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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/1/2012 - RegularMEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Carolyn D. Fidler, Vice Mayor Robert R. Altice Matthew S. Hare William W. Nance STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence, Town Manager Elizabeth Dillon, Town Attorney Susan N. Johnson, Town Clerk Ben Cook, Police Chief Gary Woodson, Public Works Director Joey Hiner, Assistant Public Works Director Stephanie Dearing, Human Resources Director Barry Thompson, Finance Director/Treasurer The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Roll cal'I The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Altice, Council Member Hare, Council Member Nance, Vice Mayor Fidler, and Mayor Grose present, The Mayor welcomed those in attendance. After a Moment of Silence, Mr. Altice led the Pledge of Allegiance to theFlag. Vice Mayor Fidler made a motion to approve the Approved minutes of April 3, 2012 consent agenda as presented; the motion was and April 17, 2012 seconded by Mr. Altice and carried by the following vote, with all members voting., Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Fidler, Grose; Sue Basham, President of the Woman's Club of Vinton made opening comments and expressed thanks to the Town of Vinton and the Vinton Police Department for allowing the Club to plant the pinwheel garden in the front of the Municipal Building. The day of planting, April 24th, was Federation Day, the 122th anniversary of the General Federation of Women's Clubs and was to promote Child Abuse Awareness Prevention Month, Kathryn Sowers then explained the purpose of the Woman's Club and the promotion of Child Abuse Awareness Prevention Month. The Mayor asked Ms. Sowers about the "Our Town" collage that the Vinton Chamber is selling. She explained that the prints are 18" x 14" and they are pre- selling the prints. Forms are available in the Treasurer's Office, the Chamber Office and on-line. The original print is in the Chamber Office. Vice Mayor Fidler expressed her thanks to the Woman's Club for their promotion of Child Abuse Awareness Prevention Month. The Mayor read a Proclamation declaring April 30'h to May 4"as National Drinking Water Week in the Town. The Mayor then made comments on the importance of our drinking water and that it is a resource that has been taken for granted. Under citizens' comments, Wayne Guffey, Assistant Chief of the Vinton First Aid Crew presented the 2011 statistics for the Rescue Squad. Mr. Guffey began by stating that when the new building was completed a goal was set of having the truck marked up approximately 85%. Last year during the volunteer hours, which is from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Monday -Friday and 24 hours over the weekends, the truck was marked up 5,191 hours, which is 92%. They answered 999 calls which is 72%. Crew members put in 20,242 hours. For the first four months of 2012, the crew is at 93% for mark up, 73% of calls and 8,000 hours. A new ambulance was purchased on an 80-20 grant from the State. They had an EMT class at the Crew Hall which recruited 10 new members from the class plus an additional seven for a total of 17 new members. Two additional crew members became paramedics and there are five more in paramedic school. During Dogwood Festival week the crew put in 317 man hours and only had four incidents at the Carnival. There are 47 active crew members with eight more pending in the next few months. The Mayor expressed thanks for the report and stated that Mr. Guffey had indicate before the meeting that last year there were 25 incidents during the Festival, most of which were related to the heat, The Town Manager made brief comments on the Resolution to approve the appropriating of $2,000.00 received from the Melva P. Jones Funds for Music and Art and the Community Catalyst Funds to underwrite the costs for an intern at the pool. Mr. Nance made a motion to approve the Resolution as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Hare and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Altice, Hare, Nance, Fidler, Grose; None. Adopted Resolution No. 1962 appropriating $2,000.00 received from the Melva P. Jones Funds for Music and Art and the Community Catalyst Funds to underwrite the costs for an intern at the pool. The Town Manager reminded Council of the VML Town Section meeting to be held in Farmville on May 25, 2012. The Town Manager mentioned that he had been contacted by Liz Belcher, the Greenway Coordinator, to ask if the town would host the May 23, 2012 Greenway Commission Meeting at the Craig Center and follow with a ribbon cutting at the Gladetown Greenway Trail. The meeting will be held at 4:00 p.m. with the ribbon cutting to follow at 5:00 p.m. There was a consensus of Council to proceed with scheduling the event. Billy Booth from the audience said he has a CDL license and would be glad to drive the bus sometime for the Town. The Mayor mentioned the Dogwood Festival and thanked all of Town staff that had a part in the festival, especially the Public Works Department that had the Town looking very nice. He then commented on today being Election Day and expressed thanks to all involved. Comments from Council Members — Vice Mayor Fidler commented that it had been a good day to talk with constituents; Mr. Nance commented on the Dogwood Festival and mentioned that regardless of the outcome of the election, he has treasured his time on Council; Mr. Hare also said thanks for all the hard work and all involved in the Dogwood Festival. Mr. Hare gave brief comments on the financial report for March. The minutes of the Finance Committee prepared by Mr. Thompson were given to Council which gave most of the detail of the meeting. Mr. Hare commented that we are exceeding our target for revenues and that expenditures are running under the projection of approximately $1 million. Most of that is the timing of some payments such as debt service. The most important item is the cash flow which continues to be very good. More of the Town's money has been moved to investments that have higher yields. Mr. Hare then commented on the proposed utility deposit policy which Council will be further briefed on at their May 15 th meeting. This will require an Ordinance to amend the Town Code which will also require Council consideration at a future meeting. The Committee also reviewed the accounts receivable balances on the balance sheet making up the tax and utility accounts. Mr. Hare commented that the KI Treasurer has been instructed to write a