City Council

Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 -1 – ______________________________________________________________________________ The regular meeting of the Petersburg City Council was held on Tuesday, September 18, 2018, at the Union Train Station. Mayor Parham called the meeting to order at 6:31p.m. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Council Member Charles H. Cuthbert, Jr. Council Member Annette Smith-Lee (Left at 7:35pm) Council Member Treska Wilson-Smith Council Member W. Howard Myers Council Member Darrin Hill Vice Mayor John A. Hart, Sr. Mayor Samuel Parham Absent: None Present from City Administration: City Manager Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides Assistant City Attorney Rashaad Bey Clerk of Council Nykesha D. Jackson, CMC 2. PRAYER: Mayor Parham stated, “At this time Reverend Reese Washington, Associate Minister of Union Baptist Church, will led us with our open prayer.” Reverend Washington led the City in prayer. 3. CLOSED SESSION: Assistant City Attorney Rashaad Bey stated that City Council will now move to go into closed session for one purpose pursuant to Section 2.2-3711.A (3) of the Code of Virginia, 1950 as amended, council will be in closed session for discussion or consideration of the acquisition of real property for public purpose or of the disposition of publicly held real property where discussion in an open meeting where it would adversely affect the bargaining position and negotiating strategy of the public body and under Section2.2-3711.A (7) for the consultation of legal counsel regarding a specific legal matter requiring the provision of legal advice provided by counsel. Vice Mayor Hart moved that the City Council go into closed session for the purposes noted by the City Attorney. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was no discussion on the motion, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham City Council entered closed session at 6:34 p.m. CERTIFICATION: Mr. Bey stated that City Council now moves to come out of closed session and certify that only public business matters lawfully exempted from an open meeting requirement pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and only such business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the closed meeting. Council Member Hill made a motion to return City Council into open session and certify the purposes of  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 -2 – ______________________________________________________________________________ the closed session. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. 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-48 A RESOLUTION CERTIFYING, AS REQUIRED BY THE CODE OF VIRGINIA, SECTION 2.2- 3712, THAT TO THE BEST OF EACH MEMBER’S KNOWLEDGE, ONLY PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS LAWFULLY EXEMPTED FROM OPEN MEETING REQUIREMENTS OF VIRGINIA LAW WERE DISCUSSED IN THE CLOSED SESSION, AND ONLY SUCH PUBLIC BUSINESS MATTERS AS WERE IDENTIFIED IN THE MOTION CONVENING THE CLOSED SESSION WERE HEARD, DISCUSSED, OR CONSIDERED. Council Member Cuthbert read a resolution out loud. Council Member Cuthbert made a motion to approve the resolution removing charges associated with city-owned property at 308 University Boulevard and authorize the City Manager to write-off the debt now secured by 308 Canal Street. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Linwood Christian, 613 St. Matthew Street, stated, “One of my questions, and I guess that this may be on the minds of everyone else, the only thing is that I am about the only one bold enough to ask this question. Number one, how come this business wasn’t done right. When you hear that the deed was done with something was done one year and wasn’t recorded until the next. Now we want to write off a big chunk of monies with things that we heard. And then on top of that this developer. I still can’t understand that when you have something you want to dedicate or try to connect to the university why in the world are we having a developer that is talking about mixed use or residential use. I am trying to understand the rationale behind that. And really before you pass this motion I would hope that this council would ask some questions. It goes back again when we are being led to believe that our financial situation is straightening out. Then something else comes up and then you look at it and say ‘yah’ or ‘nah.’ This is not fair to the citizens that on one case that we hear will be moving this way but then we see something else that is going on. I would just say give some explanation as to why this is like it is. Thank you.” Karen Graham, 402 High Street, stated, “Mayor and Member of Council, I am assuming that this property is the old Imperial Redding Site. It was demolished. They probably, seven or ten years ago, Mr. Hanson had big plans for a huge mixed-use development that did not come to fruition. And there was concern at that point on the density of the residential units and the type of mixed-use that would be there. We have no information as to the viability of this project. I am concerned about waiving the demo fees to have a clear title to roll into a sales price. But I do reside in the neighborhood adjacent to that property. I have real concerns as to what the plans are. How many residential units and the City has had a poor track record in turning over property that they have owned to see the project go through and to finish the project. I look at the Ramada Inn and what was the duplex on Fleet Street that the City sold for $25,000 that was supposed to be a business down there. That property got flipped for twice the price that the gentleman paid for it. So, I have real concerns about any transparency as to the transaction. I assume that it is in an historic district, so the design plan will become before the Architectural Review Board. But those are my concerns. Thank you.” Brandon Martin, 1546 Berkeley Avenue, stated, “Good evening. My concern about what you are asking your fellow members to do tonight is that you have sprung this on us here, the citizens and residents, without any research on the background whatsoever. I am very faint on the recollection of this property. What Council Member Cuthbert referred to is a litany of mismanagement that seems to be just the way business is done here. Sorry folks do not give away the ranch. Thank you.”  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 -3 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed public comments. There was discussion among City Council and staff. Council Member Cuthbert asked for the issue of sale of the property located at 308 University Boulevard be put on the October 2, 2018, city council agenda. Mayor Parham stated that this was fine. Original Motion: Council Member Cuthbert made a motion to approve the resolution removing charges associated with city-owned property at 308 University Boulevard and authorize the City Manager to write-off the debt now secured by 308 Canal Street. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. The motion was approved unanimously on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham 18-R-49 A RESOLUTION REMOVING CHARGES ASSOCIATED WITH CITY-OWNED PROPERTY AT 308 UNIVERSITY BOULEVARD. Council Member Hill stated that he wanted the citizens to know that the City is trying to move forward and that they are trying to apprehend a lot of things that have happened in the past. 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: All City Council Members were present. Mayor Parham stated, “For tonight’s Positive Petersburg story, I would like to take the time to thank our city staff for their responsiveness, compassion and professionalism during preparation for Hurricane Florence. City staff, led by City Manager, Aretha Ferrell-Benavides and Public Safety Director, Kenneth Miller, really stepped up to provide the citizens with assurance and information in the event that we experienced unfavorable results from Hurricane Florence. I would like to use this time to acknowledge our great City staff members and to remind everyone to keep our surrounding cities in your thoughts. Specially the State of North Carolina and South Carolina.” 7. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS/PRESENTATION OF CEREMONIAL PROCLAMATIONS: (Each presentation will be limited to 10 minutes.) a. Proclamation: Suicide Awareness Month BACKGROUND: Proclamation submitted by District 19 Community Services Board & the Coalition Against Alcohol, Nicotine & Drug Under-age Use. RECOMMENDATION: Mayor and City Council to proclaim the month of September as Suicide Awareness Month in City of Petersburg.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 -4 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Mayor Parham read the proclamation out loud. 8. COMMUNICATIONS/SPECIAL REPORTS: a. City Assessor’s Report *No report available at this time. b. Treasurer Report – Kenneth Pritchett Kenneth Pritchett, City Treasurer, gave an update on the treasurer’s office and read the code on the City Treasurer. Key points:  City collects stormwater fee on water bills and the City has a stormwater account, but no monies have been put in it since he has been treasurer.  City Council set up a City Collector by charge of Council Member Cuthbert. And since November 2017, the City is on their third collector. Believes that three is the charm and Mr. Jay Baxter may have a grasp on what this job is all about as the collector.  City Council forget to give any guidance on how the City Treasurer and City Collector will operate with the operations that the treasurer has been doing.  2nd mistake City Council made as taking away the $20,000 as part of the City’s supplement of a 29-year veteran of the treasurer’s office and gave her no choice but to find another position. Spoke with City Manager and was told that this was the decision of council and that it was final at the moment.  City still not attempting to collect delinquent taxes and that it is taking away from revenue of City tremendously.  Sending bills out late would be a way to straighten bills out.  Suggested ideas to help the City operation and tax payers.  Suggested paying personal property taxes in November and May. This would amount to better cash flow. This would save City maybe half a million of dollars in interest payments and maybe cut down the need to borrow $6.5 million dollars a year in RAN.  Suggest going back to sending water bills out every two months.  Asked billing and collections move to Sycamore Street building where would the parking be for tax payers for inclement weather.  Baltimore Lockbox has put more work on everyone and suggest getting rid of it.  Citizens think that the billing and collecting and problems of the interest have been coming from treasurer’s office. None of these things have come from the treasurer’s office.  Citizens deserve to have accurate bills when standing in lines and paying bills.  If there are questions, City Council can email or visit his office.  Stated ordinance of “In God We Trust” should be posted in the Union Train Station.  Finance Department will give all the figures as requested. Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Mr. Pritchett, I have a couple of questions for you.” Mr. Pritchett stated, “I said question can be answered in my office or by email.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “No, I have questions for you Mr. Pritchett. Mr. Pritchett the first question I have for you is how many employees work for you as treasurer?” Mr. Pritchett asked, “What is your email address?” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “I believe the answer to that is one. Is that correct? One employee  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 -5 – ______________________________________________________________________________ works with you as treasurer. Two. How many employees with you as treasurer are authorized to hire?” Mr. Pritchett stated, “Two.” Council Member Cuthbert asked, “When did you hire the second employee? Two weeks. You took office January 1, 2018, I believe. Correct? And you complained to council that you were grossly understaffed. Is that correct? Yet for over eight months you failed to fill a position that you were authorized to fill Is that correct?” Mr. Pritchett stated, “As I said you can come to my office.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “This is a public meeting and the public deserves an answer to this question. Why did you wait for more than eight months to fill out your staff? Okay let’s go to the screen for a minute. Three customers have approached me within the last four days. And each one had the same complaint. Namely utility bills were not getting credited for payments that were made.” Mr. Pritchett left from the train station. Council Member Cuthbert showed three bills on the projector. Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Mr. Pritchett has the answer to these questions and unfortunately has failed to share it with the public. Mr. Mayor, thank you very much.” There was discussion among City Council and staff on the presentation and information provided. c. Commissioner of Revenue Report – Brittany Flowers Key points:  Office implements and administers tax policies by establishing assessments and determining what is taxable.  Five sworn duties deputies and each are cross-trained and has their own specialty.  Office completes state income taxes.  Completes weekly DMV reports  Checks statues of licenses that are current and not current.  Review requirements of state agencies and registration prior to establishment of new businesses.  Generate accounts for Machinery & Tools, Leased Equipment, or Business Equipment accounts based on type of business.  There are 14, 234 properties in the City with a value of $2,313,960,707 with collectable taxes of $24,080,276.92  Process cigarette stamps that generate $878,322.75 annually from 76 active accounts.  Citizens no longer needing to pay registration dee (decal) d. City Manager’s Report  Deputy City Manager for Community Affairs – Darnetta Tyus Ms. Tyus stated, “Before you, you have a packet of information that explains to you the five major events that will happen between now and the end of the year. Each one of these events have contact information and talks about volunteer opportunities. Are there any questions? Thank you.”  Deputy City Manager for Development – Lionel D. Lyons  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 -6 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Key points:  Handed out a memo that speaks about the 2018 fall leaf pickup. The process will start on November 19, 2018.  Information on press release for September 20th on a conjunction done with the preservation task force on completing the restoration and opening of Southside Depot. They are doing this as a press release because the Battle of Trust agreed to give the City the first $25,000 to reengage the City’s consultant and general contractor back into the process. The Virginia Department of Transportation and Battle Trust are working in partnership with the City to move forward with the project  Contract for space leased at 20 East Tabb Street will be terminated effective September 30th. The individuals will be moving back to St. Andrews Street and the public works annex.  Dogwood Trace, effective November 15th of this year, to terminate the lease with the vendor there. It is a mutual agreement.  Having been working close with the Department of Rail and Public Transportation as it relates to parking structure issue. They are trying to secure the $8 million dollars in funding The City would have to do a feasible study and due diligence to report back to them to move towards a government agreement to move forward. Have three firms that they are looking at. Received three proposals from individuals ranging from $2,500 to $20,000. They submitted to all three groups to give more comprehensive information.  My Home Initiative Program – Not prepared to come to council at this moment but will sit down and get information to get the program back to council for approval.  