City Council Agendas & Minutes

City of Hampton, VA 22 Lincoln Street Meeting Minutes Hampton, VA 23669 www.hampton.gov City Council Randall A. Gilliland Joseph H. Spencer, II Ross A. Kearney, II George E. Wallace Angela Lee Leary Paige V. Washington, Jr. Molly Joseph Ward, Mayor Staff: Mary Bunting, City Manager Cynthia Hudson, City Attorney Katherine K. Glass, Clerk of Council Brenda J. Vaccarelli, Deputy Clerk Wednesday, April 28, 2010 1:02 PM Council Chambers, 8th Floor, City Hall CALL TO ORDER/ROLL CALL Molly Joseph Ward presided Present: Joseph H. Spencer, II, George E. Wallace, Paige V. Washington, Jr. Absent at Roll Call: Ross A. Kearney, II Absent: Angela Lee Leary, Randall A. Gilliland MAYOR’S COMMENTS Mayor Ward informed everyone that Councilwoman Leary’s husband is in the hospital and she will not be at the meetings. She said their thoughts are with them and they hope Mr. Leary will be better soon and that Councilwoman Leary will be back with them soon. Agenda 1. 10-0162 Budget Work Session Ms. Mary Bunting, City Manager, said today’s meeting is dedicated to talking about the proposed 2011 City Manager’s Recommended Budget. She noted that the last time they met Council received a preview as they were releasing the budget the following day. She said she wanted to remind Council, as well as the public, about the procedure used for adopting the budget. The City Manager explained that the April 28, 2010 evening meeting will be the first budget public hearing and legal advertisements have been provided. She said traditionally, there is a brief introduction about the budget and the School Board addresses their issues relating to the school budget and then citizens are allowed to comment on the budget and then the public hearing is closed. The City Manager said it has been Council’s tradition not to provide feedback at that point as prior Councils’ have indicated the desire to be able to have the time to reflect on the City of Hampton, VA Page 1 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes comments that have been made at the public hearing, as well as the comments they receive via e-mail or telephone conversations. The City Manager stated on May 5, 2010, there will be another opportunity for the public to comment on the budget followed by the first reading of the various budget ordinances. She said the State law requires two readings on the budget ordinances and past tradition has been that Council would adopt the first reading as submitted by the City Manager, not because Council doesn’t intend to make changes, because most Councils make changes to the City Manager’s Recommended Budget, but to allow the full opportunity to reflect on the comments that are made at that public hearing. She said typically between May 5, 2010, and May 12, 2010, which is the second reading of the budget, Council begins to give staff the actual guidance as to the changes Council wants to see made and that is when they try to work that out. The City Manager said this year it is going to be challenging to the extent that when they make changes they will need to find other cuts because they don’t have additional revenue to put on the table to accommodate any changes Council may want to make. She said they want to make the changes Council desires to make so the earlier staff can receive the feedback, the better staff will be positioned on May 12, 2010 to give Council proposals for making the additions or changes Council would like to make to the budget on the second and final reading. The City Manager reminded Council that staff has provided Council the comments from the public at various citizen budget chats. She said that was done so that Council would have a good reflection of what people were saying regarding what they wanted to see protected or the things they felt more comfortable reducing. She said at the outset of the budget process in December 2009, there really wasn’t anything they could cut that people would agree with. She said everything they do, they do for a reason, because it has an important service, because it impacts the community and because it has an important constituent group. She said they try to prepare people for the fact there will be cuts but they understand that the things that are reduced or eliminated have real impact in the community. She said hopefully what staff has provided Council will give them a place to fall back on as Council measures the budget against that. The City Manager noted that if Council wants to add things back into the budget she would suggest they all look at that so they don’t inadvertently cut something else that creates a larger concern in the community. The City Manager said staff will provide Council with a comparative update on what other cities have done with their budgets and where Hampton is in a competitive posture with various tax rates as well as how Hampton looks when you look at the things that have been scaled back in terms of the number of positions and the things that were done with regard to employee compensation. She said this will give Council a good barometer of how they benchmark with other localities. The City Manager stated Ms. Chris Snead, Budget Director, will make the presentation and staff will address any questions or