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 October 12, 2021 Habitat for Humanity Update Schools The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a joint work session on Tuesday, October 12, 2021, beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers of City Hall. 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, Assistant City Manager David Brown, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Habitat for Humanity Update. Vice-Mayor Frye introduced Cassie Kimberlin, Executive Director of Greater Fredericksburg Habitat for Humanity. He asked Ms. Kimberlin to come and give a brief update on Habitat for Humanity and what the potentials were for the future. Habitat was currently building five homes on South Street in the Mayfield Subdivision. Ms. Kimberlin stated that majority of their work was in Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, Stafford and King George. They build homes for those who cannot afford housing on the private market. They target people who make 80 percent of the area’s median income or less and most who fall into that category are teachers, firefighters, police officers, retail staff, people working at local hospitals and many more. As part of the Habitat program those getting homes built must take a financial course and put in hundreds of community service hours on the single family homes. The homes are approximately 1300 square feet, two bathrooms, multiple bedrooms and a small yard. Three of the homes on South street have been sold. There is also land adjacent to South Street that they would like to build an additional seventeen 1 homes on and they have been working with staff on this. She thanked Vice-Mayor Frye for meeting with her. She said building generational wealth happens when you build a home. She said she would like to find out what the housing needs were in the different wards. She also offered to give a house tours of the latest homes they were finishing up. See Attachment I for more information. Councilor Graham told Ms. Kimberlin that he would like her to speak at their regional board who was currently looking at a housing grant and some of the members on the board do not want to accept the grant because they do not believe affordable housing could be built. Councilor Kelly said it would be helpful if their colleagues could see how it could be done. Councilor Devine asked if people who worked in the City would get preferential treatment for housing built in the City and Ms. Kimberlin explained that residency was dicey and they could not give preferential treatment. She said many that they help already live in the community but could not afford to buy in the community. Councilor Withers asked how many applications they get and how many do they keep on file. Mr. Kimberlin explained that because of fair housing they cannot maintain a waiting list. She said they work with people early in the process by helping them get ready. He also asked about the ReStore Store and she explained that they except donations of all kinds. Councilor Duffy said he was grateful for their work and many families can now rely on their families to help them transition. Councilor Frye said he was thankful that Habitat was here and he hoped the environmental issues would get worked out on the additional land next to the South Street land. He said there were many who said it would not work out on South Street, but it has. Mayor Greenlaw said this was keeping a neighborhood vibrant and she said people need to know what you are accomplishing. Schools. Assistant City Manager Whitley presented a PowerPoint presentation and the goal of the presentation was to give a broad overview of the school project and outline the upcoming City Council actions needed, discussion on the debt policy limit, discussion on various level funding options and a brief discussion on the other major projects. See Attachment II for more information. 2  Councilor Duffy disclosed that he was an employee of the Fredericksburg City Schools but he was able to participate in the transaction fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Vice-Mayor Frye disclosed that his spouse was an employee of the Fredericksburg City Schools but he was able to participate in the transaction fairly, objectively and in the public interest. Councilor Withers asked how they came up with the four percent and whether the city’s financial advisor had given that number and Mr. Whitley said he talked with the financial advisor and he told him to look at Norfolk’s policy. He said after looking at their policy and looking at the city’s they came up with the four percent. Councilor Withers expressed concerns with borrowing another $100 million and what it would do to the City’s bond rating. He also asked whether the million dollar hey were planning to use was from the fund balance. Mr. Whitley explained that the City would only use $500,000 and the schools would use $500,000 to make up the $1 million. He asked if the City was using the fund balance to balance the budget every year and he was concerned that using this money for the school would cut down on the funding for other departments and cause for a tax increase to pay for everything else. Councilor Kelly said what he would like the students that graduate from high school to have the opportunity to go to college or to get a good paying job and be a productive citizen in the community. He said school capacity was an issue and they needed to find the best way to deal with it. He wants to show the public that what was being done would have an impact and the students would have a good quality of life when they leave the schools. Councilor Kelly said the national average for the cost of living was 100 percent, the Commonwealth of Virginia was 103%, the City of Fredericksburg was 107.1 percent which was higher than the average in the State and housing was the biggest cost. He mentioned that the City was only 10.4 square miles with a limited tax base and he said they were unsure of what the economy would look like in the next 5 years. He said there were a lot of factors to consider. He said when the Council looks at the schools need they could not only look at that because there were also needs of the Police and Fire Departments. Councilor Kelly said there was also a great opportunity to put together a regional Workforce development program but the costs were unknown. He discussed the operational cost of the schools and how this would be even greater with an additional school. He wanted to be sure that all the students in the City would be able to get a good paying job, to raise a 3 family, and have a good time but there were serious challenges in the schools. He mentioned the student/teacher