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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2010_tcwsmin0222Council Work Session February 22, 2010 Council Chambers, 25 West Market Street, 7:30 p.m. Mayor Umstattd presiding. Council Members Present: David S. Butler, Thomas S. Dunn, II, Vice Mayor Katie Sheldon Hammier, Marty Martinez, Kenneth "Ken" Reid, Kevin Wright and Mayor Kristen Umstattd Council Members Absent: Council Member Dunn arrived at 7:45 p.m. Staff Present: Town Manager John Wells, Town Attorney Jeanette Irby, Deputy Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Director of Finance Norm Butts, Chief of Police Joe Price, Director of Public Works Tom Mason, Director of Utilities Randy Shoemaker, Director of Information Technology Wendy Wickens, Director of the Thomas Balch Library Alexandra Gressitt, Director of Parks and Recreation Rich Williams, Director of Plan Review Bill Ackman, Director of Planning and Zoning Susan Berry Hill, Economic Development Manager Marantha Edwards, Senior Management Analyst Bob Berkey, Senior Management Analyst Annie Carlson and Business Retention Coordinator Debi Parry AGENDA ITEMS i. Work Session Items for Discussion: a. Proposed FYii Operating and Capital Budget John Wells stated the Town's budget is composed of the General Fund, Airport Fund, Utility Fund and Capital Projects Fund. He stated Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 is the next step in a directed strategy, beginning in FY 2007 with the establishment of the Revenue Stabilization Fund, directed at facing the harsh national economic downturn. He stated the strategy has adhered to conservative principals of sound municipal fiscal management, sensitivity to the implications of the economic downturn for Town residents and homeowners, maintenance of service levels to the best degree possible while restructuring portions of our operations to achieve additional efficiencies, cost savings and maintaining our commitment to key capital projects. He stated the Town has met the goals of this strategy over the past four years and in doing so has increased its credit rating. Further, he stated the FY 2011 proposed budget continues the same strategy of moving the Town in a positive direction while reducing the real property tax bill for the average homeowner and existing business. Mr. Wells outlined the accomplishments of FY 2007 through 2010. He stated the proposed FY2011 budget reflects no cost of living or performance increases for employees, a delay in the replacement schedule for desktop computer technology, only training to maintain employee certification, limited capital outlays to those that cannot be deferred, no new programs or initiatives and priority for creative redeployment of existing resources to maintain service levels and reduce costs. Mr. Wells provided the highlights of the proposed FY2011 budget stating the total advertised proposed budget is $91,582,984 with an advertised real property tax rate of 19.5 cents. Further, he stated the proposed budget relies on only $427,808 in carryover funds, roughly half of what was estimated when last year's budget was adopted. Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 2 Mr. Wells stated the proposed FY11 General Fund shows an increase of 2.7 percent which reflects the additional two police officers added mid-year FY2010. He stated the proposed budget includes (1) an additional SRO position for Tuscarora High School which is partially offset by grant funding from the County; (2) a no-cost reallocation of staff maintenance resources in the Parks and Recreation department to meet additional facility maintenance needs; (3) revenue enhancement by implementation of a false alarm fee; and (4) additional driver feedback signs and bases to enhance our traffic safety effort. He outlined other initiatives still in development including the business incubator with George Mason University, the downtown management organization, a Capital Asset Replacement Fund, a Balch Library endowment, final direction on utilization of the Loudoun Street property, the Crescent District Master Plan and the Form Based Code. Mr. Wells stated the Utility Operating Budget is proposed at $12,952,714, which is an increase of 1.7 percent. He stated the number full time staff in the Utilities Department has reduced from 84 to 82.5 positions. He stated the proposed budget does provide funds for the crack repair in filter #3 in the amount of $350,000. He stated a review of the possibility of moving to a tiered system of utility rates with a higher fixed fee is anticipated later in the calendar year. Mr. Wells stated the Airport Operating Budget is proposed at $975,987, which is an increase of 3.6 percent. He stated the primary focus is to re-establish a long term lease on the former Ritz Camera Corporate hangar and to market the new set of smaller corporate hangers, which are a part of the south apron hangar project currently under construction. Mr. Wells outlined the proposed Capital Improvements Program (CIP) stating the combined estimated cost of the five year Capital Program, including general government, utilities and airport needs, totals $69,270,906. He stated 49 percent will be funded by bonds, 37 percent intergovernmental funds, 3 percent proffers and 11 percent cash. Further, he stated the funding recommendation for the CIP is within all the debt ratios and guidelines of the Council's fiscal policy. Mr. Wells stated looking forward to FY 2012, most forecasts anticipate a slow economic recovery and growth that will likely be modest in the one to two percent range. He discussed the cost