City Council

409 S. Main Street City of Harrisonburg Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Meeting Minutes - Final City Council Tuesday, March 8, 2022 7:00 PM Council Chambers 1. Roll Call Present: 5- Mayor Deanna R. Reed, Vice Mayor Sal Romero, Council Member Christopher B. Jones, Council Member George Hirschmann and Council Member Laura Dent Also Present: 5- Deputy City Manager Ande Banks, City Attorney Chris Brown, City Clerk Pam Ulmer, Police Chief Kelley Warner and Mayor Matthew Tobia 2. Invocation Council Member Hirschmann offered the invocation. 3. Pledge of Allegiance Mayor Reed led the Pledge of Allegiance 4. Special Recognition 4.a. Proclamation recognizing Governmental Purchasing Month 2022 Mayor Reed presented a proclamation recognizing March 2022 as Governmental Purchasing Month to Nicole Robertson, Procurement Specialist Senior, Purchasing Department Mrs. Nicole Robertson thanked Council for the recognition and stated she is proud of the dedicated team across all city departments that support the city ’s purchasing endeavors. 4.b. Proclamation recognizing March 14, -20, 2022 as Brain Awareness Week Mayor Reed presented a proclamation recognizing Brain Awareness Week March 14-March 20, 2022, to Pat Haden of the Pilot Club of Harrisonburg. Ms. Haden thanked Council and the community for the support over the years. She stated the very first major project the club had was to install a wheelchair ramp to the entrance of the library on Newman Avenue and stated she looks forward to serving the city in the future. 5. Consent Agenda (any item placed on the consent agenda shall be removed and taken up as a separate matter, if so requested by any member of Council, otherwise all items will be voted on with one (1) motion) City of Harrisonburg Page 1 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 A motion was made by Vice Mayor Romero, seconded by Council Member Hirschmann, to approve the consent agenda as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 5.a. Minutes from the February 22, 2022 City Council Meeting These minutes were approved on the consent agenda. 5.b. Consider a request from Bluestone Land Company, Inc. with representatives Woda Cooper Development, Inc. to rezone a +/- 4.7-acre property on Lucy Drive The rezoning request was approved on second reading 6. Public Hearings 6.a. Consider a request from Joyce A. Shultz and Joyce A. Shultz MD Living Trust with representatives Bluestone Land LLC to rezone 23 parcels totaling +/- 6.48-acres located at East Market Street and Franklin Street Adam Fletcher, director of Community Development, stated agenda items 6a and 6b are presented together. He stated this request is to rezone 23 parcels, approximately 6.48 acres, from the B-2 and R-2 District to R-5C and for a special use permit to allow multi-family dwellings of more than 12 units per building. He reviewed the current zoning map, the surrounding properties, long term plans for the area, the previous use of the area, and the concept plan for the property. He stated the plan is to extend Franklin Street to E. Market Street and noted although the developer wanted to close a portion of the existing street, staff did not support it because they wanted to create an interconnected network of streets which provides for accessibility to destinations. He stated the applicant re-worked their plan and agreed to open Franklin Street all the way through. He reviewed the proffers submitted by the applicant: 1. Occupancy Restrictions and Parking 2. Road and Sidewalk Improvements 3. Parking Lot Placement 4. Density and Unit Mix 5. Affordable Housing Council Member Jones questioned tree placement. Mr. Fletcher stated the tree placement has to do with the elevational changes on the site and site design /layout. Council Member Jones questioned crosswalk locations. Mr. Fletcher reviewed the crosswalk locations and styles. Discussion took place regarding where Council Member Jones would like to see crosswalks. City of Harrisonburg Page 2 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 Mr. Fletcher noted the proffer for affordable housing is not to control the rental price but to reserve 5% (8 units) of the maximum number of units for households that fit the 80% ($54,700) or below the Area Median Income (AMI) category for 15 years. He stated the applicant requests to have the project construction commences within 36 months and staff has no concern of that. He reviewed items that staff would have liked to have seen on this project but were not proffered: · Small open space for residence · Playground or other amenity · Grading specific areas for potential multi-use paths · More street trees He stated staff believes the accommodations that were made by the applicant are helpful and staff is grateful and could help the community with more housing choices. He stated staff and Planning Commission (6-1) recommend approval of both requests with the following condition: · The special use shall be established, or any construction authorized shall be commenced and diligently pursued within 36 months from the approval date of the special use permit. At 7:27 p.m., Mayor Reed closed the regular session and called the first and second public hearings to order. A notice appeared in the Daily News-Record on Monday, February 21, 2022, and Monday, February 28, 2022. William Park, manager of