Also looking at the disposition process. Committed to sitting with staff to crystalize a policy to bring back for consideration by City Council so they can move forward on outstanding properties and returns on investments. There was discussion and conversation among City Council and staff. Council Member Wilson-Smith asked about ordinance on grass cutting to be brought back to the October 2nd City Council Meeting. Mr. Lyons stated that they will bring this back to the October 2nd meeting for discussion and review.  Chief Operating Officer – Michael C. Rogers Key points:  City has been averaging $4 million dollars a day for end of the day balance.  Things look good with the RAN and the interest rate looks good.  City has two law firms to assist with delinquent collection. Two contracts entered in to by the previous treasurer. They are Sands Anderson and TACS Service.  Collections are for parcel of unimproved property, parcels assessed at $5,000or more and less than $20,000 and properties is not subject to a deed of trust.  Collections send certain tax files to Sands Anderson for processing. They try to work with the client first before further steps.  166 cases have been referred by City of Petersburg to Sands Anderson and total value of cases is $1.4 million dollars. There was discussion among City Council Members and staff. Jason Baxter, Director of Billing and Collections, gave a PowerPoint presentation on billing and collections. Key points:  Established leadership and job functions.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 -7 – ______________________________________________________________________________  Kyle Dixon is Interim Supervisor of Water Billing.  Created and established a Water Billing Monthly Calendar with IT and Public Works.  Decreased accuracy & efficiency error rate by 50% since June 2018.  Brand New all inclusive “New Customer Packets” for new water service customers.  Water Bills are now due every 1st of the month.  Water bill payments processed daily and customer forwarding balances have been reduced by 46%  Bi-Monthly process mapping meeting with billing & collections and public work to monitor progress.  Plan to continue training on system. They have monthly training with IT.  Creating policies and recording SOPs to have a better map of the entire water process.  Want to be able to develop data metrics for the department for efficiency improvements.  Mail is still being processed daily.  Completed all processing of billing payments as of August 1, 2018.  Assigned Karen Freeman as Cahier/Teller Lead  Redefined cashier functions and developed new back office function that included customer phone call service.  Develop delinquency tax plan & process to increase revenue collections.  Complete apartment complex reconciliation project.  Cleaned up the entire office. There was discussion among City Council Members and staff.  Public Safety Managing Director – Kenneth Miller Key points:  Thanked Ms. Loving, Director of ACE Team, for doing a fine job. She is also working with Mrs. Innis on City projects  Thanked Ms. Hardy for working with the juveniles and doing a great job.  Deputy Fire Chief Harvell and staff did a great job with the help of Major Braswell in setting up the EOC. Thanked them all for setting up everything.  The Fire Department is still putting up smoke detectors.  So far this year they have taken 215 illegal firearms of the streets.  There are 38 body cameras on the officers.  Have new Public Safety IT Manager, Robert Slovak. 9. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA (to include minutes of previous meeting/s) a. Minutes: Special Meeting – August 6, 2018 b. Minutes: Special Meeting - August 20, 2018 c. Minutes: Special Meeting – August 27, 2018 d. Minutes: Special Meeting – September 4, 2018 e. Schedule a public hearing for amending Article IV, of Chapter 38, Section 38-97, changing the effective date of the Technology Zone. Vice Mayor Hart made a motion to accept the Consent Agenda and to schedule a public for October 2, 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 amend Sec. 106-63. – Time for Assessment: Tax Lien of Real Estate  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 -8 – ______________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND: The proposed amendments to Sec. 106-63. – Time for Assessment; Tax Lien of Real Estate will transition the annual reassessment program to a biennial reassessment program and transition the effective date of valuation from July 1 to January 1. The sparsity of market sales activity makes a two-year reassessment cycle statistically superior to an annual cycle with a smaller sample of market value transactions. Adjustment of the valuation date to January 1 will give the City Manager, Chief Operating Officer and Budget Director actual reassessment numbers, rather than projections, on which to base the upcoming budget. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the proposed changes. Brian Gordineer, City Assessor, gave a briefing of the proposed amendment to Sec. 106-63. – Time for Assessment: Tax Lien of Real Estate. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Ron Flock, 1708 Pender Avenue, stated, “Just a quick question. I received a list of all these amendments by email through my FOIA request and the first one was 106-61 and we started at 106-63. That was my question. Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. Council Member Myers made a motion to approve the proposed changes amending Sec. 106-63 – Time for Assessment: Tax Lien of Real Estate. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham; Absent: Cuthbert and Smith-Lee 18-ORD-24 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO SECTION 106-63 – TIME FOR ASSESSMENT: TAX LIEN OF REAL ESTATE. b. A public hearing to amend Sec. 106-14. – Permanent Board of Equalization. BACKGROUND: The proposed amendments to Sec. 106-14. - Permanent Board of Equalization address the meeting schedule of the board, required training from the State Department of Taxation and board compensation. Sec. 106-14 (e) – Hearing Schedule provides that the board will dispose of all cases before June 30 to ensure that all assessment changes are made prior to creation of the Land Book. Completing all changes before creation of the Land Book will eliminate time-consuming real estate assessment adjustments by the City Assessor’s Office and real estate billing adjustments by the Commissioner of the Revenue. Sec. 106-14 (d) – Education provides that board members will receive annual training from the Department of Taxation to ensure that they are fully informed of current law. Each year the General Assembly makes changes to the Virginia Code and annual training will ensure that the board members remain current in their knowledge of assessment law in Virginia, thus avoiding costly errors. Sec. 106-14 (c) – Compensation provides that board members are compensated on a $100 per diem basis ($125 per diem for chairperson). This brings board compensation in a range consistent with other jurisdictions. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the proposed changes. Brian Gordineer, City Assessor, gave a briefing of the proposed amendment to Sec. 106-14. – Permanent Board of Equalization.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 -9 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Seeing no hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. Council Member Hill made a motion to the proposed changes amending Sec. 106-14. – Permanent Board of Equalization. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was discussion among City Council Members. 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-ORD-25 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO SECTION 106-14. – PERMANENT BOARD OF EQUALIZATION. c. A public hearing to amend Sec. 106-66 – Deadline for Appeal of Assessment to City Assessor and Sec. 106-67. – Deadline for Appeal of Assessment to the Board of Equalization. BACKGROUND: The proposed amendments to Sec. 106-66. – Deadline for Appeal of Assessment to City Assessor and Sec. 106-67. – Deadline for Appeal of Assessment to the Board of Equalization. The transition of the date of valuation from July 1 to January 1, and the requirement of the Board of Equalization disposing of their cases by June 30, necessitates adjusting the application deadlines for “Office Appeals” to the City Assessor and appeals to the Board of Equalization. