Town Council Meeting

Town of Vienna Charles A. Robinson Jr. Town Hall 127 Center Street South Vienna VA, 22180 Meeting Minutes Town Council Meeting Monday, November 7, 2016 8:00 PM Charles A. Robinson, Jr. Town Hall, 127 Center Street, South Regular Council Meeting Invocation: The Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America 1. Roll Call 2. Approval of the Minutes: No minutes for approval 3. Receipt of petitions and communications from the Public 4. Reports/Presentations A. 2016 Halloween Parade Awards Mayor DiRocco, Peggy James and D.H. Scarborough of the Vienna Business Association presented the 2016 Annual Halloween Parade Awards. A. Report and Inquiries of Council Members Councilmember Majdi brought up an issue that was discussed briefly a while back and he thinks it is right for discussion again. He heard comments from a citizen who outlined a scenario that we have heard about before and has to do with car vehicle tax and we have a late fee or penalty system where a family turns in their fee late there is a $25 fee on top of a $33 charge, which is fine but one thing he finds interesting and unfortunate is that a lot of families these days will have 3 or 4 cars and in those cases if a family is forgetful and just forgets to turn in their fee on time, instead of getting charged an appropriate $25 charge it ends up being $75 or $100 and he thinks in that scenario it is a little bit excessive. He thinks the town should consider changing its practice whether it is by code or simply and administrative change such that the fee is assessed only once per household instead of per car registrations. Mayor DiRocco stated that this is something that was talked about briefly before at different points in time. She thinks it is something that the Town Manager and the Department of Finance can talk about to see what costs are involved to have them send out reminders and to make sure the costs are covered. She thinks that is something that can be re-discussed either at a work session or at the budget work sessions coming up in the spring. Councilmember Majdi thinks that it is so simple it may not need a work session. He either wants to schedule it at a work session or if not he will propose an agenda item to review the question. Mr. Briglia stated that they may have to exercise some formality, when they got the authority to assess those fees they adopted in their code the provision for late fees. If they want to appeal it or modify it that is fine but they will have to amend the Town Town of Vienna Page 1 Printed on 11/23/2016 Town Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 Ordinance that covers that. Mayor DiRocco stated that it is worthy to have the discussion and have finance weigh in because she thinks they can shed light on to whether there are costs involved and what they may be and to be thoughtful of the process. It can either be discussed at a work session or the next budget cycle since they will be talking about revenues and things like that at that point in time. Councilmember Majdi asked if that is formally scheduled as of this point now. Mr. Payton stated that he can meet with the Director of Finance and talk about the matter. What may be the most prudent is to send an email to Council regarding their findings on the matter and then maybe various options on what it would look like and then if there is more dialogue that comes out of that then maybe there should be a work session, if the it seems to be a unanimous thought amongst the Council regarding whichever option they put out there. There is at least two or three that they could probably advance to Council through email. Councilmember Noble stated he would be interested in knowing how many people have been assessed the late fee that have more than two cars. Councilmember Noble asked Mr. Gallagher about some street improvements and timing. In driving around town he has notice a number of streets where the surface is in relatively poor condition and he knows there is a longer CIP and they do spot resurfacing in various places but one of the locations he has noticed is on Locust Street, down the short grade approaching Branch Avenue has gotten rather rough, and the other place is the section of Church Street from Mill up the hill to Park and he wasn't sure where that stood in the queue and he would like to know where it is. Councilmember Noble congratulated the Madison Warhawks who played a wonderful game. Councilmember Springsteen reported that he received correspondence from a Mr. Tom Elliott that lives on Moore Street and he was asking about a resident that was having a challenging time getting on Plum Street and he mentioned that Plum Street was a location that there was discussion to put a sidewalk there but there was a majority of residents that did not want a sidewalk so it was voted not to put a sidewalk there. He indicated that the street may have changed over and there is a resident in a wheelchair that needs to go in the street. He told the resident he needs to get a petition signed by 75% of the residents but he would like the town to look at it and see if there is any interest in adding it back to the list. He would like to see where that is and if it is worth putting back on. Councilmember Majdi stated that he made the same request to Public Works and he agrees they should pursue that. Councilmember Springsteen asked if there would be funding in the carry overs to fund the crosswalk lights for Beulah Rd. They put crossings there a few months ago and they had the ballards that were not working but he thinks the plan was to put up three lights there and he would like to know how they can fund those lights. Mayor DiRocco stated that there are a couple of different locations and the question is which one is funded. Mr. Gallagher stated he did not have the information with him but he did know that they received a quote for two of those crossings that was less than the previous round. He did not have the cost but he would certainly look into it. Councilmember Springsteen