of the projection and the business licenses were just slightly under 100%. These are very good economic indicators. Vice Mayor Hare further commented that the transport fees are doing very well. Council Member Adams commented that the number of calls being answered with the 24 hour fire service and EMS are continuing to grow. The three departments are working together very well. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to approve the Financial Reports for May 2015 and June 2015; the motion was seconded by Council Member Weeks and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Scheid, Weeks, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) - None. Approved Financial Reports for May 2015 and June 2015 R The Mayor commented on the ribbon cutting at the HIVE, our business incubator. Comments from Council Members: Council Member Adams commented on the Life Quest Program held on Tuesday at the War Memorial sponsored by the Lions Club. He then asked the Town Manager for an update on Valley Metro. The Town Manager commented that several options were discussed at the last meeting with Valley Metro. They are waiting for school to get back into session and then will start with some data collection through surveys on the ridership. Then, we will follow that up with at least one community meeting and will bring input and proposals from that meeting back to Council in a work session. Then, ultimately we will need to hold a public hearing. Council Member Weeks commented on the report by the Boy Scout and that she has some projects that they can volunteer for if they are interested - I She asked the Town Manager to give an update on the skate board park. The Town Manager commented that the Walnut Avenue site that was selected was purchased with hazardous mitigation funds So, we have to have approval from FEMA. A comprehensive plan was submitted showing a parking lot, a greenway trail, a skate park concrete pad and a bathroom facility. They responded back that the plan was fine, but they had some concerns Avrt 2t4l wanted the parking lot to be more impervious. The greenway trail was okay to be impervious. We are in the process of responding back to them and have hired an engineer to help us.. Council Member Scheid expressed thanks to Council for their support and confidence in her and the time that the Town Manager spent with her yesterday. Vice Mayor Hare welcomed her to Council. The next item was to consider the reappointment of Mary Beth Layman to the Roanoke Valley Regional Cable TV Committee for a new three-year term to expire August 31, 201& was seconded by Council Member Scheid and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Scheid, Weeks, Hare, Grose; Valley Regional Cable TV Committee to expire August 31, 2018 N The Town Manager reminded Council of the VML Annual meeting in Richmond from October 4- 7, 2015. He and Barry Thompson will be attending and he asked Council to let the Town Clerk know if they plan to attend so she can make all the necessary arrangements. Typically we cancel the Council meeting that falls during the conference. The Town Manager next commented regarding a fall retreat and that we need to try and decide on some available dates. He recommended that we hire a facilitator for this year and mentioned Kathy Baske-Young who we have used before, The Mayor agreed that it is good to have a facilitator every few years and Kathy Baske-Young has done a great job for Council in the past. He feels it is time for Council to start laying some immediate plans as well as long-term plans. Donna Collins thanked Council for their support of a Town softball team for the Roanoke County league. The games start on Monday, August 24'h, and will be every Monday and Wednesday until the end of October. The games will be held at the Arnold Burton complex beside the VA Hospital. Council Member Adams made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hare and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Scheid, Weeks, Hare, Grose; None, The meeting was adjourned at 8:26 p.m. Meeting adjourned APPROVED: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor ATTEST: F\ Acting Town Clerk N