Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2/19/2019 - Regular MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINTt N TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 P.M. CAN TUESI A`l, FEBRUARY 19, 2019, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINT }N, VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT; Bradley F. Grose, Mayor Keith N. Lips; Vice Mayor Janet Scheid Michael W. Stovall MEMBERS ABSENT: Sabrina McCarty STAFF PRESENT', BarryW. Thompson, Town Manager Susan N. Johnson; Executive Assistant/Town Clerk Susan Waddell, Town Attorney Pete Peters, Assistant Town Manager/Director of Economic Development Anne Cantrell, Treasurer/Finance Director Joey diner, Public Works Director Thomas Foster, Police Chief Donna Collins, Human Resources Director Chasity Barbour, Community Programs and Facilities Director` William Herndon, Assistant Public Works Director Brandon Gann, Financial Services Analyst The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at 7:33 p.m. The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Scheid, Council Member Stovall, Vice Mayor Liles and Mayor Grose present. Council Member McCarty was absent Roll call After a Moment of Silence, Tyler Braxton led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Under upcoming community events, Vine Mayor Liles announced the following: February 22-March 12 — 7-00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. -- Husband in Clover -- Star City Playhouse, February 2 - all day — Boy Scouts Klondike Derby — various Downtown locations; February 2 — 1.30 a.m. -- ribbon cutting for Coastal Insurance Planning -- 137 Gus Nicks Boulevard; March 4 —6.30 p.m, - Downtown dousing Rehab Grant Community Meeting Council Chambers, March 11 - 11:30 a.m. - ribbon cutting for Ellis .Senior (mare - 316 Fast Washington Avenue; March '1 - 11:30 a.m. — ribbon cutting for Mountain View Orthodontics — 221 South Maple Street; March 21 - 1 -1. 0 p,m. — Roanoke Valley Young Professionals Lurch N Learn - Roland E. Cook. and Lunch N Lunch with Keith Hartman of the Small Development Business Center and March 2 —Senior Expo - Vinton War Memorial. 1 Chief Toaster made comments and then yen read a quote from Booker T. Washington, "Nothing ever comes to one that is worth having, except as a result of hard work". e next item__ on the agenda was are update on the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission and the Roanoke Valley Transportation Planning Organization. Wayne Strickland, Executive Director reviewed a Power Point presentation, which will be on file in the Town Clerk's Office ice as a part of the permanent record, Council Member Scheid asked if the percentage of federal funding has gone down over the years for the Regional Commission, Mr.. Strickland responded that it stays about the same and if they cannot use the funds that particular year, they are allowed to roll them over into the next year. Some carry over that has to be approved by VDOT and some by the Federal Highway Administration. With the Smart kale, they had $1.7 billion the first round and this last round was $7 0 million. Council Member Scheid next commented that it was important for Council and the citizens in the audience to understand the scope of the amount of funds that pass through the Regional Commission and the Transportation Planning Organization. The TPO is responsible for deciding on,prioritizing and approving those funds, which is a huge responsibility. fir. Strickland commented that approximately$45- 0 million has been received by the Commission. Council Member Scheid asked if the map of the territory that the Commission covers which is considered to be urbanized was expected to change significantly with the 2020 census, Mr. Strickland responded that it might in Roanoke County and some in Botetcurt County with all of the new housing and development that is going on north around l aleville and toward Fincastle. He was not sure about Blliston because there is a pretty big gap in Montgomery County going up the Christiansburg mountain between that area and Blacksburg. The Mayor commented that he has often thought the Regional Commission and the TPO are the unsung heroes because they play a big part in the standard of living for our region. 2 The next item the agenda was the recognition of Anne Cantrell, the 2018 Employee of the Year. Donna Collins, Duman Resources Director, first named the prior two recipients and the other nominees for 2018. She then read comments from those who nominated Ms. Cantrell. After comments from Ms. Cantrell, she was congratulated by Council and staff. Under citizens' comments and petitions, Dorman Mall of Southampton Drive commented on the long delay for the light to change at the intersection of Clearview Drive and lardy Road. He also commented on a big hump in the road on 3"r Street coming the other way out of Southampton near the junk yard.. The Mayor referred troth items to the Public Safety Committee. The next item on the agenda was the consideration of public comments regarding a proposed Ordinance to repeal Article 1, In General, and Article