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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2016_tcwsmin0425 Council Work Session April 25, 2016 Council Chambers, 25 West Market Street, 7:30 p.m. Mayor David Butler presiding. Council Members Present: Kelly Burk, Thomas Dunn, II, Suzanne Fox, R. Bruce Gemmill, Katie Sheldon Hammler, and Mayor Butler. Council Members Absent: Marty Martinez. Staff Present: Town Manager Kaj Dentler, Deputy Town Manager Keith Markel, Town Attorney Barbara Notar, Director of Parks and Recreation Rich Williams, Director of Capital Projects and Public Works Renee Lafollette, Director of Utilities Amy Wyks, Chief of Police Vanessa Grigsby, Captain Carl Maupin, Public Information Officer Betsy Arnett, Airport Manager Scott Coffman, and Clerk of Council Lee Ann Green AGENDA ITEMS 1. Items for Discussion a. Airport Commission Annual Report Dennis Boykin and Tom Toth presented the report on behalf of the Airport Commission. Key Points: • Leesburg Executive Airport is a General Aviation Reliever Airport. • Over 250 based aircraft on any given day. • Over 115,000 operations per year— second busiest in the Commonwealth. • 105 hangars— 52 owned by the town/53 privately owned. No vacancies. • FAA contributes 90 percent of project costs for all operations on "airside" with the exception of hangars and the terminal building. • Master plan update includes forecasting 20 years of aviation demand and reviewing the airport layout plan. • Final approvals are almost completed for the Customs office. • Long waiting list for hangars. • Would like to build out 25 T-hangars and 5 corporate hangars that would back up to Miller Drive. • Extending the runway is a priority to attract more business. • Despite debt service increases, the airport is still profitable. • Would like to get Council direction to staff to move forward on airport priorities. Council Comments/Questions: • Hammier: Questioned what is the net income to Leesburg taxpayers? Coffman: Stated he likes to use the $87,000 number which is revenue minus expenses and debt service. • Burk: Questioned why the debt service goes up so precipitously. Dentler: Stated that the debt was structured this way years ago. • Hammler: Questioned what caused the spike in debt service. 1 Page Council Work Session April 25, 2016 Dentler: Stated that staff can come back with that answer. • Hammier: Questioned whether there are revenue estimates for additional hangars. Boykin: Stated that a pro-forma has been distributed and asked for staff direction to move on this project. • Dunn: Stated that there is a lot of debt service that needs to be retired over the next few years and without knowing what the return on investment will be, he is hesitant to move forward. Dentler: Stated that staff does not feel that there is the debt capacity to take this project on at this time. Boykin: Stated that they would like to study alternative funding options. • Fox: Questioned what the alternative funding sources are. Boykin: Stated that they will have to dig into that. Further, he added that an authority has never been done in the town, to his knowledge. • Dunn: Suggested that since demand for hangar space is high and supply is low, that rates be increased. Boykin: Stated that if you go too high, people will move out and you will develop a reputation for hieh rent. • Gemmill: Questioned what would be a reasonable time period for Council to expect this information. Dentler: Stated he would be more comfortable with September. • Hammler: Questioned whether the County includes the airport in its marketing material. Boykin: Stated he met with the Loudoun County Economic Development Director and they have been given all the airport marketing materials. Further, he stated that Ms. Edwards has been including the airport in all the town's marketing materials. • Fox: Stated that the airport is a unique amenity for the town and she has seen business beine turned away because of lack of hangar space. • Butler: Questioned what the difference in size is between Leesburg and Manassas. Boykin: Stated that Manassas has two runways and a control tower but Leesburg's ground transportation access is superior. b. Winter Storm Jonas After Action Report Keith Markel gave a report on Winter Storm Jonas. He introduced representatives from the Virginia Department of Transportation and Loudoun County General Services. Key Points: • Governor declared a snow emergency on Thursday, January 21. • Town Manager declared a snow emergency on Friday, January 22 as the first flakes began to fall. • Declaration of a snow emergency gave the town manager more control as to how the storm was approached. • Heaviest snows occurred on Saturday. 2IPage Council Work Session April 25, 2016 • Roughly 34 inches of snow—largest single snow event in the past 30 years. • 175 continuous hours of operations. • Town and County government opened on Wednesday with liberal • leave in effect. • Town's trash contractor was unable to access all streets, so collection drop off points were set up. • Major roads were cleared first. • Using the same snow removal tools as in past years. • Utilities crews stayed at the plants to ensure uninterrupted service. • Interactive plowing map was available. • Used a "snow boss" for leadership and critical decision making. • Introduced a snow hotline which was available 24/7. Live assistance was available 24/7 for the first five days and then went to 12 hour shifts. • Town staff, VDOT staff, and county staff participated in a joint press conference on the Tuesday after the snow. • Police Department, Airport, Parks and Recreation, Public Works, and Utilities all contributed. • Downtown streets were cleared early because of pedestrian safety concerns. • The tennis bubble was cleared because of concerns that the weight of the snow could damage the bubble, possibly causing collapse. • Second pass through the neighborhoods would have interfered with