HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/1/2018 - RegularITIN-TTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7:00 P.hL
ON TUESDAY, MAY 1, 2018, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINT6
MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTO
VIRGINIA
MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor
Matthew S. Hare, Vice Mayor
Keith N. Liles
Sabrina McCarty
Janet Scheid
STAFF PRESENT: Barry W. Thompson, Town Manager
Susan N. Johnson, Executive Assistant/Town Clerk
Susan Waddell, Town Attorney
Anne Cantrell, Treasurer/Finance Director
Pete Peters, Assistant Town Manager/Director of Economic
Development
Anita McMillan, Planning & Zoning Director
Joey Hiner, Public Works Director
William Herndon, Assistant Public Works Director
Christopher Linkous, Deputy Chief, Fire & EMS
Chad Helms, Captain, Fire/EMS
Donna Collins, Human Resources Director
Mike Caldwell, Police Sergeant
The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at
7:00 p.m. The Town Clerk called the roll with Council
Member Liles, Council Member McCarty, Council
Member Scheid, Vice Mayor Hare and Mayor Grose
present. Roll call
* . 1 0 1
Under upcoming community events, Coun
Member McCarty announced the following: May 4
Sean Bera at Twin Creeks Brewery and May I
Grapes & Grain Festival - Vinton War Memorial. S
also commented on the success of the Dogwo
Festival. Pete Peters announced the Chamb
Lunch-N-Learn - May 3 - 12 Noon to 1:00 pm - Vint
War Memorial. Council Member Scheid announc
the Gallop for the Greenways — May 13— one mile ra
and May 14 — 5:00 p.m. — traditional 5K,
Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to approve the
Consent Agenda as presented; the motion was
seconded by Council Member Liles and carried by the
following vote, with aft members voting: Vote 5-0; Approved minutes of the Regular
Yeas (5) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays Council Meetings of April 3, 2018
(0) — None. . and April 17, 2018
The next items on the agenda were severa
Proclamations, The first Proclamation was for GBS
CIDP Awareness Month. Rick Forney, the local liaison]
for the local chapter, made brief comments on th
I
purpose and goals of the Foundation. The Mayo
made comments and presented the Proclamation.
The next Proclamation was for National Drinking
Water Week. Joey Hiner commented this week
highlights the benefits offered by public water suppliers
such as health, economy, fire protection and quality of
life. Vinton is blessed with an abundant supply of safe
water and the 2017 Consumer Confidence Report will
be available this week. The Mayor made comments
-..,nd then presented the Proclamation.
The next Proclamation was for Municipal Cler
Week. The Town Manager commented on t
purpose of Municipal Clerks Week and recognized t
Town Clerk, The Mayor and Council Member Sche
made comments and the Town Clerk was present
with the Proclamation.
The next Proclamation was for National Police
Week, In the absence of Chief Foster, the Town
Manager made comments following which the Mayor
made additional comments and presented the
Proclamation to Sergeant Mike Caldwell.
The next item on the agenda was a briefing on
request from the William Byrd High School Democrac
Matters Club to consider adoption of an Anti-Corruptio
Resolution. Tessa Yarbrough, a member of the Club
first commented this Club is a part of a nationa
organization that advocates for free and fair election
and campaign finance reform. Ms. Yarbrough furthe
commented on the purpose of the Resolution and tha
local government is the last refuge of real, vibran
democracy. The Mayor explained that action would b
taken at the next Council meeting. Council Membe
Scheid commented it was relevant that this briefing wa
on election day in the Town and she agreed that at th
local level democracy is really in full force, but Ms.
Yarbrough's points were relevant in terms of the State
and Federal elections.
