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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1/20/2015 - Regular MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT :00 P.M. CAN TUESDAY, JANUA Y 20, 2015, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON, IRGINIA: MEMBERS PRESENT- Bradley F. Grose, Mayer Matthew S. Hare, Vice Mayor 1. Douglas Adams, Jr. William W. Nance Sabrina M. Weeks STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence, Town Manager Elizabeth Dillon, Town Attorney Susan N. Johnson, Town Clerk Ryan Spitzer,<Assistant Tern Manager' Cary Woodson, Public Works Director Ben Cook, Police Chief Donna Collins; Human Resources Specialist Chris Linkous Fire/EMS Captain Anita McMillan, Planning &Zoning Director Mary Beth Layman, Special Programs Director Barry Thompson, Finance Director/Treasurer Kevin Kipp, War Memorial Manager Mark Vaught, Lieutenant-Services Joey Hiner, Pudic Works Assistant Director The Mayor called the work session to order at 6:00 p.m. for a further briefing on the Priority Based Budget process for the FY2015-2016 budget. The Town Manager first commented that his PowerPoint presentation will show in more detail what the Priority Bases! Budget model looks life. The actual list of all of the services will be completed in another week and provided to Council. Traditionally we have approached the budget by looking at what was spent over the east three years. That does not really identify what is most important when there are limited funds; Priority Based Budgeting is not a new concept and GFC A provides a lot of literature can the subject. Priority Based Budgeting is bringing vision into focus with a new "lens". Four steps to success with this type of budgeting are to determine and clarify results reflecting the town's goals and objectives; to identify programs and services; to value programs based on results and to allocate resources based can priorities. The Town Manager next commented on the six core goals set by Council in 209--neighborhood vibrancy, downtown reinvented, destination and a gateway, talk of the town- communication, Vinton°s community spirit shines and best managed town-good governance. He then briefly commented on the next six slides that showed four or five objectives for each of the six core goals; The next slides showed the basic program attributes and how each service or program will be scored. The attributes to be used for scoring are if a program is mandated to be provided, options for providing a program; if a cost recovery is tied to a program and the portion of the community that is served by a particular program: Every single program will be scored in these four categories to get a total scare. The Town Manager next commented that the Council goals were rated in 2011 by a citizens' survey.. In the survey, every citizen was asked to allocate $100 to the six goals set by Council and the final ranking went from 2 .2% for commercial areas reinvented to 9.7% for talk of the town. These goals will also be used to;rate our programs. Every department has listed all of their services and after scoring each service, they will be grouped in four quartiles:. Based on direction from Council, we can there allocate resources to those services based on prioritization. Vice Mayor bare asked about sub-components to services. The Town Manager responded that this will give us a tool to identify what to loop at and then we will have to ask more questions. For example, certain services are done a certain way and the question will be are we doing them the most cast effective way. The Mayor asked about changing the Council meeting schedule. The Town Manager responded that we have added March 31't as an additional meeting, but we have not changed the regular meeting schedule. The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at 7:05 Roll call p.m. The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Adams, Council Member Dance, Council Member Weeks, Vide Mayor Mare and Mayor Grose present. After a Moment of Silence, Council Member Weeks led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Under upcoming community eventsl announcements, Council Member Weeks announced the Valentine's Dance at the Woodland Place on February 14th. The Mayor announced the Community Meeting regarding the skate park on January 29rh at the War Memorial. The Town Clerk announced that the next Council meeting on February 3rd will have a joint work session with the Planning Commission starting at :00 p.m. Council Member Nance made a motion to approve the Approved minutes for the Consent Agenda as presented; the motion was seconded regular Council meeting o by Council Member Adams and carried by the following January 6, 2015 vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas 5)-Adams, Dance, Weeks; bare, Grose; Days (0). 