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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2011_tcwsmin0110Council Work Session January 10, 2011 Council Chambers, 25 West Market Street, 7:30 p.m. Mayor Kristen Umstattd presiding. Council Members Present: David S. Butler, Thomas S. Dunn, II, Katie Sheldon Hammier, Marty Martinez, Ken Reid, Kevin Wright and Mayor Kristen Umstattd. Council Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Town Manager John Wells, Town Attorney Jeanette Irby, Finance Director Norm Butts, Director of Public Works Tom Mason, Director of Planning and Zoning Susan Berry Hill, Deputy Director of Planning Brian Boucher, Zoning Administrator Chris Murphy, Deputy Zoning Administrator Wade Burkholder, Director of Information Technology Wendy Wickens, Director of Human Resources Nancy Fixx, Deputy Director of Finance Kim Williams, Comprehensive Planner David Fuller, and Clerk of Council Lee Ann Green AGENDA ITEMS 1. Work Session Items for Discussion a. Audit Report Mike Garber of PBGH, the town's financial auditor, reviewed pertinent issues in the audit report and related documents. Council Member Martinez questioned whether there are any issues other than the grant funding issue that have not been resolved in the past few years. Mr. Garber stated there are no other issues. Council Member Martinez questioned whether the town is doing better or worse than the past years. Mr. Garber stated it is status quo. He stated none of the comments are the same as last year. He stated as one comment is addressed other ones crop up due to new regulations and other factors. Council Member Hammler questioned how the town will follow -up on the auditor's comments. Mr. Wells stated the town will be making sure to capture the full amount of debt service in the Airport bottom line number in terms of depreciation and using the correct charts for VDOT reimbursement. Further, he stated all departments with grant awards will be working closely with finance to make sure that deadlines are met. Council Member Reid questioned how issues with airport leases are being addressed. 11P e Council Work Session January 10, 2011 Mr. Wells stated the current leases are being looked at as well as filling leasable vacant spaces. forms. Mayor Umstattd questioned the requirement for provision of 1099 There was discussion of this requirement, enforcement, and possible repeal. Ms. Irby stated a bill was reintroduced to repeal this provision. b. Comcast Ms. Irby introduced Matt Ames, outside counsel on the franchise agreement. She stated that Bob Jacobs and Marie Shuyler from Comcast. Mr. Ames stated the cable franchise is not like a typical contract that can be renegotiated at the end of the term. He stated the federal law gives the cable companies substantial protection and if they wish to request renewal, there is a very detailed process to deny such a request. He stated that state law provides additional protection, but has not been challenged and would take litigation to prove it right or wrong. He stated in all the renewals that have taken place in the past three to four years since the General Assembly adopted the legislation, it has been taken as a given that the cable companies have certain rights. Mr. Ames stated there are two documents, the franchise agreement and the fiber agreement. He stated they have negotiated a price for the use of the fiber. He noted that the standard is for a 15 year term and the company is prepared to pay 1.7% of its gross revenues to support the government access channel, other things related to the access channel and the institutional fiber network. He noted this is the same that Verizon has agreed to pay and is substantially higher than the recent Virginia rules. He discussed other terms of the contract including liquidated damages if Comcast violates customer service standards. He noted that while the agreement is for 15 years, the town has the right to terminate at any point after five years. Mayor Umstattd questioned whether Comcast would offer free or discounted digital adapter boxes for homeowners who currently have analog televisions and cannot afford to pay for new televisions or to pay for the adapter boxes. Mr. Ames stated that was one issue that they were not able to resolve. Council Member Martinez questioned where the residents can go if there are issues with their phone over internet service. 