City Council

The New River City 10 Robertson St. September 11, 2017 Radford, Virginia Regular Meeting Number 3 of Radford City Council, F.Y. 2017-2018 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. Robert Gropman, Dr. Richard Harshberger, Mr. Daniel Keith Marshall, and Mr. Michael Turk. Others present were as follows: Mr. David Ridpath, City Manager Ms. Jenni Wilder, City Clerk Ms. Gail Cook Devilbiss, City Attorney Mr. Don Goodman, Chief of Police Dr. Harshberger was out of town on personal business. ACTION: City Council unanimously voted to allow Dr. Harshberger to remotely participate in the meeting. VOTE AYES: Mr. Gropman, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 Dr. Harshberger was then called and joined the closed session and regular meeting through phone. Following the Pledge of Allegiance, led by local Veterans, the invocation was led by Mr. Jim Henagar. MINUTES APPROVALS: On a motion by Dr. Harshberger and seconded by Mr. Marshall that the minutes for the August 14, 2017 Regular Meeting are approved as presented. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Gropman, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 RESOLUTIONS: SUBJECT: AEP CONTRACT MODIFICATION SUMMARY: The City of Radford has a twenty-year contract for its municipal electric power with America Electric Power. Charges for electric service are determined by a “cost” based formula. AEP has requested a modification of the contract to convert charges based on a “Market” formula rate to resolve billing errors, over-payments and account for allowances for funds used for construction. The City and its agents, Blue Ridge Power Agency and legal counsel Holland & Knight, have been coordinating with AEP on the contract revision. The revision has been requested of several Blue Ridge Power Members. The cost structure will result in the most reliable and lowest wholesale electric power cost. No other elements of the contract change through the remainder of the period ending May, 2026. The contract modification will result in a reimbursement of $229,000 to the City, which will be applied as a credit to the “Purchase Power Account” of the Electric Department ACTION: Mr. Marshall moved to approve the AEP Resolution as presented, Mr. Gropman seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Gropman, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 SUBJECT: NORWOOD SQUARE PARKING LOT SUMMARY: The City of Radford has maintained a lease for the property located at the intersection of East Main Street and Virginia Street with Price-Baker, LLC since 1997. The property, known as “Norwood Square”, is used for parking to support the business district, a Farmers Market and special events throughout the year. The lease was up for renewal in August, 2017. The Resolution provides for a five-year extension of the lease at a fixed rate of $3,500 per month. A reduction from the current rate. The property owners will pay the real estate taxes on the property. The lease also provides the option of first right of refusal to purchase at the end of the five years or renew for another five-year term with an increase based on the average consumer price index over the previous five years. Mr. Marshall would like to amend the lease by dropping the CPI as well as the Resolution, to state that items 1, 2, and 3 on the second page are subject to the approval of City Council. Dr. Harshberger would like there to be a 10-year lease without the CPI. ACTION: Mr. Marshall moved to approve the Norwood Square Parking Lot Resolution as amended, without the CPI and items 1,2,3 on page two are subject to the approval of City Council, Mr. Gropman seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Gropman, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Turk NAYES: Dr. Harshberger, Mayor Brown SUBJECT: TYLER AVENUE TO EAST MAIN PROJECT SUMMARY: The City of Radford approved a Resolution in December, 2007 to advance the concept and related design of a highway corridor from Tyler Avenue to East Main Street, as identified in the VDOT six year plan. The Plan has been realigned several times during planning and approval to its current location in 2013, adjacent to Auburn Avenue. The proposed alignment meets state and local transportation goals, follows planned utilities, maximizes road frontage for future development and takes advantage of area topography. VDOT has agreed to the planned concept alignment with Auburn Avenue, as well as a reduction in scope to design and construct a portion of the .8-mile corridor with the funds available in the state allocation. State funding available for the project is $2.91 million and the right-of-way would be donated by the area property owners. The Resolution covers several items required by VDOT…Authorization of the project with the reduced scope, adherence to the Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP), and Authorization of the City Manager to execute VDOT agreements, as well as seek proposals for engineering services as a “Locally Administrated Project”. ACTION: Mr. Gropman moved to approve the Tyler