It, Recycling, of Chapter 73, Scutt Waste, in its entirety by adopting and enacting Article 1, In general, Article 11, Recycling and Article III, Penalties of Chapter 73, Solid Waste, of the Town Code. The Mayor opened the public Hearing at 7.39 p.m. Public Hearing Opened The Town Manager first asked the Town Attorney to comment on the revisions to the proposed Ordinance. The Town Attorney commented that Section 78- (a) t j and ( relate to buildings having five (fir) or more units and that the Town can require private refuse collection if it is not practical to have the town-issued refuse cart service there. Those sections were also deemed applicable and added to subsection (b) of 73- making the same provisions applicable to the entire town. Sections 73- (a) (3) and (4) are now added as 73- (b)(3)and (4). The Town Manager next commented that the purpose of the Public Hearing was to receive comments on the proposed new Ordinance relating to our solid waste to be effective April 1, 2019. There will be no changes to the current recycling and bulk services at this time. Key points in the proposed ordinance are that a 9a gallon refuse cart will be issued by the tow and delivered by our vendor beginning the week of March 4, 2019 to each residence and business that is currently receiving town refuse collection service; apartment houses, condominiums, 3 complexes and other buildings having multiple units with fire ( or more units or any customer service location requesting more than three 3 town-issued refuse cans shall be required to have private refuse collection service. The Town may also require private refuse collection service if the Town determines that town-issued refuse cart service is not practical duo to maneuverability or other operational issues caused by topography, site constraints or the entering onto private property: The Dillon Woods and Southampton Townhomes are being considered for special collection methodology at the request of Council: The Town Manager next commented that residential customers may request one { additional cart at a rental rate of$.00 per month and business customers may request up to two { } additional carts at a rental rate of$5.00 each per month. After a 30-day period, customers who desire a smaller cart may request to replace 9 -gallon refuse cart with a 4-gallon refuse cart on a first came, first serve basis. Customers desiring to discard their current refuse cart may place their empty cart(s) upside clown at the curb on their regular collection day beginning Monday, April 3th through Friday, April I gth. All refuse must be bagged and placed in the town-issued refuse cart to be collected and refuse placed outside the cart will not be collected. For the downtown area, refuse carts shall be removed from the street no later than 7:00 p.m. of the same stay of collection and for ether areas outside the downtown area, carts shall be removed from the street no later than 7.00 a.m. the day following collection. Customers will be required to follow the regulations in the new Solid Waste Ordinance and failure to comply will result in penalties a established by Town Council and made a part of the Ordinance, The Mayor opened up the floor for public comments and requested anyone wishing to spew to come to the podium, state their name and address; limit their comments to three minutes and that all comments and questions should be directed to Council and not staff members. Quince perdue, owner of apartments at 01-209 East Augusta Avenue, commented that he has five single-family gaits and requested that he be allowed to have two carts, which he would bring to the street for pickup and put knack in place. He estimated it would coast him over $4,000 to put in a dumpster. Council Member Scheid commented that another option would be to have a private hauler come and pick up the cans rather than using a dumpster, Council Member Stovall commented that he would recommend the public comments that no action be taken on the Ordinance tonight until Council and staff have an opportunity to address all of the concerns. The Mayor commented that we do need to establish a standard, but we recognize that we have facilities in Town that are going to have to be considered individually: Susan Brown of 1409 Wyndham Drive in Southampton commented that there is no storage for the containers and because of her disability would have difficulty with the container. The Mayor commented that it is recognized that there are a couple of areas in Town such as Dillon Woods and Southampton Townhomes that we will need to make special adjustments for; but they have not been finalized yet, Council Member Stovall asked if she took her trash out to the street now and Ms. Brown responded yes, Council Member Scheid asked if she had a cart or does she just put out a bag. Ms. Brown responded she just puts out the bag. Ms. Brown next commented that she would like to have clean water. Council Member Scheid suggested that the Town Manager call her to discuss the water issue, Mike Hawley, owner of property at 223 West Virginia Avenue with eight retail units, commented that the