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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/19/2013 - Regular MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 6:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19, 2013, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON, VIRGINIA, MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor 1, Douglas Adams, Jr. Robert R. Altice Matthew S. Hare MEMBER ABSENT: William W. Nance, Vice Mayor STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence,Town Manager Susan N. Johnson, Town Clerk Elizabeth Dillon, Town Attorney Stephanie Dearing, Human Resources ►irector Ryan Spitzer,Assistant to the Town Manager Barry Thompson, Finance Director/Treasurer Ben Cook, Police Chief Gary Woodson, Public Works Director Anita McMillan, Planning &Zoning Director Joey Hiner, Assistant Public Works Director The Mayor called the work session to order at 6:00 p.m. The first item related to a briefing on the Wolf Creek Greenway on-going maintenance issues. The Town Manager began by stating that Liz Belcher, Janet Scheid and Lynn Bryant were present and then turned the briefing over to Anita McMillan. Ms. McMillan began by reviewing her staff report. One of the connections of the Wolf Creek Greenway to the Roanoke County side is under Washington Avenue. Every time we have a heavy rain the culvert becomes obstructed with silt and Roanoke County, Vinton staff and volunteers are called to assist with the clean-up. The most recent issue was from the heavy rain this summer along with sections of the walking surface being washed away. Janet Scheid had brought the matter up at a Greenway Commission meeting and also staff had discussed having to do something because this is the most heavily used Greenway in the town. After further discussion, in October our Public Works Department completed major maintenance and repair work using 145.5 man hours and 119 equipment hours plus $3,208 in materials to replace the surface that had washed away. Also, Sarah Brabharn and her crew came and removed most of the silt under the culvert. She has indicated they would be willing to continue helping in the future, but they cannot remove it from the site. Ms. McMillan further commented that there is a need for stable and sufficient funding in the budget to continue to maintain the Greenway. We had $3,500 in the Planning budget for Public Works to work with. The Mayor expressed his thanks to the volunteers and Public Works employees for their work on the Greenway. Mr. Hare, who is can the Greenway Commission; commented that he had asked for this item to be brought before Council. This i a very precious resource that we have probably token for granted and we need to do a better job. As we look towards expanding the Greenway system in the town, we have to be careful not to just build it and not take care of it. €r. Adams said thanks to the volunteers and Public Works; for their completion of the maintenance and repair work. The Town Manager commented that in the past we have not made the maintenance a priority and it has been more of a response to complaints. With regard to the build-up of silt; it is all erosion from the creek bank, In the long term from an environmental standpoint; maybe there will be some opportunities to restore the creep batiks to help prevent this erosion. Mr. bare then asked Liz Belcher to give a brief update on the Bridge the Gap campaign. Ms. Belcher commented that the idea three years ago was to connect the Greenway in Salem to the one in Roanoke and the campaign was started to raise the $7 million that was needed to finish the four-mile piece from Rotary Pork to Bridge Street. In the three years a little over $1 million has been raised in private fonds and some through enhancement grants and then we heard about RSTI money coming through the MPO. When the final funding figures were given, it became $4 million per year for six years plus last year's funding, which meant seven years"worth. An application was prepared with input from Salem; Roanoke City and County and the Town and it was phased based on how we could get the work done. From the time you get the funds, you only have four years to spend it. Over the next four years we will receive $12.775 million for the Roanoke River Greenway to get it built from Greenhill Park to the Blue Ridge Parkway. Salem and the County had a meeting today regarding the engineer they are hiring to do the piece from Greenhill to Mill Lane. There is one part of that section that is geologically not stable, so they are doing some more work to determine the best course of action and finish the design within the next year and start construction. Salem already has the design underway for the two bridges and should start construction next summer and Roanoke City has a contract to get their piece designed. On the end from the sewage plant to the Parkway, the County has met with all the landowners and they are prepared to buy the right-of-way. An independent appraisal has been clone of the properties and they will be doing back to meet with this landowners and offer them cash for the easements through their properties, With regard to the 2 Parkway, under the old Superintendent, they did not want to give an at-grade crossing and said would be better to go down highland Road and go under the Parkway. VD T has agreed to let the County move to a public meeting about making that underpass one way so that halt can be used for the Ceenway and half for the traffic. In summary the biggest achievement for 2013 is getting the $12.775 million which has no match. With regard to the maintenance issues; in 1997 we made up