2IPage Council Work Session January 10, 2011 Mr. Ames stated it is essentially unregulated, but the FCC may have some jurisdiction. There was discussion regarding unburied lines. Ms. Irby pointed out that Comcast has had a change of internal procedure regarding these issues. Mr. Ames stated the town is reserving its right to address this issue under the right -of -way agreement. Ms. Irby stated the Town Code could be amended to allow the town to abate a nuisance in the right -of -way by burying Comcast lines. Council Member Hammler questioned the elimination of the studio. Mr. Ames stated that Comcast has to give one year's notice of any changes with regards to the studio. Council Member Hammler questioned whether a trend analysis had been done concerning whether the 1.7% of gross revenues would drop if Comcast lost customers. Mr. Ames stated unless the customers decided to change to satellite, they would most likely move to Verizon service, for which the town has the same agreement, therefore receiving the benefit from Verizon rather than Comcast. He stated it is reasonable to assume that the income will remain the same unless there is a significant migration away from broadband. She clarified that the 1.7% would allow the town to break even with respect to the cost of the I -net service, broadcasting all town meetings, and PEG programming. Mayor Umstattd questioned Comcast's refusal to provide free digital equipment to analog television owners. Ms. Schuyler stated that Comcast is not refusing to provide free digital equipment but they feel it is not appropriate to put that agreement into the Franchise agreement. 3. Form Based Code Discussion Ms. Berry Hill stated Council last discussed Form Based Code at the work session on November 29. She stated staff summarized the recommendations from the Steering Committee and the Planning Commission. Mayor Umstattd questioned whether the town has any ability to offer tax incentives. 3 1Page Council Work Session January 10, 2011 Ms. Berry Hill stated they will be discussing regulatory incentives, rather than tax incentives. David Fuller stated the Crescent District Master Plan shows a system of streets and a concentration of mixed uses throughout the district. He stated the form based code map shows a very similar layout of streets and land uses. He stated one of the main differences between form based code and the rest of the zoning ordinance is the regulating map, which will tell a property owner what regulations apply to a property, and the second map, a building heights map, tells the property owner what height of building is allowed. Mr. Fuller stated that building uses are based on the regulating map. Further, he stated the regulating map helps define another important part of the physical form of the district, the public streets. He stated each street frontage has a cross section associated with it. He stated the building heights map shows three different areas of building heights. Chris Murphy stated the Crescent District Master Plan was adopted in June 2006 as a strategy for redevelopment of the area which calls for increasing housing options, and shopping and dining to expand and complement the downtown. He summarized the activity of the Planning Commission with regards to their review of Form Based Code and their recommendations. Brian Boucher stated the public process included public meetings with property owners, and the area that was considered ripe for Form Based Code was developed after those meetings for several reasons including the road network, the size of the parcels and the current uses. It was Council consensus to support Form Based Code in the area outlined. There were comments that the area should be larger. Mr. Boucher stated the idea is to try it in the smaller area and enlarge the area after it is shown to be effective. Mr. Murphy stated an important aspect of Form Based Code is the predictability for the property owners. He stated they all know what will be built. Council Member Reid questioned what incentive is there for a property owner to comply with Form Based Code. Vice Mayor Wright pointed out the added value that property owners receive in extra density and increased uses. 4IPage Council Work Session January 10, 2011 Council Member Dunn discussed taking elements of design guidelines and applying them to various zones in town. Further, he stated it would not take much more work by staff to develop this type of proposal. He expressed concern that the town will be missing out on how parcels are redeveloping in the near term as this is being presented in such a small area. Mayor Umstattd stated that special outreach is a good idea in a forum that allows property owners and potential developers the ability to speak. She stated that while she does not have a problem going to public hearing, she is not ready to vote on this subject without knowing the answer to a number of subjects. d. Budget U pdate #5 Mr. Wells stated he is proposing a change to the Personnel and Procedures Manual that would outline how a potential reduction in force would take place. He stated it would provide a severance package that provides three months of salary, three months paid health insurance and payout of accrued annual leave, and sick leave at 25 which is typically the practice for retiring employees. He stated this is not an uncommon