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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/18/2020 - Regular MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2020, 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,Vice Mayor Sabrina McCarty Janet Scheid Michael W. Stovall STAFF PRESENT: Barry W. Thompson,Town Manager` Susan N. Johnson, Executive Assistant/Town Clerk Jeremy Carroll, Town Attorney Pete Peters, Assistant Town Manager/Director of Economic Development Anne Cantrell, Finance Director/Treasurer Tom Foster, Police Chief Anita McMillan, Planning &Zoning Director Joey Hiner, Public Works Director Nathan McClung, Principal Planner The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member McCarty, Council Member Scheid, Council Member Stovall, Vice Mayor Liles and Mayor Grose present. Roll call After a Moment of Silence, Melissa Mullins led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Under upcoming community events, Council Member McCarty announced the following February 21 — 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m. - Council Retreat—War Memorial;March 2=7:00-9:00 p.m. WFJX Election Reception — War Memorial; March 11 12:00-1:00 p.m. — Vinton Chamber Lunch N Learn — Berkshire Health & Rehab; March 24— 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. —Senior Expo War Memorial and May 16 1:00-6;00 p.m. Vinton Chamber Grapes & Grain Festival War Memorial Council Member Stovall made a motion to Approved minutes of the Regular Council approve the Consent Agenda as presented; the meeting of January 21, 2020; adopted motion was seconded by Council Member Scheid Resolution No. 2341 appropriating funds in and carried by the following vote,with all members the amount of$1,230.56 received for scrap voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) McCarty, Scheid, metal to the Public Works budget; adopted Stovall, Liles; Grose; Nays (0) None. Resolution No. 2342 appropriating funds in the amount of$2,507.77 for the receipt of 1 I an insurance claim made on a Town Vehicle involved in an accident The next item on the agenda was the consideration of public comments on local community development and housing needs in relation to Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)funding fora project in our community. The Mayor opened the Public Hearing at 7:04 p.m. Public Hearing Opened Pete Peters first commented that for approximately a year and a half, the Town has been working on developing a program using planning funds from DHCD to develop a community-wide rehabilitation program, primarily focused on housing and we are approaching the end of the planning period. He then introduced Janet Jonas with Summit Design and Engineering, who has been assisting the Town with the design. Ms. Jonas first commented that this was the first Public Hearing and a second Public Hearing would be held in a month. She next presented a PowerPoint presentation, which was a part of the agenda package and is on file in the Town Clerk's Office as a part of the permanent record. Council Member Stovall asked if a block was purchased and the houses were demolished would new construction fall under the requirements or would they be just for rehab. Ms. Jonas responded that you could do housing rehab or housing production if there was a documented need. Council Member Scheid asked if a map could be shown of the project area. Mr. Peters responded that information would be released at the second Public Hearing because this is a formalized process by DHCD that we cannot be overly specific at the first Public Hearing. At the second Public Hearing, any feedback will be incorporated into the final design and released at the second Public Hearing on March 17th. Council Member Scheid next expressed her concerns that the date of the second Public Hearing is the date that the grant will be drafted and by the time Council and the public gets to see that information, it is really too late. Council Member Scheid next asked how many community surveys were sent out and how many had been returned, Mr. Peters responded that there were approximately 50 surveys returned. He further commented in response to her earlier question that the Management Team had been meeting for about a year and their primarily discussion involved around the Cleveland neighborhood between First and Fifth Streets, the blocks of Cedar and Cleveland. However, as a result of information provided tonight, that could be adjusted before the application is submitted. Council Member Scheid asked if the amount that we intend to apply for is between $1-1.5 million and Ms. Jonas responded that was correct. The Mayor next asked for any public comments. Mr. Peters commented that one comment has been received by email from a real estate agent in a neighboring community, which will be placed in the file and her suggestions incorporated into the final application. The comment was positive in support of the efforts to seek community rehab improvements. Hearing no further comments, the Public Hearing was closed at 7:21 p.m. Public Hearing closed The Mayor commented that formal action will be taken on the Grant at the March 17, 2020 meeting. Mr. Peters commented that he would send Council Members some follow-up information on the work of the Management Team that has taken place over the last year in order to provide time for any feedback on the specific work area. Council Member Scheid further commented that this process has been going on for several years and grew out of a Council Retreat as a topic of interest to Council to improving the housing stock. The next item on the agenda was a briefing on the 2020 Roanoke County Real Estate Reassessment. Ken Fay, Roanoke County Real Estate Valuation Director, presented a PowerPoint presentation, which was a part of the agenda package and is on file in the Town Clerk's Office as a part of the permanent record. Mr. Fay commented that with regard to the Median Sales Price History-Single Family Residential, the figures shown are the middle numbers, not an average. For