charts of what it would cast for maintenance and the biggest- expense is from storm damage and 2013 was a year of storms. The town's purchase of a roller is important because rolling a cinder surface trail will make it held up. If this is clone once or twice a year, it will make a difference. The Town Manager then commented on a new idea of blue ways, which are made up of the rivers and creeks and part of this concept are canoe launch sites. There are about 1 launch sites from Salem to the Niagara dam. The town has one, but it is referred to as a boat ramp for emergency vehicles. Staff has discussed the ramp and would like to bring back a proposal because the Regional Commission is working to publish a,new kayak marketing reap of the Valley and we need to get on the map. Its. Belcher commented that whet is really important about Vinton's ramp is the Niagara Dam You cannot get to Niagara Clam; but that is the place to put in to go from Vinton to Back Creek and the end of Explore Park. This is also the best water, the only white water that we have and real paddlers want to do this part. I have been told there used to be paddle boats from Vinton down to Niagara Dam. This ramp in Vinton is critically located. The next item was an update on the selection of an Insurance Company to provide the legislated short-term and long-term disability coverage relative to the ,January 1, 2014 introduction of hybrid plan covered employees. Stephanie Gearing began by recapping that the General Assembly has mandated that we must provide this coverage. There was an original plan offered through the VIES with UNUI I and then several other providers came forth and brought out identical plans. The legislation states that if we do not use UNU I, then the plan we offer must be at least equal to or better than what they are offering. e had an opportunity to review three other plans. After much consideration and analysis of all the plans, all of which have some differences, none would prevent us from offering any of the four. However, we are concerned about and are very interested in the long-term relationship we have with VML Insurance. It is a very positive interaction and they have 3 a very positive offering. Ms. Dearing reminded Council that they chase to go with VML two years ago when the General Assembly decided they were no longer going to fund the L DA insurance. Ms. Dearing further commented that initially UNUM stated that heir insurance would ;cost $0.91 per $100. At first we thought everyone was going with UNUM because they had waited so late. It was pressured decision when you consider it is irrevocable and had to be put it into place by January 1 t, but no one really started talking about it until August. The pricing needs to be a consideration; but not the only consideration. However, about four weeks ago UNUM seat out a package of information to the localities and said they had recalculated and we were wrong, the cost will be less than we had stated. This was disappointing in that we had already gassed the first deadline they had established for opting out of the program and we had already sent in our request for an extension. Eased on our recommendation and ouncil's approval, we have put on record with UNUM that we have opted out of their program. The VMLIP program,which information has been provided, is our recommendation based on our long-term experience with VML and the fact there will need to be a coordination of benefits when there is a workers' compensation issue. This coordination is going to be important to our employees as opposed to having two different insurance providers trying to decide who is responsible for certain issues. Their cost is very competitive and still less than the new figures provided by UNUM. One advantage of the VMLIP plan is that it gees into effect at the time of hire. Some of the other plans coverage does not start for 12 months even though you start paying the premium at the time of hire. There are two options with VMLIP, one, 'which we are currently recommending, is to offer only to the hybrid plan covered employees starting January 1, 2014. They are also very willing to provide a second option of covering all our employees effective July 1 t if we elected to make that another benefit to all 52 of our eligible employees. Remember all hazardous duty employees are excluded from this coverage. The Town Manager reiterated that at this point we are recommending this coverage to only those hybrid plan covered employees beginning January 1, 2014. However, we are in the process of updating our Employee Handbook and are reviewing options for other types of leave that may or may not be complemented by offering a short'-term/long-terra disability with a paid time off system. Ms. Dearing made additional comments and the Town Manager indicated that this issue would be discussed in more detail at a later time. Mr. Hare commented that since the insurance provider is Lincoln offered through VIAL, will VML is our arbiter on our behalf between the two and the response was that we have the opportunity to deal directly with Lincoln if we choose to However,we will still have insurance reps within VML that we can always go through. Ids, gearing further commented about the town°a working relationship with VML and the other benefits that we have through VML in supplemental materials offered on their website experts in-house who give us recommendations and guidance on many different issues and the $4,000 in great money we are awarded each year that several departments have benefited from. In summary, Ms. Dearing commented that initially she thought she would be supporting another offering because they seemed to be ready for this quicker than VML But once VML had a chance to work with Lincoln in creating their product and we had a meeting with them face-to-face, she felt better about going with the VLMlP program. The Work Session ended at 6:55 p.m. Council recessed until 7:00 p.m. Mr. Altice arrived at 7:00 p.m, The Mayor called the regular meeting to order at 7:00 bill Call p.m,. 