severance package that would allow for potentially six months notice to employees once the budget is approved. Further, he stated he is not ready to identify specific programs or positions at this point, but this would put the appropriate procedures in place as necessary. Mr. Wells stated that currently the gap between revenues and expenditures for FY 2012, is approximately $2 million, but the number changes dependent on a number of issues. Vice Mayor Wright questioned whether the appropriation could be separated out from this action. Mr. Wells stated the funds would be deleted from the resolution for tomorrow night. Council Member Hammler stated there are many employees with significant years of service and she is concerned about the fairness of someone with many years of service receiving the same package as someone with only a few years. Mr. Wells stated some of the longer term employees will be able to retire and this will be added benefit based on their longevity. Council Member Reid said that reductions in force should be carried out in areas where there is top- heaviness. He stated he will not support a 5 iPage Council Work Session January 10, 2011 reduction in the police force. He stated there are areas that are understaffed and areas that are overstaffed and he does not like across the board reductions. e. Official Name of the Tree Lighting and Parade Mayor Umstattd stated she will be making an official motion to change the official name of the tree lighting ceremony to the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. Council Member Reid confirmed that Menorah Lighting will be added to the title. There was discussion regarding the name of the parade. It was Council consensus to leave the parade as the Holiday Parade. 2. Items for Future Council Meetings Council Member Hammler stated she will be bringing forward a nomination to replace Ken Werner on the EDC. Council Member Butler stated there are no trees in the median of any of the town's divided highways. He stated his understanding is that staff does not want trees in the medians because of sight lines, but he does not understand why mid -block sight -lines are necessary. Mr. Wells stated sometimes it is a utility easement issue. He stated that staff will follow -up. Council Member Butler stated some commission members do not have the ability to set their email to be automatically forwarded. He asked for clarification on this as it is a source of concern. Council Member Hammler requested Legislative update memos. Council Member Reid stated he would like staff to follow -up with the state on the projects that are eligible for bond. He stated a work session discussion on redistricting is necessary. He suggested writing VML about the 1099 issue. Vice Mayor Wright stated he did not want to have a work session discussion about redistricting because it will make the public think Council has a say in what happens. Council Member Dunn stated Council owes the citizens their input into the redistricting issue as a body to let the Board of Supervisors and Board of Elections what Leesburg wants. 6 1Page Council Work Session January 10, 2011 Vice Mayor Wright stated the town has already told the Board of Elections what it would like, but they have not listened. Council Member Dunn suggested a letter. Mr. Wells stated the County had an extensive discussion at their meeting last week that looked at nine different plans. He stated he would provide the county information packet to Council for their review. 3. Closed Session Mayor Umstattd made the following motion: Pursuant to Section 2.2- 3711(A) (1) of the Code of Virginia, I move that the Leesburg Town Council convene in a closed meeting for the purpose of discussing the Town Manager's performance evaluation. The motion was seconded by Council Member Butler and approved by the following vote: Aye: Butler, Dunn, Hammler, Reid, Wright and Mayor Umstattd Nay: None Vote: 6 -0 -1 (Martinez absent) The Council convened in Closed Session at 10:58 p.m. The Council reconvened in Open Session at 11:10 p.m. On a motion by Mayor Umstattd, seconded by Vice Mayor Wright, the following motion was made: In accordance with Section 2.2 -3712 of the Code of Virginia, I move that Council certify that to the best of each member's knowledge, only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act and such public business matters as were identified in the motion by which the closed meeting was convened were heard, discussed or considered in the meeting by Council. The motion was approved by the following vote: Aye: Butler, Dunn, Hammler, Reid, Wright and Mayor Umstattd Nay: None Vote: 6 -0 -1 (Martinez absent) 71Page Council Work Session January 10, 2011 4. Adjournment On the motion of Council Member Hammler, seconded by Council Member Butler, *le meeting was adjourned at 11:10 p.m. Clerk of Cbur 2011 tcwsmin0110 8IPage