City Council

Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 -1– ______________________________________________________________________________ The regular meeting of the Petersburg City Council was held on Tuesday, April 3, 2018, at the Union Train Station. Mayor Parham called the 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 Vice Mayor John A. Hart, Sr. Mayor Samuel Parham Absent: Council Member Treska Wilson-Smith (arrived at 6:32pm) Council Member Annette Smith-Lee (arrived at 8:39pm) Present from City Administration: City Manager Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides City Attorney Joseph E. Preston Clerk of Council Nykesha D. Jackson, CMC 2. PRAYER: Mayor Parham stated, “Now at this time Reverend Debbie Baughman of Blandford United Methodist Church will lead up in our opening prayer.” Reverend Baugham led the City in prayer. 3. 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 for discussion, consideration, or interviews of prospective candidates for employment, assignment, appointment, promotion, performance, demotion or resignation of specific public officers, appointees, or employees where such evaluation necessarily will involve discussion of performance of specific individuals. 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; Absent: Smith-Lee City Council entered closed session at 6:34 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.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 -2– ______________________________________________________________________________ Council Member Myers made a motion to return City Council into open session and certify the purposes of the closed session. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hart. There was discussion on the motion. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham; Absent: Smith-Lee 18-R-17 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. City Council returned to open session at 6:46pm. 4. MOMENT OF SILENCE: a. Clerk of Council, Nykesha D. Jackson, led council and the audience in a moment of silence. 5. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: a. Clerk of Council, Nykesha D. Jackson, led council and the audience in the pledge of allegiance. 6. DETERMINATION OF THE PRESENCE OF A QUORUM: Ms. Jackson stated that all City Council Members are present for a quorum. Mayor Parham stated, “For tonight’s Positive Petersburg story, I would like to shine a light on the current efforts toward improving the physical health of Petersburg. The Petersburg City and Schools Partnership has begun the initial planning stages for a unique school-based health center to help provide medical services to students in need of primary care. Although these health centers are available in other states, Petersburg would be a pioneer in bringing a school-based health center to Virginia, where they are not as common. The health center in Petersburg would operate similar to a doctor’s office or clinic. Students could receive primary care that goes beyond what a regular school nurse can provide. Although these are still the beginning steps, members of the City and Schools Partnership are optimistic that the health center can be a vital part of improving Petersburg’s schools and the overall well-being of our community. The Petersburg City and Schools Partnership is a collaboration between United Way of Greater Richmond, Petersburg City Public Schools, City of Petersburg, state government agencies, service providers and community groups. These entities work to support the strategic plan of Petersburg City Public Schools and is led by Petersburg Schools Superintendent, Dr. Newsome and Petersburg City Manager, Mrs. Aretha Ferrell-Benavides. Thank you.” 7. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS/PRESENTATION OF CEREMONIAL PROCLAMATIONS: (Each presentation will be limited to 10 minutes.) a. Proclamation designating April 2018 as National Alcohol Awareness Month BACKGROUND: Each April since 1987, the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (NCADD) sponsors NCADD Alcohol Awareness Month to increase public awareness and understanding, reduce, stigma and encourage local communities to focus on alcoholism and alcohol-related issues. This April, NCADD highlights the important public health issue of underage drinking, a problem with devastating individual, family and community consequences.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 -3– ______________________________________________________________________________ RECOMMENDATION: Recommend Mayor Parham read and present the proclamation designating April as Alcohol Awareness Month. Mayor Parham read the proclamation out loud to the citizens and staff. There was no representative present to receive the proclamation. b. Proclamation for National Library Week BACKGROUND: Libraries and librarians are open up to a world of possibilities through innovative STEM programming, makerspaces, job-seeking resource and the power of reading. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend Mayor Parham read and present the proclamation. Mayor Parham read the proclamation out loud to the citizens and staff. Wayne Crocker, Director of Library in the City of Petersburg, stated “Good evening Mayor Parham, Vice Mayor Hart, Members of Council, City Manager and City Attorney. On behalf of the staff and the thousands of customers that visit and utilize the Petersburg Public Library. I really want to thank you for this proclamation and recognizing the contribution that the public library makes day to day. We cannot do what we do without your support and we appreciate that. I have with me this evening Natonya Robinson-Williams who is our program development and marketing specialist. She has a goodie bag for each of you.” Natonya S. Robinson-Williams stated “Each bag that you will receive has information from the library to share with you all the services that we offer. There is hard copies as well as contact information. We would like to get invited to your next ward meeting so that we can share the opportunities. I do want to let you know of our next event the ‘Jazz in the Stacks’ on April 13th at 6pm.” c. Proclamation for Don-a-matrix Day in the City of Petersburg. Mayor Parham read the proclamation out loud to the citizens and staff. Don Brooks stated “Wow! Wow is my first words. I want to thank the Mayor and all the council members. I also want to thank the City of Petersburg. Coming from this City and growing up I see that we have the Kappa’s here. I started there myself in the Kappa program. I ended up going to Virginia State and also pledging myself. And just coming back to the City and just having those memories of the YMCA and training. It just brought back so many memories of not knowing of what I was doing then that was going to bring me to who I am now in Hollywood working with a lot of the big celebrities and faces. But one person I do want to thank because if it wasn’t for this guy, my mentor and the guy who introduced me fitness itself, Font Mason. Font along with a lot of other people who introduced me into the game of fitness, Randy Batts and Council Member Hill. Those guys we would be in the gym. They taught me the foundation of fitness. And this personality needs people is what I carried along with me to Hollywood, which ended up leading me to a lot of these people that I worked with. So, this is a pleasure and a big thing for me. I look forward to coming back this weekend and implement some stuff in the City that I have learned to give to lead people to better health and fitness in their life. So again, thank you all very much.” d. Certificate of Appreciation Kappa Alpha Psi Petersburg’s Alumni Chapter Kappa League Guide Right Program. Council Member Hill stated “‘City of Petersburg, Virginia, Council Member Darrin Hill presents this Certificate of Appreciation to the Kappa Alpha Psi Petersburg Alumni Chapter Kappa League Guide Right  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 -4– ______________________________________________________________________________ Program. In appreciation of your professional interest and dedication to learning business and municipality government, I present this certificate of appreciation on behalf of the City of Petersburg. Your commitment to the well-being and knowledge of this City of Petersburg government is appreciated this day 3rd of April 2018, by Darrin Hill, Council Member.’ I want to pause for the brothers and that Kappa members. Please come up. But I want to pause and thank all of the departments who participated yesterday. Basically, what this says is that we did a tour of the departments in the City and they learned so much about what is going on in our City. They went to each department and they gave them a lot of wisdom and a lot of knowledge on how tax dollars work. So, I want to thank all the departments who participated. It is too many to name but everybody participated in their own way. So, let’s get the brothers and the Kappa League to come up. Let’s give them a round of applause.” Samad Graham, sophomore at Mataoca High School and President of Kappa League, stated “I would like to say that on behalf of Kappa League and the Alumni Chapter of Petersburg we would like to thank the Mayor and City Council and the citizens of Petersburg for supporting us in our program and everything that we do. Thank you all. I have my Sergeant in Arms, Brandon, tell you about some things that we do in Kappa League. Michael Brandon Lee stated “I am a 11th grader at Dinwiddie High School. I am the Sergeant of Arms of the Kappa League. Just like my President said through Kappa League we have learned I cannot pick the words to say about how amazing the experiences are that we have been through with Kappa League. We learned so much on how to be successful in life. Just knowing about developing social skills and learning of the economy and learning about each one of your jobs. I would just like to say thank you.” James Norman stated “Good evening everyone. I am the president of the Petersburg Alumni Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Incorporated. We are an international corporation and Guide Right Kappa League is our premier program for helping to guide our young men of tomorrow. We want to thank the City of Petersburg for giving our young an opportunity to see what government is really like from the inside out. Again, thank you and hopefully you will continue to work with our young men and show them good leadership. Thank you.” 8. COMMUNICATIONS/SPECIAL REPORTS: a. Presentation of the Proposed Fiscal Year BACKGROUND: City Manager is presenting an operating spending plan of $102,587,709 for the Fiscal Year beginning July 1, 2018 and ending June 30, 2019. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend Council review and prepare guidance on any changes that need to be made to the Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Operating Budgets. Mrs. Benavides stated “Mayor and Council before I begin I would like to invite the team to join me at the podium, Mr. Robert Floyd and Maisha Beasley. As we begin to present our 2018-19 budget it took a lot of proud to present this document today. I like to begin by introducing the newest member of our team. Today we have going us our new Chief Operating Officer who will oversee budget, procurement, IT, human resources, Mr. Michael Rogers. Mr. Rogers joins us today with a wealth of experience, over 30 years of local government. Dating back to most recently serving as Vice President of Kaiser Permanent and also Vice President of MedStar, which is the largest healthcare company. Mr. Rogers previously served as City Administrator/Deputy Mayor of Operations for the District of Colombia, Chief Procurement Officer for the City of New York as well as Director of the Minority Business Administration. Finally, he also served as our Council of Government with Washington, the Executive Director there. Mr. Rogers holds a Bachelor of Science in Political Science, a Master of Public Administration from the University of Michigan and Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University. We are excited to have him join our team in helping us to move forward. One of the things, that as  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 -5– ______________________________________________________________________________ we start talking about our surge head is that Mr. Roger’s was the final City Administrator under Marian Barian in Washington, DC during a very tough fiscal time. When a patrol ward came over and his activity and actions helped the City to stabilize and grow to what they are today. And we are fortunate to have him to come onboard. So, I would like to welcome Mr. Rogers.” Mrs. Benavides, Ms. Beasley and Mr. Floyd presented the proposed FY2018-2019 Budget to City Council and the citizens through a PowerPoint presentation. There was discussion among City Council and staff. 9. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA (to include minutes of previous meeting/s) a. Minutes: Regular City Council Meeting – March 20, 2018. Vice Mayor Hart made a motion to accept the Consent Agenda with scheduling a public hearing on February 20, 2018. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham; Absent: Smith-Lee 10. OFFICIAL PUBLIC HEARINGS: a. A public hearing to regarding the disposition of City-owned property at 248 Halifax Street. BACKGROUND: The City has received a request to acquire the small City-owned property adjacent to the property at 244 Halifax Street, the location of the CARES Emergency Shelter for women and children, to expand the existing playground at their site. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the disposition of publicly owned property at 248 Halifax Street. Reggie Tabor, Projects Manager of Economic Development, stated “This is a public hearing in accordance with Virginia Section 15.2-1900, as amended, to authorize the disposition of publicly owned property at 248 Halifax Street, tax parcel #022-22-0011.” Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comments. Raymond Crockett, 248 Southwood Drive, asked, “Where is this property?” Mr. Tabor stated “This property is adjacent to the CARES facility which is an emergency shelter for women and children. It is currently used for a playground with the permission of the City. The request is to acquire the property so they can vacate it and expand it and obtain funding for the development of the playground.” Raymond Crockett, 248 Southwood Drive, asked, “Is that lot located to Liberty Street on the corner of Halifax Street by where Mr. Joyner’s Cleaner used to be?” Mr. Tabor stated “The lot is the property outlined in green. It is an existing playground.” Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public hearing. There was discussion among City Council Members and staff. Council Member Myers made a motion to table until the April 17th meeting. The motion was seconded  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 -6– ______________________________________________________________________________ by Council Member Hill. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Hill, Myers, Wilson-Smith, Hart and Parham; Absent: Smith-Lee b. A public hearing to amend an ordinance to reduce water and/or sewer rates of home owners 65 and over. BACKGROUND: During the March 6, 2018, City Council meeting, Council was presented three (3) options for the Senior Citizen Discount Pilot:  50% sewer (only) discount  50% water & sewer discount  5/8-meter size capacity rate RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council amend the City Ordinance which provides 1 of the following options:  50% sewer (only) discount  50% water & sewer discount  5/8-meter size capacity rate Mr. Preston stated “I am asking council to table this matter so we can do some additional legal research on whether or not we are by state law in implementing this program. We have several different opinions from the attorney generals on it. I just need time to study it.” Council Member Hill made a motion to approve the statements by the City Attorney. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Hill, Myers, Wilson-Smith, Hart and Parham; Absent: Smith-Lee c. A public hearing to approve the Application for Real Property Tax Exemption for a nonprofit organization named Delta Community Service Foundation location at 2951 S. Crater Road. BACKGROUND: Delta Community Service Foundation requests the provision of a real property tax exemption for property addressed as 2951 S. Crater Road, further identified as tax parcel 065-11-0006, such property utilized to enhance and facilitate the Chapter’s programs and activities. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the real estate tax exempt status for the Delta Community Service Foundation. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comments. Willie Noise, 1508 Circle Drive, stated “I got kind of upset at the last meeting. We was having a public hearing on property for tax exempt and the closest that I could get to the classification of the Code of Virginia was 58.1. And it is 501(c)(3). A person that is applying for this should be here in person. Is that person here? So, we as citizens can get a feel of that attitude and behavior since mental health is the thing nowadays. And I want it to go on record that I think that the church tax paying should pay their 10% or at least 5% of something. They shouldn’t have no free hand. I kind of lost my point but anyways for you to have a public hearing and the people don’t have to be here is kind of redundant to me. I need an explanation and then having it to say whether local to make a ruling that we have no part in.” Mayor Parham stated, “At this time is there a member of the Delta Community Service Foundation would like to speak about the organization and explain to the people.” Vita Evans stated, “Good evening. My name is Vita Evans and I’m a member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. I know that as you may read on the agenda it speaks to the Delta Community Service Foundation.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 -7– ______________________________________________________________________________ I’m pretty sure that a majority of you have heard of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. The Foundation is an affiliate of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. And what you are seeing is that we are asking to have our properties be considered for tax exemption. Only because we do a lot of services in the community. We work jointly with several organizations, affiliates and churches to provide things like tutoring programs for students. We have a house that is in desperate of this tax exemption. We also do a lot of things with working with the area shelters. We work with the public library. We do an abundance of things that we have to also pull into our own personal pockets to make sure that we provide these services. As an extension of our sorority Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc., we do have a community service foundation house. And if you would all just take time to drive out to the property you will all the things that we have done. The expansions and it’s just an effort so that we can continue to expand our services for our children for our community members and for our organizations within Petersburg. So, I hope that that helps in providing a little explanation and if any other member would like to come up and share some thoughts to help with any confusion that would be appreciated. Ron Flock, 1708 Pender Avenue, stated, “I would assume that the City has the definition of what could be classified as an exempt property. And I am sure that this is not included in that. But I just wanted to question it because I don’t know. Thank you.” Michael Edwards, 409 Grove Avenue, stated “I don’t have a problem with tax exemption. I believe that the churches should get it above anything else. But if we do this are we going to open the door for every other organization in the City to come and say exempt me from real estate taxes. Because if this passes tonight, I have a board meeting Monday at the art league and it will come up that we have now exempted and we will come and ask for the same thing. So, I ask that you all look at this closely. Don’t do it because you are friends with somebody or just because they are doing good in the community. There is a lot of nonprofits that do good in the community. I remember a couple of years ago C.A.R.E.S. coming before Council at the time and it was denied. So, keep that in mind when you deliberate to pass this. Thank you.” Samuel Rhue, 1952 South Westchester Drive, stated, “501(c)(3) played an important part in communities. Even tonight a lot of fraternities and sororities have 501(c)(3) foundations. The Kappa League that was here tonight is funded through a 501(c)(3). So, you can see the impact that you can have on a community. A tax-exempt status for them would mean that they would have more money and funds secured after they do things in the community. I think that this should be approved because they are playing a very important part in this community in development of the City. Thank you.” Karen Graham, 402 High Street, stated, “I am just curious as to if the 20% of the assessed value which is what they are requesting their assessment to be is the typical percentage for this type of tax exempt request or are there other percentages that are used with churches or other nonprofit organizations. Thank you.” Seeing no further hands, this public hearing is closed. There was discussion among City Council, staff and representatives from the Delta Community Service Foundation. Council Member Wilson-Smith made a motion to table action until the April 17, 2018, City Council Meeting. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham; Absent: Smith-Lee d. A public hearing to approve the Application for Real Property Tax Exemption for a nonprofit organization named Petersburg Battlefields Foundation, Inc. located at 501 Rives Road. BACKGROUND: Petersburg Battlefields Foundation, Inc. requests the provision of a real property tax exemption for property addressed as 501 Rives Road, further identified as tax parcel 102-04-0002, such property utilized to inspire and educate the public about the Petersburg Campaign.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 -8– ______________________________________________________________________________ RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the real estate tax exempt status for Petersburg Battlefields Foundation, Inc. George Pickett, President of Petersburg Battlefield Foundation, stated, “In December we acquired this piece of land by donation from an owner for a historical property with federal earth works located on the property. Our intent is to preserve those works and interpret those and additionally in the future get additional land from the Patrick Kelly which is adjacent and turn it over to the City at some point in the future if they would like to turn it into a City park. In the meantime, in our research as we had applied for exemption we were looking at the surrounding properties and our .94 acres is appraised at about $125,000. The 22 acres that surround it is $250,000. That means that they are only paying taxes on 10,000 an acre and we are paying $125,000 for less than an acre. We were looking at possibly another way of looking for appraised property to adjust it to the surrounding property including our wetlands delineation that go through our property that makes it a lesser value from the $10,000 per acre. So, we would like that considered as an assessment revenue versus a tax exemption because it will bring it down to a reasonable amount of the appraised value of the property surrounding ours.” Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Seeing no hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. Council Member Cuthbert made a motion that Council disallow the application to approve the application of real property tax exemption for the nonprofit organization named Petersburg Battlefield Foundation located at 501 Rives Road. Motion dies due to lack of second. Council Member Myers made a motion to table action until an appraisal is done on the property located at 501 Rives Road. The motion was seconded by Council Member Cuthbert. There was discussion on the motion. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham; Absent: Smith-Lee e. A public hearing to approve the Application for Real Property Tax Exemption for a nonprofit organization named Flaming Sword Church of Deliverance located at 200 S. Sycamore Street. *No Public Hearing Held. Property is exempt from taxation by classification – Code of Virginia 58.1-3606 (A)2 BACKGROUND: Flaming Sword Church of Deliverance requests the provision of a real property tax exemption for property addressed as 200 S. Sycamore St., further identified as tax parcel 022-15-0005, such property utilized for religious praise and worship services open to the community. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the tax-exempt status for Flaming Sword Church of Deliverance. Mr. Preston stated, “This property is exempt by classification. The code specifically exempts churches from taxation.” f. A public hearing to approve the Application for Real Property Tax Exemption for a nonprofit organization named Open Door Ministries Church of God located at 301 E. South Blvd. *No Public Hearing Held. Property is exempt from taxation by classification – Code of Virginia 58.1-3606 (A)2  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 -9– ______________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND: Open Door Ministries Church of God requests the provision of a real property tax exemption for property addressed as 301 E. South Blvd, further identified as tax parcel 055-11-0006, such property utilized for religious praise and worship services open to the community. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the tax-exempt status for Open Door Ministries Church of God. Mayor Parham stated that all comments and the public hearing be stricken from the record for property located at 301 E. South Blvd. 11. PUBLIC INFORMATION PERIOD: The Public Information Period is established by the Rules of Council to hear input from City residents or owners of businesses in the City. It will last for a maximum of 30 minutes. Speakers will be called in the order that they have signed up to speak. If there are ten or fewer speakers, each shall speak for a maximum of 3 minutes. If there are more than ten (10) people desiring to speak, the time allotted to each person may be adjusted or the number of speakers limited to meet the time limitation. A speaker may speak on items except those that are listed on tonight’s Council agenda. Any matter brought before the attention of the City Council during the public information period will not be acted upon by the City Council at this meeting. Barb Rudolph, 1675 Mt. Vernon Street, stated “Good evening everyone. I am going to do something a little different tonight. I am going to read a comment that I made on May 17, 2016. So, if you think about that its almost two years ago. The reason that I am going to read it again as I wrote it and said it at the time was because it is interesting how much it still pertains. Unfortunate but interesting. And I will probably cut out a few things but this is the just of it. ‘Estimated water bills for far greater amounts then one’s historical pattern of consumption and personal property taxes that charges orbiting amounts of payments seemed to be common placed.’ We have all heard many times that the billing process are being fixed and ultimately citizens will be given accurate information. Assuming this does eventually happen the remains, a big problem area being talked about. With the clear pattern of overcharging, how are citizens who paid too much able to recover the difference between the initial and the corrected bills. You say and when I say ‘You’ I am speaking to council but also to the administration, they go to the appropriate office in City Hall and say that citizens should go to the appropriate offices in City Hall and go to staff there and correct the bills and receive a credit. Has it occurred to council and the administration how many people can readily access this remedy. That is making a personal business to negotiate with their City government. Some have simply given up after months of questionable bills and the inability to get answers via phone calls or online for those who have internet access. Some don’t know where to start to figure out what they should be charged in order to effectively make their cases. And some perhaps quite a few more than you imagined can’t make it to City Hall to spend hours and maybe multiple visits in a hassle with the City. What about citizens in the military who have to deploy? What about citizens who lack transportation to come downtown? What about single parents with multiple children to care for? What about the elderly and the infirmed? What about people trying to make it by working several jobs with no time during the work day to take off? I believe we all deserve a thorough answer on how the City is going to reach out proactively. The citizens who have been overcharged and to ensure that no citizen is financially damaged because of the inaction of the City. It is so wrong for the City to adopt an attitude if someone wants to correct it they need to bring it up. Show that you have compassion for the many people in Petersburg for the reasons I mentioned to come to the City for help. I’m just bringing it up again because I understand that the administration is working very hard to make positive changes in billing and collections but it just seems like there are like so many problems. And I thought that when I looked back that this is amazing that this is still going on and people are still getting the message that you have to go in person to resolve it. No other method will be reliable to fix it. And I don’t think that’s it. I think we can do a lot better and do a lot more to make sure that people may be have paid and shouldn’t have are given some consideration to get a credit. Thank you.” Cory Harris, 2316 Anderson Street, stated “Good evening. I’m going to talk about the water bills as well. It’s going to be a little different. I sent an email to some council members about an investigation roughly 14  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 10 – ______________________________________________________________________________ years ago about wireless water meters. Now I think the citizens should know anything wireless is always going to have flaws. It doesn’t matter. Your phone your television or what have you. It’s always going to have flaws. Mistakes are going to be made. But we have citizens who are barely making it in the City. But can you possibly imagine opening up your water bill and seeing a bill $900. Pretty stressful for someone who barely makes it. But, I think that the citizens should be a little bit more informed when it comes to the wireless water meters. I also want to know are they encrypted and that’s important as well. Because anything wireless can be hacked. I think that should be addressed as well. I also want to give much respect to our City Manager. The retreat was outstanding. It was articulate and very detailed. That’s what we need. Transparency, compassion and understanding. That is was we have wanted for years. And we have that with you. You think that we are against you, were not. We just wanted what she has provided for us. That’s all we wanted. It’s nothing personal. But you cannot devalue us and expect us to reelect you. That can’t happen. You have devalued us for years. We have come to you openly. I know I have because I have a lot of experience in the City. But you devalue me, you devalue the citizens but somehow you think that you are worthy of being reelected. I don’t see it. But I also want to give a special shout out to Vice Mayor Hart. You have been a great friend and you have helped my community out. I know I worry you to death with a lot of calls but I am concerned about the citizens of this City. But you have had no problems answering my calls and doing what you have to do as a leader. I also want to give Councilwoman Treska Wilson-Smith credit as well. You have a good heart; compassion and you love the people. But as a body you have failed the City. And one final thing I would like to say, of everything that we are going through I think the citizens deserve two words, ‘I’m sorry.’ Thank you.” Willie Noise, 1508 Circle Drive, stated “First thing I just want to throw a reminder out there for the Freedom Support Center and our veterans here in Petersburg went out there and did their job and now it’s your turn to do yours. A while back the Fire Chief had a thing that you bag your own lunch. I like it when several efforts are tried for this and that. You all were packing too much stuff in your lunch bag. The other is that we seem to be waiting and wishing on some help to come. And we got all the help we need right here in this room. We just have to organize and shift and keep playing with it until we get it right. I like the discussion that you all did tonight. You all are hanging on in there. I want to thank the Mayor and others for keeping the religion strong in the City of Petersburg. You will see the results real soon because I’m going to keep my prayer in. The main thing that I want to talk to you about is the general fund. The last time I had to pay a water bill was $300. I used my debit card and they charged me $15 to use that card to pay that bill. I want to know somebody to give us a summary on the money that we are collecting from penalties and overdue taxes and traffic tickets. Anything that we are getting free money that is not through the budget. I like to know how we are tracking it and what we are using it for and if we didn’t have it where would we be. Let’s skip all over that. Another thing is the service stations that are popping up. We need to control our business. If one person opens up a business it shouldn’t be another one coming right next door and setup. Our management skills are kind of poor. And this federal and state policy, it ain’t right. Something is not right with this. The mental check and mental health is an issue that is going on right now. We have to start checking people on that mental side as we run businesses. The code compliance need help. I think Melvin Clark. I’m riding around the City and I am seeing too much stuff of people that own property and the rentals. When they put somebody out that’s too much trash out on the street for the City to be taking care of. That’s that homeowner problem. I appreciate it. I love seeing y’all guys. I thank y’all.” Michael Herbst, 1594 S. Sycamore Street, stated “I have a letter here that was written by Mr. Tyrrell and delivered back in May 30, 2017, and I like to point out some flaws. ‘Petersburg, Virginia is part of our ongoing review of the City’s water and City’s utility account. People have discovered that 1,716 customers with one-inch meters have been underbilled. To verify our billing system discovery, we conducted a physical survey to validate that 1,716 customers have in fact been getting under billed.’ This is an opinion and assumption and not a fact. It was based on water meter capacity only not a consumption. Since 2015, they have been getting billed at the rate of the smaller 5/8-meter capacity. I think that goes back a little bit further than 2015, if I recall. And also, the old ordinance, I think it said all residential properties and 5/8-inch commercial water meters. So, we are kind of going backwards to what Mr. Tyrrell was reading. A portion of the billing capacity for a 5/8-inch meter to a one-inch water meter are different. That is true. The water part of the water bill capacity together  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 11 – ______________________________________________________________________________ determines the water bill. Now I talked to somebody a couple of days ago and they said they spoke to a civil engineer. And this civil engineer told them if you take five-gallon buckets and you put a 5/8-inch hose on this one and you put a one-inch hose on this one the bucket with the one-inch hose is going to drain faster than the 5/8-inch hose. True enough. Now let’s take a standard kitchen faucet and put on the end a 5/8-inch pipe and one-inch pipe. There is no water flowing at all right its turned off. Now let’s open both of these faucets. The 5/8 pipe is going to allow 1.5 gallons per minute. Its regulating by industry. The bucket with the one-inch pipe is 1.5 gallons per minute. So that’s a fact. The capacity doesn’t charge you unless you have a different size meter. The size of the meter is only determined by the builder and not the City. My house was built in 1925. I don’t know what size meter the builder put in there in 1925. I would imagine that it has been changed a couple of times. It wasn’t changed most recently when the City said it was changed. It’s based on several factors. A larger meter can drive more water to more devices spread over larger areas. True. My house is 3,000 square feet and I have two and half baths. I come from Huntsville, Alabama. My house is 2,413 square feet and it had three full baths. The house I owned before that in Madison, Alabama was 1,550 square feet and had two full baths. By the way nowhere in the State of Alabama does anybody charge a capacity rate. All residential properties are charged the same rate. So, I know I have run out of time now but the fact is what has happened here is that people have cherry picked facts. A water meter is not a flow control. A water meter can accommodate the flow of water up to a certain point. It’s not a flow control. I think I wrote all of you a letter saying how this billing and things hurts seniors but it also hurts the young family with a child. It doesn’t matter if you are making $25,000 a year and it does matter if you are a family of three or a senior. You struggle paying your water bill when everybody has their own story. Thank you.” Richard Stewart, 129 Rolfe Street, stated “My daughter sent me here tonight because she wanted y’all to walk slow and think about tax exemption. The former Roper Brother’s is still over there for sale. Between my daughter and I we own $800,000 worth of property on Pocahontas Island. If you give taxes to 65 and above some 65 and above is making $70,000 a year and some making $1,000 a year. It should be done according to income. But that the thing with Pocahontas Island is that when you start giving tax exempt for its land and we are a historical neighborhood we need some tax exempt. Every week somebody worry me in giving them some land so they can plant trees so that people can sit at the riverfront of properties. Will that property be tax exempt just because somebody come in and ask me for the land? So, Pocahontas is an unusual place because the land is going to be sold and the man is talking about building a house over there. If he can get some type of tax relief. I would advise y’all to please do a study to see if this is the best route to go. Thank you.” Raymond Crockett, 248 Southwood Drive, stated “At the last City Council Meeting I brought up about the one inch, two-inch, three-inch, four-inch, six-inch, eight-inch and twelve-inch meters. I asked how many businesses have this size meter because there is a fee for every different size in order to have your water and sewer turned on. I have a sheet here but make copies of it. We have 1,700 one-inch water meters. I would like to know what size does Southside Regional Hospital have. What are they paying for their water and sewer bill. Because our residential is catching heck with the water bill. Next, I want to thank Mr. Hart for addressing a problem that was brought up at the last meeting. Something is going on with the City that we are not taking care of. We have a lot of property that people are hanging on their front yard that was addressed the other week. There’s a trailer sitting in the middle of the yard there. We have a lot of properties that are sitting around the City of Petersburg that need to be cleaned up. We need a cleanup day. A city-wide cleanup in the Spring time. We might not have a lot but we can make our City look better by cleaning it up. We need code enforcement to start red tagging and writing these people up so they can clean our property up. We might not have much money but we can clean our City up. I want to thank Mr. Myers for a problem I addressed at the last meeting. I have some property on Bailor’s Lane. There is a Saint George Street that does not have a sign there on it. And the City is supposed to maintain their property. There is a ravine down there in the bottom where construction did some work there and took the trees down. I have right on the end of that property and it goes straight into that ravine. One of the guys who live over there on Bailor’s Lane said that they have kids playing and ride their bicycle. Somebody or a car can go over there and we never know it. I met one of the City employees, Mrs. Innis. I met with them last Friday. I appreciate what y’all are doing but we have to get the City  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 12 – ______________________________________________________________________________ cleaned up. We need to do a citywide cleanup as soon as possible so we can make this City look better. Thank you.” Ron Flock 1708 Pender Avenue, stated “I to have an issue and it’s not necessarily with billing but it’s with the frequency in which the meters are read. I have had up to 10 days difference from the scheduled date. The fact is that one month I am using 2,700 and the next month I’m using 3,500. I get billed at the minimum 2,700 and then I get extra billing when I go over. Then the next month I am back to 2,700. It’s back and forth and back and forth. I know I don’t use any more water than I used last month then this month. Also, I have a woman in my neighborhood who is 92 years old that pays her bills online. She has no issue paying for any bill except for her water bill. She has been accused twice in the last few months of not paying her bill. She has gone done with a printed copy with her bill confirmation payment. She was told that she is just going to have to wait until it clears on her next billing cycle. She has gone to her bank and they have said that the checks have been cashed. She just says that she knows that she is not stupid and could I please do something about this. So, the best I can do is bring this to your attention. But kudos to this woman for doing it online at her age. But thank you.” Earnestine Saunders, 2009 Country Lane Court, stated “I spoke with y’all about the issue of being charge for the