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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3/5/2013 - Regular"lam E%1112 �41 �4- 1. Douglas Adams, Jr. Robert R. Altice Matthew S. Hare - III ky 111111111111 STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence, Town Manager Susan N. Johnson, Town Clerk Susan Waddell, Town Attorney Ryan Spitzer, Assistant to the Town Manager Ben Cook, Police Chief Anita McMillan, Planning & Zoning Director Mary Beth Layman, Special Programs Director Gary Woodson, Public Works Director Joey Hiner, Assistant Public Works Director The Mayor called the work session to order at 6:00 p.m. hear funding presentations by Community Agencies for th FY2014 budget, The first presentation was by Angie Lewis o behalf of the Vinton Chamber of Commerce. Ms. Lewi commented that the membership has grown over the past tw years to 250, which includes 60 new members in the past yea and a half. The Chamber is sponsoring 13 major events thi year. Council made comments and expressed thei appreciation for all that the Chamber does for the community Mr. Adams commented that he would like the Chamber t contact the Roanoke Times concerning the possibility of havin 2 Vinton section in the paper. Doug Forbes, Treasurer, gave a presentation on behalf of the Vinton Historical Society. This year the Histodcal Society is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Vinton Museum. Last year more than 920 people visited the Museum. The Historical Society would like to keep the Museum open, but because of the age of most of the members, they would like to see a paid staff person work the Museum on a regular basis. Mr. Forbes also commented that the water cannot be used at the Museum because of the odor. A new water heater and the main floor plumbing need to be replaced. He indicated he had an estimate of $1,800 to do this work. There is a real need for younger people to become involved to keep the Museum open in the future. Barbara Hargis and Mattie Forbes were also present. Kelly Cass, Executive Director, gave the next presentation on behalf of the Mountain View Human Spay/Neuter Clinic, She introduced Corrie Prater, the Director of Marketing and Development. This clinic opened in August of 2012 and the clinic in Christiansburg has been open about 2-1/2 years, She reviewed a printed Power Point presentation giving statistics of the overpopulation of dogs and cats and indicating that the only solution is aggressive spaying and neutering. To date Mountain View Humane has performed over 14,000 sterilizations, Of the animals coming to the clinic from Vinton, 64% need assistance with the cost of the procedure. They currently spend around $30,000 a month subsidizing people who need help and have been successful in receiving funds from PetSmart charities and local donors. However, the subsidy funding is now low and they are asking the Town for $30,271 which will help over 1,000 animals. Mr. Hare asked if the Clinic did the trap, neuter and release program and the response was no, but they have volunteers who will, Ms. Cass also mentioned the possibility of the Clinic selling dog tags because between the two Clinics, they are -iloing around 7-8,000 rabies vaccinations in a year. Representatives from the American Red Cross -Roanoke Valley Chapter and the Brain Injury Services of SWVA were not able to attend and will be rescheduled. Craig Sheets, President -Elect, made brief comments on behalf of the Dogwood Festival. He expressed his thanks to the Town for the continued support of the Dogwood Festival both financially and in -kind services and they are asking for the same amount as last year. He commented that they are going to have the large concert at the War Memorial this year to showcase the War Memorial. The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll C The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Adams, Council Member Altice, Council Member Hare, and Mayor Grose present, Vice Mayor Nance was absent. After a Moment of Silence, Mr. Hare led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. N Mr. Adams made a motion to approve the consent agenda; - the motion was seconded by Mr, Hare and carried by the Approved minutes of regular following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) — Council meeting of February Adams, Altice, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent Nance. The next item on the agenda was a presentation from them Liz Belcher on behalf of the Roanoke Valley Greenwa Commission. She recognized Janet Scheid, Anita McMilla and Matt Hare, Greenway members who were present at th meeting. Ms. Belcher then proceeded to give a Power Poin presentation first commenting that the funding request to th Town for FY2014 is the same as last year, $3,300.00. Nex she mentioned the return on the Town's investment of last yea which included the Novozymes' donation of $50,000; th revenue sharing match of $50,000 and donations in th amount of $570 as well as volunteer time amounting t $13,900 from the Pathfinders group. She commented on th progress on the Greenway in 2012 and the economi