concerns and determine what additional data is required by Council. She reminded Council that it is the custom not to talk about individual employees in open session and suggested that comments relating to individual employees or specific positions be reserved for the Closed Session. Ms. Snead said she is going to provide Council with some comparative on information on how the City’s budget fairs as compared to other localities’ budgets and she will talk about tax and fee changes as well as personnel pay and benefit changes. She noted City of Hampton, VA Page 2 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes that she will provide a brief overview of the health insurance plan. She said the increase is 4.5% but there are some changes to the plan that staff will disclose to Council and to the public as well. Ms. Snead said she will also provide a comparison of the big five tax and fee increases which include real estate, personal property, sales tax, meals tax, lodging tax, and a comparison of the boat tax and how the City would fair if they continue with a $.030 per $100 of assessed value increase. Ms. Snead provided Council with the budget in brief which will be given to the citizens attending the public hearing at the evening meeting. She said they are also planning to provide citizens with a copy of the strategy section in the budget so they can see all of the different strategies used to balance the budget and all of the tax and fee changes that are proposed in this budget. She noted that the schedule of tax and fee increases were included in Council’s packet. Ms. Snead provided Council with a worksheet showing the changes that many of the localities are proposing and in addition to that how a number of them are doing in imposing a tremendous amount of fees. She said the cities of Virginia Beach and Suffolk are proposing to change numerous fees and staff wanted Council to have that detailed schedule for future reference. Ms. Snead also provided Council with comparative information on position eliminations, changes in benefits and pay from the various localities and the boat tax. Ms. Snead stated the City Manager provided Council a brief overview of the City Manager’s Recommended Budget on April 14, 2010 and the budget was delivered to Council and the libraries on April 15, 2010. She noted that the budget is currently posted online at www/hampton.gov. Ms. Snead said all of the Hampton Roads cities have released their budgets. She said there are two sets of information, the first provides an overview of what the cities are doing regarding their taxes and fee increases and the second set of information deals with what the cities are doing in regard to position elimination and pay and benefit changes. She said the only city that is proposing a real estate tax rate increase is Virginia Beach. She said she has talked to their budget staff and they understand the Council is looking hard at their recommendation for the real estate tax rate increase and the message staff is receiving is that it will not pass. Councilman Washington asked what the tax rate is in Virginia Beach. In response, Ms. Snead said it is $.90 and she believes they are going up $.02. She said all of the localities are recommending some tax or user fee with the exception of Chesapeake and York County. Ms. Snead said when they talked to Chesapeake, they learned their rationale was they had 15 people running for City Council and they didn’t believe it was a good idea to propose any tax or fee increases in their budget. Elimination of Positions Ms. Snead said every city with the exception of Portsmouth, Suffolk and York County is eliminating positions in their budget. She provided Council the following information regarding the elimination of positions: City of Hampton, VA Page 3 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes Total Filled Virginia Beach 200 134 Newport News 112 14 Norfolk 231 85 Hampton 78 56 Chesapeake 86 24 James City County 30.5 2 PT’s Ms. Snead said they hope the majority of these employees, locality-wide, can be placed in other positions within that particular organization and that is what each of the cities is working toward at this time. Furlough Days Ms. Snead stated that Chesapeake is the only city recommending furlough days and they have two furlough days budgeted and the furlough days are contingent on getting more retirement savings. She said all other localities are not recommending any furlough days. Pay Cuts Ms. Snead said Hampton is the only city offering a pay cut and there is a voluntary 2% pay cut for Executive Management Team people (EMT) only and this is equivalent to one week of pay. Councilman Wallace asked if the 2% was included for Council members. In response, the City Manager said it was not included in the recommendation because they didn’t want to take the liberty of suggestion to Council what it should do. Councilman Wallace said he was under the impression that Council agreed to do that. In response, the City Manager apologized if she misunderstood. She said they can make that calculation for Council. Councilman Wallace asked if his fellow Council members were in agreement. Mayor Ward said she was in agreement with that and she doesn’t know how significant it is. In