of service and initiatives for the future. Further, he stated Council's budget work session is scheduled for March 10. Council Member Reid stated he is pleased that staff is proposing a level tax rate. He stated there are some residents who have seen increases in their assessments due to rising real estate values and thus, this means with the Board of Supervisors talking about an increase in the tax rate, these residences will be facing a huge tax increase. He stated the fact that we will lessen the burden is very admirable and he thanked Mr. Wells and staff for their efforts. He asked Mr. Wells to clarify his comment regarding new CIP projects during the next five years. Mr. Wells stated we want to smartly work through the next five years with what we have programmed. He stated the Planning Commission is reviewing the CIP and providing priorities for projects proposed beyond the next five years Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 3 in addition to any new projects the Council might provide. He stated staff is not looking for any new projects as the projects currently in the appendix total $40 to $50 million. He stated one of the key things we have been mindful of is to not incur more debt than necessary and the effort to begin using General Fund monies for pay-as-you-go opportunities is another smart change. Council Member Reid asked that PPEA opportunities not be overlooked. He stated Dr. Mary Haberl and her business partner provided a presentation at the recent Economic Development Commission meeting. He stated their business, Solar 4 Leesburg, is looking to submit a PPEA proposal to provide a solar roof for Ida Lee, which could actually save money. Mr. Wells stated staff is currently pursuing a grant opportunity for the Utility Department to fund energy savings programs. He stated Council has a goal of saving 10 percent on energy costs and anytime there are opportunities or technologies that give a good payback, staff's obligation would be to bring them forward for Council review. Council Member Reid encouraged Council to limit expenditures on studies this year for new projects. He stated he hopes there are no arguments over non- profit funding. He stated this is a year for tightening our belts, not for funding new items. He stated he did mention at a previous meeting that it would be good to hire an additional zoning enforcement officer to handle the overcrowding complaints, although if we receive cooperation from the County the position may not be necessary. He expressed support for the Capital Asset Replacement Fund. Further, he stated he may not be able to be present for the entire budget discussion on March 10 due to a business obligation and encouraged Council to consider a separate meeting to review the CIP. Council Member Butler thanked Mr. Wells and staff for their efforts. He stated in looking forward over the next couple of years he is concerned that commercial property values will go down and residential values will go up making it hard to continue to decrease the tax bill. He stated in speaking with several residents they do understand the correlation between taxes and services. He stated he would not propose this; however, a couple of residents mentioned to him that they would understand if there was a need to assess a per person fee to pay for the additional snow removal efforts. Further, he stated he is looking forward to the budget review. Council Member Wright thanked Mr. Wells and his team for their efforts. He stated in listening to Mr. Wells' budget introduction it was clear that what he is doing this year and looking forward is a lot of what has developed through Council over the past few years and it is nice to know that we are all working as a team and starting at a strong point. He asked if the budget will provide tracking assumptions regarding the Utility Fund targeted from the rate study. Mr. Wells stated Mr. Butts has taken it upon himself to ensure the budget fits within the constraints of what the assumptions were when the rate study was adopted. Council Member Wright asked how the Town is doing with regards to the debt cap for CIP projects. Town Council Work Session of February 22 2010 Page 4 Mr. Wells stated the debt ratios are much better than what was seen in the past. He stated we are at about 13 percent and with the infusion of additional cash we have seen a big difference. Council Member Wright stated this budget reflects a lot of hard work by staff and Council over the last for years. He emphasized the need to keep on track stating we have gotten here because we were very conservative as we went into this recession and now we are going to walk out of it slowly. He stated he is grateful for where we are and the opportunities moving forward with the CIP and making the process less overwhelming. He stated there are a lot of exciting opportunities moving forward as long as we capitalize on those opportunities correctly. Further, he stated as we start our part of the budget review and invite the public to get involved we are starting in a strong spot to the credit of Mr. Wells and his team. Vice Mayor Hammler asked that the budget document be linked to the Town's Facebook Page to make it easier for residents to access. She thanked Mr. Wells and staff for their efforts in preparing a budget that allows Council to start at a position of maintaining the existing tax rate and the sacrifice by all Town employees who will receive no additional pay increase this year. She stated given the economic situation we are in we cannot have just basic assumptions about where we are going as a Town and we need to