policy to also write-off uncollectible accounts on the utility side. The Mayor asked if the utility deposit policy is for residential properties and Mr. Hare commented that there is a clause for commercial properties as well if they meet the criteria set requiring a deposit, Mr. Thompson commented that the time period will be set for three to five months and refer to the charge being based on the current rate schedule. The majority of the problems are with the final billed accounts of non -property owners. Council will have the opportunity for further questions and discussion during the briefing at the May 15 th meeting, Mr. Hare mentioned that legislation has been adopted that we will have to include in our policy relating to landlords and the ability to place a lien on properties if their tenants do not pay. Mr. Hare made a motion to accept the financial report for , Accepted financial report for March, 2012 as presented; the motion was seconded by March 2012. Vice Mayor Fidler and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Fidler, Grose; Nays (0) - None. The Mayor advised that Council needed to go into a Closed Meeting pursuant to Section 2.2-3711 (A) (1) of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as Amended, for Discussion or Consideration of Personnel Matters. Mr. Nance made a motion that Council go into Closed Meeting; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Fidler and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Fidler, Grose; Nays (0) - None. At 8:29 pm the regular meeting reconvened and thi; Certification that the Closed Meeting was held ir accordance with State Code requirements wa-,, approved on motion by Mr. Nance, seconded by Mr. Hare and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Fidler, Grose; Nays (0) - None. Mr. Nance made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mr. Hare, and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: • 5-0; Yeas (5) - Altice, Hare, Nance, Fidler, Grose; Nays (0) - None. The regular meeting was adjourned at 8:30 p.m, EI The Town Manager then briefed Council on the final changes adopted by the General Assembly to the Virginia Retirement System. Fundamentally the employee contribution paid by the Town of 5% is being shifted back to the employee. This was already in place for Plan 2 employees, but will now also include Plan 1 employees. They are requiring a 5% raise to tmployees to offset this cost. Localities have the option of implementing the 5% over a five-year period in any increments, but must give a corresponding raise with any increments. Also, the localities are being allowed to pay a portion of their contribution rate at 70% of the actuarial rate which will be locked in for two years. The rate will be adjusted again in two years. The Town Manager then indicated that staff had reviewed several scenarios regarding the 5% and the 70% contribution rate. It will be cheaper to pay the 5% at one time rather than divide up over a five-year period. Staff is also recommending that the Town pay only the minimum contribution of 70% required this year. Mr. Thompson indicated that the contribution rate went up this year from 11 % to 16.47%. If employees are given a 5% raise to cover their contribution to VRS, they will have to pay the corresponding taxes, so actually there will be approximately a 0.75 decrease in their take-home pay. A 3% raise was budgeted to allow for a 2% raise plus 1% to cover the difference in the VRS contribution by employees. The recommendation is a 5% raise for Plan 1 employees as required to offset the employees' contribution to VRS, a 2% raise for cost of living and the remaining 1% needs to be made to offset the tax implication to Plan I employees for the required 5% VRS contribution. This recommendation along with paying only 70% of the Town's contribution would create a savings of $53,978.38. Mr. Hare commented that we are stealing from the future to make people happy now and asked if we have to do this. The response was, yes we do. He asked if 9 we could get out of VIRS and offer something else to 'the employees. The Town Manager commented that VIRS is going towards a hybrid plan in 2014 to a defined contribution/ benefit plan for new participants. Stephanie Dearing commented from the audience that we would have to buy our way out of the plan and cover the retirement for every employee who has ever retired. Mr. Hare made further comments about local government not being able to make decisions on how to take care of their employees and that the State is stealing the retirement from the employees for the future. The Town Manager commented that VML and every association who has ties to VIRS fought against this decision without success. Ms. Dearing commented that they want the employees to take responsibility for part of the contributions and they are setting it up so when they start the hybrid program they can say, "You are already putting 5% of your salary into VIRS, don't you want to put it into this other program instead". The Mayor commented that he shared Mr. Hare's frustration. The Town Manager said he needs direction from Council at the next budget work session because of the time it will take the Finance Director to change all the related personnel fine items. ffIr. Hare asked where would we put the $54,000 savings and the Town Manager commented we could re-evaluate some of our CIP priorities or set it aside in a contingency fund. Vice Mayor Fidler asked what it would cost to give the employees another 1% raise and the response was that every percent costs about $35,000.00. The Mayor commented that the biggest concern about the budget is that we need to find a way to continually and permanently fund a CIP account. Mr. Hare indicated that the Finance Committee even suggested that we fund some CIP items now with extra funds that we may have. The Town 041anager commented briefly on the reclassification of the Assistant Town Manager/ Economic Development position to Assistant to the Town Manager and does not want to start the A recruitment process unless the money is in the budget to fund the position. It is also proposed that the Special Programs Manager and War Memorial Manager report to this Assistant. ' Susan N. Johnsonci-own Clerk 19 0 # 1# # 1-1111 UNI-1100h, -1 tIMOU113 all) tolivi IV Walla V y va a y go I PES11) 11 W) nin 12 0 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 the 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: I 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 Nance, and seconded by Council Member Hare, with all in favor. Clerk of Council