the Town, the median sales price is approximately $150,000.00. In closing, Mr. Fay announced that Anne Boggess, Appraiser, was retiring next month. Council Member Scheid asked if the Median Sales Price for Single Family Residential of $215,000 included Vinton. Mr. Fay responded that it did. Council Member Scheid next asked what the change was between 2019 and 2018 just for Vinton. Mr. Fay responded that he does not know the percentage, but it did go up and is tracking about the same as the County percentage-wise. The next item on the agenda was a briefing on the Small Cell Infrastructure Design Guidelines, Anita McMillan first commented that Council was briefed at their November 5, 2019 meeting by Town Attorney Mike Lockaby on the Cox Communications' request to use the town public rights-of-way and town-owned facilities such as street lights and traffic signal poles for small cell facilities. Subsequently, at the December 3, 2019 meeting,the bid opening was held and only one bid was received from Cox Communications. Council was also briefed at that meeting on required amendments to the Town's Telecommunications Ordinance in order to meet the State Code and Federal Communications Commission requirements. Localities do not have as much control anymore on small cell facilities and must allow small cells by right or review through the site plan development review process, Ms. McMillan further commented on Council's concerns on the use of the ornamental lighting downtown. At the December 17, 2019 Joint Public Hearing with the Planning Commission, the Telecommunications Ordinance was adopted and Council directed staff to come up with some Design Guidelines, which were a part of the agenda package. The Guidelines will be reviewed by the Planning Commission at a Work Session on March 5th. Ms. McMillan next commented on several sections in the Guidelines draft. Council Member Scheid commented that she was pleased to see the language in Section 3.2 that the co-location on the Town ornamental pedestrian lights is strongly discouraged. The next item on the agenda was a briefing on the Title VI of the Civil Rights Act Implementation Plan. Anita McMillan first commented that the Town has received federal-funds for several projects such as the Glade Creek Greenway Phase 2A, hopefully the Phase 2B and also the Walnut Avenue Bicycle and Pedestrian improvement Project. Through the certification program, we were asked along with other localities in the Roanoke Valley if we have Title VI of the Civil Rights Act Implementation Plan in place. In November of last year, VDOT Salem District provided the localities with a sample Plan and the majority of this draft came from that sample. The Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission adopted a similar Plan in November. Ms. McMillan next commented that she had met with a VDOT representative and felt that our draft meets all of their checklists. If Council or staff has any reservations about certain components being proposed, she will be glad to answer any questions or make revisions. If any changes are made to this draft, it has to be sent back to VDOT before it can be adopted by Council. Council Member Scheid asked if once this Plan is adopted is it good for a certain period of time. Ms. McMillan responded that an annual submittal has to be done if we receive a complaint or have a meeting requiring a NEPA (National Environmental Protection Agency) document. Since the Walnut Avenue project has a DBE goal of four percent, she does have to submit a quarterly report to VDOT Salem District to show how much payment has been made to the DBE firm. Once the Glade Creek Greenway Phase 2A project begins, another report will have to be submitted to make sure we are meeting the same DBE requirements for that project. The Town Manager commented that once the Plan is adopted by Council, it will not have to be re-adopted unless there are changes in the law. 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 and Vehicle License Fees over five years old from the active records to a permanent file. Anne Cantrell commented that State Code allows five years to collect these taxes. The department does collection through the State debt-set-off program, which is very successful and in the case of large dollar amounts they can place liens on either payroll or banking and have been pursuing more options in the past years. We are asking to write-off $6,496.13 in Personal Property taxes with a collection rate of 98.73%. The amount for the Vehicle License Fees is $11,826.33 and that collection rate is 92.88%. Council Member McCarty made a motion to Adopted Resolution No. 2343 allowing the approve the Resolution as presented; the motion Town Treasurer/Finance Director to remove was seconded by Vice Mayor Liles and carried by outstanding Personal Property delinquent the following vote,with all members voting: Vote 5- taxes and Vehicle License Fees over five 0;Yeas(5)—McCarty,Scheid,Stovall, Liles,Grose; years old from the active records to a Nays (0)— None. permanent file The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution allowing the Town Treasurer/Finance Director to remove outstanding water and sewer delinquent bills over five years old from the active records to a permanent file. Anne Cantrell commented that the State does not require these bills to be written off, but we do because if we have not collected in five years, it is pretty impossible to collect. These bills are normally for individuals who have moved out of State and difficult to collect. We do keep a record in case they ever move back into Vinton and we can try to collect. The total write-off is $10,721.71, which is less than what we wrote off last year. The billing for that year was over $3 million with a collection rate of over 99%. Vice Mayor Liles made a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented;the motion was seconded Adopted Resolution No. 2344 allowing the by Council Member McCarty and carried by the Town Treasurer/Finance Director to remove