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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/20/2025 - Regular1 MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 6:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, May 20, 2025, IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE VINTON MUNICIPAL BUILDING LOCATED AT 311 SOUTH POLLARD STREET, VINTON, VIRGINIA MEMBERS PRESENT: Bradley E. Grose, Mayor Laurie J. Mullins, Vice Mayor Sabrina M. McCarty Michael W. Stovall MEMBERS ABSENT: Keith N. Liles STAFF PRESENT: Richard Peters, Town Manager/Town Clerk Cody Sexton, Deputy Town Manager Megan Lawless, Executive Assistant to the Town Manager Julie Tucei, Planning Coordinator Andrew Keen, Finance Director/Treasurer Jeremy Carroll, Town Attorney Fabricio Drumond, Police Chief Timothy Lawless, Deputy Chief Jason Call, Sergeant Andrew Hagy, Corporal William Herndon, Public Works Director Jason Davison, General Services Manager Garrett Chappel, Public Works Andrew Critcher, Public Works Steven Newman, Public Works Mayor Grose called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. The Executive Assistant called the roll with Council Member McCarty, Council Member Stovall, Vice Mayor Mullins, and Mayor Grose present. Council Member Liles was absent. Roll call After a Moment of Silence, two attending family members of Sergeant Call led the Pledge of Allegiance. Under upcoming community events/ announcements, and Council Activities, Council Member McCarty announced the following: May 26 – Town offices will be closed for the Memorial Day holiday. May 26 at 8AM BoomTown CrossFit is hosting the annual Murph Challenge in honor of Lieutenant Michael P. Murphy. June 7 from 10AM until 1PM – Vinton History Museum Community Ice Cream Social First Saturday event. June 14 at 7PM Mingle at the Market with Filthy Souls & Gasoline Alley. June 17 at 10:30AM, Glade Creek Greenway Ribbon Cutting. June 28 at 7PM, Mingle at the Market with Karlee Raye & Eric Wayne Band. Council Member McCarty encouraged everyone to visit the community's many restaurants and 2 entertainment venues and to follow the Town’s social media and website for more information. Vice Mayor Mullins announced the following Council activities: May 7 – Mayor Gross attended the Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission meeting. May 10 – Mayor Grose helped assemble America flags with Vinton staff and volunteers for Field of Honor. May 13 – Mayor Grose participated in the Vinton Networking Group May 14 – Vice Mayor Mullins and Council Member McCarty attended the Public Works Committee Meeting. May 14 – Mayor Grose attended the Regional Skate Park construction’s kickoff. May 15 – Mayor Grose attended the dedication of the Field of Honor and Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission meeting. May 20 – Mayor Grose and Council Member Stovall attended the Finance Committee meeting. Under requests to postpone, add to or change the order of the agenda, there were no requests. Council Member Stovall made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented with the minutes of the Regular Meeting on May 6, 2025; the motion was seconded by Council Member McCarty and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0-1; Yeas (4) - McCarty, Stovall, Mullins, Grose; Nays (0) – None: Absent (1) – Liles. Under awards, introductions, presentations, and proclamations, Vice Mayor Mullins read the proclamation on GBS/CIDP. Mr. Rick Forney with Mid-Atlantic Regional accepted the proclamation and shared his story on how he has dealt with this disease. Mr. Forney thanked the Town of Vinton for bringing awareness every year. Council expressed their appreciation for what Mr. Forney does for the foundation. Under awards, introductions, presentations, and proclamations, Council Member McCarty read the National Public Works Week proclamation. Mr. William Herndon accepted the proclamation. Council expressed their pride in the Public Works Department and appreciation for all the work they do. Under awards, introductions, presentations, Mr. William Herndon informed Council on the 3 results from the Public Works Roadeo competition that was held at the Berglund Center in Roanoke on April 2, 2025. Mr. Herndon then passed out achievement certificates to the staff that placed in the competition. Council congratulated the staff on their accomplishments and wished them luck at Nationals. Under awards, introductions, presentations, Chief Drumond promoted Jason Call to sergeant and Andrew Hagy to corporal. Deputy Chief Lawless read the affirmations for Sergeant Call and Corporal Hagy. Council congratulated the staff and acknowledged the dedication of the families that support our law enforcement. A special thanks to all the police officers and civilian staff for the work they do. Under citizens’ comments and petitions, no one offered any comments. Mayor Grose opened the Public Hearing at 6:29PM on the proposed FY2025-2026 budget. A short PowerPoint presentation was provided. This is the same material that was provided in a previous work session and Council meeting. This presentation will be on file in the Town Clerk’s office as part of the permanent record. Mr. Cody Sexton explained that the general fund is balanced at approximately $13,500,000.00, which is an increase this year. Current revenues are sustainable. We have seen some modest revenue growth in some of our major revenue streams and some flattening out of revenue growth in some of those revenue streams as well. We are still looking at utilizing some fund balance to cover some one- time expenses, namely for economic development performance agreements. We are in a high-rate interest environment as of now, so we are still earning good interest on our fund balance reserves. Looking ahead, we are looking at other possibilities for new revenue, such as the hotel and other restaurants and other economic development opportunities. We are also considering that some expenditures could outpace our revenues in the coming years due to inflation, tariffs or shortages in contractors or supply. Public Hearing Opened 4 Overall, with the general fund total revenues, we have seen substantial growth, but as we look in forecasted years, we are seeing a leveling off and slight dip due to the falling off the Western Virginia Water Authority payments. We are also projecting some of the leveling off on some of the other revenue streams. Operational expenditures are essentially flat across all departments. Departments are prudent with their spending. Personnel is our largest expense with a total of just over $7,000,000.00, which equates to over half of the budget. We have a 3% pay increase for all employees plus additional adjustments of 1.5% for Public Works and Public Safety. This is in line with other localities within the region and what the state is providing for state employees. There is no increase in the health insurance premium. The major expenditures that we see in this budget are the street paving which is $800,000.00 and about $913,000.00 for economic development performance agreements. We do expect expenditure growth in the future, and then also, while not this year, we do anticipate health insurance and other fringe benefits will increase. Police and Public Works represent 2/3 of our staff. Lastly, we are receiving the third and final payment from the Western Virginia Water Authority for the transfer of the water system for FY26 at $500,000, so we have allocated that to the Capital Improvement Program (CIP). The largest expense in the CIP this year is the street sweeper. We present a balanced budget with no tax increase. Mr. Sexton noted that Council is scheduled to adopt the budget at its June 3rd meeting. Council thanked Mr. Sexton for his presentation and asked if there were any public comments and questions from Council. None spoken. Mayor Grose closed the Public Hearing at 6:37PM. Public Hearing Closed Under Reports from Committees, Mr. William Herndon provided the highlights from the Public Works Committee meeting that was held on May 14, 2025. Mr. Herndon advised that the stormwater improvements at Thrasher United Methodist Church have been completed. He went on to explain we are still waiting for the engineering company to get back to us on the 3rd Street project. The company is going to do five borings on the road on 3rd Street to determine what material is 5 there. Mr. Herndon advised that the paving that was planned for this year is now complete, which includes Bali Hai Drive, Ramada Drive, Kenyon Road and the whole subdivision along with Wood Street and Cottage Avenue and then two blocks of Pine Street and an alley way. Next year’s paving budget will cover all lanes from the Town line to Bypass Road in both directions. A citizen contacted us about a four-way stop sign at E. Cleveland Avenue and S. Poplar Street. VDOT came in and advised that this would not be a good idea due to the amount of traffic that comes through this area. There are about 2,000 vehicles that travel on E. Cleveland Avenue and about 40 vehicles on S. Poplar Street. Mr. Herndon went on to explain we put up some signs to eliminate parking to help with increasing the line of sight through that area. Mr. Peters asked if this was the intersection where we painted stop bars of which Mr. Herndon said yes. Mr. Peters added that it seems like people do not pay attention to the stop sign on S. Poplar Street, and he feels that adding the stop bars help everywhere. Mr. Peters shared appreciation for Mr. Herndon and his team for the stop bar work. Mr. Herndon advised that we looked into putting in a guardrail for Mountain View Road coming