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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2010_tcmin1118COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING Council Members Absent: None. AGENDA 1. CALL TO ORDER 2. ROLL CALL showing all members present. MOTION 2010 -014 I move to approve the 2010 Legislative Agenda (attached) Council Member Reid questioned what Item #25 relates to. November 18, 2010 Council Chambers, 25 West Market Street, 7:30 p.m. Mayor Umstattd presiding. Council Members Present: Thomas Dunn, II, David Butler, Katie Sheldon Hammler, Fernando "Marty" Martinez, Kenneth "Ken" Reid, Kevin Wright and Mayor Umstattd. Staff Present: Town Manager John Wells, Deputy Town Attorney Barbara Notar, Deputy Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Communications Manager Betsy Fields, Director of Finance Norm Butts and Clerk of Council Lee Ann Green ITEMS 3. ITEMS a. Legislative Agenda On a motion by Council Member Butler, seconded by Council Member Reid, the following was proposed: Council Member Butler offered a friendly amendment to change la from $20 to $25 million. Council Member Reid accepted this amendment as friendly. Council Member Butler offered a friendly amendment to strike Item #21. Council Member Reid accepted this amendment as friendly. Council Member Butler offered a friendly amendment to strike the words from Item #23 regarding the regulation of synthetic marijuana, "all chemicals used in the manufacture of such products as Schedule #1 controlled substances" as he feels this is beyond Council's purview. Council Member Reid accepted this amendment as friendly. Mr. Wells stated this came up as part of a conversation between the county treasurer and Mr. Butts to find a simple, operational way to allow people to pay their taxes at either the town or the county finance counter. He stated it was found that state code needs to be changed in order to do that. Council Member Hammier offered a friendly amendment to move up what is currently Item #24 regarding city status to either Item #2 or #3, but definitely ahead of ABC privatization as this is Leesburg- specific rather than 1 1 Page COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING November 18, 2010 general. The motion was accepted as friendly by both Council Members Butler and Reid. Council Member Martinez stated his opposition to moving it to #3. He stated the town only talks about city status and has made no commitment. He stated before Council begins to challenge the state legislature, it needs to decide whether they will pursue it as there will be concerns regarding litigation. He stated if Council wants this to happen, they have to be committed and take charge. He expressed his feeling that putting it as #3 at this time, is not appropriate as Council has not discussed this thoroughly. Mayor Umstattd stated at this time, it would be absurd to pursue it given the moratorium; however, this is just asking the legislature to allow towns to pursue city status. Council Member Hammier stated she would like to make a motion to move Item #24 up to #3. Mayor Umstattd seconded the motion. Council Member Dunn stated he is opposed to the move and to even having it on the list. He stated there is a moratorium, probably for good reason, and he has concerns about the town's ability to properly manage a $100 million budget The motion to move #24 up to #3 passed by the following vote: Aye: Butler, Hammler, Reid and Mayor Umstattd Nay: Dunn, Martinez, and Wright Vote: 4 -3 Council Member Reid made a motion to move Item #13 to new #5. Council Members Hammler and Butler accepted this motion as friendly. Vice Mayor Wright made a motion to delete Item #22 as he does not feel there is a problem with the current districts. Mayor Umstattd seconded this motion. Council Member Reid stated his belief that splitting the districts, dilutes the message. The motion to delete #22 failed by the following vote: Aye: Wright and Mayor Umstattd Nay: Butler, Dunn, Martinez, Hammler, and Reid Vote: 2 -5 Vice Mayor Wright questioned Item #12. He stated last year, the town included an item "support for a George Mason University Campus in Leesburg He questioned what the town is asking the legislators for, since they do not have an action to take. 2 1 Page COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING Council Member Hammler stated it has been a while since any official updates, but there have been very active discussions regarding a specialized honors college in downtown Leesburg that would be part of the George Mason University program and would be unique to Leesburg. With regards to Item 14, Vice Mayor Wright questioned whether there is specific legislation. Council Member Butler stated he brought this up with the intent of general support since there is no specific legislation. He stated towns do not have authorization to create and provide environmental regulations and enforce them. Mr. Wells stated the town has to meet a 25% quota in terms of overall recycling efforts which includes brush pick up, bottles, paper, etc. There was discussion on mandatory recycling for businesses and residences. Mayor Umstattd noted in Charlottesville, they weigh the bins to make sure that citizens are recycling an appropriate amount of material. Council Member Butler stated he could support dropping the last six words of the statement to end the sentence with "...environmental regulations." Council Member Reid accepted that. November 18, 2010 Vice Mayor Wright stated on Item #17, the addition of the language "dangerous" or "adverse" to "can harbor wildlife" may be necessary. Council Member Reid stated he thought this would address the problems in Potomac Crossing and Tavistock and he would like to keep the language as proposed. Vice Mayor Wright stated the town does not have the means to enforce the Building Code as this is a county responsibility. Mayor Umstattd stated the problem in Tavistock is a burned, falling down structure. She stated she agrees with the Vice Mayor that almost any home can harbor wildlife. Council Member Reid offered "unsafe, vacant structures". Council Member Hammler offered deleting "can harbor wildlife Council Member Martinez offered the addition of the word "abandoned" to modify the word "structures". Council Member Reid agreed to these changes. 