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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5/9/2022 - City Council - Minutes - RegularCity Council Meeting MINUTES Monday, May 9, 2022, 6:30 PM Work Session is cancelled for May 9, 2022 Regular Session 6:30 P.M. Council Chambers, City Hall, 114 North Broad Street, Salem, Virginia 24153 WORK SESSION WORK SESSION IS CANCELLED REGULAR SESSION 1. Call to Order A regular meeting of the Council of the City of Salem, Virginia was called to order at 6:30 p.m., there being present the following members to wit: Renée Ferris Turk, Mayor; James W. Wallace, III, Vice -Mayor; Councilmembers: Byron Randolph Foley, William D. Jones, and John Saunders; with Renée Ferris Turk, Mayor, presiding together with James E. Taliaferro, II, City Manager; Rob Light, Assistant City Manager and Clerk of Council; Rosemarie B. Jordan, Director of Finance; Chuck Van Allman, Director of Community Development; Tommy Miller, Director of Economic Development; Mike Stevens, Director of Communications; and Jim Guynn, City Attorney. 2. Pledge of Allegiance 3. Bid Openings, Awards, Recognitions Mayor Turk recognized Troop Leader Trena Carroll and members of the Boy Scout Troop that were present as a requirement towards earning their Communications Merit Badge. 4. Consent Agenda A. Citizen Comments Comments from the public, limited to five minutes, on matters not already having a public hearing component that same meeting. The following have signed up to speak at this meeting: 1) Bennett Early - 1415 Antrim Street - Update on enforcement of handheld communication devices Bennett Early, 1415 Antrim Street, was not present at the meeting. B. Minutes Consider acceptance of the April 25, 2022 Work Session and Regular Meeting Minutes and the May 2, 2022 and May 4, 2022 Budget Work Session Minutes. The minutes were accepted as written. 5. Old Business There was no old business. 6. New Business A. Public Improvement Bonds Hold a public hearing and consider adoption of ordinance on first reading to authorize the issuance of general obligation public improvement bonds in the City of Salem, Virginia in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $15,200,000 (as advertised in the April 25 and May 2, 2022 issues of the Roanoke Times.) City Manager Taliaferro clarified that items 6A and 6B both pertain to the borrowing for the Moyer Complex. He requested to present once for both items. Mr. Taliaferro shared that the City has received back proposals for the borrowing and asked Ms. Jordan to share the good news. Ms. Jordan gave a history of the process. The City's Financial Advisor, Davenport and Company, distributed a Request for Proposals to over twenty-five local, regional, and national banks on April 11. The results of that RFP were received back and six of them fit the qualifications that had been determined. The City was looking for a twenty-year, fixed rate borrowing for $15,000,000. A copy of the results that were received back were distributed to Council and these results were considered to be very favorable from the banks. Ms. Jordan stated that a two-pronged approach was utilized. The RFP was distributed and if interest from banks was not favorable, then the plan was to do a public issuance of bonds on the public market. Staff presented for Council's consideration this evening a proposal from Atlantic Union Bank for a borrowing at 3.028 percent for a twenty-year issuance. Per Davenport, this rate is lower than would be available on the public market. Council is asked to approve both Resolution 1426 and the ordinance to accept the offer from Atlantic Union. Once that is accepted, the City will be closing on approximately May 26, 2022 on this issuance for the borrowing for the Moyer Sports Complex. Mayor Turk opened the public hearing. No one came forward to speak. Mayor Turk closed the public hearing. Randy Foley motioned to adopt ordinance on first reading to authorize the issuance of general obligation public improvement bonds in the City of Salem, Virginia in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $15,200,000. John Saunders seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, Jones, Saunders, Turk, Wallace B. General Obligation Public Improvement Bonds Consider adoption of Resolution 1426 authorizing the issuance, sale and award of General Obligation Public Improvement Bonds, Series 2022B. William Jones motioned to adopt Resolution 1426 to authorize the issuance of general obligation public improvement bonds in the City of Salem, Virginia in an aggregate principal amount not to exceed $15,200,000. Randy Foley seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, Jones, Saunders, Turk, Wallace C. Amendment to the Zoning Ordinance Consider ordinance on first reading for rezoning the property of MO Salem, LLC, property owner and Midland Atlantic Properties, property owner's management affiliate, located at 1923 Electric Road and 1951 Electric Road (Tax Map # 284-1-2.2 and Tax Map # 284-1-2.3) from HBD with conditions to HBD with amended conditions to allow retail sales. Continued from the April 25, 2022, meeting at which public hearing was held (As advertised in the April 7 and 14, 2022 issues of the Salem Times-Register). Planning Commission recommends approval; see page 5 of Planning Commission minutes. Mayor Turk stated that this item is continued