response, Ms. Snead said it is minimal. Mayor Ward said she was not thrilled about the 2% pay cut for the EMT. She said it is a lovely gesture and a wonderful thing for them to consider doing but she doesn’t understand why everybody should give up a week’s pay. She said they have had to work harder this year than ever and will have to do more with less. Councilman Washington asked what the savings would be. In response, Ms. Snead said she believes it is $42,000. The City Manager said in the General Fund it was $28,000, but the $42,000 represented all the funds. Ms. Snead said the $42,000 was General Fund and 1% was $20,000. City of Hampton, VA Page 4 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes Councilman Wallace said he understood Mayor Ward is interested in doing away with the cut with the EMT and that is fine. He said if they cut the 2% for the EMT then he would like to put on the table a 2% cut for Council members undergoing the same level of sacrifice. The City Manager said they will go through the process and get feedback from Council and if it remains in the budget it will be applied to the Council members, if everyone else concurs. Councilman Washington requested the information regarding what kind of money they are looking at. In response, the City Manager said the information would be in Council’s Friday package. Raises and Bonuses Ms. Snead said Newport News is the only City offering a pay increase. She said they are offering a $500 supplement to all of their full-time employees to help compensate for a 15% health insurance increase Virginia Retirement System (VRS) Employee Share Ms. Snead said none of the localities are planning to have their current employees pick up a share of VRS payment. She said Governor McDonnell was proposing to veto this but they do not know what the final disposition is. The City Manager said the Governor vetoed it and it was sustained. Councilman Wallace asked what that meant. In response, Ms. Snead said it means the City cannot allow the employees to pick up a share of the VRS payment. She said that relative to the plan to charge new employees their share of the VRS, Hampton and Chesapeake are the only cities considering this option. Councilman Washington asked what percentage the City is paying for each employee. In response, Ms. Snead said the City is paying 5%. She said the total VRS premium percentage is 20.54% and 5% is the employee’s share. Councilman Wallace asked if staff has an estimate of what the number will be if they do not charge the employees the 5%. In response, the City Manager said because the City is likely to have a hiring freeze moving forward, they didn’t budget savings for it. She said it was more of a policy philosophical change and while she thought it was appropriate to look at doing that for new employees she doesn’t want to put Hampton at a competitive disadvantage in hiring. The City Manager said there isn’t a budgetary impact in the immediate budget, it would just help in future budgets as they begin to hire active employees, in the future. Councilman Wallace said this is a consideration that can be implemented at any time in the future if they need to do that. He said there is no immediate impact in that the benefits would accrue in the future and hopefully the City’s revenue situation and economy would have some recovery and nullify the need to do this. He suggested that they defer on this particular course of action. City of Hampton, VA Page 5 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes Councilman Kearney said he would like to look at more information before making a decision on anything. He said regarding the pay, he would rather give an additional 2% to the United Way than to cut it from the salary part. Councilman Kearney said on April 5, 2010, he sent everyone a four page memo of his suggestions and he wanted to find out how that came about before talking about anything else. Councilman Kearney said he believes a lot needs to be done where they sit down and talk about what they see as a priority as a Council member and what they do not see as a priority which will anger other Council members. He said he believes that is very important and he is open for any kind of discussion on any item. Councilman Wallace said what he is suggesting is not to make a decision but to see what the sentiments are one way or the other to determine if there are inclinations. He said this will give Council and staff some indication of where we are. Mayor Ward said this isn’t something that would cost the City anything this year. She said this is a good time to tighten our belts for the future and they often talk about how they are going to have to have a new reality and this might be part of our new reality. She said on the other hand, she believes Councilman Wallace’s point may be that Hampton doesn’t want to have to compete with other localities for the same team of talent and that somebody may not want to come to Hampton because the pay formula is so different and the philosophy may be different. She said those are two competing interests in terms of making that decision. Councilman Wallace said the other factor is in terms of the pay rate scale in terms of what the various communities pay, if Hampton is at a position where