have ways to implement creative ongoing surveys to make sure we are in-tune in a metric oriented way with what citizens consider top non-negotiable services they are willing to pay for. She asked the actual undesignated fund balance and what is the minimum requirement. Mr. Wells stated if you look at all the money in the bank the balance is $17.8 million. He stated the 15 percent reserve is $6.7 million. He stated the revenue stabilization fund is $1.4 million. He stated the carry over for FY 2010 was $800,000; however, until we know if we are going to receive federal funds to offset the snow removal costs, that number becomes $1.4 million. He stated that leaves $8 million with $2 million going to the first two years of the CIP, $1.5 million will potentially be used for the capital replacement fund, $427,808 to balance the FY 2011 budget and approximately $250,000 for the business incubator. Further, he stated that still leaves $4 million to potentially continue $1 million per year funding in the CIP, which saves money by reducing debt. Vice Mayor Hammler stated she would also like to receive information regarding staff's projections for where assessments are going in the future and what will be needed from the undesignated fund balance year after year. She asked if the $2 million to be used for the CIP came from the Dominion Virginia Power settlement. Mr. Wells stated the funds received from Dominion Virginia Power were not specifically designated for the CIP; however, that money is part of the undesignated fund balance. Vice Mayor Hammler stated it would be helpful to highlight the CIP projects coming on line that are actually increasing revenue as it is critical moving forward to enhance our economic development programs. She stated there are a number of partnerships that are very important such as the partnerships with Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 5 the homeowners associations in the community watch program, which is critical to maintaining and increasing safety in town. Council Member Martinez thanked staff for their efforts to decrease taxes. He stated he is concerned about the fact that we are working with minimum resources and asked how we can work over the next couple of fiscal years to bring the pay scale back to where it should be. Mr. Wells stated he has a specific strategy to address that issue and will go into more detail at the budget work session. He stated clearly that is one of the high priorities that we need to look at as employers. He stated we are looking at some non-cost options for the coming fiscal year. Council Member Martinez stated we also need a plan for bringing back the positions that have been frozen in the future. He stated a couple of long-term residents who have been in the Town for over 20 years expressed concern to him that we will keep reducing the budget to the point where the services they are accustomed to will go away. He stated they appreciate the low taxes; however, they do not want to see services such as brush pick-up reduced or eliminated. Mayor Umstattd thanked Mr. Wells and staff for preparing a budget with sensitivity towards homeowners who are struggling in the current recession. She stated she is finding people are concerned with what tax rate the County may adopt and she is relieved that the Town can keep a high level of service while maintaining a level tax rate that provides a lower tax bill for residents and commercial property owners. She echoed Vice Mayor Hammler's appreciation for the staff's willingness to stick with the Town in difficult times. She stated if you look at the great strengths of America in industry, somewhere along the way we have lost the sense that a corporation should be loyal to its employees and the country is worse off for it. She stated almost every neighborhood she has visited has residents who lost their jobs through a reduction in force (RIF). She stated our residents appreciate that when they are going through hard times our staff sticks with them without insisting on raises that workers in the private sector are not receiving. Further, she stated she is looking forward to the budget review and thanked Mr. Wells and staff for their efforts. Council Member Dunn asked for information to be provided regarding when contracts for services are due for renegotiation, such as brush and leaf pick up which we pay for twice through Town staff and a contractor providing duplicate service. He stated he would also like to look at our contract services for snow removal. Council Member Butler stated he would support Vice Mayor Hammler's suggestion of using the $2 million from the Dominion Virginia Power settlement for the FY 2011 and FY 2012 CIP projects. He asked how many years would the $1.5 million carry the proposed Capital Asset Improvement Fund. Mr. Wells stated the proposal is that the $1.5 million would be a one year start-up amount and then begin to use funds from the operating budget as the economy rebounds. He stated staff is looking at multiple options because as we come out of the recession we will have a number of replacements to catch up on Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 6 and we need to balance those costs. Further, he stated the replacement of the equipment in the Council Chamber is a candidate for this type of funding. Council Member Wright concurred with Council Member Reid's suggestion for a separate CIP review session. Council Member Reid asked if there are any recommendations from staff resulting from the recent fee study such as changes to the vehicle decal program. Mr. Wells stated staff will provide information