stated that he was glad to see the Town Manager has put building heights on a work session in December to get some clarification. He was on Council back in 2011 when they spent a lot of time looking at the heights and they need to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to and following Town of Vienna Page 2 Printed on 11/23/2016 Town Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 the intent of what they decided back in 2011. Councilmember Springsteen also stated that he would be adding an agenda item about the Vienna Fire Department. Mayor DiRocco asked if there was an action to this item. Councilmember Springsteen stated no, he was just going to have the Town Attorney brief Council. Mr. Briglia stated that a few weeks ago he forwarded to Council the current Volunteeer Fire Departments MOU with Fairfax County and the County is proposing, at the request of the Volunteer Fire Department, to release, basically terminate the MOU. The MOU was brought about and VVFD was not the only Fire Department that entered into this type of MOU's but when they were doing the renovations the County agreed to provide 1.5 million dollars for part of the project. In exchange for that they wanted an MOU to make sure the money was going towards the renovation project. There is also a reversion provision and it most of the situations, if the volunteer fire department ceases to exist then the property and the operation will revert to the county. Most volunteer fire departments own the building and the land even though the county contributes money for the equipment and puts career fire fighters as well as volunteers. The Vienna Volunteer Fire Department has paid down the amount of the loan that they have and they have refinanced the loan at least once or twice as the rates became more favorable. Whenever they go out for financing they have to disclose this agreement which is a hassle. The VVFD has requested that the county release them from it at this point in time and the county is open to doing that. The reason the town is somewhat involved is because when this happened back in 2004 the volunteers said if there is a reversion provision that goes to the county and the county would run the fire station they would rather have the town do it and the town said yes. If this MOU went away that provision would go away too. The County Attorney does not have any problem with striking the MOU and he just wanted to brief Council in case they had any questions. Councilmember Colbert asked Mr. Gallagher about signs on the mini roundabout. She has been hearing from a lot of people that the cars in the roundabout do not understand that they have the right of way and asked if there was any way to have a sign in the roundabout that tells them they have the right of way. Mr. Gallagher stated they can look into that but his first thought is that there is not much space inside the roundabout to put a sign but they can think about what they can do. She also asked if the instructions for using the roundabout were still on the website. Mr. Gallagher stated they were. Mayor DiRocco stated that the information is also in the current newsletter. They have sent out information to let people know how to use it properly. Councilmember Springsteen stated that he agrees and he thinks the signs have it but not 100%, they have a symbol. He thinks maybe put something in plain english just put "yield to traffic." He thinks maybe something a little more explicit. Councilmember Colbert stated that everything is positive on the roundabout it is just that one little thing to keep them going in there. Councilmember Sienicki stated that November is really the time to think about others and the Committee for Helping Others (CHO) is collecting gently used or almost new bicycles for their Christmas Give Away program. On Saturdays of November 19th and December 3rd, between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m., they will be cleaned at Antioch Christian Church on Beulah Road. If you want to donate you can drop it off November 12th or November 26th between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m at the Vienna Presbyterian Church. Bikes of Vienna will repair any that have mechanical problems and they are also looking for volunteers to help clean. CHO also does furniture drives, clothing drives and food drives. You can look for boxes all around town for donations. There are a lot of people that look forward to this program to make their holidays special. Town of Vienna Page 3 Printed on 11/23/2016 Town Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 B. Report of the Town Manager Mr. Payton announced that Marion Serfass has been appointed as the new Finance Director. She was chosen after a very extensive nationwide process. She has been with the Town for 17 years, twice as Acting Director of Finance and once as the Acting Director of Human Resources. He is very happy that she is the town's new Finance Director and looks forward to working with her for many years. C. Report of the Mayor Mayor DiRocco reported that she already talked about the wonderful 70th Annual Halloween Parade and all the people that made it happen. Mayor DiRocco reported that she is not hosting a Mayor @ Your Service this month because it is Election Day and she is hoping that everyone will go out and vote and have their voice heard. She will keep people posted on the 2017 scheduled for Mayor @ Your Service. D. Proposals for Additional Items to the Agenda None E. Closed Session It was moved that the members of the Vienna Town Council be polled to affirm that during the Closed Session convened this date, Monday, November 7, 2016, the Town Council met for purposes of discussion of personnel matters, specifically the interviewing of individuals for consideration of appointment and /or re-appointment to Town Boards and Commissions. It was further moved that the Certification Resolution be adopted in accordance with State Statutes, and that the Town Clerk is authorized to execute the Certification Resolution. And