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HomeMy WebLinkAbout8/26/2013 - City Council - Minutes - RegularUNAPPROVED MINUTES CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION August 26, 2013 A work session of the Council of the City of Salem, Virginia, was held in the City Manager’s Conference Room, City Hall, 114 North Broad Street, Salem, Virginia, on August 26, 2013, at 7:00 p.m., there being present the following members of said Council, to wit: Byron Randolph Foley, Jane W. Johnson, and Lisa D. Garst; with Byron Randolph Foley, Mayor, presiding; together with Kevin S. Boggess, City Manager; James E. Taliaferro, II, Assistant City Manager and Clerk of Council; and Rosie Jordan, Director of Finance, and the following business was transacted: Mayor Foley reported that this date, place, and time had been set in order for the Council to hold a work session; and WHEREAS, a discussion was held regarding the Broadband Authority; and WHEREAS, a discussion was held regarding the Solid Waste Management Agreement with Craig County; and WHEREAS, a discussion was held regarding the Comcast Cable Franchise Agreement; and WHEREAS, a discussion was held regarding the Audit-Finance Committee agenda items; and WHEREAS, there were no other topics for discussion. There being no further business to come before the Council, the work session was adjourned at 7:22p.m. Mayor Clerk of Council UNAPPROVED MINUTES COUNCIL MEETING August 26, 2013 A regular meeting of the Council of the City of Salem, Virginia, was held in Council Chambers, City Hall, 114 North Broad Street, on August 26, 2013, at 7:30 p.m., there being present the following members of said Council, to wit: Byron Randolph Foley, Jane W. Johnson, and Lisa D. Garst (John C. Givens and William D. Jones – absent); with Byron Randolph Foley, Mayor, presiding; together with Kevin S. Boggess, City Manager; James E. Taliaferro, Assistant City Manager and Clerk of Council; Stephen M. Yost, City Attorney; Charles E. Van Allman, Jr., City Engineer; Melinda J. Payne, Director of Planning and Economic Development; and Rosie Jordan, Director of Finance; and the following business was transacted: It was noted that members of Boy Scout Troop 289 were present at this meeting. The August 12, 2013, regular meeting minutes were approved as written. Mayor Foley requested that Council receive a presentation from Harold Weikle, Melvin Crowder, and Carol Williams, Co-Chairs, along with Julie Satterwhite, Community Manager, regarding the 2013 Salem Relay for Life; and WHEREAS, Mr. Weikle thanked City Council, city administrators and city staff for their commitment to Salem Relay for Life; THEREUPON, said presentation was received. Mayor Foley requested that Council consider adopting Resolution 123 7 creating the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority; notice of such hearing was published in the July 18, 2013, issue of The Roanoke Times, a newspaper having general circulation in the City of Salem; and WHEREAS, Mr. Boggess stated that the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority began as a response to concerns from the business community that the Roanoke Valley was left out of high speed open access broadband. The higher density communities have access due to demand and the smaller communities have access from grant programs and those communities in the middle, such as ours, lag behind. As a result of discussions between the business community and the government community one of the ways to ensure we are ITEM 1 PRESENTATION REGARDING 2013 SALEM RELAY FOR LIFE ITEM 2 BROADBAND AUTHORITY CONTINUED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 9, 2013 MEETING 2 keeping track of the community and where we need to be in terms of broadband access, this authority should be created so there will be a framework and infrastructure for us to investigate the needs and help facilitate the development of open access and high speed broadband throughout the Roanoke Valley; and WHEREAS, Sam English, founder and CEO of Attention Point, and President of the Roanoke Blacksburg Technology Council, appeared before Council and thanked Salem for its leadership and support through this collaborative effort over the last two years. It is amazing just how far we have come in actually just talking about the challenges of broadband access. I am thrilled to see all of our governments and businesses throughout the region working together. I commend them for their efforts; and WHEREAS, Paul Comes, Comcast Cable, appeared before Council, with Tim Garst, Small Businesses, and Gregory Duncan, Metro A Team, to give information as to the broadband services they offer ; and WHEREAS, Tim Garst, stated that they have made great improvements to bandwidth; and WHEREAS, Greg Duncan, part of the strategic team of Comcast, appeared before Council stating there has been a strong initiative to extend our fiber optic footprint to the western regions of the state. Comcast can now offer businesses and entities in Salem from ten meg to ten gig of dedicated Ethernet access that is available today. Metro Ethernet is now available here as well. Salem now, within respects to Comcast, is getting the same service capability as we offer in Boston, Chicago and DC; and WHEREAS, having no additional speakers, Mayor Foley closed the public hearing and requested City Attorney Steve Yost to proceed; and WHEREAS, Mr. Yost stated that the participating members of the Authority are Botetourt County, Roanoke County, the City of Roanoke, and the City of Salem. The process that creates this Authority is based under certain sections of the Virginia Code. One of the provisions that is required is a public hearing, which has just been held. That particular section of code states that a resolution