Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/19/2020 - RegularA I WrAN ILI NSIMIN yj =-WIPj WTA I ---------- M-S MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Keith N. Liles, Vice Mayor Sabrina McCarty Janet Scheid 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 Joey Hiner, Public Works Director Chasity Barbour, Community Programs & Facilities Director *THERS PRESENT: Debbie Adams, The Vinton Messenger Dan Miles, Roanoke Valley Resource Authorit� The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member McCarty, Council Member Scheid, Council Member Stovall, Vice Mayor Liles and Mayor Grose present and announced there was a Roll call quorum of Council. The Town Clerk next announced the names of staff and others present, confirmed that the meeting was being held in accordance with Ordinance No. 1016 and Amendment 28 to House Bill 29 adopted at the 2020 Reconvened Session of the Virginia General Assembly and that everyone present was participating by electronic means. Under upcoming community events/ announcements, Council Member McCarty class of Leadership Roanoke Valley (LRV) is watching our Town Council Meeting tonight via Facebook as part of their graduation requirements; the Town is being very cautious during the COVID-19 Pandemic and has decided "I',,',',, had a drive-thru graduation ceremony today at the school, Under awards, introductions ' presentations and proclamations, the Mayor announced that that four Proclamations have been prepared and sent out recently: GBS/CIDP Awareness Month for the month of May; National Police Week for the week of May 10-16 National Public Works Week for the week of May 17-23 and Terrier Day in Honor of the William Byrd High School Class of 2020 The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution approving the 2020-2021 operating budget of the Roanoke Valley Resource Authority. Dan Miles, Chef Executive Officer, first commented that normally this budget would have been presented prior to April 1, 2020, but they communities to delay that presentation because of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Mr. Miles next commented that the contributions to four years. Four years ago they were at $1.3 million and this year they are at $10,000., which is a cut of $2.3 million. When you look at any entity and see MAJ the amount of $213.66 received from the Virginia Complete Count Commission to reimburse the costs of mailing inserts advertising the importance and process of mare K a declining net worth balance consistently such as what they have seen, it does not bode well for a healthy organization. They are still dealing with trying to see what they are going to do with their transportation methodology. That decision will have to be made in order for them to ro%kY6-"-ii/aro1. • 11. k"POI.M01 Vp I M# wig] P P A the commercial sector that collects from the businesses in the Roanoke Valley region. If these i,vsinassas stay cl*s6-i an;i,,t# ntit A,rs4y.ce- #r#,iyct and are not creating materials that will come back to them, they will not be generating revenue. Mr. Miles next gave a history of the negotiations concerning the transportation of the waste to the regional landfill. They are trying to figure out whether they are going to continue utilizing Norfolk Southern with their rail haul transportation or trucking the garbage and setting the transfer stations up to be able to utilize tractor trailers. Mr. ttv�- Special Use Permit for the landfill operation, which allows the RVRA Board to determine the mode of transportation to be used in the transportation corridor in and around the Smith Gap landfill. The Board has authorized an outside contractor to reopen negotiations with Norfolk Southern. Also, Roanoke County has engaged a consulting engineer to review the cost projections and engineering estimates for the road conversion fW -00 i 11 11 INTON 6 0 0 in July. Trucking would not be an issue for them because i I e#ur -#ftndf � i rdhv=4 be able to serve their needs. With rail, there is only one service provider. In order to get to trucking they would need to spend somewhere in the $6-7 million range to finish out all of the capital acquisitions in order to make that change. With rail, they would be somewhere in the range of $23-24 million to transition to flatcars and shipping K] containers and purchase additional equipment as well as updates to the rail. They have already purchased the trailers and have already spent almost $20 million for trucking. 