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HomeMy WebLinkAbout3/7/2017 - RegularMINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 PAI ON TUESDAY, MARCH 7, 2017, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINT 'i MUNICIPAL BUILDING • i LOCATED MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Matthew S. Hare, Mice Mayor Keith N. dies Sabrina McCarty Janet Scheid STAFF PRESENT: Barry W. 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, Finance Director/Treasurer Tom Foster, Police Chief Christopher Linkous, Deputy Chief-Fire/EMS Joey Hiner, Public Works Director orderThe Mayor called the regular meeting to Town called Member Council . . Vice Mayor Hare ♦ Mayor Grose• Roll After a Momentof Silence, Council Member Flag.Scheid led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Under upcoming Member McCarty announced the following events: March o 24- hour online giving event to local nonprofit organizations; March 21-• 1 p.m. -Roanoke Valley Greenway Plan Update Regional Meeting Greenfieldat • . Training Center in UpdateDaleville; March 28-10:00 a.m.-Senior Expo at War Memorial and March 30-6:30 p.m. -Roanoke Valley Greenway Plan •-s • • at Fishburn Park Elementary School. Sissies event at the War Memorial d the HistoryVinton be having a yard sale in June • are asking for donations. Town Clerk announced the Event Zoneconcert on •.y night at the War Memorialfrom !i p,m, to # i p.m. with the band •• Much Sylvia". The Town Manager♦ -• the RCACP St. Patrick's Day adoption event on March 1 a.m. to' i# Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member Liles and Approved minutes of the regular Coun carried by the following roll call vote, with all meeting of February 7, 2017 and t members voting- Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles, regular Council meeting of February 2 McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose, Nays (0) — None. 2017 The next item on the agenda was the annual update of the Roanoke Valley-Alleghany Regional Commission. Wayne Strickland, Executive Director, first thanked the Town for being a member of the Commission for 48 years and for 21)-tl�R-lb-Alt#,A-.P_sr T---T-*Xt.-t-VQ��4,01,�,�l?:V-9--W-q�VgLA� ,7ctive in the work of the Commissiot, The Town has participated with t Comprehensive Economic Development Strate (CEDS) and the Regional Commission recently designated an Economic Developme W(- ilea District by the U.S. Economic Developme Administration, The Town has also been acti in the Roanoke Valley Congestion Managerne gmdl Long Range Transportation Plans along wi 12 other localities in the Greater Roanoke Wat Supply Plan, The Commission has assisted the Town with several local technical assistance projects including a grant application to the Virginia Trees for Clean Water program to obtain grant funds for tree plantings in association with Arbor Day; serving on the Urban Development Area (UDA) Advisory Committee; assisting in developing and submitting a SMART SCALE application for the Walnut Avenue Improvement Project; studying and making recommendations for pedestrian and - bicycle accommodations on Vinton's major corridors and providing a report/analysis for a pedestrian crosswalk on Hardy Road. Mr. Strickland next commented that recently when they were asked to do a map for the Town calendar, it was discovered that the U.S. Census Bureau had an inaccurate boundary for the Town. They are currently working with Roanoke County to submit the correct boundary map to the Census Bureau. They also have provided maps for the Glade Creek Greenway grant application to the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation's Recreational Trails program; researched options for providing transportation services for seniors in the Town and worked with Valley Metro and the Town to review the current K bus routes, bus stop activity, and opportunities to reduce costs. Most recent, the Commission worked with t Town and other officials to complete the Roano Valley Transit Vision Plan and the Citizen Version of on 2040, which is the region's 2 They also are assisting the Roano e Vail W, 11 fiber expansion to Vinton and are assisting t six local governments that are part of the Weste Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority• providing administrative support and serving the fiscal agent. Council Member Scheid commented that Cristina Finch has been very helpful in the discussions regarding Valley Metro. The Mayor expressed *zf?�t-ttlwt they do for the region. The next item on the agenda was a request' for funding presentation by Mountain View Humane. Mark Brittain, Executive Director, first provided some printed materials and then commented that they have been opened since August of 2012. Since that time, they have performed 600 surgeries for Town residents, which represent about 4% of the total surgeries for the Roanoke clinic. They also have a clinic in Christiansburg which opened in 2010. The Town has been providing $500 in funding and they are strongly trying to utilize these funds in the way they were intended, They use the USDA eligibility requirements for the use of these funds. Even though their prices (as well as Angels of Assisi) are very low compared to traditional veterinarians, they are finding that customers still struggle with the cost. About 72% of all of the surgeries between the two clinics are subsidized in one way or another. Mr. Brittain next commented that they are proposing to change the strategy for the use of the Town funds. They applied for PetSmart Charity funding last year; however, last fall the entire department of PetSmart that ran the funding was eliminated and this amounted to $70,000 in lost funding for the Clinic. Even without this funding, their surgery numbers are 9 very similar to a year ago, but those are being served has changed. He ®, commented on the current funding model through June 2017 and the proposed funding model for the upcoming FY2018. Instead of a $23 subsidy if the eligibility requirements are met, they are proposing to only charge the customer $20 out- of-pocket and the difference would be subsidized with the Town funds. This would can serving fewer customers, but it would ,- re affordable. Another advantage to this proposal is the fact that by law they have to administer a rabies vaccination before surgery if the animal is old enough and has not already had the vaccination at a cost of $12.00. Council Member Scheid asked with regard to the required rabies vaccination with the surgery h#ve 0# the next time. Mr. Brittain responded that last Thursday ©- decided to start a wellness clinic. This idea had been considered for a number of years, but not started because they were very sensitive to the other veterinarians in the area and do not want to take business away from them. However, it is their belief that if an individual comes to the Clinic to begin with, they may not have the money to see a regular veterinarian. Although their vaccinations are still affordable by most people's standards, for those individuals they see, it still remains a challenge for them. They are first going to target former customers and those who used the subsidies. The next item on the agenda was a reque for funding presentation by the Vinton Volunte First Aid Crew. Chief »,a® Gu commented that the Crew is made up of dedicated members who gave over 22,0 hours of service for the Calendar Year 201 The Crew «.