they have been historically, they are in the middle and Chesapeake and Virginia Beach generally exceed Hampton in terms of raw everyday pay for the same skill sets. He said that should be considered and view all those particular factors and that is what he wanted to bring out. Mayor Ward said she believes Councilman Wallace’s point is well taken and hopefully by the time the City starts hiring new people things will be better and it will be something the City can afford to do. Vice Mayor Spencer said Councilman Wallace’s point is well taken and he believes the City is in a fluid atmosphere now and he would rely on the City Manager to keep Council informed as to what her thoughts are as they move forward. He said he is trying to get his arms around a very difficult budget to begin with and he knows it is probably a good time to think about what the future will be and he is sure the City Manager is doing that. Vice Mayor Spencer said he is sure the City Manager will keep Council apprised as to what the other localities are doing so Hampton is not in a competitive situation. Councilman Kearney said the one thing he thought Council was told in the very beginning was they said they were not going to touch Public Safety and when you look at it we are looking at a decrease of 9 people from Public Safety and that is completely opposed to where he thought they were at the time. He said he is sure there is a very easy explanation with that. The City Manager said she would provide the information in writing to Council. She stated to clarify her position, they did what she tried to represent that she wasn’t interested in downsizing Public Safety that is on the street but that as they had the early City of Hampton, VA Page 6 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes retirement incentive program, there were some opportunities to perhaps revisit the command structure. She said in some cases in the Fire Department there are some interest in having a different level of commander oversee an operation so instead of having a Battalion Chief they could take the vacant Battalion Chief position and have a Captain oversee an operation. The City Manager said that is the type of thing they did in Police and Fire as they looked at upper command positions that were already vacant or were anticipated to be vacant. She said they have preserved direct service on the street. Councilman Wallace said in his review of that particular process as they drill down the numbers in Public Safety we still have the same number of individuals, 244 who are on the street, the foot soldiers, so to speak. He said the City Manager was very definitive in her explanation in terms of what was transpiring relative to the elimination of senior oversight administration kind of positions and nothing impacting the level of service provided on the street. Heath Insurance Increases Ms. Snead said almost every city is experiencing some type of health insurance increase and some have a huge magnitude as far as the percentage. She said Newport News is at 15% and they are passing that on to their employees. She said York County is actually passing on last year’s increase and the new year’s increase which equals 15%. She said apparently they paid for a portion of that in the current budget and they can’t do it this year. She said Chesapeake is at 9%, James City County is at 8.3%. Ms. Snead said Portsmouth doesn’t know yet what the insurance premium will be but they have indicated they are going to pass it on to the employee. She said Suffolk and Virginia Beach are in the bidding process and Norfolk employees will pick up 50% of an unknown increase. Ms. Snead said Hampton has a 4.5% increase that will be shared between City and the employees. She said the City will pick up 4.5% of the premium increase and the employee will pick up 4.5% of the premium increase. She said it is important to note that the increase could have been as high as 7% but staff made some changes to the plan in order to reduce that increase down to 4.5%. She said they are recommending a change in prescription co-pays from $10/$25/$40 to $10/$30/$50. She explained that $10 is for generic, $30 is the second tier and $50 as is the third tier. She said office visit co-pays are going to change from $15/$30 to $20/$40 noting that $20 is for primary care and $40 is for specialists. Ms. Snead said they are also recommending the change in the out-of-pocket maximum charges from $2,000 to $2,500. She said the reason for doing that is because they wanted to place the least amount of impact on the employees overall so the total cost increase is based on the utilization of the plan. She said if an employee doesn’t have to go to the doctor then the employee doesn’t pay, but overall everyone will pick up a 4.5% increase. Councilman Kearney said it seems discriminatory that the person that is sick is going to have to pay more and is probably the one that can’t afford to pay more. He said it is a lot of money for the specialists. Mayor Ward said the choice is that or the 7% and hopefully this will not have as big an impact on individuals as having to share 7% versus 4.5%. Councilman Wallace said if you stay healthy it doesn’t impact you. City of Hampton, VA Page 7 