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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/21/2017 - Regular MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINT tN TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, F BRUARY 21, 2017, IN THE COUNCIL NCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VII TO MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VI IT N, VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley F. Grose, Mayor Matthew S. Hare, Vice Mayer Keith N, Liles Sabrina McCarty Janet Scheid STAFF" PRESENT: Barry W. Thompson,Town Manager Susan 1 . Johnson, Executive Assistant/Town Clerk Theresa Fontana, Town Attorney Pete Peters, Assistant Town Manager/Director of Economic Development Anne Cantrell, Finance Director/Treasurer Tom Faster, Police Chief Fabricio Drumond, Police Captain Anita McMillan, Planning &Zoning Director Christopher Linkous Deputy Chief-Fire/EMS Joey Hiner, Public Works Director Donna Collins, Human Resources Director Mary Ann Brenchick, Deputy Director of Public Work General ServiceslStcrmwater Division Mary Beth Layman, Special Programs 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, Vice Mayer Hare and Mayor Grose present. boll call After a Moment of Silence, Mikayla Parker and Ananiya Parker led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Under upcoming community events, Council Member McCarty announced the following events: March 4-9.00 a.m. to 12 Noon-Council and Department Heads Clean-up Event; March - Roanoke Valley gives, a 24-hour online giving event to local nonprofit organizations, March 21- 6- p.m.-Roanoke Valley Creen ay Plan Update Regional Meeting at Greenfield Education Training Center in D leville, March 28-10:00 a.m.- Senior Expo at War Memorial, March 30-5: 9 p.m.-Roanoke Valley Gr enway Plan Update Regional Meeting at Fishburn Park Elementary School, April 1-9: g a.m. to 12 Noon-Clean Valley Day, April 10-5:3 p.m.-Roanoke Malley Greenway Plan Update for Vinton and East County at the Velar Memorial; April 1 -Arbor [day with event starting at 1 :00 a.m. at the Vinton Downtown Branch Library with preschoolers and concluding with ceremonial tree planting at the Vinton History Museum at 1 .-45 a.m; and May 1 - tallop 4 the-Oreenways and Triathlon at Fiver's Edge Sports Complex to celebrate 20th Anniversary of the Greenways. Council Member McCarty also commented on the Vinton Breakfast lions glob first Bland Music Competition;that was held this past Sunday. Under requests to postpone, add to or change the order of Agenda items; the Mayor requested to move Item K. t1 to after Item N. (2). The next item on the agenda was the introduction of new Paramedic/Firefighter Wayne King and recognition of Lieutenant Larry Whiting in achieving his Paramedic certification. Deputy Chief Linkous shared a short bio and then introduced Mayne King. Deputy Chief Linkous next commented that Lieutenant Larry Whiting has obtained his rational Registry of Paramedic Certification from the Jefferson College of health Sciences, the highest level of certification in this profession of emergency medical care. He then shared a short bio and congratulated him on his achievement. Captain Dru and read the Memo from Chief Faster naming Lieutenant Glenn Austin, Sergeant Tim Lawless; Acting Sergeant Chris Froeschl Detective Todd Bailey; Corporal Scott hurt, Officer Silas Chapman and Officer Danny Cox as {officers of the month for January 2017. Sergeant Froeschl was present at the meeting;. The next item on the agenda, which was moved from Section K, was to consider adoption of a Resolution in honor of Kevin Alan Daining's memory and service to the Town of Vinton. After the Mayor react the Resolution, 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 -0; Yeas (5) Adopted Resolution No. 2191 in honor — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose, Nays ) - of Kevin Alan training's memory and None. service to the Town of Vinton 2 The Town Manager node comments on the picture of Mr. Raining that hangs in the Municipal Building lobby on which a plaque has been placed in his memory. The Mayor next made comments and presented to the family a framed duplicate of the picture.. The next item can the agenda was the report on the Vinton Volunteer First Aid Crew for January 2017. Chief Guffey gave the following report: the volunteer truck hours was 521 of 480 possible hours for 108%, a unit was in service 00% of the volunteer time with the medic truck marked up % and a SIBS Unit 17%. They responded to 84 out of 108 calls doing volunteer hours at 78%, handled 73 of those calls for s %. The Tractile response time was 3.94 with 1,840 roan hours for the month. They currently have 49 members on roll at this time with seven in the application process. Chief Gufley next introduced two new members who were present, Nick Mattheissen and Crystal Aliamo and another member began Fisk; The next item on the agenda was request for funding presentations. Angie Chewning, on behalf of the Vinton Area Chamber of Commerce, made brief comments on the activities, memberships, networking opportunities and special events of the Chamber. Mark Brittain with Mountain View Humane was unable to attend the meeting and his presentation has been rescheduled. Lisa l ornegay; on behalf of the William Byrd High School PT SA, commented that this is her ninth and final year of doing the After-Prom. This year they are having an open house around 10:0 t p.m. on April 8th. The theme this year is #glow Your Own Way, a glow-in-the-dark event. The event costs $10,000 for the night and they are the only high school that sloes not charge for the event. Vice Mayor Aare thanked Council for continuing to support this worthwhile event and he highly encouraged Vinton businesses to