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HomeMy Public PortalAbout2016_tcwsmin0926 Council Work Session September 26, 2016 Council Chambers, 25 West Market Street, 7:30 p.m. Mayor David S. Butler presiding. Council Members Present: Kelly Burk, Thomas Dunn, Suzanne Fox, R. Bruce Gemmill, Katie Sheldon Hammler, Marty Martinez and Mayor Butler. Council Members Absent: None. Staff Present: Town Attorney Barbara Notar, Deputy Town Manager Keith Markel, Director of Planning and Zoning Susan Berry Hill, Director of Capital Projects and Public Works Renee Lafollette, Chief of Police Vanessa Grigsby, IT Project Manager John Callahan, Preservation Planner Tom Scofield, and Paralegal Carmen Smith. AGENDA ITEMS 1. Items for Discussion a. Outsourcing Final Report Keith Markel presented Council with the results of the investigation into outsourcing. Key Points: • Every town department outsources some functions of their operations. • Departments rely significantly on the services of outside consultants, engineer and software systems to manage daily workload. • Continued growth means that town staff will need to rely more on outside firms to provide service or hire more employees. • During the growing season, public works crews spend a significant amount of time moving public right-of-way, town facilities and parks. • Crews are cross-trained to provide other services when not mowing. • The Town's population has grown 133 percent since 1996, but the public works streets/fleets/inspections division has only grown 68 percent in the same period. • Mowing has a small delta between what it costs the town to do internally versus having an outside firm provide the service. • Outsourcing mowing would free up staff to perform tasks that are more expensive to outsource. • No localities in Virginia have outsourced their Public Information Office (PIO) duties. • Keeping PIO functions in-house ensures that the highest quality information gets pushed to the public. • Financially and logistically, outsourcing PIO services is less efficient than performing the duties in-house. Council Comments/Questions: • Dunn: Questioned whether benefits and equipment costs were considered when looking at in-house costs. -- — - - - --- -1 Page Council Work Session September 26, 2016 Markel: Stated that both were included in the calculations. • Gemmill: Stated he likes the ability to utilize employee efforts in other areas. He stated it is his personal feeling that staff should proceed. • Martinez: Expressed that this was a waste of staff time. • Hammler: Stated she assumed that one of the goals of this was a net savings. She cautioned there could be a net increase to add outsourcing funds. She stated that the costs associated with TMDLs need to be carefully tracked so that it can be articulated from a legislative perspective. Further, she noted that there is a tremendous amount of trash that keeps building up despite the Keep Leesburg Beautiful efforts in April. She stated that some of the PIO efforts are outsourced, such as the design of the website. • Fox: Stated she agrees with the staff recommendations. • Butler: Clarified that using outsourced labor for mowing could be looked at during the budget deliberations. b. Board of Architectural Review Recommendations for Master Plan— Garage and Open Areas Paul Reimers, Chair of the Board of Architectural Review was present to answer questions. Council Comments/Questions: • Fox: Questioned whether all property owners are requested to submit a master plan. Reimers: Stated in a large project, such as the Courthouse expansion, a master plan would be requested. • Hammler: Questioned whether a master plan can be done in house. Reimers: Stated that he believes it can be done in-house. • Hammier: Encouraged the inclusion of the Economic Development Commission in the process. Reimers: Added that what happens to the space during the winter months needs to be identified. • Martinez: Questioned what a Master Plan would allow and how long it would take. Reimers: Stated it would allow everyone to go through the process and look at all aspects of the site. Ference: Stated it would take a few months. • Burk: Questioned whether there is a master plan for the parks in the town. Ference: Stated that the master plan is due for updating, probably within the next calendar year and there are individual master plans for the town's 16 parks. He stated they do not have a master plan for this area. • Burk: Questioned what areas would be included in the master plan. Reimers: Stated the two plots on either side of the garage and the Rose Garden. 2Page Council Work Session September 26, 2016 • Martinez: Stated that a park that is used by families would need restroom facilities. • Gemmill: Stated that if it can be done in house, it makes sense. • Dunn: Stated the BAR does a great job in stewardship of the historic downtown. Further, he stated the town is overspending by putting anything in this location as it is not befitting of the historic downtown. • Butler: Stated he understands the BAR's position. He stated his opinion that a master plan will be at least a two to three year process. He stated his concern that developing a master plan involving so many organizations it will be difficult to come to consensus. He stated his enthusiasm for a master plan is low. He stated it would be more appropriate for the BAR to reject the splash pad and then the Master Plan could start with a clean slate. • Hammler: Suggested that this be on tomorrow night's agenda and a decision be made at that time. There was consensus to add this to tomorrow night's agenda for decision. c. Fiscal Year 2018 Funding Request Submission to the County of Loudoun Jason Cournoyer presented the item to finalize the annual funding request to the County. Key Points: • No gasoline tax this year. • This covers transit and transportation capital funding and projects that are associated with the county facilities within the town to be included in their CIP. • A continued funding partnership for the school resource officer program is also included. • Items that are shown in both the Transportation funding and the county facilities CIP have been included twice in hopes that if funding is not provided under one, it will be provided under the other. Council Comments/Questions: • Dunn: Stated that the consistent message from the County on the SROs is that the County will take it over and replace the Town's officers with Sheriff's deputies if the Town pushes for 100 percent funding. He stated there appears to be come disparity with what the