City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, MAYOR HON. CHARLIE L. FRYE, JR., VICE -MAYOR, WARD FOUR CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. MATTHEW J. KELLY, AT-LARGE HON. JASON N. GRAHAM, WARD ONE HON. WILLIAM C. WITHERS, JR., WARD TWO Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. DR. TIMOTHY P. DUFFY, WARD THREE Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session April 20, 2021 Fiscal Year 2022 Recommended Budget Discussions The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, April 20, 2021, beginning at 5:30 p.m. using electronic communication through GoToMeeting pursuant to and in compliance with the City Council Ordinance 20-05, an ordinance to address Continuity of City Government during the pendency of a pandemic disaster. Council Present. Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Presiding. Vice-Mayor Charlie L. Frye, Jr. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Timothy P. Duffy, Jason N. Graham, Matthew J. Kelly and William C. Withers, Jr. Also Present. City Manager Timothy J. Baroody, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, Budget Manager Brenna Erford, and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Fiscal Year 2022 Recommended Budget Discussions. Councilor Duffy disclosed that he was employed by the Fredericksburg Schools System as the Principal at James Monroe High School but that he could participate fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Vice-Mayor Frye disclosed that his wife was an employee of the Fredericksburg Schools System but that he could participate fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Budget Manager Erford presented a PowerPoint presentation and she discussed the following: Work Session Operating Budget Propositions. See Attachment I for more information. Mayor Greenlaw included a proposition for the Virginia Food Connection she said this was a new agency but she believed it was important for families in the amount of $5000. Councilor Kelly listed several concerns with this budget; he did not like increasing revenues in one area and spending it and calling it a positive in the budget, he was concerned 1 with going less than the advertised tax rate for this budget and finally he wanted some conclusion of the school issue. Councilor Withers said he was concerned the City was losing employees to jobs that were paying more and he said he relies on staff to tell the Council what was best for retention because it was cheaper than losing employees. He said this would be money well spent. Mayor Greenlaw agreed that the raises were essential. Councilor Graham agreed with the raises, he noted that the City was not only competing with localities but the City was now a part of the DC metro area and the costs were real. He was looking forward to the pay and comp study results. He said he was also in agreement with the Virginia Food Connections because the pandemic had upset a lot of food security and he thought this was a good organization to make an exception for. Councilor Kelly said he did not disagree with the salaries for employees. He said the City was a victim of its size. He said the City would have continuous discussions on salaries because the surrounding counties would continue to increase their salaries for fire and police. He said the City had not established its focus and priorities moving forward and until those are established it would hinder the City’s ability to respond in future years. Councilor Devine said the City would always be competing to other localities but it was important to try and retain its valuable employees. She said, this year especially, the staff had been working under very difficult conditions, helping the community and making sure they got their vaccines and they had been going above and beyond and it was important they know the Council supports them. She was in support of the Virginia Food Connection because there were so much food insecurities. Councilor Duffy was in support of the propositions because he said staff has never been negligent when they bring things to Council. He agreed that there were some uncertainties on the horizon but these were good decisions. Mayor Greenlaw asked the Council for support of the propositions and all were in support except Councilor Kelly. CIP Propositions – Ms. Erford presented PowerPoint slides discussing the Work Session CIP Propositions and Budget Calendar. Councilor Kelly asked how staff had arrived at the $40 million estimate. Ms. Erford said the amount was increased based on current trends because they do not have an engineering 2 estimate. This number was only a placeholder. Mr. Whitley noted that the $1 million would help to define the estimated number. He said there were many factors to determine the cost of the school such as size, whether it goes vertical and site. He said those questions would need to be answered and that was the reason for assigning funds to the schools. Councilor Kelly wanted to know how much input the Council would have in moving this forward. Mayor Greenlaw said the City was supporting the school with the funds and they had already hired and architectural firm for planning and this should allow them to come back with good numbers. She agreed there needed to be collaboration on how this project moved forward. Councilor Devine said this was a working number and it was an estimate and the Council and community would be working