2 Council ember Nance read a Memo from Chief Conk naming Sergeant Pabricio Lrumond Sergeant Gregory Cuesinberry, Officer Jaynes Spence and Officer Michael Giles as Officers of the month for December. The next item on the agenda was a Pudic Hearing to receive comments concerning a request by James Wright for a fifty (50)foot wide by approximately one hundred and ninety (190) foot long undeveloped portion of right-of-way, known as S. Pollard Street, and fifteen (15) fact wide by one hundred seventy (170) font long undeveloped alley located between 101 and 105 Miles Avenue, Plat Book 1, Page 127, to be closed, vacated, and deeded to the adjoining property owners.. The Mayor opened the Public Nearing at 7:14 pm. Anita Public Hearing opened McMillan first commented that the Planning Commission had a work session to review the matter on November 13 I" and that Council was briefed on December 15t'. Letters were sent to the adjoining property owners and to all of the utility companies. Staff did not receive any comments from the adjoining property owners. Verizon has requested a 2 toot long by 55 foot wide public utility easement on the vacated undeveloped portion of South Pollard Street be retained for access to their facility: The Planning Commission held a Public Hearing on January 13, 2015 and there were no public comments. After the Public Hearing, the Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend that Council approve the vacation requests of said right-of-way and alley. Mr Kasey, the adjoining property owner, has indicated that he does not want any portion of the 7.5 feet of the alley and Mr. Iasey will have to do a quit-claims deed in order for the 7.5 feet x 170 feet to be given to Mr. and Mrs.Wright. Regarding the South Pollard Street right-of-way, usually one-half goes to each of the adjoining property owners. However, in this instance, the entire 50 foot wide by 190 Public Hearing closest foot long will go to Mr. Wright because that portion of South Pollard Street-was created with that subdivision and not Adapted Ordinance No. 957 when the property to the west was created. permanently abandoning, vacating, and deeding a fifty Council Member Dance asked if the Town Attorney has (50) foot wide by approximately approved of the language in the proposed Ordinance and one hundred and ninety (1 0) the Town Attorney responded yes. foot long undeveloped portion of right-of-way, known as S. Nearing no comments, the Public Hearing was closed at Pollard Street, and fifteen (15 7:20 p.m. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to adopt the foot wide by one hundred Ordinance as presented; the motion was seconded by seventy (10) foot long Council Member fiance and carried by the following roll call undeveloped alley located vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0 Yeas(5)--Adams, between 101 and 105 Giles Dance, Weeks, Hare; Grose; bays (0).. Avenue, Plat Book 1, Page 127 3 The next item on the agenda was an update on the Vulturesl3rd Street dumpsters; The Town Manager made opening comments and 'then turned the meeting over to Lieutenant Mark Vaught and Gary Woodson. Lieutenant Vaught- began by commenting that they have been harassing the vultures, which is not a violation with the Department of Agriculture. However, if they kill one, it is a Federal offense since they are federally protected: After making every efl'ort for an extended period of time to get rid of them, the Town can apply for a permit which takes about six to eight weeks for approval. This permit would allow them to kill some of the vultures and place them in certain areas as a deterrent. However; the downside of using this permit is that once you dace a dead one in a tree where they are roasting, they will simply move to another tree. There is no sure way to get completely rid of them. The harassment methods they have been using are recommended by the U. S. Department of Agriculture and use power technics. These are bottle rocks that are discharged from a handgun which has a blank that ignites the racket and it propels out. Because they do not provide pinpoint accuracy, they are not conducive to be used in neighborhoods. They have been modifying these by just using blanks which sound like a regular pistol. Lieutenant Vaught next commented that since they have been using these for some time; it now takes three or four to make them move. They have had some progress near the dumpster site and have incorporated longer range projectiles that are fired from a 12-guage shotgun. They have been running them out from the trees around Public Works or the neighborhoods. Once they are in a safe- enough area and they start to circle, they can shoot tap through the middle and the projectile will travel about 20 feet and explode and bust them up. They have purchased a second pistol and the Sergeant on-duty is able to shoot at might as well as Lieutenant Vaught shooting in the morning and during the day, Lieutenant Vaught also commented that PFG has purchased an electronic device to mount on their building to keep them from picking on the rubber membrane. This device appears to have worked for there and costs around $ 00-0 } Another option that is available is a propane canon which is pretty loud. However; it is very unsafe to =leave unattended and if they decided to use it, it would have to be manned.. This would be a last resort. Council Member Adams asked what has been spent over the past few years in time, manpower and supplies. Lieutenant Vaught responded that the propane canon was purchased and used when it was being manned by our Animal Control Officer. The other power technics probably 4 cost around $1,5 0. He indicated he would probably spend one hour, three times a day during two seasons. He felt like we are in a