Bluestone Land, LLC, representative of property owner, presented the following for the project known as The Edge: · Project Overview · Site Plan · Transportation and Pedestrian Improvements · Green building · Housing Mismatch · Conceptual Rendering · Fiscal Impact Summary He stated they will work with staff on stormwater quality and quantity and noted the 8 affordable housing units will fall under the 80% AMI. Mayor Reed asked what the rental price would be for a one-bedroom unit under the affordable housing. Mr. Park stated the rental for a one-bedroom unit would be $1,300. Mayor Reed stated the area in which this project is located is truly an affordable housing area where families are forced to live in smaller units that could benefit from an opportunity to have true affordable housing but can’t afford to live in the units at that price. Mr. Park stated this is in a qualified census tract which means 50% of the people who live in that census tract are at the 60% or less AMI and 30% of those people are at poverty level. He stated what the applicant isn’t doing is concentrating more affordable housing in one City of Harrisonburg Page 3 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 area but bringing in a higher end product which could raise property values through the whole area. Mayor Reed stated by saying this property has affordable housing is not true, it is not affordable. Mr. Park continued to review the project, noting some units will include parking garages. Council Member Dent stated she really liked the potential of the units that have the garages can use them for electrical vehicle charging. Council Member Jones stated an additional raised crosswalk (for a total of 3) should be placed at the end of the development so that an extra burden on the city to have to come back and do a traffic calming program is avoided. He asked for additional trees as well. Mr. Park stated the developer’s reputation is to put more trees in than normal and it has been difficult to adjust to the road going through the property, but they will do all they can to get the crosswalks installed as requested. Mayor Reed stated we need the developer to state what they are doing to avoid speeding vehicles and reduced flow of traffic through the neighborhood. Mr. Park reviewed the raised crosswalks currently planned, but the actual location may change depending upon stormwater runoff. Further discussion took place regarding the number of crosswalks and their location. Vice Mayor Romero stated his concern is that the streets are every narrow and the flow of traffic through the neighborhood will be more than they have now. The following residents spoke against the development and their concerns: Sarah Showalter, 550 Franklin Street: safety for bicycle and pedestrian traffic due to the influx of vehicle traffic; raised property values equals possible raised rents; non-affordable affordable housing. Kim Diehl, 611 Franklin Street: safety issues due to traffic increase; lack of a traffic analysis; unaffordability of the units. Laurie Yoder, 618 Franklin Street: the removal of green space, removal of animal habitat. Jessica Filenzen 604 Franklin Street: concerns on traffic on and off E. Market St. and Reservoir Street; stormwater runoff, increase in property value means increase in rent; removal of animal habitat and green space. Terry Luginbyhl, 608 Franklin Street; concerns of change of skyline with four story units and the blockage of some neighborhood views. Panayotis “Poti” Giannakouros, unaffordable housing; removal of greenspace. Jeff Bradfield, owner of the Rolling Hills Antique shopping center: concerned about overflow parking due to the lack of sufficient parking lots on development; stormwater runoff; traffic concerns. City of Harrisonburg Page 4 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 The following resident spoke in favor of the development: Grayson Fontaine: increase in housing supply is needed. At 8:28 p.m., Mayor Reed closed the public hearing and the regular session reconvened. Mayor Reed asked what the discussion was at Planning Commission and the reasons behind the votes. Council Member Dent stated Commissioner Baugh had a good perspective about we could probably get something better, but housing is needed now, and the biggest concern seemed to be the traffic impact to the neighborhood. She agreed with Council Member Jones that anything that can be done to slow down the traffic and deter cut through traffic should be done. She sees this development as unique due to the possibility of EV charging stations in the garages, and she doesn’t feel this property offers true affordable housing. Vice Mayor Romero stated we all recognize we need housing in the city, and we need housing that people can afford. There is a difference between housing people can afford and affordable housing. He stated there is always the theory that people will move into these new housing units making other, perhaps more affordable housing available, but he doesn’t feel that a project like this will address the need we have. He stated he likes the looks of it, but the affordable housing proffer is not enough for him . He stated it could hurt the neighborhood and the people that live there. Council Member Hirschmann stated this is a good-looking project, satisfies some needs, but it comes with a lot of bumps, the traffic