from Shalon Circle. There is a safety concern for the first house on the right from Shalon Circle because when they are backing out of their driveway and looking to their right, they will not be able to see due to the guardrail. We will paint a white line on the side of the road to help give visual that the road drops off there along with some signage to explain narrow road ahead. Mr. Herndon shared that the storm drain collapsed in front of the swimming pool on Vinyard Road and into the Lancerlot property. The repair should be completed by the end of next week just in time for pool season. Council did not have any questions or comments on these updates other than appreciation for the information. Under reports from committees, Mr. Andrew Keen reported on the May 20, 2025, Finance Committee Meeting. Mr. Keen reviewed the financial statements for April 2025, highlighting April collections to have been less due to do Bank Stock Franchise taxes. This year the General 6 Assembly changed the way they report filings. They mandated that Virginia tax system create an electronic filing system. A 2-month extension was provided. We are about 30 days behind, so we’ll see the $325,100.00 in revenue in May. This is for the eight banks in Town. The Bank Stock Franchise tax does not apply to credit unions. We are still earing around $35,000 a month in interest earnings on the one-time money in our accounts. Sales tax collection is at 92% through the year and meals tax is at 94.5%. We are still looking at grossing over $2 million on these. Our business license collection has exceeded the budget by 2%. Our cigarette tax is at 162% of the budget this year, so those sales continue to stay strong. Expenses are in line with what we have budgeted. Staff are looking at options for financing the Vinton War Memorial renovations. Mr. Sexton added some highlights on budget transfers. We will have a Public Hearing June 17th for additional appropriations and budget transfers for the current fiscal year. We have identified some projects at Council’s direction such as the park project along with some HVAC projects, computer purchases, and other electronic updates. We will utilize surplus funds first before the general fund balance, but all of this will be in more than the 1% mark to trigger a public hearing. Council had no questions or comments. Council Member Stovall made a motion to approve the financial statements for April 2025; the motion was seconded by Council Member Mullins, carried by the following roll call vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0; Yeas (4) – McCarty, Mullins, Stovall, Grose; Nays (0) – None. Approved the financial statements for April 2025 Under comments from the Town Attorney, Mr. Jeremy Carroll advised we are working towards closing on the Hotel property, and we have closed on the DR Music property. He went on to give a heads up that some ordinances and amendments and such are in the works. Under Town Manager’s Projects Updates/Comments, Mr. Richard Peters mentioned there is an increase in economic development within the Town, more specifically, unsolicited interest for various reasons. The West Lee Alley project has completed the brick paver 7 sidewalk. The stormwater drains are being worked on as well around back and out front. Mayor Grose added that this is exciting news, and he is looking forward to the project being completed. He thanked Mr. Peters for the update. Mr. Peters acknowledged the staff and their work while he was on vacation. Under Council and Mayor Comments, Council Member McCarty gave a shout out to Our Daily Bread and complimented their good breakfast. She also thanked the Police Department and Public Works Department for all they do. Vice Mayor Mullins wished the Treasurer’s Office luck during tax collection season and wished everyone a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend. Council Member Stovall commented on the roundabout, and he is a proponent for it. He also gave a shout out to Council Member Liles and the work he is doing at Carilion serving over 2,000 frozen lemonades. Mayor Grose is excited about the roundabout because it will help the flow of traffic and improve safety. He commented how good it is to see the promotions of the Police Department and recognitions of the Public Works Department. He is proud of our staff. He thanked the families for their support. Council Member McCarty made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 6:58PM; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Mullins and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 4-0- 1; Yeas (4) – McCarty, Mullins, Stovall, Grose; Nays (0) – None; Absent (1) – Liles. ATTEST: _______________________________ Richard W. Peters, Jr., Town Clerk Meeting Adjourned APPROVED: _______________________________ Bradley E. Grose, Mayor