City Council

The “New River ” City 10 Robertson St. July 22 , 2013 Radford, Virginia Meeting Number 2 of Radford City Council, F.Y. 2013-2014 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 Mrs. Jenni Wilder, Public Input Coordinator 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. MINUTE APPROVALS: On a motion by Mr. Nicholson, seconded by Dr. Harshberger, that the minutes of June 24, 2013 are approved as presented. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 MINUTE APPROVALS: On a motion by Dr. Harshberger, seconded by Mr. Cox, that the minutes of July 3, 2013 are approved as presented. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 REPORT: SUBJECT: HOME Consortium initiative – Kristen Snyder Ms. Snyder, representing the NRV Planning District, provided Council an overview of Summit Place, a new Supportive Living facility, that was funded by HOME moneys. RESOLUTION SUBJECT: Tyler Ave to East Main Roadway Project SUMMARY: Consideration of resolution is moved to the August 12, 2013 meeting. OLD BUSINESS SUBJECT: Receive recommendation from Planning Commission for rezoning a portion of East Main Street to Mixed Use. ACTION: Mr. Nicholson made a motion, to receive the Planning Commission’s recommendation relative to Ordinance 1651, seconded by Mr. Marshall. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Mr. Marshall, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 SUBJECT: Ordinance 1651 – Rezone a certain area of properties bordering East Main Street, from Jefferson Street to Burlington Street and from Robey Street to Parcel #4-(1)-2B in the East Ward of the City of Radford. SUMMARY: A public hearing was held on June 10, 2013 to consider rezoning a portion of East Main Street from Jefferson Street to Burlington Street and from Robey Street to Parcel #4-(1)- 2B. The proposal is to modify the area’s B-2, General Business zoning to MU, “Mixed Use”, to accommodate a variety of commercial and residential uses. There were no public comments or objections. ACTION: Mr. Marshall made a motion to place Ordinance # 1651 on its first reading, seconded Dr. Harshberger. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Mr. Marshall, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 CITIZENS COMMENTS: Wolly Gallo, President Radford Chamber of Commerce, shared how well the Radford After Five concert went this past Friday. He stated that they are very pleased to see that a profit was shown and thanked Council to for allowing them to continue this series. Mayor Brown shared that there were over 750 people were in attendance and made a profit of over $2,000 for this event. He mentioned that the citizens commented they were appreciative that Council supported this initiative. It was a good family event. NEW BUSINESS CONSENT AGENDA SUBJECT: Consider Appropriation Ordinance 1648.01: $135,753 for Community Development Block Grant SUMMARY: The City of Radford has received Federal grant funding from the Department of Housing and Urban Development to support the CDBG program. F.Y. 201 funding in the amount of $135,753 is supported by an “Action Plan” which was reviewed and approved by Council on May 13, 2013. SUBJECT: Consider Appropriation Ordinance 1648.02: $43,824 for VDOT funds for Street Maintenance SUMMARY: The Virginia Department of Transportation is providing $2,035,314 million in funding to the City for Street Maintenance for F.Y. 2014. Following approval of the budget, the annual allocation from VDOT was increased $43,824. The Appropriation allocated the additional funding to the budget for expenditure. SUBJECT: Consider Appropriation Ordinance 1648.03: $93,676 for School Bus SUMMARY: Radford City Schools need to acquire a bus to server “special education”. Appropriation is required to transfer funds from their reserves to an expenditure account. SUBJECT: Consider Appropriation Ordinance 1648.04: $9,775 Public Works Building SUMMARY: The appropriation would provide funds to do a preliminary architectural report to determine the cost of remodeling or rebuilding the structure to improve efficiency, safety and modern day department needs. SUBJECT: Consider Appropriation Ordinance 1648.05: $11,071 for Sheriff’s Office digital radio conversion program. SUMMARY: The Radford Sheriff’s office received a grant from the Edward Byrne Memorial JAG Fund. The funds will be used to acquire seven mobile and seven in-car digital radios to meet the compliance