water bill. Since the last time I stood here I paid online $200. The next day I talked to the mayor and was complaining. That was on the 7th. And when I went back home and while I was in my house my water got discounted. And then I came down and I was talking and I asked to see someone. I came upstairs on the second floor to see the manager. The manager is always busy. She is either sick or she is in a meeting. And none of the council members talk to me. I ended up back down talking to Ms. Johnson. And I did not want to talk to her. And when I went back up on the second again I talked to one of the people that works in the management office and I told them just like this that I have $650. I paid $200 online before they disconnected my water. And when I talked to the young man he texted to the next office and let the young lady know to have her phone connected to the speaker so someone can listen downstairs. I’m not stupid. I’m not crazy. Ms. Johnson thought I was crazy. She told me that I had a lot of problems and issues and that I need to talk to somebody. I’m not crazy and that’s why the doctor let me loose. I was told to write a paper about myself and I did. And I left it in the councilman’s office to go to the mayor’s office. He is also my councilman for the 3rd ward. Evidently the management and the assistant manager Ms. Johnson as she stated to me after I told her about my issues that I needed help. I need to go to talk to someone because I had problems. Just because my son was murdered and my father died of lung cancer and I had two accidents within the two years that don’t make me crazy. That makes me more functionable and more content about what is going on in my life. I was trying to get my life back in order which I was doing. I got kicked down the hill. I didn’t appreciate it. None of it. I ended of paying the total of $950 to get my water turned back on. And only the $200 I deposited that I paid online and the $650 of cash that morning was documented. When I been checking my documentation up until the night I was up in here there is $100 missing and not documented that I paid but my bill is less. But where is the $100 that is not showing up on my paperwork. And not only that there 1,136 senior people in the City of Petersburg that have issues of not being able to pay their bills. People are not having any consideration or concern of how they are getting their money to pay their bills. And then they end of losing their home because they didn’t have the money to pay their rent or pay their other bills because all of it is coming in at one time. I was told you are going to pay this $881 before your water get turned back on. And I didn’t like it. I won’t gone to take my mortgage money and do it. I have a brother who worked overtime and came to me and gave me back my money that I put into the City and I am one person living in that house. It shouldn’t cost me that much money to pay a water bill. When my children was at home it was four and myself. It didn’t cost me but eighty something dollars every two months. It’s getting outrageous and out of hand. Something got to be done.” 12. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FOR/FROM THE MAYOR OR COUNCIL MEMBERS Council Member Cuthbert stated “I want to report a good experience I had in paying my utility bill. Just for a change of pace. I never done this before but I did it online. I was very uneasy about trying it because I tell people that I was born after Alexander Graham Bell but before Bill Gates. Which means I know how to use a  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 13 – ______________________________________________________________________________ telephone and will leave it at that. Well in any event I tried it. And at first, I was very tentative. There is a form. You have to fill in your account number. I knew the account number. I got over that hump. But then it said bank routing number. I thought oh my goodness I really don’t know what a bank routing number is. So, I went to the box where I keep my new checks and pulled one out and saw cross the bottom that there were three sets of numbers. One set of numbers referred to the check number. I knew what that one was. That was the check number. Another one of the three was my account number. Then there was the one in the middle. It meant nothing to me. I am going to take a chance. I am going to assume that this number across the bottom that I never seen before is the bank routing number. Let me go get another blank check and I will compare these two numbers to see if that number I don’t recognize is also on this blank check. The second blank check. Sure enough it was. I said I bet you that must be the bank routing number. I’m going to take a chance. I’m going to chance it. I plugged it in and I just paid online. And it didn’t cost me anything. It cost you a convenience fee if you paid by credit card. But if you do an automatic bank draft or a deduction there is no change at all. I said wait a minute. I hear that sometimes-utility department don’t get it quite right. I been to enough council meetings to get that message. I said maybe I print out a receipt. And it was a button down there that said print receipt. So, I pushed it by my mouse. And suddenly my printer was in action and bam I had a receipt. Right there. So, I said I’m very sympathetic and I know it’s a serious issue for a lot of people and I don’t mean to make light of that. I encourage everybody to try the online payment method. You don’t have to send anything to Baltimore and you don’t have to send a $0.49 stamp. And you can print your receipt so that if there is an issue that arises you can prove that you did in fact pay it. I’ve got a Petersburg feel good story kind of at the end of the meeting tonight. I didn’t want the Mayor to be only one to share with you these feel good stories. So, thank you all very much.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated “I have three items please. I first of all want to thank the City Manager and other department heads for attending the ward one workshop. I have printed or asked Ms. Jackson to print a copy of our minutes from that workshop. The reasoning is because a lot of the items we discussed effected the entire City. So, to share it, I thought that it would be good to share it with the remainder of council members and their wards. The second item is that I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Preston today and thank you for that Mr. Preston. I want to publicly state and ask that this council be given direction as to how to change the ward or wards to back to where it was when we changed it in 2011. For ward one Blandford, which is an historic neighborhood, was split to include moving the Bethany Baptist Church to ward four. The citizens have not been pleased with this and would like to return to their original ward. When I did my study on changing the wards it is recommended that you not split a historical ward. And given that and I know a lot of you were not here in 2011, but we did change it to split and the citizens have been asking that we get Blandford back to being the old Blandford. So please Mr. City Attorney if you can do what you can to look into that. I do know that the 2018 General Assembly passed identical bills that is signed by the governor that will freeze precincts and prohibit almost all changes between February 2019 and May 2021. The beginning date of the freeze to meet census bureau deadlines for inserting state precinct information into the map files for the 2020 census. The freeze is extended into 2021, so that 2021 redistricting can be carried out based on the 2020 population data reported by the census bureau for these precincts before localities change precincts as a result of local redistricting. I can send you that via email if that will help study that issue. The last thing that I would like to state is that there are flyers in the back of the room. I would like to thank Mrs. Kemi for such a beautiful flyer. We will start in the month of April for Citizen’s Academy that I do every year. The first Citizen’s Academy will be held on Sunday, April 22nd. And it will feature the Commonwealth’s Attorney, Fire Chief, the Sheriff and the Police Chief. This event is free to the public. It is not just a Ward 1 event. It is an event for anyone who resides in the City of Petersburg who wishes to come out. The event starts at 3:00pm and it is here at the train station. Please pick up a flyer prior to leaving. And that’s all I have for tonight. Thank you.” Council Member Smith-Lee stated “Good evening and thank