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the proposed changes. Brian Gordineer, City Assessor, gave a briefing of the proposed amendment to Sec. 106-66 – Deadline for Appeal of Assessment to City Assessor and Sec. 106-67. – Deadline for Appeal of Assessment to the Board of Equalization. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Ron Flock, 1708 Pender Avenue, stated, “In this 106-66 it says that you have to submit forms supplied by the City Assessor’s Office. My only question is are these forms available online and can they be submitted online. That probably helps save traffic in that area. Thank you.” Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. There was discussion from Mr. Gordineer. Council Member Myers made a motion to the proposed changes amending Sec. 106-66 – Deadline for Appeal of Assessment to City Assessor and Sec. 106-67. – Deadline for Appeal of Assessment to the Board of Equalization. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. 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-ORD-26 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO SECTION 106-66 – DEADLINE FOR APPEAL OF ASSESSMENT TO CITY ASSESSOR AND SEC. 106-67. – DEADLINE FOR APPEAL OF ASSESSMENT TO THE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION. d. A public hearing to amend Sec. 106-131 – Rehabilitated Residential Real Estate; Qualification; Application; Fee; Building Permits; Verification through Sec. 106-137 – Rehabilitated Real Estate Located in the Virginia Trunk and Bag Building Complex Historic Site. BACKGROUND: The proposed amendments to Sec. 106-131. – Rehabilitated Residential Real Estate; Qualifications; Application; Fee; Building Permits; Verification. through Sec. 106-137. – Rehabilitated Real Estate Located in the Virginia Trunk and Bag Building Complex Historic Site include establishing July 1 as the effective date of exemptions and adjusting application fees at $125 for residential properties and $250 for  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 - 10 – ______________________________________________________________________________ commercial properties. Transitioning the effective date of all exemptions to July 1, rather than having applications being able to become effective on any of the four quarters of the calendar year, will greatly increase the efficiency in processing by the City Assessor’s Office and the Commissioner of the Revenue. Transitioning residential application fees from $20 to $125 and commercial application fees from $20 to $250 will assist in recouping more of the administrative costs associated with processing exemption applications. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the proposed changes. Brian Gordineer, City Assessor, gave a briefing of the proposed amendment to Section 106-131 – Rehabilitated Residential Real Estate; Qualification; Application; Fee; Building Permits; Verification through Sec. 106-137 – Rehabilitated Real Estate Located in the Virginia Trunk and Bag Building Complex Historic Site. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Ron Flock, 1708 Pender Avenue, stated, “Really don’t have a lot of concerns with these changes that I am seeing. The 5% increase in fees. And I will bring this up again once we go through these codes but it seems like some of these work against rehabilitating property. In this code for instance for the exemption of taxation the structure has to be at least 50 years old. You have to put in at least a 40% increase in assessed value of that property. And you cannot expand the property more than 15% of square footage. If you are putting all these limitation on people that are trying to redevelop these houses and get a tax exemption in the process, then 15% a square foot is not a lot. It is not going to equal 40% and it is not going to affect any houses that are younger than 50 years old. I really think that this needs to be taken a look at and maybe standardized in all the different areas. Whether it is residential, commercial or the standard plan. How much is that exemption going to be. They are all standard five years but as far as you have got to give somebody some lead way to go ahead and do something to be able to qualify. I think that we can do better in sanitizing this process. Thank you.” Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. Council Member Myers made a motion to the proposed changes amending Sec. 106-131 – Rehabilitated Residential Real Estate; Qualification; Application; Fee; Building Permits; Verification through Sec. 106-137 – Rehabilitated Real Estate Located in the Virginia Trunk and Bag Building Complex Historic Site. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. 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-ORD-27 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO SECTION 106-131 – REHABILITATED RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE; QUALIFICATION; APPLICATION; FEE; BUILDING PERMITS; VERIFICATION THROUGH SEC. 106-137 – REHABILITATED REAL ESTATE LOCATED IN THE VIRGINIA TRUNK AND BAG BUILDING COMPLEX HISTORIC SITE. e. A public hearing to amend Sec. 106-138. – Miscellaneous Exemptions BACKGROUND: The proposed additions of (h) and (i) to Sec. 106-138. – Miscellaneous Exemptions include a moratorium on exemptions by designation and clarification for continued acceptance of applications for exemption by classification. While there are certainly many worthy 501- (c) 3 organizations, the current financial situation of the City does not make expansion of the exempt portion of the City’s Land Book with organizations exempted by designation, a sustainable strategy. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the proposed changes. Brian Gordineer, City Assessor, gave a briefing of the proposed amendment to Section 106-131 – Rehabilitated Residential Real Estate; Qualification; Application; Fee; Building Permits; Verification through  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 - 11 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Sec. 106-137 – Rehabilitated Real Estate Located in the Virginia Trunk and Bag Building Complex Historic Site. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Brandon Martin, 1546 Berkeley Avenue, stated, “Consideration of adopting this particular ordinance is extremely unwise. It becomes an impediment to properties being developed that have historic merit. The properties that come to mind that may qualify for such an exemption by designation include the Jarratt House, which the City has owned for years and it has become to some thinking an albatross. We just cannot figure out what we are going to do with it but maybe a 501(3)(c) can. I don’t say that this is what is going to happen anyway. The Jarratt House comes to mind and the old Fire House on North South Street that used to be the Southern Hardware up until about three or four years ago. The fire department has a number in the staff in retirees that have expressed interest in a fire museum. This is a wonderful place to put the 1919 American Lafrance 36 Seagrave. Maybe that will come about through a 501(3)(c). How about the old gas works that is slowly falling apart? Or the waterworks on St. Andrews Street? That was public project from the 1850s. It was a leader in this state. It is still City property but there ain’t much left of it. Maybe someone will come around with a 501(3)(c) and pull it back together. Another possibility is the Peabody School. That building too is falling down and a portion of the roof is gone. Folks if you remove this exemption potential it is just going to make life a whole lot of difficult for organizations and people that can make it happen. We are certainly not making it happen right now. I would encourage you reject this proposed ordinance. Thank you.” Ron Flock, 1708 Pender Avenue, stated, “I concur. But the reason I came up here this time is that on July 17th I sent a FOIA request asking for all of this. This was not included. I got it four days ago. That is unacceptable. So, whoever is in charge of answering FOIA request need to do their job. By law you have a time on how fast it is to be answered and only giving half the answer doesn’t give it. Thank you.” Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. There was discussion among City Council Members and staff. Council Member Myers made a motion to the proposed changes amending Sec. 106-138. – Miscellaneous Exemptions. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. 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-ORD-28 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING THE PROPOSED CHANGES TO SECTION 106-138. – MISCELLANEOUS EXEMPTIONS. 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. Karen Graham, 402 High Street, stated, “The purpose of my comments regarding utility billing by saying that the cashiers are doing a great job. They are very personable, and they work well with you. My problems are with the back desk. On May 16th I emailed Mr. Mullins and Ms. Johnson and Ms. Mills to find out when and to whom should I submit my garden meter reading. Ms. Mills promptly replied back that I should email her which I did on July 9th with my June reading and asked for confirmation with a receipt. Having received no reply and no credit on my next bill I inquired at City Hall and was told that Ms. Mills no longer worked for the City. So, let me digress and say that when employees leave the City employment their email  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 - 12 – ______________________________________________________________________________ address should be deactivated and in some fashion a message should come back to the sender to say, ‘Hey you need to be sending your email to somebody else.’ This happened to me when trying to reach Tom Kendrick as well. So back to my issue with billing. At the end of July, I hand query to the counter at City Hall my garden meter readings and left a note with my phone number for someone to call. No response. August 14th after receiving my July bill, which still didn’t reflect a credit, I emailed Mr. Dixon asking about my July garden meter reading. I informed him that I dropped off my August meter reading and asked for a call back and no response. On August 20th, I again went into City Hall and caught Mr. Dixon this time as he was getting ready to leave and reviewed the situation with him and he said he would take care of it that day by the end of the day or next day. I also emailed him that same day on my garden meter reading that submitted to date. I received the first email response back form him saying that he did receive my email. On August 22nd, I again emailed Mr. Dixon to see if the credit had been applied and no response. On August 24th, I received a call from a woman in the billing office asking if my garden meter was reading at cubic feet or by gallons, which I responded. On August 30th, I emailed Mr. Dixon and received no response. Today, I spent 45 minutes in City Hall trying to get this matter resolved. Which should have been dealt with at least a month ago. I did get it resolved but I got the same response back saying that we are working on trying to improve things. This is the response that I have been getting for the past two months. This is a continuation of the City’s inability to get its billing in order and we as citizens having to deal with this for more than two years now regarding water billing. Why is it that some meters and bills have readings in cubic feet and others in gallons as water used? And this is for properties within the same block. Weren’t all the new meters to be readings in gallons? And again, I asked before and it was mentioned tonight that response is supposed to improve but it hasn’t been improving. Citizens still do not get responses when the emails are sent. I don’t know. And people do not have time to be taking off work to spend half an hour to an hour in City Hall to resolve issues where they have had the paperwork submitted three times. And I left there forgetting that one other credit that I needed to get straightened out for Second Presbyterian Church and nobody has responded back on that either. Thank you.” Brandon Martin, 1546 Berkeley Avenue, stated, “Couple of observations. Two weeks ago, the services of the City Attorney were terminated. The City webpage still list that individual as the attorney. It appears the assistant has been hired some time ago and the individuals name does not appear in any of the staff list on the City website. The job postings make no mention of a new city attorney. Just what is going on here council. You are 0-3 on count. In a similar way on the web there are job postings listed for head life guard, recreation aide and a recreation leader. These are all described as temporary positions for the summer. News flash the summer is over. Look at the whole City staff directory on the website. It is almost a full-page long. There are only two phone numbers at the top. Everybody else does not have a phone. Hey that is great, nothing to answer. There is a section in the City Code, Section 2.371, ‘there is hereby created the position of purchasing agent who shall be the City’s principle purchasing official. The purchasing agent shall be appointed by the City Manager, etc.’ Folks you do not have a purchasing agent. Okay remember three years ago, roughly, money was discovered missing from the police evidence room. Well, where are the indictments? What about the treasurer’s missing cash? Then too what happened with the chandelier that was in the courtroom of the Husting’s Courthouse? I remember that. I used to appear there. Council Member Cuthbert does too. Anyway, remember the 1924 Martin Luther King Bridge? The column had a large cast iron lamp attached. Only four of those lamps were reused on the new bridge. The rest were stored in the garage out at Battersea. I saw them out there around 2008. They were gone by the time that Battersea was sold by the City. Where did they go? How about the iron fence sections that were also stored out in the garage and by the old Seaboard Airline Railroads Section House? Those aren’t there. I was physically out there a couple of months ago and they are gone. Just what happened to this surplus maybe City material. Litter and recycling. I will borrow this from the operation lifesaver program. Look around the City. Recycling is an afterthought. Wawa is about the only retailer making an effort to recycle customer discards on premises. Our sidewalk trash cans downtown. They are just that. There is no recycling effort at all. For comparison, take a visit to Pittsburgh. This City has got a clean team. Folks with cans on wheels, broom and shovel. And those guys and gals are keeping the downtown streets clean. Basically, downtown Pittsburgh is litter free. It’s a joy to visit there. Just one other thing. Council, thank you very much on having the advance at Virginia State. One hot topic was customer service. Let’s get with the program. Where are the minutes and the PowerPoints that were presented? The citizens would like to know. That’s what transparency is all about. Thank you.”  