The next item on the agenda was a briefing on th
renewal of the Lease between the Town and Th
Advancement Foundation for property located at 22
South Pollard Street (upper level of the Healt
Department Building). Annette Patterson firs
commented on two invitations given to Council, one to l
a
Business Growth Conference on Saturday and the Ma
0
17'h Gauntlet Awards Ceremony, both at the W41%
Memorial. She showed a sample of signs that will
put up around Town advertising the Gauntlet, I
Ms. Patterson next expressed appreciation to the Tow-m for the use of the Health Department building for th
HIVE. She also provided a list of the majo
accomplishments of The Advancement Foundation an
commented they were able to bring 2,234 individuals t
the Town through their programs. The Gauntlet is in it
fourth year and the program has been recognized b
many chambers, the Department of Housing an
Community Development and the Governor for bein
one of the most, if not the most effective program
across the State of Virginia, There are over 20
mentors who have given over 400 hours of one -on -on
training with entrepreneurs. Also, they will be bringing 1
15 positions with the AmeriCorps program this year t
be placed in Vinton, Roanoke County, Roanoke City and
Alleghany Highlands, The Mayor expressed thanks t
Ms. Patterson for the work she is doing that started in
the Town and commented on her positive approach and
attitude that she has brought to Vinton.
Mr. Peters commented that staff recommends that
Council consider extending the current lease through
June 30, 2018, At the June 19'h meeting, Council will be
asked to approve a new lease with minor revisions for
the term of July 1, 2018 to June 30, 2019. Due to the
Health Department modifying their share of utilities for
the building, Ms. Patterson has agreed to absorb 50% of -
the utility costs. The extension of the original lease will
allow us to get on a fiscal year basis for quarterly billing
*f utilities. The current lease has expired.
The Mayor commented that we do not Usually take
9-ction during a briefing, but since the lease has expired
2-nd needs to be extended to June 30, 2018, Council
should consider a motion at this time.
Council Member Scheid made a motion to extend t i -
current lease to June 30, 2018 retroactive back to Ap'
21, 2018; the motion was seconded by Council Memb
McCarty and carried by the following vote, with
members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) - Liles, McCart,
Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) - None.
The next item on the agenda was a briefing on a
Special Use Permit (SUP) request of Elizabeth Meador
to operate an in -home music studio for the instruction of
Extended the current
Lease
between the Town and
The
Advancement Foundation
for
property located at 227
South
Pollard Street (upper level
of the
Health Department Building) to
June
30, 2018 retroactive back to April
21,2018
9
the proposed business falls under professional servicE
which requires an SUP because of the zoning of thE
property. Ms. Meador has indicated in her applicatior
that at any given time, she will not have more than threE
vehicles parked in her driveway. She has a paved
driveway that can accommodate up to five small
vehicles or three larger vehicles and a graveled area for
one vehicle.
Ms. McMillan next commented that our zoning does
allow for individuals to have up to two -square feet ol
signage, but Ms. Meador has proffered that she will not
have a sign on her property along with a maximum of
three vehicles parked on the driveway. The Planning
Commission will hold their Public Hearing this Thursday
and will make a recommendation to Council. The
Council's Public Hearing will be on May 15, 2018. At
least 15 adjacent property owners were notified and to
date her office has received no objections to the request.
Council Member Scheid commented that Ms. McMillan's
report and the proffered condition relating to the signage
eliminated some of Council's questions. The Mayor
agreed and he also liked the limitation of three vehicles.
The next item on the agenda was a briefing on
proposed updates to the Town of Vinton Emergency
Operations Plan, Deputy Chief Linkous first commented
that every four years the Town has to update and adopt
its Emergency Operation Plan (EOP) and submit the
updated Plan to the Virginia Department of Emergency
Management (VDEM), The last adoption of the EOP
was in May 2014. Since he became the Emergency
Services Coordinator he has updated the EOP to make
more user friendly with the input of the Police, Public
Works and Planning Departments and our VDEM
Planner. One addition is a Quick Reference annex that
lists every contact that might be needed during an
emergency.
The Town is one of four in the Commonwealth that is a
part of VDEM because other Towns fall under their
County. In an event of a large scale disaster beyond
our capabilities, we have a great working relationship
with Roanoke County, Roanoke City, the City of Salem
and the VDEM Region 6 office. Council will be asked
to consider adopting a Resolution at their next meeting
to approve this updated EOP.
in response to a question by Vice Mayor Hare, Deputy
Chief Linkous commented he can provide Council with
a summary of the changes and that most of them
relate to contact information, He will continue to
update the document on a regular basis and the hard
M
copies will be kept in the TOV Conference Room.