it was further moved that the Closed Session be continued to Monday, November 21, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in accordance with Virginia Code Section 2.2-3711A(1), for purposes of discussion of personnel matters, specifically the interviewing of individuals for consideration of appointment and/or re-appointment to Town Boards and Commissions. Motion: Councilmember Sienicki Second: Councilmember Springsteen Carried Unanimously It was further moved that Robert Petersen be recommended to the Fairfax County Circuit Court for re-appointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a five year term. Motion: Councilmember Sienicki Second: Councilmember Voigt Carried Unanimously It was moved that Jonathan Rak be appointed to the Transportation Safety Commission to fill an unexpired term. Said term shall begin November 8, 2016 and will expire July 11, 2017. Town of Vienna Page 4 Printed on 11/23/2016 Town Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 It was further moved that Robert Leggett be appointed to the Town Business Liaison Committee to fill an unexpired term. Said term shall be effective November 8, 2016 and expire June 1, 2017. Motion: Councilmember Sienicki Second: Councilmember Colbert Carried Unanimously E. Closed Session Aye: 6- Council Member Springsteen, Council Member Sienicki, Mayor DiRocco, Council Member Colbert, Council Member Majdi and Council Member Noble Absent: 1- Council Member Voigt 5. Regular Business A. Request Council appropriation of FY 2015-16 encumbrance balances and carry-forward funds into the FY 2016-17 General Fund budget It was moved to approve a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $85,431 to FY2016-17 General Fund expenditure accounts, as specified in the attached list, from the FY2015-16 General Fund encumbrance reserve balance. It was further moved to approve a supplemental appropriation in the amount of $95,000 to FY2016-17 General Fund expenditure accounts, as specified in the attached list, from the FY2015-16 General Fund carry forward reserve balance. A motion was made by Council Member Sienicki, seconded by Council Member Colbert, that the Action Item be approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 6- Council Member Springsteen, Council Member Sienicki, Mayor DiRocco, Council Member Colbert, Council Member Majdi and Council Member Noble Absent: 1- Council Member Voigt B. Intent to Adopt FY2016-17 Water and Sewer Rates It was moved that Town Council approve the proposed ordinance setting water and sewer rates for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2016 as proposed. And It was further moved that the Town Clerk be directed to advertise a Notice of Adoption. A motion was made by Council Member Springsteen, seconded by Council Member Colbert, that the Action Item be approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 6- Council Member Springsteen, Council Member Sienicki, Mayor DiRocco, Council Member Colbert, Council Member Majdi and Council Member Noble Absent: 1- Council Member Voigt C. Intent to adopt amended Planning and Zoning Development Review Fees It was moved that Town Council approve and adopt the proposed amendments to Town Code Section 1-12 as noted and it was further moved that the Town Clerk be directed to advertise a Notice of Adoption. Town of Vienna Page 5 Printed on 11/23/2016 Town Council Meeting Meeting Minutes November 7, 2016 A motion was made by Council Member Majdi, seconded by Council Member Springsteen, that the Action Item be approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 6- Council Member Springsteen, Council Member Sienicki, Mayor DiRocco, Council Member Colbert, Council Member Majdi and Council Member Noble Absent: 1- Council Member Voigt D. The Fairfax County School Board (FFCSB) seeks approval to provide an additional public-use trailer as a temporary classroom at Cedar Lane School. The school is located at 101 Cedar Lane, SW and is further identified as Fairfax County Tax Map Parcel 49-1-(2)-3. A motion was made by Council Member Noble, seconded by Council Member Colbert, that the Action Item be deferred. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 5- Council Member Springsteen, Council Member Sienicki, Mayor DiRocco, Council Member Colbert and Council Member Noble Nay: 1- Council Member Majdi Absent: 1- Council Member Voigt E. Request to approve amended cooperative agreement with Fairfax County to share stormwater service district fees It was moved to approve the amended cooperative agreement between the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors and Town of Vienna to share certain stormwater service district fees and responsibility for related services. It was further moved to authorize the Mayor to sign the final agreement after review by the Town Attorney. A motion was made by Council Member Springsteen, seconded by Council Member Noble, that the Action Item be approved. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 6- Council Member Springsteen, Council Member Sienicki, Mayor DiRocco, Council Member Colbert, Council Member Majdi and Council Member Noble Absent: 1- Council Member Voigt 6. Meeting Adjournment It was moved to adjourn the meeting at 9:27 p.m. A motion was made by Council Member Howard J. Springsteen, seconded by Council Member Linda Colbert, that the meeting be adjourned. The motion carried by the following vote: Aye: 6- Council Member Springsteen, Council Member Sienicki, Mayor DiRocco, Council Member Colbert, Council Member Majdi and Council Member Noble Absent: 1- Council Member Voigt THE TOWN OF VIENNA IS COMMITTED TO FULL COMPLIANCE WITH THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT STANDARDS. TRANSLATION SERVICES, ASSISTANCE OR ACCOMMODATION REQUESTS FROM PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES ARE TO BE REQUESTED NOT LESS THAN 3 WORKING DAYS BEFORE THE DAY OF THE EVENT. PLEASE CALL (703) 255-6304, OR 711 VIRGINIA RELAY SERVICE FOR THE HEARING IMPAIRED. 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