support this, Under citizens' comments and petitions, Canny Harrison of 733 Shelbourne Avenue requested that the Town consider alternating the traffic signal at the Vinyard Toad/Hardy Road intersection instead of having both to go at the same time. The Mayor commented that the 3 matter will be referred to staff and the Public Safety Committee for review and consideration. The Town Manager commented that the Highway Safety Commission will meet on February 271", so bath Committees will be meeting in the near future. The consideration of a Resolution appropriating funds in the amount of $1, .4 received for scrap metal to the Public Works budget was passed over until later in the meeting. The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution appropriating funds in the amount of $10,049.96 for the receipt of an insurance claim for fire damage to the Vinton War Memorial. Anne Cantrell commented that this item related to the incident at the War Memorial where here was afire in the library. VIVID has reimbursed for the damage and mitigated to get not only the damage but our$ ,500.99 deductible. A total of $10,049.96 was received and the request is to appropriate the funds to the expenditure line item to allow the filar Memorial to replace all the damaged items. Council Member Scheid asked if this occurrence would have any effect on our rates for next year. Ms. Cantrell said she does not believe so because they already know what our rates will be for next year. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented; the motion was Adopted Resolution No. 2192 seconded by Council Member McCarty and appropriating funds in the amount o carried by the following roll call vote, with all $10,049.96 for the receipt of are members voting: Vote 5- , Yeas 5) — Liles, insurance claim for fire damage to the McCarty; Scheid, Hare, arose; Nays (0)—None.. Vinton War Memorial The next item on the agenda was to consider a motion to accept or reject an offer by Sarah A. Henry J. Brabham; IV to gift to the Town of Vinton a 0.555 acre of an existing private road located between Niagara Road and Vinyard Road in the "Town of Vinton. The Mayor commented that this matter has been discussed several times and asked Council if them were any comments. Council Member McCarty read a Statement of Conflict of Interest for the record for Items F 4 which statement is attached to these minutes and made a part hereof. Council Member Scheid made a motion to reject the offer as presented. She commented that her motion is based on staffs briefing to Council that the road is going to be too expensive to bring it up to VID T standards. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hare who commented that he had sympathy for Mr. Brabham regarding both pieces of property, but he supported the motion to reject the offer because he did not believe at this time that the Town could take this property based on the costs to bring it up to VI DOT T standards. Council Member Liles agreed that it would be too costly. The Mayor commented that he had asked staff to go back and take another look at the road to see if there was some way to accommodate the request. He did agree that it is too expensive for the Town to take on at this time, but he would encourage the Braham's to keep in mind that things do change and 'perhaps this might be something clown the road that might garner more support that it has at this time. Rejected offer by Sarah A. & Henry J. Brabham, IV to gift to the Town of The motion carried by the following roll call vote, Vinton a 0.555 acre of an existing with all members voting: Mote 4_0-1 Yeas ) private road located between Niagara Liles, Scheid, Hare, Grose, lays ( — lone; Road;and Vinyard Road in the Town of Abstain (` )- McCarty: Vinton The next item on the agenda was to consider a motion to accept or reject an offer by Sarah A. Henry J Brabham, IV to gift to the Town of Vinton a stormw ter best management facility consisting of .855 acres located between Niagara Road and Vinyard Road in the Town of Vinton. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to reject the offer Rejected offer by Sarah A. & Henry J. as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Brabham, IV to gift to the Town of Member Scheid and carried by the following roll call Vinton a stormater best management vote, with all members voting: Vote -0-1, Yeas (4) facility consisting of 2.855 acres located Liles, Scheid, Hare, Grose; bays ( None, between Niagara Road and Vinyard Abstain j—McCarty. Roan in the Town of Vinton The next item for that was passed over earlier in the meeting was to consider adoption of a Resolution appropriating funds in the amount of 1,429.45 received for scrap metal to the Public Works budget. Joey Diner commented that these funds came from the scrap metal collected at the Shop.: They have a dumpier that the scrap metal is collected in and once the dumpster is full; the Company picks it up and pays for the scrap metal. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member McCarty and carried by the Adopted Resolution No:, 2193 following roll nail vote, with all members voting;: appropriating funds in the amount of Mote -C; Yeas ( ) — files; McCarty, Scheid, Hare, $1,429.45 received for scrap metal to Grose; flays(0)—None. the Public Works budget The next stern on the agenda was a presentation on a Safe Exchange Zone to be established by the Police Department. Chief Foster began b commenting that this will be the first of such Zones in the Roanoke Malley: The Zone will be in a marked area in the back parking lot in front of the Police Department that is under 24 hour video camera surveillance, The Zone can be used for issues involving child custody exchanges along with meeting persons for Internet sales such as Craigsl st or yard sale paces. This is available to anyone in the Roanoke Malley, not just the residents of the Town. They anticipate having the formal kick--off on Friday. Council Member Liles asked the time of the kick-of on Friday: Chief Foster responded that he was not sure of the exact time yet, but he would notify everyone. The Town Manager gave an update on Valley Metro. He commented that at the last Council meeting; he had indicated there was a meeting schedulers with Malley Metro on February 10th to receive the January ridership data. He and Mr. Peters met with Sherman Stovall; Carl Palmer and Kevin Price. They shared the January data, but wanted to receive the February data and compile all of the information before any type of report is shared. They plan to attend the larch 20th Board meeting where the STAR unlimited pass will be discussed. Mice Mayor Hare asked if there would be a cross- check with the bill with the ridership numbers. The Town Manager commented that could be done. The survey was done by the driver calling back, which was not the way that he expected it to be done. However, after they explainers the process, it made sense. The Town Manager next commented that a utility customer had expressed interest in e-billing. Customers who make electronic payments have checked that they wanted e-bills, but there had been a disconnect between the actual billing system and the payment system. He then called on Anne Cantrell to explain the process. 6 Ms.. Cantrell commented the third-party vendor that takes the utility payments on-line has an option to do e-billing since they are tied directly into our system. They slid not realize they can also flag in the system the e-billing customers which would stop them from generating the paper bills. These customers have been receiving both. They have identified 322 utility accounts that are signed up for e-billing. They will be notified that we will be switching to e-billing and if they want to keep paper billing, they will have to notify us to opt out of the e-bill only. They plan to take approximately two months to get it implemented and once it is in place, it will save the Town some Money. Council Member Scheid asked if there was a way to advertise the e-billing so more people can sign up for it. Ms. Cantrell responded that a message would be put on the bill with the information and they have to sign up can-line through the third- party vendor. Council Member Liles asked if the information could be put on the Town's webite. The Town Manager responded yes, but first they wanted to get the 322 taken care of and then it will be advertised. Vice Mayor Flare asked how these 322 individuals pay their bills and Ms. Cantrell responded through the vendor by e-check, debit or credit card. Mr. Flare then expressed his concerns regarding customers who key in the wrong information for their bank, but get a confirmation that haves them to believe that they paid their bill. Further discussion was had in this regard. The Town Manager next commented that Fete Peters would share with Council about the Event Zane and brim them up to date on the noise issue with Southern States. r. Peters commented that staff has been in constant communication with Southern States about the noise complaint issue and he does plan to formalize the concerns in a letter to Southern States and ask therm to continue to review their processes and see if there is anything else they could do to satisfy the citizen's concerns. °. Peters next commented that the Town has already had a lone history of providing excellent community events for the citizens and visitors. This is with the continued partnership of Town departments and staff to help produce these events along with Mary Beth Layman, our Special Programs Director, and Angie Chewning with the Chamber. He then began a review of a PowerPoint presentation. A copy of the presentation is on file in the Town Clerk's Office and will be made a part of the permanent record: In December, a Special Events Committee was farmed comprised of staff and the Chamber, which meets monthly. Mr. Peters commented on the purpose ofthe Committee. Mr. Peters next commented on the featured festivals in Downtown along with the events sponsored by the Chamber, events to be held at the tar Memorial and these sponsored b Special Programs at the Farmer's Market and Senior Center. The Star City Playhouse will have five plays running from March 20 through November W' and Twin Creeks Brewing Co. will have concerts on Saturdays from :00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. on the dates that we do not have events. Mr. Peters next commented on the Bventone "Party in the Park„ series partnership and recognized Ed McClure, Mary flay Brown and David Daniels, members of the Board, who were in attendance. EventZone has a long history in the Valley and the Town is very excited to tiring this concert series to Vinton. The concerts would typically be the fourth Friday of the month running from May through October. A couple of extra elates were worked in because of longer months, but they will not drastically impact the Chamber Mingles. All of these concerts will tape place at the Farmer's Market stage. Council Member McCarty asked if the "Party in the Park" included children. Ms. Brown responded from the audience that it is a family-friendly event., The Town Manager expressed thanks to Mr. Peters, Chasity Barbour, Mary Seth Layman and other Town staff as well as the Fventone and Chamber for everything that is planned for a very exciting Spring, Summer and Fall in Town. Mr. Peters commented that the Events calendar will appear in the business section of all of the Roanoke Valley communities' papers this week. Council Member Scheid asked if the Food Truck Fest is