you all for coming out. I only have one thing that I want to share. On April 12th I will have a ward meeting. Ward 6 will have a meeting on April 12th at A.P. Hill Elementary School. Please come out and join me at 6:00pm. Thank you.” Council Member Myers stated “On April 21st from 12:00pm to 2:00pm at Third Baptist Church, 550  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 14 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Farmer Street, we will have a Ward 5 Meeting, a cookout and voter registration drive. Thank you.” Council Member Hill stated “Good evening everyone. Thank you all for coming out. Ward 2 has been very busy the last few months. We been having a lot going on so I would like to thank the City Manager, the Fire Chief, Police Chief and the citizens for coming out to our ward meeting a couple of weeks ago. We had a great time and very informative. The residents really liked it. I like to thank also our public works and Fort Lee for coming out and renovating the Berkeley Manor Park. I really want to thank them and all their efforts and the Deputy City Manager and Mrs. Tami Yerby for putting that on. Also, I want to thank our City Manager for the retreat we did. It was very informative. I learned a lot of knowledge and we had a lot of fun in doing so. I really like to thank her for putting together the retreat. I also want to thank Tabernacle Baptist Church for opening up their doors towards free of charge for letting us use their facility all day. Also, on yesterday when we presented the Kappa League, I really want to thank the different departments and I pray that I don’t leave anybody out. I want to thank the Mayor first of all, our City Clerk, City Attorney, Planning Department, PR person, the Library, Assistant City Manager along with her staff, Public Works and Utility Collections, Mrs. Stephanie, Commission of Revenue and I believe that’s it and also transit. Transit took us around. The young men were very informed of the things on how the City works. And I want to bring bad a little bit from when we went to the conference a few weeks ago. The Mayor spoke on it. Our City of Petersburg is a great City. Regardless of everything that we have gone through. When we sat in DC with all of the cities in America they were telling some horror stories. And some of them were right adjacent to us. Some of the cities are right here and I wouldn’t call their names. They are going through some things but that is no reason for us to stick our chest out because we are going through some things. But the number one thing that everybody was dealing with was infrastructure. Everybody dealing with the same thing. Age in pipes of that nature. They are really getting traumatized by it. So, I really want to thank this council regardless of what people may think. We have several different people with seven different opinions. So, everybody is not always going to agree. But I looked at some council members there and they were telling us some really horror stories. It is an honor to serve with these men and women here and our staff. We do have a long way to go but we are not like some other cities. We could be a lot worse. We have seen worst days in the past but not like some of these cities in America. Some of these cities are fluent communities with larger budgets than ours. So, hold your head up citizens of Petersburg because I do. Thank you.” Vice Mayor Hart stated “Good evening everyone. I have a few items out here. First one I just want to give an additional reminder that on next Friday the library will be hosting ‘Jazz and a Stack.’ This plans on being an ongoing monthly event until September or October or when we run out of acts. It’s becoming a repeated effort and Mrs. Innis I want to say thank you all that you do. I know I call you a lot on issues throughout the City whether it’s water pipes or meters or properties and cleanup or whatever. Thank you and you team for all the work that you do. One of the things that was brought to us last year just before current staff arrived is that the difference of sizes of meters. What we were told then and from what a piece of paperwork said was that previously this was voted on by prior council. To say that this was a difference within meter size. No additional information was given and in the last few weeks I thought about that and I would actually like to know if we can find when that ordinance was passed and why didn’t it go into place at that time and why was it just brought last year. It just leaves a grave question in my mind that somethings that I have to question as a council member and as a citizen. Why was that done years ago when it was presented. The last thing that I have is in these last few months council members have been traveling around the City with staff. I know I mentioned this to the City Manager recently is that one of the things that we have to do is come up with and she talked about a strategy but we also have to come up with a vision for Petersburg and where we would like to go to help her and her staff job much easier. And in that conversation with her one of the things that I proposed is that just think that if council members, if you ran the City yourself for 30 days or a year or whatever the case what would you like the City to look like and what would you like to be. It’s nothing that is in a rush and we have a lot going on. It’s something that we need to think about. Just jot it down and discuss out of those things what can we merge. I’m sure a lot of our items are similar. We all came in with a purpose and a change so what can we do. What you may see in your area I may see different and what I see in my area you may see something different that I don’t see. Not only are we representatives of the ward but of the entire City.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 15 – ______________________________________________________________________________ That’s all I have and thank you.” Mayor Parham stated “Good evening again everyone. I want to thank everyone for coming out. I hope everyone had a great resurrection on Sunday, this past Sunday. It was good to have our meeting tonight and have our City Manager and City Attorney back well in here with us tonight. I know the bug has been going around. I am glad you all beat it. I would also like to make a reminder of this weekend’s event. We have the ‘Walk a Mile in Her Shoes’ event by Sheriff Crawford. And that’s going to be at Cameron Field this Saturday at 9:00am. It is the men marching against domestic violence and encourage all to come and support this event. I like to thank Mr. Richard Stuart for always having my back out here when we have big guest around. We had Mr. Tim Kaine come in town this past Saturday. You always represent well for us and you always help a lot. Thank you for all that you do for the City. Senator Kaine says he will be back for the lounging rally to see all the residents here in Petersburg. It should be great roll out. I also want to make a reminder to that this Thursday I encourage you all to come to the library. The Art League is having movie. Excuse me this Thursday it will be at the train station. It will be movie night. They will show the Avengers. So, all the kids bring them back down here Thursday night for movie night. Also, May 3rd will be the Ward 3 budget meeting. I am looking for to that and we will set up a location. It is a month from now so it should be great time to discuss our priorities for the next budget. That’s all I have. Thank you.” 13. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT AGENDA: No items for this portion of the agenda. 14. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: No items for this portion of the agenda. 15. STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS: No items for this portion of the agenda. 16. NEW BUSINESS: a. Consideration of an appropriation for a grant to purchase smoke alarms. BACKGROUND: The City of Petersburg receives various grants to assist with various programs to prevent harm in our community. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend that Council approve the attached appropriation for $2,000. Council Member Myers made motion to approve the attached appropriation for $2,000. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public discussion. Seeing no hands, Ms. Jackson closed public discussion. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham 18-ORD-13 AN ORDINANCE, AS AMENDED, SAID ORDINANCE MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING JULY 1, 2017, AND ENDING JUNE 30, 2018, IN THE FM GLOBAL FIRE PREVENTION GRANT FOR PETERSBURG FUTURE SERVICES.