position to apply for the permit, but it still will not be a complete fix; In response to a question from the mayor about the dumpsters attracting the vultures as a food source, Lieutenant Vaught said they look for trees that do not have a lot of leaves and limbs. If it is not a good clay for them to fly and hunt for food, they go to the dumpsters: Council Member lance commented that he is very appreciative to Lieutenant Vaught's attention to the vulture matter because it is very important to our community. Cary Woodson next commented that Public Works has tried different deterrents to the vultures which have worked for a period of time. The vultures have also damaged the roof to the Td Street lift station and their feces have created a lot of mess in the Public Works storage yard. Mr. Woodson and Lieutenant Vaught traveled to Bedford to view one of their facilities and talked with their Public forks Director to get a sense of how they handle their dumpster sites. They do not have curbside pickup, but manage their waste very well. They do not take construction debris and hazardous waste, but have a separate dumpster to take large appliances such as refrigerators and stoves. They have compactible dumpsters that do not allow birds or other animals to get Into them. They are manned seven days a week, from 7 am to 7 pm with four guys working six- hour shifts; Mr. Woodson next presented four options for consideration for the dumpster site. Option t would be to leave the site as it is; open 4/7 with the refuse crew emptying the three dumpsters every morning, seven days a week. If there are any illicit refuse discharges in the dumpsters that would damage the refuse truck, they have to separate there by hand. They pull them to the side and the bulk refuse truck picks them up on Monday. They are planning to put some screening in the area with funds from the grant received for the canoe launch to dress up the site. Option 2 would be to eliminate the dumpster site and then screen the wall and dress up the site. Option 3 world be to do low-level improvements. The dumpsters would be flipped so that the parking area would be screened off and the yard entrance would be opened. barrier would be created so that trash could be dropped off and the site would continue to be maintained in the current fashion. The price for hard plastic lids for the dumpsters would run approximately $500 per dumpster which would keep any wildlife or the vultures from getting in there. Mr. Woodson next commented that in the Fall of the year there is more of a problem when there is a lot more household food waste and hunters disposing of carcasses there. Also, before when they would pick up roadside bill„ it would be discarded on the side on the weekend and would be buried on Monday by our backhoe operator. Now, they are buried when they come in. The ether part of Option woof be ingress and egress modifications to move the date down so people could come down into the yard area. That would probably run$3,000 to $3,500 for this option. Option 4 would include a high level of improvements. This would allow the site to be opened from 7 am to b p , Monday through Friday, and from 8 am to 12 pm, Saturday and Sunday. The regular Public Works staff could handle the site Monday through Friday and the individual who currently conies in on Saturday and Sunday to read the wells could open the site and close it up at 1 . Some ingress and egress modifications could be done and an electronic date could be installed. The gate could be wired into the Public Works facility and staff could open the gate during the working hours.. This option would also include security cameras. Mr. Woodson on indicated that he has obtained prices for security cameras that would take care of the gas pumps, the canoe launch area, the 3`d Street lift station and the yarn area. The screening would still go up with the grant money for the canoe launch site; Mr. Woodson next commented that we could use a rollback dumpster and two containers that can be compacted. There is already money in the budget to purchase the roll back truck and they would need to purchase the container at a cost of $3,30 . The rollback dumpster would be provided for large items in order to keep them out of the other dumpsters. The total cost is estimated at $ 4,00 . The camera systems are estimated at $ ,300 and an electronic gate would cost approximately $20,000. The refuse compactors are $30,000 for two, if leased, and g,g}g if purchased plus the electric hookups of$4,000. The Town Manager commented in summary that we are going to screen the site and we have grant money for that purpose. There is a need for some type of covers either n the dumpsters themselves or some type of shelter with a covering to keep the wildlife and vultures out. Council will need to give some direction as we go through the budget process;. The Mayor commented that the dumpsters are an enhanced service that we have in the town. He then asked how other localities handle this if they have curbside recycling and do they have dumpsters, The Town Manager responded that Roanoke City provides the same service that the Town does and they do not have any drop sites'. Roanoke e ounty has curbside trash and provides recycle drop sites throughout the County just like we have at