City Council

Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 -1– ______________________________________________________________________________ The regular meeting of the Petersburg City Council was held on Tuesday, October 16, 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 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, “Now at this time Bishop Ramon Johnson of Kingdom Covenant Empowerment Center will be doing our opening council prayer.” Bishop Johnson led the City in prayer. 3. CLOSED SESSION: No items for this portion of the agenda. 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 in attendance expect for Council Member Darrin Hill. 7. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS/PRESENTATION OF CEREMONIAL PROCLAMATIONS: (Each presentation will be limited to 10 minutes.) a. Proclamation recognizing September 17, 2018, as Julia Massey Day in recognition of 100 years of life. Julia Massey Day proclamation was removed from the agenda. Mayor Parham stated, “Good evening again everyone. For tonight’s Positive Petersburg, I want to point a spotlight on the 42nd Annual P.T. Taylor/Downtown Churches United Walk Against Hunger that took place on Saturday, Oct. 6th. We had more than 150 walkers and runners to participate in the walk. The walk began  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 -2– ______________________________________________________________________________ as P.T. Taylor’s vision for a means to alleviate hunger issues in Petersburg. I want to thank Colonel Taylor for his vision and thank the Downtown Churches United for continuing this wonderful community event. Also, we had Councilwoman Wilson-Smith in attendance along with Vice Mayor Hart and Councilman Hill was there as well. I would like to thank each and every one of you all for supporting this event that is real special to the City of Petersburg. Thank you.” b. Certificate of Recognition for Deborah Castelle Mayor Parham read the certificate of recognition out loud for the citizen, council and staff. Mayor Parham and Council Member Smith-Lee presented Ms. Castelle with a certificate plaque. 8. COMMUNICATIONS/SPECIAL REPORTS: a. District 19 Community Services Board Update Presentation Jennifer Tunstall, Executive Director of District 19 Community Services Board, gave a PowerPoint presentation on the board. Key points:  It is a multi-jurisdictional, community-based organization.  Mission is to improve the quality and productivity of the lives of individuals who experience, or are at risk of experiencing, mental disabilities and/or substance abuse.  Licensed by the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services and service Colonial Heights, Emporia, Hopewell, Petersburg, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Prince George, Surry and Sussex.  Currently have three vacancies on the board for the City of Petersburg. Have not had not representative since 2015.  In FY18, they provided direct services to 5,072 individuals.  They have adult services, child & adolescent services and community integration & crisis services.  For more information you can visit website at www.d19csb.com b. City Assessor Report – Brian Gordineer, AAS Mr. Gordineer gave a brief PowerPoint presentation on the City Assessor’s Office. Key points:  City Assessor’s Office has three sorts of historic records. The dates are 1949-1978, 1978-1988, and 1988-2018.  The historic records calculate out to about 15,000 documents in each set. They have finished the last set recently.  They have started regrouping properties for assessment.  There are 331 subdivisions that have been identified within the City. c. City Manager Reports  Deputy City Manager for Community Affairs – Darnetta Tyus Ms. Tyus stated, “I want to highlight two things. You all have a flyer in front of you that consolidates and gives you all of the activities that are going on associated with cleaning up and keeping the City clean. And it combinates with our cleanup on the 3rd. But this is the first that you seen all of the activities in one place by ward so that you can share with your residents. The second thing is that I wanted to introduce publicly to the community the newly hired Executive Director for our awesome Petersburg Social Services, Mr. Norris Stevenson If you can just, please stand. Mr.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 -3– ______________________________________________________________________________ Stevenson has a series of meetings going on for the next couple of days, but he officially joins us on November 5th. And that concludes my report.  