City Council

239 • Alison Blanton, Advocacy Chair, Roanoke Preservation Foundation, 1701 Arlington Road, S. W., spoke with regard to historic preservation on behalf of the Mountain View Neighborhood and advised that the maintenance of the City's existing park land and the old building donated by J.P. Fishburn was a very important part the of City. There being no further speakers, the Mayor declared the public hearing closed. Following in-depth dialogue about construction, dedicated funding, consideration of a skate park as a priority, and a possible location for a temporary structure, and the concurrence of the Council, Vice-Mayor Cobb moved that the matter be postponed until the next regular meeting of Council on Monday, August 5 at 2:00 p.m., or as soon thereafter as the matter may be reached. The motion seconded by Council Member Price and adopted by the following vote: AYES: Council Members Davis, Osborne, Price, White-Boyd, Cobb and Mayor Lea-6. NAYS: None-0. (Council Member Bestpitch was absent.) HEARING OF CITIZENS UPON PUBLIC MATTERS: NONE. At 8:59 p.m., Mayor Lea declared the Council meeting in recess until Monday, July 29, 2019 at 8:30 a.m., in the Community Room, Melrose Branch Library, 2502 Melrose Avenue, N. W., Suite D, for the Annual Council Strategic Planning Work Session. The Recessed Meeting of Roanoke City Council was called to order on Monday, July 29, 2019 at 8:30 a.m., in the Community Room, Melrose Branch Library, 2502 Melrose Avenue, N. W., SuiteD, with Mayor Lea presiding. PRESENT: Council Members, Michelle L. Davis, Anita J. Price, Patricia White- Boyd, William D. Bestpitch, Joseph L. Cobb and Mayor Sherman P. Lea, Sr.-6. ABSENT: Council Member Djuna L. Osborne-1. The Mayor declared the existence of a quorum. OFFICERS PRESENT: Robert S. Cowell, Jr., City Manager; Daniel J. Callaghan, City Attorney; and Stephanie M. Moon Reynolds, City Clerk. 240 OTHERS PRESENT: Troy A. Harmon, Municipal Auditor; Cecelia "Susie" McCoy, Deputy City Clerk; Cecelia T. Webb, Assistant Deputy City Clerk; R. Brian Townsend, Assistant City Manager for Community Development; Sherman Stovall, Assistant City Manager for Operations; Amelia C. Merchant, Director of Finance; and Michele Vineyard, Director of Human Resources. Mayor Lea welcomed everyone and stated the purpose of the meeting was to have an open and candid dialogue regarding agenda items, provide feedback to the City Manager for follow up at the annual Council Retreat scheduled for October 2019. STRATEGIC PLAN: The City Manager gave an overview of the following: Retreat Agenda • Purpose of Strategic Plan & Review of Current Plan • Planning Context- Economic, Demographic, Fiscal, Etc. • Discuss Current Plan - Priorities/Strategies, Outcomes, Etc. • Transformational Initiatives- o Parks/Recreation/Regional Outdoor Assets o Transit o Neighborhood Vitality o Economic Opportunities • Update on Stormwater Management Fund & Skate Park • Discuss Employee Compensation Approach/Options • Discuss Scheduling of Municipal Elections • Other Items? • Next Steps o Additional Briefings o Revision and Adoption of Strategic Plan o Budget Planning Retreat- October 28? • Current Plan • Organizational Response • Revisions? o Priority & Strategies o Outcomes- Measures & Indicators • Transformation? • Five Year Operating Plan • (See presentations on file in the City Clerk's Office.) He reviewed the City's current Strategic Plan and called attention to numerous representative measures, indicators, and noted accolades of the City of Roanoke in the past few years.  241 As part of the overview improvement, the Mayor and Council Members noted concerns about blueway water quality, community policing and public safety, and economic development. With regard to Transformational Initiatives, comments by Council Members regarding environmental transformation, neighborhood transformation, particularly concentration in target areas, and the development of a land bank; and additional remarks and concerns noted regarding quality of housing, primarily incentives, affordable housing, new businesses, and a proposed tax rebate program. Lastly, an inquiry was made as to how to provide greater access to education/economy to aggressively reduce poverty by half within next two years. In summary, Mr. Cowell agreed to formulate responses around neighborhood housing and economic opportunities; he stated the next step would be to formulate an extensive briefing about economic opportunities relating to options, costs, resources and roles, as well as neighborhood opportunities. At 12:00 Noon, the Mayor declared the meeting in recess. At 12:20 p.m., the meeting reconvened, with Mayor Lea presiding and all Members of the Council in attendance, with the exception of Council Member Osborne. STORMWATER UTILITY FEE: The Assistant City Manager for Operations gave a briefing on the Stormwater Utility Fee, as follows: Stormwater Utility Fee • Council advised of Stormwater Utility Fee considerations at April 1, 2019 Budget Briefing • Background o Stormwater Utility Fee authorized during FY2014 o Fee phased in over three years based on billing unit of 500 square feet of impervious service • Fee structure generates revenue of $6 million per year o Stormwater Utility Fund operates as a self-supporting Enterprise Fund • With Utility Fee, Bond, and Grant Funds: o 50%- Drainage Improvement Projects o 22% - Maintenance o 22%- Water Quality o 6% - Administrative ~ Existing revenue of $6 million sufficient to fund current level of operating expenses, debt service, and cash funded capital through FY2021 • After 2021, current revenue will not be sufficient to support: o Inflationary costs o Debt service for capital projects 242 o Increase in debt service if there is a reduction in capital project grant funding o Planned staff additions based on business model • Stormwater Utility Capital Projects • Required Utility Fee Adjustment o