City Council

Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 -1– ______________________________________________________________________________ The regular meeting of the Petersburg City Council was held on Tuesday, June 5, 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 Annette Smith-Lee Council Member W. Howard Myers Vice Mayor John A. Hart, Sr. Mayor Samuel Parham Absent: Council Member Treska Wilson-Smith Council Member Darrin Hill 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, “At this time we will have Reverend Clyde Dancy, Associate Minister of Tabernacle Baptist Church, to lead us in a moment of prayer.” Reverend Dancy 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, 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 Vice Mayor Hart. There was no discussion on the motion, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill City Council entered closed session at 6:33 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. Vice Mayor Hart 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 Smith-Lee.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 -2– ______________________________________________________________________________ The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Smith-Lee, Myers, Hart and Parham; Abstain: Cuthbert; Absent: Wilson- Smith and Hill 18-R-33 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. 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 highlight the continuation of the Magic Card program here in Petersburg. The magic card pass provides Petersburg’s youth with the opportunity to ride throughout town on Petersburg Area Transit (PAT) at no charge. This program not only provides free summer transportation for our children but also includes a free YMCA membership. The Magic Card program shows initiative and proactive thinking in providing our youth and parents with opportunities to stay active and engaged during the summer vacation. Last year, between 450 and 500 kids signed up for the Magic Card. Parents can sign their children up online or in person at the YMCA, starting on June 1st. A parent must be present to register. Thank you.” 7. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS/PRESENTATION OF CEREMONIAL PROCLAMATIONS: (Each presentation will be limited to 10 minutes.) No items for this portion of the agenda. 8. COMMUNICATIONS/SPECIAL REPORTS: a. City Assessor’s Report Brian Gordineer, City Assessor, stated, “It is a pleasure to be here. I would like to thank the City Manager and the entire City team for the very warm welcome that I have received since I have arrived two weeks ago. Before beginning, I do want to recognize an employee in the assessor’s office, Crystal Green. She has sort of stood by the ship and over the past year when there won’t many folks in the office or none other but her. She kept things going and I am greatly indebted for here service. It has been just 12 days since I started, so I thought I would appropriately call it the ‘12 Days of Progress.’” Mr. Gordineer presented a PowerPoint presentation. Below are key points that were presented in the PowerPoint presentation:  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 -3– ______________________________________________________________________________  Removed old files and boxes from the office that were not needed and redid office.  Transitioned to an almost electronic paperless office. Everything that was done in paper will now be done electronically and into folders.  Made contact with the Patriot Software Company and is already beginning conversations to get the Patriot Computer System Mass Appraisal System in working order.  Started looking at what they need to do to do reassessment to a particular property class which is telecommunications towers.  Revising some of the job descriptions for the two real estate appraiser’s positions and the real estate data analyst. The will be advertising within the next week.  Forthcoming recommendations: Frequency of Reassessment, Date of Valuation , Dates of Office Appeal & Board of Equalization Appeal, Board of Equalization Compensation, Exemptions by Designation, and Rehabilitation Tax Credit Application Fees.  Vision: To be a model assessment office with a team of dedicated professionals, utilizing best practices and realizing the benefits of technology within a supportive legal framework. Vice Mayor Hart stated, “Thank you Mr. Gordineer. We truly appreciate what you have done in the past 12 days. We hope and perceive that you will change things around in that office. We already see that you are getting us a couple of dollars and we appreciate it.” b. Code Enforcement Presentation Lionel Lyons, Deputy City Manager, stated, “Council Members, Mayor, Madam City Manager and City Attorney. What I have come before you today, I am Lionel Lyons, Deputy City Manager for Development. In the process of being here a short period of time, one of the items that has jumped off the board with a number of you all is the issue of code enforcement. Where are we, what we are doing and why aren’t we doing more. In this process of trying to do this work we all recognize one thing. That blight is a major challenge for the City of Petersburg. When you look at the slide before you it shows a few things that have been done in the last week or so. It shows the demolition of a few properties along Jefferson Street as well as the clean-up that occurred in that process. Our purpose here today is to educate the members of City Council as well as the public on code enforcement about brick and mortar, private and commercial properties, and inoperable vehicles. The second item to get out this process is to seek your guidance to strengthen property management and code enforcement. The background as you can see is that the code enforcement process is a lengthy process and it involves the property rights of individuals that is dictated by the state and city code and the judicial process.” Key points from PowerPoint presentation:  Code Compliance operations was affected significantly in the City with a down turn in the economy. The department over the time has reported to different departments that resulted in lack of focus and leadership.  It had a lack of data management process. Information was not easily obtainable.  Goal is to maintain a housing stock of other structures before they get to what was spoken of in the demolition process. Michelle Peters, Director of Planning and Community Development, went through the portion of the PowerPoint regarding property maintenance. Key points from PowerPoint presentation:  Once a complaint is received then they go through the proper steps on a timeline to check our property at the given address.  Certified notices are sent to the property owners.  Once a judicial decision has been made the owner may be directed to pay a fine and develop  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 -4– ______________________________________________________________________________ an abatement plan which the City will need to monitor.  Owner’s not determined will go through a process to try and find the owner best they can and look through information to find that person or information on owner’s.  The process of serving a summons may be hindered due to an absentee landlord as well as property owners who are out of the State or City.  Staffing: One Admin Support, One Property Maintenance Official and Three Building Maintenance Inspectors (One serves as both a rental housing inspector and building inspector) (One position recently hired in March)  The City currently has contract with three vendors to provide demolition services.  232 red tagged through 5/24/2108, vacant property registry through 5/31/2018 and 2454 inspections May 2017-May 2018 (some were inspected again)  Allocate one additional staff person to provide performance management and administrative support to Code Compliance  Resume Spot Blight Program and utilize other tools as authorized by State Code  Seek to resume National Guard’s Operation Renew Jim Reid, Fire Marshal, went through the portion of the PowerPoint regarding fire marshal’s office. Key points from PowerPoint presentation:  In FY2018, five commercial properties were demolished through enforcement.  