something that Feeding America organizes.. Mr. Peters responded that it is an event produced by Big trick Entertainment in conjunction with Feeding America. It will be fundraiser for that organization. Ms. Scheid then asked if it becomes an annual event will it always e a fundraiser for Feeding America or can that rotate to other non-profits. Mr. Peters responded that the Town is only the host location and could not answer that question. The Town Manager commented that he had seat Council notification concerning the old William Byrd High School's nomination to the National Register of historic Places and the Virginia Landmarks Register, The nomination will be considered on March 1 i ' at Falmouth, Virginia. We will be sending a letter of support for this nomination. This is one of the requirements for them to get their tax credits. The next item can the agenda was the Financial Reports for December 2016 and January 2017. Vice Mayor Hare commented that the Finance Committee met last week to discuss the two reports as well as some issues regarding the upcoming budget. From the January summary page, revenues are at 97% and off approximately $120,000. We are still waiting for fee-for-transport to get caught op which will amount to $110,000. Expenditures are under where we would erect at this point which has a lot to do with grant timing between the Glade Greek Greenway and the DUI Task Force. The utility Fund continues to be strong, up at 111%, nearly $200,000.00 over what was projected at this paint and timing on some of the spending is driving the expenditures. Back to the General Fund, Mr. Aare commented that business licenses are up % year-to-date.. Over last year at this same time; we are up 2 5%. Meals taxes are up 22% year-to-date and 2% year over year. Sales taxes are up 1 °l or 4% year over year.. The cigarette tax is off target by about 15%, but up 4% year over year. Gash is up about % year over year at about $66,00 .00. On another favorable note, the War Memorial subsidy is down about$27,000 year over year. 3 Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to approve the Financial Deports for December 2016 and January 2017; the motion was seconded by Council .Member Scheid and carried by the following vote, with all members voting; Vote -0; Yeas { --files, Approved Financial Reports for McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Cruse; Nays 0)—lone. December 2016 and January 2017 The Finance Committee and Budget Team did begin some reviews of the budget to see where the shortfalls are and where we might need to address items and gave staff some guidance on direction. It was a very productive meeting. The Mayor commented that he would like for Council to recognize some individuals in our community or the surrounding area that have had positive impact on the quality of life in the Town. If Council has anyone they would like to recognize, he asked that they submit that information to the Town Clerk. He has someone he wants to recognize:and the details will be worked out. He also extended the challenge to staff. Under comments by Council: Council Member Liles commented that he is very excited about all of the events coming to the Town this summer and thanks to everyone who worked to pull it all together. Council Member McCarty echoed the comments by Council Member Liles and also expressed thanks to Debbie Adams for attending every event and for her support of the Town: Council Member Scheid echoed the comments o Council Member McCarty. She asked the Town Clerk if the Smart kale letter went out and the Town Clerk responded yes: She asked Ms. McMillan about the Clean Valley Day letter that was sent to all of the groups and if she had any responses, Ms. McMillan responded that she has not contacted Clean Valley Council to see who has registered with them. Normally as late as Thursday before the Clean-alp Day, they will give us a list of all of the groups., Vice Mayor bare asked the Town Manager if there will be any notification at the recycling area at Lake Drive Plaza to warn individuals that it is closing. The Town Manager responded that he will make sure there is notification there that it has been closed. It has been on the web site, in the Vinton Messenger and on all of the social media, 10 Justin Davison, Chamber President, expressed thanks to Council for their support of the Chamber and all the departments and staff that help with their events. He was at an intern fair at Roanoke College and it was interesting to see; students who were hearing about things in Vinton. Council Member Liles made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the ration was seconded by Council Member Scheid and carried by the following vote, with all members voting. Vote -0, Yeas(5)--tiles, McCarty, Scheid, bare, Grose; flays (g) — None. The meeting was adjourned at :45 p.m. Meeting adjourned APPROVED: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor S Susan 1 . Johnson; own Clerk STATEMENT OF CONFLICT OF INTEREST I, Sabrina McCarty, state that I have a personal interest in Agenda Items I . (4 & 5 regarding the consideration of motions to accept or reject an offer by HenryJ. Brabharn, IV to gift to the Town ofVinton. a 0.555r of an existing private read and to water best management facility consisting of 2.855 acres, bath located between:Niagara Road and Vinyard Road in the Town of Vinton because of a personal and business relationship of my husband, Chris McCarty, with Henry J. Brabh' , IV. Therefore, pursuant to Virginia Code Section.2.2-31 I2, I must refrain from participation in these matters. I ask that the Town Clerk accept this statement and ask that it be made a part of the minutes of this _ eetig Witness the following signature made this 2lstday of February,2017. Sabrina McCarty