City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, VICE -MAYOR, WARD ONE CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE 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 October 19 & 20, 2012 Council Retreat The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Friday, October 19, and Saturday, October 20, 2012, beginning at 8:00 a.m. at the Police Department Headquarters in the Community Room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, presiding. Vice-Mayor Bradford C. Ellis. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Frederic N. Howe, III, Matthew J. Kelly, Beatrice R. Paolucci, and George C. Solley. Also Present. City Manager Beverly Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Planning Director Ray Ocel, Director Of Economic Development Karen Hedelt, Police Chief David Nye, Public Works Director Doug Fawcett, Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Director Robert Antozzi, Senior Planner Erik Nelson, Budget Manager Amanda Lickey and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Others Present. Martha Marshall, Facilitator. Introduction of the Facilitator Purpose– City Manager Cameron laid out the purpose for the retreat, which is to leave with a two year plan that gives staff clear direction on the Goals and Initiatives. He said he would lead staff to implement the goals and initiatives. Mr. Cameron introduced Martha Marshall a Management Consultant. Ms. Marshall previously worked for Prince William County and led the strategic planning efforts for the County and she was instrumental in implementing the County’s successful budgeting for outcome process. She later became a consultant and is working with public and non-profit organizations. Ms. Marshall began the retreat by setting ground rules: don’t take anything personal; discussion around topic and not a person, free exchange of ideas with respect to all ideas, leave 1 baggage from previous Council behind, stay on task with timing, keep remarks brief, let facilitator control traffic and help abide by and enforce ground rules. Photographic Collage – Mr. Cameron presented a photographic collage of all the projects that had been worked on over the past two years. Those projects included the following: Riverfront Park, 701 Princess Anne St. – Juvenile and Domestic Court Building demolition, archeological dig of the courthouse site, interim Juvenile & Domestic Relations Court building, painting of streetlights in the downtown, and tree wells moved and replanted in the downtown, demolitions of blighted properties: 1200 Prince Edward St., 612 George St., 648 Stuart St., 1305 Charles St., 1407 Caroline St., 1801 Lafayette Blvd. The farmer’s market and community gardens, façade improvements in the downtown including: 822 Caroline Street, 1002 Caroline Street, 1008 Prince Edward Street, 1122 Caroline Street, 1601 Princess Anne Street, Olde Silk Mill, 422 William Street, American Canoe Association, 826 Caroline Street, 206 George Street, 401 William Street, 403 and 405 William Street, and ILM Corporation 600 Lafayette Boulevard, the Masonic Lodge, Art events at Market Square, Via Colori, Historic Half Marathon, First Fridays, Wine Festival, Music in Market Square, Heritage Festival Parade, Oktoberfest, Unified Development Ordinance, Eagle Village, Hyatt Place, FREDericksburg Regional Transit, paperless Council packet, new LED signalizations, staff tree planting with Tree Fredericksburg, Cowan Boulevard Trail, Heritage Trail, VCR Trails, Pedestrian Signal Upgrade, Transflo Ethanol Tankers Sidetrack Plan, Community Policing, Train Station, Paving improvements, Citizen Survey, City Shop, Water and Sewer Management Study, Redistricting of Wards, and scenic photos of the river and downtown streetscapes. Goals and Initiatives Progress – Assistant City Manager Whitley presented a PowerPoint presentation with a group of staff to provide Council with an overview of the progress made on the Goals and Initiatives of the last Council. (See attachment) Mayor Greenlaw asked when the results of the organizational study would be available and Mr. Whitley said there would be a report to Council in January. Councilor Howe asked was there any financial impact on the preclearance goal and Mr. Whitley said just a small amount of staff time. Councilor Howe asked if there was any reason to continue pursuing the preclearance due to the opposition. City Attorney Dooley explained that the community support was not there and there was no out of pocket expense. She 2 explained that the preclearance is a timing thing. You must allow 60 days for the Department of Justice to rule on any changes. Councilor Howe asked when the Marshalls report was being reviewed in regards to the enhancement of security he wanted to know how the manning at Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court was going to work. Parks, Recreation and Public Facilities Director Antozzi stated that the Sheriff helped to implement the security and it was being reviewed and no additional security was needed for the current JDR Court. (See attachment 3). Goal Statements - Ms. Marshall listed the following as a way to validate goals: the goals must be outcome or result focused, they should reflect Council and the Community aspirations, Council should be comfortable sharing the goal, and they should be clear and accurate. Councilor Solley stated that the goals not only govern and determine, but they should form a foundation and govern how the City will react. Ms. Marshall stated that the goals would also guide future action. Councilor Howe added that the goals should be realistic and attainable by centering on the fiscal constraints. Councilor Devine said this could be limiting and felt that ground work could still be laid for something even if the money was not there. After discussion council agreed on the following statements for each of the goals: Historic District Character and Vitality – Pursue and enhance the historic character of Fredericksburg’s areas and city center. Preserve our sense of place, Promote economic strength, and ensure the City’s continuing appeal to residents, business people, and visitors. Character of the City and Neighborhoods – Enhance the quality of the City and its neighborhoods by investing in and promoting safety, livability and a strong sense of community. Economic Vitality – Increase the prosperity of our citizens and businesses and ensure adequate revenues by establishing Fredericksburg as a preeminent national tourism destination and pursuing economic development and redevelopment opportunities in a business friendly environment. Sustainability and the Natural Environment – Protect, preserve, and restore the natural environment by encouraging sustainable practice and environmental conservation measures, particularly those designed to protect the safe drinking water, natural beauty, and historic resources of the Rappahannock River. 