Kroger. He was not sure about Salem, but they do have curbside trash pickup with a transfer facility and a recycle drop site, The next item on the agendas was an update on the Downtown Revitalization ation Project. Ryan Spitzer began by commenting on the current progress of the project. The conduit is underground for the streetlights and they are currently working or putting in the concrete bases for the two lights on Pollard Street. This should be completed within the next three to four weeks after which time CEP will come in and set the light poles on top of the bases. This should be completed by the end of February. After the street lights project and the construction of the library began; people began taking a look at what is being done downtown. Up to that paint none of the businesses who had voluntarily signed up for the faade work at the beginning of the process wanted to commit their money until they saw work being done. Once they contacted us; we had to coordinate meetings with the business and property owners with our architect to get their design plans. Those design plans were submitted to the Department of Historic Resources and Mr. Spitzer indicated he just received approval today. This allows us to move along with those designs, Mr. Spitzer next commented that the momentum has just picked up with the Devolving Loan Fund and two businesses have contacted us for an application to do improvements downtown. The Farmers' !Market has been put can hold until we apply for the extension. We want to work around our downtown events because the main focus of the grant is for have people come downtown to spend more money.: The Washington/Pollard intersection is the final part of the project. We thought it would be a good idea to co-mingle this intersection with the downtown street lights; however, the bid came back at$700,000, which was the total amount of the grant. The reason for the high bid was the fact that because the two projects were so different whoever would bid on it would have to hire so many subcontractors to dig the work., that inflated the prier. Another factor to be considered was traffic control on a four-lane highway because two lanes would have to be blocked on Pollard at a time to do the intersection work and repave it. We decided to separate the streetlights and got that project completed and do the intersection work when we go out for paving in the Spring. Our two-year deadline is coming up in March, so we want to request a nine-month extension, While an extension is not the ideal way to go and we would like to have completed the entire project in the two-year timeframe, an extension is not out of the norm for any project that DHC has clone. There have been other projects that have asked for multiple extensions and our Community Specialist indicated she does not think two years is enough time to complete the project* DHCD erects a locality to do all the design work before receiving the grant; but no one is going to do that if there is no guarantee. All the other communities that Mr. Spitzer has talked with have received approval of their requested extensions. The next item was an update on the Spat Blight Abatement Plan. The Town Manager commented there are five identified current blighted properties that we are actively pursuing under our new Ordinance. Karla Turman has spearheaded the implementation of this Policy. She has organized a COMBAT Teem (Community Slight Abatement Team) which reviews a piece of property comprehensively before they send a notice to the owner that the property has been declared a blighted/nuisance property. A Memo on each of the five properties was provided with the agenda.. Not every property leads to a Public Nearing with Council for demolition. Ms. Turman has had success in having 133 Hardy road 'torn don. The property owners at 530 North Blair Street have an engineer and are working can remediating the property. The two properties that will coma back with a request for a Public Nearing are 123 taus Dicks Boulevard and 830 South Pollard Street. After the Ordinance was adopted, the owner of the taus licks property had a dumpster placed on the site, but nothing else has been done. The owner of 830 South Pollard responded, but the property is now owned by several heirs. Ultimately, the property needs to torn down and the Memo includes two quotes. If we decide to proceed with the demolition, the Town would have to pay for the demolition and then put a lien on the property. Anita McMillan commented that the Planning Commission discussed these five properties at their January 13'' work session. They would like to schedule a Public Nearing on the two properties in question. Staff has completed all of the necessary paperwork and the costs to demo the properties are provided in the Memos. Vice Mayor Hare asked if Council would get a recommendation from the Planning Commission before they made a decision. Ms. McMillan responded that if Council would vivant the Planning Commission to have a Public Nearing, they would schedule it in March.. They need to know in February so they can have the proper time to advertise to give the property owners an additional 30 days' notice once it is advertised. The property owners will have the option to come before the Planning Commission and Council to comment