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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/7/2025 - Public Hearing1 MINUTES OF A REGULAR MEETING OF THE VINTON TOWN COUNCIL HELD AT 6:00 P.M. ON TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 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 Keith N. Liles Sabrina M. McCarty Michael W. Stovall STAFF PRESENT: Richard Peters, Town Manager Cody Sexton, Deputy Town Manager Julie Tucei, Planning and Zoning Coordinator Jeremy Carroll, Town Attorney Andrew Keen, Town Treasurer/Director of Finance Fabricio Drumond, Chief of Police Timothy Lawless, Deputy Chief of Police Donna Collins, Director of Human Resources and Risk Management Anita McMillan, Director of Planning and Zoning Jamie Hurt, Director of Capital Projects Mandy Adkins, Director of Cultural Placemaking and Events Mayor Grose called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m. Mrs. Tucei called the roll with Council Member Liles, Council Member McCarty, Council Member Stovall, Vice Mayor Mullins, and Mayor Grose present. Roll call After a Moment of Silence, Council Member Liles invited Jeff Ramsey, vice president of Vinton Moose Lodge, to lead the Pledge of Allegiance. Under upcoming community events/ announcements, Mr. Peters advised there will be Community Events briefing later in the meeting. Under requests to postpone, add to, or change the order of the agenda, no changes were made. Council Member Stovall made a motion to approve the Consent Agenda as presented; the motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Mullins and carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5-0; Yeas (5) -Liles, McCarty Stovall, Mullins, Grose; Nays (0) – None. Approved minutes of the Regular meeting of September 16, 2025. Under awards, introductions, presentations, Deputy Chief Lawless recognized and thanked the 2 Vinton Moose Lodge for their $10,000.00 donation that was used to purchase a UTV police vehicle. Mr. Ramsey thanked council for allowing him to speak. He then introduced a few other members of the Vinton Moose Lodge to include President Nancy Mastry, Past President Ricky Spradlin, Trustee Amanda Dalton, Trustee Todd Boothe (not present), Chaplain Dustin Boothe, Trustee Kelly Huffman and Administrator Tammy Huffman. Mr. Ramsey shared that the Moose Lodge is a service organization with over 900,000 members. The Moose Lodge is dedicated to caring for children and seniors and bringing communities together. He went on to explain that the Vinton Moose Lodge has 743 members who participate in many charities. In 2024, Vinton Moose Lodge donated $249,000.00 to charity. On a local level, the Vinton Moose Lodge has supported Herman L. Horn and W.E. Cundiff Elementary Schools, William Byrd Middle and William Byrd High School. Mr. Ramsey expressed that the Vinton Moose Lodge is proud and honored to help the Vinton Police Department purchase the UTV. Council thanked Mr. Ramsey. Deputy Chief Lawless then presented a Certificate of Appreciation to the Vinton Moose Lodge. Mayor Grose thanked all the members of the Vinton Moose Lodge for their support of the community. Deputy Chief Lawless then thanked the Town Manager’s Office for their support in providing additional funds to add lights and decals to the UTV along with the purchase of the trailer for safekeeping of the UTV. Council expressed their appreciation. Under awards, introductions, presentations, Mr. Peters expressed that during the VDOT Local Programs Workshop held in Norfolk, Virginia earlier this month, the Town’s project Glade Creek Greenway Phase 2B was selected for the Environmental Excellence category. This is a statewide program with seven categories. Mr. Peters explained the award was received based on following key accomplishments such as strengthening multimodal connectivity, and 3 environmental stewardship. Mr. Peters went on to explain there were challenges that came with this project due to the creek crossing, a railroad trussell and water/sewer lines. Mr. Peters and Council presented the award to Mrs. Anita McMillan and Mr. Jamie Hurt. Mayor Grose congratulated Mrs. McMillan and Mr. Hurt. He acknowledged that a lot of time was put into this project. Mrs. McMillan advised it took seven to eight years from the initial application for the grant to the completion of the project. Under citizens’ comments and petitions, Diane Lafrances spoke on behalf of the blood drive provided by Blood Connection. She shared that one pint of blood can help three patients, and the blood is given to the Carilion network. She shared appreciation to those who donated blood and called it a selfless gift. She expressed that when she found out the mayor was on the bus donating blood, she was going on to the bus to see the superheroes rolling up their sleeves to give selflessly. Mayor Grose thanked Ms. Lafrances and invited her to share specific details about the Blood Connection. Ms. Lafrances advised Blood Connection is a nonprofit organization. Blood Connection can share their gratitude to blood drive organizers with a grant program. There is a $500 grant that they give back to organizations if they can collect 30 pints of blood. Smaller organizations that cannot bring in 30 pints of blood will receive $10 per pint. Blood Connection has been collecting blood in Southwest Virginia for a year and a half and in that timeframe has given back over $50,000.00 to organizations. Mr. Lafrances shared her appreciation and said she is honored to get to do the job that she does while honoring her daughter and any other patient who is battling their life with blood. Council thanked Ms. Lafrances for her time. No other citizens offered any comments. 