Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout3/4/2014 - RegularI L'I M WI kyl I Affalm, 01WI I IR W1 I W ME I IT= All M =I Z6142 NI 201*41 Bradley E. Grose, Mayor William W. Nance, Vice Mayor 1. Douglas Adams, Jr. Robert R. Altice Matthew S. Hare David R. Jones Robert A. Patterson Paul R. Mason William E. Booth Dawn M. Michelson STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence, Town Manager Elizabeth Dillon, Town Attorney Susan N. Johnson, Town Clerk Ryan Spitzer, Assistant to the Town Manager Barry Thompson, Finance Director/Treasurer Gary Woodson, Public Works Director Anita McMillan, Planning & Zoning Director Karla Turman, Associate Planner/Code Enforcement Officer Joey Hiner, Assistant Public Works Director Chris Linkous, FireIEMS Captain Chad Helms, Lieutenant, Fire Department The Mayor called the joint work session to order at 60 p.m. to hear a briefing concerning the proposed amendmen to Division 11, FO Floodplain Overlay District, Sections 4-5 through 4-61, of Article IV, District Regulations, of Appendix B Zoning, of the Town. The Town Manager made openin- comments, introduced Mellissa Hall, with the Virgini Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) and the turned the meeting over to Karla Turman for the presentation, I Ms. Turman began by commenting that she had provide P Council and the Planning Commission members with Jsom , C additional printed materials, One was information from DCR' website reaardina floodDlain manaae-ttent. Q. ttr2o of tlie fitiol INUMM floodway and the 100 year floodplain. Per Roanoke County 331 properties are in the floodplain, 105 are either partially o totally in the floodway and 121 are 100% in the 100 yea floodplain. Of those 331 properties, there are actually 171 owners. A mailing was sent to all of those owners to let the know that we would be meeting to discuss the amendments• the floodplain ordinance. was R -0 M its SUIPI(AlItib III LIJU 07177ay in the late 1990s, and in 2005 the Town bought two properties on 5th and Walnut and demolished the structures that were on the lots. There are no other structures now in the floodway except the seven in the mobile home park. Vice Mayor Nance commented that we are definitely going to be limiting individuals' ability to rebuild homes, but without the passage of these changes, no one is going to have the ability to obtain flood insurance. Ms. Turman said commercial properties would also be affected as well as homeowners who have a mortgage which requires the flood insurance. Ms. Hall commented that this is not just a matter of flood insurance, but a matter of any federally backed mortgage being available. You cannot have a federally backed mortgage in the floodplain without flood insurance and all of those homes would be affected by the failure to maintain the Towns' National Flood Insurance status, R Ms. Hall also commented regarding the floodway and the issue of no rise in flood waters. Existing homes within floodplains have been calculated into the base flood line level. Basically, the ordinance says if you build to here (the base flood elevation), the waters can get no more than one -foot above the base level. If you build past here, you are going to increase that flood which will affect other people. If you replace the mobile home, you will have to elevate it properly because you will still have to comply with the general regulations and not increase the footprint that is a reasonable and acceptable floodway application. However, if someone replaces a single wide with a double wide, obviously they are increasing the amount in the floodway and that is unacceptable. Ms. McMillan commented that the Town does allow development in the floodplain as long as for residential it meets the two feet above floodplain and commercial the foundation has to be one foot above the base flood elevation. After further comments from Ms. McMillan, Planning Commission Chair, Dave Jones, asked when the offers were made to buy properties as part of the flood mitigation program, were these mobile homes excluded. Ms. McMillan responded that VDEM indicated that a mobile home park costs a lot more, so they asked that we go into residential, not commercial since there was only a certain amount of money. The Mayor asked the histogrA ofthese eight locations shown and do theWept flooded regularly. Ms. Turman responded that we do not have any way of knowing that unless they were to submit a claim for flooding. The Mayor referred to a comment that was made earlier about homeowners' insurance not covering backups. He knows you can get a rider for your policy to cover that at a cost of approximately $35-50 a year. The Town Manager reiterated the Mayor's comments that you can purchase a rider for water/sewer back-up. Ms. Hall commented that flood insurance will not cover a single home event, but that two homes must be aYected it order for flood itsimpnce to kici in. Dave Jones asked if there was a cost to the Town to be in an r-7F'K_-#TTrrn*.Tfery inr"tbTli 1 together the ordinance. The