Deputy City Manager for Development – Lionel D. Lyons Mr. Lyons stated, “Mayor and members of the council. I am glad to be here. I am going to take two minutes of your time. I have got five very, very quick items. I wanted to bring you up to speed to remind you all that we have been meeting with the Department of Rail and Public Transportation with the Transit Department. Letting you know that in the coming months we should be receiving three brand new buses of City transit buses. And we are working to secure 13 buses that we are hoping to get in the next 12 months. The second item is that I wanted to remind everyone that we are still working on the parking garage structure feasibility study. Staff and I are meeting on Thursday with the two consultants who put in the feasibility study and we will be back with you. This is part of our responsibility to VDOT in order to move to the next step for the $8 million-dollar grant. The third thing is to let you all know that we are still moving forward with the Southside Depot. We did do some follow-up with the contractor today asking them to give us our final pricing. We will have better sense of what we got on Friday and then we will go from there. Fourth, I want to make sure that everyone knows that we have started the ward sweep cleanup and this Friday we are working in Mrs. Treska’s area. And staff has been meeting her and trying to work out that whole process. And the last thing of it is that we will be coming back to you as the full members of the council to do a status of the public works department on where we are, what we have accomplished and our challenges moving forward. So those are the items that I have for you and I hope they give you an update. And I thank you very much for your time.” There was discussion among City Council and staff regarding the wood on the corner of Wythe Street and Union Street, the flooding in the City and information on the Ramada Inn.  Chief Operating Officer – Michael C. Rogers Mr. Rogers gave a PowerPoint on the finances in the City. Key points:  RAN was closed last week. City did not have to go to private place like last year.  With the RAN, the City got a 3% interest rate.  Average cash flow daily is about $5.1 million dollars for the first quarter.  Without RAN in October, the City would be at $4.1 million and with the RAN the City is at $10.4 million.  City’s unaudited year end results for 2018 are positive. The City is showing 2018 amendment to being $74.8 million dollars. In the ledger at the moment the City is showing $74,127,936. This is 99% of the revenue estimate for FY18.  If something is not on the general ledger it does not show up in the financial report. There was discussion among City Council and staff.  Public Safety Managing Director –Kenneth Miller Key Points:  Police Department and Fire Department now has antidote for opioid overdose.  There will be an influx of heavy foot and vehicle traffic due to Virginia State University Homecoming Event.  The Homecoming Parade will begin at 9:00am. There will be street closures from Washington Street to Jefferson Street, Jefferson Street to Sycamore Street, Grove Avenue to Old Street and to the City limits where Campbell’s Bridge is located.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 -4– ______________________________________________________________________________  Fire Department was the head of the flooding that occurred in old town. They were valuable in contact resources like Colombia Gas and Dominion Power. The made sure that public safety was number one.  Thanked Ronell Johnson from making sure that the barricades. were put in place for the flooding downtown.  Both departments for Community Corrections have interns from VSU that are very active with community events.  229 illegal have been taking off the street so far this year and four additional within the last week.  By next October, every member will have body cameras.  Public Safety checkpoints and summons are up. They are trying to improve the quality of life by enforcing speeding fractions within the community.  Officer Smith was recognized by MAD as the number one DUI officer for the second year in a row. He has 105 DUI’s last year.  Last when Kenneth Miller arrived with the City he made a number one priority that he was going to enhance and develop partnership within the community and with members of the community. Since he has been here he has brought strong ties to work with the Hispanic community. He has made this accomplishment with the assistance of Hispanic speaking officers where an incident involved a Hispanic getting their child back. The mother and child were reunited back together. d. City Attorney Report – Rashaad Bey, Assistant City Attorney Mr. Bey stated that he does not have any items. e. Presentation on Sister City Mr. Rogers stated, “Last week the Mayor and City Manager met with some visitors from China from our Sister City Community. They signed the agreement that is in the packet. It provides the principle of communication and corporation between two communities and two cultures. The program is a long-standing program throughout the country. It provides peer-to-peer networking with the Sister City Programs. It connects with foreign communities and cultures. There is marketing and communication assistance in telling our story to these foreign communities as recognition. There is crisis communication support and there’s government policy services. Sister City’s is a good program. The Mayor and City Manager enjoyed the visit with the visitor’s. The way this usually works out is that they get invited to visit their community at some point.” Mayor Parham stated, “Yes, we have been invited.” Mr. Rogers asked, “Is there any action Mr. Mayor?” Mayor Parham stated, “I would just like to add that we had a great time in Petersburg showing the people from the Yongjia County of China. Some of the potential partnerships here in Petersburg. As we continue to grow and develop in the City of Petersburg we have to grow and also keep reaching out internationally. The people from China and the delegation found out of us through UniTao that we had in Petersburg. Therefore, they were excited about coming and looking forward to growing a partnership here in the City. Thank you.” There was discussion among City Council. 9. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA (to include minutes of previous meeting/s) a. Minutes: Regular Meeting – September 18, 2018 b. Request to schedule a public hearing on the special use permit request from P.I. Tower Development.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 -5– ______________________________________________________________________________ c. Request to schedule a public hearing on the Rezoning amendment (proffers) request from Ryan Homes (Brian Bowe, agent) d. Request to schedule a public hearing on proposed Memorandum of Understanding regarding a Revenue Share Agreement. Vice Mayor Hart made a motion to accept the Consent Agenda and to schedule public hearings for November 20, 2018. The motion was seconded by Council Member Wilson-Smith. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Smith-Lee and Hill 10. OFFICIAL PUBLIC HEARINGS: a. A public hearing amending Article IV, of Chapter 38, Section 38-97, changing the effective date of the Technology Zone. BACKGROUND: By Ordinance, the City Council of the City of Petersburg established the I-95 Technology Zone in 2003. In 2014, the City Council adopted an ordinance reaffirming the Zone and extending the expiration date to January 1, 2020. When the Technology Zone was established, the property within the Zone was owned by BI Chemical. BI Chemical sold the facility to UNITAO in 2014, and AMPAC fine Chemicals purchased the Petersburg facility in 2016 from UNITAO. On August 31, 2018, SK Holdings purchased AMPAC Fine Chemicals. The facility had not been in production since UNITAO purchased the plant in 2014. Going forward, the Petersburg facility will operate under AMPAC, and both SK Holdings and AMPAC expressed plans to significantly invest millions of dollars in the Petersburg Plant, and plans to maintain staffing up to 300 employees within the next several years. They also expressed that they plan to operate the facility for decades into the future. The current Technology Zone expires in 2020, and without the Zone incentives, production costs will increase, and operations at the Petersburg plant may be moved to another AMPAC site in another State. Following a presentation by AMPAC during the September 4, 2018 City Council meeting, the City Council approved a request to establish the valuation of existing equipment, and to authorize existing equipment to be considered eligible existing equipment regarding the technology zone. The incentive associated with the existing equipment will expire January 1, 2020. This is a request to change the Zone effective date expiration to January 1, 2025. If approved, starting January 1, 2020, the incentive associated with the Zone will apply only to new equipment purchased by AMPAC. RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that the City Council considers approval of the extension of the Technology Zone beyond 2020, for five additional years, to 2025. Reginal Tabor, Economic Development Manager, stated, “I received some information from the City Attorney and it indicates that we may need some additional clarification as to whether or not we can extend the technology zone. So, we would like to have the opportunity to make that determination and possibly come back before council if necessary.” Mr. Bey stated, “That’s fine.” Mayor Parham asked, “Would you recommend to table it or are we okay to move forward on this item?” Mr. Bey stated, “I believe that City Council can move forward on this item.” Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comments.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 -6– ______________________________________________________________________________ Ron Flock, 1708 Pender Avenue, stated, “I just want to point out that the interim attorney didn’t seem to sure about this. So, is it really going to hurt anything if we are going to table this until another meeting. That’s all.” Mr. Bey stated, “Well, let me clarify that. I didn’t hear the question first. City Council has been informed of the ordinance and the regulation and rules that would allow for the technology zone. It is our opinion that there may need to be a need to clarify the ordinance to allow for additional time. The rules state that the technology can be in perpetuity and that the time period is only allowed for the actual owner of the property. And it renews at the time new property takes place. We checked with the attorney general’s office and other local government association as well within the last ten days.