City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. THOMAS J. TOMZAK, MAYOR HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, VICE MAYOR CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, WARD ONE HON. GEORGE C. SOLLEY, WARD TWO HON. FREDERIC N. HOWE, III, WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. BEATRICE R. PAOLUCCI, WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session November 4, 2011 Council Retreat The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, November 4, 2011, beginning at 8:46 a.m. in Jepson Alumni Center at the University of Mary Washington. Council Present. Mayor Thomas J. Tomzak, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Bradford C. Ellis, Frederic N. Howe, III, Beatrice R. Paolucci and George C. Solley. Also Present. City Manager Beverly R. Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Public Works Director Doug Fawcett, Economic Development Director Karen Hedelt, Economic Development Manager Richard Tremblay and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. John Brooks, Vice-President of Resource International, Wilson Greenlaw, Cushman and Wakefield Thalhimer Realtors, Main Street Chair, Mark Ask, Frenchman’s Corner, Main Street Co-Chair, Sue Broady, Union First Market, Tom Crimmins, Economic Development Authority (EDA) Representative, Linda Arnold, Monkee Boutique and Mona Albertine, Jabberwocky Books. Review of Goals and Initiatives. City Manager Cameron presented a PowerPoint presentation on the Goals and Initiatives. He asked Council to hold the course and not change direction and to be patient, because there were a lot of initiatives. He reviewed the major initiatives as the courts, Economic Development Plan, and bridges and roads. Courts – Much progress has been made, an Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued under the Public-Private Educational Facilities and Infrastructure Act. Eight concepts were received and after review, three proposals were advanced to the detailed phase. Council 1 selected the highest ranked firm. Negotiations have been completed and staff will seek approval of the Comprehensive Agreement on November 8. Staff has also worked to arrange all the details of a general obligation bond issue. Economic Development Plan - There were two key elements of the Economic Development Authority’s (EDA) Strategic Plan and they were façade improvements grant program and the Main Street Program. The façade improvements were already underway and the Main Street Program was being studied by an exploratory committee. Bridges and Roads – The design work is underway for the Canal Bridge on Fall Hill Avenue, the Interstate 95 Bridge on Fall Hill Avenue and for the Fall Hill Avenue road widening. Mr. Cameron noted that funding was in place to move these projects closer to construction. The other initiative updates were as follows: Property Maintenance – Staff has completed a survey of all vacant and abandoned buildings. The most dangerous ones have been demolished or secured from public entry. He noted the emerging accomplishments of 1200 Prince Edward Street. Unified Development Ordinance – Went through a procurement process and the consultant Clarion was selected. The consultant delivered a preliminary code assessment to be reviewed by staff and in 9-10 months the final project should be coming before Council for review. Pathways – The Cowan Boulevard Trail is being extended by adding a short extension from Hugh Mercer Elementary School to FRED Central and Stafford Avenue. The Heritage Trail is expected to be out for bids this winter and the VCR Trail is expected to be out for bids in the Fall of 2012. Both the Heritage Trail and the VCR Trail depend on the use of Federal money. He said real progress should be seen on these Trails by next year. Traffic – Sophia and William Street intersection will be rebid by spring of 2012 because only one bid was received the Federal Highway Administration would not allow the City to move forward with only one bid. They are repackaging to try and get additional bids on that project. The City also received a Revenue Sharing grant from VDOT for 6 cross signals and it they will go out to bid in the spring of 2012. Signalization – Between the Route 1 and Route 3 corridors there are 17 intersections that will be included in this project. They will replace all of the incandescent signal heads with LED signal heads. The traffic signal cabinets and controllers will be replaced. They will install 2 uninterrupted power supplies at each intersection and upgrade computers and software at the City Shop. These improvements will help with the flow of traffic. Utilities – Water and sewer rates and management study this is the first comprehensive rate study in 20 years. They will be looking at commodity charges, availability fee and administrative policies. In addition to the rate analysis, the study will look at the management and staffing capability. Redistricting – The redistricting process is almost complete. The proposed ordinance will be second read November 22. Downtown Revitalization – There has been visible progress with the streetscaping. The streetlights have been repaired and painted, curbside debris has been removed, new trash receptacles have been ordered, and the care of the trees in the tree wells have been improved. Environmental Stewardship – Energy evaluations have been conducted of three city buildings: Parking Garage, Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) and the Police Department Headquarters. The plan is to begin funding the retrofits in