and the affordability of the units are concerns. He stated he heard the concerns from those that spoke and the many emails and phone calls he has received, and he thinks a lot needs to go into this project to satisfy some of those concerns. Council Member Jones stated we live in a capitalistic society, the term affordable housing creates a false perception, if there weren’t people who could afford to pay $1,300 a month the developer would not be wanting to do this project. He stated with the amount of tech jobs coming into the city, the growth at JMU and Sentara, the housing demand is there. There are people buying houses and cars who can afford them, but there are people who are struggling every single day to make it, he struggles to look strictly through the lens of those that have less because it is unfair and not truly a city for all. We have people moving into the county that should be living in the city, we should be attracting those people who will spend money and work in the city. He spoke on the period of Great Resignation, we need to continue to increase our tax base while our city is growing, if every move we make is going to be geared towards the ALICE population or those at poverty then how can we honestly say that we are a city for all if the working class, middle class, developers and investors are not encouraged to come to the city. City of Harrisonburg Page 5 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 Mayor Reed stated we can talk circles on affordable housing, but when you throw in that term, we are thinking one way and that isn’t always the case. She stated she walked the neighborhood of this area, and she sees the concerns of the traffic and she wants to make sure that the developer is going to be a good neighbor to that area and do all that is needed to calm the traffic through that area. She stated she would like to see the affordable housing proffer actually be affordable housing, but we do need housing of all types according to the housing study. Council Member Jones stated he wants to make sure that we fulfill the entire spectrum of housing needs and hopes to see something for seniors and veterans next. He stated he feels once every category has been met then we can start to be choosy as to what we want. Vice Mayor Romero stated there are people that have little to no options and those that have multiple options, and he feels this project benefits those who have multiple options, and he feels we have the ability to mold our city so that more people have more options. Additional discussion took place regarding housing needs. A motion was made by Council Member Dent seconded by Council Member Jones, to approve the rezoning request as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: 6.b. Consider a request from Joyce A. Shultz and Joyce A. Shultz MD Living Trust with representatives Bluestone Land LLC for a special use permit to allow multi -family dwellings of more than 12 units per building in the R-5 district at 765 East Market Street and properties along Franklin Street presented with agenda item 6a A motion was made by Council Member Dent seconded by Council Member Jones, to approve the special use request with staff recommended conditions, as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: Yes: 4- Mayor Reed, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 1- Vice Mayor Romero 6.c. Consider a request from Mountain View Apartments LLC with representatives Harrisonburg Community Health Center to rezone 1381 Little Sorrell Drive Adam Fletcher, director of Community Development, presented a rezoning request for an undeveloped parcel located at 1381 Little Sorrel Drive, from R3C to B2C with submitted proffers. He reviewed the long-term plans for the area, the surrounding properties, and the proffers offered. He stated staff and Planning Commission (7-0) recommended approval of this rezoning request. City of Harrisonburg Page 6 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 At 9:02 p.m., Mayor Reed closed the regular session and called the third public hearing to order. A notice appeared in the Daily News-Record on Monday, February 21, 2022, and Monday, February 28, 2022. Jon Ernest, Monteverde Engineering and Design Studio, representative for the applicant, stated he appreciated staff’s accessibility throughout this process, the project will not negatively impact the neighborhood, and thanked Council for reviewing this request. Council Member Dent asked about the trees that will be planted. Mr. Ernest stated upright trees will be installed which would avoid sight distance issues. Vice Mayor Romero asked if the need for the parking is due to increase in business at the Harrisonburg Community Health Center. Beth Moseley, director of the Health Center stated they have a huge growth, the current parking is not safe for the employees, the patients or the neighborhood. At 9:08 p.m., Mayor Reed closed the public hearing and the regular session reconvened. A motion was made by Council Member Dent seconded by Council Member Hirschmann, to approve the rezoning request with staff recommended conditions, as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 6.d. Consider amending Sections 10-3-25(14) and Section 10-3-25.1(3) and enacting 10-3-25(29) - off-street vehicle and bicycle parking requirements of the Code of Ordinances, Harrisonburg, Virginia