Apartment and school inspections by in-service fire companies  Four smoke alarm blitz per year  Re-establish community risk reduction program  Establish small business self-fire inspection program  State mandate fire prevention inspections Kenneth Miller, Police Chief, went through the portion of the PowerPoint regarding police. Key points from PowerPoint presentation:  Ticketed 865 Vehicles and Towed 263  Important to gain compliance with resident of the 602 violations  Process are not easy and some require 15 days or 48 hours depending on where the vehicle is placed and how they are going to address.  Two part-time positions are included in the FY 18-19 budget to dedicate personnel to ticketing and towing of inoperative vehicles effective July 1, 2018. Mr. Lyons stated, “As you can see in the findings that we have before you in this report we believe in our comprehensive review that we need to do a better job of project management and data base and tracking system. We need to have a higher degree of efficiency and accountability by staff. We need guidance. At one point of time, there was someone in the law department that helped specifically in the guidance area. In talking with our City Attorney today he is in the process of moving forward with hiring an assistant attorney to help us in this process. We need a more defined process and timeline until we get through the court proceedings in this process. I know in this process as well we need to determine through the legislative agenda how we as a City can move forward in increasing fees to address these issues. And last but not least we need to figure our consistently and I am committing to you to come back with you consistent and concise reporting as we move forward in this process. So, the one thing that I would like to say in terms to you in our recommendations that we are offering. Staff will come back and provide quarterly updates to you the member of the council’s. In this process, staff will seek your approval to further examine State and City Code to help us more to astringently regulate and enforce the issue of inoperative vehicles and parking location of vehicles. Last in this recommendation staff seeks City Council approval to strengthen the enforcement regarding property maintenance. We are basically saying that effective September 1, 2018, we want to be able to have property  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 -5– ______________________________________________________________________________ owners to have no more than six months to execute a process in terms of abatement. These are our recommendations to you and as you have heard from staff there are other staff here in the audience that are prepared to facilitate and address any specific questions that you may have. But before I move forward, one I want to thank you for allowing us to get through this presentation. I know a number of you have a variety of questions about this and we are prepared to entertain this. Before I head to the question and answer piece I would be remise if I didn’t thank Mrs. Stephanie Harris. Stephanie has been just a jewel in terms of working with all of us in pulling together all this information and data to help us with this presentation. So, if you all can help me just give Stephanie a round of applause. So, with this being said we will entertain any specific questions that you may in regard to this issue or presentation.” There was discussion among City Council and City staff. Council Member Cuthbert made a motion that at council’s meeting on June 19, 2018, council consider establishing a time table for the City to follow for bringing structures in compliance with applicable City Codes. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hart. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill c. City Manager’s Report Mrs. Benavides stated, “What I have provided for you is a written report regarding the City Manager’s Update. Included in there is one of the projects that we have been working on and it is the update to the treasurer’s office and the billing and collections office. That project is 70% complete as we move forward with it. Also, a capital project that we would like to give an update on is our Social Services upgrades that we are doing to the front room and entrance area. That project is about 65% complete and we are looking forward to a grand reopening of that project. Finally, from a capital project public works standpoint many of you may have noticed that a lot of work is going on at Exit 52. This was a partnership with the Cameron Foundation. And within that partnership they have done major landscaping and some other things that we will all look forward to is that a lot will be added to the bridge. As you see with the hotel construction that is going on and other items it’s really a grant kick-off of Exit 52 as that is the gateway to the City of Petersburg. Upcoming things that you will see as we do the inspection of our drainage. It has been a rainy Spring and Summer season for us. We are working very hard with our Public Works Department. I want to thank Mrs. Innis and her team for continuing to try to keep up with it. You will see that there is always someone cutting the grass and that it is definitely a difficult thing to do in an area that rains as much as this area does. Last and certainly not least one of the questions that Mr. Cuthbert asked, we talked about property maintenance. We had about six cases in 2017 to go to court listed below. You have also received a copy of the billing and collection report for our ambulance service. One of the things that was identified when our Fire Chief came on board is that we were failing to collect the payments that were due to the City. As you can see from the efforts right now that we have definitely increased our collections. One of the things that we will look forward too is how we can go forth with the delinquent collections via either a collection services or other formats. That has actually been a success and as you notice in the budget amendment that was one of the adjustments that we made based on the services. Operation no guns on the street is still very important. As you are aware guns create violence so our police chief and his team have accurately worked at this time to having 144 illegal guns being removed in just this year alone. One update on property tax bills which are due on June 11th. We have noticed and received comments from individuals that they have not in fact received their property taxes. We have noticed one specific area which is the Battersea area that has not received it. So, what we are trying to do now is to contact the post office. We are going to place on our website for those who are infected a number to call so that we look to reprint or make sure they get their property tax bills. We are very aware that there continues to be a problem with mail delivery. Our role in the billing and collection office is simply to print the bills. We do not enter the data. We print the bills once they are available. And so, once we print the bills we take the bills to the post office and mail them in bulk. From that point in time that is where we start to see problems within the City. This is continuing to be whether it’s water bills or property tax bill problems for the City. Last and certainly not least the other item that we talked about at our last meeting was the Swagit, which is a video conference recording  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 -6– ______________________________________________________________________________ program. We spoke with Swagit about the annual cost for it. The annual cost is $11,400 for remote controlled cameras and $7,500 for stationary cameras. So, the next time what we would like to do is have a presentation is to show you that system. As I spoke with staff