fiscal year 2013. River Enhancement – To restore the river with less silt. Community Policing – There was excellent success made with this initiative. National Citizen Survey – Complete and received useful feedback and staff will use the feedback in preparing the next budget. Pavement Rehabilitation – Is ongoing and the City has invested $800,000 this summer and fall. Ethanol Tankers – There are continued conversations with Transflo, CSX and Senator Houck. They may have a possible solution to move the cars farther away from the homes in Mayfield. Another solution is to amend the special use permit to allow additional tankers to be stored at the Bowman Center. iPads – Council has been using the iPads since May and they are working well and have cut down on the use of paper. Staff Capability – The City took steps to replace key positions that were lost during the recession. Key positions in the City Manager’s office, City Attorney’s Office and the City Shop have been filled. Trees – made a commitment to plant more trees in the City and $50,000 has been invested in planting more trees. 3  Mr. Cameron suggested the best way to move forward is to start with the top seven priorities: Public Works Capital, Unified Development Ordinance, EDA’s Strategic Plan Goals, court project, organizational alignment, sustainability, and property maintenance. He followed up with the charts on each of these areas (see attachment) Mayor Tomzak asked if staff could calculate the number of staff hours spent on the William-Sophia Street intersection. Mr. Cameron explained many hours have been speant o this and the following steps have taken place: funding had to be identified and they will follow the procurement process by bringing on a consultant to create a design, and then they had to get approvals from Virginia Department of Transportation (VDoT) and the Federal Highway Administration, then they will go out to bid and since the City only received one bid it has to be repackaged so that more people would be interested. Councilor Howe asked what were the main emphasis for EDA and Mr. Cameron said façade improvements and Main Street Program. They have awarded 7 or 8 grants for façade improvements and staff is working to continue the program through next year. Councilor Devine asked about sustainability and why the City was upgrading fairly new buildings such as the Police Headquarters. Mr. Cameron explained that had he known differently during construction he would have done things differently to make the buildings more efficient. He said lights consume a lot of energy therefore they are being switched out to a better energy saving light. Councilor Solley said if the focus was going to be concentrated on the seven main initiatives what were the effects on the other areas going to be. Councilor Devine asked what would happen to the goals that were started like neighborhoods. Mr. Cameron explained that he was trying to refocus on a smaller list of things to accomplish and he said much of the neighborhood issues were property maintenance. Councilor Ellis said he was approached by a resident in Westwood Subdivision which does not have a homeowners association and he wanted to know if the City could help with things like sand washing the entrance sign. Mr. Cameron suggested they get a plan and seek EDA for a grant. Council had a brief discussion on ways to go about getting neighborhoods to spruce up. Councilor Howe had three items he wanted to address the owner/rental issue, meeting on BPOL revenue incentive program and energy management system by trying to link the 4 City’s buildings and schools for demand control. Mr. Cameron said the energy retrofits fall under the current sustainability initiative. Communications – Councilors Ellis and Paolucci stated that they received many complaints on the City’s television station. Councilor Ellis asked if the City should keep funding it because of the subpar quality. Councilors Ellis and Paolucci offered to work with staff. Vice-Mayor Greenlaw stated that she firmly believes the City needs a staff person to manage the communications. She said it needed to be one voice and they must use all communication venues. Councilor Ellis asked if there was a current staff person that could do this, such as Suzanne. Councilor Solley noted that these are two different types of communication. He said communication needed to be addressed in a substantial way in the near future. Mr. Cameron noted that when you look at the surrounding County’s resources, they have more than one full-time employee dedicated to this position. Councilor Howe suggested bringing on a part-time consultant with the skills to bridge the gap. Councilor Solley said the City needed a communications strategic plan first. Councilor Devine reminded Council that the City had a person to do communications, but the City wasn’t sure what it wanted at the time. She suggested the City figure out what it wants from this person first. River Restoration. Public Works Director Fawcett set the context briefly saying the Embrey Dam was breached in February 2004 and the river downstream looks differently prior to the breaching, the main reason is sediment accumulations. He said the sediment did not start with the breach, but it has gotten worse since the breach. He said some people in the community said the river needed to be dredged and that is an option, but he has asked Mr. John Brooks the Vice-President of Resource International to look at the river and see what needed to be done. Resource International has been the City’s landfill engineers for