City Council

Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 -1– ______________________________________________________________________________ The regular meeting of the Petersburg City Council was held on Tuesday, February 5, 2019, at the Union Train Station. Vice Mayor Hart called the meeting to order at 6:30p.m. 1. ROLL CALL: Present: Council Member Charles H. Cuthbert, Jr. Council Member Annette Smith-Lee (arrived at 6:33pm) Council Member Treska Wilson-Smith Council Member W. Howard Myers Council Member Darrin Hill Vice Mayor John A. Hart, Sr. Absent: Mayor Samuel Parham Present from City Administration: City Manager Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides Assistant City Attorney Rashaad Bey Clerk of Council Nykesha D. Jackson, CMC 2. PRAYER: Vice Mayor Hart stated, “Prayer tonight will be done by Reverend Dr. George Lyons, Pastor of Gillfield Baptist Church.” Reverend Lyons led the council meeting in prayer. 3. CLOSED SESSION: There are no closed session items. 4. MOMENT OF SILENCE: Clerk of Council, Nykesha D. Jackson, led council and the audience in a moment of silence. 5. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: 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 except Mayor Samuel Parham 7. PROCLAMATIONS/RECOGNITIONS/PRESENTATION OF CEREMONIAL PROCLAMATIONS: (Each presentation will be limited to 10 minutes.) Vice Mayor Hart presented a certificate of recognition to Cydnee Kyser-Pegram. Ms. Pegram stated thank you. Vice Mayor Hart stated, “I’d like to recognize Petersburg native, Darrell J. Roberts. Roberts, who now Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 -2– ______________________________________________________________________________ lives in Chicago, works for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which oversees the safety and security of the nation’s nuclear facilities. A graduate of Petersburg High School, this past December, he was appointed to the top job in the NRC’s Midwestern office. He has made a steady climb through the NRC ranks since joining the agency soon after graduating from Virginia Tech with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering in 1989. Roberts leads a staff of almost 200 that monitors 23 of the nation’s 98 commercial nuclear reactors across the NRC’s eight-state Region III. Roberts visits Petersburg as often as he can and plans to return to Petersburg next summer for his 35th high school reunion. Today’s positive moment is for Darryl Roberts. Thank you.” 8. COMMUNICATIONS/SPECIAL REPORTS: Council Member Wilson-Smith presented a PowerPoint presentation on the Black History in the City of Petersburg. She went over points of men and women who are the history of the City who do not get enough acknowledgement. She stated that she wants the City to promote its history and create a taskforce with research on promoting African American History. She stated that she will leave copies of the brochure in the back of the train station. She stated that she would like at the next council meeting for someone from PART to come and talk about the African American History. a. City Assessor Report – Brian Gordineer, AAS, City Assessor Mr. Gordineer stated that he does not have any report items. b. City Manager Report – Aretha R. Ferrell-Benavides, City Manager Mrs. Benavides stated, “Good evening Vice Mayor and council. You have in front of you a copy of my council report of updates. I have highlighted a couple of things as far as events that we do have. We are the host of the Civilian Military Luncheon on February 13th. Also, 2019 Black History Month Festival will be held on February 23rd at Petersburg High School. Ms. Tyus and Mrs. Yerby team did an excellent job last year. We are inviting everyone to come out once again to participate in that process. Also, I believe Ms. Tyus has included for you a copy of the Citizens Academy. The 2019 City-wide Citizens Academy is an opportunity for us to work on educating and bringing our citizens to be more involved. Councilwoman Wilson-Smith had a Citizens Academy for her ward and what we have moved towards doing is a citywide effort. Moving along also included in your packet is three memos from public works on updates of projects. One is the General District Court update on the work that we have been doing there. The other is the Peabody High School. Petersburg Public shutdown Peabody as far as a middle school years ago. One of the things that occurred is that this is a property of the City. What Mrs. Innis team has been working on doing is looking at this building structurally to see what it takes for us to maintain as well as make the necessary upgrades to it. Included in your packet is an estimate of the cost associated with all of the renovations needed. There are some opportunities to do this in phases but what we don’t want to do is allow this valuable asset to deteriorate. Finally, there is a memo on the emergency repair of the forced main which is working along the way as far as sewer. So, you have that included. Sergei Troubetzkoy can you join me please. Sergei comes to use from Lynchburg, Virginia where he served as the Tourism Director from 2014-2017. Before taking over Lynchburg Tourism Department Sergei was the Director of Tourism for Bedford County for several years and he operated that department for several years. He is no stranger to the City of Petersburg. One of the beautiful opportunities that we have is that he came to us and said that he wants to come back on a basis to help the City to revamp and move up our tourism aspects. And this is one of the things that during our financial crisis we started to downsize but we recognize that it is a major part of our City. Which falls under our tourism committee and under Mr. Myers. I would like you to introduce you and welcome you to Mr. Sergei Troubetzkoy.” Mr. Troubetzkoy stated, “Thank you. I am thrilled to be back in Petersburg after 30 years. Even though I have been gone 30 years I have visited Petersburg every one of those 30 years many times It has always held a very special place in my heart. And I am so excited with the energy that I am seeing in the short time that I have been here. I am very excited about the Africa American Heritage of this community. And actually, when I Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 -3– ______________________________________________________________________________ was here before I lead many walking tours in many of the neighborhoods. And many dealt with African Americans. I did very popular tours on Pocahontas. And that is a wonderful and potential area because there are a lot of people seeking African American Heritage across the country. Room for growth and tourism just in that one area is one of many areas of the heritage that I would love to see developed. I am very excited about working with each and every one of you in the community. And I cannot wait. Thank you.” There was discussion among City Council Members and the City Manager. Council Member Wilson-Smith stated that she wants it to go on record that the Citizens Academy was not just for Ward 1 but that it was for the entire City of Petersburg.  Legislative Update- Reginald Tabor, Economic Development Manager Mrs. Benavides stated, “We have a legislative agenda. Reggie has worked on tracking our legislature. We have a lot of information to provide and what we are going to ask is that we are going to pass this out to you and if you have questions of him and our agenda he is available for questions for this. The one thing that I believe that most people knew and heard about was the Petersburg Charter change. The Charter change went to both the House and the Senate and it passed the Senate Committee and then it went to the Senate floor. On the Senate floor it was, as most people put it, was left with a one word change which was not really significant in the overall scheme of what we were trying to do. And so, it did pass the Senate with the changes. And the changes that were passed that was added to by their vote was that the City Manager may serve as the City Collector. That is the only thing that passed. And the other information as you see here will have impact on us, but I would like to give you all the opportunity to review this. If you have any questions of Mr. Tabor on legislation, he is available. If you have any questions after that he is available. We will also work on making this information available on our website. The next thing that he is going to talk to you about is the disposition policy.” There was discussion among City Council and the City Manager on the information that was provided regarding the legislative update. Reginald Tabor, Project Manager of Economic Development, stated, “Before you is a proposed process for disposition of City owned real estate property. And the process that is before you reflect what has been used as a process of disposition of City owned property and also additional steps that we s staff feel that will help make the process more transparent and also more uniform.” Mr. Tabor went over the process that was stated in the handouts on the process. There was discussion among City Council and staff. Council Member Myers made a motion to adopt the disposition process. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. There was discussion on the motion. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Smith-Lee, Myers, Hill and Hart; Voting No: Cuthbert; Abstain: Wilson-Smith; Absent: Parham c. City Attorney Report – Rashaad Bey Mr. Bey stated that he does not have any items. Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “I just wanted to ask Mr. Bey. In the minutes of January 15th where we are talking about Rules of Council adopted in part be sent to the Committee of the Whole for review. So, do we operate under what we have now with the editing that was done on the 3rd until we meet?” Mr. Bey stated yes. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 -4– ______________________________________________________________________________ Council Member Wilson-Smith stated thank you. 9. APPROVAL OF CONSENT AGENDA (to include minutes of previous meeting/s) a. Minutes: Regular Meeting: January 3, 2019 b. Minutes: Regular Meeting: January 15, 2019 c. Request to schedule a public hearing to receive citizen comment on the proposed amendments to rezoning for 214 Brown Street, 501 Farmer Street, 220 Perry Street, 304 Brown Street and 100-120 Perry Street. Ms. Jackson stated that item 9c will be removed from the agenda. Council Member Myers made a motion to accept the Consent Agenda. The motion was seconded by Council Member Smith-Lee. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham 10. OFFICIAL PUBLIC HEARINGS: a. A public hearing to amend Sec. 106-61. – Assessments generally and Sec. 106-63 Time for Assessment. BACKGROUND: The proposed amendments to Sec. 106-61. – Assessments generally and Sec. 106.63 Time for Assessment will transition the annual reassessment program to a biennial reassessment program. 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. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the recommended changes. Brian Gordineer, City Assessor, gave a brief overview of the amendment in Sec. 106-61. – Assessments generally and Sec. 106-63 Time for Assessment. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comments. Seeing no hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. Council Member Hill made a motion to approve the recommended changes to Sec. 106-61. – Assessments generally and Sec. 106-63 Time for Assessment. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham 19-ORD-10 AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE CHANGES TO SEC. 106-61.– ASSESSMENTS GENERALY AND SEC. 106-63 TIME FOR ASSESSMENT. b. A public hearing to create Sec. 106-67. – Deadline for appeal of assessment to City Assessor and Sec. 106-68. – Deadline for appeal of assessment to the board of equalization. BACKGROUND: The creation of Sec. 106-67. – Deadline for appeal of assessment to City Assessor and Sec. 106-68. – Deadline for appeal of assessment to the board of equalization. will transition the application deadlines for “Office Appeals” to the City Assessor to March 1 (now May 31) and appeals to the Board of Equalization to April 1 (now August 31). Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 -5– ______________________________________________________________________________ RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the recommended changes. Brian Gordineer, City Assessor, gave a brief overview of the amendment in Sec. 106-61. – Assessments generally and Sec. 106-63 Time for Assessment. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comments. Seeing no hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. Council Member Hill made a motion to approve the recommended changes to Sec. 106-67. – Deadline for appeal of assessment to City Assessor and Sec. 106-68. – Deadline for appeal of assessment to the board of equalization. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham 19-ORD-11 AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE CREATION OF SEC. 106-67. – DEADLINE FOR APPEAL OF ASSESSMENT TO CITY ASSESSOR AND SEC. 106-68. – DEADLINE FOR APPEAL OF ASSESSMENT TO THE BOARD OF EQUALIZATION. c. A public hearing to create Sec. 106-69. – Assessment of new buildings substantially completed, etc.; extension of time for paying assessment. BACKGROUND: The proposed creation of Sec. 106-69. – Assessment of new buildings substantially completed, etc.; extension of time for paying assessment will enable the City Assessor’s Office to assess new buildings completed throughout the year and add them to the land book. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council approve the recommended changes. Brian Gordineer, City Assessor, gave a brief overview of the amendment in Sec. 106-69. – Assessment of new buildings substantially completed, etc.; extension of time for paying assessment. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comments. Seeing no hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. Council Member Hill made a motion to approve the recommended changes to Sec. 106-69. – Assessment of new buildings substantially completed, etc.; extension of time for paying assessment. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham 19-ORD-12 AN ORDINANCE APPROVING THE CREATION OF SEC. 106-69. – ASSESSMENT OF NEW BUILDINGS SUBSTANTIALLY COMPLETED, ETC.; EXTENSION OF TIME FOR PAYING ASSESSMENT. d. A public hearing for a Special Use Permit to operate a stand-alone used vehicle sale located at 2128 West Washington Street. BACKGROUND: The Zoning Ordinance requires that City Council must take action once recommendation is forwarded from the Planning Commission. This use in the Zoning Ordinance requires a Special Use Permit. The applicant is requesting to have a stand-alone vehicle sales business. The applicant has owned several businesses in the City of Petersburg and currently operates the adjacent tire sales business. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 -6– ______________________________________________________________________________ RECOMMENDATION: City Council consider approval of the special use permit and provide a recommendation of action to staff. Michelle Peters, Director of Planning and Community Development, gave a brief overview the request for a Special Use Permit for 2128 West Washington Street. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comments. Michael Edwards, 409 Grove Avenue, stated, “The only concern that I have is that we welcome any business into the City. And with that being the western part of the City coming in from Dinwiddie, I cannot help but see the eyesore of trucks and equipment with the cars all the way back up to the woods behind the What- A-Burger. The cars are wrapped around the building onto Seaboard Street. And I see nothing being enforcement down there with that. Now I hear that Mrs. Peters stated that number seven was put in there to allow a six-month inspection which is great. But, what is there to say that this one won’t get like trucks and equipment. So, before we decide to enforce the six months on this gentleman then something needs to be done with trucks and equipment. But we do welcome him to the City, but we need to really look at it. That is one of our western gateways and you’d agree Mr. Vice Mayor. Because that is an eyesore down there. Thank you.” Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed the public comments. Council Member Myers made a motion to approve the Special Use Permit for 2128 West Washington Street. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. The motion was approved on roll call. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham 19-ORD-13 AN ORDINANCE APPROVING A SPECIAL USE PERMIT FOR 2128 WEST WASHINGTON STREET. 