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HomeMy WebLinkAbout9/14/2020 - City Council - Minutes - RegularCi ty Counci l Meeti ng M INUTES Monday, September 14, 2020, 6:30 P M Community Room, Salem Civic Center, 1001 Roanoke Boulevard, 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 6:30 p.m., there being present all the members to wit: Renee F. Turk, Mayor, J ames W. Wallace, III, Vice-Mayor, C ouncil members: Byron Randolph Foley, William D. J ones, and J ohn E. Saunders; with Renee F. Turk, Mayor, presiding; together with J ames E. Taliaferro, II, City Manager; Rosemarie B. J ordan, Director of Finance; C harles E. VanAllman, J r., C ommunity Development Director; Mike Stevens, C ommunications Director; and J udy L. Hough, Deputy City C lerk. 2.Pledge of Allegiance 3.Bid Openings, Awards, Recognitions A.Geographic I nformation System Awards Presentation of the 2019 Governors Technology Award and the 2019 PT I Technology Solutions Award to Rebekah C raft, Charles Grant, and Patrick Morton for their work on the NextGen 911 PSA P Data Aggregation and Sharing project. Bill Hunter, Roanoke County C ommunications and Information Technology Director, and David Wray, Roanoke C ounty G IS Manager, discussed the awards to be presented: the 2019 Governors Technology Award and the 2019 PT I Technology Solutions Award. Patrick Morton, Technology Systems Director; Rebekah Craft, Telecommunications Manager; and Charles Grant, G IS Manager, were in attendance to accept the awards on behalf of the City. C ity Council thanked Mr. Hunter and Mr. Wray for the presentation and also thanked staff members for their hard work that went into the NextGen 9-1-1 project and also, for everything they do for the C ity. 4.C onsent Agenda A.Work Session Hold a work session to discuss City C ouncil's upcoming Retreat. C ouncil held a work session to discuss their upcoming retreat or workshop to be held in October. Mayor Turk noted that C ouncil has been discussing coming together as a group with the C ity Manager and the Assistant C ity Manager. T here was some discussion regarding the content for the retreat or work session and also when the work session should take place since the new Assistant C ity Manager, Rob Light, will just be starting on September 21st. It was noted that the proposed date of the work session would be October 28th, and Mr. Light would be with the C ity for approximately six weeks at that time. Council asked Mr. Light if he wanted to comment regarding the timeline for the work session/retreat. Council welcomed Mr. Light to the meeting. Mr. Light noted that both sides are valid arguments, and he believes it is going to be an organic process which we can build on. So if Council would like to go ahead and start that process, then he is comfortable proceeding however C ouncil and Mr. Taliaferro would like. Council further discussed the proposed retreat with no action being taken at this meeting. B.Citizens' Comments Comments from the public, limited to five minutes, on matters not on the regular meeting agenda. (Name, address, and topic are required.) T here were no citizens to speak at this meeting of C ouncil. C .Minutes Consider acceptance of the minutes from the August 24, 2020, regular meeting. Accepted as presented 5.Old Business A.Amendment to the Zoning Ordinance Consider ordinance on second reading rezoning the property of Edward Andrew Riner Revocable Declaration of Trust, Edward Andrew Riner - Trustee, property owner, and Boone T homas, applicant, located at 201 Northern Trail (Tax Map # 10- 1-1.1) from RSF Residential Single Family District w/conditions to RSF Residential Single Family District w/amended conditions. (Approved on first reading at the August 24, 2020, meeting.) Randy Foley motioned to adopt an ordinance on second reading rezoning the property of Edward Andrew Riner Revocable Declaration of Trust, Edward Andrew Riner - Trustee, property owner, and Boone T homas, applicant, located at 201 Northern Trail (Tax Map # 10-1-1.1) from RSF Residential Single Family District with conditions to RSF Residential Single Family District with amended conditions. William J ones seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ones, Saunders, Turk, Wallace B.Continuity of Gov ernment Ordinance Consider an ordinance on second reading to continue temporary changes in certain deadlines and to modify public meeting and public hearing practices and procedures to address continuity of operations associated with pandemic disaster. (Adopted on first reading at the August 24, 2020 meeting.) Supplemental Item William J ones motioned to adopt an ordinance on second reading to continue temporary changes in certain deadlines and to modify public meeting and public hearing practices and procedures to address continuity of operations associated with pandemic disaster. J ohn Saunders seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ones, Saunders, Turk, Wallace 6.New Business A.Adoption of P olicy - P ost I ssuance Compliance Consider request to adopt the Post Issuance C ompliance Policy. Audit - Finance Committee Vice Mayor Wallace noted the Audit Finance C ommittee met this morning to discuss this request. Formal written financial policies promote good financial management, define boundaries, support good bond ratings and promote long-term and strategic thinking. Adopting financial policies is a recommended best practice by the Government Finance Officers Association (G FO A). T he Finance Department has drafted a Post Issuance C ompliance Policy. T his policy has been reviewed by the C ity’s bond attorney, C hris Kulp, from Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. Staff requests that this policy become effective as of the date of its adoption. T he Committee reviewed the request and recommends adopting the Post Issuance C ompliance Policy. J ames Wallace motioned to adopt the Post Issuance C ompliance Policy as submitted. Randy Foley seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ones, Saunders, Turk, Wallace B.Appropriation of F unds Consider request to appropriate funding for Downtown Improvements. Audit - Finance C ommittee Vice Mayor Wallace noted the Audit Finance C ommittee also discussed this request. Additional Transportation Alternatives federal funding has been awarded to the C ity for a portion of the Downtown Improvement project to be used on streetscape and intersection improvements from the east side of the intersection at Broad Street and Main Street to the west side of White Oak Alley. T he project is scheduled to begin construction in September 2020. A dditional federal funding of $310,734 