years. Mr. Fawcett said he engaged Mr. Brooks in March or April and asked him to give a phase one report on his initial thoughts (see draft attachment). Mr. Brooks looked at the river and he came up with two different options. He wanted to study it to see what the river was doing. He said he has handled hundreds of dredging permits throughout Virginia. He explained that the sediment has to go somewhere when you dredge so there must be a basin for storing it. He explained that 80% of the sediment is water and that would be held in the basin and released slowly until the sediment settles. The cost for dredging can be $100,000 to $250,000. It would also require permits from the Army Corps of 5 Engineers, Virginia Marine Resource Center (VMRC) and possibly the Department of Environmental Quality. He said they would all have to agree that the permit is needed. Mr. Brooks said the sedimentation was evident when he walked the river. He looked back multiple years at aerials and noticed bars were setting before the dam was removed. He explained how the stream begins to down cut and the banks become unstable and that is what caused the stream to widen and that widening and caused it to be unable to cut through the sediment; this is the cause of the bars. The river today is a flat wide channel and based on his calculations the river wants to be 100 to 175 feet narrower than it is currently. Mr. Brooks said the stream would repair itself over time, but could not give a definite on how many years it would take. He predicted it would get a lot worse before it got better. He said they have had some discussion with the Army Corps of Engineers and they believe there was some funding available to study the river and they were willing to participate. Councilor Solley asked where the narrowing would be if the river was to narrow to 150 feet. Mr. Brooks said you can look at the aerial and see where the bars are forming. He also asked what would be the effect if you tried to control the narrowing and Mr. Brooks said you should go with the natural tendencies of the river. This is also determined by comparing other rivers that are of the same size. Mr. Fawcett said there are a couple of thing to consider and they are, does the sediment increase vulnerability for flooding in the downtown area and according to the report it only raises it slightly, but a more detail study would be needed. The sediment is not a primary factor to a really big flood. The other issue is the eroding of the banks. They seem to be eroding more on the Fredericksburg side than the Stafford Side. These are two issues to consider when considering dredging versus restoration. Mr. Fawcett wanted to make sure Council knew there were other options rather than dredging such as honoring the river and allowing it to go the way its wants to go, or by vegetation. He said these would be factors while determining the best step to take. He also stated that they have had two meetings with the Corps and another meeting in Norfolk and they are working on a scope of work for Mr. Brooks study. Staff plans to bring the scope of work to Council for consideration. Mr. Solley asked if the changes in the river would make the two islands that are in the river connect to one side or the other. Mr. Brooks said it is very likely they will as the streams move they will fill in the channels. He also asked if the water that is being taken out upstream may be a cause of there not being enough force to push the sediment out and Mr. Brooks said it 6 was not likely that is fairly insignificant and the state would not let anyone withdraw so much that it would cause problems. Mr. Fawcett also addressed the concerns in regards to the paddlewheel boat. He said the problem with the sediment does not seem to occur more frequently since the breach of the dam. It seems be occurring about the same as it did before the dam was breached. Councilor Howe asked if the City could begin with stabilization so that it doesn’t lose any additional land and Mr. Brooks said you could but it would be putting a Band-Aid on the problem, it doesn’t mean it would stay there. He said the river may decide that it wants that bank. Councilor Howe also asked if the sediment level was rising then the depth of the channel has to raise and theoretically he asked would this cause flooding in the downtown. Mr. Brooks said if only the bottom of the stream was rising then yes it would increase the chances of flooding, but he also said the bands and the beds could be rising as well. He said a study would be needed to determine what was going on. Mr. Fawcett explained that he believes the river is trying to get back to where the river was prior to the building of the dam and he feels the river is going to do what it wants to do. He explained the next steps as: refining the scope of the study that the Corps is prepared to assist in and he reminded council that the money from the corps is not 100% guaranteed. He said they have reached out to Stafford County and some of the upper region Counties, because the Corps would like to look at other areas to determine how the sediment is getting in the river. The other is to identify the money and determine what other Counties’ may have to pay. Main Street Program. Economic Development Director Karen Hedelt stated that the EDA charged an exploratory committed with the task of evaluating a downtown management structure particularly the main street structure for possible implementation and utilization in the downtown. Mr. Greenlaw Wilson presented a PowerPoint presentation that covered what the Committee