City Council

Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Special Called meeting held on: August 6, 2018 -1– ______________________________________________________________________________ The Special Called Meeting of the Petersburg City Council was held on Monday, August 6, 2018, at City Hall in Council Chambers. Mayor Parham called the Special Called meeting to order at 6:30p.m. Mayor Parham stated, “Good evening everyone. I want to thank everyone for coming out on a very tragic day in Petersburg. Petersburg history was 25 years ago when a tornado occurred on August 6, 1993 around 1:30pm, an F4 storm with winds in excess of 200 mph, destroyed much of the Old Towne area in Petersburg. This is the strongest tornado ever reported in Virginia. It then continued to devastate Pocahontas Island, damaging about 80 percent of the homes. The National Weather Service reported that 58 buildings were heavily damaged or destroyed in Petersburg during the storm, including the old train station, which was the oldest standing train station in the state. The tornado was one of 18 in Virginia that day, the largest single-day outbreak reported in the state. Three lives were lost during this storm and a considerable number of minor and major injuries. Today, 25 years later, The City of Petersburg would like to extend our sincere condolences to the families of those who lost their lives during the unfortunate tornado on August 6, 1993. We would also like to express extreme gratitude to all first responders and all those who immediately stepped in on the scene. Please join me for a moment of silence for those who lost their lives during the tornado, 25 years ago.” Moment of silence was observed by all in attendance. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Council Member Charles H. Cuthbert, Jr Council Member Annette Smith-Lee Council Member W. Howard Myers Council Member Darrin Hill Vice Mayor John A. Hart, Sr. Mayor Samuel Parham Absent: Council Member Treska Wilson-Smith Present from City Administration: City Manager Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides Clerk of City Council Nykesha D. Jackson 2. CONSENT AGENDA: a. Schedule a public hearing for the resolution to issue, sale and award of the General Obligation Revenue Anticipation Note Series 2018. b. Schedule a public hearing to consider the disposition of City owned properties located at 1004 and 1015 Commerce Street, 901 Halifax Street,115 Harrison Street, , 516-518 Shore Street, 520 shore Street, 525 Shore Street, 725 Wilson Street, 729 Wilson Street, 735 Wilson Street, 745 Wilson Street, 747 Wilson Street, 411 Shore Street, 427 Harrison Street, 429 Harrison Street, 431 Harrison Street, 432 Harrison Street, 438 Harrison Street, 440 Harrison Street, 450 Harrison Street, 452 Harrison Street and 602 Harrison Street. *Audio available  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council Special Called meeting held on: August 6, 2018 -2– ______________________________________________________________________________ c. Schedule a public hearing for a Special Use Permit to operate a use involving storage and distribution of more than 200 tires, subject to certain terms and conditions at 756 South West Street with tax parcel 030-08-0001. The property is zoned M-1, Light Industrial District. Vice Mayor Hart made a motion to accept the Consent Agenda with the scheduling of three public hearings for September 4, 2018. The motion was seconded by Council Member Smith-Lee. There was discussion on the motion. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith- Lee, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham; Absent: Wilson-Smith Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Let me share with everyone what I have on my mind. I think that with Mrs. Wilson-Smith being absent we really cannot take any action, but I am going to ask the Mayor to schedule a special meeting on Monday, August 20th. That is the day of our advance at 8:30am to consider action to be taken on account of the meals tax not being paid. This meeting is to be held at the same place as council’s advance. Our Rules of Council say that a special meeting can be called by the Mayor or by any two members of council. So, the reason I am asking is that he hears from reliable sources that a number of our food vendors are not paying their taxes. We may have to go into closed session in order to get more information on this on the 20th or maybe we won’t. But one reason that we are hand to mouth as a City is that people that owe us money are not paying. We need to in my view to stop being passive and just say that it is a free will thing and if you want to pay your taxes you can and if you don’t then you don’t have too. With meals tax this is a concern because this is money that does not belong to the vendors and never belonged to the venders. The venders simply collect it for the City. So, the vendors are collecting this money for the City. It is not the vendors money and then the vendors are not paying it to us. So, if there ever was a clear case of us demanding our cash then this is it. Just a heads up of where I am coming from and trust that we will have a special meeting on Monday at 8:30am.” There was discussion among City Council Members. 3. ADJOURNMENT: City Council adjourned at 6:42 p.m. _________________________ Clerk of City Council APPROVED: _________________________ Mayor *Audio available