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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2015_tcwsmin0223 Council Work Session February 23, 2015 Council Chambers, 25 West Market Street, 7:30 .m. Mayor Kristen C. Umstattd p Y presiding. Council Members Present: Kelly Burk, David Butler, Thomas Dunn, Suzanne D. Fox, Katie Sheldon Hammler, Marty Martinez and Mayor Umstattd. Council Members Absent: Marty Martinez arrived at 8 p.m. as he was representing the town at another event. Staff Present: Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Town Attorney Barbara Notar, Deputy Town Manager Keith Markel, Director of Economic Development Marantha Edwards and Clerk of Council Lee Ann Green. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Work Session Items for Discussion a. Legislative Update Keith Markel updated Council on the disposition of the town's legislative items at the General Assembly session. Key Points: • Last day of the assembly session is Friday. • SB882—House transportation committee failed to recommend reporting. • SB921 —was tabled in the House Transportation committee. • SB937— Sen. Wexton withdrew this bill. • HB2017—has been recommended for tabling in the House Courts of Justice Committee. • HB1688—Was recommended for tabling in the House Appropriations Committee. • SB 1246—Engine idling bill was tabled in subcommittee. • SB1230—Would make ABC responsible for cigarettes; was tabled in subcommittee. • An ethics bill requiring enhanced reporting will most likely be passed. • FOIA crimes bill is still moving forward. • HB1887 passed the house and is now in the Senate. It looks like it will be approved. • HB1294, which would have given churches exemption from paying town fees or fines, was tabled in the house finance committee. Council Comments/Questions: • Would international travel be limited? Would Council be allowed to have other entities pay for travel? Staff answer: It would be allowed, but have to be approved by the Ethics commission, which was created last year. Other entities should be allowed to pay for travel. The idea is to keep lobbying groups from 11Page Council Work Session February 23, 2015 paying for trips to buy influence. Nothing precludes a group that is not pushing a specific influence from paying for travel. b. Downtown Parking Task Force Kaj Dentler stated that staff recommends the make up of the Parking Task Force not include Council Members. Council Comments/Questions: • Component that is missing is people from different sectors of town could contribute information on why they do/don't come downtown. • Who would be liaison? Staff answer: Most likely Assistant Town Manager Scott Parker. Any other necessary staff resources will be provided. • Would be open to participating in the Task Force. • Would like developers who have targeted downtown for infill development to be part of this task force. • A representative of the Planning Commission should be included as well as a representative of the Economic Development Commission. • Find ways to get town and county employees to park around the periphery of the downtown area. • Goal of the task force is not clear, except to come back with recommendations about parking. • If Council Members appoint task force members, they will be sensitive to the Council Member's desires. • Would suggest choosing a member from each of the existing town commissions that deal with the downtown—BAR, EDC, SRTC. • Like the idea of getting people from the community to find out why they do or don't come downtown. • Town and county employees, as long term parkers, need to feel part of the solution. • Smaller scope of mission would create more opportunity for successful recommendations. • Concern over the number of spaces being "sold" as payment in lieu. • How many town and county employees park in their respective garages? Consensus was for one planning commissioner, one member from the Economic Development Commission, two members of the business community not affiliated with the EDC who have an interest in the downtown, four citizens from each quadrant of town, and town staff liaisons who are non-voting members. Task to be assigned to the Parking Task Force is how to get those who park all day to move to outlying lots such as Liberty and Pennington, but they will be able to address other issues as well. 2IPage Council Work Session February 23, 2015 The town manager was directed to select members of the task force based on the parameters set by Council. c. Non-Disclosure Policy and Procedures Kaj Dentler stated that staff was prepared to answer any questions that Council might have. Council Comments/Questions: • Who specifically requested the nondisclosure agreement? Staff answer: It was CRBE, the real estate company, that represented K2M. The step two in that was when there was an incentive involved, we were bound to not let information get out because that jeopardized the Governor's Opportunity Fund funding. • How did that jeopardize the funding? Staff Answer: When there is a big announcement such as this, they want it to come from the Governor's office. • It is a delicate situation with other jurisdictions competing. The only issue is not just the Governor wanting to make the announcement — not agreeing would put the town at a competitive disadvantage statewide • Other jurisdictions were in competition for this business. • Appropriate for staff to sign nondisclosure agreements when businesses are in the prospect stage, but once they become an applicant, they should be able to be disclosed. Staff answer: There are many applicants that for competitive or human resource reasons, do not want their name to be disclosed to the public. • K2M was not the applicant in this case—Oaklawn was the applicant. • Becoming an applicant is part of the public planning process and therefore information should be available to the public, but a new nondisclosure could be set up for applicants. • Feel that a nondisclosure agreement should not give the town the right to withhold information that is being requested. • If you need to go through a non-disclosure agreement, it should only apply to the exact location needed. Applicant took advantage of the process to bring forth other changes that were not related to the non- disclosed tenant. • No non-disclosure agreement was signed with the governor's office. • When looking at non-disclosure agreements, need to look at ancillary agreements with other entities that could affect a non-disclosure agreement. • May not want to get involved in non-disclosure agreements that involve multiple parties. • May be better to bring the Council in to the process earlier to make a policy decision prior to entering into a non-disclosure agreement. 