Town Manager commented tha there had been discussion in the past regarding our potential t change our CRS rating to allow those with flood insuranc policies to possibly receive a slightly lesser policy rate. I order to do this, it would take more time of our Planning staff t devote to education, policy development and implementatio and it was decided not to proceed at that time. I In Section 1.5 (A) of the draft ordinance, Mr. Hare asked for clarification regarding other ordinances still being in effect if they are more restrictive. Ms. Hall responded that the flood M insurance is an overlay district which means that you have t follow all the rules for the flood ordinance. In addition, if it is commercial structure, you have to have the same set -back an zoning requirements that are already in the ordinance Whichever is the more restricted has to be followed. Ms McMillan also stated that any requirements of the stormwate *rdinance would apply in addition to the floodplain ordinance. Ms. Turman said there would possibly be some wording change in that section to make it more understandable. In response to a question about variances, the Town Manager stated that staff can review all of those and see how they might be affected. Ms. Turman commented about the recent variance that was given to Mr. Butler for his new building to be moved back to get it out of the floodplain. -R-re-fil-ef,tr-stato-40 hd�y,-drftd-fl ti, c,#'nNrnTt4at-i11d-ris *rtftrarrc not passed, then no one in the Town would be eligible for the federal flood insurance program. Ms. Turman responded that was correct and no one in Town would be eligible for any flood insurance program because even the private company requires that they be in an NFP community. Mr. Hare added that people would also lose their federally backed mortgage which means people would be without a home. Also, the Town Manager commented that if we did have a large flood that caused significant damage, the Town would not be eligible for FEMA reimbursement. Ms. Turman next commented that Council could just pass the FEMA requirements and not go any stricter than what is required. Ms. Hall commented that at the time the map study was done, if a 100 year flood happened that day, how high would we expect the waters to go, We know that people are -- going to build and fill the floodplains because that is what people do and the expectation is that some of that activity would cause as much as a foot rise over the base flood elevation. So if FEMA only requires you to build at the base. flood elevation, why would they let people build to the point where a foot above the base flood elevation is going to be flooded. That is why sensible communities like Vinton require more because if you build at the base flood elevation, you are planning for failure. Ms. Turman further commented that our ordinance being stricter than FEMA is not anything new, that has been our history. Dave Jones asked how we compare to other communities i the area or the Valley. Ms. McMillan commented that the Tow] is just like Roanood oo ke Cunty an• the City•f Roanke. The both require a two -foot above flood elevation for residential an a foot above elevation for commercial. Both Roanoke Coun and the City of Roanoke participate in CRS that gives reduction to homeowners that have flood insurance. Roano City is at Level 7 and Roanoke County is at Level 8. If th A Council decided to proceed with trying to lower the Town's CRS, these restrictions would give us points as far as requiring structures to be above the base flood elevation. 'Tice Mayor fftance asked about Article V, Section (6) j-r, deciding which wording to use. Ms. McMillan indicated s4t- would check with Roanoke County to be sure which language we should use. Mr. Nance commented that the blue languag4 11 conform to the VA USBC" appears to be a little bit more rational. Ms. Turman commented that what is in blue is the new ordinance and the red language is in our current ordinance. In response to a question from Mr. Hare, Ms. Turma responded that the new regulations are not going to impad! flood insurance policies. What is going to affect the floo insurance policies is the Biggert-Waters Act of 2012. This Ac was created to bring more money into FEMA based on a actuary and they are not subsidizing the insurance costs a much anymore. Ms. Turman gave two examples of a lad who said her flood insurance premium has been about $40: plus for a long time, but last year her bill was $4,000. Th gentleman in the audience who is with Living Waters Churc on Date Avenue stated that they started out at $600 and now i is $4,800 a year. The Town can help those individual through the CRS program by reducing the Town's rating leve to give property owners a decrease in their flood insuranc rate, Dave Jones commented that Southern States floo insurance premium was in the thousands and now it is in th hundred thousands and you do not operate a business withou flood insurance, U 1011 n0rfleS f afSeQ OTTO TeeL a elevation. ITIr. Darienzo