®! 1, 139 calls and had a tru marked up for 6,437 hours. He then gave breakdown of the expenditure request $17,000 from the Town. Further discussi was had regarding their ©r membership.] The Mayor commented that Chief Oakes was unable to attend the meeting for the Vinton Volunteer Fire Department's presentation and his presentation will be at the March 21't meeting. !B The next item on the agenda was to consider!:, adoption of a Resolution appropriating $866. received from the sale of equipment at the Vinton Fire/EMS Department through Public Surplus. Deputy Chief Linkous commented that several pieces of old equipment were sold through Public Surplus for $866.99. They are requesting to appropriate these funds back into their equipment fund to purchase a washing machine. This washing machine will be used for their turnout gear. Several members of the department along with the HR Director recently attended a cancer symposium which emphasized how important it is for the turnout gear to be washed, particularly after a call to reduce exposure to potentially serious harmful carcinogenic containments. Currently, they are placing their gear into large trash bags and bringing it back to the station. He further commented that the volunteers do have other gear that can be used while their gear is being washed. Council Member Scheid asked how many pieces of turnout gear could be washed at one time. Deputy Chief Linkous responded no more than two sets. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to adopt the Adopted Resolution Resolution as presented; the motion was No. 2194 seconded by Council Member Scheid and appropriating $866.99 received from the carried by the following roll call vote, with all sale of equipment at the Vinton members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles, . Fire/EMS Department through Public McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None. . Surplus The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution appropriating $500.00 received from Huterra, the Charitable Social Network, for reimbursement of a gift basket purchased by Special Programs to promote holiday local shopping. Anne Cantrell commented that this was an economic development project with several local businesses participating and the basket was handled as an on-line prize drawing. Council ITember McCarty made a motion to Adopted Resolution No. 2195 adopt the Resolution as presented; the motion I appropriating $500.00 received from was seconded by Council Member Liles and Huterra, the Charitable Social Network, carried by the following roll call vote, with all for reimbursement of a gift basket members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles, purchased by Special Programs to McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose, Nays (0) — None. promote holiday local shopping 9 The next item on the agenda was an update on real estate tax assessment for Calendar Year 2017 and request to advertise a public hearing for April 4, 2017 to set the real estate tax, personal property tax and machinery and tools tax rates. Anne Cantrell commented that we have received the final assessment from the Real Estate Office for 2017, which came in at just over $467 million. This is approximately a $5 million increase from last year. By the time new construction was backed out, the real estate increase was 0.93% which does not require us to advertise by State Code since it is less than 1 %. However, we will do an advertisement one time as we have in the past. The dollar value increase is $3,700 and we are not proposing any real estate or personal property tax increases at this time. This was rito Council Member Scheid made a motion to approve the advertisement of the public hearing as requested; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hare and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None I The next item on the agenda was a briefing on the proposed Gish Mill Redevelopment Feasibility Study and a potential FY17 Budget Transfer of $25,000 to fund the study. Pete Peters commented that the Town purchased the Gish Mill property for the purpose of salvaging one of the Town's founding buildings and for the eventual rehabilitation of the structure for potential commercial or civic use, while preserving its historic character. Staff recently worked with a local architectural and engineering firm with expertise in historic renovations to draft a scope of work for a redevelopment feasibility study for the property with a cost estimate of $25,000.00. The scope of work consists of the followiM elements; Structural & Building Assessme (Internal and External), Historical Invento (Structural and Aesthetic), Land-use/Zonin Flood Mitigation and Design, Concept Plan a Rendering Development, Public/Stakehol� I Input and Construction Cost Estimates for ti eventual restoration, Approved advertising a Public Hearing for April 4, 2017 to set the real estate, personal property tax and machinery 2nd tools tax rates on N Chief Foster commented that he is coming up on his one-year anniversary next week and expressed appreciation to the Town for the *pportunity to serve as the Police Chief. The Town thanager commented that Elaine Bays -Murphy with RVTV had told him that the Safe Exchange Zone PSA has had over 45,000 hits on the site. Tice IT4ayor Rare 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 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None. The meeting was adjourned at 8.00 p.m. Meeting adjourned T "Aaffa**7ja$1 Bradley E. Grose, Mayor ATF TEST: 14 Susan N. Johns jon,, own Clerk