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “In understanding what our City Attorney has informed us of and with the thought that even if we put an addendum to this, until we have that addendum I would like to make a motion that we table this until the next council meeting.” Council Member Wilson-Smith made a motion to table and move the public hearing on the technology zone to the November 20, 2018, City Council meeting. The motion was seconded by Council Member Cuthbert. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson- Smith, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Hill 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. Lawrence McLaughlin, 115 Marshall Street, stated, “This house is three doors down from mines. The photograph, if you look at the top right, the photograph does not look bad. But it has these big bushes that you can see at the bottom. The window at the top, there is a roof leak. The roof leak has existed for about 20 years. And because it is not fixed you can see that it has taken the top of the roof out. It is going inside the house, so it is on the second floor. It has moved on the firsts floor and the porch. The back of the house I think that you can walk straight into it. My focus is that we need to have maybe another person, and I know that we do not have the money. But if we let this building go and others, our building, our house and our capital. We need someone else with code compliance to keep citing these buildings. And citing them not when they get to this shape but way earlier. Let’s drive around and hey we need a little paint here. It cost us significant money. Thank you.” Karen Graham, 402 High Street, stated, “I was really excited with Mr. Rogers presentation on potentially having a revenue of $1.7 million for the last fiscal year. And I hope that money will be put into starting the rainy-day fund. And even given that current budget for this year you have a $73.4 million in the general fund for revenue and expenditures that even though we estimated in taking the $4.1 million this past year in revenue that you don’t do an increase to the budget that we can continue to build the rainy-day fund. But I will say that I was pretty astonished when the article came out in the Progress-Index on September 16th with local government salaries. I am kind of surprised that no one else came up to speak about it now. I will say that we are just way too much top heavy in admin. And you compare us to the other localities that were listed that are in far better fiscal shape than we are. Our salaries are just way above the board. Two deputy city managers for a City our size. I think that council needs to be really looking at that much closer. We are lacking in the actual worker bees for the City. And every council meeting for the past two months or more we have asked for more staff for code compliance. You want to bring people in this City. We need something done to these buildings to enforce property owners and particularly absentee landlords to do something to their properties. I have a question as to what is happening to the potential sale of the Virginia Employment  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 -7– ______________________________________________________________________________ Commission site property on the corner of Jefferson and Washington Street. That was brought up several months ago and we have not heard anything. What can be done about adding to the Exit 52 attraction sign that has been empty for a long time now. We do have some museum sites that are open at least three days a week. We need to have the public and everybody driving up and down 95 knowing that we are not a dead town and that there are things that are happening here. So, please look into that and see what we can do about getting some signage back. I don’t know if you are going to let people speak when it comes to the legislative issues. Cut me off if you are. We need the state to come up with legislation to restart code enforcement. The ability for localities to get properties out of the hands of absentee landlords in a fashion that they can be put on the market or the City can take over ownership and landfill issues controlled over the smell and better regulation. Thank you.” Richard Stewart, 129 Rolfe Street, stated, “Mayor, City Manager and the rest of you all. In conversation I have not heard anybody say anything about Pocahontas and the water. That angry river that floats down Virginia State flow past Pocahontas. There is two parts of Pocahontas. There is a front part and a back part. That nature trail went under water. That development there has started to put a park right there and pavilion. That water has come all the way up to that area. The land I got down there it came within five feet. I have not heard anybody say anything about Pocahontas. Now, the former Roper Brother’s, there are trees and things out there. That water came up. Now I heard Mr. Hart say something about construction and holding the Delegate and Senator Dance responsible for money that we are trying to get. Because years ago, there were money. What ever happened to that money that was supposed to be to dredge that river down