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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/4/2014 - RegularI AMO Its] I ZMAIN -001 IN *I 10 Le"I - MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor William W. Nance, Vice Mayor 1. Douglas Adams, Jr. Robert R. Altice STAFF PRESENT- Ryan Spitzer, Assistant to the Town Manager Susan N. Johnson, Town Clerk Elizabeth Dillon, Town Attorney Stephanie Dearing, Human Resources Director Barry Thompson, Finance Director/Treasurer Ben Cook, Police Chief Mark Vaught, Lieutenant -Services Anita McMillan, Planning & Zoning Director Gary Woodson, Public Works Director Joey Hiner, Assistant Public Works Director Chris Linkous, Fire/EMS Captain The Mayor called the work session to order at 5:30 p.m. The first item was a briefing on the Virginia Stormwater Management Program (VSMP) and Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s), Roanoke County/Town of Vinton Stormwater Management (SWM) Development Study and Stormwater Advisory Committee (SAC) Meetings. Anita McMillan began by commenting that the cover sheet included with the agenda gave an update on the Stormwater Advisory Committee and the study by AMEC that the Town is participating in with Roanoke County to evaluate our existing program and how much the new requirements will cost the Town and the County over the next five years. Ms. McMillan then began her Power Point presentation, There are three focus areas of the Virginia Stormwater Management Program in the Town as a result of the changes that came about last year, All locaes in Virginia have to start adopting this Program by July 1, 2014. Regarding the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, we a -"- still operating under the current program and starrting t permitting in 2003, In the 2000 Census, we were informed th the Town meets the definition of urbanized, which has a thresho of 2,000 per square feet and we are at 3.2 square miles with population of 8,082. That makes us an MS-4 locality. The MS permit is good for five years and we re -submitted in 2008 a again in April 2013 for the next five years. The new permit h requirements that have to be addressed by 2015, but the annu4. report due in September must state what we are going to do meet the VSMP. There are six minimum control measures required by the MS-4 Permit —public education and outreach, public participation and involvement, illicit discharge detection and elimination, construction site stormwater runoff control, post -construction stormwater management for new development and redevelopment and good housekeeping/pollution prevention for municipal facilities. These measures are posted on the Town website along with the components of the actual Permit. The VSMP applies to every locality which is very similar to the Erosion and Sediment Control (ESC) laws. Roanoke County has been the Town's agent for the ESC since 1984. However, the Stormwater Permit and the MS-4 cannot be transferred to f Roanoke County. Certain components can be contracted out such as the review and inspection, but the administration and enforcement is the Town's responsibility. The VSMP applies to an v.cre or greater. Vice Mayor Nance asked if the disturbance itself has to be one acre or the whole lot that the disturbance is taking place on. The response was the size of the lot. If the property is a part of a common plan development, such as a subdivision, and the original plan does not address the stormwater, a property owner that buys a lot will have to apply for the VSMP Permit. We have been asking about this requirement in all of our meetings because all of the Town properties are part of a subdivision which is considered common plan development. We have developed a policy with Roanoke County to define what we consider common plan development for a residential lot and we included that with our draft submittal prior to January 15, 2014. We are waiting to hear from the DEQ. Even though the set effective date is July 1, 2014, localities acrosli Virginia have submitted legislation that the implementation b delayed for another year, but they do not think it will be approved. Ms. McMillan continued with her presentation and commente• that the Program is being transferred from the Virginia Depatr�ltmen of Conservation Recreation to the Department of Environmenta Quality. Some other changes will require land owners to b responsible for the long-term maintenance of the stormwater management facilities. Some properties in the Town have thes facilities underground and even though they show up on th subdivision plats, some of the land owners are not aware of them. We sent letters in 2007 to advise these land owners. It will b interesting to see how we will be able to enforce this requirement. Roanoke County's attorney has reservations about County and Town personnel going on these private properties to enforce the maintenance and we are waiting to get an answer from DEQ on this as well. As mentioned before, when the annual report is submitted, we M requirements. Regionally we have met several times over the past year and continue to meet with Roanoke City, Roanoke County and the City of Salem to discuss the three areas that we need to put emphasis on. There is