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. Altie led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag, Under upcoming community events/announcements, Liz Lively, the Vinton Chamber President, announced that December er 5t' is the annual Christmas Parade and December is the joint meeting with the Chamber when the State of the Town will be presented and the new Chamber officers for 2014 will be inducted. On December I gtn is the Chambers Holiday Party at the Chamber Office from 4 p.m, to 7 p.m. There will be refreshments and an opportunity to participate in the angel tree again this year. The New'Year's Eve Gala will again be at the War Memorial. The Mayor asked about the TRUSt L event and Ms. Lively responded it will be on February 8h at The Woodland Place. The Senior Expo will be on March 25th with Vitr Eye Center being a key sponsor this year. The Mayor reminded everyone of the public meeting in Council Chambers tomorrow night at 7 p.m. regarding the future of the Poland E. Cook Elementary School, Can December 51h will be a ceremony making the demolition of the l unman Building across the street; the site of the new library. 5 The Town Manager announced the Craig Center Open House Christmas Party on December 171h at 6 p.m. Mr. Adams reminded everyone of the spaghetti dinner on the might of the Christmas Parade sponsored by the Breakfast Lions Club. r. Hare made a motion to approve the consent agenda Approved Anthony Conner as as presented, the motion was seconded by Mr. Adams the Local Business Owner and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: outside of the Grant Area Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) —Adams, Altice, Hare {arose; Nays t0 — member of the Loan Review None;Absent(1)- Dance. Committee created to administer the Revolving Loan Program Plan for the $700,000 CDd3C Downtown and Economic Revitalization Grant Mr. Hare read a letter from Chief Cook naming Sergeant Valerie Cummings as Officer for the month of September 2113. Mr. Adams read a letter from Chief Cook naming Sergeant Paul Matt Harris as Officer for the month of October 2013. The next item was recognition of our Public Works Staff and the Tow 's Curbside Recycling Program. Mary Woodson, Public Works Director, commented that this year the Town was awarded a rating of 62.4% for its recycling rate which is second within the State. The Staterate for 2012 was 41.5% and the Roanoke area was 37. %. We could not have done this without the cooperation of the citizens, the business owners and Town staff. This is the third time in the past four years that we have placed in the top ten statewide. Under citizens' comments and petitions, Emanuel Miller of 230 Craig Avenue, mace comments regarding the buzzard situation in the Cladetown area. He appreciates what the town has been doing, but there is still a concern about them. Right now they are between Craig Avenue and Raleigh Avenue. Mr. Miller showed pictures of the buzzards to Council taken on different days. After further comments from Mr. Miller, the Town Manager asked Chief Ben Cook to dive are update on what the Police Department is doing with the situation. r. Cook commented that since the buzzards are a federally protected bind, we cannot shoot them but have to try to move them. We have been using an air-powered gun and another small gun that shoots a projectile,- both of which make a loud noise, to try to scare them away. W have also been in contact with Roanoke County and the Department of Agriculture to see what options are available to us. One option that will work temporarily is to hang a dead buzzard in the area to run them off which requires a permit. Chief Cook said he sympathizes with M . Miller and the rather neighbors. The Town Manager commented that the permit from the Department of Agriculture takes about two months and it will be for only one bird. The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of an Ordinance authorizing the Mayor or the Town Manager to execute a revised Agreement between the Counties of Botetourt, Franklin and Roanoke, the Cities of Roanoke and Salem, and the Town to create the Western Virginia Regional Industrial Facility Authority. The Town Manager commented that Council authorized the execution of the Agreement hack in September, but it has not been signed to date. After several localities had approved it, the attorneys identified an issue in the Agreement relating to the Article XI, Dissolution of the Authority.. The Town Attorney commented that under the original Agreement we were missing part of the language in Article XI and it has been revised to conform to the state code: This is the only substantive change, All the other member localities that had approved the original agreement are also adapting a new ordinance with this amended agreement. The Town Manager commented that a ceremonious signing of the Agreement will be held in early December: The Mayor commented that he appreciates staff being so thorough with reviewing this agreement: Mr. Altice made a motion that the Ordinance be adopted as presented: Mr. Hare asked about this Ordinance superseding the prior one and the Town Attorney responded that because we did not sign the prior agreement this Ordinance is to approve