ratios and the average school size and he said if you look at the City’s scores they were not where they needed to be. He wanted to be able to tell the citizens that if the City was going to spend this amount of money on a new school that things would change such as a better dropout rate, tardy rate, increased scores etc. Councilor Kelly was concerned looking at all the needs of the City and Schools there would be a tax increase yearly of $0.06 - $0.07 on average for the next five years. He asked what the City was going to put off if this school was built. Councilor Graham asked what the expected capacity was for the new middle school and Mr. Whitley said he did not want to give out numbers because discussions were ongoing with the contractor. He said they have asked the contractors about savings if they did or did not include certain things. Councilor Graham said he was concerned about option 2 because the City had grown at a rate that has exceeded the forecast. He said this region was the fastest growing the in Virginia and he did not want to be stuck building a second middle school in a few years. He said this could be done responsibly and stay within the debt limits. Councilor Graham warned about using incorrect student/teacher ratio numbers because that is what caused the issues of overcrowding today. He also said a new school would not fix all the problems but it would go a long way towards fixing some of the problems. He said the kids in elementary school were only getting specials once or twice a month and this was not acceptable. Councilor Graham said these are they classes that keep kids engaged and coming back to school. He said without knowing the core capacity he could only support building a fully functional middle school. City Attorney Dooley said a lot of decision have already been made and the School Board has submitted an RFP for a conceptual plan for a middle school and they have selected First Choice-Mosley for the Interim Agreement of the PPEA. The Agreement was at the point where the City could get the information it needed. The Contractor was one of the best and they were problem solvers. The Interim Agreement is when you work with the contractor and design team and asked what does the different versions of the project look like, what does it buy, will it help to advance the conversation. 4  Councilor Withers clarified that the Council had not approve a $65 million school it approved a $45-million-dollar school and Mayor Greenlaw said there was a resolution supporting a school and it had a placeholder of $40 million. Councilor Duffy said the focus should be on what the here and now is and what the future needs will be. He said everyone was aware of the challenges of the educational system in Fredericksburg and to move forward to solve some of the problems does not include maintaining an elementary school that is too big. School improvement was about collaboration, especially among teachers and he said when you have to many teachers it’s hard to collaborate. He said that is why elementary schools were more successful when they are smaller. Councilor Duffy said he was also concerned about spending SMART money. He said the current middle school was the least able to be added on to and having a middle school very near capacity and to think we could survive that in the future would be difficult. He asked if the City would benefit from using ESSER funds to renovate. Mr. Whitley said some of the ESSER funds would have to be set aside according to the school’s rules, such as learning loss. They will need to spend some funding on the HVAC system regardless of anything else. The schools mentioned that if they work along these lines this would be a good use of the ESSER funds. The funds cannot be used for a new school. Councilor Duffy said he was concerned with capacity and he thought it would be smarter to build a middle school unless it could be demonstrated that building an elementary school would be better. He said he understood this would be a great challenge for the City but even greater challenges if it’s not done. Councilor Devine said being a member of the Capacity Committee and having sat through many meetings they were all aware of the possibility of building a new elementary school which was a lower cost. She agreed the Council was surprised to see the School Board moving forward with a middle school because that was not the understanding they had. She agreed the Interim Agreement was the perfect time to discuss cost of a new middle school if that was deemed appropriate but she was concerned with the $65 million cost. Councilor Devine was confident the Mosely/First Choice team would come up with a plan that will meet everyone’s need. She said she was not opposed to a new middle school if the price was reasonable. She said Work Force Development was a goal for the community and she did not want to give that up for a state of the art middle school. 5  Councilor Devine also spoke of how important a new fire station was to the citizens of Fredericksburg and retaining qualified personnel and a challenge was housing them in a facility. Vice-Mayor Frye said he was concerned with talking about school programs and what the Council wants to see. He said he did not want to see Workforce Development sacrificed. He also said he did not want to lose anything vocational. Councilor Withers said he agree that a middle school was the way to go but he would like to see something on a smaller scale with the option to build on later. Mayor Greenlaw summarized saying there was clear direction that if a middle school was the best then staff should work with the contractor on the design to reduce cost. She said the Council did not want to forget that Workforce Development was a priority although it would be an additional cost that was not on the table. Mr. Whitley said he heard that the Council would like to see more options developed through the Interim Agreement to carry forward with the Interim Agreement process for a middle school and more discussion would occur after those come back to the council. Councilor Kelly said now was the time to give the School Board direction and he wanted to see a total package, and he wanted the School Board to provide a way that the kids would be able to go as far as they want in school. He also said timing was very important. He mentioned the last time the City built schools there was a Council member included in the entire process and he would like to see the same. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time. Mayor Greenlaw declared the session officially adjourned at 7:19 p.m. ______________________ Tonya B. Lacey, MMC Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 6