City Council

Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on: June 29, 2017 -1– ______________________________________________________________________________ The work session of the Petersburg City Council was held on Thursday, June 29, 2017, at the Union Train Station. Mayor Parham called the work session meeting to order at 6:30p.m. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Council Member Charles H. Cuthbert, Jr Council Member Darrin Hill Council Member W. Howard Myers Council Member Annette Smith-Lee Council Member Treska Wilson-Smith Vice Mayor John A. Hart, Sr. Mayor Samuel Parham Absent: None Present from City Administration: Interim City Manager Tom Tyrrell City Attorney Joseph E. Preston Clerk of Council Nykesha D. Jackson, CMC 2. CLOSED SESSION: City Attorney Joseph Preston stated that City Council will now move to go into closed session for one purpose pursuant to Section 2.2-3711.A (1) of the Code of Virginia, 1950 as amended, Council will be in closed session to discuss and consider the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion, disciplining, or resignation of the following positions: Appointment of members to the Petersburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority; and The City Treasurer; and pursuant to Section 2.2-3711.A (7) of the Code of Virginia, 1950 as amended, Council will be in closed session for consultation with legal counsel regarding filing an insurance claim on behalf of the City of Petersburg. Council Member Hill moved that the City Council go into closed session for the purposes noted by the City Attorney. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was no discussion on the motion, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham City Council entered closed session at 6:31 p.m. CERTIFICATION: Mr. Preston stated that City Council now moves to come out of closed session and certify that only public business matters lawfully exempted from an open meeting requirement pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and only such business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the closed meeting. Council Member Hill made a motion to return City Council into open session and certify the purposes of the closed session. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was no discussion on the motion, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham; *Audio available  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on: June 29, 2017 -2– ______________________________________________________________________________ 17-R-40 A RESOLUTION CERTIFYING, AS REQUIRED BY THE CODE OF VIRGINIA, SECTION 2.2- 3712, THAT TO THE BEST OF EACH MEMBER’S KNOWLEDGE, ONLY PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS LAWFULLY EXEMPTED FROM OPEN MEETING REQUIREMENTS OF VIRGINIA LAW WERE DISCUSSED IN THE CLOSED SESSION, AND ONLY SUCH PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS AS WERE IDENTIFIED IN THE MOTION CONVENING THE CLOSED SESSION WERE HEARD, DISCUSSED, OR CONSIDERED. Council Member Myers made a motion to appoint Leonard Muse to serve the capacity and replacing Janell Sinclair until the term expires September 30, 2017, and appointing Dr. Cynthia Richardson with a full term. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. There was no discussion on the motion, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham 17-R-41 A RESOLUTION APPOINTING LEONARD MUSE TO SERVE THE CAPACITY AND REPLACING JANELL SINCLAIR UNTIL THE TERM EXPIRES SEPTEMBER 30, 2017, AND APPOINTING DR. CYNTHIA RICHARDSON WITH A FULL-TERM EXPIRING SEPTEMBER 30, 2020, ON THE PETERSBURG REDEVELOPMENT AND HOUSING AUTHORITY. 3. PURPOSE: a. Discussion on the City Tax Collector Position Mr. Bobb stated that there are several items on tonight’s agenda. He stated that they will expose City Council to outside firms. He stated that he firm will give a presentation of ten minutes. He stated that they will also give information in regards to the CAFR and annual report. He stated that they will have a presentation and recommendation on the City Collector position. Mr. Bobb introduced Josh Rahman, The Rahman Group. Josh Rahman, The Rahman Group, stated that he has 12 years of experience on collections and working on bad debt. He stated that one of the things that is important to remember is that they need to recover bad debt. He stated that there will be a number of things that will be a moving target. He stated that for the most part new things need to be implemented. He stated that his firm has made an emphasis over the last several years to analyze data. He stated that over the year’s people information change like phone numbers and addresses and data that they submit. He stated that in their business their job is to find people. He stated that they subscribe to 23 different services. He stated that they are going to find out everything that they have to on any particular person. He stated that if you cannot locate someone then you cannot collect from them. He stated that they pride themselves on having a high recovery rate because they invest the money. He stated that the cost is passed on the debtor. He stated that if they do not collect anything then the fee is on them. He stated that if they do not collect then they would not be in business very long. He stated that they have been in business for a long time. He stated that it starts with the third-party collections and that it starts with reaching out. He stated that then it moves to garnishments and judgments. He stated that there are certain other things that the need to have as a collector. He stated that they work with the BAI System. He stated that a lot of municipalities do. He stated that they want to build work with the City’s back office. He stated that more importantly they want to have the funds available to the City the next day. He stated that the City Collector