from the April 25, 2022 meeting at which the public hearing was held. Mr. Foley noted that HBD stands for Highway Business District. Fenton Childers, 6120 Sandhurst Drive, Roanoke, VA 24018, spoke as a representative for the owners of Ridgewood Farms. He is with S L Nussbaum Realty Company. Mr. Childers stated that Ridg ewood Farms was built in 1984 and has gone through several ownerships during that time. Midland Atlantic Properties; based in Cincinnati, Ohio; purchased the property in July 2021. He has been assisting them with the leasing of the space. The zoning was amended slightly in 2014 that accommodated Kroger Fuel Center that opened in 2015. This is a slight rezoning to allow a little bit broader retail use of the property. Hopefully in next few weeks, they will be able to announce 100 percent occupancy for Ridgewood Farms. The new owners have been busy and have done a lot of repairs, facade painting and landscaping. He opened the floor for questions. Mr. Wallace asked if the impetus for this request was that his client wanted to allow for a Tobacco Vape Shop. Mr. Childers responded affirmatively that one of the tenants had signed a lease and when they applied for their business license found that the zoning needed to be updated to allow for this. Mr. Foley asked Mr. Van Allman if there would be any prohibited businesses now if this passed. Mr. Van Allman responded that any type of retail business would be allowed as long as it is HBD. Mr. Van Allman was asked if he had any concerns about granting this request. He stated that he was comfortable with this request and that CVS and Kroger are allowed to sell tobacco products if they choose to do so. Mr. Childers noted that Kroger does sell tobacco products. Mr. Foley made a note that a business had a right to operate even if we might not agree with them. Randy Foley motioned to adopt ordinance on first reading for rezoning the property of MO Salem, LLC, property owner and Midland Atlantic Properties, property owner's management affiliate, located at 1923 Electric Road and 1951 Electric Road (Tax Map # 284-1-2.2 and Tax Map # 284-1- 2.3) from HBD with conditions to HBD with amended conditions to allow retail sales. William Jones seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, Jones, Saunders, Turk Nays: Wallace D. Amendments to Purchasing Policy and Procedures Manual Consider adoption of Resolution 1427 updating the Purchasing Policy and Procedures Manual. Ms. Jordan clarified that the City is working to amend the procurement policy which involves an entire rewrite and, in doing so, a couple of things came up that needed to be adopted sooner than the entire policy. One of these has to do with the section concerning negotiation with the lowest responsible bidder. When a bid comes in that exceeds the budget, there is language within the current policy that allows the City to negotiate. However, it doesn't provide a procedure or much detail on how that negotiation should be done. With the proposed amendment, Section 2034 will expand on the negotiation clause, what that means, and how much the City is allowed to negotiate. Staff is asking for the amendment of the negotiation portion of the procurement policy. Also, staff is proposing the addition of Section 2043 which is titled "Compliance With Conditions on Federal Grants or Contracts. The receipt of the American Rescue Plan Act Funds has created the necessity to have Federal Uniform Guidance in the Procurement Policy in the case that bidding is required. This language is not currently included in the City's Procurement Policy. Before any bids are put out in the use of ARPA funds for projects, it is necessary to adopt Uniform Guidance Procedures. The Federal language that has to be included and the guidance that must be followed in order to use the ARPA money for any of the large projects is included here. A full rewrite of the City’s procurement policy will be completed; however, the City needs to adopt these specific amendments now so that the City is following proper Federal guidelines on the projects that will be completed with ARPA funding. John Saunders motioned to adopt Resolution 1427 updating the Purchasing Policy and Procedures Manual. William Jones seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, Jones, Saunders, Turk, Wallace 7. Adjournment Mayor Turk commented that a couple of Budget Work Sessions have been held where staff and Council have been able to look at a number of details. She shared that a number of citizens have expressed a concern regarding Personal Property Tax increases. Staff and Council are looking into this concern. They understand that the amount this tax has gone up could be prohibitive to some people. They will continue to explore possible options although no promises are being made. Mr. Saunders expressed appreciation to his colleagues for looking into this as he felt tax relief needed to be given. Mr. Wallace ag reed with Mr. Saunders. Mr. Foley announced that he will seek reelection in November 2022 as an Independent candidate for Salem City Council. He intends to have all of the paperwork complete by the June deadline. He thanked his family, friends, and citizens for the encouragement to continue on this important journey. Mayor Turk introduced Tommy Miller, the City's new Director of Economic Development. The meeting was adjourned at 6:49 p.m.