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 March 7, 2017 Council Vision and Priorities Discussion The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, March 7, 2017, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the Executive Plaza Third Floor Training Center. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw. Vice-Mayor William C. Withers, Jr., Presiding. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Bradford C. Ellis, Charlie L. Frye, Jr. (left at 6:35 and returned at 8:00 p.m.) and Matthew J. Kelly. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, Assistant City Manager Doug Fawcett, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Assistant City Attorney Robert Eckstrom, Police Chief David Nye, Director of Information Technology Suzanne Tills, Fire Chief Eddie Allen, Deputy Fire Chief Mike Jones, Human Resources Director Robert Bell, Budget Manger Deidre Jett, Community Planning and Building Development Director Charles Johnston, Building Official John Schaeffer, Transportation Administrator Erik Nelson, Parks & Recreation Director Jane Shelhorse, Public Works Director David King, Economic Development Director Bill Freehling, Business Development Manager Angela Freeman, Fiscal Affairs Director Clarence Robinson, Assistant Transit Director Rodney White and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Council Vision and Priorities. City Manager Baroody reminded Council of the productive offsite they had where they crafted a vision, future states, and priorities. These were handed off to the staff whom spent two days working through the priorities. Many of the priorities stay within the three year plan and Mr. Baroody said he looked forward to moving on them. Mr. Baroody said he would provide quarterly updates on the progress and he would provide a more detailed update in 2018. Employment Epicenter Priority 2 – Councilor Duffy said he agreed the small area plans should be addressed in an aggressive way but he was concerned with what it would look like. Mr. Baroody stated that the Council would get a look at the final project for Areas 3 and 6 on the March 21. Mr. Johnston 1 stated that until they know how the first two Area Plans were going to look they were not going to solicit an RFP for the remaining area plans. He said the plan would identify land use patterns and development. It would also show the market for the areas. Mr. Johnston stated that they would need more interaction with City Council and the Planning Commission on the next set of area plans. Priority 1 – Councilor Kelly said he like the fact that there were plans to be more proactive. He asked what was going to be different at the quarterly economic development breakfast meetings and what the expected outcome of the meetings were. Mr. Baroody stated that he had begun engaging property owners directly. He said there needed to be relationship building. Mr. Baroody stated that the City now has a new Business Development Manager Angela Freeman and this was the first time the City has had someone focused on business attraction. Mr. Freehling said they used to hold corridor meetings and because there were too many of them attendance was not great so he made the decision to do quarterly meetings and the turnout has been great. He said they have received great feedback from the first two meetings. Councilor Kelly stated that he and the Mayor had meet with a developer and the developers seem to have a different visions for the City and they were not meshing together. He said if the City wanted different projects than what it is getting it would need to put offers on the table. Councilor Ellis said the Council needed to figure out and articulate to staff what the Council wants. The Council needs to know what it would take to get businesses in the City. Councilor Kelly said the incentives needed to be used to attract businesses that the City wants and not be used for businesses that are already coming to the City. Councilor Kelly also noted that the City needed to upgrade areas to bring tech zones businesses to the City. Mr. Baroody noted that the City has the ability to make the whole City a tech zone and he suggested being strategic, targeted and focused on any potential incentives to the targeted industry exclusively. This would allow the City to say we only supply incentives to this targeted industry. Mr. Freehling noted that this item had come before the Council and it was first read but never came back for a second read. Vice-Mayor Withers said the City needs to start with what the City has and see what fits with what is already here. Councilor Kelly commented on item number 7 under Priority 1. He said he would like to know what went wrong the first time around. Mr. Baroody said he and Mr. Freehling met with Eagleworks and Mr. Jeff Roundtree Foundation as well as Dr. Paino and he believes they are setting up nicely to help them expand their operations. Currently they are at capacity 16 businesses in incubation and this is where he thinks the efforts should go. The Fredericksburg Regional Alliance does not have a separate effort on incubation but Stafford does and Mr. Baroody thought the City 2 should align with Stafford. He said they had created Aquia Innovation Center and they recently voted to extend their Board of Directors and they plan to offer the City a seat on that board of directors. Councilor Ellis suggested having the cost tied to the projects and Mr. Baroody said it had not been ignored they were working on tying the items to the budget as well as the CIP. Priority 3 – Mr. Baroody stated that they have been working on data analysis which led to a coalition to include the University of Mary Washington, Economic Development Authority and the City Council and he believes the Council would be pleased with what they have come up with. Councilor Devine stated that she would like to see Priority #20 and Priority #3 more connected. The Council agreed to consolidate the two priorities. Councilor Kelly informed Council that any new money toward transit would have to come from the City because there was no new State and Federal funding. Priority 4 – Councilor Kelly noted that creating a Regional Tourism Board may or may not happen because there were some localities that would not participate and he asked what Plan