also the area of illicit discharge detection and elimination procedures, the training schedule and program that needs to •« improved for each locality and the last one is to inspect the • stormwater management facilities once a year and all private ones once every five years. The Town has four stormwater detention basins-Gladetown area, two on Hardy Road and one at the War Memorial. There are about 62 private facilities in the Town including • that are underground, This year we have to start sending letters to the • property owners because we only have stormwater maintenance agreements for recent developments. The Mayor asked if these inspections were being performed by Roanoke County and Ms. McMillan responded yes pursuant to the Memorandum of Understanding that we have for them to review *ur stormwater plan and to •# our inspections. Some of the changes also relate to the single-family stormwate management criteria to try and encourage more low-impac development instead of detention ponds in subdivisions, Thi would create more individual facilities for the Town to have to inspect to be sure they meet the guidelines. There has been a problem with getting homeowners associations to maintain facilities, so the feeling is that individual homeowners will be more responsible and it will be easier to contact them rather than a group. Another change is known as Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan (SWPPP) for all the Town's high priority facilities. By 2015 we have to have a SWPPP for each of the facilities, such as the Town garage, the fuel station, and the Fire Department if they have storage tanks. A Nutrient Management Plan will also be required for town -owned properties, such as the War Memorial, to use fertilizer. Ms. McMillan continued with the requirements for homeowne"- associations such as a legally binding maintenance agreeme regular and on -going inspections. They have to submit that th inspect every year, but the town will be required to inspect eve five years. Regarding training, in the annual reports over the past ten years, we have been stating that individual employees attended off -site training, but now the Town is required to have a specific training program on the illicit discharge detection and elimination and we will have to •i if personnel have gone through haz-mat training. Q Roanoke County, as our current E&S agent and stormwater inspector, has developed written procedures which were submitted with our initial draft, all of which will have to be approved and adopted by Council by the end of April for submittal to the DEQ by May 15th. Ms. McMillan made further comments that this is the Town's permit and everyone will have to have ownership. Everyone needs to be trained to recognize illicit discharge during the course of their regular jobs. There are two localities being used as a pilot study for the E- Permitting process, one in Alexandria and one in the Chesapeake area. So far we have not been told of any locality in Southwest Virginia. Roanoke County is going to start doing the training that we will be able to participate Watershed Implementation Plan that is being developed by DEQ. We started in June of last year with public meetings and working groups, The three TMDLs for the Town are sediment, e- coli/bacteria and PCB. For some reason when DEQ did the study *n PCB, they did not include the Town, but Roanoke County does have PCB in the Wolf Creek. In closing, Ms. McMillan responded to a question about where t process is now. There are five public meetings scheduled for fl� week. After these meetings, the Stormwater Advisory CommittE will have a final meeting to review all the public comments a then will meet with the consultant. As far as how we are going fund this program, that will require additional meetings to discu. whether to have a stormwater utility fund or other source funding. The next item was a briefing by Jake Gilmer, Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission, Project Manager, for the Partnership for a Livable Roanoke Valley. Mr. Gilmer began his Power Point presentation by stating the mission of the Partnership is to promote economic opportunity and quality of life in the Roanoke Valley. The Steering Committee was formed over two years ago and its desired outcomes were to invite and engage citizens from all over the Roanoke Valley above and beyond what would be done on a regional level. The Committee wanted to identify issues and opportunities that needed to be addressed and priorities and go.ls, Scenarios for the future were looked at as well as defining strategies and a plan to move forward by developing a livability plan. This committee was comprised of representatives of all the local governments and over 60 partnering organizations in the Roanoke Valley. In May 2012 was the first meeting of all the stakeholders and in October seven meetings were held for the general public. At the October meeting, they shared the results of a Virginia Tech Livability Survey comprised of input of over 1,030 people in the region. 