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 - 13 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Willie Noise, 1508 Circle Drive, stated, “Good evening council. Speaking of transparency and places to go to ask questions and find out some unanswered questions would be the senior citizens, vets, neighborhood watches. In an attempt to connect with that a while back, council persons were asked to visit their wards, business, stores and what have you. To get a sense of the atmosphere. So out of that was a procedure, a policy where the police department would go to the stores and City and sign a book. I don’t know what they were looking for or whatever, but I had my own idea and I was just wondering since that had been such a long time ago could the council request a report on that activity to find out the pluses and the negatives and whether that was a good system. Could you all learn something from it or drop it? So, I would like to have some idea of what the findings were or how does this program improve the City? Thank you.” Cory Harris, 2316 Anderson Street, stated, “I want to talk about Mr. Pritchett. It was rude, unprofessional. He showed no respect for the citizens of this City. But guess what, neither do you. What is the difference between Mr. Pritchett, what he has shown the citizens and what some of you have shown the citizens? There is no difference. We keep promoting our ugliness. Tomorrow’s paper is going to be very clear. It is going to focus on Mr. Pritchett and him walking out. This has become a habit in this City. We promote our ugliness, but we never promote truly our greatness. Its cash, Its king. It is going to be very hard for us to achieve that when the State of Virginia think that we are a bunch of morons. That’s just a fact. I have said for years to focus on the image. Four years later, we still haven’t gotten it right. When is enough, enough? I don’t get it. City Hall is a problem in your eyes. The citizens are a problem in your eyes. But you can’t admit your own mistakes. You can’t admit that you are wrong about anything. And that doesn’t make you less of a man or a woman. When you admit your mistakes that’s when you grow and that’s when we grow also. But you just don’t get that. You really don’t get it. Mr. Pritchett walked out, and I was embarrassed for the City. And all of us should be embarrassed as well. But we are going to continue to go on with the childish pettiness that we play. For the record, when it comes to the internet, they focus on the citizens and Virginia. They talk about you. They do not talk about the problems when it comes to the citizens or City Hall. Their focus is on you because the bucket stops with you. You are the leaders of this City. You set the image for this City. And if you really want this City to change it starts with you. Bottom line. But let me guess, I don’t know what I am talking about. Right? I do know what I am talking about. This ignorance has to stop. We are not going to get the revenue that we need, and we are not going to get the image that the citizens have of you because you don’t get it. It is ridiculous.” Linwood Christian, 613 St. Matthew Street, stated, “I would like to start first and foremost. If you all haven’t gotten an email from me, hopefully you have. The time was a little bit after 12:00. But just to let you all know that you are invited. And to the City Assessor on something that you said. Be watching his emails because there are some things that he just brought forward, and he will be getting an invite to our neighborhood association meetings. Also, again that is going to be on Thursday at Mission Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ, at 27 Shore Street. Whereby our Chief of Police will be the headliner. Although we are asking others to be there because there is always other questions that are going to arise. Something that was also brought to our attention, because one thing Mr. Harris said is so true because I made that statement some time ago. People are not talking about the City of Petersburg as far as the citizens. People are talking about our leadership. But one thing that I have to say that as far as even leadership goes with the non-elected, people are talking very positive about our chief. Which is why it disturbed me when I heard someone putting out in the public that the ‘Stop the Violence Event’ that is going to be held on Melville Street on Saturday, that this was an event put on by the chief or something of that matter for re-election of Mr. Howard Myers. Well, again this is why you all may say that it is raining because I am standing in defense of our chief. That is not the case. Unless he has become a woman and pastor of a church or something of that event, that is not the chief putting on this event. Now, if he didn’t participate we would be talking about the man. Because there is a lot of stuff going on in our ward. But this is not a re-election event. I don’t think Mr. Myers would put someone at risk with their job like that to do something nor do I think the chief would do something like that. If anybody don’t know what kind of man, the chief is, just google him in Virginia Beach. I have a brother that lives down there and talks real highly of him. Also, what I also wanted to say is that there was a man from your area Mrs. Wilson- Smith. He is also a member of our neighborhood association, Mr. Lovelle Johnson. He lives at 825 Cameron Street. And he has come forward with some issues and I thought they were laughing and joking. But the properties where he lives, the deer are coming out. The deer are at the doors of these empty houses waving at  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 - 14 – ______________________________________________________________________________ you like their live there. If someone can please, I am sure Mrs. Treska Smith has brought this forward. I wish someone would please go by. He couldn’t stay. How many times that we as citizens have asked you about these closed meetings. You stay in their forever in a day. You have these presentations that last forever in a day. But yet you want to confine us to a simple three minutes. Shame on you. Thank you.” Ron Flock, 1708 Pender Avenue, stated, “I have so much to cover in so little time. The new customer packet for utility, can that be made available to everybody. That would sure help with a lot of questions going around. The water meters. I will go through and pull this back up. 2013 or 2014 there was published and archived on the website the billing structure. And in that billing structure all 5/8 and 1-inch residents bills are the same. I do not recall however an ordinance change voted on by council to make that change. I think that was a mandate from Robert Bobb. I think you all got suckered into that. Like what was discussed earlier, the only way to rectify this is to bring up the prices for the 5/8 and bring down the prices for the one inch. You can’t get away from this capital development plan. We cannot get away from that. Meter replacements. I think that it is disgusting that the City charges $700 to these residents to do this. Anybody can go online to get the same exact make and model for $300. But the City refuses to put it in. That is shameful. Some people can’t afford that water meter, but they might be able to afford $300 to save them a thousand dollars. Let them come down and certify with utility that this is the exact make and model and then charge them to install it. $700 for a $300 meter is insane. Then finally at the last meeting I said that I had billing issues over filling my pool back in April or May. And those were resolved, and I got my bill this week and no it is not resolved. This has been going on since this April. So, please I need to get this over with. I am so sick and tired of this. This is two years in a row. So, thank you.” Barb Rudolph, 1675 Mt. Vernon Street, stated, “Good evening. This isn’t really what I planned to say but I kind of wanted to discuss earlier that you were being treated like an orange and then the person decided to leave before answering questions. Speaking of the treasurer I found his presentation to be a travesty. Most of you know that I am willing and able to be critical of you individually and collectively when you do things when I don’t think you are in the best interest of the City, but I was founded that the tone of the treasurer was really like giving you the middle finger. There is no other way to describe. And I don’t think that this was helpful. And I know he is an elected official and I think I part company with a lot of my fellow citizens who seem to either think that it was amusing or found something to admire about what he had to say. I just want it to go on the record to say that I am not one of the people that felt that way about it. On to what I came to talk about is the Ramada Inn project. I communicated with you all several weeks ago about some interesting information in the news that Mr. Harrison, the developer, is entered into a contract in Richmond for a major project that dwarfs the Ramada Inn project by many orders of magnitude. And that’s one concern. How is he going to handle this other project, which is sexier then what he has going on here? Is he going