B would be. Mr. Baroody said they were working to build better tourism every day. He said he could speak to a Plan B if that would be helpful. Councilor Kelly asked when they we would need to shift directions and Vice-Mayor Withers suggested if there was a meeting with the leadership from the different localities there may be different result and he said he believes the City had the right team in place to get that done. City Manager Baroody said he had created a City Manager’s Tourism Advisory Council with stakeholders and partners and they plan to meet monthly for 12 months. The work will be used to gain significant information for the City Council about what we are doing today locally and regionally and to gain understanding of what was happening within the Commonwealth. They will learn best practices by looking at several localities in the Commonwealth. This Advisory Council will offer recommendations on what the City should be doing moving forward. Councilor Kelly suggested Number 4 should read Create a Top Tier Tourism Effort. Building Community through Cultural Vibrancy Priority 5 – City Manager Baroody stated that he met recently with Marty Wilder at University of Mary Washington to see Kline Theater, and the Digital Theater in order to understand UMW’s assets and he’s hoping this would work out to be potential shared collaboration on these spaces for the performing arts. He said they were also committed to working with the schools to have the same type conversations. 3  Councilor Kelly said the push for a performing arts center goes beyond the City and he asked should it be looked at regionally and Councilor Devine said they are not looking for the same thing. She said the City was looking for something on a smaller scope. Mayor Greenlaw noted that the groups that would be using it were regional but she was not aware of any coordinated efforts for a regional venue. She noted there was a sentiment from groups that would like it located in the City. Mayor Greenlaw said using existing buildings was a great idea. Vice-Mayor Withers asked if the City had considered public/private foundation type funding and whether it was worth considering and City Manager Baroody said they would need to get people excited before anything was presented to the arts community. Priority 7 – Councilor Kelly said the original plans included burying the power lines and building bathrooms and now it does not include these items and he said in order for the park to be successful the lines needed to be buried. He said there were always enhancement grants that could be put towards parks and that is a source of funding that could supplement the costs. Mr. Baroody said they have pursued enhancement grants as well as DCR grants but as of right now the recommended budget does pursue completion of Riverfront Park while knowing $5 million was the maximum. He said they had met with Dominion Virginia Power to get information from them. Mr. Baroody said they were working every angle to drive cost down. Learning is a Way of Life Priority 8 – Councilor Kelly said after speaking with the Superintendent Dr. Melton and Dr. Gordon he learned a great deal about the problems with English as a Second Language (ESL) and Special Education and Dr. Melton said the City should look at needing an additional $1 million each year. He suggested having a School Board-Council working group so this information would be given to Council ahead of time. He said if the City schools could do something regionally with the counties for Special Ed the State would pay for it. The working group would consist of two school board members, two Council members, respective staff, Planning Commission and Social Services and they would pull all the geographic information together. He said the Council needed a better understanding of what was coming in the future. Mayor noted that there were several meetings planned to meet with the schools before budget time and she added that the City Manager and the Superintendent meet regularly. There was extensive discussion on the school board budget and the format in which it was submitted. The Council said they needed more clarity on the schools budget. Mr. Baroody said he would work on creating the working group. 4  Distinct and Linked Neighborhoods Priority 15 – Mayor Greenlaw asked why the finish date for the community policing was in 2019 she would like to see it completed sooner and Mr. Baroody explained that the Police Department would be coming to Council for more funding for additional officers in the outer years. The department is currently understaffed and they are working on hiring to fill the current gaps. Priority 12 – Councilor Duffy said in the future he would like better promoting of pedestrian walkways along the major corridors. He said he understood they were huge ticket items but he would like to see them addressed in the future. Mayor greenlawsuggested that this be a part of the transportation solution and Mr. Nelson said that was correct. Councilor Kelly noted that any new VDOT projects are required to include a pedestrian component. Cutting Edge Transportation Solutions Priority 16 – Councilor Devine asked for clarification on item 3 and after reviewing Council changed the wording by striking out ‘lived’ and replacing it with ‘realized’. Mr. Baroody said this was in reference to the 3rd rail. He stated that he and Mr. Nelson already had a draft and they were ready to have conversations when the EIS processes were wrapped up on the 3rd rail. Councilor Kelly said he looks forward to having projects on the shelf because the City has missed many funding opportunities because the projects were not ready. A Proven Leader in Historic Preservation Vice-Mayor Withers said he hoped the City was going to begin educating people who were looking to move into the historic district so that they would know the requirements before buying. Mr. Johnston agreed that this had been an issue in the past but in the past year or two the department has been sending out letters letting residents know they are located in the historic district. Councilor Devine suggested that the GIS include a link that lets a person now they are located in the Historic District and link it to the Historic District Handbook. Councilor Kelly mentioned that he would like to see