4 Under briefings, Mrs. Adkins shared details on all the events for the remainder of the year. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation will be on file as the permanent record in the Town Clerk’s office. There are seven events that Town is partnering with or hosting between now and December 9, 2025. The Fall Festival will be on October 11, 2025. Downtown Trick-or-Treating will be on October 28, 2025. November consists of the Field of Honor and Ruck Run. Last, December will have the Christmas Parade and the Santa Crawl. The Fall Festival is hosted by the Vinton Chamber of Commerce. The Town of Vinton plays a role in this event with site preparation and public safety. There will be 141 vendors, 18 food vendors and 2 entertainment stages. The Vinton History Museum is hosting their Holiday Shoppe on October 11, 2025. They will have a holiday shop set up on the lawn of the museum. This year’s Downtown Trick-or-Treat event will be bigger than ever. It will be on October 28, 2025. The event will be from 3:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. to allow families the opportunity to explore restaurants for dinner after trick-or-treating. We are working with restaurants on possible promotions with families such as 10% off a meal or free menu items. The event will expand into the Farmer’s Market with 30 organizations and businesses registered to participate. Mrs. Adkins advised that Ms. Collins would speak on the November events later during the meeting. Mrs. Adkins continued with the details of the annual tree lighting ceremony in front of the municipal building at 6:00 p.m. on December 4, 2025, and then the Christmas parade will take place at 7:00 p.m. This event is a partnership between the Town of Vinton and Vinton Chamber of Commerce. Registrations for the parade have started to come in. Last, the year will end with the Santa Crawl on December 9, 2025. We will pass out dog treats and candy to the citizens along the four different routes. Mrs. Adkins said she is honored to be a part of the planning for these events. She asked if anyone had any questions. 5 No questions were asked. Mrs. Adkins then expressed sincere gratitude to the Public Works Department and Vinton Police Department for their efforts in assisting with these community events. Council Member Stovall acknowledged the staff and the work they do for the community. Mayor Grose agreed with Council Member Stovall and thanked Mrs. Adkins for her work. Under briefings, Mrs. Collins advised that the Veterans Outreach Committee is honored to announce their plans for this year’s Veteran’s Day activities which are dedicated to recognizing and celebrating the service and sacrifice of our nation’s veterans. This year’s observances will include two major community events. Both events will take place on November 1, 2025. The first event will be the Vinton Veteran’s Ruck from 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. The Ruck will begin at the High Ground monument on the campus of the Vinton War Memorial. Proceeds from this event will go to expand the Field of Honor. The Vinton Police Department will provide lunch after the event. Next, the Field of Honor will be assembled from 12:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. which will be a powerful display of American flags. The proceeds from the Field of Honor will be donated to disabled American veterans. The first Field of Honor donated around $900.00 to the local VFW chapter. The First Responder Field of Honor from May of this year provided a donation of $1,800.00 to Shield Chaplaincy. We will have a dedication ceremony that will take place on November 6, 2025. Mrs. Collins advised that further details regarding the dedication ceremony will come later. Mrs. Collins asked if anyone had questions. Vice Mayor Mullins asked if there is a flag sponsorship this year. Mrs. Collins advised there is a sponsorship option on the Town’s website, Field of Honor page. Council expressed their gratitude for the briefing. Mayor Grose opened the Public Hearing. Mr. Sexton presented a Resolution and advised to consider public comments for proposed amendment transfers and additional Public Hearing Opened 6 appropriations for the current FY26 budget. For the most part, this is rolling forward funding from previous fiscal years to appropriate the funds for projects in the current fiscal year. Overall, these are one-time projects. The first item is furniture and fixtures for the Town Manger’s Conference Room. Updates to this room will allow more functionality for all staff and council. We have two projects for contractual services. One is for the strategic plan with 3TP Ventures, and the second contract is for the solid waste management plan. Mr. Sexton explained that the Public Works Department received some funding last year, rolling forward, for a transformer switch for the generator. This switch allows for the generator to automatically come on when a power outage occurs. Next, the alley behind Lee Avenue had some maintenance work done to it to include paving and other clean-up maintenance. The UTV police vehicle needed some lights, decals and a trailer for storage. Mr. Sexton shared that he was pleased with the funding approval from Council to be able to make that vehicle a great asset for the Town. The Public Works Department needed a security update to allow badge swipes in and out of doors. This is the same security set up as the municipal and annex building. Last, Mr. Sexton spoke about the stormwater drainage project. This project is at the intersection of Cedar Avenue, Pollard Street and Jefferson Avenue. Most of this project is being paid for with reappropriated fund balance; however, we are moving money out of the milling and paving budget because the milling and paving bid for Virginia Avenue and Hardy Road came in at about $100,000.00 cheaper than what we had estimated in the budget. We are moving $80,000.00 of that money to the other projects so we can hold more money in the fund balance. Mr. Sexton asked if there were any questions on the General Fund projects. 