there. As I said the last time, if we don’t get our act together in Petersburg this will be minuet to what just came down Old Street. Good thing we didn’t get rain here with that coming down. You would have saw what I say in 1972 when it went to the Feed Store. So, I am looking at Pocahontas right now and from Exit 52 like the young lady just said. Something needs to be done about that river out there. Because one day and very soon we are going to regret if we don’t get that place cleaned up. Thank you.” Linwood Christian, 613 St. Matthew Street, stated, “Good evening members of council. First and foremost, I would like to invite those members of council who in wards two, four and six as well administration in the general community. On Thursday the Harding Street Neighborhood Association will be having out second political meet and greet. We are going to have everyone come to meet those persons to seek or who are seeking to serve or want to continue to serve you. And the reason why I said two, four and six because as you all know our uneven numbers are up. Most of them will already be there. Our Mayor and others included. And we also have had a possibility that the if not the candidate Mr. McAdams, who is the Republican Nominee for the 4th District for here. Someone will be in his stead supposed to be there. As well as the libertarian party nominee for the 4th Congressional District of Virginia, which is now being held by Donald McEachin. And I have to say that letters and emails went out and not too many people, I guess they figure because it is a local thing. But I have to send the letter to our Democratic Party and let them know to do not take it for granted that all black folk in Petersburg are going to vote democratic. The purpose of this forum is so that persons as opposed to doing the debating all the time and the mudslinging, so that people that are going to be voting for you can come talk to you and find out where you stand on issues. Also, so that the citizens can let you know what we expect and what we are looking for out of our candidates. So, we are going to have candidates from all four wards that are up. We are hurt that no one from school board is running. And what I mean by running, I am not going to say that we don’t have a write in candidate because we do have one for 5th Ward. But again, we are going to have all those persons who are running whether they are write-ins or not. They have been invited. And we want each of you all coming this Thursday starting at 6:30pm at Tabernacle Family Life Center. And then last but not least a couple of things that was just brought up. Number one, as was stated about the legislative issues with the citizens, especially when it comes to Pocahontas and the landfill, Mr. Stewart, when they first talked about selling the landfill he raised the red flag, and everybody brushed him off. And now look what is happening. For years, we have talked about that river. For those of us that forget are doomed to repeat it. Now some of you on City Council may have been babies or younger, you all know who I am talking about. But there was a flood here in Petersburg. So, I am just saying those of us who forget the past are doomed to repeat. Thank you.” Ron Flock, 1708 Pender Avenue, stated, “I just want to go along with the first three speakers. That the last meeting there was quite a discussion about code compliance and some of these houses. And I just want to  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 -8– ______________________________________________________________________________ make sure that you are all on it with code compliance that their actively pursuing actions to make these changes hopefully by the end of the year at least. So, we can get something in motion. Thank you.” 12. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FOR/FROM THE MAYOR OR COUNCIL MEMBERS: Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Thank you Ms. Jackson. I would like to begin by giving council a copy of an article that I gave council at the last meeting that I have attached some attachments to it. And I would like to review them with council. This is more detailed discussion of this article that was published in the Progress-Index. Posted September 30th, ‘S&P reps talk about Petersburg’s improved bond rating.’ And the handout that I am sharing with council consist of a copy of that article and the some supporting documentation. Turn with me please to page two and you will see the paragraph that I have marked with the black bracket to bring to your attention. It says, ‘Going forward, Barrett cited the city’s “economic metrics,” like its high tax rate and relatively low-income level, as challenges city administrations will face as they not only try to achieve financial stability but improve the overall health of the locality. These wealth and economic metrics could limit the city, even after they return to investment grade.’ This is kind of a glass ceiling that is going to be over our head and bust through unless we can get our high tax rate down and our relatively low-income level up. This article gives us the road map that we need to focus on that really uses our benchmark in making decisions on this City Council. A lot of our decisions do have long term consequences effecting both our high tax rates and our low-income level. Now let me go next to the page that I have numbered as page four. This is something that I took off of the internet today. It’s Virginia Local Tax Rate 2016 by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. It is well-known in City Municipal Government Circle. I was not familiar with it but that is what I was told. Now 2016 figures are the most recent that are online. If you go to page five and this is report by Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service. On page five we have all the cities that are in Virginia listed and their tax rate. We see that Petersburg is at $1.35. There is only one that is higher and that is Manassas Park and they are $1.55. I have no clue what they do in Manassas Park. But in any event, all the others are below our $1.35. Now we have been stuck at the number two position statewide for decades. And going back to what the road map that was given to us our high tax rate we are looking at it and see what other businesses see when they decided where they want to locate. What do we have to call a business to Petersburg. Certainly, we have things to repel people from Petersburg. One thing is our high tax rate. The second highest in the state and it has been there for decades. The result is that it drives a lot of investments away and we are living the consequence of this decision. Now if we go to page 6, this is from our Anti-Poverty Commission’s report that was given to us in July. A lot of good documents and information is in that report. And among that good information is this page ten that shows us where we stand in terms of the median household income in Petersburg as compared to surrounding localities. It is a very sad picture. We are at 32,000 per household on average in Petersburg. Which is approximately half of the statewide average which is $66,000. We are the poor man in the Appomattox Basin. We go back to the S&P report and we can see in this table by the Anti- Poverty Commission. We can see exactly what we are dealing with in terms of a depressed income. So, we need to address both of these variables in the decisions that this council makes in the future and I think that this road map is something that we can keep in mind. The next thing I would like to talk about with council is a couple of motions that I am going to hand these motions down. I sent council a copy of this today by email. The substance remains basically from what council has received previously in paper form. One of these documents is a motion regarding the lodging tax and one is a motion regarding the meals tax. There was a hiccup in bringing this to council as perhaps the public remember that Mr. Preston requested an opinion from the Attorney General as whether we can do this. We have Mr. Cornwell on board with his significant experience. He has found an opinion from the Attorney General Office that says that we can do what these two motions instruct the City administration to do. In so I would like to read these two motions our loud.” Council Member Cuthbert read the motion out loud. Mayor Parham stated, “Council Member Cuthbert I know that this is the first read of this motion and I know that this is a lot of information that was not on the agenda. I would like to give the public the opportunity to weigh in and put it on the next agenda. We need to adopt this as a resolution and get public in on this. Let’s put this on the November 20th meeting agenda so the public can have a copy of it to weigh in and take action.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “That is a great idea Mr. Mayor. So, these two motions will be in the  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 -9– ______________________________________________________________________________ agenda packet for the November meeting. I will adjust these dates accordingly and revise the documents with the new dates and get it to the clerk to put in our packet for the November meeting. Thank you.” Ms. Jackson made comments that in the Rules of Council each member of council has five minutes for their business or reports on information on his or her ward. Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “I have a couple of things. One is what the Mayor just talked about. We talked about it in the advance. We talked about having a first and second reading on new motions or new information. We need to come back to council with that rule. I will be speaking with Mr. Bey sometime in the near future about the Rules of Council that this falls under. That is something where if you had an idea about how you want to do things because once we agreed on it then we came back and tabled it again. So, we need to be final on how we want it worded so that we can do this in the correct manner for everyone who is submitting new motions, materials and information. The second thing that I want to talk about is that I have made several motions and it has passed before about City Council meeting with the school board on at least twice a