Once approved the Town Clerk will post a copy to
Dropbox.
The next item on the agenda was to consider!
adoption of a Resolution approving the 2018-2019
operating budget of the Roanoke Valley Resource
Authority. Dan Miles, Chief Executive Officer, first
commented that in accordance with the Member Use
Agreements, the Authority is obligated to present its
annual operating budget to its Member communities by -
April l'of each year. The FY2018-2019 budget totals
$12,791,411 and is a reduction of approximately 1.9%
from the current fiscal year or $254,000. In the Transfer
from Contingency Reserve Fund on Page 2 of the
budget document, they are using $21,161 to balance the
budget.
R a I lr�q E*144 It trr"A 111 Affrol
Vice Mayor Hare asked if any of the $2.5 million in
capital could be deferred to help with the increase in the
tipping fees. Mr. Miles responded they requested the
Board last month to approve a transfer of $1.32 million
from the equipment reserve fund into the capital
improvement fund to fund a joint utilities project between
the Western Virginia Water Authority, the Resource
Authority, Roanoke County Parks and Recreation for
Explore Park and the Broadband Authority to put a water
and sewer line along Rutrough Road. This will
ultimately allow connection to the sewer line at the
closed Rutrough Road landfill to utilize a direct discharge
of leachate instead of doing pump and haul, They
Council Member Scheid asked Mr. Miles to bring
Council up to date on how long a contract we are
entering into with Norfolk Southern and if there is some
thought that we would go back to considering a trucking
option in the not too distance future.
the transportation contract since the Authority's inception
in 1993, which is scheduled to expire on June 30, 2018.
In 2013 he approached Norfolk Southern about
converting to gondolas because the City of Salem was
0
interested in joining the Authority which would increas
the volume of waste by 50% and Norfolk Southern'
business. We would be able to transport Salem's an
Roanoke's waste to the landfill and by-pass a whol
system of operation with the rotary tipper. The City o
Salem announced they would join the Authority in Ma
of 2016 effective July 1, 2016. Norfolk Southern was
again contacted and told we needed to move ahead ini
ordering the equipment and getting everything ready fo
the conversation and requested a price, A price was
given in July, which was twice of the current price, so
another option was developed. The land was purchased
to be able to construct a road off the 1-81 Ironto Exit back
to where the spur diverges from the main line. This
would allow a point of leverage in every negotiation for
contract extensions going forward with Norfolk Southern,
In March of 2017, a decision had to be 'e at thE
mad
Salem Transfer Station to either modify for rail of
trucking shipment of waste. Norfolk Southern provided
their best and final offer in wrng and the Board
evaluated that option along with the trucking option and
the trucking option was considerably less expensive
over the course of a ten-year contract period. Our
Board unanimously approved the $5 million
modifications to the Salem Transfer Station to move
forward with the trucking option. The Board also voted
unanimously on three separate occasions to purchase
50 trailers for an additional $5.5 million of capital
expenditure to be ready for trucking on July 1, 2018 and
in September of 2017, the Board voted unanimously to
proceed with the construction of the 1/2mile connector
road. The only remaining project left to do was the
modification of the Tinker Creek Transfer Station and the
4-1/2 mile rail spur dedicated to go into our landfill would
be taken up and converted into a road. That project
cannot be started until after the contract with Norfolk
Southern has expired.
In November of 2017 our account was transferred to a
different division within Norfolk Southern and we were
advised that we should be expecting another offer
because they wanted to keep our business. Norfolk
Southern did tender another offer in January of 2018
and it ended up reducing their costs by about half Of
where they were in March of 2017. Again, an
evaluation and economic analysis were done and
trucking was still outperforming the rail by a considerable
margin in his opinion and the majority of the Board's
*pinion. However, it became evident at the January
2018 Board meeting that the unanimity that had been
present for the preceding year and a half was no longer
#,resent.
