City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. WILLIAM C. WITHERS, JR., VICE -MAYOR, WARD TWO CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, WARD ONE HON. DR. TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, WARD THREE HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., WARD FOUR Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Retreat October 17, 2014 City Council Retreat The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, October 17, 2014, beginning at 8:30 a.m. in Police Headquarters Community Room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor William C. Withers, Jr. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Bradford C. Ellis, Dr. Timothy P. Duffy, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. and Matthew J. Kelly. Also Present. City Manager Beverly Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Budget Manager Amanda Lickey, Economic Development Director Karen Hedelt, Assistant Economic Development Director Bill Freehling, Director of Information Technology Suzanne Till, Assistant Director of Information Technology Misheck Mundia, Network Support Specialist Joseph Cornelius, IT Business Analyst Janet Murphy, Public Works Director Doug Fawcett, Assistant Director of Public Works Marty Slushinger and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Purpose of Retreat. Mr. Cameron presented a PowerPoint stating the purpose of the retreat was to establish goals and initiatives for the next two years and to set Capital project priorities. In establishing the goals and initiatives they must be meaningful and achievable for the two-year work plan, they must set broad budget priorities for Fiscal Year 2016 and 2017 and they must recognize the constraint of resource availability. Mr. Cameron asked that Council look at the timing of the Capital Project and the dollar amount of the spending. Finally, he asked them to make a commitment and respect the process, seek “mutual gain results and abide by the decisions made. 1  Review Progress on 2013-2014 Goals and Initiatives. Assistant City Manager Whitley presented a PowerPoint and reviewed each of the goals and incentives and the progress that has been made on each. (See attached Section 1) Report on Incentives. Economic Development Director Karen Hedelt and Assistant Director Bill Freehling presented a presentation on incentivizing performance. They discussed the history, the philosophy and purpose, how it works, thresholds to qualify location of the zones, companies in the program, economic impact, return on investment, the return on investment breakdown, and return on investment by each company and recommendations by Economic Development & Tourism and the Economic Development Authority. (See Section 2 attachments for more information). Council and staff had a lengthy discussion on how incentives were handled and some of the Council expressed the need to change how incentives were distributed. Some suggestions were to use the incentive to go after a business and not use it to incentivize a business that was already planning to come. Information Technology Strategic Plan. Ranny Grubb, Consultant for the IT Department presented a PowerPoint presentation and he covered the following topics: Current state of the City’s technology, the vision for the future which covered the Enterprise Resource Planning, disaster resilience, virtualization, the user’s experience, Geographic Information System, the network, convergence of public safety, technology department organization, content and media management, transition plan 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018. (See Section 3 attachments for more information). Councilor Ellis stated that virtualization may save the City money on hardware, but may not save on staff and he also referenced the cost of storage would be higher due to the body camera equipment and having to store the information for long term. Councilor Kelly asked if it was an issue that Fire Station II, the Emergency Management Site was still on cable and Mr. Cameron said it was a major issue. Councilor Withers stated that he would like to know what the real cost would be, but Mr. Grubb explained that was difficult to do because the items become obsolete and changes constantly, therefore, the strategic plan would be a living document. Councilor Kelly asked about public safety radios and whether the City should look into this with the adjoining counties and Mr. Grubb said it should be looked at with the surrounding Counties. Currently the Police and Fire are on two different radios and Mr. Grubb said it 2 would be hard to get regionalism on this, but it would be great to have regional cooperation. IT Director Tibbs said she looks for small opportunities where she can share with the counties. Ms. Lickey also noted that Police and Fire were looking into finding ways to connect the radios with the Counties. Councilor Kelly asked Mr. Grubb to tell Council exactly what the City needed and Mr. Grubb said he was comfortable saying the staff level was where it needed to be but there needed to be flexibility because there may be a need for more staff once they get more involved. Mr. Grubb recommended that communications and compliance be rolled together in one position because of the size of the City. Councilor Kelly asked what the cost would be for the communication system upgrade and Mr. Cameron said it was in the CIP at $4.2 million. Financial Update. Budget Manager Lickey presented a PowerPoint presentation that covered the Fiscal Year 2014 year end, the Fiscal Year 2015 adopted budget, update on the Fiscal Year 2015 activities and the Fiscal Year 2016 budget outlook. (See Section 4 attachments for more information). Capital Improvements Plan. Budget Manager Lickey presented a PowerPoint presentation and she discussed several CIP projects: Enterprise Resource System Replacement, Dixon Park Community Center, Riverfront Park, Original Walker-Grant Renovation, Fire Station III, Renwick Reuse, Downtown Parking Garage, Central Rappahannock Regional Library Renovation and Expansion, Fall Hill Avenue Widening, Hazel Run Bridge Rehabilitation and Public Safety Radio System Upgrade. (See Section 5 attachments for more information). Riverfront Park – Mayor Greenlaw noted that there was a capital cost of $10,000,000, but she understood that the cost for the current design would be more than that and Mr. Cameron explained that when staff was compiling information for the