following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; outstanding water and sewer delinquent Yeas (5) — McCarty, Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose; bills over five years old from the active Nays (0)— None. records to a permanent file The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution authorizing the Town Manager to execute a Memorandum of Understanding (MU) between the Roanoke County Treasurer's Office and the Town of Vinton for the issuance of Roanoke County animal tags in the Town Treasurer's Office. Anne Cantrell commented that this matter was reviewed by the Finance Committee and Council was briefed at their January 21, 2020 meeting. Even though the MOU is not enacted yet, it is already being utilized and close to 100 tags have been issued since January. Council Member Scheid commented on Finance staff being proactive in coming up with this option that better serves our citizens. Council Member Scheid made a motion to adopt Adopted Resolution No. 2345 authorizing the Resolution as presented; the motion was the Town Manager to execute a seconded by Council Member Stovall and carried Memorandum of Understanding between by the following vote,with all members voting: Vote the Roanoke County Treasurer's Office and 5-0; Yeas (5) — McCarty, Scheid, Stovall, Liles, the Town of Vinton for the issuance of Grose; Nays (0)—None. Roanoke County animal tags in the Town Treasurer's Office The Town Manager commented that at the Council Retreat on Friday, staff will be making a presentation on the Mountain View Road Project. This is based on a request from Council Member Stovall to see if any improvements could be made before we get to the Revenue Sharing Project due to comments being made from citizens about the condition of the road. The other presentation will be on the traffic controllers at the Clearview/Hardy Road intersection. We want to bring Council up to date on what the issue is, how we can improve it and see if we can find the money in this year's budget. Council Member Stovall made additional comments on the Mountain View Road issue and Vice Mayor Liles commented that he appreciated the Town Manager looking into the Clearview/Hardy Road intersection. The Town Manager next commented that on January 21, 2020 he asked Council to allow him to address them in Closed Session regarding his plans for the future. He then read a letter announcing his retirement date of January 1, 2021. Under reports from Council Committees, Anne Cantrell reviewed a PowerPoint presentation,which was given to Council at the meeting and will be on file in the Town Clerk's Office as a part of the permanent record. With regard to the Roanoke County Veteran's Monument, staff has reviewed at the direction of the Mayor the contribution from Roanoke County over the last five years. That amounted to $15,000 for this Monument, which is in fund balance and not dedicated to the Veteran's Monument. The Finance Committee is requesting Council to authorize the funds to be moved to a restricted fund account for the Monument. Council Member Scheid made a motion to approve the December 2019 Financial Report; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Liles and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5- 0;Yeas(5)—McCarty,Scheid,Stovall, Liles,Grose; Approved the December 2019 Financial Nays (0)— None. Report 7 Council Member Scheid made a motion to authorize the Finance Director/Treasurer to move $15,000.00 from unrestricted fund balance to a restricted account for the Vinton Veteran's High Ground Monument; the motion was seconded by Approved authorizing the Finance Vice Mayor Liles and carried by the following vote, Director/Treasurer to move $15,000.00 with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — from unrestricted fund balance to a McCarty, Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose; Nays (0) — restricted account for the Vinton Veteran's None. High Ground Monument The Mayor made comments regarding the retirement announcement from the Town Manager. He then read prepared comments formally announcing that he would be seeking re-election for Mayor. The Mayor also made comments on the recent passing of Doug Adams. At the request of the Mayor, Pete Peters announced that the Ironman Competition would be in the Roanoke Valley on June 7th and then commented on each component of the competition and that part of the bike component will go through Vinton. More information will be forthcoming. Comments from Council: Council Member Stovall commented on the worth of the Town Manager and the Police Chief,two big positions that will soon have to be filled. He also commented that he is glad to be part of a great team and is looking forward to 2020. Council Member Scheid commented on the Town Manager's retirement and that she helped to hire both the Town Manager and the Police Chief and both have made her proud. She next commented that Doug Adams was a wonderful man and she missed his expertise, especially with Public Safety issues. Council Member Scheid next commented that Clean Valley Day is coming up on April 41 and since several will be out-of-town on that day, she would like to move the Town pick-up to March 28th and Council was in agreement. Council Member McCarty commented that she too would miss Doug Adams very much and he was very helpful when she decided to run for Town Council. She will be envious of the Town Manager and appreciates everything that staff does. Vice Mayor Liles congratulated the Town Manager. He next made comments and announced formally that he would be seeking re- election to Town Council. He also made comments regarding Doug Adams. Vice Mayor Liles made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Council Member Scheid and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — McCarty, Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose; Nays (0) — None. The meeting was adjourned at 8:29 p.m. Meeting adjourned APPROVED: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor ATTEST: ILMLO A(., 94 Susan N. Johnson, 9MC, Town Clerk 9