residents efforts to dig out their driveways. Council Comments/Questions: • Fox: Questioned whether there was a cost associated with the refuse drop off points. Markel: Stated that the CSI contract was used and the town was charged for the waste containers. • Fox: Questioned whether CSI could outfit their trash trucks with snow plow blades. Lafollette: Stated that they do not have that type of equipment. • Fox: Questioned why verbal, not written commitments were obtained from subcontractors. Lafollette: Stated that they reached out to the entire list of contractors prior to the storm. She stated the town does not typically have pre- written contracts and two verbal commitments did not pan out so the town will not be having verbal commitments in the future. • Fox: Questioned why a plow sat in the Senior Center parking lot all day. Ernie Brown (LC General Services): Stated that the county does not work streets — that is either VDOT or the town. He stated that plow 3IPage Council Work Session April 25, 2016 was prioritized to deal with line of sight issues. He stated that some assets were redeployed to the town and the school board. • Fox: Questioned whether when there is a state of emergency, whether VDOT can plow the major roads. Sunil (VDOT): Stated that they pre-stage equipment for major roads so it can be deployed quickly. He stated that streets within the town are the town's responsibility. He stated that VDOT is willing to help in cases of emergency but in this case, VDOT did not have equipment available • Hammler: Thanked everyone involved for their work during the storm. She questioned whether staff had prices for the equipment that would be needed to appropriately handle larger snowfalls. Lafollette: Stated that the fleet manager is working on getting prices for some of the equipment that has been discussed. She noted that the V- plow would require a heavier dump truck. • Hammier: Expressed gratitude for all the instances where neighbors helped each other out and questioned whether there is some way to formalize this type of volunteerism. She questioned whether there are specific policy recommendations for keeping roadways clear of cars and basketball hoops. Markel: Stated that this can be done on a limited number of core snow emergency routes and an option could be to expand the number of snow emergency routes. Lafollette: Stated that some common sense by residents to keep their cars off the street, if possible, would help plowing efforts. • Hammler: Questioned when the town will find out what the reimbursement level will be from the state's snow emergency. Lafollette: Stated the number she has heard is about the 75% level, but there is no timeline on that. • Burk: Stated that one of the biggest complaints with the impassible streets for the first few days was that people could not get out in case of emergency. Maupin: There were a few calls for service. These were routed through the snow boss and emergency equipment would be preceded by a plow. • Burk: Stated that she heard a complaint that a number of plows were parked at the Comfort Inn. Lafollette: Stated that the vehicles that were parked at the Comfort Inn where the crews were staying would have been the one ton pick up trucks that could not be used because of the depth of the snow. She stated they were used to get the crews to and from the hotel. She noted that in the same general area there were five VDOT contractor plows that were broken down or stuck. She stated the vehicles that could take a plow or a spreader were run 24 hours a day unless they were in the shop for broken parts. Markel: Noted that the shop was also open 24 hours a day to keep the trucks up and running. 41 Page Council Work Session April 25, 2016 • Burk: With the number of very heavy storms that the area has experienced over the past 20 years, it seems difficult to say that the town should invest in new equipment and staff that would not be used every year. Markel: Stated that some additional equipment such as dump trucks and bobcats could be justified as they can be used in other operations. Further, he noted an additional three man crew could be used year round. Dentler: Noted that Leesburg was no different from the rest of the county, region, and state. He stated that Leesburg might have gotten the bullseye of unflattering media coverage, but the performance was the same all over. He stated that doing significantly better next rime may require a financial investment that may not be necessary. • Burk: Questioned what the county learned and what they would do differently. Brown: Stated that it is difficult to financially staff or equip for. He stated that the county made the call too late to pull in help from areas outside the storm area. He stated if they had made the call earlier, they might have been able to get a handle on the storm. Further, he noted that they would be adding additional pieces of equipment that they can better deploy to ensure public safety. • Burk: Expressed surprise that no one from Leesburg was at the Loudoun County Emergency Operations Center. Dentler: Stated that while no one was there physically, the town was in very close communication with them. He stated the county was outstanding in the response to the town. He stated in the future, someone will be there. • Gemmill: Stated that he has no complaints on how the town handled this storm. He stated there were inconveniences, but in the broad scheme of things, we are lucky to live in a great county, state and town that can handle these kinds of things. He suggested that the public access channel be used to give the citizens information. Betsy Fields: Stated that the physical limitation right now with the public access channel is that the changes can only be made from within the building; however, they are working on updating the system to a web-based system so that the slideshow can be changed remotely. • Dunn: Stated that no one ever has all the resources that they need. He commended the crews that worked on the storm and commended the public for being patient. He questioned why some sections of Rt. 15 are not VDOT maintained. Lafollette: Stated that was an agreement that was entered into by the town in the early 80s as part of the annexation. She stated that the town agreed to take over the maintenance responsibilities for Rt. 15 within the corporate limits and 15 bypass north of Rt. 7 to the corporate limits. 