trash is currently being picked up in the alley behind his building and asked if it would still be picked up in the alley. The Mayor commented that his property would fall under the provisions of having more than five units and the cost could be passed onto his tenants. Mr. Hawley next commented that he does not have room for a dumpster and Council Member Scheid commented on the option o having a private hauler to pick up the trash and that Public Works staff has a list of contractors that he could contact, The cost of doing business such as utilities, electric and gas has gone up and the cost of providing this service has also gone up. Mr. Hawley asked why the taxes could not be raised across the board instead of charging the businesses and those that own multi-family dwellings, Anthony Amos of 1407 Wyndham Drive commented that some of the H )A Board members have met with Mr. Hiner regarding Southampton. Sixty percent of the townhomes are on a pudic roast and 40% are on a private read. They do not like the dumpster idea; but they are willing to work with the Town. Council Member Stovall asked what their top option other than the dumpster would be and Mr, Amos responded they would like to do what they are doing now: Dana Adams of 525 Dillon Drive and President of the Dillon Hoods Townhomes HtA commented that she had met with Mr. Hiner and he also attended an H A meeting last week and proposed several options. The residents would have a problem storing a 96 or 54-gallon can; but the Board reiterated to Mr. Hiner that the 4 - gallon would work the hest. Out of the 1 homeowners, ten are over the age of 55 and eight are over the age of 70 and she was concerned about safety.. One of the options discussed was to have the residents take the cans to Hardy Read or to Dillon Drive: The cans would impede the sidewalk on Hardy Road and there is a hill can the Dillon Drive sine. Another option discussed was building a corral near the privacy fence, which is not owned by Dillon Woods. There is a large drainage ditch at the end and the mailboxes are on the fence. Ms. Adams next commented that during the meeting last week with Mr. Hiner, it seemed that the consensus was to have a private hauler continue to cone onto the property at the Town's expense. The Mayor commented that no final decision has been made, but the Town would continue to pick up their trash as we do now until then. Lynn Knight of 124 Southampton commented there are a lot of elderly and disabled residents that cannot go to a dumpster to take their trash.: There are two main roads; Wyndham and Southampton, which are not private and could the trash be picked up from those two streets, The private hauler that picks up the dumpster at Northampton doses not pick up any items that are 6 not in the dumpster. The Mayor commented that even though a private hauler has the dumpster, the Town should be notified of anything left out there for an extended period of time which is in violation of the Town ordinance Jeffrey Underwood of 109 Cambridge Square commented that dumpsters create a buzzard problem, loss of property value and stray cats. The Southampton homeowners should not have to pay for refuse collection because they pay taxes just like everyone else in Vinton. Tire Leonard commented that he owns the property at 1009 Vinyard Road with eight tenants; most of whore are single, over 50 and with fixed incomes. He also owns 401-4 outh Preston, with six tenants and 507 3`d Street with five tenants. He contacted the independent contractors that pick up per can instead of a dumpster and it would cost approximately 25 per tenant; which would be about a $6,000 cost to him compared to a dumpster for $100. For Vinyard, it would cost $200 per month versus 100 a month for a dumpster, but there is not room to put a dumpster. With his property on Preston hoed and the issue of traveling on private property, he can easily have them bring their cans down to the street. He further commented on the type of tenants he brims to the Town and the possibility of losing good tenants if he has to pass along this cost to them. He suggested the number of five or more units should be increased to 19 or 12 units because the large dumpsters are for 1 -15 per month. Dorman Mall of 107 Southampton Drive commented that he would like the trash pickup to stay the way it is. He appreciated Council sending out notices to each resident in Southampton because the HOA is difficult to work with at times and they nearer notified the homeowners. The Mayor commented that he appreciated the comments this evening and Council understands the concerns. This is a big change for the Town and the refuse ordinance has not been changed in 25 years with the actual method being older than that. There are a lot of good things going on in Town with economic development. However, it is not just about economic development; but about improving the entire Town. Staff has been working on housing and neighborhood improvement grants, looking at our infrastructure and we just received grants to improve suety at our intersections. This change in our refuse collection has