retreat they were unaware of the recommendation to include the mast in the design. He said that would add an addition $1.7 to $2 million. Fire Station III – Councilor Kelly asked Chief Allen if the City was at a point where it needed to seriously look at a third station and Chief Allen said it was because they pull the fire trucks from downtown to cover if there was a fire on the western end and that leaves the downtown unprotected and vice-versa. He said if it wasn’t for mutual aid they would be in 3 trouble. Chief Allen explained that Fire Station III would cover Fall Hill Avenue as well as the Route 3 corridor. Councilor Kelly noted that GWRC had discussions on this topic. They took a look at all the fire stations in the City and the County to determine which fire stations could best handle each area, but the talks fell flat and didn’t go any further. Mayor Greenlaw asked had there been discussion with Spotsylvania regarding shared cost of Fire Station III and Chief Allen said they had, but Spotsylvania was in need of building two new stations. He said this was an opportunity to get the elected officials involved to see if they could assist in getting that funding for Fire Station III. Councilor Kelly said shared services had been discussed at the GWRC meeting and it went nowhere. Dixon Park – Councilor Frye asked whether the Dixon Park Community Center and whether the facilities could be setup to be an indoor gym and Mr. Antozzi said it could but the building would have to be much larger and it would cost a lot more. Mr. Frye asked why the facility was never built and Mr. Antozzi explained that many other projects have taken priority over the facility. Councilor Frye expressed his concern that many projects are being left behind while the City was moving on with new projects such as the Riverfront Park. Radio Upgrade – Chief Allen said they signed a contract with RCC Consultants. During the first phase with the consultant they sent out a questionnaire to fire, safety and EMS. The questionnaire would be sent back to the consultants to compile the data. The next step would be for the consultants to go into the field with Police, Fire and Communications and lastly they would discuss with Spotsylvania and Stafford to determine what was best for the City. Central Rappahannock Regional Library Upgrades and Expansion – Councilor Devine asked if the expansion of the auditorium seat could be increased above 250. Mr. Chris Clover from the library said the footprint could be larger but they would have to shuffle some of the other areas around. Mayor said 250 seats would be a good size and would be enormously useful to the City. Councilor Ellis suggested that staff make Council aware of what projects could wait and which ones could not so that they could make better decisions when prioritizing. Renwick Building – Councilor Frye asked how much would the City gain if it sold the Renwick Building and whether there was a rush to sell. Staff said it was unknown what the City would gain and Mayor Greenlaw explained that the building was architecturally valuable to the City in many ways. The community would consider it irresponsible if it were left ignored. Mr. Cameron also stated that if the City could identify a private developer to take on 4 the project the City would save $13 million. Councilor Kelly stated that there were two things everyone agreed on and they were that the City wasn’t going to sell the building and that the City would keep it and possibly lease it. Mayor Greenlaw and Mr. Cameron both said that was never agreed on. Councilor Wither’s said all options needed to be on the table. Public Works – Assistant Public Works Director Slushinger presented a PowerPoint presentation covering the mission, areas of uncertainty, CIP areas, Water supply system, sewer collection system and the wastewater treatment plant. (See Section 5 attachments). Councilor Kelly said with the water/sewer funds the City was looking at an average of $5 million per year and he asked if the current funds were going to be sufficient. Mr. Cameron said the rate increases will be 4% per year for water and 5% for sewer for all five years. Councilor Ellis asked what was going to be done with the Powathan Tank. Mr. Fawcett said until 2000 the tank was the main water tank, but when the plant was decommissioned it completely reversed it and now it’s used on the back end. He said because of the tank is larger than the use they have placed a mixer inside to stir the water. Councilor Kelly asked if Celebrate Virginia was developed fully would the infrastructure that is currently in place be able to handle the development and Mr. Fawcett said the City was in good shape for water capacity there was approximately 5 million gallons in the Mott’s Run plant and when its built out the City would have the option to buy 2 more million. The City uses about 3 million today. The sewer capacity was not as clear in relationship with Spotsylvania County. He felt comfortable stating that the City could take on a large water user if that were the case. Ranking of CIP Projects – Facilitator Levine assisted Council through a ranking activity so that they could rank the projects. The first priority ranking was in this order: parking 79.3; Fire Station III 70.7; Walker- Grant 68.6; Riverfront Park 66.4; Renwick 56.4; Dixon Park 52.6 Library 45.0. Council agreed to remove Library for this biannual. Councilor Devine stated that Dixon Park Community Center was more focused on indoor pool and exercise facilities and not that they were unimportant she felt in the private sector there was an array of opportunities for those items. She did say the indoor pool would be great, but when she looked at the priorities she felt the private sector was covering a lot of those needs. Ms. Lickey said staff was trying to find out what Council was interested in because it had not been in the forefront in a while. Mayor said there was a need for a 5 Community Center but Council needed to determine what would work because it would be in competition with other facilities. Councilor Kelly said the last permeation was that they would be moving the Dorothy Hart Center over to this facility with a basketball court but there were no discussions of indoor pools and weight rooms. Council Frye said a $20 million dollar facility was not his vision for this, nor was he envisioning memberships. He would like to see a facility that could be used for indoor recreational use. Councilor Kelly