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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/9/2019 - City Council - Minutes - RegularCi ty Counci l Meeti ng M INUTES Monday, December 9, 2019, 8:00 P M Council Chambers, City Hall, 114 North Broad Street, Salem, Virginia 24153 1.C all to Order A regular meeting of the Council of the City of Salem, Virginia, was called to order at 8:00 p.m., there being present all the members to wit: Byron Randolph Foley, Mayor, J ane W. J ohnson, Vice-Mayor, C ouncil members: William D. J ones, J ames A. Martin, and J ohn E. Saunders; with Byron Randolph Foley, Mayor, presiding; together with J ames E. Taliaferro, II, Interim City Manager and C lerk of C ouncil; Rosemarie B. J ordan, Director of Finance; Mike Stevens, C ommunications Director; J udy L. Hough, Deputy C ity Clerk; and Stephen M. Yost, C ity Attorney. 2.Pledge of Allegiance 3.C onsent Agenda A.Minutes Consider the acceptance of the minutes from the November 25, 2019, work session and regular meeting. Accepted as presented B.F inancial Report Consider the acceptance of the Statement of Revenues and Expenditures for the three months ending September 30, 2019. Received Mayor Foley read the following statement on behalf of Salem City C ouncil: "Before we get started with the agenda items, I want to thank those who have reached out to me and other members of City C ouncil regarding passing a resolution to make Salem a Second Amendment Sanctuary City. We have asked our City Attorney, Steve Yost, to review this situation for us and at this time Mr. Yost and C ity Council are waiting on an opinion from Virginia's Attorney General. T he C ity of Salem does not have the authority to change the Constitution nor do any of us have the least bit of interest in violating anyone's rights. It is also important to note that since Salem became a City in 1968 there has never been a public comment section on Council's meeting agendas. Some localities have this, but Salem does not; however, through the years Salem has always had approachable council members who are very accessible and willing to talk through issues in person, on the phone or by email." He further noted this is all they will have to say regarding this issue publicly. 4.Old Business A.Amendment to City Code Consider ordinance on second reading amending Chapter 86 Traffic and Vehicles, Article XII Dockless Mobility Operations; Shared Mobility Systems, Sections 86- 480 through 86-484 of T he C ode of the C ity of Salem, Virginia, pertaining to dockless mobility operations and shared mobility systems (amended version). Mr. Yost noted since Council looked at the ordinance on the first reading the only change in the ordinance is in Section 86-484, Additional Requirements. He noted that motorized skateboards, scooters and bicycles are subject to the provisions and requirements of Section 86-188 of the City C ode and in addition, shared mobility devices will be prohibited from operating on sidewalks, in parks or on the greenways of the C ity. He does not deem this to be material as it was literally incorporated by reference in the initial first reading of the ordinance. Vice Mayor J ohnson asked about the possibility of an annual review of the companies who would be operating in the City. Mr. Yost noted this would be an annual permit, and the permit process will be through the designee of the City Manager. William J ones motioned to adopt an ordinance on second reading amending Chapter 86 Traffic and Vehicles, Article XII Dockless Mobility Operations; Shared Mobility Systems, Sections 86-480 through 86-484 of T he Code of the City of Salem, Virginia, pertaining to dockless mobility operations and shared mobility systems (*amended version). J ane J ohnson seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ohnson, J ones, Martin, Saunders 5.New Business A.Roanoke College - Resolution of B orrower Consider the adoption of Resolution 1369 concerning the request of T he Trustees of Roanoke College for the refinancing of prior obligations issued by or for T he Trustees of Roanoke College and the issuance of revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed $43,000,000 through the Economic Development Authority of the C ity of Salem, Virginia. Mr. Yost noted the Economic Development Authority of the C ity has two functions. T he first is to provide economic incentives to entities and the second is the issuance of tax exempt revenue bonds for eligible applicants. T he second function is what is before C ouncil this evening. T his is something that has not been done for many years in the City simply because we have not had eligible entities to apply for these bonds. Historically back in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, when the Internal Revenue C ode was quite different than it is today, practically any industrial or commercial entity was eligilble for these Industrial Development Authority bonds. It was called the Industrial Development Authority at that time. In fact, the Mohawk Rubber plant was built with Industrial Development Authority bonds, one of the first in the state of Virginia. He noted that during those years we would have three or four of these a year, and they came before C ouncil just like this one this evening. He further discussed the changes in the Internal Revenue C ode regarding industrial revenue bonds which were made about 20 or 30 years ago that narrowed the entities eligible for these bonds. Regarding the resolution before C ouncil, this has been before the Economic Development Authority (ED A) where a public hearing was held. He further discussed the items included with the request. Basically what Roanoke C ollege is doing is refinancing roughly $34,000,000 of existing indebtness. T hey also are going to be financing up to $8,000,000 for renovations, etc. at the College. T he Authority has already deemed this to be an appropriate public purpose. He noted there are no public funds involved in the issuance of bonds. T he bonds are either sold to the general public or institutional clients or in some cases there is one lender that will do this. T he money on these bonds will be paid back by Roanoke C ollege. Basically the ED A is acting as a conduit. It is giving its stamp of approval under the Internal Revenue act regulations in order to allow these bonds, but it does not involve any public money. He noted that Nicole Ingle with Woods Rogers PLC , C o-Bond Counsel, was in the audience as well as a representative from Roanoke C ollege. He stated that Ms. Ingle is available to answer any questions. Mr. Martin asked what the $8M would entail and what improvements would be made at the College. Ms. Ingle introduced Aaron Fetrow, Vice President of Resource Development, with Roanoke College. Mr. Fetrow noted that they will mostly be using the money for differed maintenance. T his will touch on student housing. T hey will try to add some beds in existing structures to keep more students on campus. It will largely be for differed maintenance mainly in the residence halls and a little bit of work on the commons and kitchen equipment. Mr. Martin thanked Mr. Fetrow for the explanation and noted it helps to understand where the initiatives are. Further Roanoke College is what helps to make Salem great, and he is glad we can help in this endeavor. Ms. Ingle noted for the record that the C ollege will be paying all the expenses which will also include attorney's fees. J ames Martin motioned to adopt Resolution 1369 concerning the request of T he Trustees of Roanoke C ollege for the refinancing of prior obligations issued by or for T he Trustees of Roanoke College and the issuance of revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed $43,000,000 through the Economic Development Authority of the C ity of Salem, Virginia. J ohn Saunders seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ohnson, J ones, Martin, Saunders B.Resolution of Support - Safety on our Highways Consider the adoption of Resolution 1370 in support of legislation in the Virginia General Assembly concerning safety on our highways with regards to Virginia Department of Transportation Traffic Incident Management (T IM) vehicles. Mr. Taliaferro noted that for C ouncil's consideration is Resolution 1370 regarding supporting legislation in the General Assembly that would allow VD O T Traffic Incident Management Vehicles (T IM), which are the response vehicles if there is a problem on the interstate, to be equipped with red and blue flashing lights and sirens. T here was a study in Maryland that the emergency response vehicles, such as police and fire, were having an average seven minute response to an incident, but it was fourteen minutes for the D O T. T he thought is that this would allow the VD O T vehicles to navigate through traffic easier to get to a scene to get traffic control in place. William J ones motioned to adopt Resolution 1370 in support of legislation in the Virginia General Assembly concerning safety on our highways with regards to Virginia Department of Transportation Traffic Incident Management (T IM) vehicles. J ames Martin seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ohnson, J ones, Martin, Saunders C .Resolution of Support - Residential Treatment F acility Consider the adoption of Resolution 1371 in support of the Appalachian C enter for Hope, a residential treatment facility for women, to be located in Southwest Virginia. Mr. Taliaferro noted the City received a request from Smyth C ounty and the Town of Marion for supporting the request for the Appalachian C enter for Hope. T his facility would be a residential treatment facility for people recovering from addictions, and there is a need for facilities such as this particularly in Southwest Virginia. T his facility would support the entire region not just the Town of Marion and Smyth County. Mayor Foley asked if this would be the closet in our region or is there one closer? Mr. Taliaferro noted he was not sure, but he would be glad to find out. Mayor Foley noted that he was just curious. Mr. Martin noted he thought anything we can do to support this type of treatment facility being available we should do. J ames Martin motioned to adopt Resolution 1371 in support of the Appalachian C enter for Hope, a residential treatment facility for women, to be located in Southwest Virginia. J ane J ohnson seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ohnson, J ones, Martin, Saunders D.Comprehensiv e Annual F inancial Report Presentation of the Comprehensive Annual Financial Report for the year ended J une 30, 2019. Audit - Finance Committee Mr. J ones noted the Audit Finance Committee met this morning to discuss this request. J ohn Aldridge with Brown, Edwards and C ompany presented the C omprehensive Annual Financial Report (C A FR) for the year ended J une 30, 2019. T he Committee heard the presentation, which will be presented at the regular C ouncil meeting in order to comply with the requirements of the Auditor of Public Accounts. J ohn Aldridge with Brown, Edwards and C ompany, Roanoke, was present. He noted that the Audit Finance Committee and he met this morning and went into depth on the C omprehensive Annual Financial Report. He stated he was not going into detail, but he wanted to point out a couple of things. One, the city has to have an audit every year, and they have done that. Also, included in that report was the C ity's school system. As a result of the audit, they issue an opinion on the financial statements. T hey issued an unmodified or a clean opinion. T hey also have to test certain Federal money that comes through the system. In looking at that, the program this year was Special Education and looking at that program there were no findings there either. T hey also have to look at State compliance matters, and he is please to note there were no findings there as well. He further discussed several other noteable items regarding the C A FR. Mr. Martin noted the meeting this morning was very insightful and in depth. It is commendable that the City has been able to manage the people's money and turn the financial situation into a very positive thing for us. He thanked Mr. Aldridge for the report and city staff for helping us turn the corner and making things better for us financially. Council also thanks Ms. J ordan and Mr. Taliaferro. J ane J ohnson motioned to accept the C omprehensive Annual Financial Report as presented. J ames Martin seconded the motion. 6.Adjournment Mayor Foley noted that there is one additional item for the agenda: appointments to Boards and C ommissions. Mr. J ones noted that the Economic Development Authority C hairman, Mr. Taliaferro, Mrs. Williams and himself had recently interviewed three candidates for the Economic Development Authority (ED A). William J ones motioned to appoint Macel J anoschka to fill the unexpired term of J oseph E. Yates, J r. ending March 9, 2021 and C lark "Rob" Robinson, J r., to fill the unexpired term of Todd Parsons ending December 14, 2020, on the Economic Development Authority (ED A). J ane J ohnson seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ohnson, J ones, Martin, Saunders T he meeting was adjourned at 8:24 p.m.