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HomeMy WebLinkAbout7/21/2020 - Regular MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON,VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Sabrina McCarty, Vice Mayor Keith N. Liles Laurie J. Mullins 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 Donna Collins, Human Resources Director/Risk Manager Fabricio Drumond, Deputy Police Chief Joey Hiner, Public Works 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 Mullins, Council Member Stovall, Vice Mayor McCarty and Roll call Mayor Grose present, After a Moment of Silence, Julianna Drumond led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Under upcoming community events/ announcements, Vice Mayor McCarty announced the following: July 25 — 7-10:00 p.m. — Mingle at the Market with 5 Shades of Gray and Mountain Grille— Farmers' Market; August 8—7-10:00 p.m. — Mingle at the Market with Adam Rutledge — Farmers' Market; August 14 — 5-7:00 p.m. — Reconnect Event-Gladetown and August 19 — 5- 7:00 p.m. — Reconnect Event-Midway. Pete Peters commented that there were approximately 250 paid participants at the July 11 th Mingle at the Market, This was one-fourth of the established capacity based on Phase 3 Guidelines for outdoor entertainment and concert venues. Some minor tweaks will be made for the upcoming Mingle, but it went well and they received positive comments. Under requests to postpone, add to or change the order of agenda items, the Town Manager requested to postpone Item 2, Consider adoption of a Resolution approving the amended Title VI of the Civil Rights Act Implementation Plan under Section G, Consent Agenda, until the August 4, 2020 meeting. The request was due to the fact that the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) contacted staff yesterday and indicated there are additional amendments that need to be made to the Plan before adoption by Council. The new revised Plan has again been submitted to VDOT for their review; Council Member Liles made a motion to approve the requested change to the agenda;the motion was seconded by Council Member Stovall and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0;Yeas (5)—Liles, Mullins, Stovall, Approved the postponement of the agenda McCarty, Grose; Nays (0) —None; item under the Consent Agenda The Mayor turned the meeting over to Susan Johnson, the Town Clerk, who conducted the Investiture Service. Ms. Johnson then proceeded to administer the Oath of Office for Vice Mayor to Sabrina M. McCarty. After taking her Oath of Office, Vice Mayor McCarty made brief comments. The Town Clerk next presented the official framed election certificates to Council Member Mullins, Council Member Liles and Mayor Grose. Council Member Stovall made a motion to nominate Captain Fabricio Drumond as the Interim Police Chief; the motion was seconded by Council Member Liles and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0 Yeas (5) Liles, Mullins, Stovall, McCarty, Grose; Appointed Captain Fabricio Drumond as Nays (0) — None. the Interim Police Chief The Town Clerk next administered the Oath of Office to Interim Chief Fabricio Drumond. After taking his Oath of Office, Chief Drumond made brief comments. Council Member Mullins made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda, as revised; the motion was seconded by Council Member Liles and carried by the following vote,with all members voting:: Vote 5-0;Yeas (5)—Liles, Mullins, Stovall, Approved minutes of the Regular Council McCarty, Grose; Nays (0) .—None. Meeting of July 7, 2020 Under awards,introductions, presentations and proclamation, the first item was the introduction of two new Police Officers. Interim Chief Drumond made brief comments and introduced Officer William Holland and Officer Jaymie Turner. The next item was a Proclamation honoring outgoing Police Chief Tom Foster, Council Member Stovall read the Proclamation and presented it to Chief Foster who made brief comments. The Mayor and Council also made comments expressing their appreciation to Chief Foster. The next item was the presentation of the Virginia Risk Sharing Association (VRSA) Margaret A. Nichols Risk Management Leadership Award. The Town Manager called Donna Collins forward and then read a letter from VRSA which recognized the Town for the implementation of the workplace violence deterrence and notification system for the safety of employees. The Town Manager next commented that this award was received through the efforts of Ms. Collins along with the Safety Committee and that Bo Herndon had worked very close with Ms. Collins' on all of the improvements. The other Safety Committee Members are Chasity Barbour, Brandon Cann, Nathan McClung, Amanda