0 W is, EF-11 I I tell [01 111��Z by Council Member Scheid and carried by thq following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — McCarty, Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose; Nays (0) — None. The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution appropriating funds in the amount of $545,250.00 for the Walnut Avenue Bicycle and Pedestrian Accommodations Project — West Lee Avenue to 1st Street. Pete Peters commented that this project is receiving reimbursable funds through the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) and the Surface Transportation Block Grant (STBG). The Roanoke Valley Transportation Policy Organization (RVTPO) endorsed this project and allocated the funds for Vinton in 2018. On March 2, 2020 VDOT authorized the project to proceed by way of contract. The Town is in final preparation to select a design firm. HMO MEM VAIM-1 I 12RF1 01 Mto —20 of 0 including this project. In addition, there is work under way now by staff to apply for Smart Scale fund which would be another $7 million. Unfortunately, downhill rapidly with the lack of vehicle sales over 9 Council Member Scheid made a motion to adopt the Resolution as presented; the motion was Adopted Resolution No. 2358 appropriating seconded by Vice Mayor Liles and carried by the funds in the amount of $545,250.00 for the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Walnut Avenue Bicycle and Pedestrian Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — McCarty, Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Accommodations Project West Lee Grose; Nays (0) — None. Avenue to 1st Street The next item on the agenda was a briefing on a draft of the updated Vinton Farmers' Market Policy & Procedure and new branding materials to be used for marketing the Farmers' Market and Charles R. Hill Community Center. Chasity Barbour first commented that the last Farmer's Market Policy was adopted in 2014and then she reviewed the key highlights of the updated policy. The hours of operation for the FY2020-2021 season, April through October, will be Tuesday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. They will open back up in November to sell Christmas trees as long as the season continues the way that it is. The new rental fee schedule will be $10.00 daily, $240 monthly and $50 daily for special events just within the market area. The rental fees will be included in the Taxes, Licenses and Fee Schedule of the Town's Annual Budget document and will allow them to adjust the rental fees from season to season based on supply and demand. It will also keep them aligned with the rate structure of the War Memorial and the Community Center. Ms. Barbour next commented on the new branding logos for the Farmer's Market and the Community Center, which were a part of the agenda package. The two logos were designed by her and Sherri Winkler. the Town Manager's Recommended Budget for FY2020-2021. The Town Manager made opening comments from the Proposed Budget Transmittal Letter. He then turned the meeting over to Anne I - NVIRWOMe Imillintent.-Mlievi MORMI-71110p]l 9 & Company's rate study this past fall, Council adopted an Ordinance that would increase rates 8% on the service charge and 6% on the volumetric rate each July 1st until FY2023. This included the upcoming budget year which accounts for the roughly 2% increase we are seeing in the budget. are re-evaluating with Davenport & Company to see III RAI of 101 L&ITIP11 I r.] a RM IN M laTITORN 1.7tr4#1 a ODIUM 11� ',TT'ith regard to the recommended reductions of $263,189.71, this total decrease allowed the budget to be balanced without increasing taxes or using fund balance. off Due the timing of the advertising in The Vinton Friday for the proposed Budget, which will run for the two -week period as required by law. The Public nd Hearing will be held on June 2 , followed by a Finance Committee review on June gth and final th adoption of the budget by Council on June 16 . Tice Mayor Liles commented that when we purchased the refuse carts, we were going to transition one of the refuse crew employees into another area and reduce the crew by one. He t*m 2skei� MS tX21—*Ae 4)f t*,e ;F#SitiI#IAS tX2tAT1.2% being frozen. The Town Manager responded that staff was premature in making that statement #Ieiii• n*t-hava tte,•ata-,ti-i N-ra earts ai-re 'the flippers and we have not been able to deliver that. With this budget we are recommending changing our structure in the delivery of bulk 0 pickup to offer it one week and recycling the nexi to utilize the same employee for bulk and recycling. We would move the second employee off recycling back to one of the unfilled positions and eliminate the second position on the recycling truck. Vice Mayor Liles next asked how we were going to make up the difference of the five-year plan for the purchase of the refuse carts. We are still looking for $200,000 to pay for the carts. The use our unappropriated fund balance to pay for the carts because of the increase in our revenues. Vice Mayor Liles further commented that the matter could be discussed at a future meeting before the budget is approved, but he was disappointed that the plan was not