year if not quarterly. I don’t know if you have seen the last video of what the school board presented on Petersburg rising. A good video but the video in my opinion talks about how bad Petersburg is. And then it ends of saying low and behold someone has come to fix the school system. But what it clearly shows is that the City and the school board are not on the same accord. And our schools are called Petersburg Public Schools. They are not called the public schools their Petersburg Public Schools. And sometimes decisions are made, and council is not made abreast of it. Now we cannot dictate to the school and understand that. We cannot dictate to anybody on the school board, but we should try to be on the same accord. When the school board made the decision to reverse the uniform policy how many people on council were aware that that was going to happen. And how does this affect the City as a whole. Will they sell more drugs now in order, so the parents can buy the name brand clothes? Will our crime rates go up because the kids cannot afford the brand name clothes? None of that was approached from the City point of view. So, I think that we need to please think about for the next meeting us having at least a twice a year meeting with the school board and the City with an open public meeting where citizens can see our efforts to work together as opposed to separately.” Mayor Parham stated, “Councilwoman Wilson-Smith we had one scheduled this summer and I know that the school board canceled at the last minute. It was supposed to take place at Peabody and we had it lined up for it to be a joint meet.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “See that is something that the citizens need to be aware of. Because those same citizens that are going to put us and school board members back in need to be aware that there was a meeting scheduled and we are trying to do this. And that there are some members of the school board who are not on the same accord. If we schedule a meeting to meet with people and citizens don’t know that then they think that everything is alright. I don’t think that everything is alright. So, that is my opinion for our next school board meeting if we can talk to people now and get it straight by then. That’s all I have. Thank you.” Council Member Smith-Lee stated, “Good evening everybody. I have some flyers. Ward 6 is going to sponsor a ‘Stop the Violence Block Party’ in Petersburg on the old fairgrounds on Farmer Street Park. It is going to be hosted by myself, Another Level Wesley Nicholas, Pastor Belinda Baugh, Chief Miller, Councilman W. Howard Myers, School Board Member Lois Long, Mayor Samuel Parham and a host of friends and neighbors. We stand with the community. And we are going to have hotdogs, hamburgers and chips. And we need the community to come together because we truly want to be able to stop the violence in the City of Petersburg. The date is this Sunday, October 21st from 2pm to 5pm. There will be food, fun and inspiration. So, come out after church. Also, Jameson McLaughlin will be there. And also, Pastor Hobbs from Metropolitan Baptist Church. So, please come out and join us. That’s it.” Council Member Myers stated, “Thank you Madam Clerk. I just want to thank the Public Works Department and all of the crew that was out there to help us through Ward 5 in cutting the grass and cleaning the streets. We did a wonderful job. And Lois and I really appreciate what they did for Ward 5 and the constituents. So, thank you everyone.”  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 - 10 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Vice Mayor Hart stated, “Good evening everyone. I too would like to thank the public works department for cleaning up and cutting grass in Ward 7 on last week. And also, I would like to thank those departments along with safety as the clean-up as far as with the flooding that was going on. That is all that I have.” Mayor Parham stated, “Good evening again everyone. Also, I just want to chime in on all the hard work that public safety and public works has put in throughout our flood that came through in Old Towne and Pocahontas this past week. And we will be going up to the Joint Subcommittee on Local Government on Fiscal Stress on next Tuesday to tell the Petersburg story on how we are doing and how we are recovering from the financial crisis. Also, Mr. Stewart I definitely will have that conversation on what we need to do on that river and try to get some state and federal support on it. I have talked to Congressman McEachin several times while he is out on the floor to say can he put in the dredging of the river in the last-minute budget. And he says that he wants to get more information on that, so I think that now is the time to get the state and federal government to definitely correct what is a vital river. Not just for Petersburg but to our nation because it is a historic river. Also, we talked about VSU homecoming this weekend and there is also Petersburg High School homecoming this weekend. So, we encourage you all to come out and support these guys for PHS homecoming this Friday. And we will also ask everyone to join us for our veteran’s breakfast event that will be at Tabernacle Life Center on Wednesday. This will be a great event and also, I would like to thank Linwood Christian for putting together his event on Thursday. I look forward to seeing you on Thursday evening. I reached out to the chamber to see if they wanted to do anything and they said that it was up in the air. Thank goodness we have Linwood because he is never up in the air because we know what you are going to do. Anyway, we look forward to seeing you on Thursday and that is all my items for this evening.” 