7 No questions were asked. Mr. Sexton continued with the Capital Fund projects by advising the HVAC unit the health department needed repairs. Most of the money is rolling forward with $1,000,000.00, for the Vinton War Memorial Community Park. Mr. Sexton spoke about a refund in the amount of $92,000.00 that we received from the Mountain View Road project. That project was administered by VDOT and came in under budget. Because of this refund and the Capital Reserve Fund, we were able to apply $100,000.00 towards the park project. Mr. Sexton advised the grand total between the General Fund and the Capital Fund is $1,346,000.00. He reminded Council that they have a Resolution before them for consideration. Mayor Grose thanked Mr. Sexton and reminded the audience that we were in a public hearing and asked if there were any public comments. No comments were offered. Mayor Grose then asked if Council had any comments to share. Council Member Liles thanked Mr. Sexton for explaining everything. Mayor Grose shared his appreciation. No further comments. Mayor Grose closed the public hearing. Council Member Liles made a motion to approve the Resolution to amend the Town of Vinton’s FY2025-2026 budget; the motion was seconded by Council Member McCarty, carried by the following vote, with all members voting: Vote 5- 0; Yeas (5) – Liles, McCarty, Mullins, Stovall, Grose; Nays (0) – None. Under Town Manager’s Projects Updates, Mr. Peters acknowledged Mrs. Tucei for her assistance while Megan Lawless is away. Mrs. Lawless is attending the Virginia Municipal Clerk’s Academy, working toward obtaining her certified municipal clerk status and he wished her the best of luck. Public Hearing Closed Approved Resolution No. 2652 to amend the Town of Vinton’s FY2025-2026 budget to appropriate funds. 8 Mr. Peters went on to say that we have celebrated a lot of success in the last few weeks with various projects and excitement with out events and activities around town. He acknowledged the hard work of the staff. Mayor Grose thanked Mr. Peters. Under Council and Mayor comments, Council Member Liles commented on the Vinton Moose Lodge. He joined as a member and has learned how great the organization is with their community involvement and events pertaining to kids such as trick-or-treating and Christmas. He also commented on the Town and how good everything is looking. He is looking forward to the Fall Festival. He complimented Mrs. Adkins and her presentation of all the activities. Council Member McCarty thanked the staff for working together and for making Vinton a fun place to be. She shared her appreciation for Mrs. Adkins coordinating all the events. Council Member McCarty gave a shoutout to Dogwood Restaurant. Her visits there were nice and the firepit is wonderful. Council Member McCarty then gave an early birthday shoutout to Mayor Grose. Vice Mayor Mullins is looking forward to the Fall Festival and trick-or-treating along with the scheduled DJ for the trick-or-treating event. Vice Mayor Mullins shared her appreciation with Mrs. Adkins for planning the events and with the Vinton Police Department for wearing pink uniform shirts. Council Member Stovall shared that he is excited to see all these things happening in the town. He acknowledged the hard work from staff. Mayor Grose thanked everyone. He said these are great times in Vinton and we have a lot to celebrate. He spoke about the groundbreaking of the hotel and the ribbon cutting ceremony for Cleveland Commons. He went on to share that Cleveland Commons improved the community and he is very excited about it and the hotel. Mayor Grose shared that there is a lot of planning and hard work that goes into these projects. He named a few other projects that the staff are working on such as stormwater inlets, street sign replacements, snow removal training, and new 9 flower basket throughout the town. Mayor Grose thanked everyone for the good work. Mayor Grose then acknowledged a member of the community passed away, Mr. Frank Stone. Mr. Stone is the former principal of Hardy Road Elementary School (now W.E. Cundiff). His celebration of life is October 17, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. and they have asked that anyone who attends they wear bolo tie if you have one. No other comments were offered. Vice Mayor Mullins made a motion to adjourn the meeting; the motion was seconded by Council Member McCarty and carried by the following vote 5-0; Yeas (5) – Liles, Mullins, Stovall, Grose; Nays (0) – None. ATTEST: _______________________________ Megan K. Lawless, Town Clerk Meeting Adjourned at 6:59 p.m. APPROVED: _______________________________ Bradley E. Grose, Mayor