about this and this is to televise and make our council meeting’s available online and via out TV station on our channel. The key to this is that we may need to bid this out. But I do want council to look and see how this option goes as we start to plan to make sure that it is interactive. One of the features that we mentioned we like is that citizens cannot only watch it via their televisions, their phone or on the internet or cable TV but also if they want to go back to a specific item that they are interested in the agenda is available and you click on the agenda. So, we would like to do a demonstration just so you can see the type but then in the long run I think it’s in our best interest to look to see if there are other alternatives and competitors with this. This has become a very poplar system with governments because they actually control it remotely as far as the installation of a couple of cameras I also want to make sure that we get the best value for the City. Also, included on your desk is that each of you received a copy of the City Manager’s and the Finance Officer’s response to the Robert Bobb Group’ report. On May 25th we received a copy of the final closeout report from Mr. Bobb. And included in your packet we have given you a copy of the report as well as the response from staff to the report. What we have done for you and briefed most of you on this is that we have responded. They identified I believe 10 risk areas within their report and we have responded to each risk area. Our first step was to review it and our next step was to respond to council and to you. Our next step for the staff is to work with Mr. Bobb Group to correct any errors that may have been concluded in their or information that was miscommunicated but also to address some of the areas. There are some areas that we have to keep moving forward in the City and we still have a long way to go. This is America and not a sprint and it will take time. Just to highlight a couple of things that were in there that we wanted to make sure that we were clear about is one question that keeps coming up. We had a $2 million-dollar surplus and now its $300,000. As you may be aware and remember in having a $2 million- dollar debit refinance. That occurred about in August or September of last year. That $2 million dollars was then appropriated to not only payback a million dollars to the school but also to pay some of the other fees that we had outstanding from other areas. Unfortunately, that is not classified as a surplus if it was reallocated. We want to make sure that we get the information out and to be communicated clearly with Mr. Bobb in answering some of the questions. So, we will sit down to make sure that we are working together. Other areas that you are aware of is that we are working very collectively with our treasurer and revenue office to ensure that we can improve this process to our citizens. And we want to thank you for your support and if you have any questions I’m available.” 9. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA (to include minutes of previous meeting/s) a. Minutes: Regular City Council Meeting: May 15, 2018 b. Schedule a public hearing on the potential renaming of Old Fairgrounds Road to W.K. McLaughlin Lane from Farmer Street. c. Authorization for City Manager to Develop a Feasibility Plan to make Washington and Wythe Street “two-way.” Council Member Myers made a motion to accept the Consent Agenda with the scheduling of one public hearing for June 19, 2018 and the approval of authorization for the City Manager to Develop a Feasibility Plan to make Washington and Wythe Street “two-way.” The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hart. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill 10. OFFICIAL PUBLIC HEARINGS: a. A public hearing on the potential renaming of Timber Road to Hummingbird Way from Rives Road to the City Limits. BACKGROUND: Timber Road begins in the City at Rives Road and ends in Prince George county  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 -7– ______________________________________________________________________________ north of I-295. There is another section of Timber Road in Prince George county south of I-295. The applicant is a business on Timber Road (north of I-295) and they say the public and emergency services have trouble locating them because of the two separate sections of Timber Road. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council review the resolution and consider the name change request. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Richard Pomplin, requester of name change, stated, “I had a representative helping me with this for some time. Unfortunately, he couldn’t come tonight. I just wanted to give you a little bit of a background on the purpose for the name change to Hummingbird Way. It’s because Timber Road is a road that has been dissected several times and maybe you are aware of that. Originally years ago, probably close to 40 years ago, it started at the Old Wagner Road and parallel 95 and made its way all the way down to Prince George to where Steven Kent is. And then over time as the City developed property the beginning of Timber Road down that Old Wagner Road it actually just turned into the old Wagner and then they got the new Wagner Road and the old Wagner Road was now called Old Wagner Road and that just kind of elbowed into Timber Road. It progressed south to Rives Road and crosses Rives Road then what happened 295 was put in about 20 years ago and it cut Timber Road in half again. And so, what we have is a Timber Road on the north side of Rives Road that is part of the Old Wagner Road. We have Timber Road from Rives Road south that’s been cut in half and turned into a cul-de-sac at 295. Then on the other side of 295 we have another part of Timber Road. So, the problem is a life safety problem. And I have witnessed it. I purchased a piece of property at the end of Timber Road south of Rives Road in the cul-de-sac. I keep all of Timber Road clear and keep it clean. I was working in the cul-de-sac and an ambulance was flying on down. Two guys in the front looking frantic looking for an address on Timber Road. I told them ‘guys I can’t help you.’ So, I realized these guys are having a hard time. I didn’t know if it was the Timber Road on the north side of Rives Road or on the other side. So, my suggestion was that if we can at least get this one portion named Hummingbird Way. Because I have got a business at the end of Timber Road in the cul-de-sac and if I have my business their people will if there is a life safety occasion they will know to come down Hummingbird Way. The rest of Timber Road I don’t know what to do with it. But it would fix that one portion. But I can also say that recently I had a life safety occasion on our property and I had an individual to pass out and I wasn’t sure what was wrong. I checked the person out and the person was okay. Rather than call 9-1-1 and not know what I was going to do I out the person in the truck and took them to the hospital because it was three minutes away. That isn’t a good situation because it could have been something worse where I couldn’t pick the person up and take them to the hospital. So that’s the reason for my request. Thank you.” Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. Council Member Myers made a motion to approve the name change to rename Timber Road to Hummingbird Way from Rives Road to City Limits. The motion was seconded by Council Member Smith-Lee. There was discussion among City Council and staff. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill 18-R-34 A RESOLUTION TO RENAME TIMBER ROAD TO HUMMINGBIRD WAY FROM RIVES ROAD TO CITY LIMITS. b. A public hearing on the potential conveyance of an easement for Wilcox Lake to Virginia Outdoor Foundation. BACKGROUND: The Virginia Land Conversation Foundation provides grants for purchasing interests in real property for land conservation throughout the Commonwealth. Grants are awarded in the following categories: natural area protection; open spaces and parks; farmlands and forest preservation; and  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 -8– ______________________________________________________________________________ historic area preservation. Lee Memorial Park would be eligible in two categories to apply for grant funding. The purpose of the funding is to protect and enhance the open space and recreational use of the park. Prior to applying for the grant, the property, in this case Lee Memorial Park, must have an easement granted to Virginia Outdoor Foundation (VOF). RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council review the proposal for easement and provide a directive to staff. Betty Guthrie, Wilcox Lake, gave a PowerPoint presentation on the history of Wilcox Lake. Burke Steele, President of the Wilcox Watershed Conservancy, stated, “It’s true that we have been a group effort. We have been working on this for a long time and were happy to be here. Thank you for having us. We’re here to discuss the easement and I am going to keep my conversation specific to the easement. And we have Kristin Jones here with us tonight. She is the Assistant Director of Easements for the Virginia Outdoor Foundation (VOF). The purpose of looking into a conservation easement on the property is to protect the property. And at this point in time there is money available for putting an easement on Lee Park. A majority of easements are donated, however there is funding available at the June VOF Board Meeting that will go away if we don’t do something tonight. So, there is a since of urgency and we need a resolution from City Council stating their intent to apply for grant funding and work with VOF to draft the easement document. I have given Nykesha a three-page educational document and I am going to pull that up now and focus on the last two paragraphs.” Mr. Steele read last two paragraphs of document out loud. Mr. Steele stated, “At this point in time I am going to turn it over to Kristin for any questions regarding to the conservation easement process. This isn’t the final document. It will still be open to tweaks here and there working with City staff to finalize.” Kristin Jones, Assistant Director of Easements for the Virginia Outdoor Foundation (VOF), stated, “I am happy to answer any questions but also really the main point of me coming before you tonight is that our board really wants to make sure that the City Council is in support of exploring the options of preservation of Lee Memorial Park. And we do have funding available that needs to be allocated before July 1st. This resolution would be just to be able to go forward with exploring these options. We would be coming back to City Council with the full document if that is what City staff, Wilcox Conservancy and Virginia Outdoor Foundation all agree on a draft. It would come back before the council.” Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Willie Noise, 1508 Circle Drive, stated, “Good afternoon. I do a lot of back and forth on Fort Lee Road and Wilco Lake. I have seen a lot of changes which I look at the park and I don’t think very much of it. For it to be Lee Park and as long as it been there it look run down to me. And I am into landscaping. My question is what the purpose is and how will this affect the easement of that ‘No cut zone.’” Mr. Steele stated, “We’ve had complaints among our board. Currently that falls under the City purview as far as the grass cutting. We don’t have a budget to have the grass cut. I haven’t even entertained getting a quote on the grass cutting on the entire property because our budget for the year runs about $30,000. And that’s all from donations from the citizens. From 2007 to now we have raised approximately $250,000 from citizens and grant funds to do different projects in the park. We are trying to make it more open to everybody. Currently, a wild flower and bird sanctuary project going on in the park that is going to include an education center and signage educational material. I know that’s getting of topic with the grass but that is falling under the City purview. We don’t handle that. We do trail maintenance. We are expanding the trail network within Lee  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 -9– ______________________________________________________________________________ Park.” Council Member Myers stated, “Mr. Cuthbert alluded to it earlier. This is a public hearing. I am confused at this time. What we are having a public hearing for tonight as I understand is to provide an easement. I need to understand what this public hearing is going to help us to consider when I hear different stories. Either we are going to support a process, or we are going to convey this easement. I need to understand what we are having this public hearing about. If someone can help me I would certainly appreciate it.” Ms. Jones stated, “Our Virginia Outdoor Foundation Board would like to know that the City Council supports the exploration of doing an easement or other methods of preservation for Lee Memorial Park. And so, in order for our board to go forward we just need a resolution to support that from the City Council.” Michael Herbst, 1594 South Sycamore Street, stated, “I’m a little bit confused too. We spent a large part of this meeting looking at a lot of pretty pictures on the board here. It would be nice to have a map that shows exactly the area that you are talking about to convey an easement. We have no idea what you are talking about. Is it 10 feet around the lake? Is it acreage? Is it accessibility to the lake? Where exactly is the easement?” Kenneth Lewis, 503 Mistletoe Street, stated, “I am also a member of the Wilcox Watershed Conversancy appointed by this governing body to advocate for the natural historical botanical significance of the Lee Park and Wilcox Lake area in the City. The purpose of the easement is to put a barrier around a designated part of it to protect it from development and to allow the natural habitat to exist. Without that easement, develop will encroach and other kinds of things will happen. I stand to speak in favor of the City Council of Petersburg granting a conservation easement for the designated properties. Very simply it would represent council taking a very proactive step to preserve and protect one of our natural jewels. By providing conservation easement you put in place a strategic opportunity to promote a natural wonder that can provide a sense of pride and source of revenue for our City. We have fossil a lot of facts including vertebrae of three plus million years ago, Petersburg was under oceanic waters. Every SOL science lesson element can be found on the grounds of Wilcox Lake and Lee Park and used for a learning purpose by our City Petersburg Public School System if they choose to take advantage of this resource. We can publicize this land as a national treasure worth visiting by tourist who come to Petersburg to spend their money here. We can also bring appropriate recognition and closure to a major civil rights violation and discriminatory act that the 1953 Petersburg City Council imposed upon the City residents, especially the African America City residents present at that time. As far as I know no City Council in the last 64 years has chosen to rectify a public apology or amending a policy. And so, I ask that you please approve this conservation easement putting a barrier around a 300 plus acre of Lee Park and Wilcox Lake area to protect it from development. Because it is worth leaving its preserved status. Thank you.” Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. There was discussion among City Council and staff. Council Member Cuthbert made a motion to direct City staff to work with the Virginia Outdoor Foundation and the Wilcox Lake Conservancy to explore options to preserve Lee Memorial Park and bring a recommendation to Council before January 1, 2019. The motion dies for lack of a second. Vice Mayor Hart stated, “I just want to be clear on some stuff. As noted earlier today, as my relationships with the organization that I have to abstain from voting on this. But I hope that we can move forward in that direction. However, we are short of a second, so we will see what is going on. I have been instructed to do as far as my relationship with the organization.”  