5IPage Council Work Session April 25, 2016 • Dunn: Stated he did not have a problem with efforts during the storm. He stated he was concerned with how long it took after the end of the storm. He stated the crews stopped working too soon but were deployed for a storm that didn't happen. He stated he would be in support of allocating funds for proper snow removal. Dentler: Stated there was no decision by staff to be budget conscious. He questioned what Council's expectations are. • Dunn: Suggested having sister cities not in the path of the storm to ask for help. Further, he suggested having standards for snow removal. He stated he drives all over the state for his work and other areas were cleared better than the town. He stated the attitude of letting nature take its course three weeks after the storm is unacceptable. • Butler: Stated he knows that the public was happy with the hotline and appreciative of it. He stated the dumpster idea was a fantastic idea and a lot of people took advantage of it. He stated he would like to meet with town staff to discuss the strategy of how to attack a big storm. He stated that the town has to figure out how to keep people from being trapped in their houses for five days. c. Final Legislative Wrap Up Barbara Notar delivered a report on the most recent General Assembly session. Key Points: • City status bill—Delegate Minchew submitted a bill to provide an exception for the moratorium for towns with a population of at least 40,000 — this bill was withdrawn. Two separate bills were introduced in the senate and the house to extend the moratorium for six more years. A directive has been issued to the housing commission to study the moratorium. The report will be back no later than September 2018. • Dam safety— which would get federal funds for dam remediation for dams such as the Exeter and Richmond Square dams. The bill was continued. Senator Wexton also submitted a budget request on the town's behalf. • Drone bill — 14 bills were introduced and 13 failed. Only 17 states have been able to restrict drone usage for privacy purposes. Drone usage in Virginia is only regulated by federal law at this time. • Fines and Forfeitures — Delegate Minchew's support of the bill to get local money back to localities was finally successful. • Dooring statute — Requires that drivers wait a reasonable amount of time to assure safety when opening doors into traffic. • Tree preservation — Localities may propose signs that notifies the public that an infill grading plan has been submitted. • Line of Duty Act— Administration has been moved to VRS. Budget line item for this for the town is just over$33,000. 61Page Council Work Session April 25, 2016 • Publishing of legal notices —Would have allowed localities to publish advertisements online, rather than in print papers. Was not successful due to lobbying by the newspapers. • Predatory lending—Bills to cap interest rates were defeated because of complaints that these bills are anti-consumer and reduce options for borrowers. • Proffer bill —proffers will be deemed unreasonable unless they address impacts that are specifically attributable to proposed residential development. Work session discussion will occur on May 9 about the bill. • Air BnB — Localities are limited from adopting ordinances regulating these. • Non-partisan elections — Vetoed by the governor. Council Comments: • Hammler: Expressed the need to start thinking about working with NVRC and others on the subject of the proffer bill. She stated the loss of road maintenance funds was a huge hit. 2. Additions to Future Council Meetings Council Member Dunn stated that the town has two major long-term financial goals —reducing debt and increasing the undesignated fund balance. He requested a work session to discuss memberships and publications used by Town Staff and the necessity of the truck GPS systems. There was consensus to add this as a work session discussion. Council Member Dunn requested a work session on Council rules regarding how things are put on agendas. There was consensus to add this as a work session discussion. Council Member Hammler requested looking at county capital intensity factor funds for the police department. There was consensus to add this as a work session discussion prior to the next task force meeting. Council Member Hammier stated that there has been a lot of negative feedback about the Lowenbach project. She stated she would like a debrief about the project to understand the project, how it was funded, and how it is going. 7IPage Council Work Session April 25, 2016 There was consensus to have an information memo on the Lowenbach project provided by staff. Mayor Butler requested approval to send a letter of support for a bill in the Congress that would provide some funding to remediate problems with publicly owned high hazard dams. There was not enough support for this letter. Mayor Butler noted that Loudoun County has requested a letter in support of increasing the historic area of Balls Bluff Park. There was not enough support for this letter. Mayor Butler requested initiation of no-through truck traffic on Hope Parkway. Council Member Dunn requested a similar initiation for Battlefield Parkway. There was support for initiation of two no-through truck designations for Hope Parkway and Battlefield Parkway. On a motion by Council Member Dunn, seconded by Council Member Gemmill, the meeting was adjourned at 10:31 p.m. 1 - Clerk of Codiel 20I6_tewsmin0425 81 Page