A
Our #, Use Agreementrequires# •
concernour budget by each of our member communities and our
! :# be taking our budget • one
or more of our member communities and they would not
approve our budget # the whole project # # be
stonewalled during the budget process, The more they
reviewed the Agreement they found another paragraph
that had been present since 1993 that any permit or
physical modificationbe approved unanimously by
the representatives on our Board from the City of
Roanoke and Roanoke County... indicated that
in the 11 years he has been with the Authority,
have ## numerous## # and have never
called for that vote. That information was immediately
forwarded to Roanoke 1, o ! it became
evident.# a political
permit.potential issue with the land use
With regard to the land use permit
# zoning which he was not , All # 1,
Southern! #
from zoning. However,pulling the track up and
replacing it with a private road surface that non-exempt
property now becomes subject to zoning. We would
not be able to get through the zoning process before the
Norfolk •uthern contract expired
A working group has been formed to address the
political issue and the land use issue with representation
from each of member localities and a non -biased
chairman. We are ! continuing to negotiate
Norfolk # contract. stipulation
we !! not serve noticeto them by May 30th of the year
that our # to expire,# •
! to another# # provides
that either party may requestof other party
modifications or # and specifically
both parties will make best faith effortsto negotiate
thosethose items. In the event we are not able to negotiate
successfully amendments i the contract,would
then go to binding arbitration for determination. We are
in those discussions • now
be determined. In the meantime the working group will
be looking at all of our ## ! options ! include
the rail option with the shipping containers, the trucking
option and possibly even considering the status quo.
all of the trailers. Mr. Miles responded they still ne
about half of # because regardless of
contract roll-over approximately 30% of the waste
continue to be trucked from Salem to Roanoke. Until t
work group i !, iwould
0
premature to try and disposed of those trailers, The
Mayor expressed thanks to Mr. Miles for bringing
Council up to date and commented that this is a very
important service to our Valley.
Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to adopt the Resolution
as presented; the motion was seconded by Council Adopted Resolution No. 2242
Member Liles and carried by the following roll call vote, approving the 2018-2019 operating
with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles, budget of the Roanoke Valley
McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None. Resource Authority
The next item on the agenda was to consider
adoption of a Resolution authorizing the renewal of the
Town of Vinton Employees' group health insurance!
coverage with The Local Choice Program for the
contract year July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019. In
the absence of Donna Collins, the Town Manager
commented that Council was previously briefed on the
renewal. Local Choice had proposed a 12% premium
increase in the renewal rates effective July 1, 201&
Staff contacted the surrounding jurisdictions and most of
Ms. Collins held numerous employee meetings to review
the options and each employee was given the
opportunity to give feedback on their choice. After
receiving this feedback, we went back to Local Choice
and are prepared to offer the Key Advantage 250 with a
$250 deductible and the Key Advantage 1000 with a
$1,000 deductible. Each of the plans has the same
prescription, dental and vision coverage with some
variances based on the plan chosen and all plans
include wellness preventative procedures at no cost. In
providing these two options, we were able to get the
increase down to six percent overall, split approximately
three percent between the employer and employee.
The increase across the plans is about $21.33 per
month for the employees and $28.83 per month for the
employer. Once approved, open enrollment will be held
from May e through May 1 Oth. Council Member Scheid
asked how the employees are split between the two
plans and Anne Cantrell commented that the last time
she ran the numbers it was almost a 50/50 split.
Adopted Resolution No. 2243
Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to adopt the Resolution
I
authorizing the renewal of the Town
as presented; the motion was seconded by Council
of Vinton Employees' group health
Member Scheid and carried by the following roll call
insurance coverage with The Local
vote, with all members voting� Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) —
Choice Program for the contract year
Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None.
