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HomeMy Public PortalAbout1968_09_25 :242 MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING OF LEESBURG TOWN COUNCIL, SEPTEMBER 25, 1968. A regular meeting of the Leesburg Town Council was held in the Council Chambers , 12 W. Loudoun Street , Leesburg , Virginia , on Sep- , tember 25, 1968 at 7: 30 P.M . The meeting was called to order by the Mayor , with Councilman Hill offering the prayer . Those present were : • Mayor Kenneth B. Rollins , Councilmen C . Maloy Fishback, G. Dewey Hill , Frederick R . Howard and Dr. Robert A . Orr for a portion of the meeting ; also Town Manager James W. Ritter , Jr . and Town Attorney George M . Martin . Absent from the meeting were Councilmen Walter F . Murray and John W . Pumphrey. The Minutes of the meeting of September 11 , 1968 were approved as written . Town Manager Ritter reported that he and Mr . Forbes had just re- turned from the Virginia Municipal League Convention in Roanoke and that they had attended as many meetings as they possibly could and he believed they had comeback with a lot of good information . He reported that he talked with Mr . Bolton , the Urban Engineer for the State , regarding the possibility of securing industrial access money for Edwards Ferry Road and it looks like we will not qualify for any of this money , since DECO is not a new industry and there is a road already leading to it . He said he also talked with Mr . Walter Craigie and brought him up-to-date on our financial status. Mr . Craigie said they would complete their study and advise us how much we will have to increase our real estate tax rate to build the new Town Office Building . He alsoltalked with a representa- tive of the Michie Company regarding bringing the Town Code up-to-date and-" explained that we are compiling information on/the various•=chances made in the Code since its aoption in 1963 and this information will be sent to Michie , when completed , and a price secured for this work. Mr . Ritter also commented that there were some very—interesting speakers , including Governor Godwin and Lt . Governor Fred Pollard , who everyone believes will be the next Governor . • Mr . Ritter explained that , regarding the Addition to the Agenda , he had just received the recommendation of Johnson and Williams , and also that Mr . Moody has checked out the requests of English Construction Company and Limbach Company for payments on the Sewer Projects . He said we have $80,000 in the 1967 Bond Issue Account at the present time with $120,000 to come in the end of the month . This will give us enough to make these payments and have $62 ,000 left over , however , he said we would have to watch this pretty close now because the payments will be stepped up in the next month or so. We will have another $120,000 coming due on October 31st and this , together with the $62 ,000 , should give us enough . However , he said he did not believe we should reinvest this money at this time . Councilman Howard said that Mr . Murray had asked him to bring to Council ' s attention the need for traffic direction at the corner of Loudoun and Dry Mill Road in the afternoons when school busses are com- ing out of Dry Mill Road onto Loudoun Street . Mr . Ritter explained that this situation comes up every year and explained that we have had requests from other schools and PTA organizations for Police at various intersections throughout Town and that , although we have two more police- men on the force now , we still do not have enough to take care of all of these requests. He said we consider the intersection at Rt . 7 and Wirt Street and the one at King and North Streets the most dangerous ones and we do have Police on duty at both of these intersections when there are enough on duty during the time children are "going to and from school . He said he believed the answer to this problem would be to have crossing guards on duty for this purpose only . Councilman Fishback said this should be taken into consideration for next year ' s Budget . Counci man Howard asked if the Sheriff' s Office had been contacted about help- ing with this situation and suggested that perhaps this should be done . Councilman Hill said he happneed to be at Reed Johnson ' s the other morn- ing when a truck was on fire anC ;he believed this intersection was going to have to have some sort of traffic direction very soon, and he said he be' lieved a traffic light here would tend to holdup traffic for Sycolin Road . Mr . Ritter said he is getting a price on a signal for this intersection , so they will know what they are talking about in the way of money when this is discussed further . 243' MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 25, 1968 MEETING . Mayor Rollins reminded that a Public Hearing will be held next Thursday , October , 3 before the Town Planning Commission , on the expan- sion of the County Parking Lot . This matter was discussed and it was the general consensus that the Council should be represented at this Hearing. On motion of Mayor Rollins , seconded by Councilman Howard, Council voted unanimously that Mr . Murray , the Councilmanic member of the Planning Com- mission , be instructed to relate to the Planning Commission , on behalf of the Council , that it is the unanimous consent of the Council , after due deliberation and consideration , that the request by the County to install the subject parking lot should be approved without delay . Mr . Ted Moody gave a progress report on the Sewer Projects as fol- lows: On S-I , it is stillmoving very slowly and they are getting some lines in the ground and still working on Clarifiers 1 and 2. He said they have everything ready on the digestors and the control building , but the contractor does not have enough help to get moving on the other build- ings and the most important thing right now is the concrete , while the weather is still good . He said that a letter will be written to the con- tractor , telling them they will have to get more help from some place , CV although it is known that they have tried to hire help here . He said CV they are working on another 1.8-inch line and there is about 300 feet of it to be put in , but there is quite a bit of spotty rock in this area , which will take a little time . On S-II , the job is moving along very well and is about 53 per cent complete . He said the estimate presented for payment tonight is about 421 per cent , so we are still running about 10 per cent ahead of the payment for work accomplished . On S-III , this is going a little slow, due to a foul-up on the part of the surveyor , who did not get the cut sheets to the contractor at the proper time . While the contractor was waiting for these cut sheets , he sent his crew to Berryville to do a small job over there and they should be back on Friday. He said there is not too much to worry about on this project since it is a short line . There is some bad material to go through on the old Town dump property , otherwise , after they pass Route 15 , it won ' t be too bad . Councilman Fishback commented that he