3IPage Council Work Session February 23, 2015 • Should consider a policy that once a prospect turns into an application, non-disclosure agreement should change. • Would support Council greenlighting certain projects if there is a quantifiable benefit to the town of the project moving forward. • Council has no need to know who an individual tenant is —much the same as when the Village at Leesburg was moving through the process —individual tenants were not named. • Allowing Council to get involved in non-disclosure agreements would put the Town at a significant competitive disadvantage. • Need to acknowledge the fact that at no point was the public not fully involved in everything relative to the planning and zoning decision. • Even though the Council was not a party to the non-disclosure agreement, were they bound by the agreement? Staff answer: Council was included during a closed session, which any individual council member could have elected to not attend. • Disclosing the name of the tenant to Council aided in the fast-tracking process. It might have been denied if Council had not been brought into the process. • Greenlighting one application means another application gets pushed to the side. To be fair to the application that is getting pushed to the side, Council should know whether the favored business is one that is really desirable to make an informed decision on greenlighting. • Process might have been less smooth than desired, but it does not come up very often. When it does next time, Council will be better equipped to handle it. • Definition of light industrial is necessary. There was no direction from Council. 2. Additions to Future Council Meetings Council Member Hammier stated that Pat Scannell would be returning as a petitioner to Council to thank them for supporting the documentary on the Maker Movement and to request consideration of getting involved in the Mayor's Maker Challenge. She stated she appreciated the memo on paper recycling and would appreciate support for promoting the need to shred all sensitive information and questioned how staff could get that information out to the public. It was noted that the town offers two free shred events yearly. It was suggested that the Environmental Advisory Commission (EAC) could look at ways to get information out to the public. Vice Mayor Burk offered to take this to the EAC for their recommendations. Council Member Hammier questioned whether town-wide traffic issues can be addressed within the structure of the Standing Residential Traffic Committee (SRTC). She stated she wanted to clarify that she did not ask for a discussion of changing the committee to a commission. The topic of town-wide traffic issues will be placed on an upcoming SRTC agenda and they will report back. 41Page Council Work Session February 23, 2015 She requested a certificate for the franchise owner of WhichWich for his being g named Franchisee of the Year for the sandwich chain. She requested figuring out how some Board of Architectural Review(BAR) processes could be streamlined to make some approvals administrative. Council Member Fox stated she would bring this subject up to the BAR for their discussion. She stated in reviewing the Tuscarora Creek mitigation project she noted currently the project is $1.6 million over budget. She stated that expectations have been set with the community in terms of results. Mr. Dentler stated that previous direction from Council was to work with the Virginia Knolls Homeowners Association, which has been accomplished. The HOA is happy with the project now; however, it has increased the scope and therefore the price of the project. Council Member Hammler noted that compromise is necessary based on debt capacity issues. Mr. Dentler stated that Council will have the opportunity to review this project during review of the Capital Improvements Program (CIP). She stated that compliance with TMDLs will turn into very expensive projects. She stated that Council will need to be careful with the management of these projects. Vice Mayor Burk questioned whether the request for Airshow support would be discussed. Mr. Dentler suggested it could be appropriately discussed during budget review. Council Member Butler stated he was contacted by the Virginia Public Safety Association regarding their April golf tournament at Raspberry Falls. He stated they would like the town to sponsor a hole for$500. Concern was expressed that this would open the door to more requests from other groups for support. There was no support by Council for this item to be placed on tomorrow's agenda. Council Member Dunn thanked Council Member Hammier for bringing up the WhichWich owner's accomplishment. He stated he may be late to the Tuesday night meeting due to a County Planning Commission meeting. He stated he may be absent at the March 10 Council meeting and would request electronic participation. He stated he would not be at the work session either, but is not requesting electronic participation in the work session meeting. It was agreed to put this on the agenda for Tuesday night. Council Member Dunn requested a memo concerning EEOC issues within the town. He also requested a memo on any instances where the Police Department has focused/profiled on minorities for law enforcement. There was no Council consensus 5IPage Council Work Session February 23, 2015 for this information. Council Member Dunn stated he would bring action in two weeks to request this information. He also requested further information on the meeting held with Leesburg Today and the Town Attorney that was attended by Council Member Martinez. Council members noted that this information has been previously provided in a satisfactory manner and there was no consensus for further information. Council Member Dunn stated he would bring action in two weeks to request this information. 3. Adjournment On a motion by Council Member Hammler, seconded by Council Member Martinez, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m. &•11 � i► Clerk of C• • 2015_tcwsmin0223 6IPage