11. PUBLIC INFORMATION PERIOD: The Public Information Period is established by the Rules of Council to hear input from City residents or owners of businesses in the City. It will last for a maximum of 30 minutes. Speakers will be called in the order that they have signed up to speak. If there are ten or fewer speakers, each shall speak for a maximum of 3 minutes. If there are more than ten (10) people desiring to speak, the time allotted to each person may be adjusted or the number of speakers limited to meet the time limitation. A speaker may speak on items except those that are listed on tonight’s Council agenda. Any matter brought before the attention of the City Council during the public information period will not be acted upon by the City Council at this meeting. Barb Rudolph, 1675 Mt. Vernon Street, stated, “It is kind of coincidentally that I am going to talk about something you all have been discussing just a few minutes ago with the standing committee. I noticed on tonight’s agenda that the standing committee reports is a prominent item. It seems like up until this meeting it has been a phantom item that has been on each agenda for a couple of years. I guess nothing has been brought to the council publicly. I actually went back to the City calendars from March 2017 to the present. That is almost two years because it was almost two years ago that Robert Bobb wrote these Rules of Council and added the standing committees to them. And in all of those months of City calendars and meetings there are only two standing committees sited. One was in April 2018 which is the Education, Health and Human Services Standing Committee and the other is Economic Development, Tourism etc. Standing Committee that you have been talking about tonight. Which a meeting was shown for January. And I think the items on the agenda outgrow that meeting. I guess that I am making an assumption and I guess I would have to be miss proven that all of this time based on the fact that there has not been City notices being put out or items being put on the calendar and it appears that these standing committees have not been meeting nor have there been items being brought forward on item 16 to share with City Council. Again, I keep pretty close tabs on this. We just had an early discussion and talked about that the Rules of Council say that this XYZ committee does this and Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 -7– ______________________________________________________________________________ that. Well, that is good to site that but there is a lot of things in the rules about the standing committee that you all are not observing. Like to start with it says that at the organizational meeting of the council and the beginning of each council period the Mayor shall nominate the chair and vice chair person of each standing committee. That is supposed to happen at each organizational meeting. That did not happen on January 3rd. There was no discussion about who was chair or vice chair of any of these committees. It also has that the standing committee should meet at least once a month on the months that council meetings are held. I don’t know if you have been able to keep to that. But it is still hard for me to believe that there has been no meetings over the past two years even though there is no evidence to show that there have been meetings. There are also minutes being taken and provided to the clerk. There are all kinds of things that indicate to me that if these standing committees are meeting, which I believe they are, that the information is not being shared with the entire council. It definitely is not being shared with the public. It is not being put out there in a ready accessible format or avenue for people to attend or participate if they want. I need to say this because this is something that you all need to be concerned about, FOIA violations. This council has been found to have a number of FOIA violations in the past. And not having meeting notice of these standing committee meetings is a violation of FOIA. I can stand here and tell you what it is but I will put all of this in writing and send it to the City Council Members and to the City Attorney. If the meetings have been taken place they have not been advertised and there has not been material provided and it has not been posted on the City website. All of these things are on the Virginia Code and you do not have anything to supersede that. I just wanted to make that very clear because council members are not seeing things and the public is seeing even less. I feel like the business that is being done in these meetings are not being shared in a transparent way. Thank you.”) Shantell Young, 846 Fort Henry Street, stated, “And I have been trying to get a meeting with John Hart and it’s about eating contaminated food. And the person buying contaminated foods out the store. And I also gave a petition to his secretary with a lot of names and telephone numbers on it. So, you actually can actually call these people and talk to them and their families and their loved ones. And the type of stuff that we are putting in our body system. What type of harm is this doing to our system. Not only that also our children. And I actually stepped in a lot of different stuff in the City. I also seen it come out of helicopters. I thought it was only in Petersburg, Virginia until I started traveling and seeing the type of effects that people bodies were going through. And there is no way that the government doesn’t know what is going on. Any time that you go to the emergency room and you see professional doctors that are sick and different things going on with their eyes going up and down and different things all over their body system. You can’t even walk pass people in the community without stuff flying all on you. And I have also sat in some places on the City bus that deal with transportation. You can’t even get your groceries back home properly without stuff getting into your food making your stomach hurt and swelling up. When you sit down it gets on your clothes. You have people on the City bus talking about it. Some things are natural. I have walked pass people doors. You can’t even walk pass their door seals. I have seen lies when you talk about history in Petersburg. I have seen a lot of different lies come out of people doorway. I drew this man one and a lot of color came all over the paper. So, there is a lot of history that I see in Petersburg where my feet cannot cross other people’s feet. And this is inside of the foot doctor. I have seen people eye’s turn into different colors. I have also witnessed that I went down to the Department of Social Services about the same type of issue dealing with the air qualifications where I have to burp. It’s also in the air and they went and called somebody else on the news. They got someone else put on the news and did not put me on the news when I have been trying to get on the news for the last four years about this type of issue. And I would definitely hope about communication. The phones are rigged up too. And I would hope that I would get a meeting with John Hart about dealing with this type of issue. And I do not think it’s funny at all. And I would hope that I would get a meeting with you and you be able to contact the news and the public so that I can be placed on the news to talk about this issue in the City. I think that everything should be free. There is no way that you should purchase contaminated stuff out a store. There is no way that you should live in a contaminated house and pay mortgage and rent for something that is contaminated. The City ground is not even right. What is you going to do about it? That is what I want to know.” Vice Mayor Hart stated, “Call the clerk.” Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 -8– ______________________________________________________________________________ Ms. Young stated, “It’s not about the clerk it’s about you. And I think you should be incarcerated because if you got power and you are not doing nothing about the City and the City of Petersburg why are you sitting in the seat? Why is you here?” Vernel Gannaway, 652 Old Wagner Road, stated, “I am back and Happy New Year to you all that I have not seen. First, I would like to thank Council Member Wilson-Smith because those pictures show what I grew up in. You and I would probably know more than any of these people would know. Mr. Cuthbert might of heard of it but you and I would know because we seen it. I was apart of that Peabody and Giles B. Cook. One thing that I want to say tonight is that I said maybe over a year ago that what you do speaks so loudly and what you say I cannot hear. I have been away from this body for some months almost a year. And the reason why is that I wanted to sit back and see and analyze what the grade is going to be. What are the voters of Petersburg going to vote you as. A lot of people wonder are they lying to us. I have seen people come up here and we supposed to have a people’s forum that we have not heard anything about. You supposed to have three minutes and some people have twenty minutes. If we are going to be fair, then let’s be fair. So, we cannot lie to the citizens because Treska and I know and some of you young one’s were not even born yet. We come after you and some of us are still here. Some of us in Petersburg are still here. And it is time for change. It just floors me to see that my Senator is on the screen and I see how you try to oust people. What is going on with this? You have a closed session and we do not know anything about the closed session. You supposed to be following the laws of God and man and you just want to run on past that, but I have to do mines, or I go to jail. But you do not have too. There is enough of that in Washington. You degrade a character of person and you let some slide by and you do not hear anything else about. There is something wrong with that picture. We have to stop lying to the citizens of Petersburg. If you don’t know ask questions. I saw when Robert Bobb gave his report it was a failing grade. You paid him $1.8 million dollars or whatever it was. It is time for change and I am here, and I am back.” Linwood Christian, 410 Mistletoe Street, stated, “First, Madam City Manager we are going to be alright. I will tell you about that later. First and foremost, I would definitely like to invite each and every one of you all on the 14th of this month. The Harding Street Neighborhood Association will be having a part two to our Medicaid Information Forum. This one we will be signing person’s up who have applied to Medicaid prior and have been denied or who will be applying for the first time. And this is going to be for 6pm on February 14th at Tabernacle Community Life Center. And Ms. Margie Wallace, Interim Benefits Program Supervisor, and her staff from the Petersburg Social Services will be there and also, we will have representatives from the various MCO of Optima Health will be there. Also, because at the last forum a lot of questions came up with Medicare we will have someone either from the state or the local agency to be there. We hope again that everyone will be there. And I would like to thank not only Mr. Stevenson, the Director of Social Services but Ms. Margie Wallace. I hope that the title changes from Interim because she really went out her way to make a connection to do that which also brings me to this. At our last association meeting a lot of citizens want to know what is going on with the Social Services Advisory Board. Not only just that but a lot of our boards and commissions. We have in place and people have applied and we do not hear from them. And I think that this is something that we need to revisit. Also, I would definitely like to thank our police department, Lt. Christian and those persons who work with my family during that time. Because we came back from New York during the Christmas holiday only to find our that our house had been robbed. And we are grateful to them of those who helped us. We have not recovered everything, but they did help us recover somethings. Like I said despite sometimes we go through our issues, but I have to say hats off and applaud our police department. And last but not least I would like to say this to members of council, when citizens bring to you an issue and ask you to take things to our representatives don’t come back and tell us that they are not going to introduce it for a reason. Because the citizens did not ask you all to go to Richmond and ask about the charter change dealing with the treasurer. However, we did ask you all to ask about a charter change, so we can elect our Mayor at- large. We had a vote on that and at the high school you all decided that you were not going to put that in the package. Shame on you all because that is not what we asked you all to do. We did not ask you to worry about the treasurer duties. We are tired of the same system just like Hopewell about Mayor and Vice Mayor being appointed. Then you call one another on who is going to be Mayor and Vice Mayor. We didn’t ask you all to do Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 -9– ______________________________________________________________________________ that we want to elect our on. Thank you.” 12. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FOR/FROM THE MAYOR OR COUNCIL MEMBERS: Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Thank you very much. I have a ward meeting scheduled for this Thursday, at St. Mark’s Church on Claremont Street at 6:30m. Everyone is invited to attend. The focus is going to be on projects that need the attention of the Department of Public Works for things like potholes and stopped up storm drains and lights that are not functioning that should be functioning. If you have a particular issue for public works to address, please attend and bring with you the address where the pothole can be found or stopped up storm drains are. In the case of a street light you can bring the identification numbers off the utility pole and we will address those issues. Mrs. Ferrell-Benavides would you bring us up to date on the water rate study and when you expect to present that to council.” Mrs. Benavides stated, “My team under my Chief Operating Officer has been working with our consultants on it. We have been going back and forth with them. We have received some preliminary numbers but what we are working on is looking at our collection rate to understand as many of the residents are aware. When we first passed our rate increase it included an additional increase in January, however, per council’s direction we wanted to do a rate study to see if it was still required and if so much. We are hoping in the next 30 days to come up with a final report. But we have been working with them, and we don’t want to do anything prematurely, but there are a number of factors that they look at in the rate study. We will be prepared to at least give you an update by the first meeting in March. The consultants are looking at a number of different factors. The rate study is not just about how much we charge and not about comparing what others are charge its about what is the amount that it takes to run our system including all the upgrades as well as the debt for the necessary upgrades.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “So, you are saying that you expect to present to City Council a rate study at our first meeting in March? Mrs. Benavides stated, “Yes, sir.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Great! Thank you very much I think that we all look forward to that. I want to ask a motion to the other members of council dealing with an application for two ABC off premises licenses for beer and wine. One is at the Halifax Street dollar store and one is at 250 West Washington Street. That is next to Joyner Paint and Frame. I think both of those locations are easily accessible by foot for pedestrians and consequently I see some potential problems developing if those licenses are granted. I am bringing a motion to council as follows.” Council Member Cuthbert made a motion that Council hereby instructs the City Manager to write a letter on behalf of Council objecting to the issuance of a license by the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control for the sale of beer and wine off-premises by the following businesses, to instruct the Police Chief to do write a letter in opposition on his own behalf, and to do whatever else she deems appropriate to oppose the issuance of these licenses: Family Dollar Stores of Virginia located at 250 West Washington Street and 798 Halifax Street. The motion was seconded by Council Member Wilson-Smith. There was discussion on the motion. Council Member Myers made a motion to suspend the Rules of Council to hear public comment on the motion. 