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 Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session May 26, 2015 Rappahannock Regional Solid Waste Management Board (R-Board) Landfill Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, May 26, 2015, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall Conference Room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor William C. Withers, Jr. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Bradford C. Ellis, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. and Matthew J. Kelly. Council Absent. Councilor Timothy P. Duffy, Traveling. Also Present. City Manager Beverly Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. R-Board Landfill. Assistant City Manager Whitley explained that the R-Board was running out of capacity and needed to build a new cell which would last about seven years. The construction cost is about $5 million and the R-Board does not have enough money to fund it and they do not have the ability to borrow the funds because of the joint power between the City and the County. The City and Stafford County will have to borrow on their behalf but the R-Board has about a $1 million to contribute and the City and County will borrow $2 million. The City and County will issue revenue bonds using Virginia Resources Authority; the bonds would be secured using a pledge of gross revenue as opposed to net revenue of the R- Board. Projected income in 2016 is $4.9 million. The conservative debt service projection is about $700,000 total. Revenue bonds would not count against the City’s legal or policy debt limits because of the R-Boards pledge of revenue and an agreement would need to be developed between the City and the R-Board. 1  Mr. Whitley explained the two resolutions that were in the Council packet for consideration. Councilor Devine asked if there was a plan beyond the seven years and Councilor Kelly said they were looking at many options. Councilor Ellis asked would the City ever be able to go off on its own and Mr. Cameron said they have not had the time to explore any other options. Councilor Devine said she would like to see the City and the County to do more educating on recycling. Vice-Mayor Withers said that one of the things that was helping, was that Goodwill and Habitat for Humanity were at the landfill taking items that should not be in the landfill. Mayor Greenlaw said she would like to see a good way to convert the trash into energy. Councilor Kelly said on the waste-to-energy (WTE) he would rule it out, unless it was expanded regionally because it would not make since for just the R-Board to do. He said there are discussions going on with George Washington Regional Commission (GWRC) about this topic because there needed to be enough trash to make this viable. Councilor Ellis asked if there was enough trash regionally and Councilor Kelly said he believed there was. Council also discussed the coupons that are needed to dump at the R-Board. There are many that still do not know they need a coupon to dump at the landfill and they get upset because they cannot purchase them on site and they cannot dump their trash. Fredericksburg Area Museum. City Manager Cameron stated that at the last work session there seemed to be some agreement with Option 3 in terms of providing supplemental funding for the museum. He reviewed the attached Supplemental Funding Condition of Award with Council. Councilor Kelly asked for clarification that the City would not move forward with any payments if there was not an agreement between the bank and the museum and Mr. Cameron said that was correct and the Museum understood that completely. Councilor Frye asked about the collections and he wanted to know who would own the items in the museum. Mr. Cameron said that would depend on the gift agreement or the loan agreements that are in place with the items at the museum and it would require a lot of research. Councilor Devine stated that she would not like to see the money the City put into the museum go towards the endowment. She said there were two other issues she was concerned 2 with and they are: the collection needed to be secured and Market Square should be reverted back to the City. She said she was not in support of the $750,000 she would not support more than $500,000 at this point. Mr. Cameron asked for those that were in support of the $500,000 and those in support of the $750,000. Councilor Ellis said he had been trying to arrive at a number by speaking with the Chairman of the Museum Board. Vice-Mayor Withers said he would like to know if the banks were trying to collect on the museum items as well as the building. He was concerned about the City handing over this amount of money and they may not need that much. He said he would like to see their numbers before giving them money. Mayor Greenlaw said the proposed plan only allows the Museum to receive $500,000 until the next budget cycle and by then some of the answers may be available. Vice-Mayor Withers said then he would like to have an estimate of their construction cost. Councilor Kelly said Council should either do this or not. He said the way staff had presented the proposal was great and it seemed to be the best way to address this. Mayor Greenlaw said this proposal was what the Museum needed in order to have discussions with the bank and to get people to pledge their support. Councilors Devine and Frye was in support of the $500,000 and the others were in support of the $500,000 now and $250,000 later. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, Mayor Greenlaw declared the work session officially adjourned at 7:05 p.m. ___Tonya B. Lacey_______ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 3