0 R Ms. Doughty continued by commenting there were 49 projects completed in 2013 and there were 24 prospects. Almost 80% of their prospects are looking for an existing building and this region does not have one of any size. All of the projects result in an end gain and that end gain is an investment and the jobs that are created. The investment number for 2013 was very high at $122 million and largely due to the Ardagh project in Roanoke County. This project was the largest new business location in Virginia last year from an investment standpoint and perhaps the largest in Roanoke County history. New jobs created were only 296 in 2013 and this is because modern manufacturing is automated and technology oriented activity and jobs are not what they were 10 to 15 years ago. A better judge of impact now is the investment. Normally 80% of your projects are going to come from expansions vind in Virginia last year it was 87%. The region only had three projects that were expansions, so 2013 was a really good year in 14ringing in new businesses. Another area of their responsibility is image -building, visibility raising, taking the region and making people notice it. A lot of that is done through social media and it is important because we can really track it and all indicators were up. The region also made 31 "Best of Lists", up from 20 in 2012. The Partnership also uses the outdoors as an economic sectorls' generate revenue and this year they created a 501C that gi additional fund raising capacity for outdoor brand building. This not tourism. It continues to strength the message that this is outdoor region that will attract people and investments that wa to be associated with that brand. Three grants have alrea, d been received for this purpose. In this regard, the Blue Ri past year and over the four years that it has been held, it total $1.5 million. The Mayor commented on the great job that the Partnership does for the region and how as he has watched this group over the past few years, he has been amazed, They are out in front of all of the onomic development, The work session ended at 6:40 p.m. Council recessed for a 20 minute break before starting the regular meeting. 111, N* The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The Town Roll Calf Clerk called the roll with Council Member Adams, Council Member Altice, Vice Mayor Nance, and Mayor Grose present. Council Member Hare was absent, After a Moment of Silence Mr. Altice led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Under the upcoming community events, the Mayor reminded everyone of the Stormwater Advisory Committee meeting on February Oh at 6 p.m. at the War Memorial. On February 8th is the Tru-Sol concert at the Woodland Place sponsored by the Chamber, Vice Mayor Nance announced the Chamber meeting on February 20th at 8 a.m. to kick off the new branding project for the Tows. Vice Mayor Nance made a motion that the consent agenda be approved as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Adams and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote Approved minutes of the 4-0; Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; meetings of December 17, Absent (1) - Hare. 2013 and January 7, 2014 Vice Mayor Nance read a letter from Chief Cook naming Sergeant Fabricio Drumond, Officer Daniel King and Officer James Spence as Officers for the month of December 2013. Under awards, recognitions and presentations, Council and staff recognized Michael W. Altizer for his eleven (11) year career as the representative of the Vinton Magisterial District on the Board of Supervisors of Roanoke County. The Mayor began by reading a Proclamation and presented it to Mr. Altizer. After additional comments by the Mayor, Mr. Adams, Mr. Altice and Vice Mayor Nance made comments, Mr. Nance next presented Mr. Altizer with a key to the Town and all of Council presented him with a framed print by Lisa R. Floyd. Susan Johnson, Town Clerk, presented Mr. Altizer a basket on behalf of Town staff. Following the presentations by Council, Clay Goodman, Roanoke County Administrator made comments. Closing comments were made by Mr. Altizer. Under citizens' comments, Raymond Stanley of 415 Cedar Avenue, asked about getting trashcans for the residents. The Mayor responded that the issue will be discussed as part of the upcoming budget process. The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution appropriating funds in the amount of $29,750.00 received from the Attorney General Forfeiture Grant Program to the Police Department for the purchase of replacement computers, software and mounts. Mark Vaught, Police Lieutenant, commented that these funds were part of the settlement of the Abbott Labs lawsuit that Virginia had and $33 million was received by the Attorney General's Office, These settlement funds were distributed out 0 to all the law enforcement agencies throughout Virginia. Tha. $29,750 received by the Vinton Police Department does nol require a match. The funds will be used to replace computers, -oftware and other related equipment. Mr. Adams made a motion that the Resolution be adopted as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Altice and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution allowing the Town Treasurer/Finance Director to remove outstanding Personal Property delinquent taxes over five years old from the active records to a permanent file, Mr. Thompson