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 - 10 – ______________________________________________________________________________ There was discussion among City Council Members. Council Member Myers made a motion to table until June 19th. The motion was seconded by Council Member Cuthbert. There was discussion among City Council and staff. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Myers, and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill; Abstain: Hart 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. Bruce Donald, 533 High Street, stated, “Good evening Mayor and Members of Council. I want to talk a little about Robert Bobb’s performance reviews. I found this review to be both insulting to both the City Council and the City Manager. I suspect the real motivation here is to encourage the state to get more involved in our affairs. I hope the city will resist in much efforts and point out some of Robert Bobb’s wonder and lost opportunities including the fact that a onetime liquidity event would have allowed spending to continue at the current rate temporarily. When the money runs out we would still have to attack the spending problem. Too much time was wasted on this none solution by the Robert Bobb Group. Second, given the spending problem last Spring the Robert Bobb Group could have simply froze expenditures at the $65 million-dollar level. Have they done that Petersburg would have had a $7 million-dollar surplus this year. Instead they proposed a budget of a spending increase by 20%. A turnaround specialist should not make her problems worse. Robert Bobb’s budget actually had Petersburg set up for failure. We were headed toward a $3.4 million-dollar deficit to understate actually spending requirements to safe revenue projections. Mr. Bobb goes on to take Petersburg to task for not going up on any of the onetime liquidity events. His team relentlessly pushed for the sale of our water system and completely ignored our excess to sell the capacity. This was one area with strong support and even let the members of the Adhoc Committee stay with this issue. Mr. Bobb also had the opportunity to organize the City’s workforce. Had he compared Petersburg to other jurisdictions he would have found that we have too many full-time employees. Even after excluding Social Service employees there is an opportunity to eliminate 80 positions in saving the City approximately $4 million dollars annually. Please don’t let Mr. Bobb report go unchallenged.” Willie Noise, 1508 Circle Drive, stated, “Good afternoon again council. The only thing I have is a word of encouragement. I want to thank those who thought of me in the time that my mother passed. I like Petersburg. The citizens have calmed down a lot. I want to mention that because at one time it seemed like we were all at each other throat and now we have a little common sense of agreeing to disagree which I like. I have been looking around the City and it’s a lot of changes being made but it’s still a lot that remains the same. Election time is coming, and I would like to see the same staff. Because we have been through some hell and it’s a lot of questions still left unanswered and these new people that are coming on are not going to be answering any of those questions. Keep at it and work hard and when you go out there and politic for your position do not half step. Give it all you have. This is depending on you all and us. Because we are the citizens of Petersburg and we know. We come here, and we are tired and sleepy, angry, mad or whatever. WE get here and we try to do our job. So, all I am doing is just encouraging you. We are on the right road and we are making progress. Do not forget our past history. Now we have some terrible past history somewhere. Some of it was accidently and some of it was on purpose and we can’t overlook this. And my last thing is ‘veterans.’ We veterans have decided to step back and just stay at home on our home property and stuff like that. And we are not going to help anyone else because we have gotten kind of fat and situated after a long time. We got to get together and come with one more goal in mind of something. We just sitting here. Veterans just like myself quit  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 - 11 – ______________________________________________________________________________ but I can’t quit because things are too bad after I come back. If you are a veteran, let’s step up the pace and if you are not support the ones and I am calling on the wives of veterans. Because you are the ones that stuck beside them through thick and thin and you know what we cry about and holler about and have nightmares about when we are sleeping. So, come on let’s everybody step up to the plate.” Michael Herbst, 1594 South Sycamore Street, stated, “The other night sometime last week I went up to Food Lion and I was coming home. I come over the crest of the hill around Tuckahoe and in the middle of the street is an old man in a wheelchair. I had to go around him and it kind of startled me. I went down the road and turned around and went up and got close to him and pulled up in the driveway and got out my truck. I pushed him across the street and up the hill to level ground. I remembered seeing him on the bridge on the overpass of 85 one day when I was going home from work. So, he kind of strolled pretty fair from that time. Then I started thinking about why he was in the middle of the street. So, my first thoughts were that we do not have the wheelchair accessibility here and that it is far up Sycamore Street. I know you have to get off and on where the bridge is and where the Doughboy Statue is. And then I started thinking about, and this is all going on in my head pretty quick. And then I started thinking on that they are putting all that wheelchair accessibility stuff on Wythe Street and I never seen an old man in a wheelchair on Wythe. Then I think that you kind of have to go out people’s driveway and get in the street and then go up someone else’s driveway to get out the street. But then I realized that I reflect back on the walks of life I take when I walk around the neighborhood. I hope you guys walk around the neighborhood and see what is going on. But the gentleman was crossing the street because he couldn’t navigate the sidewalk. Now the busted-up sidewalk is only part of the issue. The main part of the issue is the overgrowth. There is parts of Sycamore Street where the sidewalks are four feet wide. There is parts of the grass, trees and shrubs and the poison ivy. If you are walking north on Sycamore Street once you get past 85 the poison ivy is so thick on the sidewalk that you have to walk in the street. I see kids and mothers walking in the streets. So, there is another issue that we have. The homeowners are responsible for maintaining their bushes and their shrubs and their lawns and things. That’s their responsibility. The City is also responsible for some of the maintaining of the overgrowth too. I get selfish. I sure would like to go walking with my wife and not worry about my eye getting poked out or get poison ivy. Petersburg is a nice small town and it’s got nice things to look at. It should be a walking City and it should accommodate pedestrians. So, I am just asking that we find a way to encourage people to maintain their properties. We don’t send out letters for stickers, anymore do we? Maybe some of that money can be used to just send a letter out to the population and remind them of their social responsibility. Because wheelchairs in the street and I see numerous people not just this one gentleman. I have seen people further north on Sycamore Street in motorized wheelchairs and the hand driven push wheelchairs. So, there is more than