several facets to it. It will be a much more efficient operation and we should be able to reduce the number of crew members, although it is not a one-armed bandit. It will improve the safety of our refuse crew and the overall appearance of Town. The Mayor next commented that with regard to the number of multiple units being five or more, staff did research and that is the standard that has been established in the Malley and our standard should not be any lower than our neighbors. However, we have collected refuse the same way for quite some time and so many of our properties are built to the old standards. Being a small Town and wanting to be as cooperative as we can, those situations should be looked at individually and we will do the best we can to provide good service. Council Member Scheid commented that she is a member of the Public 'corks Committee that has been working on the proposed Ordinance for about eight months. She expressed appreciation for those that came out for the Public Nearing and the ones that spoke. Nearing from the citizens and taking what has been said under consideration and advisement will only improve this Ordinance. This change is long overdue and hopefully it will provide some efficiency and improve the way the Town looks and operates, The Public Works Committee will need to meet again and address the concerns. With regard to those who make comments, it was noted that five of the nine speakers were from Southampton and Dillon Woods. Staff and the Tower Manager have been working with both of these residential areas and it is recognized that they are a little different and we will try to work out the best solution that will work for these residents and the Town. Vice Mayor Liles expressed appreciation to everyone who came out and those that spoke. He has driven around Town and has the same concerns that have been expressed. We are a part of Roanoke County, but a Roanoke County citizen pays a certain tax and a Town of Vinton citizen pays the same tax plus a little more. He thinks our citizens deserve a little more and believes there is a happy medium that we can all get to that is fair to every single citizen in our Town and no one is penalized for refuse collection. He agrees with trahcans for everyone, but we do not need to penalize good taxpaying citizen: {council Member Stovall commented that the first week of March the cans will roll out and we are going to give the citizens a chance to get use to them:. The comments have been recorded and the Public Works Committee will meet and address them. If there are ether concerns, they should be seat to the Town Manager. He also expressed appreciation for those who were in attendance. Hearing no further comments, the Mayor closed the Public Hearing at .41 p.m, Public:Hearing dosed: Council Member Stovall moved to adopt the Ordinance with the comments being received going back to the Public Works Committee to be reviewed, the cans will begin to be rolled out the week of March 4`h throughout the Town and part of the Ordinance will take effect April 1; 01 the motion was seconded by Council Member Scheid. The Town Clerk commented that she was not clear can the motion.. The Mayor commented that he understands that we are going to adopt the proposed Ordinance with the standard set forth and that Council and staff will work with the citizens than have some issues to get them worked out before April I" when the Ordinance takes effect. There were additional comments and discussion regarding any changes that might need to be made to the Ordinance and the Town Attorney commented that the Ordinance could be adopted as is and changed at a later date. Council Member Scheid commented that the Public Works Committee will be meeting on Thursday of this week and will discuss the concerns that had been expressed during the Public Hearing. The Town Manager commented that Council could table the Ordinance until the March San meeting to allow the Public Work Committee to meet and work through some of the items that have been brought forth tonight. We will need to go ahead and send out the information notices, but we can keep the effective date of April :1't and wait to take action at the March 5th Council meeting. The cans are going to be delivered and we do not want the cans to arrive without the notices. 9 Council Member Stovall withdrew his original motion and there was no objection. Council Ordinance to repeal Article 1, In general, Member Stovall then made a motion to table the and Article 11, Recycling, of Chapter 70 adoption of the Ordinance to the March 5, 2019 Solid Waste, in its entirety by adopting (council meeting; the new motion was seconded and enacting Article 1, In General, Article by Vice Mayor Liles and carried by the following 11, Recycling ,and Article 111, Penalties o vote, with all members voting. Mote 4.0; Yeas (4) Chapter 78, Solid Waste, of the Town Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose; lays {0) — bone; Code was tabled to the March 5, 2019 Absent 1)— McCarty. Council meeting The Town Manager commented that the cans will roll out the week of March 4, 2019, but