3  Parks, Recreation and Open Space – (no changes) Enhance the quality of parks and open space facilities, as well as recreational programming, to meet the needs of families, youth, and seniors. Public Safety – (no changes) Provide a safe and secure environment for those who live work and visit the City through high quality public safety facilities and systems. Transportation – Maintain and advance the development of local and regional transportation systems that are safe, functional, and attractive for the benefit of motorists, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders. Governance – Ensure that City government is effective, efficient, and open by enhancing the operations, interaction, and communications among City Council, staff and the public. Education – Support and enhance the core service of lifelong education, working closely with the School Board and other institutions. Strategic Issues - City Manager Cameron reviewed five strategic initiatives for consideration. (See attachment 5). Environmental Sustainability - Mr. Cameron explained that the City had a lot of deferred maintenance in the areas of the water and sewer system. Many of the pipes were 20 years old. The City has invested $15 million over the past 3 or 4 years in a variety of facility upgrades such as lower Hazel Run sewer inceptor, Smith Run sewer inceptor, City Dock sewer inceptor, Route 1 water line, Kenmore Valley drainage and sewer lines, major upgrades to the wastewater treatment plant and completed the repair and upgrade of three of the larger sewer conservations. There is a lot more work that need to be done and he noted that the last Master Plan for Water and Sewer Improvements was prepared in 1987 and he asked Council to make this an initiative. Transportation – Mr. Cameron reminded Council that transportation was not only about building new roads, but also maintaining the roads. The results from the citizen survey showed that overall most were satisfied with the streets. He said the City has a unique opportunity with the revenue sharing program that allows street maintenance to be included. He explained that the Revenue Sharing Program requires a 50 percent revenue match in funding. Mr. Cameron also stated that he was concerned that this would be a temporary change in the revenue sharing program so he thought it 4  would be important to take advantage of it while it’s available. He strongly urges Council to put this as a strategic initiative. Public Safety – Mr. Cameron stated that one of the goals was to provide excellent public safety and on the citizen survey, citizens were fairly satisfied with the level of service provided by police, fire and volunteer rescue. He noted that there was a need for higher level of advance life support service 24 hours, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Another issue with EMS is how frequent there are mutual aid calls in the City. Last fiscal year, the City needed assistance from Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties’ 465 times because the volunteer or Fire Department employees were not available. Mr. Cameron noted that there was a need for additional employees in the Fire Department and he asked that it be an initiative. Governance – Mr. Cameron stated that there are 429 full-time employees and 20 percent had been employed by the City 20 years or more, twelve percent have been employed 25 years, 23 percent of the workforce was 55 years old or older, and ten percent was 60 years old. Succession planning is an ongoing process to make sure there is leadership management continuity throughout the organization. He thought this was important and needed to be focused on and he requested that Council have the Human Resources Department and the City Manager’s office start working on this. Regional Approaches – Mr. Cameron stated that there were many successful regional partnerships: Central Rappahannock Regional Library, Regional Jail, Motts Run Water Plant, and R-Board Landfill were a few examples. He suggested other regional opportunities that could be explored: a Regional Wastewater Treatment Plant with Spotsylvania, Downtown Parking – structured parking on the VRE surface lot behind the old City Gas Plant, Downtown Library, which need expanding – a partnership could be created with Stafford County, and Fire Station III. He stated that Regional approaches take a lot of time but have advantages and he encouraged Council to think about additional regionalization. Councilor Howe asked about the Chesapeake Bay Act and water and sewer and where it fit in. Mr. Cameron said it would also be a potential regional issue. Councilor Howe stated it would be a significant impact and he thought it would be a local issue that would impact the City financially. He suggested including it with the Environmental Sustainability initiative. 5  Councilor Kelly asked if Council would be discussing the volunteer chain of command and other issues when Council discuss the 24/7 advanced life support. He felt it should be structured to recognize Chief Eddie Allen as being the person in charge. In regards to regionalism, he said he was working with George Washington Regional Commission to look at projects that could be shared. He’s also looking at revenue sharing for economic development. Goals and Initiatives Dashboard – Councilor and staff did an overview of all the old initiatives to determine if they wanted to remove or keep the initiatives. Mr. Cameron provided a dashboard with his recommendations (see attachment 7). • Downtown Revitalization – City Manager Cameron proposed to keep Council decided to remove it and bring it back with more specifics. • Litter and Trash Regulations – Council requested removing this item from under Neighborhoods and keeping Management and Refuse and Recycling under Sustainability and the Natural Environment. • Community Policing – Council asked to keep because they would like to do more with this such as having more police on the streets. • Ethanol Tanker – Council requested to keep monitoring this. • Train Station – Council requested to keep this item. • Impact Fees – Council requested to keep this item. • Lifelong Learning – Council to provide a more specific proposal. Council listed their new initiatives and rated them with one to four stars. Those with the most stars received the highest ranking. (See attachment 8). October 20, 2012 Council began by reviewing the initiatives both old and new and adjusting the wording for those needing clarification. After the ranking process for the goals and the initiatives Council adjourned for the day and decided to hold an additional session on November 14 to finish the discussions on the goals and initiatives ranking (See Document 9). Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, the meeting was declared officially adjourned at11:46 p.m. Saturday. 6 Tonya B. Lacey Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 7