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 April 4, 2017 Closed Session – Insurance Coverage Capital Improvement Projects Fiscal Year 2018 Recommended Budget Review The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, April 4, 2017, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor William C. Withers, Jr., Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Bradford C. Ellis (6:52), Charlie L. Frye, Jr. and Matthew J. Kelly. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, Assistant City Manager Doug Fawcett, Budget Manager Deidre Jett, Purchasing Agent Lynn Enders, Human Resources Director Robert Bell, Economic Development Director Bill Freehling, Planning and Building Services Director Charles Johnston, Development Administrator Marne Sherman, Fire Lieutenant Jack McGovern, Deputy Fire Marshall Georgiana Athenry, Building Official John Schaefer and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Closed Meeting Approved. Upon the motion of Councilor Duffy, seconded by Vice- Mayor Withers and passed by the following recorded votes, Council approved a closed session under Virginia Freedom of Information Act section 2.2-3711(A)(29) to discuss the award of a public contract involving the expenditure of public funds, namely, RFP #17-0123, Medical and Prescription Drug Insurance Coverage, where disclosure of the information would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the public body. Ayes (6) Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Frye, and Kelly. Nays (0). Return to Open Meeting Approved. Upon the motion of Councilor Devine seconded by Councilor Duffy and passed by the following recorded votes, Council approved a return to an open meeting. Ayes (7) Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Ellis, Frye, and Kelly. Nays (0). 1  Resolution 17-24, Approved, Certifying Closed Meeting. Upon the motion Councilor Devine approved Resolution 17-24 certifying the closed meeting; seconded by Councilor Duffy and passed by the following recorded votes. Ayes (7) Councilors Greenlaw, Withers, Devine, Duffy, Ellis, Frye, and Kelly. Nays (0). Disclosures. Councilor Duffy disclosed that he was employed by the Fredericksburg School System but he could participate fairly and objectively in the decision. Councilors Ellis and Frye disclosed that their spouses are employed by the Fredericksburg School System but they could participate fairly and objectively in the decision. Proposed Fees. Budget Manager Jett reviewed the proposed fees. The Department of Community Planning and Building and the Fire Departments have requested the Council revise their fees. The Commissioner of Revenue has also included a request. The proposed changes can be seen on the attached document (Attachment I). Capital Improvement Plan. Staff presented a handout (Attachment II) to the Council and pages 1 through 3 presents the fiscal year 2018 plan of financing for the CIP and pages 4 through 6 are a summary of the five year plans and pages 7 through 8 discuss the utilities. Ms. Jett highlighted a few of the schools FY18 projects. The FY18 includes the roof replacement at Walker Grant which would be bond funded and a new project for FY18 was the HVAC unit at Hugh Mercer. This will be the first year of a four year replacement project. In the out years of the CIP the James Monroe track conditioning was in FY20 and the high school expansion was scheduled passed FY20 in an amount of $15 million. The cost estimate for a new elementary had increased to $33.5 million from $26.8 million and the Walker-Grant expansion would be about $1.1 million. Ms. Jett discussed the public works projects that had been revised since the recommended CIP was presented. The asphalt and concrete repair included an additional $992 thousand from VDOT revisions. Another revision was the downtown streetscape renovations where the City was pursuing additional funding from VDOT and it would require and additional $60,000 from the City’s gas tax. Ms. Jett reported that it is was not likely that VDOT would be participating in the Noble Way traffic signals and staff would be putting together a proposal about how to proceed. Other traffic projects for 2018 would include Route 3 signals and street lights on Fall Hill Avenue and they would be funded by gas tax and local funds. Ms. Jett said they would be applying to the Virginia 2 Department of Environmental Quality for additional grant funds for projects that would help to meet the MS4 permit requirements. Vice-Mayor Withers asked if the apartments had proffered some funding for the traffic signal at Noble Way and Mr. Fawcett said that was correct and they had hope to have most if not all of the City’s match to the proffers and if they were not getting any funding from VDOT they would have to discuss the status of the light. Councilor Kelly asked if the City would still have a cushion after using the gas tax for those projects and Mr. Whitley said it would leave about $1 million to $1.5 million and the City receives about $1 million a year. Councilor Kelly had a lengthy discussion on the Riverfront Park project and he wanted to know what the $535,000 would be covering. Mr. Baroody said the cost would not cover restrooms but they hoped to include the undergrounding of utilities but there were still many unknowns. He said they would be discussing this at the next meeting. Mr. Kelly strongly expressed his concern that the park may go over $5 million and that it was now broken up into two phases. Mr. Baroody reminded him that this had to be broken up into two phases at the request of Council to preserve parking. Councilor Kelly asked Mr. Baroody when there would be projects on the shelf so that when state funding came along the City would be ready and Mr. Baroody said he could not promise a time frame but his goal was to have something on the shelf by this year. Mr. Fawcett said they were creating a list and if the opportunity came along the City would be able to turn an application around quickly. Councilor Ellis asked if the Library’s budget request came with the proposed improvements and Mr. Baroody said it did not. He said the City would be taking over the maintenance and operations because the City could do a better job. Mr. Baroody also warned that in the near future renovations of the 3rd floor would be coming forward for approval. Councilor Kelly asked if the City had received projected operating cost for the new fire station and Mr. Baroody said they had put out an RFP to determine analysis on staffing requirements for today, in a City of this size, as well as staffing requirements 10 years out. He said they also asked for consulting services to help understand based on call volume where the station should be placed. Councilor Frye request that improvements be included within the five year plan for the original Walker-Grant building because it was the worst building in the City. Vice-Mayor Withers stated that this was a historic building and sometimes those buildings are turned over to foundations 3 and they have to provide half of the funding to renovate. He said the City could contribute something but it cannot restore everything. Mr. Fawcett spoke on the composting equipment replacement and he said it looked like the city would be able to avoid that cost because they were going to switch the wastewater sludge to the R-Board. Councilor Kelly asked Mr. Fawcett if there were any big issues coming up with water and sewer and Mr. Fawcett said what they had in the 2020 CIP was what they had identified but he said the issues in College Heights were still a concern. Councilor Kelly asked what the current status was on the cost of the improvements in Spotsylvania County and Mr. Baroody said he had just been briefed but he needed to have more conversations with the County Administrator. Mr. Fawcett mentioned that in the next decade the City would have to rebuild the raw water influent pump station at the wastewater plant and that was estimated at $11 million a year ago. Ms. Jett said they met with Spotsylvania and their CIP mirrors the Counties CIP. Councilor Frye asked what the $25 million covered for the Dixon Park Community Center because he said the cost were much higher and he doesn’t want that number when it really cost more for that was originally proposed. Mr. Baroody said he had planned to meet with Jane Shelhorse to find out more about the community center. Vice-Mayor Withers said in the future he would like to see projections of the operational cost for projects and where the revenue will be coming from. Councilor Kelly said the City needed to work with Economic Development and tourism to generate some funds. Vice-Mayor Withers said that was why he changed his position on the park because that would be an economic driver. Councilor Frye said he would like to see a TIF district to set money aside to build schools so that the City does not have to raise taxes to do these projects. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the work session officially adjourned at 8:18 p.m. _ _Tonya B. Lacey ____ Tonya B. Lacey, CMC Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 4