City Council

The “New River” City 10 Robertson St. April 22, 2013 Radford, Virginia Meeting Number 20 of Radford City Council, F.Y. 2012-2013 RECOGNITION SUBJECT: Arbor Day Student Artist SUMMARY: In celebration and recognition of Environmental Awareness Month and particularly Arbor Day, The City of Radford sponsored an Arbor Day Art Contest in the Radford City Schools. Eighty-three entrees were received from students at Radford High School, Dalton Intermediate School and Belle Heth Elementary School. The winners of the contest are as follows: - Belle Heth Elementary Kamaree Taylor - Dalton Intermediate Saumya Sharman - Radford High School Kat Wiltsee (Overall Winner) The artwork will be on display in the City Administrative Building until mid-May. The regular meeting of the Radford City Council was convened at 7:00 p.m. in Council Chambers, 10 Robertson Street, Radford, VA. The Mayor of the City, Dr. Bruce Brown, was present and presiding. Other members of City Council present were Mr. Cox, Dr. Richard Harshberger, Mr. Keith Marshall, and Mr. Robert Nicholson III. Others present were as follows: Mr. David Ridpath, City Manager Ms. Melissa Skelton, City Clerk Mr. Basil Edwards, Economic Director Mrs. Gail Cook-DeVilbiss, City Attorney Mr. Donald Goodman, Chief of Police Mrs. Patricia Cox, Finance Director The news media was represented by Radford News Journal. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Mayor Brown, an invocation was pronounced by Rev. McCandlish. MINUTES APPROVAL: On a motion by Mr. Nicholson, seconded by Dr. Harshberger that the minutes of April 8, 2013, are approved as presented. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 RECOGNITION SUBJECT: Tree City USA SUMMARY: The City of Radford takes pride in its focus on the environment and places importance on the protection, enhancement, nurturing and expansion of street and park trees, as well as our urban forests. As a result, The Virginia Department of Forestry has selected Radford as a “Tree City USA” community. Jim Moeller from the Department of Forestry presented the City with the Tree City USA Plaque. RESOLUTION SUBJECT: Joint Mutual Aid Agreement SUMMARY: The Code of Virginia, 15.2-1736, provides the authority for mutual aid agreements for the provision of law enforcement services between governing bodies of localities. Shared services include personnel, equipment and materials for use in the mutual protection and maintenance of peace and order to preserve safety and welfare. ACTION: Mr. Nicholson made a motion, to approve the resolution as presented and authorize Mayor Brown to sign and Melissa A. Skelton to Attest, seconded by Mr. Marshall. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Mr. Marshall, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 PROCLAMATION SUBJECT: Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Week SUMMARY: The State of Virginia has proclaimed the week of May 12-18th, 2013 as “Law Enforcement Officers” Memorial Week”. To honor the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice and to those who put their lives in danger each day protecting and serving our sacrifice and to those who put their lives in danger each day protecting and serving our communities. CITY OF RADFORD PROCLAMATION LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS’ MEMORIAL WEEK WHEREAS, the safety and well-being of the citizens of Radford are of the utmost importance to the prosperity and livelihood of Radford’s families and community; and WHEREAS, individuals have committed their lives to protecting and serving Radford’s families, businesses, neighborhoods, schools and community; and WHEREAS, these individuals risk their lives in the line of duty to maintain the safety of our community while striving to uphold the rule of law; and WHEREAS, all citizens of Radford value the courage, commitment and leadership demonstrated by our state and local law enforcement officers, who work diligently to ensure our safety; and WHEREAS, we pay tribute to the officers who have fallen in the line of duty and recognize the sacrifices made by the families of those officers, as well as the families of those who continue to protect and serve our communities; and WHEREAS, is it critical that we understand the roles and responsibilities of law enforcement officers within our communities, and commemorate and pay tribute to the dedicated service of officers past and present; NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Radford does hereby recognize May 12-18, 2013 as LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS’ MEMORIAL WEEK in the City of Radford, and to call this observance to the attention of all our citizens. ACTION: Mr. Cox made a motion, to approve the proclamation as presented and authorize Mayor Brown to sign and Melissa A. Skelton to Attest, seconded by Mr. Marshall. VOTE: Mr. Cox Yes Mr. Marshall Yes Dr. Harshberger Yes Mr. Nicholson Yes Mayor Brown Yes PUBLIC HEARING SUBJECT: F.Y. 2013 Tax Rate SUMMARY: A public hearing is scheduled to consider comments from the public regarding the F.Y. 2013 Tax Rate. Mayor Brown opened the public input hearing at 7:25 p.m. No Comment Mayor Brown closed the public input hearing at 7:25 p.m. Clerks note: Notice of the public hearing has been duly advertised. SUBJECT: Consider second reading of Ordinance 1648 – FY 2013-14 Budget SUMMARY: A balanced $65,155,581 budget for FY 2014 was approved on its first reading on April 8, 2013. The proposed budget provides sufficient revenues to pay for expenses, maintains adequate fund balances, and provides resources for maintenance and improvements to infrastructure, supports core customer services and equipment improvements, as well as funds for debt service. ACTION: Mr. Cox made a motion to place Ordinance # 1648 on its