the amended agreement. The first Ordinance never went into effect; Itr. Hare further commented that he is concerned that the more of these authorities we create across the Valley although there i some value with pooling our resources, there is a danger in growing some of these authorities beyond what we may have originally intended. He supports it but cautions Council into jumping too much into creating all these;authorities who have the ability to indirectly tax citizens by creating budgets that the localities then have cone under. Mr. Adams commented that the agreement says by unanimous vote and Mr. Hare responded that the members of the Board are not Council. Hare then commented that he had been reminded of the partnership with Roanoke County in the Minton Business Center. That partnership partly achieved its goal, but it has also incurred more expenses for the town, The Mayor commented that partnerships like this are goad and necessary, but by the same token anytime you create an authority that has a certain amount of power there is some caution that should be exercised. Adopted Ordinance No. 943 After further comments, the motion was then seconded by authorizing the Mayor or the Mr. Adams and carried by the following roll call vote, with all Town Manager to execute a members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Hare, revised Agreement between the Grose-, Nays(0)—None; Absent(1)- Nance. Counties of Botetourt, Franklin and Roanoke, the Cities of The Town Manager then stated that on December 11�' at Roanoke and Salem, and the 5:30 pm. at the Roanoke City Market Building, Charter Hall, Town to create the Western will be a ceremonious signing with all six member Virginia Regional Industrial jurisdictions in attendance. Facility Authority The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution authorizing the appropriation of funds from the General Revenue Fund to the General Expense Fund for the expenditures related to the construction of the Glad Creek Greenway, Ms. McMillan commented that on November 6 th Council authorized the Town Manager to submit an application for VSOT Revenue Sharing funds for the Glade Creek Greenway and those funds in the amount of $81,000 were approved in June. The required 50% match will come from the $50,000 donation from Novozymes and $31,000 from town funds for a total project cost of $162,000. We are requesting the Novozymes' donation and the grant funds to be transferred to the Capital Outlay expense fund. We already have $35,000 in this account. Ms. McMillan further commented that this grant is on a reimbursement basis and since it was approved on June 19t�', by June of next year we have to request a reimbursement. We hired one of the engineering firms in October that has been retained by the town and we had a moping meeting with VDOT on November 10 Based on that meeting, we should have at least 50% of the engineering drawing completed by December. There are about seven properties that will be in the neighborhood of this greenway and we have sent letters to the property owners. To date we have not been contacted by any of them which is a good sign. As Liz Belcher mentioned in the work session, this greenway is the needed connection to the Roanoke River Greenway via Tinker Creek. We also submitted RSTP money for a pedestrian bridge over Tinker Creek and we hope we will start with that project within two years at a cost of $1.8 million with no match required. The Town Manager commented that once 50% of the design is completed, we will host a meeting sometime in January to focus on the greenway trail and give some updates on the bridge and the sidewalks along Walnut. Ms. McMillan commented that we want the greenway to be aligned with the bridge project, which completion has been delayed to December 2014. We are going to bid it out, but we are hoping that the contractor doing the bridge project would submit a bid and will be able to do the project. We are looking at Spring of 2018 and it should only take about three months once we bid it out. adopted Resolution No. 2043 authorizing the appropriation of Mr. Adams matte a motion that the Resolution be approved funds from the General Revenue s presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Altice Fund to the General Expense and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members Fund for the expenditures related voting:: Vote 4- ; Yeas (4) — Adams; Altice„ Hare; Grouse; to the construction of the Glad Nays(g)—None; Absent(1)-Nance. Creek Greenway The next item on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution authorizing funds to be allocated for the installation of three (3) of the Department's top prioritized water wells for electrical service connections. Mr. Woodson began .by commenting this relates to the electrical connections for the approved emergency mobile generator along with the permanent generator for Bra Street. At that time we asked for additional funds in the amount of 8,000 to be able to make those purchases and we had some projected costs to do these connections for six essential well houses. This would allow these well houses to support emergency water supply at a reduced capacity for duality and quantity. 