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes Mayor Ward said everyone has to get prescriptions some times but it is probably preferable to share the 4.5% versus 7%. She said the economic impact is going to be less for most people over a year although there are exceptions, she is sure. Vice Mayor Spencer said he believes the main question is does the City of Hampton have a very good health plan. In response, Ms. Snead said she believes it is a very good health plan. Vice Mayor Spencer said if the City has an excellent health plan that the employees are able to utilize that should be the concern, not when it gets down to the minutia about the administration. He said a good affordable health plan is going to take care of what it should take care of and he assumes it does. The City Manager said the health plan is a very good health plan. Vice Mayor Spencer asked if it was comparable to other community health plans. In response, the City Manager said it is and it compares favorably to plans that are out there with private employers. Vice Mayor Spencer said he believes that should be the concern. Ms. Snead stated even with the increase in the various co-pays Hampton is still in line with what other people would be paying. Councilman Kearney said he wasn’t suggesting that. Ms. Snead said she understood Councilman Kearney’s comments and she was just making the point for the audience. She said at this time of the year where people are receiving pay increases, it is tough when costs have to go up. She said they understand that and they are trying to minimize it as best they can. The City Manager said they did employee surveying to find out where people preferred the changes were made and they went through furloughs, pay cuts, VRS contributions and healthcare. She said specifically changes in the healthcare insurance rated the best out of all the choices. She said they felt it was more acceptable and as they picked those. She said as an example for prescription co-pay change, they kept the generic drug price the same and many times they have a choice between a generic drug and a brand drug and there is some incentive in this structure to have the employee think about the impact not only to their pocketbook, but to the City’s pocketbook in making healthcare choices where they have the ability. The City Manager said there are some that have to have a brand name drug and that impacts the employee more. She said she wasn’t trying to minimize it because every little bit helps, but this is something that the employees felt was more acceptable and that is why it was chosen. Councilman Washington asked if the increase is 9%. In response, Ms. Snead said it is shared proportionately. She gave an example of a premium of $100 then there is a 4.5% increase so the 4.5% increase is $4.50. She said the City would pick up its share and the City has a proportionate share of the increase and if the City picks up $60 of the $100 it would pick up that same ratio of the 4.5% increase. She said it is not a 9% increase. City of Hampton, VA Page 8 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes Councilman Wallace asked how this affects retirees. In response, Ms. Snead said retirees will pay the same increase. Tax and Fee Comparisons Ms. Snead provided Council with information regarding the City’s tax and fee structure because a lot of localities are proposing to increase a lot of fees. She said they wanted to emphasize the five largest revenue sources on the majority they didn’t recommend a rate increase. Real Estate Tax Rates Ms. Snead noted the only increase they are recommending is a boat fee. She said Hampton is the second lowest as far as real estate taxes are concerned. Ms. Snead said Virginia Beach is at $.89 and they are proposing to go to $.92 and Hampton is at $1.04, and Portsmouth is the highest at $1.24. Ms. Snead stated while a lot of the localities have higher tax rates than Hampton and many of them have higher tax bases, staff believes Hampton has done a great job with the money they receive from real estate taxes. Councilman Kearney asked why they look at Lynchburg. In response, Ms. Snead said the graph is usually done for the ten largest cities in Virginia and it was supposed to only include the Hampton Roads cities. The City Manager said they use as benchmark comparisons the urban localities and they look at Hampton Roads urban as well as the State urban localities. Councilman Kearney asked how Hampton compares with Richmond. In response, Ms. Snead said Richmond is higher than Hampton. Personal Property Taxes Ms. Snead said Portsmouth has the highest at $5 and Hampton is at $4.25 along with Newport News and Norfolk. She noted that Chesapeake and Virginia Beach are the only two Hampton Roads cities that are lower than Hampton. Lodging Tax Ms. Snead said almost every city, with the exception of Newport News, is at 8%. She said Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Hampton have dedicated percentages for their convention centers. She stated that Hampton has 2% of the tax dedicated to the Hampton Roads Convention Center (HRCC). Ms. Snead said the comparative data regarding Chesapeake and Virginia Beach is included in the packets provided to Council. Sales Tax Ms. Snead stated sales tax was included because