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 the City of Petersburg’s 2019 Legislative Agenda. BACKGROUND: The City of Petersburg is impacted by legislative action taken by the U.S. Congress and the Virginia Legislature. This is a list of legislative priorities to be advocated through the City’s U.S. and Commonwealth legislative delegations and the City’s legislative partners. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council considers approval of the 2019 Legislative Agenda. Reginal Tabor, Economic Development Manager, went over the Legislative Agenda. There was discussion among City Council and staff. No action was taken. A recommendation was made to bring the legislative agenda back with changes and additions to a special meeting before November 20th, 2018, regular City Council meeting. b. Consideration of an appointment to the Riverside Regional Jail Authority  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 - 11 – ______________________________________________________________________________ BACKGROUND: The Riverside Regional Jail Authority Board is a seven-member regional jail that oversees the regional jail facility serving the localities of Counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Prince George and Surry and the Cities of Colonial Heights, Hopewell and Petersburg. The City has one member and one alternate to serve on the board. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council reappoint Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides, City Manager and appoint Kenneth Miller, Managing Director of Public Safety as the alternate. Council Member Myers made a motion to reappoint Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides, City Manager and appoint Kenneth Miller, Managing Director of Public Safety as the alternate to the Riverside Regional Jail Authority. The motion was seconded by Vice Mayor Hart. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hart and Parham; Absent: Hill 18-R-53 A RESOLUTION REAPPOINTING ARETHA R. FERRELL-BENAVIDES, CITY MANAGER AND APPOINT KENNETH MILLER, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC SAFETY AS THE ALTERNATE WITH A TERM ENDING JUNE 30, 2022, TO THE RIVERSIDE REGIONAL JAIL AUTHORITY. 17. REPORTS/REPONSES TO PREVIOUSE PUBLIC INFORMATION PERIOD: Kemi Osoba, Public Relations Officer, read comments and responses from previous public information at the October 2, 2018, regular council meeting. 1. At one time, council persons were asked to visit their wards, businesses, stores and to get a sense of the atmosphere. Answer: City Councilmembers regularly engage with City Staff Leaders on “Ward Walks.” These Ward Walks allow each councilmember to pinpoint opportunities for improvement within their ward. 2. The decorative lights on Washington Street between Madison and Jefferson Street are not working. Answer: This has been reported to the appropriate personnel and updates will be provided. 3. Can the new service packet for utility customers be made available online? Answer: This packet is now available online under the Billing & Collections page. 4. What is being done to address the issue of flooding downtown from the river? Answer: With the most recent storm and resulting flooding, the City has a deeper understanding of issue areas and is exploring options for future preventative measures. 5. What is being done about the issue of high grass in the City. Answer: The Petersburg Public Works & Utilities Department has engaged in a weekly Ward Sweep, which began on October 5th. Each Friday, teams will dedicate their day to working throughout one ward to aggressively address the issue of overgrown grass and vegetation. Weather permitting, this will continue until each Ward has been completed. This is a temporary solution while staff investigates more permanent options. 18. CITY MANAGER’S AGENDA: No items for this portion of the agenda. 19. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM CLERK: Ms. Jackson reminded everyone of the Trunk-A-Treat that will be held on October 31, 2018, at the Sports Complex in Petersburg from 5:30pm to 7pm. She stated that if it rains it will be held in the Petersburg High School Gymnasium.  Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: October 16, 2018 - 12 – ______________________________________________________________________________ 20. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY No items for this portion of the agenda. 21. ADJOURNMENT: City Council adjourned at 8:49 p.m. _________________________ Clerk of City Council APPROVED: _________________________ Mayor