second and final reading, seconded Mr. Marshall. VOTE: Mr. Cox Yes Dr. Harshberger Yes Mr. Marshall Yes Mr. Nicholson Yes Mayor Brown Yes CITIZENS COMMENTS: Dave Horton, Radford citizen, shared that the Radford University community will be engaging in a Scholar-Citizen Civic Projects this Saturday from 10 am to 12, to help local children. The project will repair flower boxes in Bisset Park and at the Radford Public Library. The boxes will be used in projects to help high-risk juveniles learn commitment, responsibility and self- confidence by planting flowers and caring for them all summer. NEW BUSINESS SUBJECT: Consider Ordinance 1649: Establishes the 2013 Tax Rate SUMMARY: This ordinance will approve the F.Y.13 Tax Rate with Real Estate tax rate of $ 0.76, Personal Property at $2.44, Machinery and Tools at $1.76, and other personal property at $1.76. ACTION: Mr. Nicholson made a motion to place Ordinance 1649 on its first reading, seconded by Dr. Harshberger. VOTE: Mr. Cox Yes Dr. Harshberger Yes Mr. Marshall Yes Mr. Nicholson Yes Mayor Brown Yes SUBJECT: Consider Appropriation Ordinance 1634.28: $35,000, Community Development Block Grant. SUMMARY: In 2007, through a portion of its annual CDBG allocation, the City provided assistance to Radford Heritage Foundation to provide a much needed replacement of roof and soffits, as well as repair of the windows to stabilize the structure and prevent further water damage to Arnheim. These repairs were completed. No additional improvements were completed. The project has not moved forward and HUD is requiring that the funds be appropriated back to the CDBG program. The funds will be reallocated back to Radford for another project. ACTION: Mr. Cox made a motion, seconded by Dr. Harshberger, to place Appropriation Ordinance 1634.28: $35,000 on its first reading. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 ACTION: Mr. Cox made a motion, seconded by Dr. Harshberger, to dispense with the second and final reading. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 CITY MANAGER’S COMMENTS: Mr. Ridpath informed Council that in their packet was a copy of the City’s 2013-2014 Annual Action Plan which shares also as the City’s application for our Community Development Block Grant to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The public comment period has opened up and will have a public hearing at the May 13th meeting. He asked Ms. Skelton to briefly share the goals within the Action Plan. Ms. Skelton informed Council that we are still waiting for HUD to release the allocations, so the plan was based on a 5% percent decrease and adjust when final numbers are released. She shared the main goals are to continue to focus on the Housing Rehab program along with sewer improvements along Staples Street and 10th Street. Mr. Ridpath also commented that a lot of planning goes into Quad Fest to make sure things go well and asked Chief Goodman to make a few comments in regards Chief Goodman first wanted to take a moment to thank Council again for the proclamation that they passed earlier this evening, he shared he’s humbled because I’ve had to bury too many of my friends, but also have served with such courageous people and for you to honor that service means a lot to me. He went on and shared that this year we took 71 people to jail on April 20th and made a 177 total charges in a day and half. It was more than he wanted to see, but it is lower than we expected, and we are anticipating another busy weekend. Mr. Ridpath shared how proud he is of our Officers and appreciates all the partnering agencies that come out and help. Chief Goodman added that he wanted to thank all the City’s Departments that helped along with the Citizen’s Police Academy. CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS: Mr. Nicholson wanted to echo what we shared earlier in reference to our Police Department and those who serve our community and who make the community that we have. We greatly appreciate the schools and all they do for our children. It’s wonderful to see all the artwork we have, we see tragedies all over the world, the latest being in Boston. It’s hard to understand what drives people to do the things that they do, but if they get more involved in the community like we’re seeing it may help people to find new direction in serving verses destroying. I hope we can leave the art work up for a period of time, it adds a lot of color and represents our children which is our future of the community Dr. Harshberger shared we have 3 art teachers in our school system and a lot of school systems have none, one of the first things to go when budgets get tight are the fine arts and we haven’t done that, you see the guidance, the quality and creativity in the art work and that wouldn’t happen without inspiration of those teachers. Mayor Brown shared that he and Mr. Ridpath recently met with President Kyle and Vice- President Alvarez from Radford University, we have quarterly meetings with them to discuss areas of mutual interest and I think the relationship between the City and the University is at a peek, and thinks it comes from those types of casual informal conversations. He commented that it was also nice to go to the Citizens Police Academy graduation, this was the fifth graduating class and included were 5 students from Radford University and they all commented have entirely different perspective of what goes on in Radford. He shared that the highlight of his week was having 5 Girl Scouts here the other day to interview himself, David and Chief Goodman. Mr. Marshall made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:45, seconded by Mr. Cox. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 ATTEST: _________________________________ Melissa A. Skelton, City Clerk of Council