SROs are doing during the summer. He suggested an 85/15 split with the county since it is more equitable with what the officers are actually doing during the summer. • Hammler: Stated her agreement with Council Member Dunn's statement. She stated that Council will need an update on how the SRO at Douglass School, who is a Sheriff's Deputy, is working. She ------- - _ - 3 Page Council Work Session September 26, 2016 stated Council will have to decide if they want to pay the differential to be able to keep Leesburg officers as SROs, of if they are comfortable saving that money and having Sheriff's take over the SRO function. She stated it was alluded during the meeting that summer time is when the officers take vacation or training that is necessary for the SRO program. • Dunn: Stated that he suggested 15 percent because summer is not one third of the year— it is only about 10 weeks. • Burk: Questioned when the application to the county is due. Cournoyer: Stated it is due September 30. He noted that School Resource officers are at the schools more than the students as there is a lot of preparation, certification and training that go into getting ready for the school year. He stated if it is the Council's wish to look at and present more analytically the numbers of what is school related and what is not, that information is due October 21. • Burk: Questioned whether there will be anymore task force meetings. Cournoyer: Stated that the task force agreed unanimously to dissolve. Markel: Stated that staff feels comfortable with the 70 percent number based on how much utilization the town receives from these officers during the summer months. • Burk: Stated she is not aware of a lot of time spent preparing for the school year by SROs. She questioned what the officers are doing during school holidays. Grigsby: Stated the officers are back at the Police headquarters and can be working on cases generated during the year, or they could be on annual leave or supplemented patrol. • Dunn: Stated his belief that Leesburg officers are permanently assigned to a specific school whereas Sheriff's deputies rotate from school to school. Grigsby: Stated that the Sheriff's Deputies are assigned. • Martinez: Questioned the request for transportation funding for Safe-T- Ride. Cournoyer: Stated in FY2017, it is about$292,000. He stated that $300,000 should offset any increase in cost. He stated the exact numbers are not available yet. He stated that the town staff will need direction from Council as to any supplemental routes that they would like to add but the county will update baseline service provided within the town. • Martinez: Noted that the new development on the other side of the airport as well as the move of Walmart will require that section of town to be served. He questioned the transportation project funding. Lafollette: Stated that the section of Evergreen Mill Road runs from Battlefield Parkway to Rt. 15, but the section in front of Heritage High School is a county responsibility. She added that Battlefield Parkway is a $1 million that the county put in the 2018 CIP that is gap funding to ensure there is enough funding in the project to cover the cost of 4IPage • Council Work Session September 26, 2016 construction. She stated this is what used to be called "gas tax", but is now being called transportation funding. Further, she noted the Sycolin Road project is from the Dominion Power building just south of Tolbert Lane all the way to the corporate limits. • Martinez: Expressed his support for keeping town officers in town schools as SROs. • Hammler: Thanked the county for their support in getting NVTA funding for the East Market Street/Battlefield Parkway interchange. She questioned how town residents will be able to get to the new metro station. Lafollette: Stated the Loudoun County Commuter Bus service has a route that runs to the westernmost station. • Hammler: Stated that if the town did not have a police force, the county would be paying a lot more to provide a basic level of police service within the town. She stated she supports saving the money and allowing the county to provide the SROs because growth has created other pressing needs. • Fox: Questioned whether the county pays for Safe-T-Ride service. Cournoyer: Stated that the county took over responsibility for basic levels of service within the town two years ago and the Council approved the additional funds for the Safe-T-Ride service to supplement the basic service. • Fox: Expressed her comfort with having the Sheriff's office take over the SRO duties for the town. • Butler: Stated that it appears that the Council would like to ask for the entire amount to fund the SROs and see what happens. 2. Additions to Future Council Meetings Dunn: Requested a work session discussion to review the changes that Crescent Parke is offering before deciding to rescind the vote on the application. The Chair ruled this request was out of order and will not be entertained. The Chair's ruling was not overturned by a vote of 4-3. Gemmill: Requested that a vote to rescind the Crescent Parke application decision and to direct staff to direct the appropriate resolution to hold a public hearing on October 25. There was consensus to place this item on the agenda for tomorrow night for action. Burk: Requested a discussion regarding alternatives to the herbicides applied by town staff to areas surrounding creeks and streams. There was consensus to place this on a work session agenda. 5IPage Council Work Session September 26, 2016 Burk: Requested a proclamation to acknowledge the 20th Anniversary of Middleburg Bank's operations in Leesburg. She also requested some information from the Chamber regarding AirBnB. There was consensus to add these items to a future meeting. Martinez: Suggested that the new skatepark be named after Eric Brown, who spearheaded the movement to fund the Catoctin Skatepark. Hammier: Requested a work session, prior to the public hearing for Crescent Parke. Staff will add this to the draft resolution. Butler: Stated there is a parking problem on Meadows Lane and suggested that the Meadows Lane loop be made one way so that additional parking could be added. He requested an informational memo. Further, he noted that the Korean Tae Kwon Do group will be in Leesburg in October and asked that their visit be coordinated. There was consensus to add these items. 3. Adjournment On a motion by Council Member Gemmill, seconded by Council Member Fox, the m.eti : w agou ed at 9:19p.m.li 0 t 1/IVA /....A Clerk of C. to 201 1_tcwsmin0926 6IPage