regarding the vehicle decal discussion at a later time. He stated the only fee that staff is recommending for implementation at this time is the false alarm fee. He stated at this time we are still struggling with collection of the fines we implemented last year for traffic violations and staff would like a better understanding of the collection of those through the County's court system before moving forward on other options. Council Member Reid verified all businesses have BPOL tax due March 1. He stated this will allow staff to know next week if there is a drop in BPOL revenue and asked if staff will have those new figures for the budget review. Mr. Wells stated staff would not have those figures by next week. He stated staff should have a better feel for that information by the second budget work session in March. He stated those funds would be for this fiscal year and would provide indication of the economy going forward. Council Member Reid stated he would like a briefing on those amounts when available. Council Member Dunn stated Mr. Wells' email noted there is one member of Council who would prefer not to have an all-day budget session and he would support having multiple sessions in the evening. Vice Mayor Hammler commented on the recent sewer rate increase stating a letter was placed in with the most recent bills that were mailed and asked if staff received any reaction to the increases, what is the Town's overall communication plan and questioned when will Council have the opportunity to revisit the sewer rates. Mr. Wells stated staff has received some reaction from the citizens. He stated he mentioned in the letter that the Town is looking to begin discussion of possibly moving to a tiered rate system as was recommended by the Utility Rate Advisory Committee (URAC) as an alternative. He stated we needed to get a quarter's experience with the current rates and we are also awaiting the outcome of the court case. He stated staff is ready to begin looking at this at the appropriate time as directed by Council. Vice Mayor Hammler stated that review needs to begin sooner rather than later. She stated the fact that we need to get a quarter's worth of experience needs to be communicated effectively. Council Member Wright stated having done these budget reviews in a couple of different formats he finds the all day sessions to be much more effective. Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 7 It was the consensus of Council to proceed with the full day budget review on March 10 with a separate session to be scheduled to review the CIP if needed. b. Utility Availability Fee Discussion Randy Shoemaker stated sometime ago staff was asked to review the Town's availability fees to determine if the Town's infrastructure costs were a deterrent to the Town's targeted industries. He stated the fee structure is working as intended to recover the public infrastructure costs for the community. He stated our fee system is somewhat different from other jurisdictions; however, staff feels our system is more reliable than the metered approach. He stated staff recently did a comparative review to see if the actual consumption records were consistent with staff's estimates. He stated staff found that our estimates were actually 26 percent below consumption used by the food industry. He stated staff feels the review substantiated the methodology used by the Town in calculating the availability fees; however, this does not address the dilemma of the fees as a deterrent for new restaurant, hospitality and spa construction. He stated the Economic Development Commission has a strategy for targeting hospitality uses which provide substantial revenue to the General Fund through meals and transient occupancy tax. He stated staff recommends that a grant program designed to offset these start up costs for hospitality uses be considered by the Economic Development Commission for further vetting. Further, he stated the program could be funded by using a portion of the meals and business taxes collected. Marantha Edwards stated staff is recommending that Council send this to the Economic Development Commission for them to review and provide recommendations. She stated in a real world sense we have seen that the meals tax revenues are increasing which provides an opportunity to address the concerns staff hears from businesses regarding the availability fees. Council Member Dunn stated this is something he has been looking forward to for sometime as a way to draw more business to Leesburg. He stated he would encourage the Utility and Economic Development departments to take this discussion further. He stated he is unsure about the grant idea and would like to look at other options such as financing the fee over time. He stated he would also like to know the delta of how many more businesses we need to bring in by using the grants or financing over time to ensure we do not begin to lose money. Further, he asked what additional capital costs would there be for a business moving into an existing building. Mr. Shoemaker stated the cost he is referring to is the existing capital cost for providing the water capacity through construction of the water and waste water plants. He stated we do not recover any costs for the actual connection. Ms. Edwards stated the word "grant" was used in the update; however, there are no preconceived notions about the best way to move forward with this. Council Member Dunn expressed concern that 26 percent of businesses have consumption that is actually lower than our estimates and stated perhaps the calculation should been reviewed. Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 8 Mr. Shoemaker stated the calculations are continually evaluated by the industry. He outlined the methodology behind the calculations for restaurants and salons. He stated he was surprised by the 26 percent figure; however, this was a limited sampling of restaurants as many of them in shopping centers have shared meters. Council Member Dunn stated this is a big thing that we can do to bring in more business which creates jobs and brings more business. He stated it also allows us to relieve the tax burden on the residents. Further, he stated he looks forward to more information. Council Member Reid stated he thought Council passed a resolution in 2006 to allow businesses to pay their availability fees over a period of two years. Mr. Shoemaker stated the Town did institute that policy for any business with an availability fee over $10,000. Council Member Reid verified some businesses have been taking advantage of this opportunity and asked if the time period could be extended. Ms. Edwards stated that is one of the options the EDC could review. Council Member Reid verified we do not charge availability fees in the Historic District unless a larger meter is needed. He stated in 2007 Council discussed changing the calculation methodology and verified staff still does not feel it is appropriate to change to the methodology used by Loudoun Water. There was further discussion of the proposed funding methodology for the proposed grant program. Council Member Reid stated the idea of reducing the burden out of the General Fund sounds very interesting. Further, he stated he would like Council to look at potentially increasing the length of time for financing the fee. Mr. Wells stated there have been discussions regarding what an appropriate length of time might be given certain legal opinions. Council Member Reid asked if we should be charging the availability fee for businesses opening in the Historic District and asked if the Town is losing money by providing this incentive. Mr. Shoemaker stated the Town is not recovering the capital costs. There was further discussion of the exemption for Historic District businesses. Council Member Butler asked what other alternatives had been explored in addition to the grant option. Mr. Shoemaker stated the term grant is used as just a vehicle for assisting an entrepreneur to open a business. He stated staff is recommending that this be sent to the EDC to determine some other alternatives. Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 9 Council Member Butler expressed disappointment that staff is proposing to send this to the EDC for further vetting versus the Utility Rate Advisory Committee (URAC). He stated there are other options to explore such as a tiered rate for the availability fees as is being discussed for the utility rates. He stated he would have no problem increasing the availability fee for lower water users and decreasing them for high water users, such as restaurants; however, no one has done the analysis to determine the impact. He stated options like this should be discussed before we move forward with a grant concept. Further, he stated he would hope that if we move forward with a grant program that it be limited to restaurants within the Town and not just within our service area as he would not want to use general fund dollars to subsidize businesses outside the Town. Mr. Wells stated as noted in the budget presentation the idea of tiered rues needs to come before Council given their level of involvement in this area. He stated if we want to look at the availability issue behind that it could be part of the conversation. Council Member Butler stated we have a whole commission of thinkers looking to advise and these recommendations do not just have to come from staff. He stated like any other commission, the URAC could work with staff to look at different scenarios. Further, he stated he understands that the URAC should not discuss in town versus out of town fees while the lawsuit is still ongoing; however, having this level of discussion would be appropriate. Council Member Wright stated he has had concerns with the availability fee calculations for businesses, especially for restaurants. He stated he understands the concept of growth paying. for growth; however, we need to be sure that the revenue is used for previous and future capital costs only. He verified the availability fee stays with the building as long as the meter size does not increase. He stated as we get closer and closer to build out we will not have as many new businesses constructed to collect the availability fee. He stated the Utility Fund should collect the fees and should not be used to encourage economic development and therefore he understands the need for a different mechanism. He stated he believes this is time well spent in researching options; however, the grant concept would raise concern among current businesses that have paid their availability fees. Further, he stated a low or no interest loan might be a better option with qualification requirements. Mr. Shoemaker stated an issue of concern is that once the availability fee has been paid the benefit stays with the property; therefore the property owner should be required to pay the fee. Vice Mayor Hammier stated she supports moving forward with this discussion and would appreciate knowing when this will be discussed by the EDC so she can be involved. She expressed support for Council Member Butler's suggestion of involvement by one or two members. of the URAC as part of an EDC subcommittee to vet this proposal but did not