has been on the ground of Project S-I several times and it looks like that , unless they double the force , it will be at least two years before they can finish this project . Mr . Hill also agreed with this. Mr . Moody said this has been discussed with the engineer and they are going to take some action . He said he be- lieves a letter from the Town and from the engineer will be adequate to make the contractor move on this . He said he would say they are about two months behind on S-I now. Mr . Ritter commuted that they have been on the job three months and he could probably have done this much work in one month with the proper help. On motion of Councilman Fishback , seconded by Councilman Hill , and after explanation by Mr . Ritter that the release of this Bond had been held up until a leak in an existing manhole had been corrected , the fol- lowing resolution was unanimously adopted: WHEREAS , all work has been satisfactorily completed on Sec. 1-A , Rock Spring Subdivision , covered by Performance Bond in the amount of $14 , 500.00 , NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the Town Council of the Town of Leesburg , that this Performance Bond be released . Mayor Rollins asked the status of the Children ' s Center Sewer Line . Town Attorney Martin said the last he knew was that a Decree was being prepared by Mr . Hall ' s office and deeds of easement being drawn , however , no Decree has been entered to this time. He said he did not believe the Town was in a position to push this , since they filed the suit . How- ever , after discussion , on motion of Mayor Rollins , seconded by Councilman Fishback, the following motion was offered : 244 MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 25, 1968 MEETING . That the Town Manager be authorized to issue subpoenas for all parties concerned in the Epilepsy Foundation suit to appear be- fore the next session of Council to be held on October 9 , 1968 to answer any question that might be propounded to them con- cerning the pending suit . Mr. Ritter said that he was instructed to plug up the sewer line at one time , but the Center notified the Town that they were having a local at- torney work on this , along with their attorney, and asked the Town to hold off . They gave a progress report a month or so later and Council agreed to give them more time , but then the issue died until the last couple of weeks . Councilman Fishback moved to amend the foregoing motion by adding there to the following : unless the necessary documents are in order to the Town , con- veying the said sewer line , complete with easements , by the same date . This amendment was seconded by Councilman Hill and was adopted by a roll call vote of 4 to 1 , with Mayor Rollins voting against it . The original - motion , as amended , was then adopted by a roll call vote of 3 to 2 , with , Councilmen Howard and Orr voting against it . • Mr . Parker ' s request to place trailers on Lots 24, 25 , 26 , 37 and 38 of Parker Subdivision was discussed at this time , with Mr . Parker being present and presenting a drawing of how he would plan to place these trailers on these lots . Mr . Ritter explained the legality of this mat- ter , stating that the Zoning Ordinance does not permit any trailer parks within the Town of Leesburg , and the only reason that we have the exist- ing mobile home park is because it was in existence at the time the Zon- ing Ordinance went into effect and it is a non-conforming use . All of this area that is now being used as a trailer park was in existence at that time . He said that these 5 lots are outside of this area and Council would have to establish an area for trailer parking to permit Mr . Parke to do this . Mr. Parker said that all laws were wiped off of the books when he sold the trailer park and that Mr . Perkins is not abiding by the laws that were on the books when he ( Mr . Parker) had the trailer park . Councilman Howard-asked if Mr . Perkins was in violation of any law and Mr . Ritter said he would check into this . Mr . Parker again stated that all laws were wiped off of the books as soon as he sold it to Perkins and claimed that he paid to the Town the sum of $9 ,900 in taxes on these trailer lots , at the rate of $50. 00 on each lot , and that he expected this money to be refunded to him, this being money he paid in 1965, the year in which he sold the trailer park to Mr . Perkins . On motion of Councilman Fishback, seconded by Councilman Howard , Council voted unanimously that this be referred to the Planning Commis- sion to recommend to the Council as to whether or not a new zone should be created for these five ( 5) lots , to be utilized for a mobile home trailer park, or whether the existing area where trailers are parked should be extended , or whether or not it should be denied . Mr . Ritter read the license tax adopted in 1963, which is $10.00, plus 25 cents on each $100 of gross receipts . Dr. Orr suggested that Mr . Parker present receipts for this $9 , 900 and Mr . Parker stated that he would get a lawyer on this . On motion of Councilman Fishback, seconded by Councilman Orr , the following resolution was unanimously adopted : BE IT RESOLVED by the Town Council of the Town of Leesburg , that English Construction Company' s request for Payment No . 1 on Con- tract S-I in the amount of $ 52 ,488.00 be paid from the 1967 Bond Issue Account , and BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED , that Limbach Company be paid $86 ,075 . 55 for Estimate No . 3 on Project S-TI , in accordance with requisi- tion for payment , both payments having been recommended for pay- ment by Johnson and Williams , Consulting Engineers . 245: MINUTES OF SEPTEMBER 25, 1968 MEETING. Mayor Rollins said he and Mr . Fishback discussed possible changes in the plans for the Town Office Building with Mr . Dew last week. Mr. Fishback explained the possible changes to be made ; but slated that he doubted that even these change's would bringthe estimated cost below the $300,000 mark. ' He said they would' be building the same building in size , but would be cutting down on the "fringe" items . A period of dis- cussion on these possible changes followed . Town Attorney Martin explained to Council that , with regard to the $50.00 per trailer that Mr . Parker claimed he paid to the Town , this was a County tax , and that Mr . Parker would , therefore , have no claim to the Town for any such thing . Mr . John Patterson of Dewberry , Nealon and Davis was present and stated that members of his firm would be available at any time needed , in accordance with the Agreement between his firm and the Town . Mr . Ritter said that he would let them know any time they would be needed at Council meetings . Councilman Hill asked when we might expect to find out how much ad- ditional money would be needed to finance the projects under study by CV Craigie and Company. Mr . Ritter said he believed we should have the re- Cg port from Craigie in another week. C'3 There being no further business , the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 P.M . • Mayor Clerk of e Council