to be able to pull off what he has going on here and started? I remember looking back in early July at the Progress-Index that Harrison Company was in a dispute with a contractor on the demolition in the building. And Harrison was quoted as saying that he had someone else to come online and start working on it within a few weeks. But that story is from about two and a half months ago. And I have driven by and if there is anything going on in there it is sort of invisible. I can’t say with authority that there is not anything going on in there but there is sure no appearance of it. And I just hate to see and piggyback on something that Ms. Graham said about it earlier that there are so many failed projects and missed opportunities. We all hate to see this being another one. But I think if the City kind of lets it ride and wait on him to come back and get started I am not sure where we are going to end up. The performance that we have to date, and the delays shows the fact that he is possibly taking on something else that might take precedence over our project. Thank you.” Sarah Melissa Witiak, 22 Centre Hill Court, stated, “I usually live by myself and my water bill is $150 a month. Because I have a 1-inch meter it used to be $50. For the past many months my bill has read $300 because the City cannot process my checks even though I have the returned check on record. In addition, when I went to City Hall to pay my water bill in person because my bill was still not correct it took me an hour to get through that process. I have a receipt that reads that I do not owe any money now after that hour. The lady was very nice in that office however, she could not give me a printout of my water bill showing me when it was not $0 balance. According to her I have had about $150 balance on my water bill for multiple years. Which is not something that is true. I pay my bill on time. So, this is not something new it has been going on for a long  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 - 15 – ______________________________________________________________________________ time. Luckily school was canceled last week so I had time and I didn’t have to take off work to spend an hour in City Hall. So, first of all I understand the challenge for City Council in raising rates for everybody however, I would like you to consider what if City Council decided that those of us who had a storm drain in front of our house got to pay three times more for snow removal. Because you have to work around the storm drain. Okay. Just think about that. You don’t buy your house based on whether there is a storm drain out front. You are not expecting that cost. A $100 extra dollar a month is very expensive. That means that I do not go out to eat in this City probably three times what I would normally spend in businesses in the City. So, this has repercussions for the businesses in our City. It has repercussions for charity’s in our City because I am paying $100 extra dollars a month to this City and they cannot even manage to cash the check that I send them. In addition, I am not getting anything extra. If somebody would like to get a 1-inch meter I encourage them to pay $700 to get a 1-inch meter for the supposedly extra pressure that they will get. But I am not sure it is worth it. So, I would ask City Council to consider this water issue. It’s a lot of money. Thank you.” Lawrence McLaughlin, 115 Marshall Street, stated, “The issue is code compliance again. And friends of mines have been bringing up pictures of houses. The ones that you have seen so far have been horrendous. But this one is on our gateway. It is on Grove Avenue. You can see by the address on it. And it has been like that for ten years. It’s on Grove Avenue. Look at the rest of Grove Avenue. It has really turned around and this house needs a good scraping and paint job. Put the windows back in please. Put the porch on it and then it would look really sharp. And then we want more money right. Will you be able to assess it for more money? Yes. We need that. Thank you.” 12. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FOR/FROM THE MAYOR OR COUNCIL MEMBERS: Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Thank you Madam Clerk. Coupe of points. The first one, Mr. Pritchett’s decision to walk out of this public forum while questions were being asked of him is a great illustration of why it is essential to our City’s financial health to transfer all of the treasurer’s functions to the City Collector to the maximum extent allowed by Virginia law. Let me go to something that perhaps the faithful here still remember. And that was the appeal by Robert Dance of a decision of the Architectural Review Board to tear down 227 St. Andrews Street. City Council unanimously denied him permission to tear it down and under our ordinance he is allowed to tear it down anyway if he offers the property for sale at a price reasonably related to its value for a specified period of time. Pending on what that price is. I ask someone to call Mr. Dance to find out how much he was asking for that piece of property because he got a for sale sign on it. And he is asking for $100,000. So, just an update on that. On 29 South Union and the termite issue, drive by those piles of beautiful timbers that are stacked at the intersection of East Wythe and South Union Street. And you will see some of the most sound timbers that you will ever see. Twelve-inch square pillars that have a pine tree’s heart in the middle of the 12 inches. Beam after beam after beam after beam. You can buy timbers like that now. And yet the City told us that it had to come down because of termites. Please go by and look at those timbers. They will make you weak. On a more cheerful note, let me leave us. I have been concerned about noise in the downtown Petersburg in our areas that are mixed business and residential. Noise caused by the CFS dump trucks early in the morning making pick-ups. Under our local ordinance you are not supposed to pick up trash and make noise before 7:00am. Our Chief of Police was out seeing what was going on in downtown Petersburg at 4:00am, Friday of last week and heard this bang and bang and bang. He decided he would follow the sound and see what it was because he didn’t know and wanted to see what it was. And guess what he saw, a CFS truck dumping trash at 4:30am. The chief told me that the driver got a summons. So, I want to thank the chief. This sounds like such a small thing when we have issues as crime big time from time to time. But this is important to the quality of life in Petersburg. And the quality of life in Petersburg matters to us all. So, my hat is off to the chief for paying attention. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “Thank you so much. I would like to take time to thank Mrs. Tangela Innis and Mr. Lyons. Recently, on one of my ward rides because one of my grandchildren showed me how to use the phone to take a picture. I took pictures of everything that I would normally take to send in an email. I took pictures that my phone stop taking them. But every time I took one I would send it in by text to Mrs. Innis or Mr. Lyons. Not one time did they say do not send me anymore or complain or get angry or upset about it to me anyway. And I want to thank you for that. Because I know as you are doing your job because I  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 - 16 – ______________________________________________________________________________ am trying to do my and I understand it. But I still wanted to thank you in public. Mrs. Innis would text me back and say, ‘I will get on that.’ Kudos to you both for that. In reference to what Mr. Christian brought to our attention, Mr. Johnson who was in the audience and I acknowledged him. Mr. Johnson lives on Cameron Street. There was a meeting at Mr. Christian Church and Mr. Johnson was there and so was the City Manager and myself. And Mr. Johnson told us at that moment about that house. Since then we went on a ward ride and the house was pointed out again. To look at the front of the house you do not see a problem. The back of the house is so open and so bad that he is telling the truth. The deer’s go in at night and they come back out the next morning. So, it has got to be a house for all the animals. The issue with this property and other properties owned by the same person in Blandford that has been red tagged which stayed so long it turned pink which stayed so long it turned white. The man pays his taxes for his properties, but he doesn’t keep the property up. Which makes me think that we need to look at something more than him jut paying his taxes. One of the houses is on Eighth Street. One of the former City Manager’s, David Canada, got out of the car and said don’t go back there. The whole back of the house is gone. If you look at the front of the house, then bye. The man pays his taxes. There is something that we have to do, and I don’t know what. I am all for suggestions. But we have to do something with these properties that are not being taken care of that does not show everything that is wrong with it. The same person has a house beside the bus bond. The house is just boarded up and the guy pays his taxes and cuts his grass and it is okay. But it is not okay. Mr. Johnson should not have had to be out this late for a concern that he and I both have identified over and over and over again. We have got to come up with something else. The last thing that I want to do is to remind everyone that Ward 1 will have a meeting on Saturday. There will be refreshments and we will be at Bethany Baptist Church at 11am. You are all invited. The meeting is not closed but we do talk about Ward 1 business. I think that is it for me and thank you all for coming out today.” Council Member Myers stated, “I have no items tonight.” Council Member Hill stated, “Good evening. I will start of by saying apologizes to anybody if I personally offended anybody. I don’t think I did. We do not do this to hurt anybody feelings or anything like that. I didn’t know. From looking at the docket we didn’t know that it was going to be an intense meeting like this, this time around. Sometimes you get kind of gaged when you are going to be in here long. But we did not expect this. But you should be expecting almost anything. But we haven’t had a meeting like this in a while with one of our elected officials. We can’t speak for that. We can only speak for our own actions. So, if I offended anybody I apologize. I am man enough to say that. First of all, I want to thank Mr. Gordineer for his efforts. If you all get a chance to go by his office, he has cleaned out the assessor’s office and he is in the process of scanning a lot of things and getting rid of all those papers up on the third floor. So, I want to commend him. He had an open house last week sometime. His staff is up and ready and rolling. I know he is aggressive because of some of the things that he is bringing to us and he is going through the codes. I want to congratulate him. Also, I would like to congratulate our police chief and public safety team for their hurricane awareness. We went to a site that is going to be a standing post for anything that is any type of evacuation. So just letting you all that the City of Petersburg is ready if we have any major catastrophe and what have you. I would like to thank him and the fire department and public works and the entire staff. I want to give a shout out to the class of 1988 through our Vice Mayor. He organized a cleanup on Exit 52. Both coming south and north and on some parts of Washington Street. We were out there cleaning up last weekend we had a lot of fun. Also, while we are looking at properties in Petersburg, I know that this is a tough time but one of the reasons why I didn’t want to mess with the 501(3)(c) because there may be some opportunities for some of the buildings that we have like A.P. Hill Community Center, which has been vacant for the longest. We have obtained Peabody yet and that looks like that this is coming our way, but it is still in the hands of the school system. That is one of the reasons why I voted the way that I did, because if you tend to let these buildings set with no occupancy at all we all know what may happen. That is one of the reasons why I voted for that because we have a lot of buildings here that can probably be put to good use through those. And all of those we were not getting taxes from those anyway. No further comments. Thank you.” Vice Mayor Hart stated, “Good evening everyone. Just a few things. Just a reminder of Jazz in the Stacks was rescheduled and moved to this Friday at 6:00pm at the library. Come out and be a part of it. This Saturday I will be conducting a cleanup within Ward 7. Thanks for the support of the City for getting that  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 - 17 – ______________________________________________________________________________ material out for us. Like Mrs. Rudolph I did have the question of the status of the Ramada Inn and I would like to know what direction we are heading with that. The last thing is that as Treska stated earlier and Councilman Hill these departments in the City have gone around and started cleaning up the offices and removing all of these papers. It’s amazing how much space you all have now. But it is great to walk in City Hall and see all how the offices have been cleaned up and painted along with everything else within the departments. I know we have a long way to go but when you take care of the stuff you have sometimes you can hold off to get to where you need. I appreciate all that you do. As an IT guy I want to commend Mr. Slovak, they told me to call you Big Tex but they said that you were not ready for it yet. I admire the work that you have done for the last couple of weeks that you have been here. There are a lot of great comments that are coming out about you and a lot of things of moving forward. We appreciate you and welcome to Petersburg.” Mayor Parham stated, “Good evening again everyone. I would like to start off, I had the pleasure of welcoming our new general in command of Fort Lee yesterday at the change of command ceremony. I want to welcome General Fogg back. He was here at Fort Lee once before. He is a big support of Petersburg. We are excited to have him back here again. On October 11th, Ward 3 will have a meeting, myself and school board, Ken Pritchett. It will be 6:00pm at Walnut Hill Elementary School. Also, I would like everyone to know that we have the festival of ‘Grapes and Hops’ coming up this month as well on the 29th. I encourage everyone to come out. This is one of our biggest events that we have in Petersburg. I welcome ‘Big Tex’ and everyone else to come and check it out on the 29th. Also, we have Ms. Ann Holding coming to town on the 27th. So, we ask everyone to come here. Ms. Holding will be coming to speak at Tabernacle on the 27th for the Democratic Committee Meeting. Also, November 6th is election day and is also a regular council meeting day.” Mayor Parham passed the gavel. Mayor Parham made a motion that there be only one meeting in November on the 20th being that election day is the first meeting. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. There was discussion on the motion. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Myers, Hill, Hart and Parham; Voting No: Cuthbert and Wilson-Smith; Absent: Smith-Lee 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: No items for this portion of the agenda. 17. REPORTS/REPONSES TO PREVIOUSE PUBLIC INFORMATION PERIOD: No items for this portion of the agenda. 18. CITY MANAGER’S AGENDA: No items for this portion of the agenda. 19. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM CLERK:  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: September 18, 2018 - 18 – ______________________________________________________________________________ No items for this portion of the agenda. 20. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY Mr. Bey stated, “We are still waiting on the response from the Attorney General’s opinion regarding the meals tax and lodging tax for delinquent listings.” 21. ADJOURNMENT: City Council adjourned at 10:50 p.m. _________________________ Clerk of City Council APPROVED: _________________________ Mayor