has done to date, the importance of downtown, why the Main Street program is being considered, the four points approach, the eight principles, criteria for State and National designation, State and National resources, governance, organizational chart, stake holder benefits, comparison of other Main Streets, source of funds, distribution of funds, Main Street district map, role of the Executive Director, accountability to the State program, accountability to the stakeholders, program statistics and summaries, explanation of the business 7 improvement district, business improvement fees for empty stores, next steps, comments heard, and a timeline. (See PowerPoint for additional information). Councilor Ellis asked had an estimate been done on the return-on-investment (ROI). He said it was a good program but said this must be considered as a tax increase along with the other tax increases due to the courts project. Mr. Greenlaw said he agreed that community wide the program is a good thing, but he said he’s not sure how to pay for it, but there must be some element of buy in. He also said that according to the State, the City must have some element of by in. Councilor Devine said in regards to structure and cohesiveness she said this might be the best way to achieve that. She also asked what investments would be needed from the City, in-kind or office space. Mr. Crimmins said anything in-kind would be counted towards the budget. Mr. Greenlaw said some municipalities provide office space and others provide staff. She also asked about some of the concerns heard from other localities. Mr. Ask stated that he lives in Culpeper and some of the merchants participate in the program and they feel they gain from it and others don’t because they feel as though it doesn’t work for them. Ms. Albertine said that she noticed that the business that came in after the program had been started felt like they didn’t benefit as much from it. Councilor Devine asked have there been any communities that have opted not to recertify. Mr. Greenlaw said out of all the information he has researched he only found one community that did not recertify. Ms. Hedelt also stated that it is rare for communities to fall out of the program. She said the National program was new when the City dropped out previously. The City’s program suffered from a lack of control. When Main Street programs fail to thrive they don’t usually fall totally out of the program they tend to step back and go to an associate’s status. This also occurs when they rely too heavily on the Executive Director to keep things in balance. She explained that you need a strong Board because if the Executive Director is too involved you lose the engagement of the community which is the core of the programs success. Mr. Ask agreed that you must have a strong Board and he gave an example of something that happened in Culpeper. Economic Development Manager Tremblay said there was one community that dropped out in the last 10 years and that was Lexington. Councilor Solley said he has talked to both current and past Councilors and all have been looking for a way to revitalize the downtown and the Main Street program has always come up as a way of doing so. The problem in the past is that the downtown has never had one 8 voice. He thanked that committee for taking the task on and getting the support that they have. He said some other jurisdictions have added things to their downtown to get people to visit and he asked if this would be in the purview of the Main Street program. Ms. Albertine said she thought it would, but she said they must be very creative and unique because the downtown is competing against malls. She said Culpeper was a great example. She also said if the City creates a unique walking area it would attract more people. Mr. Crimmins reemphasized that and said the real constituencies are people from 20-30 miles from the City. The promotional aspect has to bring people downtown. He also said part of the Main Street program is deciding whether there is a proper mix of stores. Councilor Solley noted that people come downtown to do thing other than shop and Mr. Crimmins said that’s the reason for the Economic Restructuring Committee. Mr. Greenlaw said that’s what the program is designed to do. It puts everything and everyone under one umbrella. Ms. Hedelt agreed that that would be a function of the committee to identify attracting factors and how to make the most of the current attractors. Councilor Ellis asked the Committee if they had a sense on how long it would take to get results if the Main Street program was put in place. Mr. Crimmins said they did not have any firm numbers on that, but said it should take a couple or so years. He said there should definitely be results by five years. He suggested putting a sunset clause of 5years on it if it were approved. Mr. Wilson said there would be small committees getting small things done over time. Mr. Crimmins stated that he believed that is why Main Street programs use 5 years durations to determine its return-on-investment. He said most Main Street programs were created to bring the places out of a ditch because they were in trouble, but he stressed that the City has a very successful downtown. He said this would try to get an incremental increase in structure, organizational and promotions and it maybe a little slower in manifesting itself. Councilor Paolucci said she was happy to hear that a committee was going to be set up to discuss how to set up the Board because that seemed to be the biggest issue to date. She also