i,evelopment impact it is having across the Valley. The Bridge the Gap piece is a 4.1 mile section and projected to cost $7 million. At this point $4.1 million has been collected which consists of 74% government funds and 26% private funds. She commented on the option of Revenue Sharing money and its availability for the Greenway. Some options the Town might consider are incorporating connections in non- greenway projects like the downtown and the new library; making the downtown bike friendly and adding bike lanes on Walnut; utilizing Revenue Sharing and budgeting some CIP money each year for revenue sharing matching and maintenance. Mr. Mare commented that he was disappointed that not much was said about the Greenways at the Economic Summit held last week. There is a major investment happening and the return is happening at lot faster than we realize. The next item on the agenda was an update on the Economic Development Summit held on February 28, 2013 After brief comments, the Mayor made a recommendation to appoint the Town Manager as our representative to the Task Force that is being created. Mr. Altice made a motion, to appoint the Town Manager to the Task force and the motion 9 was seconded by Mr. Hare. After comments from Council . Members and the Town Manager, the motion was carried by Appointed the Town Manager the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; to the Task Force to be created Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None; from the Economic Summit Absent Mr. Adams made a motion that Council go into a Closed Meeting pursuant to § Z2-3711 A (7) of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, for consultation with legal counsel pertaining to actual litigation; the motion was seconded by Mr. Hare and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Hare, Grose; None; Absent (1) - Nance. Council went into Closed Meeting at 7:40 p.m. At 8:00 p.m., the regular meeting reconvened and the Certification that the Closed Meeting was held in accordance with State Code requirements was approved on motion by Certification of Closed Meeting Mr, Adams, seconded by Mr. Altice and carried by the following roll vote, with all members voting., Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent Mr. Hare made a motion that the regular meeting be adjourned, the motion was seconded by Mr, Adams and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4- 0; Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None; Absent (1) - Nance, The regular meeting was adjourned at Regular meeting adjourned 8.01 P.m The Work Session continued with a presentation by Chief Tom Philpott on behalf of the Volunteer First Aid Crew. He reviewed a breakdown of the proposed use of the funds which was furnished to Council. One item was a surveillance camera for the east side of the building, Mr. Philpot also requested that the Crew be allowed to fuel the Crown Vic at I the Town garage because they are saving the Town money by using it instead of a less efficient emergency vehicle. Another new item is a subscription to the Active 911 alerting system which sends a message to a member's cell phone indicating the type of call, directions and a map, Mr. Philpott commented that the Crew has purchased an emergency generator for the radio system which will also cover the Town's Public Works radios, A new power stretcher and new ambulance were also purchased, Chief Richard Oakes gave a presentation on behalf of the Volunteer Fire Department. He reviewed a breakdown of the funds which included uniforms, contract services, office supplies, travel and training and equipment replacement such as turnout gear, They have eight new members and their Ell 0 come to the meetings and it has been challenging. The Mayor asked if we needed to make some adjustments and the Town Manager responded that they are valid questions. Possibly we need to have another joint meeting with Council and the Planning Commission to address these issues. In further discussion regarding amendments to our Town Code, the Town Attorney commented that our Code does provide that in the event legislation changes our ordinances that we automatically adopt those changes as part of our Code. This eliminates any potential liability during such times that the legislature acts to change something and we will not have time to instantaneously change our Code to conform. Ultimately, State law supersedes our local Code. Amending our Code to come into compliance with State law gives our staff additional visibility, ultimately helping them perform their duties more effectively. Further discussion was had regarding resources available to help with reviewing and updating our Code. The last item for discussion was briefing on a proposed Extraterritorial Arrest Agreement between the Town of Vinton, Roanoke County, Roanoke City and the City of Salem. Ben Cook, Police Chief, commented that the local law enforcement agencies have been meeting once a month to discuss issues concerning the Valley. These meetings will in the future include Fire and EMS Chiefs in the Valley as well. One of the items discussed was