11e have 11 wells within the town and the thought was to first outfit the essential well systems. Both of the generators are clue to be delivered in December. Mr. Woodson then reviewed his Power Point presentation.. Aide one listed the six essential wells with the addition of the one at Stonebridge. After a further review, we felt that the Todclsbury Booster could be outfitted with a generator that we currently have and we would be better served to add Stonebridge. The original costs estimate was 8,041, }and these projections were derived from a local electrician who came in right after the storm in 2012. He indicated that the only thing that might change the prices would be the price of copper. However, when we went out to bid, we had three bidders and the low bidder was Varney and his numbers added up to $65,143.00 for an increase of 88.4%.. Mr. Woodson then stated they asked Verney why the costs jumped up so significantly and the response was that when he originally priced it, he priced it with a general duty manual transfer switch. This is a switch system that would require us to run our cables in and wire the connections into the box itself. We told hire that we had asked for a plug and play switch.. The general duty switches are a little cheaper because they have a range of amps they will cover.. These types of switches are not recognized by the power company because the concern is not having enough amperage or too much amperage can have adverse effects either way not to mention the safety concerns. 9 The switch we want is a storm transfer switch which is a plug and play. Each well will have the exact amp in the switch box with a cam lock color coded. You have a cord that connects into it and it locks and no one can access it. When it is disconnected, the power comes back on and you manually throw a switch. If there were two or three wells down, we would pump one of our tanks up and then move the mobile generator to another facility and activate that one. Mr. Woodson continued with his presentation showing that for $38,041.00 we can do Mansard Square, Bush #2 and Bush #1 well houses which would cover 75% of the community. These are our highest priority. To get to the next prioritized well house, the Craig Well House for the 3r" Street tank, it would cost an additional $8,531.00 and would cover an additional 10% of the community. This would bring the total to $45,044.00. This would leave 15% of the essential wells not having connection within the town which are the Chestnut Mountain and the Toddsbury booster pumps. As stated before, we could power the Toddsbury with a generator that we already have. The booster pumps are used to move water over into the tank itself. Mr. Woodson next slide showed a map of the locations of the well houses, tanks and booster pumps. In response to a question from Mr. Adams asking if we are sure we have the right quotes this time, Mr. Woodson responded that it was not that staff did not accurately correspond or communicate that we wanted plug and play switches. It could have possibly been to hold their costs down for the low bid, but then we questioned them. The initial estimates were only a quote and then we sent it out to bid. The Town Manager commented that he asked Mr, Woodson to hold true to the budget number that we presented before and then show that for $7,003.00 more we can get to the fourth priority which will get the third water tank and in all cover 85% of our residential customers. My recommendation is that priorities 5, 6, and 7 to be implemented into our CI P process for future budget years. If Council wants to add the fourth location and approve the $45,044.00, we have a substitute Resolution prepared that can be adopted tonight. Mr. Hare asked Barry Thompson how much was in the Reserve for Contingencies account and the response was if Council approved the $45,044.00 that would leave a balance of$36,216,00, After further comments from Council, Mr. Woodson stated that the 3rd Street tank is an ideal place if we should have a significant event (not flooding) and need to supply water. It 10 is a large tank and a good location to circulate people in and out to fill water, Mr. Hare commented that he feels we are in a position to cover the higher amount at this time. As the Town Manager stated, this is an insurance policy and is probably better than many people have personally, Mr. Hare then Adopted Resolution No. 2044 made a motion that the substitute Resolution be approved authorizing funds to be allocated as presented; the motion was seconded by Mr. Adams and for the installation of three (3) of carried by the following roll call vote, with all members the Department's top prioritized voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) — Adams, Altice, Hare, Grose; water wells for electrical service Nays (0)—None; Absent(1) - Nance. connections The Mayor thanked those involved with the Veterans' Day Celebration at the War Memorial on November I Ot". He also expressed thanks to Herman L Horn and Cub Scout Den 6 for being invited to their Veterans' Day presentations. He congratulated the Police Department for their successful Citizens' Academy and thanked Town Council and Staff for their attendance at the Roanoke State of the County address recently. Comments from Council: Mr. Adams mentioned that the benefit for Dedrick Rose at the Woodland Place on November gth Was well attended and a lot of money was raised for his benefit. Mr. Hare expressed thanks to all of town staff for their hard work and dedication that makes it easier for Council to do their job. The Town Manager commented that we will be pulling the paving job for the fall for two reasons, the contractor's schedule and the fact that the temperature has changed. The contract has been signed and the contractor indicated he would honor the same price for paving in the Spring. Mr. Hare made a motion to adjourn the meeting; 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 meeting was adjourned at 8:25 pm. APPROVED: 27) Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Susan N. Johnson, Vwn Clerk