July 1, 2018 through June 30, 2019
TO
The next item on the agenda was to consider
adoption of a Resolution authorizing the Town Manager
to execute a Planning Grant Agreement between the
Virginia Department of Housing and Community
Development (DHCD) and the Town for an Urban
Housing Rehabilitation Planning Grant. Pete Peters
commented that Council was briefed at the April 17 th on
the award of a $30,000 Planning Grant from DHCD to
develop a housing rehabilitation program, As part of the
Grant, the Town is required to agree to an Agreement
outlining the scope and timeline for the work to be
conducted. Assuming approval by Council, staff will
begin the ten month process of continuing to develop the
program and would anticipate submitting a full CDBG
Block Grant application in March of 2019 for the
necessary funds for construction and implementation of
Adopted Resolution No. 2244
the full program. Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to
authorizing the Town Manager to
adopt the Resolution as presented. After additional
execute a Planning Granl
comments by Mr. Peters and Council, the motion was
Agreement between the Virginia
seconded by Council Member Scheid and carried by the
Department of Housing and
following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-
Community Development (DHCD)
0; Yeas (5) — Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays
and the Town for an Urban Housing
(0) — None.
Rehabilitation Planning Grant
The next item on the agenda was to consider
adoption of a Resolution authorizing the Town Manager
to execute an Agreement between the Town and
Entz -rise Fle,,4d
to procure vehicles on an "Open-end Lease" on an as -
needed basis. The Town Manager first commented that
Council was briefed on this matter on March 20, 2018.
Anne Cantrell commented that the Agreement provided
with the agenda packet has been reviewed by the Town
Attorney and staff is proposing to piggyback off of the
City of Norfolk contract.
In response to questions, Ms. Cantrell explained that
under the Virginia Public Procurement Act if an RFP is
issued and includes cooperative procurement, it allows
use of the RFP with their pricing instead of going out for
our own RFP. It saves time and potentially in this case
will save us on rates because Norfolk has a greater
economy of scale than the town. Enterprise will also
be able to negotiate with Wright Express for a free Adopted Resolution No. 2245
membership for fuel. authorizina the Town Manager t*
execute an Agreement between the
Council Member Scheid made a motion to adopt the Town and Enterprise Fleet
Resolution as presented; the motion was seconded by Management, Inc. for a five-year
Council Member Liles and carried by the following roll period to procure vehicles on an
call vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — "Open-end Lease" on an as -needed
Liles, McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None. basis
The Town Manager gave an update on continued
discussions with Valley Metro. He along with Anne
Cantrell and the Town Clerk met on April 18 Ih with
Kevin Price of Valley Metro and Sherman Stovall,
Roanoke Assistant City Manager, Our concerns were
expressed about the cost of service with the Fixed
Route and the recent action by GRTC Board to not
limit the Rass on the P,.aratransit because that was a lot
of our costs. We presented our route options and
they plan to present the one recommended by the
Finance Committee the GRTC Board at their May
meeting. We have not received any costs back from
them.
With regard to the GRTC Board, we indicated that both
Salem and the Town need to have representation on
the Board rather than alternate every two years since
both have bus service. This matter will also be taken
to the GRTC Board at the May meeting and they felt
that it should not be a problem, We also had
discussion concerning the increased costs for the bus
service and asked if the bus service was eliminated in
the Town would Cortran provide transportation for our
paratransit riders.
need to go to the Board to discuss how they wou
U
reallocate the miles that would be lost The To
Clerk commented they indicated Roanoke County h-
their own contract with Cortran and we would have
negotiate with Roanoke County. Council directed st
to engage Roanoke County in discussion about th
Cortran contract. 11
Under appointments to Boards/Commissions/
Committees, Council Member Scheid made a motion to
appoint Richard W, Peters to the Roanoke Valley
Transportation Planning Organization (RVTPO) as a
non -voting member for an unexpired three-year term to
expire on June 30, 2020. The motion was seconded by
Council Member Liles and carried by the following vote,
with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles,
McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None.
I N NNI - �jw
0.
The Mayor commented on the success of the
Dogwood Festival, the Bike Share ribbon cutting and
the recent LIDA meeting and open house, He and the
Appointed Richard W. Peters to the
Roanoke Valley Transportation
Planning Organization (RVTPO) as
a non -voting member for an
unexpired three-year term to expire
on June 30, 2020
IEI
Town Manager attended an event at the South County
Library recently where the Town was awarded the
Pedeau/Garretson Award by the Friends of the
Roanoke County Public Library for the support of the
new Vinton Branch library. He also commented on the
litter pick up on April 21" and suggested that it be done
every several months.