feel the need to reconvene the entire committee. She stated she loves the concept of growth pays for growth because it_is an innovative approach and is an opportunity for Leesburg to be the restaurant Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 10 capital of Virginia. She stated the key is the return on investment, where are we expecting this to pay off and what are the risks versus rewards. Council Member Martinez stated the public sector should not be financing businesses with tax payer money. He stated statistically a number of small businesses fail in the first year and he would be uncomfortable putting taxpayer funds at risk. He stated he has concern that the availability fees are high and have to be paid up front, which could make the difference in whether a business can survive for another year. He suggested that the Town find a way to make the availability fee payable over time through a low interest loan and if the business fails the next business who enters that location can pay the rest of the fee since the payment carries with the building. Ms. Irby stated we cannot bind the property owner by a contract with their tenant. Council Member Martinez stated he would support the effort to make the fees more affordable through the General Fund by spreading the payments over time and if a business fails, collecting the remaining payment from the next tenant. Mayor Umstattd stated the EDC should review this issue and look at the cost to the Town of administering any program. She stated it does seem logical that if we are collecting availability fees to cover long term needs then the payments could be spread out over a longer term. She stated she agrees that a grant program would be problematic from a fairness standpoint. Further, she stated she would not support reinstituting the URAC at this time; however, if there are members who would like to advise the EDC they could probably offer some valuable advice. Council Member Reid stated he would also support Vice Mayor Hammler's suggestion to involve one or two members of URAC. Council Member Butler stated that would be a good middle ground; however, it seems that there is staff reluctance to involve the URAC in water rate discussions and perhaps that could be discussed offline. He stated when the URAC was first established the offered a suggestions to raise the availability fee, increase the fixed fee or establish a tiered rate structure which are just now being looked at as good possibilities. Further, he stated having the URAC review this with fresh eyes would be a benefit as he does not support the EDC recommending a program, just for the benefit of economic development, involving the water rates. Council Member Dunn stated this is economic development for economic development sake, but we also have an under-utilized utility department that is looking for customers so both need to work together. He stated we are not losing anything with this and the fact that we have no use of water in empty buildings; rather, we have the opportunity to gain new customers for our utility department. He stated in fact, this will increase revenues which creates more jobs. c. Business Incubator Verbal Update Mr. Wells stated staff is working with George Mason University and the Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 11 County task force to narrow down the possible locations for the incubator and begin negotiations. He stated he has been in contact with Mr. Hemstreet regarding the possibility of a funding arrangement between the Town and County and he will provide a more detailed update at the next meeting. Council Member Reid verified this would not be a capital project. He asked when staff will get back to the property owners who are on hold at this point. Mr. Wells stated he had hoped to do that before this meeting; however, he plans to have a recommendation for Council no later than the second March meeting. Council Member Reid stated even though it may seem strange to do this now, it is in fact a great time because the economy is bad and people who want to start a business are looking for a resource like this. Mr. Wells stated just the Council's discussion of this has already generated inquiries to George Mason University and Ms. Edwards. He stated there have also been offers from businesses offering to partner with the Town on technological upgrades to the facility. Mayor Umstattd asked if any office building owners have expressed concern that this would be in competition with their office space. Mr. Wells stated he has not heard any concerns of this nature; however, there has been competition among building owners to get this lease. d. Downtown Management Association Verbal Update Mr. Wells stated staff continues to work with the various members of the stakeholder group. He stated staff plans to bring draft documents forward to Council by the second March meeting that identify a potential mission, structure and objectives for this type of an organization. Vice Mayor Hammier asked if there is any potential budget impact. Mr. Wells stated the proposed FY 2011 budget includes some level of funding, if the Council chooses; however, the exact amount has not been determined at this time. Vice Mayor Hammier stated this concept in her view is that the private sector will take this on as their project. Mr. Wells stated the Town would not be the only funding source, if it is even necessary. He stated he has heard from Council that there is an expectation of participation by the private sector and if the Town would like to participate there is the opportunity to do so, but not at the expense of