from the audience commented that he was told that the Church's floor is about two inches too low. He asked if they could raise the floor two more inches to four inches, would that pass the regulations. Ms. Turman responded that they would have to took at the elevation permit to see where the base foot elevation is and it would have to be raised a foot above the base foot elevation. Staff can check to see if there is an elevation certificate on file for the Church. gwgy Ing 1W-1 Ito =a[ rual III Comm 211#11- Lola AMMINUINARIE Al commented that it needs to be approved. There are probably � couple of areas that we might need to have some languagE adjustment if there is an issue or a higher standard than wha the minimum of FEMA is and we will make sure you know wha, that is, The option of not having it is huge, just twc corporations alone would have to move and we want to makf sure the community and the people affected are aware of it anc that we are able to communicate and work with them to thE greatest extent possible. Dave Jones commented that the� just did a half million dollar project and in order to get the permi, to start, they had to prove that they were within the requiremen, of the Town. The Town Manager commented that the nex step was to hold a joint public hearing on April 15th with thE Planning Commission to take action first and then Cound would be in a position to take action, We have until the end ol April to get this adopted. The Work Session ended at 6:55 p.m. and Council took a recess. The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Roll Cal� The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Adams, Council Member Altice, Council Member Hare, Vice Mayor Nance, and Mayor Grose present, After a Moment of Silence Mr. Altice led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. ifir. Adams made a motion that the consent agenda be � Approved minutes of the approved as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Altice regular Council meeting of and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: February 18, 2014 Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None. The Mayor read a Proclamation declaring the month March as American Red Cross month. He then commente that while he was in the military, the I Red Cross was alway there and was very encouraging. Mr. Lee Clark, Chie Executive Officer for the American Red Cross, Virgini Mountain Region, was present at the meeting to accept th Proclamation. He made brief comments and then read letter to the local Red Cross from a local family who receive assistance during a recent house fire. The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of Resolution awarding a bid and authorizing the Town Manager to execute a contract with Lawrence Equipment in the amount of $91,238.00 for a Case 580 Super N Backhoe. Gary Woodson commented that Public Works solicited bids to replace the 1995 Case Backhoe that has exceeded its useful life. Two bids were received, one from Lawrence Equipment, which is the same vendor from which we recently purchased a new tractor, and one from Boone Tractor Company in Salem. We went out with a base bid and five N alternates for attachments, parts or pieces so we cou compare and get the most for the dollar amount. Lawren was the low bidder and we were able to get two addition,, ;P.ttachments, the factory installed hydraulics and a pla compactor/tamper. The bid was $91,283,00. The To Manager stated for the record that he has no relation Lawrence Equipment. I Mr. Woodson further commented that the asphalt roller also came from Lawrence Equipment. In response to a question about how many back hoes the Town has, Mr. Woodson stated three. The backhoe being replaced is the one that sets out on the material yard and it is in poor condition. We plan on making it surplus. Vice Mayor Nance asked how we handled this in the budget for the purchase and the Town Manager responded that it is in the water/sewer fund and is tied to the bond sale that we did. A part of the bond went out for 20 years and the equipment part of the bond money only went out for five years. Mr. Thompson commented that it is in the 2013 Capital Improvement Bond Series, not in the operating budget. Vice Mayor Nance then asked what was #ur target for this purchase and Mr. Woodson responded $95,0000. Vice Mayor Nance made a motion that the Resolution be adopted as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Hare and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None, The next item was to consider adoption of a Resolution approving the final Revolving Loan Program Plan and Guidelines Manual and its supporting documents to administer the Revolving Loan Program as part of the CDBG Program. The Town Manager explained that Ryan Spitzer was meeting with the Planning Commission to review the CIP for FY2015 so they can make a recommendation back to Council. The Town Manager then commented that following the last Council meeting Mr. Spitzer was directed to work with the Loan Committee and the