Avenue to East Main Project Resolution as presented, Mr. Marshall seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Gropman, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 CITIZEN COMMENTS: Mr. David Horton said thank you for the work you are doing for lease extension downtown, it is an important property for the community. He also talked briefly about Help for Houston week, where restaurants have joined together to donate part of their sales on the week of September 11- 15 to those in need in Houston. Ms. Gail Collins, has been a Radford citizen for her whole life and spoke about how proud she has always been of Radford. Ms. Collins stated that one of our greatest assets is our Parks and Recreation Program. Ms. Collins was hosting a family reunion at Shelter 2 in Bisset Park and reserved it in advanced; however, when she arrived in Bisset the Shelter had not been cleaned and the tables were worn. Ms. Collins contacted Mayor Brown who got Chuck Morris to come and clean the bathrooms and shelter and her event ended up being fine. Ms. Collins made the statement that what happens to people who do not know the Mayor and cannot call someone on a Sunday morning to come fix the problem, city staff works too hard to let one department bring the City down. There was also silly string on the wall of Shelter 2 and it has not been cleaned to date. Ms. Collins said that she expects and is asking you all to take care of the situation and fix it. Mr. Dominick Mastrangelo is the newest reporter with the Roanoke Times it is very beautiful in Radford and he wanted to introduce himself. He let Council know they would be getting to see him on the Second and Fourth Monday of every month. Mr. Gary Harris stated that he has lived in the City of Radford for 73 years. He stated it is an honor to be the Commander of the Radford VFW and he wanted to thank Council and Staff for the tremendous job that they are doing. NEW BUSINESS: SUBJECT: SPECIAL USE PERMIT-FOREST AVENUE SUMMARY: The NRV Group, LLC and Betty L. Radford have requested a Special Use Permit to construct a duplex on three parcels (lot 16, 17 and portion of 18) of property adjacent to Forest Avenue. The .264 acre parcel is zoned R-3 (single-family residential) and requires approval of a special use permit for a duplex. The Planning Commission has reviewed the application and requested that City Council schedule a Joint Public Hearing on October 9, 2017. ACTION: Mr. Turk moved to schedule a joint public hearing on October 9, 2017 Dr. Harshberger seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Gropman, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 SUBJECT: THIRD AVENUE PARKING LOT CLOSURE SUMMARY: The Radford Chamber of Commerce has requested that the western portion of the Third Avenue Municipal Parking Lot be closed on Saturday, October 14, 2017 for a special event, “Craft and Draft”. The event features music, food trucks, and “craft and draft” related beverages vendors. Staff have reviewed details of the second annual event and do not foresee any issues. The thirteen parking permit holders will be relocated to the lower end of the lot during the event and access will be maintained from Third Avenue. ACTION: Dr. Harshberger moved to approve the Radford Chamber of Commerce request to close the Third Avenue Parking lot for “Craft and Draft”, Mr. Gropman seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Gropman, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 CITY MANAGERS COMMENTS: Mr. Ridpath stated that we luckily dodged Hurricane Irma. He also stated that the Hydro repairs are moving along fine and we are looking at a December 11, 2017 commissioning date. There are many upcoming events including, the RHS Homecoming on September 22-23 and Highlanders Festival on October 21. Mr. Ridpath stated that the Green Government Challenge has been submitted to VML and that the proposal to bring the compost pile back will be open for the month of October only as a pilot program. Mrs. Wilder stated that the collection items for Hurricane Harvey victims are at 370 cases of water, 125 cases of diapers, and 20 cases of paper towels at the Fire Department to take to God’s Pit Crew on Wednesday, September 13. Mr. Marshall said kudos to the citizens of Radford for donating to this cause. CITY COUNCIL COMMENTS: Mr. Harshberger thanked Council for the Courtesy of letting him attend the meeting electronically and to thank David Ridpath and his staff for setting the technology up. Mr. Gropman stated the November 11, 2017 is the Virginia Veteran’s Day Parade in Roanoke. Mayor Brown stated that he got a nice letter from Phil Grucci, who does the fireworks for the City of Radford’s July 4th event. The letter was heart felt and he invited Council to tour the Radford Armory plant to see how the fireworks are made. Mr. Marshall made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:51 p.m., Mr. Turk seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mr. Gropman, Dr. Harshberger, Mr. Marshall, Mr. Turk, Mayor Brown NAYES: None-0 ATTEST: Jennifer G. Wilder, Clerk of Council