will work at the will of City Council. He stated that he is not an accountant but that he is an attorney. He stated that the objective for him is to make sure that the City gets three things. He stated that they want a professional and someone with high customer service and a high level of transparency. He stated that cost wise he is going to try to make it as simple as possible. He stated that the fee is passed on and it never comes back to the City. There was discussion among City Council Members and Mr. Rahman. *Audio available  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on: June 29, 2017 -3– ______________________________________________________________________________ Patrick Scott, Senior Vice President of Government Revenue Solutions, stated that they not only do collections but that they provide the entire cycle of services. He stated that they do collections of debt and operations and administration. He stated that they identify the businesses that are not on the tax role. He stated that this would-be businesses that are not getting billed, have the correct address or information on file. He stated that they have 800 clients nationally. He stated that they work with some cities in cocounseling with prosecuting. He stated that they can give the City the money the same day or next day. He stated that they can work alongside the City staff to make sure that the billing and information is sent out to the appropriate and correct people. He stated that they have processed over $10 billion dollars a year. He stated that they cover about $2.4 billion for their clients. He stated that this is for delinquent debt and taxes. He stated that they work for over 800 municipalities and that they are in seven states. He stated that come next year it will be 40 years in service. He stated that they have information systems as well. He stated that they map out all the debt in the city’s that they work with on the GIS Mapping. He stated that they monitor the collections and debts. He stated they have 250 employees. He stated that most of them have been working for 10 to 25 years in this business. He stated that they can add to the revenue of the City within the first 18 months. He stated that they can help the City with the utility billing system. Mr. Scott showed a PowerPoint presentation on how the process and structure works with his company. There was discussion among City Council and Mr. Scott. Mr. Bobb went through a PowerPoint Presentation. He stated that he wanted to give City Council different approaches for the collector of City taxes. He stated that they have made some changes to the information that they have given to City Council tonight. He stated that there have been some revisions on some of the slides. He stated that they will send it to City Council electronically tonight. He stated that the charter gives City Council the authority to appoint a collector of City taxes. He stated that in the CAFR at the work session that they had there was missing information. He stated that one of them was information on the City credit card transactions. He stated that the auditors found that with the credit card transactions there was no supporting documentation for the credit card charge. He stated that they have been following up with the recommendations of the auditors. He stated that there were bus receipts that were posted after the Brink’s truck left. He stated that it was also referenced on the refunds to be reviewed and approved. He stated that the finally one is the information on deposits from the City Treasurer office and the receipts and documentation. He stated that he also has a recommendation where the Finance Department can be used to collect the taxes of the City. CLOSED SESSION: City Attorney Joseph Preston stated that City Council will now move to go into closed session for one purpose pursuant to Section 2.2-3711.A (1) of the Code of Virginia, 1950 as amended, Council will be in closed session to discuss and consider the assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion and disciplining of the following positions: City Tax Collector. Council Member Myers moved that the City Council go into closed session for the purposes noted by the City Attorney. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. There was no discussion on the motion, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham City Council entered closed session at 9:22 p.m. CERTIFICATION: *Audio available  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Work Session meeting held on: June 29, 2017 -4– ______________________________________________________________________________ Ms. Jackson stated that City Council now moves to come out of closed session and certify that only public business matters lawfully exempted from an open meeting requirement pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and only such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the closed meeting. Council Member Hill made a motion to return City Council into open session and certify the purposes of the closed session stated by the City Clerk. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was no discussion on the motion, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Parham; Absent: Cuthbert and Hart 17-R-42 A RESOLUTION CERTIFYING, AS REQUIRED BY THE CODE OF VIRGINIA, SECTION 2.2- 3712, THAT TO THE BEST OF EACH MEMBER’S KNOWLEDGE, ONLY PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS LAWFULLY EXEMPTED FROM OPEN MEETING REQUIREMENTS OF VIRGINIA LAW WERE DISCUSSED IN THE CLOSED SESSION, AND ONLY SUCH PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS AS WERE IDENTIFIED IN THE MOTION CONVENING THE CLOSED SESSION WERE HEARD, DISCUSSED, OR CONSIDERED. 4. ADJOURNMENT: City Council adjourned at 9:51 p.m. _________________________ Clerk of City Council APPROVED: _________________________ Mayor *Audio available