Town Attorney to create a more formalized loan agreement that would bind the borrower to repay the loan in a more structured way. The proposed agreement has the actual signature of the borrower not just their business. This does not mean that we are guaranteed to get the money back, but it could help us from being a business. The recommendation from the Revolving Loan Committee is that Council approve the final Plan and Guidelines Manual as well as supporting documents, more specifically the actual Loan Agreement. Once approved, the Committee will then start the public process of communicating with those the Committee has already talked with and others who may be interested. We have $100,000 Adopted Resolution No. 2055 awarding a bid and authorizing the Town Manager to execute a contract with Lawrence Equipment in the amount of $91,238.00 for a Case 580 Super N Backhoe FQ and the goal is to dispense primarily in increments of $10,000 with some flexibility. Also, out of the $100,000, there is a requirement that four jobs be created. Mr. Hare asked if this loan agreement would be subordinated to another and the Town Attorney responded that it could be. Mr. Hare then asked if we would want it to be or would we give an allowance and say you cannot subordinate your loan. The Town Attorney commented that the Committee could further discuss the issue, but it is not included in the current agreement. She imagined there could be circumstances where you would want someone to be able to do that and circumstances where you would not want someone to. Vice Mayor Nance said if it is silent, would the Committee have the ability to potentially do it on a case by case basis and the Town Attorney stated there could be an addendum to use on a case by case basis. The Town Manager asked if everyone knew what subordinate option meant and the Town Attorney explained that if a borrower had a home mortgage and wanted to use their home for collateral on another loan, there would be a determination as to which loan would be subordinate to the other. The Town Manager further commented that one of the bankers on the Committee gave the example of someone going to the bank for a loan and not having the required deposit. They could possibly use their Revolving Loan Fund money for the deposit. The Mayor commented that if we tabled the matter for a few weeks would it hurt the schedule and the response was no. The Town Manager stated the other option was to approve the items tonight and then staff Tabled Resolution approving could come back with an addendum. the final Revolving Loan Program Plan and Guidelines Mr. Hare made a motion that the Resolution be tabled until Manual and its supporting the March 18, 2014 meeting; the motion was seconded by documents to administer the Mr. Altice and carried by the following vote, with all members Revolving Loan Program as voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Altice, Hare, Nance, part of the CDBG Program to Grose; Nays, (0) — None. the March 18, 2014 meeting Under briefings, the first item was an update on real estate tax assessment for Calendar Year 2014 and request to advertise a public hearing for March 18, 2014, to set the real estate tax, personal property tax and machinery and tools tax rates. Barry Thompson reviewed the 2014 assessment figure provided by Roanoke County which showed a total decrease of $1,162,900 from the 2013 assessment. The new construction figure in the Town for 2013 of $346,000 was then subtracted from that figure for a total decrease of $1,508,900, which is a 25% decrease. The same tax rate applied for year 2014 as in year 2013, will net a decrease of $349. 9 Virginia, as amended, if the tax assessment is an increase A one percent, we are required to advertise. Since there is decrease for the third year in a row, there is no advertisemen required by law. However, we have always advertised. Mr Thompson requested Council to authorize the advertising o the tax rate for Public Hearing on March 18, 2014. Mr. Altice made a motion to authorize the advertising; th motion was not seconded. Mr. Altice retracted his motio and Council gave a consensus to authorize the advertising the public hearing. I The next item was a briefing on proposal to increase career Fire/EMS staff at Station 2 to provide staff for a 24- hour Fire Engine. The Town Manager began with a Power Point presentation and first commented that the issues and needs are that local government is committed to provide Fire/EMS as a core service, Over the years on the national as well as local level, volunteerism in Fire and EMS has declined and we are seeing a decline in the ability to respond to fire calls during evening hours. From the Fire side, our career staff work 12 hours (from Fm a.m. to 6 p.m.) and the 6 p.m. to 6 a.m, along with weekend and all of our holidays are covered by volunteers. This is no just a Vinton Station 2 problem. It affects all of East Roanok County in that the calls that are not responded to have bee on the rise. Last fall, at a meeting