one person doing this. It’s a safety issue at this point. People should be able to stay on sidewalks. Thank you for your time.” Raymond Crockett, 248 Southwood Drive, stated, “Good afternoon Council. Tonight, I heard some good things. Code enforcement, I am so glad that we have someone here now that is going to take charge of what is going on with this City according to code enforcement. With the grass, the cars, the property running down, our drive through this City is a disgrace of overgrown limbs, trees and bushes and houses coming down. People parking junk cars on the front yard and trailers on the front yard. The value of our property is going down. If we just clean this up. It will make Petersburg a better and clean City. By cleaning this up code enforcement could help bring in the property value of real estate between $8 and $15 million dollars to our tax base that we need in this City. If you let the property run down the value of your house could run down. The community can run down, and the neighborhood can run down. I come off Colonial Heights and come off the Gateway. The bushes that need to be cut. They are working on Ramada Inn. People that come into the see and see this is a disgrace. We used to keep that Gateway clean. We have to get back to cleaning our City up. I am so glad. I have been arguing for the last 15 to 20 years about Washington Street and Wythe Street. I am glad that we are giving the City Manager a chance to look at that and I hope we can open it back up to a two- way street. It is very important that we clean that up. She brought up another thing tonight. Last quarter I did not received my real estate taxes. Also, I did not receive a bill for this coming real estate. Also, my personal property tax I have not received. Is there something going on with the mail. I am the type of guy that when the taxes are due that if I don’t get it I come down. Some people will say that I didn’t receive mines and will not  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 - 12 – ______________________________________________________________________________ worry about it. Then they have a problem there. I had a problem with some things going on in the City. I addressed the City Manager about it she took care of the business right away. Somethings we can take care of in house and I appreciate what you do for me. When I have a problem, we address the issues. We can bring it back, but we have to take all of us to work together. Thank you.” Paul Meyer, 133 South Market Street, stated, “Rough night you guys. I have been urban farming on the Halifax Triangle. I don’t know if you noticed me or not. But I have been working on that garden day in and day out. It has been two years now. I won like a community block grant program to do farming in Petersburg. Basically, I sell to most of the restaurants and I am like slowing down that business to do full time selling at the triangle. We are also asking so I am going to do it now. So basically, I am going to show you some slides really quick. If you drive past there now there are stakes going up. There are a lot of vine ripe tomatoes and will be coming. I also do and specialize in lettuce and that is what I was grew off to the restaurants. Basically, I have been selling them to grocery stores in Richmond and in Petersburg. I know one thing that we are working on is blight. That is one thing that I saw is that you can turn this in to a beautiful property and my vision as a farmer is to food desert into food forest. That is pretty simple if everyone can understand that. And that is all that I am working on day by day. Last year I had around 10% of flowers there and this year I am going to have like 100 to 300% flowers everywhere there. I do a lot of cut flowers. I am hoping to change the triangle. I have already hired four seasonal people and I do a lot of farm internships and volunteers. It’s not just like learning farming skills like growing food which is very important because loose these skills and it is also life skills. I have a NBA and NFA and I am super educated. It doesn’t really matter anymore because I am growing. But I can actually tell these people that I am a veteran too. Whenever I meet this young people who are 18 or 19 I always tell them if someone talked to me just getting out of high school I would have just told them to go in the military with so many things paid for. I did it when I was like 25 but if I would have had a mentor and I knew all this would have been paid. I did my letter of intent and that is what I am hoping that you guys start listening to may be the planning committee and you will see that. That’s all that I am trying to do. That’s it. I just wanted to inform you guys and see where it goes from there. Also, here is seven letters. Someone told me to get five letters of support, so I got seven. And it is basically to redo the triangle. So, the economic report that was done in 2015 and 2016, the consultant said that it wasn’t economically buyable for the triangle to come back. But I feel like what I’m doing is actually like stimulating growth. Thank you.” Lawrence McLaughlin, 115 Marshall Street, stated, “We have heard an encouraging report of what the City wishes to do about the code enforcement. It’s exciting. Please look at your photo. It’s 127 South Jefferson Street. It has been empty for 20 years. This is the 20 years that I have known about and it may be years before that. And in those 20 years there was one attempt at code enforcement that they got hold of the owner and they put boarding up on the building. If you look at the boarding up of the building, it’s very sharply done. It has no effect on the building. The issue here is code enforcement. The real issue is hiring more folk to follow through. It’s the following through. We have had some fabulous code enforcement plans, but they get lost. They never follow through. We have to get these houses fixed. Trashed houses are not a black neighborhood or white neighborhood or mixed neighborhood. Trashed houses are Petersburg problem. Fix the problem and everybody house increases in value. Petersburg needs to hire more code enforcement workers. Thank you.” Barb Rudolph, 1675 Mt. Vernon Street, stated, “First of all I am an avid gardener but I’m not going to talk about plants because I think you probably heard more about plants tonight than you needed too. So, I will talk on a more traditional subject which is things that are going on in the City. And I know that this is going to seem a little bit contradictory but bear with me. I want to start by saying that I am pretty unhappy with how the billing and collections activities are being conducted in the current environment. I don’t know all the reasons for that. In my position involved a lot with social media and people in the City the complaints are just incessant. But you all know that as well. I’m not telling you anything new. And I have to say in honesty that it is hard not to hold the current City administration accountable for at least some of these problems. We know we need help and it’s broken but having said all that I still am not without hope. I think that we have and I have seen some really good presentations tonight from people in the City. There is some great things going on and there is some great people here. But one thing we don’t need, we don’t need another intervention from the Robert  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 - 13 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Bobb Group. We know that this report came out. I was eager to read it and I found it interesting but very self- serving from the way that Bobb wrote about all of his many things that he did. He didn’t miss any opportunity to pat himself on the back and what their group have done all while slamming the City people. And that was a little hard to take because his credibility by the time he left here from the initial engagement was damaged. All he did at the end of his engagement was focus on one thing which was to sell the water and sewer system. So, myself and a lot of other people found him lacking in objectivity. So, I don’t think that he is the right person to come back under any circumstances up to be actually remaking anything. I mean I am glad that he brought some things to light. As the City Manager said, I think that the City will look at that and make improvements, but it is also some of that was just gratuity slaps that was not helpful to anyone. And I do want to say that I think that one of the few personnel actions that Bobb took that was good was hiring the current City Manager. I think you all should work with her and don’t let her be pushed around by the state or let you all be pushed around by the state. I don’t know what the agenda is for this report, but it changed kind of from a report that was supposed to help Petersburg to a report card addressed to people at the executive and legislative branches. So, I hope that if we do need to bring in outside help there are other ways to go about it rather than bringing in a group that somewhat tainted by their past actions. Thank you for your consideration.” 12. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FOR/FROM THE MAYOR OR COUNCIL MEMBERS: Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Thank you. I want to thank a number of people tonight. I want to thank Mr. Crockett and Mr. McLaughlin for their emphasis on the importance on code enforcement and their observations on how we have fallen far short of what we can do. I want to thank Mr. Lyons for tonight in stating that it was not simply a matter of lack of staffing although certainly that is a component of the reason for our short fall in our performance with code enforcement. But also, there is a lack of process that is responsible in part. I think we have a new day with Mr. Lyons hand on designing the process. I am quite impressed with Mr. Lyons. He is serious. He is a serious municipal administrator. He considers, and he is practical. And I of course should thank the City Manager for having good judgment in hiring him in the first place. I want to thank the City Manager also for going on the trolley tour with me and other City employees in the middle of May. It was a really hot day. We focused on code enforcement of poster children within the fourth ward. And we covered many of them. Only about half of the worst examples before we ran out of time. But I think that this issue has the administration attention, not only in the fourth ward but throughout the City. But I am looking forward to progress that we can make in that regard. And I want to thank the police chief, Chief Miller. He is a laser beam when it comes to removal of vehicles. He and I have a great chain of communication. I take a picture of the inoperable vehicle. I text it to one receives text messages through and he acknowledges my text message and that vehicle is gone quite quickly. I have sent many requests to him in the past two months. I suspect 20 and the vehicles are gone and St. Andrews Street, as an example, looks a lot better. Fillmore Street looks a lot better. A number of streets in the fourth ward look a lot better. I hope the Mayor doesn’t mind but I even ventured in Ward 3 and found a burned-out car sitting and parked on the wrong side of the street on Cumberland Avenue. I took a picture of that and sent it to the chief and it was gone the next day. So, we have a great man in the chief in many respects, but this is one that we don’t typically associate with the police. So, it’s a real bonus and I am thankful to him for helping the City in that regard. Mr. Mayor thank you very much.” Council Member Smith-Lee stated, “Good evening. I would like to thank all of the citizens for coming out tonight. I also want to congratulate the seniors of Petersburg High School who will be graduating on Saturday, the Class of 2018. And I went to the award ceremony and they were awarded over $100,000 worth of scholarships. I think it was just amazing. And one of the young men that received a great deal of scholarship, Mr. Christopher Jones, unbelievable. He is going to UVA but not only that, that young man grew up in Mosby Court and came to live with his grandmother. So, he has sacrificed so much. He is the oldest of his siblings. So, these are some of the great things that come out of Petersburg. So, I think that we should just all say just a special prayer for those kids because I was very impressed about the scholarships that they are going to receive and that they have received already. Also, the ‘Longest Day.’ The ‘Longest Day Alzheimer’s Association’, will be June 21st. We are going to light the City Hall in purple. I would like everyone to come out and join us at 8:15am. We are going to light it purple and if you have purple light bulbs please put it in your  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 - 14 – ______________________________________________________________________________ front porch and have it lit up. Please come out. I know that each and every one of us know someone or has been affected but this disease. So, please come out and fellowship with us on June 21st at 8:15am at City Hall. That concludes my report. Thank you.” Ms. Jackson stated, “In absence of Council Member Wilson-Smith, she wanted me to state that she is having her Citizens Academy Meeting on June 22nd from 3pm to 5pm here at the train station. And the subject of her meeting is ‘Money Matters.’” Council Member Myers stated, “Thank you Madam Clerk. I think you all for being her tonight. Mr. Mayor I would like to put a motion on the floor.” Council Member Myers made a motion that City Council direct the City Attorney to research and present an ordinance for council’s approval to allow children the use of sidewalks to ride their bikes because it is currently illegal for them to ride their bikes on the sidewalk. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hart. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill Vice Mayor Hart stated, “Good evening everyone. Thanks for coming out and being part of tonight’s meeting. Just a few things. I want to thank the Petersburg staff for all the hard work they have done of the past several weeks. We can’t do it without you guys. As far as vehicles within Petersburg I just want to point out one on the corner of Youngs and Boydton Plank. It’s a little gray silvery Honda Accord that has been out there for a couple of weeks. If you happen to see that out there on the corner of Youngs and Boydton opposite of the Refuge Church and Salem Brother’s Service Station. This Friday, ‘Jazz in the Stacks’, please come out and participate in that. We are planning to actually have a packed house. We will have ‘Rodney The Soul Singer’ performing. So, please be a part of that. This year will be the 3rd Annual 1000 Father’s. I am partnering along with the Health Department Father’s Initiative. That will be on June 23rd from 12pm to 4pm. Please come out and be a part of that. We will be doing health screenings along with financial workshops and other items that can help grow that fatherhood within the City and all areas. Thank you.” Mayor Parham stated, “Thank you Ms. Jackson. At this time, I just want to take the time to take this moment and thank our City Manager for all that she has done. We have had this Bobb Report to come out and try to create some controversy, but I want you to know that we are with you 100%. We believe in you. You are our future and we will stand with you. I want everyone to give a round of applause to her and her administration.” 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 approval of the Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Operating Budgets. BACKGROUND: City Manager has recommended an operating spending plan of $1102,116,709  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 - 15 – ______________________________________________________________________________ for the Fiscal Year beginning July 1, 2018 and ending June 30, 2019. A public hearing was held on May 15, 2018. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend Council consider the budget appropriation. Council Member Myers made a motion to approve the Fiscal Year 2018-2019 Operating Budget. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hart. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill 18-ORD-18 AN ORDINANCE MAKING APPROPRIATIONS IN THE ALL FUNDS BUDET FOR THE FISCAL YEAR COMMENCING ON JULY 1, 2018 AND ENDING JUNE 30, 2019. b. Consideration of an agreement with Noel Properties to purchase and develop the City owned property at 10 Jefferson Street and 125 E. Washington Street. BACKGROUND: The City Council approved 17-ORD-56, November 21, 2017, authorizing the City Manager to dispose of, by sale, the publicly-owned properties addressed as 10 North Jefferson Street and 125 East Washington Street. The City has received a proposal and draft purchase agreement to purchase and develop the City-owned properties to establish a Convenient Store, National-Brand Gas Station and restaurant establishment. The proposed use is in conformance with the current zoning of the property, B-3. The proposed commercial use is in conformance with the Comprehensive Development Plan. The development would result in additional revenue to the City through Real Estate property, Personal Property, Sales and Use, Business License and Meals taxes. When the ordinance was adopted, no proposal or proposed use was associated was considered. This would provide authorization for the City Manager to execute the proposed purchase agreement. The Council Standing Committee reviewed and approved the proposal purchase agreement. The Council Standing Committee reviewed and approved the proposal prior to the development of the purchase agreement. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council review and consider the agreement for the purchase and development of City-owned property. Council Member Myers made a motion to consider the agreement for the purchase and development of City-owned property. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hart. There was discussion on the motion. Council Member Cuthbert made a motion to table until the June 19, 2018, City Council Meeting. Council Member Cuthbert motion dies due to lack of second. The original motion goes back on the floor for roll call vote. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Smith-Lee, Myers, Hart and Parham; Voting No: Cuthbert; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill c. Consideration of a performance agreement with the Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) for the Business-Ready Sites Grant Associated with City Property at 2233 Halifax Road. BACKGROUND: The Virginia Business Ready Sites Program (VBRSP) was established in the Code of Virginia to identify and assess the readiness of potential industrial or commercial sites in the Commonwealth for marketing for economic development purposes. The initial step under the VBRSP for a potential industrial or commercial site is (i) an assessment to quantify the level of existing development at the site and the additional development required to bring the site to a level that will enable such site to be  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 - 16 – ______________________________________________________________________________ marketed for economic development purposes, and (ii) a designation of a tier level of readiness to the site (“Site Characterization”). The City of Petersburg submitted an application for a grant to assist with the costs associated with Site Characterization at a site 2233 Halifax Road, and a grant in the amount of $5,000, the “Site Characterization Grant” has been awarded. The Performance Agreement sets forth the understanding and agreement as to the payout of the Site Characterization Grant, the use of the Site Characterization Grant proceeds, and the obligations of the City. The Site Characterization constitutes a valid public purpose for the expenditure of public funds and is the animating purpose for the Site Characterization Grant. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council considers whether to allow the City Manager to execute the performance agreement for the business-ready sites grant. Council Member Myers made a motion to allow the City Manager to execute the performance agreement for the business-ready sites grant. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hart. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill d. Consideration of appointments to the Sinking Fund Board. BACKGROUND: The Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners directs the income from the perpetual care fund to the general fund. The City Council will need to appoint a Board of Sinking Fund Commissioners for this purpose. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council appointment members to the Sinking Fund Commissioners. Vice Mayor Hart made a motion to table action until either the next meeting or the first meeting in July and also to add “16e” to the motion as well. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was discussion on the motion. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith- Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith and Hill Council Member Cuthbert passed out a draft of a motion for City Council to read and think about taking action on when members are appointed to the Sinking Fund Board at a future point. e. Consideration of an appointment to the Virginia First Cities Board of Directors. BACKGROUND: Virginia First Cities is the state advocacy coalition comprised of 14 of the state's oldest and most historic cities - the core communities of the Commonwealth. These Cities are proud centers of business, commerce and culture with a diversity of opportunity for everyone. Virginia First Cities is a coalition city that advocates for increased support and better policies from the state while sharing best practices among members. Member cities include: Charlottesville, Danville, Hampton, Hopewell, Lynchburg, Martinsville, Newport News, Norfolk, Petersburg, Portsmouth, Richmond, Staunton, Williamsburg, Winchester. The Board meets twice each year, in the Spring and in the fall. Board meetings are held at locations in member Cities. In addition to the Council-appointed representative, the City Manager of each member city also serves on the Board of Directors. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council appoints a member of Council to the Virginia First Cities Board of Directors. *Added to item “16d” motion. 17. REPORTS/REPONSES TO PREVIOUSE PUBLIC INFORMATION PERIOD:  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: June 5, 2018 - 17 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Stephanie Harris, Assistant to the City Manager, read the questions and answers from the previous meeting regarding the public information period on May 15, 2018. 1. If a resident is paying for a decal sticker why are physical stickers not being distributed? Answer: In February 2018, City Council voted and passed an ordinance to eliminate the requirement to display vehicle decals. Vehicle owners will pay a registration fee associated with the weight of the respected vehicles. This process eliminates the need for vehicle owners to stand in line to receive decals at City Hall. It reduces the time required by staff to mail individual decals and eliminates the cost of postage to mail the decals. This ordinance is in line with several surrounding jurisdictions. 2. When quarterly bills are due, shouldn’t notification be sent to the property owner? Answer: Personal Property and real estate bills are sent to all property owners no less than two weeks of the due date pursuant to the City Code. The current quarter personal property bills are due on June 11th. The current real estate bills were sent on May 29th and are due on June 29th. 18. CITY MANAGER’S AGENDA: No items for this portion of the agenda. 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. 21. ADJOURNMENT: City Council adjourned at 9:31 p.m. _________________________ Clerk of City Council APPROVED: _________________________ Mayor