the development of a regional agreement regarding responses, activities and arrests in the Roanoke Valley. Currently if an officer is in another jurisdiction and they encounter, for example, a drunk driver in Roanoke County, they would have to call Roanoke County. Our officer could stop the vehicle, but Roanoke County would have to respond to take over the investigation and both officers would have to go to Court. The proposed agreement would allow an officer to handle an offense outside their jurisdiction in the interest of public safety. There is a similar agreement between Roanoke County and Roanoke City from 1996 and we are enhancing that agreement to include the Town and the City of Salem and to update the language. The agreement gives the law enforcement officer in each jurisdiction the authority as if they were in their own jurisdiction, Each locality will regulate their own officers outside their jurisdiction and will be notified of any action that is taken in their jurisdiction. It does allow the officers to freelance, for example, run radar on Feather Road. The agreement specifically involves on -duty officers that are '! having to taken some type of enforcement action for public safety. Officers will still make every effort to get an officer of that jurisdiction, but when no officer is available, they can take action. Also, other officers cannot enforce their locality's ordinances in another jurisdiction, only enforce State law. Chief Cook furnished Council with a copy of the draft Agreement which has been approved by all the localities' attorneys, The Mayor asked how it would affect policies from one department to the other and how they are carried out, One of his concerns has always been pursuit policies, if their pursuit policy is different from ours and they are chasing someone into the Town, whose policy applies? The response was the jurisdiction that is pursuing them. If a Vinton officer is making an arrest or any kind of enforcement anywhere, they follow our Vinton Police Department policies, If Roanoke City chases someone through Vinton, we basically block roads for them and let them come on through. If they need our help, we will assist. Otherwise we just maintain a safety zone for them, which is the current policy. The Mayor asked if the pursuit policies in the surrounding localities are much different from the Town and the response was that ours is a little more restrictive, but are basically the same and follow the model from the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services. Mr. Hare asked the Chief how he would feel as a citizen oi Vinton if a Roanoke Police Officer arrested somebody anii, 440 they conducted that arrest. The Chief responded that he would call the Police Department and ask questions, That is the reason that each locality needs to know when an arrest is made in their jurisdiction by another Officer. It would be no different than a citizen making a complaint against a Vinton Police Officer. Mr. Hare then commented that he knows and trusts the Vinton Police Officers, but he does not know the Officers in other jurisdictions. The Mayor commented that we need to be careful what we commit ourselves to and Chief Cook indicated that he would not do anything to jeopardize our citizens' faith and trust in our local government and Police Department. There is a stipulation in the agreement that if it does not work, we can pull out. Mr. Hare asked what the policy was regarding business advertising in the right-of-way as a result of a local business having signs from the City line to the County line through the Town. The Town Manager commented that over the past a several years, we have been more lax with business signage because of the economy and businesses trying to drum up more retail attention. The question now is when do you start to reel that back in? Are we being as effective with our enforcement on signage as other parts of our Code? Mr. Hare commented that it is one thing to put signs in front of your business, but it is another thing to do the entire town. It is disrespectful to the citizens. The Town Manager indicated that staff will review our current Code. APPI`� VED: Bradley.ros M or A;7T n C Susan N. Johnson, w f lerk n. WHEREAS, the Town Council of the Town of Vinton, Virginia has convened a closed meeting on this date, pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with thv provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; and, WHEREAS, Section 2.2-3712 of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the Vinton Town Council that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia Law. NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Vinton Town Council hereby certifies that to the best of each member's knowledge: Only public business matters lawfully exempted from opening meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification applies; and 2. Only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered by the Town Council. Motion made by Council Member Adams and seconded by Council Member Altice, with all in favor. , -,a,/)),� (*n, F", Clerk of Council