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, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comments. Linwood Christian, 410 Mistletoe Street, stated, “I apologize Mr. Hart and thank you Mr. Myers. Any Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 10 – ______________________________________________________________________________ other time I probably wouldn’t say anything, but we’ve had attempted robberies at that store. But even with that we have Short’s on the corner Mistletoe and Harding Street. We have Spurs and we have even Mr. Crockett’s down there. We have enough, and I am glad that our City Council Members, but we live down the street and we are the ones that have to deal with bottles, glasses and people urinating in our yards. We are the ones now that have to go to that family dollar. People begging and pulling out their stuff. You draw your own conclusions. The President of the Neighborhood Association is here but I think that I am safe to say that this is the last straw and we can deal with everything else. But Family Dollar having an alcohol license, as it is we cannot keep these kids off the streets to go to school. Yes, we are seeing kids turn up 40s like they are turning up a Pepsi. We have enough. We already talking about robberies. I just talked to Mr. Myers and again thank you Mr. Myers. But still, enough is enough.” Vernel Gannaway, 652 Old Wagner Road, stated, “Thank you Mr. Christian and thank you Mr. Myers. I came to the podium earlier to talk to the citizens. We cannot let our City die. Nothing against people coming in wanting to do different things but we have children that go into that store a lot. We have people that have drank already and sit on the side of the streets right by the store. We are talking about the golden arches that hang over 95. You would have no arches over Halifax Street because we don’t need anything else. I am serious. I am here in the City right now because I love this City. We have a lot to offer in this City. We cannot keep on passing stuff because that part of Petersburg is being denied. And we need to work on that as much as anything else down there. Thank you.” Brandon Martin, 1546 Berkeley Avenue, stated, “But all I can say to this is that ‘no’ is an excellent response. It’s the appropriate response under circumstances. I cannot reflect on some of these other locations that were talked about, but I can comment on 7-11 that was on Sycamore Street beside the Canton that closed last June 30th. I thought that it would be an improvement to the neighborhood because it is gone but actually the liter has just continued to be the same. So, I am not sure what allowing another store is going to do but I don’t think that it is really helpful to the City. Thank you.” Seeing no further hands, Ms. Jackson closed public comments. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson- Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “At the meeting on January 3rd according to the minutes on page 11, before this council, I made a motion for a workshop to be scheduled in February. This council did approve it and the date has not been set. Can we set it, please? Can we choose a day in November to have our financial workshop that we all agreed that we would have, please?” Vice Mayor Hart stated, “We will get with Ms. Jackson and check everyone’s schedule.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “’We were supposed to get with Ms. Jackson to check everyone schedule.” Mrs. Benavides stated, “We had a recommendation and staff met because we have two workshops. We have one that is the Citizen’s Academy that is going to talk about finance. But as far as the council financial workshop we are recommending the 12th of February, which would be like a Special City Council Meeting. That was the date that we were recommending at 6:00 p.m. I will need to find out your availability first.” Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “According to the minutes of January 15th, I had asked Councilman Myers to discuss with you all about the Anti-Poverty Commission and he did so. Thank you, Councilman Myers. The Anti-Poverty Commission had been enforced for two years. We have done a yearly report in July and August of the past two years. We have worked very hard. You must understand from those reports that this is a serious impoverished area. We have spent two years talking to people and discussing Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 11 – ______________________________________________________________________________ items with people and having visitors coming in and us going places. The first part was for us to learn. The second part was to take everything that we have learned to the community because poverty effects everyone in the community. Not just those people who are within that realm. But in order for us to get to that point then we need to have permission from this council to reestablish our Poverty Commission. According to the minutes, Mr. Myers thought at the time that you cannot serve on two committees, according to what he read in the Rules of Council. But the Rules of Council say that you cannot be the chairperson of two standing committees. So, I am asking this council by way of motion to please reinstate the Anti-Poverty Commission.” Council Member Wilson-Smith made a motion that City Council reinstate the Anti-Poverty Commission. The motion was seconded by Council Member Cuthbert. There was discussion on the motion. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham Council Member Wilson-Smith stated, “I did have a question. In reading the January 15th minutes, Mr. Rogers discussed the 90-Day Rule and the state law. When we have our meeting on the 12th can you please bring me a copy of the state law that you are referring too. Because it seems that within the discussion of the minutes between you and Mr. Baxter I see no difference in 90-Days if you pay your water bill every month and 90-Days if you pay your water bill every other month. So, I need some clarification on what that ruling is if you don’t mind when we have that meeting to share that with me I would appreciate. And last week, I sent everyone an email with a calendar. I went through a calendar for the 2019 calendar to coincide with our City Council meetings and I wrote down every single date that we have a meeting scheduled to be sure that there was no conflict to coincide with our Rules of Council. I waited for someone to say something, but nobody did. I even put on here our special meetings and the dates when the NLC Conference is in March and the dates of Virginia Municipal League Conference. That’s on there. The dates for our advance. So, if you all would take a look at it. I think that it helps us all. In addition to that in reading the VML booklet a lot of your cities would post a yearly calendar of when you are going to have your meetings. That takes away of us being sure that we have announced our meetings five days in advance or three days in advance because it is all laid out. So, what I am asking is that you please look at this and give me your feedback. And at the next council meeting I would be asking that we adopt the yearly calendar schedule.” Council Member Smith-Lee stated, “My fellow coworkers for the federal government I am so thankful that they have returned back to work. After 34 days of having to work and not being paid. So, you can only imagine. Also, a TSA a young lady committed suicide because of the dire need of not having worked. She worked but she didn’t have money to pay her bills. And it’s really sad because a lot of us are a paycheck away from not having anything. We have to be mindful of our fellow people, the people who live here in the City and even people who are on council. I know that Mr. Hart had a job at the Federal Reserve Bank. He has been laid off for a whole year and never said anything to anybody and is just trying to find work. And also, Mr. Myers hasn’t had work in a year. So, we need to uplift out counterparts, the people who we represent, to make sure that they are taken care of also. Another thing I would like to do is to make a motion for the Redevelopment Housing Authority Committee to stay as is during the work that they are doing.” Council Member Smith-Lee made a motion to reappoint the current members on the Petersburg Redevelopment and Housing Authority. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was discussion on the motion. Vice Mayor Hart stated that he had conversation with the board and that he is waiting on a response and would like to table action on this until he has heard back from the authority to give council an update. Council Member Smith-Lee stated, “I would like to withdraw my motion. I am wearing red and Mrs. Wilson-Smith is wearing red. Do you know that this is Healthy Heart Month? We stay in tune because our heart makes us work. There are ten ways for our heart to stay healthy and keep a healthy weight. And believe me I am working on that. I have lost a little, but I got a lot to go. Quit smoking, eat healthy diet, be physically active, Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 12 – ______________________________________________________________________________ reduce cholesterol, limit your alcohol, manage diabetes, reduce stress and get a regular check-up. I wanted to bring this to the forefront because my father, John Leroy Smith, died of heart disease at the age of 63. So, please take care of your heart. Just exercise and walk at least in 15-minute intervals and then you have your 30 days. But stay healthy and thank you. That’s my report.” Council Member Hill stated, “Good evening everyone. The month of March, Ward 2 will be having a Town Hall Meeting to be announced. More than likely it will be on a Thursday at Good Shepherd Baptist Church. I just have to get the finalized date. Speaking of our celebrities that come out of Petersburg, myself and our Deputy City Manager, we have been having meetings in regard to having a celebrity golf tournament along with a banquet in 2020. So, we are trying to finalize those things so that we can bring back all of our celebrities that are able to come back so that we can have our golf tournament. The proceeds will go to a field house for the Petersburg High Football Team. So, we will not co-mingle any funds with the City. We will be advertising more in the future. So, if you have any sponsors that you all may deem that you want to be sponsors or actually play we will have the information in the coming future. Also, Ward 2 leave pick-up will be during the month of February, the 12th through the 18th. So, all those that have leaves that have fallen please rack your leaves to the edge of the curb. Please, do not, if you have a drain, rack them into the drainage area. Put them to the edge of the curb and they will come through February 12th through the 18th. Also, from a economic development standpoint I have three major buildings that have been empty. One will be empty at the end of this month. The Rite Aid has been brought by Walgreen’s on Crater Road. So, they are closing down the Rite Aid and the bowling alley has been vacant for some time along with one of the buildings that is near the Butterworth’s. I understand that these are privately owned properties, but I would like our economic development team to look at and go out and search for valuable businesses to come in those areas. Often times we tend to wait for people to come into the City, but we need to get more aggressive in our economic development area. I am not blaming anyone. These are things that I have talked to our City Manager and deputies. I would like for some type of plan to bring businesses to our area. We cannot say no to everything but sometimes when things come we get real excited and then we tend to pick apart things and then we don’t want them and then we scare them away. So, with that being said I really want a plan from our economic development department basically saying this is what we look at. And not in just certain areas but the totality of the City. Whether it be the gateway or the inner part of the City or Halifax Triangle and all through those areas. More especially our properties in Petersburg. And get with the owners that own those properties and see what their ideas are so that we can kind of help them. Maybe there is a business that we know of that we can probably put in that area. It does my heart pleasure whenever we do get a new business, but it hurts when I ride past vacant properties. And I am not just talking about houses, I am talking about buildings that we can have businesses in. So, keep those dates and times in mind. Thank you, Madam Clerk.” Council Member Myers, stated, “Good evening. My major issue is that when we do have valuable opportunities in the City of Petersburg they are always met with opposition. And in that opposition, there is one council member that opposes the entire majority of the City Council. And it makes every effort to incomplete the process that we need to further develop and revenue in the City of Petersburg. I find it very disheartening to have these activities and person’s who inherently and devastatingly always find a reason to publicly display their disregard for another council member. I do not need to grow a thick skin, but I need to do what I do and what I was elected to and that is to help the City of Petersburg to move forward. So, in spite of anyone else’s conflict of interest which I will not put on the floor at this particular time but they will be discussed in the future thank you.” 13. ITEMS REMOVED FROM CONSENT AGENDA: No items for this portion of the agenda. 14. UNFINISHED BUSINESS: No items for this portion of the agenda. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 13 – ______________________________________________________________________________ 15. STANDING COMMITTEE REPORTS: a. Consideration of the City of Petersburg’s 2018 Tourism Plan. BACKGROUND: Tourism in Petersburg offers a brilliant blend of history, natural beauty, a vibrant old-town atmosphere with a desirable and walkable downtown lifestyle. While tourism in Petersburg has always been an omnipresent entity, recent financial obstacles forced the City to prioritize other aspects of our community. This resulted in a reduction of resources allocated for tourism. We understand that our tourism assets are a large part of what makes up Petersburg. There is something here for everyone. This Tourism Plan will enable City Council and Petersburg City staff to make strategic decisions regarding increasing tourism opportunities. Contributions from local businesses, tourism operators, regional stakeholders and community members have been collated to develop clear methods for Council to consider and implement. The City of Petersburg Tourism Plan is an integral step in working toward a sustainable tourism program for the future of our City. This Tourism Plan was reviewed and referred for approval by the City Council Standing Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, Land Use and Housing. This Plan was also reviewed by and received favorable comments from the Virginia Tourism Corporation. RECOMMENDATION: Staff recommends that the City Council considers approval of the 2018 Tourism Plan as a base from which to further develop Tourism in Petersburg. It is further recommended that:  This Plan is reviewed annually.  This Plan serves as a base for Site-Specific Tourism Plans seeking Tourism Development Financing, which requires Tourism Zones and Tourism Plans.  That the City establishes an Organization to oversee the implementation of the Tourism Plan and update process.  That a Tourism Subcommittee of the City Council Standing Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, Land Use and Housing be appointed to oversee further development of the Tourism Plan and the development of a Tourism oversight Organization. Council Member Myers made a motion to approve 2018 Tourism Plan. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. There was discussion among City Council Members and staff. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham b. Consideration of a proposal to purchase City- owned property at 108 E. Washington Street, Parcel ID 011-340001. BACKGROUND: The City of Petersburg has received a request from Mr. Faris al Sanabani to purchase the City-owned property at 108 E Washington Street, Parcel ID 011-340001. Mr. al Sanabani proposes to purchase and develop the property as a Cigar Lounge. Mr. al Sanabani owns and operates a similar business at Stony Point Fashion Center in Richmond. Mr. al Sanabani has stated that he will develop the property in compliance with the Historic Landmark designation Status and he plans to host charitable events in the space for local charities. The City Council Standing Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, Land Use and Housing considered the proposal and recommends approval. RECOMMENDATION: City Council considers authorizing the City Manager to execute documents related to the sale of City-owned property at 108 E Washington Street, Parcel ID 011-340001. Council Member Myers made a motion to give the City Manager authorization to dispose property Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 14 – ______________________________________________________________________________ located at 108 E. Washington Street. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. There was discussion among City Council Members and staff. Council Member Cuthbert stated that he drafted a motion. Mr. Bey asked did council want to go into closed session to speak on the property at 108 E. Washington Street. 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 the discussion of disposition of publicly held real property and under Subsection 7 for consultation of legal counsel pertaining to specific legal matters requiring the provision legal advice by such counsel. Council Member Cuthbert moved that the City Council go into closed session for the purposes noted by the City Attorney. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. There was no discussion on the motion, which was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham City Council entered closed session at 9:01 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 the closed session. The motion was seconded by Council Member Myers. There was discussion on the motion. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson- Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham 19-R-08 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 returned to open session at 9:31pm. Council Member Myers made a motion to approve the disposition of property located at 108 East Washington Street and to authorize the City Manager to execute documents related to the sale of the City- owned. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham 19-ORD-14 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THE SALE OF CITY-OWNED PROPERTY LOCATED AT 108 EAST Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 15 – ______________________________________________________________________________ WASHINGTON STREET. c. Consideration of a proposal to purchase City-owned properties: BACKGROUND: The City of Petersburg has received a request from Mr. Chilon Bolton to purchase the City-owned properties on Harrison Street. Mr. Bolton proposes to purchase and develop the properties as single family residences. Mr. Bolton has developed similar residential properties in Georgia. The City Council Standing Committee on Economic Development, Tourism, Land Use and Housing considered the proposal and recommends approval. RECOMMENDATION: City Council considers authorizing the City Manager to execute documents related to the sale of City-owned property at the following locations: Address Parcel ID 427 Harrison Street 031-060020 429 Harrison Street 031-060019 431 Harrison Street 031-060018 432 Harrison Street 031-050006 438 Harrison Street 031-050007 440 Harrison Street 031-050008 450 Harrison Street 031-050010 452 Harrison Street 031-050011 602 Harrison Street 031-200017 Council Member Myers made a motion to approve the disposition and authorize the City Manager to execute documents related to the sale of City-owned property located at 427, 429, 431, 432, 438, 440, 450, 452, and 602 Harrison Street. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. There was discussion among City Council Members and staff. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham 19-ORD-15 AN ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE DOCUMENTS RELATED TO THE SALE OF CITY-OWNED PROPERTY LOCATED AT 427, 429, 431, 432, 438, 440, 450, 452, AND 602 HARRISON STREET. 16. NEW BUSINESS: a. Consideration of /appointment to the Architectural Review Board BACKGROUND: The Architectural Review Board consists of 7 members appointed by City Council. The duties of the Board include, but are not limited to, the following: administer the provisions of the City Code, Article 35, and preservation of the Historical Areas within the City. In addition to those duties, under the CLG Program the review board shall, at a minimum, perform the following duties: conduct or cause to be conducted a continuing survey of cultural resources in the community, according to guidelines established by the State Historic Preservation Office; act in an advisory role to other officials and departments of local government regarding protection of local cultural resources; disseminate information within the locality on historic preservation issues and concerns; and review all proposed National Register nominations for properties within the boundaries of the locality. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend Council make re/appointment to the Architectural Review Board. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 16 – ______________________________________________________________________________ There was discussion on the Architectural Review Board among City Council and staff. Council Member Cuthbert made a motion to appoint Lisa Jordan, Celeste Wynn, Joe Battison, Mitchell Pradia, Dino Lunsford, Terry Ammons and Kevin Svensen to the Architectural Review Board. The motion was seconded by Council Member Wilson-Smith. There was follow discussion on the motion for appointments Architectural Review Board among City Council and staff. Council Member Myers made a substitute motion to table appointment until further discussion at the next City Council meeting. The motion was seconded by Council Member Wilson-Smith. The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson-Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham b. Consideration of a Resolution to Approve Amendments to Projects Financed by Virginia Resources Authority (VRA). BACKGROUND: In consultation with the City’s Financial advisor, Davenport & Company LLC (the “Financial Advisor”) and bond counsel, Sands Anderson PC (“Bond Counsel”), City staff has evaluated the current capital needs of the City and wishes to update and amend the descriptions of the 2013 Projects, the 2014 Projects and the 2015 Projects to defer or reduce expenditures on certain projects originally included as part of such Projects and to provide additional funding for other capital needs and related expenditures including capital interest on the 2013 Bond, 2014 Bond and 2015 Bond, as appropriate all such project costs to be funded only as permitted under Section 62.1-199 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended. RECOMMENDATION: Recommend City Council hereby authorizes the City Manager to enter into an amendment agreement with VRA to provide for the Revised Project Descriptions, the details of such Revised Project Descriptions to be approved by the City Manager whose approval shall be evidenced conclusively by the execution and delivery of such amendment agreement and instructs the Financial Advisor and Bond Counsel to take all such action as necessary or appropriate to conclude the amendments to the terms of the 2013 Financing Agreement, the 2014 Financing Agreement and the 2015 Financing Agreement and any related documents. Recommend The City Council hereby approves, ratifies and confirms the actions of its officers, employees, and representatives in furtherance of the amendment to the 2013 Financing Agreement, the 2014 Financing Agreement and the 2015 Financing Agreement to provide for the Revised Project Descriptions, and authorizes and directs its officers, employees and representatives, the Financial Advisor and Bond Counsel and other professionals to take all such action necessary or appropriate to finalize the amendments to the 2013 Financing Agreement, the 2014 Financing Agreement and the 2015 Financing Agreement in connection with the Revised Project Description. Council Member Myers made a motion to authorize the City Manager to enter into an amendment agreement with VRA to provide for the Revised Project Descriptions, the details of such Revised Project Descriptions to be approved by the City Manager whose approval shall be evidenced conclusively by the execution and delivery of such amendment agreement and instructs the Financial Advisor and Bond Counsel to take all such action as necessary or appropriate to conclude the amendments to the terms of the 2013 Financing Agreement, the 2014 Financing Agreement and the 2015 Financing Agreement and any related documents. The motion was seconded by Council Member Hill. Ms. Jackson opened the floor for public comment. Seeing no hands, Ms. Jackson closed public comments. Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 17 – ______________________________________________________________________________ The motion was approved on roll call vote. On roll call vote, voting yes: Cuthbert, Smith-Lee, Wilson- Smith, Myers, Hill and Hart; Absent: Parham 19-R-9 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PETERSBURG, VIRGINIA APPROVING AMENDMENTS TO PROJECTS FINANCED BY THE VIRGINIA RESOURCES AUTHORITY. 