stated that at the last meeting she spoke with some property owners who live in the district and the non-retail business owners and they were concerned about being taxed, although they don’t have a retail business in the district. They are concerned with how much they are going to be taxed. Mr. Crimmins said there is a strong support from some of the professional businesses and there are some that have a concern, but many are in support because it will help to improve the downtown. He agreed that it is a downfall of the tax. Councilor Paolucci suggested as the 9 building is being built to be mindful of the representation on the board. Mr. Greenlaw said as they spoke with Jeff Sadler, the Virginia Main Street program director about the Board he said not to worry so much about who you have on the board just make sure you have people who are willing and able to put the time in. He advised against dividing up the board. It must be run by people who are willing and able to put the time in. Councilor Solley asked what the timeline would be and when the committee may be coming to Council for support. Mr. Greenlaw said they are trying to have it in for a budget line in the 2013 budget, but he didn’t feel like they would have the time to get it ready by then. Mr. Crimmins said he didn’t know if that committee would be able to move at that pace to get it in on time. Councilor Howe expressed a concern on the sales side. He asked if the ROI shown in the PowerPoint was based on the amount put in by the municipality or by all investments. Mr. Crimmins said it was based on all sources. Mr. Howe was very concerned that unless you show the retailers that there is going to be some type of payback from the program it’s going to be hard to sell and he was afraid it may drive some of the people from doing business downtown. Mr. Ask said he was sold on the program in Culpeper because it put his small business on the map and the program was always there for him. Mr. Crimmins said there are factors and figures that show growth in other localities. Fiscal Year 2013 Budget. Assistant City Manager Whitley presented a brief PowerPoint presentation which covered positive developments and expected expenditure increases. (See attachment). Councilor Howe asked if the inmate ICE payments were being made at the federal level to the Regional Jail cost. Mr. Cameron stated they are not having problems getting paid, but they based the budget on having 250 federal inmates a day and they are having trouble keeping that number of ICE inmates in the jail. He also explained that the General Assembly reduced the per diem payment from $8.00 a day to $4.00 which resulted in a loss of $1.6 million dollars because of it. Councilor Howe also raised the issue of the Main Street Program he suggested that some of the funding from the Economic Development and Tourism be funneled into the Main Street Program to help minimize the tax impact on the businesses. Councilor Paolucci also agreed she said she had spoken to several people who felt the same thing. Mr. Cameron asked Council to keep in mind the budget that was presented by the Main Street committee was for 10 the Executive Director’s salary and benefits only. Councilor Howe said the functions that would be handled by the Director are some of the same functions that would be handled by the Economic Development Director. Mr. Solley disagreed saying that many of the other localities that have a Main Street program also have an Economic Development Department. Councilor Devine asked about the tipping fees and how significant the fee increase may be. Mr. Cameron said the tipping fees in the budget are about $40,000 and they will probably increase in the next year’s budget. She asked if there was any way to reduce that. Mr. Cameron said it’s based on the volume of household trash and he doesn’t see that decreasing. Councilor Devine also noted that there is a varying cost in the health insurance between the school employee and the city employees. The City employees’ pay a lot less in health insurance compared to that of the school employees. Mayor Tomzak and Councilors Ellis and Howe had to leave at 1:00. Vice-Mayor Greenlaw presided over the meeting after Mayor Tomzak left. Vice-Mayor Greenlaw asked if everyone was satisfied with the results of the sticky notes and Councilor Solley said he was concerned because Mr. Cameron asked that nothing major be added to staffs responsibility because the purpose was to narrow things down so that they could concentrate and get things done. Vice-Mayor Greenlaw addressed the issues of a staff person to manage communications and she wanted to know if it should be taken off since it’s been on the list and it doesn’t seem to come to fruition. She asked how long should they continue to promote it and Mr. Cameron said it’s on there because it’s a priority if resources are available. Mr. Solley said it’s a priority to put resources toward, it but maybe not right now, several of Council agreed. Vice-Mayor Greenlaw said she did not think this position should be filled until the organization structure was done. Several of Council agreed that it was a deficiency within the City. Mr. Cameron stated that the City tends to be deficient because 99% of the time the public information officer duties tend to fall on him or the assistant city manager. Staff and Council continued brief discussions on the sticky notes. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, the meeting was declared officially adjourned at 1:18 p.m. Tonya B. Lacey Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 11