with Roanoke City Roanoke County and the Town, Roanoke City indicated the were willing to provide mutual aid between the County and the City, but the number of calls had gotten to the point o concern that while they were responding to the County, the were leaving their own stations without coverage. Dat collected indicates that Read Mountain, which is in Botetou but is a joint station owned and operated by Roanok County, did not respond to 58% of fire calls, Vinton was a 32% and Mount Pleasant at 31 %, These three stations bac up each other's calls and we are one of four core stations i the County. The Town Tianager continued commenting that a join meeting was held with the three localities to discuss the issu and the City requested that we have some type of solution b July 1, 2014. A joint committee was created to gather inpu from Roanoke County staff, Town career and administratio staff and the Town Volunteer Fire and First Aid Crew, This committee looked at solutions and options beginning with the demand on the services. A review of the equipment indicated that Station 2 has all of the right equipment, two fire trucks, a ladder truck, three ambulances and support vehicles. We have over 2,000 calls in a calendar year and We demand on the i servim re it, mo tI_ m Ili Y ije W _ say 2� ALA Authorized wpvertising of 2. public hearing for March 18, 2014, to set the real estate tax, personal property tax an,#-' machinery and tools tax rates in run as many true fire calls as there are clearly EMS callsm The committee then developed two primary options t address needed level of service and took into consideratio what resources (people and funds) do we have availabl within our span of control as staff. Renovation needs an options were also reviewed for the current station becaus the Fire career staff does not spend the night there Renovations to try to encourage and promote the volunteer to spend the night and/or stay at the station longer we considered, along with what would be needed for the 24-hou career staff. I Next, the Town Manager commented on incidents anc staffing. From January to October of 2013, there were 1,88'r total calls from the Vinton station. That represents 17% of al the calls throughout the entire County and the Vinton statior is the 2 nd highest in all 12 stations of the number of calls thal went through Vinton. The fire truck/engine and ladder truc� are staffed by career staff on Monday through Friday for 12 hours. During the day there are two ambulances staffed b� career staff, one being 12-hour and one being 24-hour. 11 the second ambulance is needed, two run that call and the ladder truck cannot be run. If the ladder truck is needed , then the ambulance gets dropped. All the other times, the fire volunteers cover the fire trucks and generally they have enough volunteers for an engine while they are at the station. The second ambulance is staffed by the First Aid Crew and at times we have a third ambulance when the First Aid Crew has enough volunteers available. The need to provide a 24-hour career staffed fire truck will increase the ability to respond to calls throughout the night because career staff will be at the station and can supplement the volunteers. This will make the City as automatic mutual aiea# rather than going through a cycle of County stations, we will get the truck that is closest to the iscident first. The Committee came up with two options, Option One is to drop the second medic truck and put that staff plus two additional staff (to be hired by the County) on the fire truck 24 hours a day plus one ambulance. The pros are having 24- hour fire coverage, but the cons are loss of the ladder truck and loss of the second medic truck during the day which will create a domino effect on the County system. We will also lose transport revenue and the Town Captain as a department head. The Town Captain would work the same 24-hour shift as the other career staff and probably be available less than six days a month in an administrative position. The County has already hired the two additional career staff who will complete the academy and be available to work in early July. Is m The Public Safety Committee met and discussed all of thi and we are not ready to go forward. We feet the Town need to write a letter to our representative on the Board Super -visors and there needs to be more discussion. It i putting the residents of East Roanoke • and the Tow of Vinton in danger. Mr. Hare commented that Mr. Adam had correctly stated the discussion of the Committee. This i 17M a public safety issue. When you eliminate an entire ambulance we are putting citizens at risk. This deserves a higher level of conversation because we are trying to fix one problem, but breaking something that is working. Mr. Hare further commented that he has no doubt that Roanoke County wants the best for this part of the County by trying to provide the level of service we currently have plus hQ§ stalled at money. He thinks the conversation should be had in more than just a