Payne, Fabricio Drumond, Mandie Baker, Billy Robb and Andrew Critcher. The Mayor then presented the award to the Safety Committee after which Ms.Collins made brief comments. The next item on the agenda was a briefing on the Limited Service Hotel Market Study for the property located at the corner of South Pollard Street, 1 st Street and Cedar Avenue. The Town Manager first commented that Pete Peters would begin the briefing and then Christian Abbate with DPC Hospitality would join via Zoom. Mr, Peters commented that the Town has been working for several years to attract and recruit a hotel. Originally a market study was done to determine the feasibility to operate a hotel in the Town limits and then we acquired the property to develop a hotel. This next step is essentially to develop a proforma to understand what it would cost to construct and operate a hotel at the specific site. Working with Draper Aden,staff was able to use some of the EPA Brownfield Assessment Grant funds to request 3 proposals from professionals to provide this limited hotel market study and the Town contracted with Christian Abbate with DPA Hospitality: Mr. Peters then turned the meeting over to Mr. Abbate to review with Council the report that he has been working on since February. There was a brief pause due to the COVID-19 shutdown, but Mr. Abbate wanted to capture bath pre-COVID and post-COVID to show what that would look like and how that would impact the recruitment of a hotel for the site. Mr. Abbate next reviewed a PowerPoint presentation, which was provided to Council at the meeting and will be on file in the Town Clerk's Office as a part of the permanent record followed by closing comments by Mr. Peters. The next item on the agenda was a briefings on new Town of Vinton Employee Handbook. Donna Collins first commented that the draft handbook has been updated with feedback from the Leadership Team and legal guidance from the Town Attorney. The current Handbook had not been reviewed and updated since 2008 and changes include the revised Mission and Vision Statements based on the Retreat from February 2019; a Code of Ethics policy and the General Employment Practices and Workplace Expectation Policies have been updated to be compliant in 2020. Based on the circumstances of the last few years and COVID-19, a Suspicious Threat Event, Pandemic and Inclement Weather policies have been added and in conjunction with Virginia Risk Sharing Association (VRSA) a Communications Devices While Driving Policy,which is basically a hands-free policy for all employees driving Town vehicles. The benefits remain the same with the addition of a Certification Reimbursement Policy; Bereavement Leave so employees do not have to use their sick time and Voting Leave for employees that desire to leave work to vote. Also,the Fringe Benefits Policy has been updated to current IRS standards and the addendums were updated to include the Safety Policy and the DOT Testing and Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration Clearinghouse Guidelines that became effective January 1, 2020. The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution authorizing the Town Manager to file an application for allocation of 4 funding from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Industrial Revitalization Fund (IRF) for the Gish MITI Redevelopment Project. Pete Peters first commented that on July 7, 2020 Council was briefed on the efforts redevelop and rehabilitate the Gish Mill property. This $600,000 grant application with DHCD for the IRF Fund would assist with the rehab and repair costs. The Program is designed for shovel-ready projects for former industrial properties to make them functioning properties once again. If awarded,the grant would be given to the Town to be administered in the form of a loan to the developer. The terms of the loan would be in the Town's discretion and once paid back,the funds can be used again for other rehabilitation projects in the future. On July 9, 2020, an application was submitted for the Emergency Supplemental Historic Preservation Fund (ESHPF)through the Virginia Department for Historic Resources (DHR) in the amount of 250,000. Those grant funds are available to repair structures that were damaged through Hurricanes Florence and Michael. The combined total of the grants would be approximately$850,000 and would provide approximately 50% of the almost$2 million necessary to rehab the structure. As required by the IRF Grant, letters of support have been received from the Regional Partnership, Roanoke and Vinton Chambers, Roanoke Valley, Alleghany Regional Commission and our own Historical Society. The final step is the adoption of the Resolution by Council. Adopted