Maintenance of service level and support of business model requires an adjustment in the utility fee • Adjustment from $.90 per 500 square feet to $1.14 - $1.31 over five years o Virginia Stormwater Utility Fee Comparison • Average Monthly Fee- $7.38 • Highest Monthly Fee- $21.00 (Falls Church) • Lowest Monthly Fee- $2.08 (Chesterfield County) • Median Monthly Fee- $6.00 • Stormwater Utility Fee o Without an adjustment in the Utility Fee: • Existing level of service will be reduced ;., Drainage improvement projects ;., Water quality improvement projects ;., Maintenance of infrastructure (See presentation on file in the City Clerk's Office.) Following extensive discussion, Mr. Stovall indicated that City staff would share specific recommendations at a subsequent Council meeting .. CITY EMPLOYEE COMPENSATION: The Director of Human Resources presented in depth information with regard to City employee compensation, highlighting the following areas: • Compensation Overview • Market Salary Analysis o Focus on regional market comparisons: Roanoke County, Salem and Lynchburg o Salaries are compared by pay grade o Average midpoint of job class is compared to the midpoint of other localities o Methods/Sources o Compensation Survey System/Technology Net o Surveys • Job Classification Review o Human Resources reviews one-third of the job classifications each year for changes in job duties, updates to job descriptions and job title changes  243 o Point Factor Analysis conducted to confirm proper pay grade assignment • Review of Knowledge & Skills, Job Responsibility, Working Relationships and working conditions. o Outcomes: possible job reclassifications or job title changes/description updates • Response to Market o To remain competitive in regional market: • Annual merit based wage increase • Pay plan movement ( 1/2 of the wage increase) o HR recommends percentage of raise based on: • Cost of Living Indicators and inflation predictions • National wage growth • Wage increases being given by surrounding localities o Targeted Salary adjustments may be granted for: • Retention efforts • To be competitive with the market • Improve recruitment efforts • Stagnant salaries due to lack of raises • "Hot Jobs" which are identified as job classifications with high turnover and lower than market salary • Salary Increases • What is Compression? o Pay compression is defined when less experienced/tenured employees earn as much or more than longer-term employees o Compression is perceived when newly hired or promoted employees are close to the same salary as more tenured employees o Horizontal Compression: defined as employees within the same pay grade/job title who are very close in salary o Vertical Compression: defined as employees of lesser pay grades/ranks that are close to employees of higher pay grades/ranks • Causes of Compression o Market Factors: • Recruitment Strategies • Market Adjustments • Decline in Economic Growth • Compression Examples o More visible in larger departments • Compression in Public Safety o Public Safety • Addressing Compensation o FY 2016 adjustments to Fire/Police as result of: • Lack of raises for several years • Increased new hire salaries in FY 2014 244 • Total cost over $339,230.00 o FY 2019 another $58,103.00 was spent to align the promotion to PO II with City wide policy o Other departments addressed have included: • Social Services, Solid Waste, Facilities and E911 • Questions (See copy of presentation on file in the City Clerk's Office.) Regarding compression, it was noted if one - two percent increases continue, the issue will need to be addressed. Discussion held regarding employee retention, primarily in public safety, human services; and retirement. COUNCIL ELECTION DATE CHANGE CONSIDERATIONS: The City Attorney transmitted a copy of a report dated July 29, 2019 regarding Council Election Date Change Considerations. (For full text, see copy of report dated July 29, 2019 on file in the City Clerk's Office.) The City Attorney shared background information, pointing out elections being held in even or odd years, those seeking election will either gain an additional six '" • months or lose six months, respectively. He alluded to a possible reduction in voters in November verses May elections due to a lack of focus on local elections; and an increase demands faced by the Registrar Office. Extensive dialogue ensured about voting precincts, potential Charter changes, party affiliation, if filing as an independent, possible public hearing. Following comprehensive discussion of the matter, the City Attorney desired to wait on information from City Registrar before requesting a decision by the Council as to moving forward. In terms of time, he suggested that the discussions proceed on Thursday, October 10 during the briefing session of Council. ANNOUNCEMENTS: lr Mayor's Annual State of the City on Thursday, August 29 at 8:00 a.m., at The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. -, Virginia Statewide Neighborhood Conference on September 12 - 15 at The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. -, Regional Meeting of Local Officials on Thursday, September 12, at 6:00p.m., location to be determined.  245 'i" Annual Virginia Municipal League Conference on October 6 - 9 at The Hotel Roanoke and Conference Center. 'i" Annual Henry Street Heritage Festival on Saturday, September 14 at Elmwood Park. 'i" Annual Youth Summit on Saturday, September 21, at 8:00 a.m., at William Fleming High School. ';r Annual Budget Planning Work Session on Monday, October 28 at 8:30 a.m., location to be determined. 'i" Upcoming briefing to discuss drafts on City's Comprehensive Plan. There being no further business to come before the Council, the Mayor declared the recessed meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m. APPROVED ATTEST: . hi.M~··u~ tephanie M. Moon ~~MC ~~ f.t~ . Sherman P. Lea, Sr. City Clerk Mayor