they will not be issued to the Southampton or Dillon Wood Townhomes because we are still working through the logistics of what type of service we are going to provide to those two areas. Under reports from Council Committees, Brandon Bann reported that the Highway Safety Committee met on February 4, 2019 and discussed several items at the meeting. One item was a request concerning vehicles pulling up to far at the business on the corner of South Maple and Virginia Avenue which is hindering sight visibility to the left on Virginia Avenue. A letter was sent to Master Sergeant BBt requesting they purchase stop blocks to prevent vehicles from pulling too far forward in the parking spaces. An update was given on the recent grant for the crosswalk at the intersection of Washington and Pollard. Some safety issues were discussed concerning vehicles parking on the street in the 700 Sloe o South Maple. A communication was sent to Roanoke County Schools to see if bus drivers were having problems with parked vehicles in that location. The response from the bus drivers was no, so the Committee recommended no further action at this time. There was a request for placement of Opticoms at the intersection of Vinyard/Hardy andWashington/Mountain View and Mr. Hiner reported that Opticoms are considered when intersections are being upgraded; Another item discussed was a complaint from a citizen on Bowman Street who was having issues with utility lines at his residence being pulled down by trucks and a request to restrict trucks from traveling on that street. A letter was sent to the citizen recommending that he contact ABP and his cable TV provider to check the height of his service lines. The business owner at the 10 corner of Virginia Avenue and 3rd street has been experiencing issues with commercial vehicles using their entrance as a cut-through to avoid the light or the turn at the intersection. Communication was sent to the business owner recommending placement of concrete planters to limit egress of commercial vehicles. The Committee also reviewed a request from staff to reduce the speed limit from 35 mph to 2 ph from the Roanoke City/Town limits to Mountain View Roast. Reducing the speed would fall along the lines of the revitalization and economic development to assist in making the downtown more walkable especially at the new crosswalk at taus Nicks/Washington and those already at the churches and 'Macado's. The Committee recommended that Public Works staff further review the request to determine proper ending of the 25 mph speed zone. The last item reviewed by the Committee was a request for a hidden driveway sign at 322 Ruddell Road near Merman L. Horn. The Committee recommended placement of the sign on the school side with wording "Hidden Driveway Right". Council Member Scheid asked if the speed limit change would come back to {council. The Town Manager responded that the recommendation would go to the public Works Committee and then back to Council; The next Committee report was from the Finance Committee, Anne Cantrell commented that the Committee met today prior to the Council Meeting and first reviewed and approved the 3`1 Quarter Rescue Squad Reimbursement Request. Ms, Cantrell next commented that they reviewed three budget 'appropriations that Council will be asked to approve at their next meeting. One related to a VML Insurance claim at the War Memorial for mold remediation; one for a debt service payment where the funds were budgeted in capital outlay, the debt was issued in July and the first payment was made in January rry and one for scrap metal from Public Works to appropriate the revenue to their building maintenance account. The next item discussed was the December 2019 financial statements. Year-to-date posted in the General Fund was $490,006 in expenditures over revenue which is anticipated this time of year. The Grant Fund was $6,862„ the Utility Fund was $284,610 and the Stormwater Fund was $30189, The total for all funds was $182,070 in expenditures over revenue. This is expected this time of year due to most of the collections and taxes being in May and June. With regard to cash, the General Fund was $ 96,00 to the good, Grant Fund was negative by $23,000, Utility Fund had $1.2 million and the Stormwater Fund had $ ,000 for a total cash of $1.6 million, Restricted cash was $186,000. Across the various investments in the General and Utility Fund, we had $3,1 million with total cash and investments at$4.7 million. There are three main revenue categories being watched and a shortfall is anticipated at the end of this fiscal year. Those categories are fines and forfeitures, charges for services and War Memorial charges for services. Consumer utility tax, personal property and real estate tax are not trending down at this time, but it is looking like we will not meet our target of year-end projections, In the utility Fund, the revenues were at $1.9 million and year-to-date budget was$180,000 over what was expected or 110% In the Stormwater Fund, we were at $204,000 for the year, which is the transfer from the General and Utility Funds. With