if they agree with the recommendation to demolish their houses. Council Member Nance commented on the process and the progress that has been made through the COMBAT Team; He also commented that he appreciated how they are taking a different approach with each property depending on how each of the property owners has responded. Vice Mayor Hare asked if any determination had been made concerning the use of the grant funds to deal with the property at 123 taus Nicks„ Mr. Spitzer responded that we could not because it was not part of the original grant application. If there are fonds leftover; we can then;apply'to use those funds for other reasons. Vice Mayor Hare next commented concerning the liens that will be placed on these properties and the issues we had before when Roanoke County had a tax sale and we were not ably:to recover our costs. The Town Manager responded that our Town_Attorney's office is now more directly involved in the tax sales. However, we may or may not recover our costs based on other liens that may be mead of ours; The Mayor asked if Council waited until February to snake a decision on scheduling the Public Hearing, will that work with the schedule or do they need to decide tonight.. Ms. McMillan commented that waiting until February would still give enough time to the necessary advertisements. Council Member Nance asked if Council would take action on the same date as the Public Hearing. Ms. McMillan responded that Council will need to make: a decision to have the structures demolished at their Public Hearing. The Planning Commission will have their Public Hearing first and are proposing to schedule it for March t�' for the two subject properties. s. McMillan further commented that the Planning Commission would also like to have the Public Hearing on the zoning amendment to add the mixed use development zoning district on March Sth with the Council Public Hearing being scheduled for April 7t". If Council so desires, the Public Hearing for the two properties and the zoning amendment can be scheduled for April 7t'. Council gave their consensus to schedule the Public Hearings for April 7, 2C1 . The Town Manager next gave 'a brief update on Walnut Avenue and 5`h Street with regard to the new bridge and the "no left turn" at the intersection, Staff will be meeting with VDOT and the design consulting firm on Monday to discuss 9 the site distance, the inadequate lighting on the Southern States side of the bridge as well as the lane stripping which was supposed to be reflective. The Mayor thanked staff for all the work they have done in preparing for the reports that were given at this meeting. Council Member Adams gave a report of the Public Safety Committee meeting. He began by commenting that with Captain Linkous now being on the 4-hour shift; the Committee met to make sere that everyone was aware of what was going on (career and volunteers . There were some issues that needed to be addressed and they were able to come to an agreement at the meeting. This agreement will be put in writing and after the final version is approved, it will be distributed to all the volunteers in bath departments so they are aware of how things should be handled. They are working to make sure that there is adequate Fire coverage and EMS and at no time will the Station be without an AI_S truck there. A brief update was given on the fire house renovations. The construction has begun upstairs and they will put up a dust barrier so that the meeting rooms upstairs can continue to be used. Comments from Council embers: Vice Mayor Hare commented on the Public Safety Committee meeting and how encouraging it was to see a group of people who really are concerned about keeping the citizens of East Roanoke County and Vinton safe. Mr. Hare also commented on a phone call he received regarding the parking policies downtown and lack of enforcement: The Town Manager asked if it related to the two-Dour parking standard. Lieutenant Vaught commented that he also spoke to an individual last week concerning the parking issue and he has stressed to the officers that if manpower permits they should walk downtown, especially during the construction: The Town Manager commented that when we had an Animal Contral Officer, he was available to walk downtown. We are down four officers at the present time; two who are in the academy and two who are not certified. The Mayor asked if we would notify our business owners if we are going to step up enforcement. Council Member Weeks expressed thanks to staff for their reports and for the hard work, Council Member Adams commented about some complaints he has received concerning the road closures downtown. Vice Mayor Hare asked what accommodations are being made when the drive-through is closed; The Town Manager responded that staff will see what can be done through signage to alert citizens and give instructions if they need assistance: 0 Council Member Weeks made a motion to adjourn the regular meeting; the motion was seconded by Council Member Adams s and carried by the following vote with all members voting: Vote 5-0; `leas 5) -- Adams, Nance; Weeks, Hare, Grose; bays ( None. The meeting was adjourned at .45 p.m; Meting adjourned APPROVED: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor A BST: Susan N. Johnso Town Clerk