Adam Fletcher, director of Community Development, presented a request to amend Article G Section 10-3-25 of the Code of Ordinance, to differentiate between community buildings and community centers. He reviewed the definition of both and reviewed the recommended amendments to the current ordinances related to parking. He stated staff and Planning Commission (7-0) recommended approval of this request. At 9:14 p.m., Mayor Reed closed the regular session and called the fifth public hearing to order. A notice appeared in the Daily News-Record on Monday, February 21, 2022, and Monday, February 28, 2022. There being no comments received, Mayor Reed closed the public hearing at 9:14 p.m., and the regular session reconvened. City of Harrisonburg Page 7 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 A motion was made by Council Member Dent, seconded by Vice Mayor Romero, to approve the ordinance amendments as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 6.e. Election ordinance amendments for sections 1-1-11 and 1-1-12 to adopt a new City precinct map and move the JMU polling location Mark Finks, registrar, presented a request to amend Sections 1-11-11 to adopt new ward boundaries, 1-11-12 new precinct boundaries, and changing the polling location at JMU. He reviewed the redistricting process, the proposed new ward and precinct map, the spaces reviewed at JMU, and noted Godwin Hall received the majority of votes (2-1) to be the new polling location at JMU. Council Member Jones asked about the ADA issues at Godwin Hall. Mr. Finks stated the Godwin Hall meets the minimum ADA requirements, not construction is required, signage and specific parking designations for curb side voting will be required and JMU will take care of that. Council Member Dent stated according to the weighted scoring the convenience to the students should be the most important, and it seems that Godwin Hall received a five in that category. Vice Mayor Romero asked what the notifications of the change of precincts will look like. Mr. Finks stated multiple letters will be sent to all those affected. At 9:37 p.m., Mayor Reed closed the regular session and called the sixth public hearing to order. A notice appeared in the Daily News-Record on Saturday, February 26, 2022, and Saturday, March 5, 2022 Grayson Fontaine, vice president and Kristin Rhodenizer, chief of staff, of the JMU College Democrats stated they represents a bipartisan coalition of students comprised of the College Democrats, College Republicans and members of the JMU Center for Civic Engagement and they endorse Godwin Hall as precinct 105’s new voting location and reviewed the benefits of the location. At 9:39 p.m., Mayor Reed closed the public hearing and the regular session reconvened. A motion was made by Council Member Jones, seconded by Vice Mayor Romero, to approve the ordinance amendments and the JMU voting location as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 City of Harrisonburg Page 8 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 Recess At 9:40 p.m., Mayor Reed called the meeting into recess. At 9:51 p.m., Mayor Reed called the meeting back into session. 7. Regular Items 7.a. Consider a request from Arturo Mendez to preliminarily subdivide 723 North Liberty Street Adam Fletcher, director of Community Development, presented a request a subdivision variance amendment for property located at 723 North Liberty Street. He stated the property abuts an alley and reviewed the property, the surrounding properties, the long-term use for the area, He stated staff and Planning Commission (7-0) recommended approval of this request. A motion was made by Council Member Jones, seconded by Council Member Hirschmann, to request as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 7.b. Consider approving the write-off of 109 Utility Bills from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Chris Brown, City Attorney, stated this is an annual request for write off of delinquent water and sewer bills and noted the Public Utilities Billing Department has done an outstanding job in the collection of delinquent accounts. He stated the total value of accounts to be written off is $16,376.02, which is 0.08% of the total billings for that period. He stated collection efforts have been on going and will continue. He stated Ms. Sherman advised him that of the grant funding that the city received from the State for water/sewer/utility bills the city has applied $191,791.29 to help people out over the past year, and there is still approximately $100,000 still available. He stated Ms. Sherman is working very hard to allocate towards people who need help due to the pandemic. A motion was made by Council Member Jones seconded by Council Member Hirschmann, to approve the request as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 7.c. Consider endorsement of Harrisonburg Downtown 2040 Final Report as the community's roadmap to guide public and private development planning City of Harrisonburg Page 9 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 Brian Shull, director of Economic Development, stated he had the pleasure of serving as project manager for the Harrisonburg Downtown 2040 Plan over the past year and thanked Council for that opportunity and for contributing to this project. He stated he and Andrea Dono, director of Harrisonburg Downtown Renaissance (HDR) coordinated with the consultants, Interface Studio, and developed the plan. He reviewed the first two sentences of the executive summary of this plan, and asked Council if they are ready to endorse the Plan. He stated if endorsed it will be used for groups coming to the city as there has been a lot of interest. Council Member Jones stated he is ready to endorse but we need to make sure we are careful as this is not a license to create expenses, it is a road map, a guide and a plan. Council Member Hirschmann stated this is not written in stone, as we continue over the next 20 years there is room to adjust. Council Member Dent stated she requested solar panels and electric vehicle chargers be added to the plan, because by 2040 those better be part of the city’s future. She appreciated it was inserted in the plan. A motion was made by Council Member Jones, seconded by Council Member Hirschmann, to adopt and endorse the Harrisonburg Downtown 2040 Plan as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 7.d. Consider approving a 5% mid-year salary increase and a one-time retention payment to full and part-time City of Harrisonburg employees. Ande Banks, interim city manager, stated this is a continuation of a conversation from the last Council meeting regarding Council approving a 5% cost of living increase for all city employees, a one-time retention payment of $3,000 for full-time employees and $1,500 for part-time employees for city employees. He stated the one-time retention payment would be out of ARPA funding where eligible. He stated recruitment and retention continues to be a challenge for each and every one of the city’s departments. He stated this request is built on savings, the revenues the city is generating thus far for FY 2022 are preceding the budgeted expenditures, as well as carrying vacancies, and staff feels quite comfortable that the 5% increase can be maintained as well as looking at what else can be done as they prepare the FY 2023 Budget. Vice Mayor Romero stated this is something we all wanted to support and make happen quickly. He asked in what areas are the vacancies. Mr. Banks stated the City of Harrisonburg Page 10 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 vacancies are primarily in the lower to mid-point classifications across all city departments. He stated there are some that are extremely difficult to retain and recruit, which would be in the upper income classifications. Vice Mayor Romero asked if the feedback from staff reflects that this is a good strategy and are there additional measures being taken to continue retaining employees. Mr. Banks stated this is just one tool in the tool kit, this is an immediate need, but there are other plans in the works that include a classification and compensation study with other jurisdictions and regional competitors. Vice Mayor Romero stated that type of analysis will really give us a better understanding of where the gaps are and how to maintain competitiveness. Council Member Dent asked since this is partially being funded by vacancies, what happens when those positions are filled. Mr. Banks stated we budget for full employment every year, but we are never at full staff. Council Member Dent asked about equity and parity of the 5% cost of living increase across the board. She stated with equity those making less might need more of a raise and she stated she would be more comfortable with a sliding scale based on current salary. She stated she understands this is more of an immediate bandaid and that equity will be addressed more in the compensation study. She stated parity is in the market study, are we paying less than our regional organizations so they are poaching our employees and how can we bring that to parity. Mr. Banks stated those issues will be addressed by the classification and compensation study. Council Member Jones stated this is a safe play considering the increase of cost of living, it is necessary. He stated he would like to see more be done for the Police, Fire and ECC departments, based on the risks they incur, and he hopes our public safety employees hang in there until we hit a new budget cycle and staff can work on making sure we are competitive. He stated he feels Council should look at moving forward with guaranteeing some form of increases for those three departments once the study has been done. He stated during the budget process he plans to make a motion for pay increases that are tiered to be competitive to new and existing public safety staff. He stated our police officers connect well with the community, they make outstanding use of force decisions, do community base policing, have high level training, offer tourism events like the SWAT competition, they push economic development, have special units, and is sought after by for support around the valley . He stated we are down 19 officers with 5 more set to retire and he would like to see us at 110% staffed. He stated we are in a new phenomenon called the Great Resignation and we as a city need to make sure we don’t lose staff to other localities. Mayor Reed stated we have police officers working two jobs to make ends meet, we have 43 officers making less than $50,000 and we need to be concerned. We need to look at what else can be done for our Police Department. She stated she supports the current request and knows we