was added to the project by VD O T in J uly 2020 to meet the construction needs of the project. T he additional funding requires a 20% local match of $77,684. T he C ommittee reviewed the request and recommends accepting and appropriating the funding for the Downtown Improvements project. J ames Wallace motioned to approve appropriating the funding for the Downtown Improvements project. J ohn Saunders seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ones, Saunders, Turk, Wallace C .Appropriation of F unds Hold a public hearing to consider amending the fiscal year 2020-2021 budget to appropriate C A RES Act funding. Audit - Finance C ommittee - A MEN D ED Vice Mayor Wallace noted this request was also discussed by the Audit Finance C ommittee. T he City received C A RES Act funding through the C oronavirus Relief Fund in the amount of $2,207,415 in fiscal year 2020. Of this amount, $1,475,838 was not expended as of J une 30, 2020 and needs to be re-appropriated to spend in fiscal year 2021. T he Fire Department received $41,567 in C A RES Act funding in fiscal year 2020. As of J une 30, 2020, $13,311 was not expended and needs to be re-appropriated to fiscal year 2021. T he C ity received an additional allocation of $2,207,415 in August 2020, which needs to be appropriated. T he C ommittee reviewed the request and recommends holding the public hearing and appropriating C A RES Act funding for the 2020-21 budget as described above and also, to appropriate $500,000 to the Economic Development Authority of City of Salem. Mr. Taliaferro noted with the additional $2.2 million dollars in funding this is more than a one percent change in the General Fund budget and state law requires us to hold a public hearing prior voting on this item. Mayor Turk opened the public hearing and asked if there was anyone to speak on this matter. T here was no response and the public hearing was closed. Vice Mayor Wallace noted that there were a lot of Salem businesses who applied for the C A RES Act funding, and the C ity ran out of money. So now we have appropriated another $500,000 to the Economic Development Authority to be used for this purpose so we can take care of more businesses. J ames Wallace motioned to approve the appropriation of the C A RES Act funding as presented and also to appropriate $500,000 to the Salem Economic Development Authority. Randy Foley seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ones, Saunders, Turk, Wallace D.Appropriation of F unds Consider request to amend the School Grant Fund budget as approved by the School Board on September 8, 2020. Audit - Finance Committee Vice Mayor Wallace stated this request was also discussed by the A udit Finance C ommittee. T he School Grant Fund budget was amended for fiscal year 2020-2021 by the School Board at their meeting on September 8, 2020. T he Board amended the G rant Fund to increase revenues and expenditures by $759,725. A memo from the Schools covered the appropriation changes. T he C ommittee reviewed the request and recommends appropriating $759,725 to the Grant Fund budget. J ames Wallace motioned to approve the School Board's appropriation changes of $759,725 to the School Grant Fund budget. Randy Foley seconded the motion. Ayes: Foley, J ones, Saunders, Turk, Wallace 7.Adjournment Mr. Taliaferro noted with the additional C A RES Act funding Council appropriated this evening the C ity has the opportunity to award hazard duty pay for public safety employees as well as having funds available for other City employees. From a budget perspective a $2,000 hazard duty pay bonus is possible with the C A RES funds. Also, there is a balance left from the fiscal year 2020 budget that would support a $1,000 bonus for full-time employees. Further, there are additional funds that we could make this a net bonus for hazard duty and for full-time employees so that they actually receive close to $2,000 and $1,000. If Council would like to act on this tonight, staff can put the final numbers together. J ohn Saunders moved to approve awarding hazard duty pay bonus of net $2,000 for public safety employees and a net $1,000 bonus for full-time employees; he noted that staff can decide in the future about the part-time public safety employees. Mr. Taliaferro noted that he failed to mention there are a lot of part-time public safety employees, particularly paramedics, who are working with patients that potentially have the C O VID virus so as part of this request, staff is proposing a $1,000 bonus for part-time public safety employees. Again, this would be netted out to $1,000. Mr. Saunders noted he would like to amend his motion to award a $1,000 net bonus for part-time public safety employees. Vice Mayor Wallace noted he would like to offer an amendment to the amendment. He believes that we need to add another level to this proposal so that we can better delineate between those full-time employees who are on the front line interacting with the public daily. He stated these are the employees in the Treasurers' Office and the Utility Collections Office versus those employees who are working in an office removed from the public. He feels we should not slight those employees who are assuming the additional risk. Mayor Turk asked if we could table the motion. T here was further discussion regarding when this would need to be acted on and also Vice Mayor Wallace's amendment to the amended motion. Mr. Taliaferro noted that this will just need to be acted on before the C A RES Act funding deadline. Mayor Turk asked if there was a second to Mr. Saunders' amended motion. William J ones seconded the motion. Mayor Turk asked if there was any further discussion. Mr. Taliaferro noted from a Robert's Rules of Order perspective if Vice Mayor Wallace's motion was intended to be a substitute motion to the amended motion, and if there was a second, then the substitute motion would need to be voted before the original motion. Vice Mayor Wallace asked if there was a second to his motion. Mayor Turk noted she did not think there was a second, but that she would second the motion. She stated she understood Vice Mayor Wallace's thoughts regarding those employees working directly with the public. T here was additional discussion regarding Vice Mayor Wallace's amendment to the amended motion. T he roll call vote stood as follows: Ayes: Wallace, Turk Nays: Saunders, J ones, Foley Mayor Turk noted that the motion failed and Council would need to vote on the original amended motion by Mr. Saunders. T he roll call vote stood as follows: Ayes: Saunders, J ones, Foley, Wallace, Turk T he meeting was adjourned at 7:06 p.m.