with the School Board to arrive at this number. She also suggested that this would be a good opportunity for Councilor Kelly to be a part of the committee if one was formed. Councilor Withers said the City was simply approving money for planning in this year’s budget and he was not opposed to going forward with the planning. Vice-Mayor Frye agreed. Mayor Greenlaw asked Councilor Devine if she would suggest moving forward with a taskforce and she agreed but said it should be a collaborative effort. She said the taskforce should include Council, School Board and community members. She said the design of the school should be so that areas are accessible by the community. Mr. Baroody said the School Board and the Superintendent have shown a willingness to partner with Council. He reminded the Council that there was an existing taskforce and he suspected they would be willing to resurrect that taskforce. Councilor Duffy said he agreed that there needed to be firmer number and the CIP addresses the need. Mayor Greenlaw said they do not want to hamstring decisions because there are many options and in order to have good professional help this $1 million would help. Councilor Kelly said he was in support of the $1 million. He said his concern was that in all the other projects such as the previous schools the police department, the parking garage, the City has made the argument of the cost but he said this was not the case this time. 3  Councilor Graham said he would like to bring forward a resolution to City Council to bring schools forward not necessarily 2-3 years but he would like to get this school build as soon as feasible. Vice-Mayor Frye because of progress made to date shows how much work that has been done and the work the Council had done with the School board shows them where the City is financially and it allows everyone to have a better understanding of where everyone is. Mayor Greenlaw said she was impressed with the apprentice programs and she noted the City was progressing on several front. She said the City was doing an amazing amount of work with a very limited staff and she said workforce development would not get lost. Councilor Duffy said it was staggering the amount of initiatives staff was working on. He said the needs of the school stacking up was a reason for proceeding with the school. He said the needs were significant and letting many of these things go for so long was catching up with the City. He said it was critical that the City gets this right. Councilor Withers said he was supportive of the $1 million but he would not support a resolution that locks the Council in until there were more discussions. Councilor Devine said the need for English as a Second Language population, special needs population were needs for a new school and speak to smaller class sizes and quality space. In the past decade the City has seen a huge residential growth and it had been addressed with Band-Aids. She said the City needed to move forward and with community dialog and that has been happening. Councilor Devine noted that this one school would not meet every need but it would give some creative breathing room and possibly make some space for workforce development. The City would need to be creative with its workforce development because the City was smaller than the counties it would not be as robust. She said kids cannot be successful when they are crowded in classrooms. Councilor Devine explained that the configuration of schools was the purview of the schools and the Council should not have a say in that. She said the school needed to move forward. Mr. Whitley said the plan is to set aside $6 million cash balance to make a difference in the debt that has to be issued. Mr. Whitley explained that the proposition regarding traffic study included $200,000 in Fiscal Year 2023 for north of downtown and the funding would come from the motor fuels tax. 4 Vice-Mayor Frye asked how the traffic study would work and he also asked about the concerns from the Rising Sun Neighborhood. Mr. Baroody explained that there had been lots of conversations on this matter and the Planning Commission had been interested in one-way to two-way conversions in the downtown. There were four one-way to two-way conversions. He said the City was committed to converting Washington Avenue in 2023. Mr. Baroody said he would like to do the engineering of all one-way to two-way conversions at the same time. He said it was important to do the engineering of all them at the same time with the same consultant. Mr. Baroody also said with Council’s concurrence he would like to address complaints on the Caroline corridor. He said the consultant’s report did not see any significant speeding issues but suggested traffic calming measures were appropriate (bump outs). Mr. Baroody said they cost approximately $25,000 and he suggested taking it from the street paving money. Councilor Kelly suggested if bump outs were going to be added to Caroline and Pitt Streets he would like to see 45 degree curbs instead of hard curbs. He said the bump outs on Stafford Avenue had to be removed because they caused so many issues. He said the City needed to look at the engineering. Councilor Graham asked if the safety of cyclist was considered and Mr. Baroody said he would check into it. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 6:43 p.m. ______________________ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 5