some resolve to the position of the City regarding substitution material. He also said he would like the Council to have a meeting with the Architectural Review Board to discuss what was working and what was not working. Priority 26 – Councilor Kelly asked Mr. Nelson where tier I, II, III property evaluation were and Mr. Nelson said that was done a long time ago and some of the properties were saved and some were not. He said the properties would have to be reevaluate. Councilor Kelly said he would like to compare that list by checking the condition of the buildings today to its condition then. Mr. Nelson said the survey was used to evaluate whether to expand the building into the historic district not on 5 condition. Mr. Nelson explained that what Councilor Kelly was looking for was a property conditions survey. Priority 24 – Councilor Ellis asked whether it really was going to take two years to figure out what to do with Renwick. Mr. Baroody said they could try to reduce the time. Mr. Fawcett said the priorities was a 3 year plan and 70 percent of the work was planned to be completed in the first year and they pushed Renwick back because there was no way to complete 70 percent of the work on the 3 year plan in the first year. The Renwick project was going to take a lot of work. Mr. Baroody said he anticipate a significant amount of community engagement on this project. Vice-Mayor Withers noted that this building had many deficiencies and he thought the building needed to be stabilized first. Mr. Baroody thought the Council would be open to public or private use and Councilor Kelly said this was one item the Council needed to give fundamental guidance. Vice-Mayor Withers said he would like to get through the budget to see what projects the City had to do before it determined what it would be able to do on Renwick. Mr. Whitley reminds the Council that it was not only the Renwick Building but also the School Board Building and the jail that needed repairing Green, Clean Environment Mr. Baroody said there were federal mandates on stormwater management and he said the City wanted to meet the mandates. The environmental department was moving forward on various fronts. Councilor Devine said this was an area where the City could work with the schools to ensure compliance and increase recycling efforts. Councilor Duffy said he was excited about the opportunity to expand recycling through the schools. Councilor Kelly said another partner was the University of Mary Washington and they have gotten really big in this area and they were having a symposium on trash and recycling. Councilor Devine suggested that during events there be a better emphasis on recycling and not allow non-recyclable materials, such as Styrofoam, to be used during those events. Mr. Baroody said language could be made stronger. Councilor Kelly suggested requiring recycle bins during the events. 6  Vice-Mayor Withers warned that major decisions needed to be made on the canal. He said it had been cleaned up but he said some type of drain pipe needed to be run because it was a health hazard in the summer. Mr. Fawcett noted that the canal needed a significant amount of repair. He said the Corps of Engineers would build what’s needed but the City would have to maintain and sometimes the operation costs tip the scale over the construction costs. Public Services- The Backbone of Our Community Priority 33 – Vice-Mayor Withers asked was there a lot that needed to be done before work could begin with the one-dig program. Mr. Fawcett reminded the Council that the City would need to work as best it could with private utilities and dry utilities but he said there was a limit as to what the City could make them do. He said they had rights under their franchises and he warned there were things the City could not do under State law. Mr. Fawcett explained the many dynamics which may be difficult to work around. He said funding may not always be in place at the time to allow the utility companies to do the work they need to do before paving was scheduled. Councilor Kelly suggested that the City make the utility companies do a better job with their patching after they have completed their work because the patching that some of them do does not lasts. Priority 35 – Councilor Ellis asked what the ERP Software consisted of and Ms. Tills explained that this was not just software it covered multiple departments (Fiscal Affairs, Treasurer, Commissioner of Revenue, Community Development, Payroll, Human Resources, Schools). She said they had been working with the consultants and there was heavy engagement by the departments. Over 90 responses had been received and they learned that there were over 250 Excel spreadsheets throughout the City tracking things and some department were tracking the same things on different Excel sheets. Ms. Tills said there was $1.5 million set aside for this project. Priority 32 – Councilor Frye requested the wording ‘Midnight Madness’ be included in this priority and he would also like to see the gun drive included as well. Councilor Duffy said the most important work is to try to bring minds together and he commended the work. Vice-Mayor Withers said he would like the wording to remain broad and not list specific programs. It was suggested to list it under item 3 under Priority 32, but it should not be listed as a standalone. 7  Priority 31 – Councilor Kelly said there needed to be more focus on education, fire and safety and public works. He said these items were a priority and they needed to stay a priority and they should not have been cut during the economic downturn. Priority 36 – Councilor Devine wanted to make sure the City did not let a piece of property go that the City would like for a potential fire station. Mr. Baroody said they were working on data to determine where the calls were coming from so they can make sure the station was built where it was best. Councilor Kelly suggested the City look at the opportunity of shared services down the road. Mr. Baroody said he would make the edits and bring the information back to Council in the near future. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the work session officially adjourned at 8:21 p.m. _ _Tonya B. Lacey ____ Tonya B. Lacey, CMC Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 8