said he would not like to strike this off the list, but he would like to see it sent to the Recreation Commission to discuss and see what they comeback with. Mr. Cameron asked if Council was in consensus with moving forward with Architectural and engineering design in FY16 and building the station in FY17 and Council agreed with that. Councilor Kelly said if he had to choose between the Walker Grant Improvements and the Riverfront Park, he would go with the Riverfront Park. He said in order to break out the cost the City would have to start with the parking and then start working on the Riverfront Park. He had a concern with the $9 million cost on the park. Councilor Devine said she did not necessarily disagree, but there were other ways to achieve the mast so that it was not so expensive. Mayor said she agreed with the timing regarding parking and the park, but she said the park is an economic driver for the downtown. There is enormous public support and she felt it was better to move while the support was there. The Council worked with Mr. Levine on activity trying to decide the FY to start the projects. City Bond Issue. Assistant City Manager Whitley presented a PowerPoint overviewing a proposal to borrow funds for the several projects; he discussed he bond details, items not included, borrowing capacity, impact on water and sewer rates and impact on general fund. (See Section 6 attachments for more details). __Tonya B. Lacey ____ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 6  CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. WILLIAM C. WITHERS, JR. VICE-MAYOR, WARD TWO CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, WARD ONE HON., TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, PH.D., WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON., CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Retreat October 18, 2014 City Council Retreat – Day 2 The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia continued their retreat on Saturday, October 18, beginning at 8:30 a.m. at the Police Department Headquarters, 2200 Cowan Boulevard. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor William C. Withers, Jr. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Dr. Timothy P. Duffy, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. and Matthew J. Kelly. Council Absent. Councilor Bradford C. Ellis due to illness in the family. Also Present. City Manager Beverly R. Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Budget Manager Amanda Lickey, Arnie Levine, Facilitator and Deputy Clerk of Council Brenda T. Martin. Review and Rankings of Goals and Initiatives. Mr. Levine began the day’s session by asking Council to review the current goals and make any suggested changes. No changes were discussed. Council was then asked to review the major initiatives discussed the previous day and rate them from 1-10 using the ratings sheet previously provided. (See attachments). Factors to consider were essentialness, cost effectiveness, ability to be completed in next two years, and ability to provide long term positive effects to the community. Council was also asked to indicate what initiatives they would like to champion. While the score sheets were being tabulated, Council briefly discussed current baseball negotiations. Baseball. Councilor Kelly briefed the Council on the discussions and actions of the current baseball negotiations including discussions with some of Spotsylvania County’s Board of Supervisors. The City Attorney recommended the Council conduct any future negotiations through the City Manager. 1  Review and Rankings of Goals and Initiatives. The ranking of the items were displayed as points on a graph with the majority ranking between a score of 6 and 7. Two initiatives – expansion of the main branch of the library and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2% were singled out to drop off the list. Discussions continued on the initiatives that ranked the highest, making sure everyone was in agreement with those being at the top of their rankings. The top initiatives were: Develop two “neighborhood, small area” land use plans, Develop and implement a solid waste collection program, Maximize the use of VDOT Revenue funds, Develop an archeology ordinance and provide necessary staffing resources, Use Novak Report as a guide for providing systematic improvements, Provide assistance to Diamond Nation to develop a minor league baseball and training complex, Establish media and communications specialist role and centralize web content management, and Develop City Proffer and Special Use Policies. The items noted in red font were agreed to be top “must do” initiatives. The other incentives listed were discussed in detail as well. Council “Champions” were determined. This member of Council volunteered to advocate and shepherd the initiatives at the policy-making level. Historic Character & Vitality • Renwick Building – Ms. Devine • Archaeology Ordinance – Mr. Kelly Character of the City and Neighborhoods • Develop two “Neighborhood, Small Area” land use plans – Mr. Frye • Economic Development Analysis and Master Plan – Mayor Greenlaw and Mr. Kelly • Develop Baseball Stadium and Training Complex – Mayor Greenlaw and Mr. Kelly • Downtown Parking Garage #2 – Mr. Withers Sustainability and the Natural Environment • Prepare an Assessment of the City’s Water and Sewer System – Mr. Withers and Mr. Duffy • Develop a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Plan – Mr. Withers • Modify Solid Waste Collection Program – Mr. Withers 2  Parks, Recreation and Open Space • Prepare A/E Plans for Riverfront Park – Ms. Devine • Improve Access to Alum Springs Park – Dr. Duffy Public Safety • Provide All-hours ALS Capability – Ms. Devine • Upgrade City’s Public Safety Radio System – Mr. Ellis • Prepare A/E Plans for Fire Station #3 – Ms. Devine and Mr. Kelly Transportation • Maximize VDOT Revenue Sharing Funds – Mr. Withers Governance • IT Strategic Plan – Begin Implementation – Dr. Duffy • Continue Implementing Novak Report – Mayor Greenlaw • Proffer Policies – Mr. Kelly Education • School Enrollment – Dr. Duffy A detailed work plan with all the initiatives and champions will be brought back to Council for review in the near future. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, Mayor Greenlaw declared the retreat officially adjourned at 10:50 a.m. ______________________ Brenda T. Martin Deputy Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 3