the tax rate. Council Member Wright stated he views this as an opportunity for partnership and he is looking forward to hearing from the businesses as to how they plan to meet the Town in this partnership. Council Member Reid expressed the need to underground the utilities in the downtown. He stated Verizon still has not provided FiOS to parts of the Historic District and suggested it might be a good opportunity bring back the Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 12 undergrounding of utilities discussion. He stated if we were to rewire the utilities on some of the streets it would need to be done before the capital improvements. He stated Council needs to have the discussion regarding whether we want to get rid of the telephone poles, which he and many business owners would support. Council Member Wright stated Verizon is required to have FiOS available to every household in Leesburg by the end of this year and if they are not providing that service he would like to be alerted. Council Member Martinez stated the Verizon and Comcast franchise agreements are coming up for negotiation and Council needs to have a discussion. Further, he stated he has found that Comcast is now providing commercial service; however, that is not covered in their franchise agreement. Council Member Dunn stated at the Planning Commission meeting the downtown capital improvements were discussed and asked if the Town has any plans at this point. Mr. Dentler stated the DIA and ULI studies provided a variety of potential improvements. He stated the Town has hired a consultant to work with the community to identify which projects the community would like to see move forward. He stated the stakeholder meetings are scheduled for March 17 and Scott Parker is the project manager. Council Member Dunn verified there is no exact timeline for identification of projects; however, information should be available by the end of May. 2. Additions to Future Council Meetings Vice Mayor Hammler stated she would support a legislative agenda for the County to include funding for the school resource officers (SROs), zoning inspections support and incubator support. Mayor Umstattd stated Mr. Wells has discussed all of these issues with Mr. Hemstreet. Vice Mayor Hammler asked that Council receive notification of the downtown improvements stakeholder meetings. Further, she asked that a summary of the meeting held with residents regarding the Southwest Connector Trail be provided. Council Member Dunn stated Council needs to hold another discussion regarding its rules. Further, he stated he would also like to talk about where the Town is with regards to a university recruitment plan. Vice Mayor Hammler stated she has disclosed meetings she has had regarding efforts to recruit a university and has asked Ms. Edwards to bring forward a memo on the status. Council Member Butler stated the normal process was not followed in regards to how some items were placed on the agenda for tomorrow night's meeting. He stated these items should have been brought up at tonight's meeting and added to the agenda for two weeks from now. He stated the Town Manager should not have the authority as to what is placed on the agenda as it should be a Council responsibility. Town Council Work Session of February 22, 2010 Page 13 Further, he stated he is concerned with the new business item expressing support for Jerry's Chevrolet. He stated he has nothing against this business; however, the resolution is controversial and he would like to move it out two weeks. Vice Mayor Hammler stated she would support that motion. Mayor Umstattd stated she would strongly oppose that motion as this item was placed on the agenda at the request of Jerry's Chevrolet for a simple resolution in support of continuing their franchise in Leesburg. She stated we expend resources every year on business retention. She stated staff has talked to the other GM dealership in Leesburg and they have no problem with Council moving forward tomorrow night. Vice Mayor Hammler asked the reason for the urgency. Mayor Umstattd stated Jerry's Chevrolet is currently in arbitration and requested that the resolution be passed this week. She stated there was no work session held before the last meeting so the opportunity to bring up the resolution was not there. Further, she stated she does not believe this is controversial at all and would hope that we would do this for any business. Council Member Dunn stated we have rules for Council; however, we are finding that by abiding by those rules we could be impeding the delivery of the needs of the people. He stated he would rather see that we are able to support Jerry's Chevrolet. He stated he feels it is the role of Council to support all businesses in Town rather than just particular businesses. Further, he stated if we had rules to allow us to bring up items at the work session to discuss the next night at the meeting we would still have the ability to delay the vote if more information is needed. There was further discussion regarding Council's rules for adding new business items to the agenda. It was the consensus of Council to add a discussion of the Council rules at the next work session. Mr. Wells stated information was provided today regarding two individuals interested in appointment to the Board of Zoning Appeals and also regarding legislation before the General Assembly on eminent domain which, could be voted on tomorrow night. 4. Adjournment On a motion by Council Member Butler, seconded the meeting was adjourned at 10:01 p.m. 2010_tcwsmin0222 by Council Member Martinez ~~; ,--1 ~, `~ Clerk of Co ci