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HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/24/2015 - Regular MINUTES OF A SPECIAL CALLED MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 6:30 P.M. ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2015, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON, VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Matthew S. Hare, Vice Mayor 1. Douglas Adams, Jr. Sabrina McCarty MEMBERS ABSENT: Janet Scheid STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence, Town Manager Theresa Fontana, Town Attorney Ben Cook, Police Chief Barry Thompson, Finance Director/Treasurer Gary Woodson, Public Works Director The Mayor called the special called meeting to order at 6:30 p,m. The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Adams, Council Member McCarty, Vice Mayor Hare and Mayor Grose Roll call present. Council Member Scheid was absent. After a Moment of Silence, Council Member McCarty led the Pledge of Allegiance`to the U.S. Flag. The to on the agenda was to consider adoption of a Resolution authorizing the Mayor and/or Town Manager to execute an Assignment of Auction Sales Contract for the purchase of property located at 350 Gus Nicks Boulevard, Vinton, Virginia. The Town Manager began by commenting that last week at the regular Council meeting, Vice Mayor Hare and Council Member Scheid asked several questions regarding the auction sale of Hole ren's Country Store, the original historic site of Gish's Mill, The matter was discussed publically and then Council went into Closed Session at the end of the meeting. During the Closed Session, Council gave direction to staff to develop and negotiate through the auction process the purchase of the property for a price not to exceed a certain amount. On Wednesday following the Council meeting, the Town Manager contacted Bruce Mayer, a local attorney, and requested that he attend the auction on behalf of the Town. Mr. Mayer attended the auction on Friday, September 18 th and was able to secure an agreeable sales contract for the purchase of the property. After a brief overview of the history of the Mill, the Town Manager commented the Town intends to secure ownership of the property through the approval of an Assignment of Auction Sales Contract. This would allow the Town to have ownership of the property until a more permanent decision can be made. Any decision would be through an open public process to discuss and establish a vision for the property... The property also has significant value in the future expansion of the Glade Creek Greenway Trail, which would connect Tinker Creek C reenway to Vinyard Park and beyond into Roanoke and Sotetourt Mounties. The sales price was $11 `, 00, plus e five percent premium for the buyer for the auctioneer of $5,850.00. The funds were not in the current budget, but would be re-appropriated from the unreserved fund balance: Closing would be expected to occur within 45 days. The Town Manager er further commented that the property is in the floodplain and currently has flood insurance, which would either be transferred to the Town or we would acquire our own flood insurance. The property would be covered under our VML Insurance Policy; which is our liability property insurance. Vice Mayor bare first complimented staff on the quick turn-around on this matter. He next commented on the concerns that the purchase price was a sizable amount and quite an investment after a difficult budget where service levels were adjusted and the 3`d Street dumpsters and the pool were closed. He next defined what he thought was the difference between the operating budget and making an investment. We have an operating budget every year that we work under and are required to not spend more than is brought in. We were running into issues with the levels of service that we wanted to provide and our care service of public safety. The pool is subsidized by the Town and for our size; any subsidy that is between $30-40,000 a year starts to become more difficult to fund. We could pay for the pool for the next 20 years from our savings account, but that would not be a wise steward of the Binds that our citizens have given us. Eventually, we would run out of honey and not be able to do the things that e might need to do to better enhance the quality of life for the citizens such as keeping the Town safe and moving forward. 2 We have money that we have set aside as rainy day funds in case of a dramatic need, but also to make strategic investments in the community. These are one time investments that we male with the expectation that there will be some time of return on those investments. He had no idea what the return would be; however, he could not watch the Mill possibly sit vacant for a decade or two and then have a future Council condemn it. Making this strategic investment will give the community the opportunity to decide what we want to do with the property and how can we fit it into our fabric. Council Member McCarty commented that she agreed this purchase will help to preserve history. She understands that there is a possibility of grants that will help the Town move forward to make improvements to the property and she loops forward to see what lies ahead. Council Member Adams commented that a lot of different decisions have been made over the years and some improvements that are coming. How many tunes in a lifetime de you get to save a Town's founding history such at this Mill. It was the right thing to do. The Mayor commented that Council Member Scheid Rally supported the decision to purchase the property. He also spoke to Mrs. Holdren this morning and she was very pleased that the purchase had worked out for the Town. He also spoke with Mrs. Fleming, a descendent of the Gish Family,who was also excited to know that the Town had purchased the property. The Mayor further commented that even though this decision was made quickly, it was because the Town was in a good financial position to respond that they were aware and informed of the property and the important historic link to the Town. He personally thought it holds some economic development possibilities and now the Town has control of a major gateway and entrance to the 'own. From the audience, Doug Forbes, on behalf of the Minton Historical Society, expressed how much this purchase has done for Clinton. Richard Kidd, descendent of the Gish Family; along with Dave Jones also commented in support of the own's purchase of the property in preserving history. Mr.. Janes also asked Council to reconsider the closing of the pool 3 Vice Mayor Hare made a motion to adapt the Adopted Resolution No. 2117 Resolution as presented, the motion was seconded authorizing the Mayor and/or Town by Council Member Adams and carried by the Manager to execute an Assignment following roll call vote, with all members voting: of Auction Bales Contract for the Mote -0, Yeas (4)—Adams, McCarty; Hare, Grose, purchase of property located at 350 Mays 0)—None, Absent 1)—Scheid. Gus Nicks Boulevard, Vinton, Virginia Vice Mayor Hare 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 -0; Yeas 4) Adams, McCarty, Hare; Grose, flays {0) — None, Absent 1) - Scheid. The meeting was adjourned at 7:12 p.m. Meeting adjourned APPROVED: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor A BST: Susan N. Johns4 Town Cleric 4 MINUTES OF A SPECIAL CALLED MEETING OF VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 7.00 P.K ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2015 IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON, VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Matthew S. Hare, Vice Mayor 1. Douglas Adams, Jr. Sabrina McCarty Janet Scheid STAFF PRESENT: Christopher S. Lawrence, Town Manager Susan N. Johnson, Town Clerk Ben Cook, Police Chief Donna Collins, Human Resources Director The Mayor called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. The Town Clerk called the roll with Council Member Adams, Council Member McCarty, Council Member Scheid, Vice Mayor Hare and Mayor Grose present. After a Moment of Silence, Council Member McCarty led the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. Flag. Council Member Scheid made a motion that Council go into a Closed Meeting pursuant to 2.2-3711 A(1) of the 1950 Code of Virginia, as amended, for assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, salaries, disciplining, or resignation of a specific public appointee, namely the Chief of Police. The motion was seconded by Council Member Adams and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) — Adams, McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0)—None. Council went into Closed Meeting at 7:02 p.m. Council Member Adams left the Closed Meeting at 8:31 p.m. At 8:32 p.m., the regular meeting reconvened and the Certification that the Closed Meeting was held in accordance with State Code requirements was approved on motion by Vice Mayor Hare, seconded by Council Member McCarty and carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting- Vote 4-0, Yeas (4)— McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose, Nays (0)— None; Absent(1) -Adams. Chief Cook read a Memo dated September 28, 2015 addressed to the Mayor and Council Members announcing his retirement from the Town of Vinton effective October 25, 2015. The Mayor made brief comments regarding Chief Cook's service to the Town. With regard to the procedure to follow for Chief Cook's replacement, the Town Manager began by commenting that there a short-term decision and a long-term, permanent decision would need to be made. Council will need to select an Interim Chief and staff recommends soliciting interested individuals in our region that are possibly retired to serve for several months. We would invite those interested candidates to a Special Called Closed Meeting next Wednesday, October 10 to meet with Council. At the regular. October 20th Council meeting, Council could announce and take action on the Interim Chief to serve until the final one is selected. For the permanent Chiefs position, a draft of a job description was provided to Council and the Town Manager asked that Council provide him with any comments or suggestions. After the job description is posted, a review of the applications could be done at the end of the month to select the actual candidates to bring in for interviews. Interviews could be done the second week in November to narrow down to the top two or three and then schedule second interviews. We are 1 trying to get everything in between Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's .day. If all of the interviews are completed before Thanksgiving that would give Council time to consider their final candidate. Second interviews could be done the third week in November in the evening; most likely. That would dive three weeks in December if Council is ready to proceed or if they need to do more interviewing or background work on the selected candidate. Ideally, an announcement could be made before Christmas. Typically, a bare minimum for someone at this level to give notice would be a month, We would like for them to be in place in January because we start getting into the budget process and a lot of other things start going can. This would be the process from a calendar prospective, but he wanted to hear from Council what they wanted in terms of interview panels and other areas of the process. The mayor asked if the process could be adjusted if Council had a particular candidate they wanted to talk with. The Town Manager responded if there is an individual or two that Council has in mind, he would recommend that they still work through the same process that everyone does. That will give Council the credibility and star the confidence that everyone was handled the right way. Vice Mayor Hare asked how far out would they want to solicit candidates. The Town Manager commented that if they wanted to stay local, the advertisement would run in the newspaper, but he recommended at least posting with the Virginia Police Chiefs Association. Council gave their consensus to just stay in Virginia, The Mayor asked when the job would be posted and the Town Manager responded he would like to past it this Friday to run for two weeks, but indicate that a review of applications would begin on a certain date. The process would still be open and we can look at any applications that would come in after that date. Staff reviewed and narrowed the applications down to five qualified candidates for interviews during the last process. Two Council members could assist with this review process and we need to look at everyone's calendar and schedule a time. The Town Manager next asked how Council would want to structure the interview panel. The Mayor responded that they would want some staff along with police officers. He then asked about having at least one citizen on the panel and Council agreed. Council Member Scheid asked if they should have a Police thief from another locality. The Town Manager said he would recommend using the Interim Chief since a relationship would already be established with that individual.. He then asked that Council send any suggestions for parcel members to the Mayor. Vice Mayor Fare asked about staff to serve on the interview panel, The Town Manager said he would recommend a parcel of six, three uniformed officers, one civilian in the Police [department, one from the Fire [department and one from Public Works. Gonna Collins, the Human Resources Director, would serve as the moderator of the panel. The outer suggestion was to do a tour of the Town and have an employee along with possibly a citizen do the tour. A citizen could be a part of the employee panel or Council's panel. The employee panel would conduct the first interviews to give feedback, but not eliminate applicants, The second interviews would be solely with Council. The Town Clerk asked about the Special Called Meeting to be"advertised for Wednesday, October 1 ', The Town Manager commented that he would contact candidates for the Interim position and if interested, would schedule them to meet with Council on that date in Closed Session. He recommended starting the meeting at 6:30 p.m. with one interview at 6:30 p.m. and one at 7.3 P.m 2 In closing the Town Manager commented that a formal Press Release would be sent out tomorrow morning. Vice Mayor Hare 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 4-0; Yeas (4)— McCarty, Scheid, Hare, Grose; Nays (0)— None, Absent (1) -Adams. The meeting was adjourned at 9:08 p.m. APPROVED.- Bradley E. Grose, Mayor EST: Susan N. Johilnson,, own Clerk 3