must be passed to create the Authority after the public hearing of all the participating jurisdictions. Initially it was thought that the corresponding resolution could be adopted after each individual public hearing, but after additional interpretation it is the opinion of the participating attorneys that the resolution not be adopted until all public hearings have been held. It is his recommendation that this matter be continued until the next meeting; and 3 ON MOTION MADE BY COUNCILWOMAN GARST, SECONDED BY COUNCILWOMAN JOHNSON, AND DULY CARRIED, on advice of counsel, Resolution 1237 creating the Roanoke Valley Broadband Authority was hereby continued until September 9, 2013 – the roll call vote: Lisa D. Garst – aye, Jane W. Johnson – aye, and Byron Randolph Foley – aye. Mayor Foley requested that Council consider request to accept and appropriate VML Insurance Programs grant of $3,970; and WHEREAS, Councilwoman Johnson reported that the Committee reviewed the request to appropriate a risk management grant provided by VML Insurance Programs. The Police Department was awarded a grant of $3,970 to be used to purchase flare alert beacon kits, reflective traffic cones, road flares and traffic safety wands. This grant does not require a match. The Committee recommended approval of this appropriation request; ON A MOTION MADE BY COUNCILWOMAN JOHNSON, SECONDED BY COUNCILWOMAN GARST, AND DULY CARRIED, the request to appropriate VML Insurance Programs grant funds in the amount of $3,970 was hereby approved – the roll call vote: Lisa D. Garst – aye, Jane W. Johnson – aye, and Byron Randolph Foley – aye. Mayor Foley requested that Council consider request to appropriate projected proceeds of a bond sale scheduled for September 2013, in the amount of $7,255,000; and WHEREAS, Councilwoman Johnson reported that the Committee reviewed the request to appropriate proceeds of a bond sale scheduled for September 2013 to fund various capital projects. These proceeds are expected to be $7,255,000 and will need to be appropriated. $551,125 has already been approved for a portion of the ERP and greenway projects but was budgeted to be paid for by the General Fund. These amounts are now to be paid for with bond proceeds. The remaining $6,703,875 is to be appropriated as follows: $60,180 for ERP System – Kronos; $2,755 for ERP System - Other Costs; $38,045 for GTG; $12,500 for Sharepoint; $13,000 for Document Mgmt Solution; $10,000 for Roanoke River Greenway Phase 2B; $37,195 for Roanoke River Greenway Phase 3A; $13,000 for Roanoke River Greenway Phase 4; $5,000 for Roanoke River Greenway Phase 5; $150,000 for 911 Phone System; $240,000 for Street Department Equipment; $51,000 for Parks and Recreation Equipment; $500,000 ITEM 3 APPROPRIATION OF VML INSURANCE PROGRAMS GRANT APPROVED ITEM 4 APPROPRIATION OF BOND SALE PROCEEDS APPROVED 4 for Social Services Building Renovation; $5,481,200 Transfer to School Fund. The Committee recommended approval of this request; and ON A MOTION MADE BY COUNCILWOMAN JOHNSON, SECONDED BY COUNCILWOMAN GARST, AND DULY CARRIED, the request to appropriate proceeds of a bond sale scheduled for September 2013 to fund various capital projects in the amount of $7,255,000 was hereby approved – the roll call vote: Lisa D. Garst – aye, Jane W. Johnson – aye, and Byron Randolph Foley – aye. Mayor Foley requested Council to consider ordinance on first reading permanently vacating and closing a certain portion of an eighteen -foot gravel alley that extends from West Calhoun Street southerly for a distance of one hundred fifty feet to West Burwell Street; and WHEREAS, Mayor Foley asked if the viewers report was positive and Mr. Taliaferro responded that is was and both neighbors are in favor of this vacation; and ON A MOTION MADE BY COUNCILWOMAN GARST, SECONDED BY COUNCILWOMAN JOHNSON, AND DULY CARRIED, an ordinance permanently vacating and closing a certain portion of an eighteen foot gravel alley that extends from West Calhoun Street southerly for a distance of one hundred fifty feet to West Burwell Street was hereby passed on first reading – the roll call vote: Lisa D. Garst – aye, Jane W. Johnson – aye, and Byron Randolph Foley – aye. Mayor Foley requested Council consider ordinance on second reading approving a cable franchise agreement between the City of Salem and Comcast of Connecticut/Georgia/Massachusetts/New Hampshire/New York/North Carolina/Virginia/Vermont, LLC, which was passed on first reading at the August 12, 2013, meeting; and WHEREAS, Mr. Boggess stated that City staff recommended continuing this item until the September 9, 2013, meeting so that the entire City Council may be present; and ON A MOTION MADE BY COUNCILWOMAN JOHNSON, SECONDED BY COUNCILWOMAN GARST, AND DULY CARRIED, an ordinance on second reading approving a cable franchise agreement between the City of Salem and Comcast of Connecticut/Georgia/Massachusetts/New Hampshire/New York/North ITEM 5 VACATE AND CLOSE PORTION OF ALLEY APPROVED ITEM 6 COMCAST CONTINUED UNTIL SEPTEMBER 9, 2013 5 Carolina/Virginia/Vermont, LLC, was hereby continued until the September 9, 2013, meeting - the roll call vote: Lisa D. Garst – aye, Jane W. Johnson – aye, and Byron Randolph Foley – aye. Mayor Foley requested that Council consider appointments to fill vacancies on various boards and commissions; ON A MOTION MADE BY COUNCILWOMAN GARST, SECONDED BY COUNCILWOMAN JOHNSON, AND DULY CARRIED, Chris Conner was hereby reappointed to the Personnel Board for a two-year term, said term will expire August 12, 2015 – the roll call vote: Lisa D. Garst – aye, Jane W. Johnson – aye, and Byron Randolph Foley – aye. There being no further business to come before the Council, the same on motion adjourned at 7:52 p.m. ITEM 7 CHRIS CONNER REAPPOINTED TO PERSONNEL BOARD