Comments from Council: Vice Mayor Hare extended
congratulations to Council Member McCarty for being re-
elected to another four-year term on Council. He also
requested that Council re-examine the membership in
the Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority
during the budget process. All members of Council
commented on the success of the Dogwood Festival.
The Town Clerk commented that Deputy Chief Drumond
is going Over the Edge for Big Brothers Big Sisters and
donations are being accepted.
Council Member Liles made a motion to adjourn the
regular meeting; the motion was seconded by Council
Member McCarty and carried by the following vote, with
members voting., Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Liles, McCarty,
Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0) — None. The regular
meeting was adjourned at 9:04 p.m. Regular Meeting adjourn
11 11B 1111
RJUARMIALA a,
The first item of discussion was the proposal to not fun
two positions (one in the Police Department and one i
Public Works), Vice Mayor Hare commented that th
positions should either be removed or the budget shout
clearly list the positions approved and those funded b
department. If the positions are removed and
department requests additional positions, they woul
have to come back before Council to request them.
After further discussion, Council gave their consensus t•
remove the two unfunded positions.
The next item of discussion was the recommended
change under Community Contributions to •- the
Vinton Volunteer Fire Department from $10,000 to
$7,000 and the Vinton Volunteer Rescue Squad from
$17,000 to $15,000. Vice Mayor Hare commented that
the Budget Committee also recommended removing the
stipulation that was put on the contribution to the
Volunteer Fire Department this fiscal year that they
cannot use the funds to pay for Chief Oakes' salary,
17H
Council came back to the discussion regarding an
increase in employee compensation and again
discussed areas that could be cut for that purpose, Vice
time expense, it would be a permanent cost, Council
Member Scheid commented that employees could be
given a bonus instead of a raise. After further
comments and discussion, Vice Mayor Hare suggested
eliminating the Senior Programming effective January 1
2019. Pete Peters commented that would give
sufficient time to replace certain levels of those
programs and transition the staff. The Mayor
commented that if Council decided to eliminate the
Senior Programming in January that perhaps that would
free up some funding for a bonus to the employees at
Christmas.
Vice Mayor Hare next reiterated that the
recommendation would be to pay for the trashcans with
fund balance and to place a revenue line item in the
General Fund and add it to the CIP. We will move
$30,000 from milling and paving to the CIP for bridge
maintenance and cut $40,000 from Senior Programming
effective January 1, 2019 and move to salaries. Council
can consider what type of increase that would want to
make to employee compensation at that time. The
Town Manager commented that the CIP in the Utility
Fund would also have to be reduced and adjustments
made in the Stormwater Fund, He suggested puffing
the funds in a non -departmental account and moving
them to the departments at the appropriate time, Vice
Mayor Hare commented they should not be put in
contingency.
Council Member Scheid brought up the matter of the
stormwater fee and the need to be putting together a
plan. The Town Manager commented that the next step
would be to create the advisory committee and that staff
had begun to gather information regarding individuals to
serve on that committee.
The Town Clerk repeated the recommended changes
for the record: eliminate the two unfunded positions;
advertise the Public Hearing to be held on May 15, 2018
for the business license tax increase; place an action
item on the May 15�h agenda for Council to consider
adoption of a Resolution giving a 30-day notice to
withdraw from the WVRIFA; transfer $30,000 from
milling and paving to bridge maintenance in the CIP; add
the purchase of the trashcans from fund balance as a
revenue and expense item in the General Fund and
13
transfer $40,000 from Senior Programming into a non -
departmental account in the General Fund, reduce the
CIP on the Utility side by $20,000 and reduce the
Stormwater Fund to provide for some type of increase
in employee compensation.
A7e*
Bradley E. Grose, Mayor
ATTEST:
d
Susan N. JohnsonVCMC, Town Clerk
im