regard to expenditures, several categories are overspent or projecting to he overspent, Those are legal and communications services or the F9=11 Center. The maintenance, highways, streets and bridges is overspent, but there$35 000 in paving was paid in July that we normally do not pay until the end of the year and $1 ,000 was capital outlay for a salt spreader had to be replaced and was not expected. We are trending overspent in the War Memorial, and the Swimming Fool. The $500 overspending trend in the Swimming Pool is due to a water leak. Economic Development is overspent due to an entry that needs to be moved. Across all departments, we were at 84%of our budget expectations. In the Grant Fund, there were a few entries that need to be moved.. One for the Gish hill Study Grant which is missing appropriated budget but the grant has been received and spent. This will be coming to Council in the future. In the Utility Fund, we spent 9% of budget expectations, or $1. 2 million. In the Stormwater Fund, we spent 85% of our budget expectations, which is $1 4,000 versus the$204,000 budgeted transfer figure. The Finance Committee reviewed the preliminary budget for next year which included projections for this year. We did have a'few categories that are trending to the good,one being meals tax. We are anticipating being over about $23,000 this year and the gain sharing payment came in $33000 above what we have budgeted. The State sales tax is trending about $70,000 above what we budgeted and highway maintenance was trending about $23,00 above. Some of the negative trends are overtaking the positive treads, but with n $3 million budget, we are locking at being off about $50,000 or 0:04%. We are very confident that as we continue throughout the year that these projections are only going to get better and that we will have enough expenditure budget remaining that we will not see a negative impact for the Town. After this review, we based our revenue budget on these projections and we also discussed some pieces of the proposed agreement that Roanoke County also discussed in their budget review with their Board. The Commonwealth's Attorney contract was tabled to a future meeting. With regard to the rate study proposals, we received three quotes, one from VM ACo for $12,500, one from Davenport for $18,000 and one from Raftelis for $43 000. We are going to request an engagement letter from Davenport to compare with the one from Vl ACo and there it will be brought hack to the Finance Committee for a final recommendation to Council. The Valley Metro item was also tabled to a future meeting: The next Finance Committee meeting will be March 4, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. With regard to the FY2020 budget, Council Member Scheid and Mayor Grose have requested that we hold a budget work session with all members of Council and the departments sometime in March. After further discussion, the Town Manager commented that we will send out Doodle Poll to Council. Council Member Scheid made a motion to approve the December 2013 Financial Deport a presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member Stovall and carried by the following vote, with all members voting. Vote 4-0; Yeas {4 Approved December 201 Financial Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose; bays 0 -- bane, Report Absent 1)--McCarty. 3 The Mayor commented can all of the regional Committees that Council and staff:participate in Comments from Council: Council Member Stovall expressed thanks to Debbie Adams for the article she did on hire and his wife for Valentine's Day. Council Member Scheid expressed appreciation to staff for the hard work on the refuse ordinance, We have made a lot of progress and the fact that we did not have anyone from downtown businesses or single family residential citizens to came to the Public Nearing says a lot. Council Member Scheid next recommended a work session prior to the March 5, 2019 meeting. Council Member Scheid commented that Clean Valley Day is April 6`h and she main wanted to put together a team again of Council and Staff. Anyone wanting to participate should meet at .9 a.m. at:Lake [give Plaza. Council Member Stovall commented that the Public forks Committee will meet on Thursday morning and will make recommendations from what was beard tonight to Council. He asked if they could have those recommendations prier to the work session. The Mayor commented that he is concerned about trying to make exceptions within an Ordinance. The Town Attorney commented that if we are going to have exceptions that we will have to spell out the criteria for the exceptions. Vice Mayor Liles commented that the Public Nearing was ;good and he agreed that a work session before the next meeting would be beneficial to work out some of the issues. Vice Mayor tiles 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 4-0; Yeas j — Scheid; Stovall, Liles, Grose-, bays 0 bone; Absent 1 McCarty, The meeting was adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Meeting adjourned APPROVED- Bradley E. arose, Mayor A EST Susan N. Johnson, C; Town Clerk 1