often people think the sales tax could be raised. She explained that sales tax is imposed by the State and there is a State limit and the City has no control over what the sales tax rate could be. She further explained City of Hampton, VA Page 9 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes that Hampton, as a locality, only receives 1% of that and that is why everyone is at 5% and everyone is at 1%. Restaurant Meals Tax Ms. Snead stated that Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Hampton are all at 6.5% and Chesapeake and Virginia Beach are 5.5%. She said there is a 2% surcharge that is dedicated to the HRCC. Councilman Wallace said Ms. Snead used the term surcharge which would indicate that it is an addition to but it is not. In response, Ms. Snead said it is not in addition to. Councilman Wallace stated it is dedication of a portion of that tax as is done in other communities. Boat Tax Ms. Snead said staff wanted to look at what the other localities were proposing as far as the boat tax was concerned. She stated that in FY2010, there is virtually no boat tax and the City Manager is proposing a $.30 per $100 of assessed value boat tax, as well as tax on Recreational Vehicles (RV). She said the $.30 compared to the majority of the Hampton Roads cities is lower, with the exception of Chesapeake who is at $.09, and Virginia Beach. Ms. Snead said staff heard from Virginia Beach and they are not proposing to change their tax at this time. She said Norfolk, Portsmouth and Suffolk are at $1.50 and York County is at $4.00 for small boats and $1.00 for boats over 5 tons. The City Manager said staff is available to provide Council with what ever data is needed. She said if the questions can be answered verbally now, they are glad to do that and staff will also put things in writing, as Councilman Kearney suggested so Council will have the information for the record. She reminded Council that if there are specific things relating to individual positions, it is best to discuss those items during closed session. New Business Councilman Kearney said he spoke to Mr. Steve Shapiro, Director of Codes Compliance, and he would like Mr. Shapiro to explain the building code on town lots and so forth. Councilman Kearney explained that some time ago, the City received a new ordinance which was put on hold to define about buildings and so forth and it was held that they wanted to pull back on it until it could be worked out. He said in the mean time, he asked the Council members to drive down Old Buckroe Road from Mercury Boulevard and go just past Robert Moton Elementary School. Councilman Kearney said on the left hand side there is new construction on Chamberlain Avenue. He explained that what has happened, a person has built on an old town lot a two-story home that is very attractive and he is sure, very well built. He further explained that the person decided to change the entrance for the home from Old Buckroe Road, and changed it to Chamberlain Avenue and now he is only five feet from the street. He said he has also blocked off the view of the people behind him and across the street because now he is right up on Chamberlain Avenue. Councilman Kearney said he would like Mr. Shapiro to address what a person can do on a corner lot. He said this is a problem that he believes is just as important as the one where a person is allowed to put a driveway in front of City of Hampton, VA Page 10 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes their home in an old town area and they have a 15 foot driveway with two cars. He said the second car hangs over the sidewalk and no one can use it and it blocks everything in the area. Mr. Shapiro said the City’s zoning ordinance says if it is a lot that is 40 feet or less in width and was platted prior to 1960, that it is a nonconforming substandard lot. He noted the lot Councilman Kearney referenced is 30 feet in width and on the corner. Mr. Shapiro said a corner lot that is less than 40 feet in width and was platted back in 1960 they only need 5 feet of set back from the side yard on each side. He said this particular house that Councilman Kearney is referring to is 20 feet wide and has 5 feet on each side. He said the question he believes Councilman Kearney is asking is where the front door needed to be. Mr. Shapiro said the footprint of this building, whether the front door was facing Old Buckroe Road or Chamberlain Avenue, the footprint of the building is allowed to sit where it sits. He said this particular lot was platted so the front yard set back is from Old Buckroe Road. Councilman Kearney stated that was about 30 feet. Mr. Shapiro said 30 feet is a minimum and that is the set back as far as the zoning ordinance is concerned. He explained that the ordinance is silent on telling somebody they have to space their house. He further explained that it doesn’t say you have to have the front door facing the largest dimension. Mr. Shapiro said when Mr. Hardy Cash, Ombudsman, was Zoning Administrator, they let people build the house on that footprint however they wanted to turn it. Mr. Shapiro noted that in this particular case the builder has turned it so the front door is coming off Chamberlain Avenue which is a 5 foot dimension but it is the side