3 1 Page COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING November 18, 2010 Vice Mayor Wright stated under General Conditions, he would recommend the addition of #5 Support VML's adopted policy statement" as that allows staff to react more quickly if there is something in the adopted policy statement of VML, that comes up as a concern. This was accepted as friendly. Council Member Reid questioned whether the autism legislation (Item #19) should be moved to #9 after transmission lines. Council Member Hammier stated that Delegate May has an important viewpoint on this as a small business owner. She stated it is a very important issue, but changing "requires" to "encourages" would allow small businesses greater flexibility in how they would address this. She stated requiring this coverage could put an onerous burden on the small businesses. Council Members Butler and Reid did not accept this as friendly as they stated their belief that it would not put any small business out of business. Council Member Reid asked for a friendly amendment to add "especially in the medians" to Item 15b, and take out the word "new" with respect to roads. This was accepted as friendly by Council Member Butler. Council Member Dunn made a motion to delete #24, which moved to #3. This was not accepted as friendly and failed for lack of a second. Council Member Butler noted a typo in Item #16, which should be "relocate" instead of "relocated Vice Mayor Wright expressed concern with timing. He stated the town's schedule should mirror VML's schedule so that items of broader, statewide interest, can be introduced by VML and shadowed by the town. He stated last year, there were only three core items and a total of six items creating a much more focused list. He stated a concern regarding redistricting. He noted this coming General Assembly session will be short and lack of focus on core issues may cause this Legislative Agenda to be less successful. Mayor Umstattd agreed adding that with budget problems and redistricting, most of the General Assembly's attention will be given to those issues. Council Member Dunn expressed a desire to draft something that would request that the state reduce some of its regulations instead of adding more regulations. He noted that every year, the General Assembly comes up with more and more regulations. 4 Page COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING November 18, 2010 Council Member Hammler thanked everyone for coming out to the special meeting and agreed with the Vice Mayor that the legislative agenda is late. Council Member Martinez agreed that adding more items makes the town less effective. Further, he stated there are some things the town should not bother with as they do not impact the town or its citizens. He stated instead of looking at things in the far future, the Council should be looking at a set of items, like BPOL taxes and transportation, that immediately affect the town. He expressed a desire to regularly ask the legislators for assistance. He stated this should not happen just once a year. In addition, he noted that privatization of state liquor stores will not solve anything. Council Member Hammier suggested taking out the items that are already on VML's policy list and reconfigure the Legislative Agenda so that it is just a Leesburg list. Mayor Umstattd stated the legislators will look at the top three or four items as the town's most important. She stated having the other items on the list, gives the legislators some feedback on where Leesburg stands on a number of issues. The motion to approve the amended 2010 Legislative Agenda passed by the following vote: Aye: Butler, Dunn, Hammler, Martinez, Reid, Wright and Mayor Umstattd Nay: None Vote: 7 -0 2. Extended Free Holiday Parking On a motion by Council Member Martinez, seconded by Council Member Butler, the following was proposed: MOTION 2010 -015 I move that the holiday free parking program in the Town Garage be extended until February 23, 2011; and, that the Town Manager be directed to cause a discussion with Town Council during the FY 2012 budget deliberations regarding free parking in the Town Garage on a permanent basis Council Member Reid asked for a friendly amendment to notify the permit holders in the garage, in their next bill, that this is being done and to hold an informal input session at the December meeting. He expressed concern that the permit holders may be crowded out. 5 1 Page COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING November 18, 2010 The amendment was not accepted as friendly. The motion died for lack of a second. Vice Mayor Wright expressed concern with the deficit that is being created by extending the free parking. He also stated his concern that the Council does not have all the information it needs to make this decision. Mr. Wells stated there are $166,000 in fixed costs annually with variable costs totaling $52,000 which includes $44,000 for part -time staffing and $8,000 for materials and supplies. He stated the fixed costs budgeted total $114,000 which includes utilities, elevator maintenance, trash pick up, and snow removal. He stated from a revenue perspective, the town takes in a total of $143,000 annually from three sources, daily or hourly parking of $80,000, $18,000 for unreserved permit parking, and $45,000 for reserved, monthly parking. Council Member Dunn stated the Free Holiday Parking Program was stated to help out the local businesses, but there is no quantifiable evidence that is has been successful. He questioned why the town does not offer free parking all the time, if it is such a good idea. He stressed that there is a cost to free parking. Mr. Wells noted that there is anecdotal evidence from the local businesses, but no real numbers. Council Member Reid stated it would be a good idea to have input from the people who use the parking garage. He suggested an input session at a Council meeting. Council Member Butler suggested an input session at the second meeting in January. He stated the month and a half of extended free parking will provide data from a non holiday period for the town staff to analyze. Vice Mayor Wright questioned how to pay for this Council Member Butler offered a motion to amend to hold an input session the second meeting in January. The motion was seconded by Council Member Reid. 18. ADJOURNMENT The motion to amend passed by the following vote: Aye: Butler, Dunn, Hammler, and Reid Nay: Martinez, Wright, and Mayor Umstattd The amended motion passed by the following vote: Aye: Reid, Butler, Hammler, and Martinez Nay: Dunn, Wright and Mayor Umstattd 61 Page COUNCIL SPECIAL MEETING November 18, 2010 On a motion by Council Member Martinez, seconded by Vice Mayor Wright the meeting was adjourned at 6:51. 2010 tcmin 1118 t._ :AIWA t Ums ttd, Mayor Town of Leesburg 71 Page