commented that according to State Code Section 58.1-3940 of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, every five years localities are to write off personal property taxes. This will include the 2008 taxes in the amount of $4,818.42 and the Vehicle License Fees in the amount of $9,565,17. The personal property taxes amount represents a 0.977% write off. The Vehicle License Fees represents a 5% write off. Mr. Altice made a motion that the Resolution be approved as presented; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Nance and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of Resolution allowing the Town Treasurer/Finance Director remove outstanding Water and Sewer delinquent bills over fi years old from the active records to a permanent file. M Thompson commented that we also have a practice of writi off the delinquent water and sewer bills, For 2008, those bil total $6,340.64. He reminded Council of the $100 deposit th�; was implemented to try and off -set the delinquent bills and th has shown an improvement in the collection of final bills. Th I ,i.mount represents a 0.25% write off. Vice Mayor Nance if the $100 deposit has had an impact on the number ,ielinquencies and the response was that it has. Mr. Adams made a motion that the Resolution be approved as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Altice and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0,- Yeas (4) — Adams, Aftice, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent ffir. Spitzer commented that the Town Manager wanted to express his appreciation to Public Works for their hard work during the last two small snow events. He also is appreciative to all staff for the way they communicated with each other during those events, He also wanted to express appreciation to Adopted Resolution No. 2050 appropriating funds in the amount of $29,750.00 received from the Attorney General Forfeiture Grant Program to the Police Department for the purchase #f replacement computers, Qoftware and mounts. Adopted Resolution N 2051 allowing the To Treasurer/Finance Direcit'16 to remove outstandi n Personal Proper delinquent taxes over fi years old from the acti records to a permanent file Adopted Resolution No. 2052 allowing the Town Treasurer/Finance Director to remove outstanding Water and Sewer delinquent the active records to a permanent file the Police Department for their work on the tough case the past couple of weeks. The Mayor also expressed his appreciation to the Police Department and Public Works for the incredible jobs they have *een doing recently. Inder the Council section, the next item on the agenda was appointments to Boards/Commissions. This related to reappointments of three members to the Highway Safety Commission. Mr. Altice made a motion to reappoint Carolyn Fidler, Roy G. McCarty, Jr. and Doug Adams to three-year Reappointed Carolyn Fidler, terms ending February 4, 2017 on the Highway Safety Roy G. McCarty, Jr. and Commission; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Nance Doug Adams to three-year and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members terms ending February 4, voting. Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Nance, Grose; Nays 2017 on the Highway Safety None; Absent (1) - Hare. Commission The Town Clerk commented that on December 17, 2013, Council appointed Ryan Spitzer to the Greater Roanoke Transit Corrected Ryan Spitzer's Company Board to a two-year term ending December 31, 2015term on the Greater The beginning term was in the record to begin January 1, 2014. Roanoke Transit Company However, the City of Salem representative will not come off the Board to end on June 30, Board until June 30, 2014. Mr. Spitzer's term will actually begin 2015 July 2, 2014 and will end June 30, 2015 Vice Mayor Nance began by commenting that the Finan Committee did not discuss the November 2013 repo Therefore, he will discuss the December 2013 report and t Committee meeting that was had yesterday. I Mary Beth Layman provided the Finance Committee an update on the pool and the Farmers' Market. Regarding the pool, the 2013 expenditures and revenues were reviewed and compared to those in 2012, Council will recall that in 2009 we voted to close the pool because we were losing approximately $40,000 it not a little more per year because revenues were not covering the expenses. After that, our local churches formed a unique partnership with the pool to use it as a way to serve their community and as a ministry for their churches. For the year 2013, the May to October timeframe, the expenditures were right at $50,000; revenue was a little below $28,000. This left us with between $22-23,000 as a supplement to the pool. Approximately $5,600 of that cost is for water to the Town which has not been tracked before the past two years, We have basically cut the supplement in half. We are providing a great benefit to the citizens of Vinton and the region at a very comparatively low cost. This was also a very good revenue figure considering the amount of rain that we had this past summer and the participation was down by half. Regarding the Farmers Market, there was an update on the EBT and debit cards program. Ms. Layman was hoping to find 9