private work session that is not open to the public or for public debate, Vice Mayor Nance asked if the 32% that is being quoted t us could be inflated because we are covering the Rea Mountain 58% and the response was that a part of it is. Mr Nance then asked if the County is attempting to rectify tha problem at the same time. The Town Manager responde that the County is working on Vinton first because it is a co station. Mount Pleasant has the same need and we do no know about Read Mountain. Mr. Adams commented that i t a r 0 i a fire truck is dispatched and disregarded before it leaves th I station that counts as a non -response. There are a numbe I of different incidents that can count as non -responses, but h I does not count that way. There are so many variables in th stq_tistics. Vice Mayor Nance asked where does Read Mountain fall the volume of calls and Mr. Adams responded that Roanoke County they are probably in the lower two -third The Town Manager commented that is of the time Re6."I Mountain is responding to Botetourt. The Mayor commented that this is very serious in the fac that our czens may realize a reduction in a very critica service. Mr. Altice commented that we need information before we make a decision. The Town Manage commented that he has reached hig thrA.shxld i1wik i n—#AAwl Mr. Goodman, the Roanoke County Administrator and it ha now become a political funding question. The Committe and staff all want the same thing and agree that Option Tw• is the right thing to do. The Mayor reiterated that the Town and Roanoke County staff has taken it as far as they can. He suggested that the next step be that Council asks for a meeting with our representative or the Board as a whole. He personally would rather see Council as a whole meet with the Board of Supervisors. Mr. Hare said that he thinks the Board of Supervisors would echo what Council is saying because public safety is a very high priority for Roanoke County as well. us The Mayor stated that he be willing on behalf of Council to contact our representative on the Board to see what the nex-i step would be. Council supported the Mayor making this contact on their behalf. The Town Clerk commented that the record needs to reflect that at the February 18, 2014 meeting, Council appointed Christopher S. Lawrence and Gary W. Woodson as Board Members and Bradley E. Grose and William W. Nance as Alternates, for unspecified terms to the Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority. The beginning date of those terms has now been set as February 4, 2014, and she has administered new Oaths of Office to reflect this 4,zte. The Town Manager commented that the first meeting of the Board was last week and the Authority has received funding through the Department of Housing and Community Development to fund the study to go through the region covered by the Authority to find sites that meet the set criteria. The Mayor next asked if the Finance Committee would make their report next rather than during the usual Council section. Mr. Hare commented that the Committee met yesterday and reviewed several topics. The financials as of January 2014 for the War Memorial were reviewed and year-to-date the revenues are at $136,000 with five months left to go. The goal is $147,000, but there are some pass -through items. The most important item is from a year-to-date basis, the subsidy to the War Memorial is down almost $30,000. Based on the reservations for the rest of the year, revenue will probably come in $50,000 plus over the projected budget. Regarding the January financials, the revenues are over what was projected by $651,000 which is a timing issue on when we received the gain -sharing funds from the County. The cigarette tax continues to be behind at this point around $100,000. The sales tax and meals tax continue to be strong. Some changes made in our investment policies have given us come increased revenues. Now that we do have the gain -sharing funds from the County, the amount is $93,000 less than what we had budgeted, The pari-mutuel tax from Colonial Downs could easily be off $20,000 if they do not negotiate their contract issues. If we take the cigarette tax, the gain -sharing and the pari-mutuel - tax, we are looking at $220,000 less this budget year. IR due to the higher wages in the Police Department because o overstaffing of employees and they are understaffed now There were some true -ups in that the Western Virginia Wate Authority did a retroactive price increase to the tune 01 $27,000 when they raised their rates. The Town Manage and staff are working to fill a gap of about $100,000 eve after cutting back on the CIP and other items. We will no fund anymore CIP except for the renovations to the fir( house which we discussed earlier. On the utility side, ghtly under the projection and they are under spending, so the ability to recover should not be too difficult. I Mr. Hare further commented that the Committee als reviewed some of the controls issues listed in the audit unde the management