Resolution No. 2371 authorizing Council Member Stovall made a motion to adopt the the Town Manager to file an application for Resolution as presented;the motion was seconded allocation of funding from the Virginia by Vice Mayor McCarty and carried by the following Department of Housing and Community roll call vote, with all members voting; with all Development (DHCD) Industrial members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles, Revitalization Fund (IRF) for the Gish Mill Mullins, Stovall, McCarty, Grose; Nays(0)—None. Redevelopment Project The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution authorizing the Town Manager to execute an Agreement with Roanoke County for the Use of CARES Act Funds. Anne Cantrell commented that Roanoke County has received an allocation of approximately$8.2 million from the Coronavirus Relief Fund and the County is responsible as part of their Agreement to ensure 5 that the Town has access to an equitable share of the funding. In June the budget was appropriated and this is the legal Agreement formalizing that action. The Agreement states that the Town will receive up to$706,693 and restricts us in the same way Roanoke County is restricted to their grant with the State, The funds shall be solely for qualifying expenses as defined by the CARES Act and have to be expended by December 30, 2020 or they will be returned to the County and then returned to the Commonwealth. The Town Attorney and County Attorney have reviewed this Agreement and Roanoke County approved this Agreement at their July 14, 2020 meeting. Vice Mayor McCarty made a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented;the motion was seconded by Council Member Mullins and carried by the Adopted Resolution No. 2372 authorizing following roll call vote, with all members voting: the Town Manager to execute an Vote 5-0;Yeas(5)—Liles, Mullins, Stovall, McCarty, Agreement with Roanoke County for the Grose; Nays(0) None. Use of CARES Act Funds The Town Manager commented that as part of the CARES Act Funds, Roanoke County and the Town has established a $1 million grant fund for small businesses. Jill Loope with Roanoke County is administering the Small Business Recovery Grant funds for the County and Town. Approximately 124 grant applications have been received totaling $560,000 with approximately $100,000 being from businesses in Vinton. The Town Manager next commented that the culverts under Washington Avenue at the Wolfe Creek Greenway are going to be cleaned out by the Pathfinders for the Greenway assisted by the Roanoke County Parks and Recreation Department and the Town's Public Works Department. The Mayor congratulated Interim Chief Drumond. Since this would be the last Council Meeting for the Town Manager, the Mayor next made comments and expressed appreciation to Mr. Thompson for his leadership and the job he has done. The Mayor further commented that Mr. Thompson would be invited back toward the end of his official retirement for proper recognition and celebration. Comments from Council embers: Council Members congratulated Interim Chief Drumond on his appointment and expressed appreciation to Mr. Thompson. Council Members Liles, Mullins and Stovall also congratulated Vice Mayor McCarty. Vice Mayor McCarty made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Council Member Liles and carried by the following vote,with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles, Mullins, Stovall, McCarty, Grose; Nays (0) None. The regular meeting was adjourned at 8:27 p.m. Regular Meeting adjourned The Mayor called the Work Session to order at 8:35 p.m. and turned the meeting over to the Town Attorney for a review of the Council Orientation Manual The Town Attorney reviewed a PowerPoint presentation; which was provided to Council at the meeting and will be on file in the Town Clerk's Office as a part of the permanent record. Following the PowerPoint presentation, there was discussion about the upcoming Reconnect events and Council going to dinner at a local restaurant before a meeting and how to;give proper notice. There was discussion regarding Council going into Closed Session under personnel to discuss employees not appointed by Council. The Town Attorney commented that'there is a FIA advisory opinion on the matter, but he would support Council if it became necessary. Normally, you would have the Town Manager deal with employees, but there could be situations where the Town Manager would need the input of the policy making body. The other possibility would be to have a one-on-one conversation with the Town Manager. The Work Session was adjourned at 9:34 p.m. APPROVED Bradley E. Grose, Mayor ATTEST: fVa. Susan N. Johnson, C C,Town Clerk 7