City Council

The “New River ” City 10 Robertson St. October 12 , 201 5 Radford, Virginia Regular Meeting Number 5 of Radford City Council, F.Y. 2015-2016 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. Daniel Keith Marshall, Mr. Robert Nicholson and Mr. David Michael Turk. Others present were as follows: Mr. David Ridpath, City Manager Ms. Melissa Skelton, City Clerk Mrs. Gail Cook DeVilbiss, City Attorney Following the Pledge of Allegiance, led by Mayor Brown, and the invocation was led by Chaplin Jim Henagar. MINUTE APPROVALS: On a motion by Mr. Marshall seconded by Mr. Turk, that the minutes for September 28, 2015 with correction. Correct City Attorney’s title to Mrs. on page 3. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 RESOLUTION SUBJECT: User Agreement New River Resource Authority SUMMARY: Landfill operations for disposal of solid waste from the City is managed by the New River Resource Authority. The operation of the landfill in Pulaski County, as well as the participation in the Authority by the five member jurisdiction is by a “User Agreement”. In August, the NRRA Board voted to amend the agreement to allow the Authority to contract with other public entities for emergency assistance needs, without seeking the full board’s approval. This would allow the Authority to contract with the Roanoke Valley Regional Authority for disposal of nonhazardous solid waste, should an event occur at the New River Valley facility preventing operations. Mayor Brown shared that the resolution they have starts out pretty benign but as go further in the resolution it seems to take a different direction than what they thought the intent was. He asked the City Manager and City Attorney if they had any concerns or clarification. Mr. Ridpath shared that he and the City Attorney spoke about this a few times and that the intent of the resolution is that both jurisdictions would have the ability, if an emergency were to occur, to call upon the other Authority to bring their solid waste to that locality. And when you get through the resolution it reads that way, but when get into the last “Whereas” in the resolution there is some clarity that needs to be addressed and suggested holding off voting on it tonight until they get our questions answered. Mrs. DeVilbiss said she had been asked to talk to the Authorities Attorney and spoke with her last week but was not able to get all the information that they wanted. She shared she wanted to get all the user agreements. We also want to make sure that we understand all the pros and cons of the reciprocal agreement and want our representatives to give them information on the purpose and intent. Mr. Ridpath added that as it would help us in an emergencies, but as we all know these can have long term effects as to what may and may not occur. Mr. Marshall asked how well we have defined what constitutes an emergency. Mr. Ridpath responded that is what we need to find out in this user agreement. Mr. Nicholson said that he agrees with the concept, but it’s the open ended is a concern to him, at what point does the emergency cease to exist and everyone goes back to where they were. The last whereas, is a major concern, seems likes it opens it up to anybody and everybody. As we have recently gone through licensing and over the decades the licencing for developing a landfill get stricter and more difficult to comply with and all of a sudden we could be landfill of choice for everyone else, rather than them going through the process. Mr. Ridpath added that we are counting of this current landfill to last us 30-50 years. Mr. Nicholson said we have seen 30 year landfills fill up in less than 12. He stated he wants to work with our neighbors but needs some clarification before accepting this resolution. The resolution was tabled until the next meeting until received additional information. CITIZENS COMMENTS: None NEW BUSINESS SUBJECT: Consider Appropriation Ordinance 1673.09: $11,000 for Public Works Building SUMMARY: The “garage” at the Public Works facility on Seventeenth Street is in need of some repairs. This includes the replacement of the two garage doors and lift system, as well as an entry door. The improvements are necessary for safety and efficiency of the Public Works operations. ACTION: Mr. Marshall made a motion to place 1673.09 on its first reading, Mr. Turk seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 ACTION: Mr. Marshall made a motion to dispense with the second and final reading and approve Appropriation 1673.09, Mr. Turk seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 SUBJECT: Consider Appropriation Ordinance 1673.10: $11,800 for DMV Grant SUMMARY: The City of Radford has been awarded a grant from the Division of Motor Vehicles. The grant will be used to support local efforts to reduce crime associated with alcohol violations. The funds will be used for overtime for law enforcement issues related to driving under the influence. ACTION: Mr. Nicholson made a motion to place 1673.10 on its first reading, Mr. Marshall seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 ACTION: Mr. Nicholson made a motion to dispense with the second and final reading and approve Appropriation 1673.10, Mr. Marshall seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 Mayor Brown shared they have been looking at switching to one meeting a month and will continue to do so. CITY MANAGERS COMMENTS: Mr. Ridpath had some very dicey weather recently and are very fortunate that the storm didn’t reach us. He is very proud of our public safety officials and our public works staff, they were ready to go at any moment, and it was a very tense 48 hours and over a three day period over the weekend. He also reminded the Council that they are having a joint meeting with School Board on October 26th, at 4:00. CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS: Mr. Nicholson shared a couple of comments about VML meeting this he attended this past week. He said he found it interesting that at one of the discussion tables and the concept came up on how to engage the high schoolers and get them interested in the local government. He shared Radford’s Student in Government Day initiative and the other attendee’s beamed and liked the idea. He also found the discussion on how to grow communities and attract new businesses to be very interesting and what tied all the discussion together was the millennials and what future is going to look like. He suggested that we might want to put together a millennial conference and try to get more understanding of what it is they are looking for in terms of the future needs. Mayor Brown added that speaker Matt Thornhill put out some nice graphics and one showed that there are 85 million millennials and the gridlock that is occurring in congress now will go away with this generation because they are going to try collaborate and get along and work towards solving problems. He mention that Melissa and Gail had shared the naming policy with them and would like to move forward with considering renaming Park Road and the round-about. He wants to try to schedule a public hearing for the November 9th meeting. Mayor Brown addressed the High Schoolers in the audience and how it is important that they start getting engaged with the community. Whether it’s Student Government Day the signage for High School Championships. Maybe there need to be some type of summit or focus group that can look and see what we do to position ourselves for the future. We need to do things to make people want to come back and stay in our community. Mr. Marshall made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:30 p.m., seconded by Mr. Turk. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Marshall, Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 ATTEST: _________________________________ Melissa A. Skelton, City Clerk of Council