section. Some changes have been mad and responses will be reviewed with the auditors to see if w can get them cleared and off of our audit statement goin forward. The Committee also spent a considerable amount of time discussing the cigarette tax and reviewing some information from wholesalers as to what has been happening with the actual sales to the stores in Vinton and the report is very similar to what the citizens and store owners had already told us. The Town is down around 38% and wholesalers are down about 23% across the board which takes into account about $42,000 that was pulled ahead in the previous fiscal year and the volume being down. The Committee felt there was enough information to make some conclusions that the tax rate had a negative impact on the Town and on our businesses. We discussed what we wanted to do with next year's budget and we have already figured in a decrease. On behalf of the Committee we thought about our citizens' comments to us and those who have come back and asked us to do something, although there was a valid reason for why we implemented the increase. However, we feel that we need to go back and lower the rate. Mr. Hare next made a motion that effective immediately lower the tax rate by 10 cents from its existing $0.35 to try t ] give businesses some relief so that hopefully they ca uc recover. Vice Mayor Nance commented that he is very m w in favor of what Mr. Hare has explained to Council. It is th appropriate thing to do because it if is not helping the Town' bottom line and hurting our stakeholders, then there i something wrong. Mr. Nance then asked if we could mak such a motion tonight or do we need to direct staff to ha that motion prepared by the next meeting. The Town Manager responded that action needed to be] m taken at the next meeting because it requires and ordinance The Town Attorney commented that the same way we set th tax we have to decrease the tax. Barry Thompson asked if i It, would have to be advertised and the Town Attorney responded she would have to check, but probably not to lower it. Mr. Hare then retracted his original motion and requested staff to prepare the necessary ordinance to lower the cigarette tax rate from $0.35 to The Town Attorney commented that if we do have to advertise, we may not be able to do it at the next meeting, but as soon as possible. Mr. Hare made a motion to approve the January 2014 financial report as presented; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Nance and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, Altice, Hare, Approved the January 2014 Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None Financial Report The Mayor expressed thanks to the Planning Commission for meeting with Council tonight to discuss the floodplain ordinance. He also commented that there has been a lot of good news in Town such as the library and the downtown grant and he thinks we have a bright future, However, none of those projects to date have brought in extra revenue, so we do face some challenges. He does think in years to come that we will see those increases in revenue that we will need to not only survive as a Town, but to move ahead. Kohl Is •N111*1:XW-4 0 ITUR Naomi 9191 a M- I Oes, e, e I ac 0 A'al el Ov vr weltr Ce on Council especially in regards to the 24-hour fire i sue. The concern about the options presented does not reflect on the hard work that was put into those options. It is perhaps that this is one of those times that we need not only to invest ourselves, but also invest political capital into this situation as well. He does not want anyone to be discouraged because they did not necessarily proceed with the options presented this evening. He also appreciates Mr. Hare's impact on the Finance Committee and all of Council's willingness to readdress the concern of the cigarette tax. The Mayor commented that Council and all of staff have areas of expertise and we all respect each other enough to listen to each other. Mr. Hare commented that the January reports mentioned tha the bridge work is behind schedule and do we know how fa behind. Gary Woodson responded that based on the weeki reports they are making progress. They have put efforts i working seven days a week to meet the March 18 th deadline Because of the log perch, they cannot work back in the cree until after June 18th. W with the consultant regarding the small park that we want t put downtown. This was a very constructive meeting with th three Lions Clubs downtown and the consultant was give several ideas that he will bring back to another meeting whic is Ih tentatively set for March 27 . We very much want to ge the public input on this, Vice Mayor Nance made a motion to adjourn the meeting; th motion was seconded by Mr. Hare and carried by th following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) Adams, Altice, Hare, Nance, Grose; Nays (0) — None. Thl— meeting was adjourned at 9:00 p.m. I APPROVED: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor ITEST: A Susan N. Johns ovan Clerk