City Council

April 27, 2022 Budget Work Session A budget work session of the Council of the City of Martinsville, Virginia, was held on April 27, 2022, in Council Chambers, Municipal Building, at 6:00PM with Mayor Kathy Lawson presiding. Other Council Members present included Vice Mayor Jennifer Bowles, Council Member Chad Martin, Council Member Tammy Pearson and Council Member Danny Turner. Staff present included City Manager Leon Towarnicki, City Attorney Eric Monday, Finance Director Mandy McGhee, Linda Conover and Crystal Ferguson of the Finance Department, Police Chief Eddie Cassady, Deputy Police Chief Rob Fincher, Safety Officer John Turner, Fire Chief Ted Anderson, and Deputy Fire Chief Kris Shrader. School Superintendent Zeb Talley and Travis Clemons, Executive Director of Administrative Services was also present along with other representatives of the Martinsville City schools. Mayor Lawson opened the meeting. Dr. Talley spoke on behalf of the City schools, stating that the budget aligns with their core values. All City schools are accredited but their goal is to exceed that with division goals of academic excellence, safe and supportive schools and family engagement. Martinsville has a 94% graduation rate, that is the highest in the area and above the state average. Travis Clemons shared the proposed budget for the school system. Talley detailed the need for additional positions and the need for additional funding. The schools lost several employees to retirement last year along with several who left for positions in other school systems. Students do not gain the social help or the academic needs from virtual learning, there is no replacing in-person education. Talley and Clemons updated Council on projects completed this past year and projects they hope to address in the coming year. Talley mentioned Martinsville’s sports program and the robotics program. Talley touched on the challenges the schools have faced this past year and said the schools remained open even through COVID. Martinsville schools staff continue to be recognized at the state level. Talley feels that the key to success is the staff and it is imperative that they are able to recruit and retain highly effective staff to support the students so he is requesting level funding. Tally and Council discussed the MiNET agreement for some of the City students. Mayor Lawson asked for a list of staff and support staff and the “category” they serve within the school system. Council reviewed the Fire and EMS Department budget next. Council discussed the new transport program; Kris Schrader confirmed that the program is making money and on track to generate continued profit. The program handles transports from the hospital to the patient’s home; they currently do not transport dialysis patients but may consider doing that in the future. As long as they average two transports a day they break even, but they are doing on average thirteen a week as of now. Fire Chief Anderson confirmed that anyone calling to solicit donations for the Fire Department is a scammer; if residents want to donate they can make that directly to the local Fire Department. April 27, 2022 Budget Work Session The Police Department budget was discussed next. Police Chief Cassady said the Police Department has a number of vacancies, some of which were eliminated to accommodate the budget. Staff retirement and vacancies were discussed. The Police Department has taken on mental transports that were done previously by the Sheriff’s Department. Starting salary in several surrounding locations is well above starting salary in Martinsville along with sign on bonuses even for untrained staff. Martinsville officer trainees are paid on average of 1-year while they complete training and certifications. New officers sign a training investment contract which requires them to work for the City for a determined amount of time after training is complete; this contract includes the cost of a ballistics vest valued at $1700 and a body camera valued at $800. The ballistics vests must be replaced regularly which caused that the equipment budget line to increase from 2022; those vests cannot be refurbished or resold. He currently has six applicants; Cassady said he is not willing to reduce his standards on the people he hires. City Manager Towarnicki explained that the ARPA funding will not be available forever. The three departments discussed tonight are a big part of the City budget, representing approximately 50% of the $37million GF budget. In a few years, there will not be ARPA funds to balance the budget so unfortunately, budget cuts would come from those departments and/or taxes and fees for services will need to be increased. Vice Mayor Bowles asked about the proposed 7% refuse increase, Towarnicki explained that it would account for $150,000 and that the refuse rates have not been increased since July 2013. City Manager Towarnicki summarized the capital budget, specifically the changes from the previous year including equipment needed for the Police and Sheriff’s Department as well as traffic signals. Vice Mayor Bowles would like to explore the option to purchase attachments for current equipment that could pick up leaves. There is a need for a new police car, a fire department truck, new ambulance, a truck for the Safety Department, a bucket truck, equipment for bulk trash pickup, a surveying van, a dump truck and potentially salt equipment. There will be several repairs needed to the Incubator but not all of those projects were put into this year’s budget. The grant received previously from West Piedmont for a police car was a one-time application. City Manager reminded Council of the next work sessions scheduled for May 3 and 4 beginning at 6:00pm. There being no further questions or discussion, the meeting adjourned at 8:30pm. _______________________________________ ________________________________________ Karen Roberts, Clerk of Council Kathy Lawson, Mayor