need to be competitive. Council Member Hirschmann stated it is much needed and when you realize that City of Harrisonburg Page 11 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 some members of our public safety staff are part of the ALICE population this should be the case at all. He stated we know we need to fix this, how do we do it without breaking the city. He stated it is up to Council to stay on top of this and make it happen. Mr. Banks stated he is open to having conversations any time with Council and staff regarding this. A motion was made by Council Member Jones, seconded by Council Member Hirschmann, to approve the request as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 8. Supplementals 8.a. Consider a supplemental appropriation for the Harrisonburg City Public School division in the amount of $969,965 Ande Banks, interim city manager, presented a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $969,965.00 for the Harrisonburg City Schools. He stated this takes in a lot of Federal, State and other funds that have come to the city for the schools. A motion was made by Council Member Hirschmann, seconded by Vice Mayor Romero, to approve the supplemental appropriation as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 9. Reallocations 9.a. Consider a reallocation of budgeted funds from the General Fund to the Central Garage Fund in the amount of $96,580.89 Ande Banks, interim city manager, presented a reallocation of funds in the amount of $96,580.99 from a reserve for vehicle and equipment replacement into the Central Garage budget so that staff can replace two vehicles to EV’s and construct the proper infrastructure, which is already in place, so those EV’s can be charged. A motion was made by Council Member Dent seconded by Vice Mayor Romero, to approve the request as presented. The motion carried with a recorded vote as follows: Yes: 5- Mayor Reed, Vice Mayor Romero, Council Member Jones, Council Member Hirschmann and Council Member Dent No: 0 10. Other Matters City of Harrisonburg Page 12 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 10.a. Comments from the public, limited to five minutes, on matters not on the regular agenda. (Name and address are required) Panayotis “Poti” Giannakouros, spoke on jobs and housing in the city, heat islands, flooding and respiratory distress due to lack of green spaces, repealing the tall grass and weed ordinance and the aesthetic nuisance ordinances, overhauling city staff, and the sustainability of the city. James “Bucky” Berry, spoke on the new radios used at the Broadway Police Department and compared them to the radio system Harrisonburg uses, the Brent Berry Food Drive, and the need for compensation to police officers. 10.b. City Council and Staff Council Women Dent stated she was wearing her Ukrainian colors and "Slava Ukraini!" (Glory to Ukraine!). She has compassion for those who are suffering and hopes for a peaceful solution. Ande Banks, interim city manager, stated the Shamrock 5K Trail run is returning to Hillandale Park after a few years of hiatus, on March 19, 2022, and proceeds benefit the Harrisonburg Cardinals Wheelchair Basketball Team, and noted signups are still open. He stated today is International Women's Day and March is Women ’s History Month, he thanked all the women leaders in our organization, and hopes that everyone continues to follow the city’s social media sights as many of these leaders will be highlighted. He stated JMU will be conducting a test of their emergency notification system on March 10, 2022, and thanked all of those that took part in the Harrisonburg Police Department Police Unity Tour fundraiser for those that have fallen in the line of duty. Chris Brown, city attorney, he thanked Council on their efforts on behalf of the city employees, it is truly appreciated. He stated he believes it is now time for Council to ask for a raise for the upcoming year, he reviewed Virginia Code Section 15.2-1414.6 which sets forth tiers of what the salary for Council Members in Virginia based on the size of the locality. He stated according to that section, Council Members could be paid up to $18,000 annually and $20,000 for the mayor, which is more than what Council makes now. He noted the last time Council received a pay increase was in 2004, and staff is well aware of how hard Council works, especially during the pandemic. He stated this would need to be done by a resolution, and he requests Council’s permission to bring this resolution to Council and must be done at least four months prior to the next election but no earlier than July 1, 2022. He stated it is suggested to increase to the maximum allowed by the State Code. Michael Parks, director of Communications, stated the next Community Conversation on ARPA funding will be held on March 28, 2022, at Keister Elementary 6-8pm. The Mayor urges people to come out and have their voices be heard. She thanked all those that attended the conversation last Saturday at the Lucy F. Simms Center. City of Harrisonburg Page 13 Printed on 3/30/2022 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 8, 2022 11. Closed Session 12. Adjournment At 10:44 p.m., there being no further business and on motion adopted, the meeting was adjourned. ________________________ ________________________ CITY CLERK MAYOR City of Harrisonburg Page 14 Printed on 3/30/2022