17. REPORTS/REPONSES TO PREVIOUSE PUBLIC INFORMATION PERIOD: Kemi Osoba, Public Relations Officer, read comments and responses from previous public information at the January 15, 2019, regular council meeting. 1. What is the status update for the missing money from the Police Evidence Room? This matter is currently being investigated by an external agency. This is still an ongoing investigation. 2. Where is the chandelier that once hung in the Hustings Courthouse? The City is uncertain of the disposition process from the 1970s when the chandelier was last accounted for. 3. How are water bills calculated? Sewer is approx. 2.5% times the Water usage (Gallons). Water is calculated based on Capacity + Consumption. Capacity is determined by Size of Meter. 4. Are there meter records dating back to the 1970s? The current system only contains records that date back to the late 1990s when the system was implemented. 5. Are Council Communicates still being circulated? Council Communicates are not provided as minutes are made available for each City Council meeting and minutes provide more in-depth information from the meeting. 6. What is the status of the new data system to replace AS400? There is currently an ERP Acquisition & Development Team in place that is working with all pertinent departments (including IT, Finance, Budget & Procurement, Billing & Collections, Treasury, and Public Works) to ensure all needs are included in the RFP. The team has been meeting monthly and the RFP is anticipated to be completed and submitted soon. 7. Where is the Water Rate Study and who performed it? When will it be made available to the public? The rate study is being conducted by Jacobs/CH2M Hill Engineers. The draft report is anticipated to be complete within the next two weeks. Upon review by the City’s Finance team, the report will be made available for City Council review. 8. What was the expense for labor and equipment to vacuum the leaves this fall? How many truck loads were collected and where were these leaves taken? Leaf vacuuming collection is conducted by City of Petersburg Staff using City-owned equipment, so there is no unbudgeted expense for labor and equipment. Leaves are taken to the Petersburg Sports Complex. Currently, there is not an accurate number for truck loads collected as leaf collection is still being conducted through February 25th. Vacuuming was delayed due to weather during December and January. 9. What were some of the changes to the rules of council? Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 18 – ______________________________________________________________________________ Minutes from the January 3rd Organizational Meeting are available on the City’s website. 10. Can we get a streetlight in the alley between East Fillmore and St. Andrews? The Public Works and Utilities Department is currently working on this with the resident on East Filmore St. who brought this forth. 11. Does the City provide snow plow training? Petersburg Streets employees attend annual training courses with VDOT regarding snow removal and ice emergency equipment operations. Employees also participate in annual in-house dry run training prior to the snowy season. 12. Is there any way for citizens to provide comment or ask questions about information brought forth and through City presentations? Example: the financial report. Questions can be sent to the Clerk of Council (njackson@petersburg-va.org) or sent directly to the employee presenting the information. Questions can also be asked through resident’s respective councilmember. Council Member Hill stated, “I typically drive through Harding Street, Porterville Street and Harrison Street on my way home from church. And I don’t know if you all frequent that area, but I frequent that area at least two or three times a week. And for someone to want to buy property on Harrison Street is a blessing. It is a blessing to the City. I know we want to watch what goes there and we want to take advantage of this opportunity. There hasn’t been any type of development in that area since I was a child. So, I think we really need to be mindful of when businesses come here, and people want to develop here. We need to be more welcoming. I didn’t want to delay this, and this has kind of been burning on my heart. When I ride through there I see so much devastation in that area and for us to sit here and I know we want the right things there. I just don’t want us to miss out on a great opportunity. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor.” 18. CITY MANAGER’S AGENDA: Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Mrs. City Manager our minutes of January 15th, say that Council Member Myers made a motion that the Rules of Council adopted in part be sent to the Committee of the Whole to review the governing body operating procedures. Has a date been set for the Committee of the Whole to meet?” Mrs. Benavides stated, “Actually, that is not me. That would the Clerk or the City Attorney on scheduling with committees. I don’t handle that.” Mr. Bey stated, “With the Rules of Council, the standing committee sets its own agenda and provides it to the Clerk. The attorney does not set the standard for committees and activities. The agenda is a part of the standing committee itself.” Vice Mayor Hart stated, “What I am doing is waiting for the Mayor to get back in good health standards. He sent out an email the other day to discuss this. So as soon as he is better we will get together on this.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “So, you think Mr. Vice Mayor that we will have a date before our next meeting of council or should we put selecting a date on the agenda for our next meeting?” Vice Mayor Hart stated, “No, I will just check with him and let the clerk know.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Great! Thank you.” Council Member Myers stated, “It is not the clerk’s responsibility as well. The City Manager does have Minutes from the Petersburg City Council meeting held on: February 5, 2019 - 19 – ______________________________________________________________________________ control to appoint staff to each committee. So, then the Committee of the Whole from my understanding would be the mayor and vice mayor? You and the mayor would have to set up that meeting.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Wait a minute. What is the meeting of the whole? I missed that. You think that’s just the mayor and the vice mayor.” Council Member Myers and Vice Mayor Hart both stated yes. Council Member Cuthbert stated, “The whole. The whole is two members?” Mr. Bey asked, “Are you asking who is on the Committee of the Whole?” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “I cannot understand everything that is being said.” Mr. Bey asked, “Are you requesting who is composed of the Committee of the Whole?” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Yes. Who is the Committee of the Whole?” Mr. Bey stated, “Based on the rules of the standing committee it is designed for equal distribution of members. It gives you a direction here. The Mayor shall serve as the chairperson of the Committee of the Whole and the Vice Mayor shall serve as the vice chairperson of the Committee of the Whole. Further, in the beginning it provides the standing committee is a selection of members of your body. It does not give you a number. When there is more than two members on a standing committee then the rules are FOIA are in place. But the standing committee have the policy and procedure section which determines how it will be run and operate which is in section with procedure which is rule 7. This is the reason why the committee wanted to have a review of the body’s activities because of these types of questions.” Council Member Cuthbert stated, “Mr. Vice Mayor can we figure out a report at our next council meeting.” Vice Mayor Hart stated, “I will get with the Mayor and we will have something.” 19. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM CLERK: *There are no items for this portion of the agenda. 20. BUSINESS OR REPORTS FROM THE CITY ATTORNEY *There are no items for this portion of the agenda. 21. ADJOURNMENT: City Council adjourned at 10:06 p.m. _________________________ Clerk of City Council APPROVED: _________________________ Mayor