requirements of the FCC. SUBJECT: Consider Appropriation Ordinance 1648.06: $2,200 for Ripley Memorial SUMMARY: City Council approved a Resolution on June 10, 2013 to name the bridge along University Drive in honor of Colonel John W. Ripley. The appropriation is necessary from Council’s “Contingency” fund to pay for the two bronze plaques for the bridge. ACTION: Mr. Nicholson made a motion, seconded by Mr. Marshall, to place the consent agenda on its first reading. VOTE: Mr. Cox Yes Dr. Harshberger Yes Mr. Marshall Yes Mr. Nicholson Yes Mayor Brown Yes ACTION Mr. Marshall made a motion, seconded by Dr. Harshberger, to dispense with the second and final reading. VOTE: Mr. Cox Yes Dr. Harshberger Yes  Mr. Marshall Yes Mr. Nicholson Yes Mayor Brown Yes REGULAR AGENDA SUBJECT: Appointment to Boards and Commission - NRCC SUMMARY: A City representative is needed to fill the vacancy on the New River Community College Board. Steve Harvey has expressed interest in serving on the board. ACTION: Mr. Cox made a motion to appoint Steve Harvey to the New River Community College Board, seconded by Mr. Nicholson VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 SUBJECT: Appointment to Boards and Commission – New River Valley Agency on Aging SUMMARY: A City representative is needed to fill the vacancy on the New River Valley Agency on Aging. Sally Anna Stapleton has expressed interest in serving on the board. ACTION: Dr. Harshberger made a motion to appoint Sally Anna Stapleton to the New River Valley Agency on Aging, seconded by Mr. Cox. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 Bobby shared the importance of attendance to the NRC service board. SUBJECT: Consider awarding bid for the additional equipment (regulators) for 17th Street substation. SUMMARY: The Electric Department requested bids for four voltage regulators needed to upgrade the Seventeenth Street substation. Only one bid was received from HD Supply. The upgrades were necessary to improve service reliability, as well as increase capacity. ACTION: Dr. Harshberger made a motion to award bid to HD Supply in the amount of $80,196.68 for four voltage regulators, seconded by Mr. Cox VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown CITY MANAGER’S COMMENTS: Mr. Ridpath commented that the weather has been quite a challenge, all our projects are behind and we are trying to get to all the citizens concerns the best we can and working diligently to get issues solved and dealing with the storm runoff issues. He shared that in case Council got asked about the Sullivan Street project, we are moving the road over into right of way where is should have been. They should have work completed in a couple of weeks. Mr. Ridpath is pleased to announce that Jenni Goodman Wilder is our Public Input Coordinator and we welcome her aboard fulltime. CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS: Dr. Harshberger commented that VDOT had held a public hearing regarding the exit 105 bridge improvements and the changes overall look good, his concern is he would like to see the Rt232 overpass not be closed during the project and believes we need to express to VDOT our wish. There is an industrial park right there that needs access to it. He suggested putting a resolution together to send to VDOT to help keep that exit open. Mr. Ridpath responded that he will have Mr. Hurt, City Engineer look into that. Mayor Brown shared he had received an invitation from Congressman Morgan for an Appreciation Breakfast that will be held on August 6th. He commented he had talked to someone during the Fourth of July event, who shared that in their community they have and adopt a spot for Christmas decoration. Thought that was a good idea. He shared that Marceline Hunter had wanted the race track to do like the speedway and also have arches over the bridge coming into Radford. This is something that we can look into. Mayor Brown mentioned that we are looking into what to do about the Main Street gift cards that have not been redeemed, he reminded everyone that Main Street is separate entity and the city does not have the funds to cover them. Mr. Marshall made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:46, seconded by Mr. Nicholson. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Cox, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 ATTEST: _________________________________ Melissa A. Skelton, City Clerk of Council