followed. W"""1__1-WWW1Od11L 0*11--iii , Ldl&Cl a#UIL UIRS UTt:N LHU ]H U--irrib "I promise that we were going to go from four to 'three people on the refuse truck and use the of the carts, which turned out to be slightly less $200,000. That was a decisive factor in Council's ,tecision to move ahead with the carts. She ?.greed with Vice Mayor Liles that was hard to understand why we cannot go from four to three tn the truck and we should not give up on that Council Member Scheid next commented that she was glad to see the recommendation for bulk every other week, but was concerned about the cardboard that is being set out for bulk and the potential for it to be sitting out for two weeks and blowing around the neighborhoods. Council Member Stovall commented that he was not involved in the process when the refuse carts were voted on and put into place. Council Member Scheid has been adamant that when that decision was made that the refuse crew would cio from four to three employees to pay for the carts. If that was the commitment to Council, then it is an issue that we have to address. The Mayor commented that this matter had been discussed several times in Council meetings. h Perhaps we need to direct the Public Works Committee to review it again to see if we can try If not, we need to put this behind us and try to make that revenue up from another source. *te would not have moved forward if they were given the correct information. Going forward he expects staff to do their research and make sure they can deliver on the questions that are asked and the answers that are given. Council Member Scheid further commented that Council to have to count on the information they are given, but she is glad we moved forward with the carts Council Member Stovall next commented on the work that staff has done on the budget. The Town will come out of this COVID-19 Pandemic and once we do, the first and foremost thing we need to look at are the employees of the Town. The Town Manager commented that Chief Foster wanted to let Council know that he is not 30th wedding anniversary. He wanted me to say to you that he is married to the luckiest woman he knows. Chief Foster also wanted Council to know that the William Byrd High School graduation procession 11. 1 oil. to IV M A VWX MKS] a a 19-2 LIN gait Ii W-M and Mullins 344 votes with five write-ins. Congratulations to all of the winners. Under reports from Council Committees, Anne Cantrell commented that the Finance Committee met electronically on May 12, 2020. At that meeting, the Committee reviewed the Walnut Avenue Grant appropriation, the U.S. Census Bureau Grant ag,�roj riation the budat forecast fur 12 WAIYAWT F 'i i - lgqplzj� LIN The Committee also reviewed the March Financial Report and Ms. Cantrell commented on the Financial Summary Report that was a part of the agenda package and the total cash and investments available in March. Tice-fflayor Liles made a motion to approve the March 2020 Financial Report as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Member McCarty and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — McCarty, Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose; Nays (0) — None. Approved March 2020 Financial Report The Mayor commented that Town staff has really stepped up to bat during the COVID-156, Pandemic. The citizens can be confident that wt; time. The Mayor then thanked citizens for electing him to another term as Mayor and that the Town has a great future Council Member McCarty commented on tht William Byrd High School Graduation day and expressed thanks to all who have been working since the COVID-19 Pandernic has started. She encourage everyone to visit our Farmers' Market and local restauratts. Council Member Stovall congratulated Council Member Scheid for her time and service and the passion she brought to Council. Council Member Scheid congratulated the Mayor arr4 ai-4 that public service is a passion and anyone who steps up to serve in the public sector has a good heart and will work hard. She also welcomed Laurie Mullins to Council. R an update on the Lime scooters. Mr. Peters responded that Nathan McClung contacted the were dropped off by accident. They had no intention of being within the town limit and were in the wrong location. They picked them up today. Mr. McClung communicated to them the proper procedures to follow if they were to locate in Town. They are going to see what the ridership is in the City of Roanoke this year before they plan any expansion. Vice Mayor Liles made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Council Member McCarty and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote McCarty, Scheid, Stovall, Liles, Grose; Nays (0) — None. The meeting was adjourned at 8:43 p.m. Meeting adjourne'st FWAINIOU01NO Bradley E. Grose, Mayor ATTEST: Susan N. Johnson, MC, Town Clerk im