City Council

The “New River” City 10 Robertson St. September 30, 2025 Radford, Virginia Special Meeting Number 2 of Radford City Council, F.Y. 2025-2026 The special meeting of the Radford City Council was convened at 6:00 p.m. on September 30, 2025 in the Radford City Council Chambers, located at 10 Robertson Street Radford, VA. The Mayor of the City, Raymond David Horton, was present and presiding. Other members of City Council present were, Vice- Mayor Seth Gillespie, Mrs. Jessie Foster, Mrs. Kellie Artrip, and Mr. Guy Wohlford. Others present were as follows: Mr. Todd Meredith, City Manager Ms. Melissa Skelton, City Clerk Mr. Kevin Byrd, NRVRC Mr. Craig Meadows Chief Holdaway SUBJECT: West Radford Commerce Park – Purchase Order Transformer SUMMARY: The Electric Department is designing a new substation to provide power to the West Radford Commerce Park, located on the foundry property. Competitive bids were received on Friday, September 12, 2025. Eaton submitted the lowest cost bid in the amount of $407,076. ACTION: Mr. Gillespie made a motion to approve the city issue a PO to Eaton for the transformer, Mrs. Foster seconded the motion. VOTE: AYES: Mrs. Artrip, Mrs. Foster, Mr. Gillespie, Mr. Wohlford, Mayor Horton NAYES: None RETREAT Kevin Byrd, NRVRC, mediator shared he plans to begin with reviewing the 12 month “To Do List” City Council discussed at their January meeting. Staff Evaluation – Todd shared staff has received the evaluation forms. Dept. Heads began working on their staff. At a minimal evaluations will be done on an annual basis. Todd shared he would like to get each Dept. Head evaluations done by January. Kellie shared she would like to see the employees be provided an opportunity to respond and provide feedback. They discussed the possibility of anonymous Annual Survey for employees to provide feedback. Restructuring Staff – Todd shared as of now he has not done so. Todd said tonight’s meeting will help provide direction and will be able to see if we are postured to align with Councils goals over the next 1, 3, 5 years. Todd said one goal he has for organization is transparency which requires steady flow of reports, financials, and as we look at organization getting something in place to reorganize work flows along with staff. We should be looking at monthly financial reports and operational reports monthly and hope to get those soon. Seth said for our success, we need to know where we are and don’t want anything to stall. He asked if there is anything they could do to address it. He stated they have struggled getting this information. Mayor said they honestly have been dealing with this for years. And it will be fundamental moving forward to know this information. Quarterly work sessions – is it worthwhile to continue with getting council together for these quarterly meetings to move towards strategic planning? Council agreed that is is. Build Reserves – Todd said they have not yet been able to do so, but still the number one goal to work towards. Seth shared he would still like an outside audit. Craig said the states themselves come in and does a turnover audit whenever there is change in office and said it would be beneficial for the city to do so. He said when he was working on the budget he was using actual revenues from past fiscal years. His concern is there is something askew in the process that’s not working, and an audit will help identify the process. He said it all comes back to if the data provided, was accurate. Todd asked about getting a cost estimate and work order. Assistant City Manager- Council agrees one is needed, possibly with the reorganization. Seth said they are all committed to setting Todd up for success. Jessie said we want to be able to and need to know if they can financially support those changes. Todd admitted there is a bottleneck in the City Manager’s office, it’s everything from reviewing contracts, responding to citizen complaints and responding to emails. Todd said with the limited amount of people, we need to cross train. Wells Fargo Building- Council wants to review all the City Asset, market come up with a use for it. Jessie shared RU Art department is looking for a building to rent. Kellie said would like to see a report to see what economic director is doing, what businesses have you spoken with. Have any business, citizens come to them. Kevin said its important to capture missed opportunity to include within grants. Jessie asked about grants. Some departments who work hard to locate grants, and others who do not. Mayor asked Kevin if it makes sense to have Leo work with our Economic Developer to help with resources. Go VA can do a site evaluation to help get to the next level of readiness. Once they understand what community needs are, it will help the Regional Commission to help us. City Holdings – Todd shared it is a work in progress. Jessie said the EDA has ordered signs for their properties. Todd said he has meeting with EDA this week and will ask where they are with putting the signs up. Visit all Manufacturers – Todd said has working document and wants to work with the Chamber to meet quarterly with small businesses to see what’s working, what’s not. Need to come up with a strategy. Kevin suggested Todd reach out to Andy Moore with Floyd County who has been working with their chamber and has been successful. East Main Street Phase I – Todd said staff could use from direction. He said we could use a year extension to determine if we can make this project go. Kevin shared there are 3 things we could do: - Do full scale project - Look at reduce scope - Step away completely. Todd said if we did not proceed with the grant, the $362,000 match, would be able to apply it in the future. Need to look at other funding sources to help pay for this. Exercise on Values – Kevin asked Council to Identify values that they want for the city. Council came up with their Top 7 Values 1. Financial Well Being (Financial Growth & Security) 2. Efficiency - (Efficiency, Hard work, productivity) 3. Teamwork (internal) 4. Communication 5. Transparency 6. Commitment 7. Integrity Kevin asked the following Question- What is the most significant challenge our community will face in the next 5 years? Council’s response: Trust II Financial Sustainability IIII Infrastructure Growth Economic II Growth Fiscal Independence II Community Success Maintain services Capital Projects Community Peace Community Character Radford Pride Todd shared need to keep websites and communication up to date. GOALS Independent Status Financial Stability – whole financial infrastructure Communication Council can help shape the narrative Maintain Radford Pride – needs to be nurtured Kevin shared he will take all that was discussed this evening and bring back some goal statements. Mayor Horton adjourn the meeting at 8:40. VOTE: AYES: Mrs. Artrip, Mrs. Foster, Mr. Gillespie, Mr. Wohlford, Mayor Horton NAYES: None ATTEST: _____________________________ Melissa Skelton, City Clerk