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 16 – ______________________________________________________________________________ b. Consideration of a request to amend the Revitalization Strategy to include the Petersburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority Projects by name, specifically Pin Oaks and Pecan Acres. BACKGROUND: Petersburg, Virginia is an entitlement jurisdiction for the annual receipt of CDBG funds from HUD. City Council made the decision to fund the eligible activities of Code Compliance with the CDBG allocation. As such, the City had to adopt a Revitalization Strategy which defines deteriorating and deteriorated and defines the areas in which the program will be applicable. In the previously approved ordinance, the City did not name the specific redevelopment projects for the Housing Authority. This information is critical to the Housing Authority successfully obtaining the gap funding necessary to move forward with their development plans. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the name of Pin Oaks, Pecan Acres and Sycamore Towers Housing Development Projects be added to the Strategy in name and census tract. Vice Mayor Hart made a motion to table this hearing for now and come back at a later date when we have more information. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was discussion among City Council and staff. Council Member Wilson-Smith made a substitute motion put the names of Pin Oaks, Pecan Acres and Sycamore Towers Housing Development Projects be added to the strategy and name in census tract. Motion dies due to lack of second. There was discussion among City Council and staff. Council Member Cuthbert request that a work session take place between City Council and Petersburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority. There was continued discussion among City Council and staff. The original motion to table action was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham Mayor Parham stated “Mrs. Benavides we will coordinate on getting the council and housing authority together. c. Consideration of a resolution to penalize to the fullest extent of the law the use of all terrain and off-road motor bikes on public road ways in the City. BACKGROUND: The City has had several all-terrain vehicles and off-road motor bike riders illegally driving on public road ways. To maintain the safety of all persons on City Road ways, this resolution directs staff to fully investigate these matters and propose legislation to penalize these actions to the fullest extent of the law. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the attached resolution. Ms. Jackson read the resolution out loud. Mayor Parham made a motion to approve the attached resolution. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 17 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public discussion. Karen Graham, 402 High Street, stated “Good evening again. My question is for clarification to ensure that the resolution includes both all-terrain vehicles and off-road motor bikes that the cover sheet to the resolution references. So, in the resolution where you only use all-terrain vehicles is that all inclusive of off- road motor bikes as well or does the resolution need to be amended to include that phrase. Thank you.” Vernel Gannaway, 652 Old Wagner Road, stated “I just need clarification on the last half. I read this online earlier but I know we were talking about infrastructure problems and we have to consider some of the areas that do not have curbing. And the only opportunity the kids have on the kid’s side is that they have the public streets that they have to use as far as recreation. I want us to consider that also. Another thing on the criminal side, I don’t want or youth to be a part of a situation where this is supporting criminal and civil felonies. Is that talking about jail time or something like this? I want that clarified for me. And also, I like the attorney to check on that when they have conditions like that on infrastructure out of place. I want you to check on the law about infrastructure.” Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed public discussion. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham 18-R-18 A RESOLUTION SUPPORTING CRIMINAL OR/AND CIVIL PENALTIES TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW FOR THE ILLEGAL OPERATION OF ALL-TERRAIN VEHICLES IN THE CITY OF PETERSBURG. 17. REPORTS/REPONSES TO PREVIOUSE PUBLIC INFORMATION PERIOD: Stephanie Harris, Assistant to the City Manager, read the questions and answers from the previous meeting regarding the public information period on March 20, 2018. 1. Is there a code violation for the property located at 1573 Valor Drive? Answer: Yes, Code Compliance has sent the appropriate violation notice for this property. 2. Pertaining to the comments about the Treasurer’s Office and Billing & Collections telephone numbers, below are the correct numbers to dial for services. The number for Treasurer’s Office provides a prompt for specific questions, the Treasurer, however, may be reached directly by pressing 6. Additionally, the Treasurer’s office voicemail has been updated. a. Billing & Collections Department: 804-733-2349 b. Treasurer’s Office: 804-733-2322 c. Commissioner of Revenue’s Office: 804-733-2315 Council Member Hill stated “Mr. Mayor, if I can I would like to ask the council for those of us that are on these committees like economic and those committees. Can you all get a report so council can see exactly where they are and give us an update like the Anti-Poverty. And Mayor you are on the committee, you can email it or something so we can stay abreast. Thank you.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated “Anti-Poverty is scheduled to do a full report at the last meeting in June as they did in June 2017. So, one year later they will do another report. And the standing the committee where the Anti-Poverty is under is scheduled to have a meeting on the 19th of April.” 18. CITY MANAGER’S AGENDA:  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 18 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Mrs. Benavides stated “Mayor and Council I mentioned earlier the appointment of our new Chief Operating Officer, Mr. Michael Rogers. I also would like to announce that we have selected our Deputy City Manager to replace Mr. March Altman. The New Deputy City Manager is Lionel Lyons. He comes to us from Phoenix after retiring from 28 years. He served there as the Director of Development Services over development as well as the Director of Human Services and Equal Opportunity. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science from North Carolina A&T and a Master’s in Public Administration from the Ohio state. Mr. Lyons will be going the City as the Deputy City Manager for Development on April 16, 2018. And last I would like to make a special note on thanking my son, Jeffrey, at the age of 16 has sat through our entire council meeting to observe our budget and government in action.” 19. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM CLERK: No items for this portion of the agenda. 20. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY No items for this portion of the agenda. Council Member Wilson-Smith stated that she would like to make a motion that City Council goes into closed session for the purpose of personnel issues and evaluations of Council appointees. The motion was seconded by Council Member Cuthbert. City Attorney Joseph Preston stated that City Council will now move to go back 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 personnel matters, where to do so in public would involve the discussion of specific individuals. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hart and Parham; Abstain: Hill City Council entered closed session at 9:48 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 Myers made a motion to return City Council into open session and certify the purposes of the closed session. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hart. There was discussion on the motion. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham 18-R-19 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.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: April 3, 2018 - 19 – ______________________________________________________________________________ City Council returned to open session at 10:06pm. 21. ADJOURNMENT: City Council adjourned at 10:07 p.m. _________________________ Clerk of City Council APPROVED: _________________________ Mayor