yard as far as the zoning ordinance is concerned. Mr. Shapiro said the house is in full compliance with the ordinance and the footprint wouldn’t have shifted even if the front door was on Old Buckroe Road because he would have only needed a 5 foot set back anyway. Councilman Kearney said that is why the neighbors have asked him about this and he understands their concerns. He said if a person said they wanted to build a house facing Chamberlain Avenue you would have made them set back 15 feet. In response, Mr. Shapiro said if it was platted on Chamberlain Avenue they would have had a setback the average of the block, whatever that happens to be since this is a lot platted prior to 1960. He said if it is 30 feet or less and prior to 1960 other corner lots have to set back 15 feet because there is a special provision in the ordinance for those lots that are 40 feet or narrower and were platted prior to the zoning ordinance in 1960, the family has to have a 5 foot set back on the corner. Councilman Kearney said he believes this has to be addressed when they talk about the new building codes. He said he would like the Council members to drive by and look at it because they have created a problem and if you look across the street, the cars hang out onto Old Buckroe Road. Vice Mayor Spencer stated Councilman Kearney has a good point. Councilman Kearney said in the future, the code has to be constructed in such a way not to create this hazard for people to be able to get out of their driveways. He said they have to really try and protect the older neighborhoods. City of Hampton, VA Page 11 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes Councilman Kearney said he was not angry with Mr. Shapiro but he believes there is a problem that needs to be addressed. The City Manager said they will look to determine how it can be addressed within the State allowances. NASA Langley Diversity Day Mayor Ward said she returned from NASA Langley Diversity Day and it was a great program. She said there were representatives from all their different areas of the park and projects they are working on. She said Coach Herman Boone who was memorialized in the movie “Remember the Titans” was there and he gave a speech. Mayor Ward said Coach Boone said he would be glad to come to Council to help work out their differences any time. She said she learned that he was a classmate of Councilman Wallace. Mayor Ward said they had a booth from all the different departments and projects they are working on and it was a good concept and something she would like to see replicated in the City sometime in terms of everybody understanding what everybody else is doing. Closed Meeting 2. 10-0163 Closed session as provided in Virginia Code Section 22.1-3711A.1, .3, .7, and .29 APPROVED Motion made by: Councilmember Paige V. Washington, Jr. Seconded by: Councilmember Ross A. Kearney, II Ayes: 5 - Ross A. Kearney, II, Joseph H. Spencer, II, George E. Wallace, Paige V. Washington, Jr., Molly Joseph Ward Nays: 0 Absent: Angela Lee Leary, Randall A. Gilliland . 10-0168 to discuss specific personnel decisions and changes proposed in the budget process and to discuss the award of a public contract resulting from budget decisions and involving the expenditure of public funds NO ACTION REQUIRED . 10-0166 to discuss disposition of publicly held real property in the Buckroe and Shell Road areas and acquisition of property in the Fox Hill area where discussion in open session would adversely affect the bargaining position or negotiating strategy of the city NO ACTION REQUIRED . 10-0167 to consult with legal counsel regarding specific legal matters regarding the budget process and animal control and requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel NO ACTION REQUIRED City of Hampton, VA Page 12 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010 City Council Meeting Minutes Certification 3. 10-0164 Resolution Certifying Closed Session WHEREAS, the City Council of the City of Hampton, Virginia, has convened a closed session on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote made in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; and WHEREAS, Section 2.2-3712D of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by the City Council of the City of Hampton, Virginia, that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia Law; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City Council of the City of Hampton, Virginia, hereby certifies that, to the best of each member’s knowledge, (i) only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed session to which this certification resolution applies, and (ii) only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or considered by the city council of the city of Hampton, Virginia. ADOPTED Motion made by: Councilmember Joseph H. Spencer, II Seconded by: Councilmember Ross A. Kearney, II Ayes: 5 - Ross A. Kearney, II, Joseph H. Spencer, II, George E. Wallace, Paige V. Washington, Jr., Molly Joseph Ward Nays: 0 Absent: Angela Lee Leary, Randall A. Gilliland ______________________ Molly Joseph Ward Mayor _________________________ Katherine K. Glass, CMC Clerk of Council Date approved by Council ____________________ City of Hampton, VA Page 13 of 13 Printed on 8/24/2010