City Council Meeting   4/15/2019

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Now I call this meeting to order.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and

Ms. Thomas, roll call, please.

Ms. Walker?

Are there any announcements?

I hope you all can come out.

And prayers are out there for the whole city of Paris.

None for tonight?

Right, Nikuyah?

Thank you, Councilor Bellamy, for facilitating that.

Oh, it's no problem.

All right, Ms. Thomas, would you read the consent agenda please?

Aye, Appropriation, Virginia Department of Social Services, Employment for Temporary Aid to Needy Families, Participants Grant, Second Renewal, $58,824, Second of 2 Readings, J, Ordinance, Telecommunications Franchise to MMI Atlantic, LLC, Second of 2 Readings, K, Resolution, CPA TV, York Property Lease Agreement and the Ryle Thomas Show, LLC, License Agreement, Second of 2 Readings.

Is there a motion?

I move we adopt the consent agenda as presented.

Next we have our interim city manager, Mr. Mike Murphy's response to community matters from the April 1st meeting.

Ms. Parker is not here with us this evening, but Mr. Duncan is prepared to help you understand from his perspective as the traffic engineer what were the appropriate actions and what did he do and actually how we've maybe gone beyond what he would have initially recommended.

Yeah.

Is there a significant cost associated with putting in the flashing lights?

There are roughly $10,000 apiece, something like that.

And we would need how many?

You would need one on either side.

And then is there like an installation fee, or would that be all encompassing?

I think that's all encompassing.

So have there been accidents in terms of accidents, any pedestrians and vehicular incidents?

Not at this particular area, not within the last five years of data.

So that's just where I stand, just so my colleagues know.

We know that there is crash data even at one of those intersections and so I just more holistically just want to make sure that we're strategic and where we employ this because you know there are a lot of areas and I think to Mr. Duncan's point that if we have these everywhere is the thought that people just stop paying attention to them.

And not too much further past that, there's another signalized intersection that one could use.

But that's just one one person.

taking a left.

Okay, so but is it hard to get in and out because Right, but but that's what I mean like it put it putting a do not block the box isn't going to stop the traffic that's moving and

I'm just interested if people are you know if there have been accidents how many they've been what kind of calls are we getting from CPD you know to CPD about you know the intersection and then if there's a way that we can figure out you know how many individuals are asking because I haven't received a lot of communication about the intersection so I just would like a little bit more

In the two years I've been here, Ms. Parker is the only one that I've heard from directly about this intersection.

Well, I can respect you saying she's the only one that you've heard from directly.

I'm just saying, they haven't been contacting me.

But again, I'm only one counselor and I'm just speaking.

I do think that there's other pathways that people make to the area that you're talking about.

If we want them to do it right,

So, you know, if council is interested in pursuing this, we can tell you exactly what the installation cost would be.

And I'd also like to see what some of the other areas are in the city that have been in need of the flashing light crossings.

Again, if we, and you all can direct me to do that, but I don't want to fall into, you know, whichever community, it doesn't matter who it is, but if we're putting them in where they're not warranted, then there's why I have criteria.

No one knows who we're going to talk about this tonight.

Just for clarification in regards to the other streets that have had these installed at council direction, was there a process or just individual, councilors?

To my knowledge it was, councilors said we want them here, here, here and here.

There is.

Well, I mean the one, for instance, on the other side of the Belmont Bridge is scheduled to be removed when we've replaced the Belmont Bridge.

I'd like to see what that plan is calling for in this intersection.

like how that street is constructed is not the same as how it will be now when we're talking about the bridge.

It'll be fairly similar.

It's a safety issue.

Okay, and we'll just get on the agenda.

So I would not be inclined to bring this back to you in one of the next couple of meetings if we need additional data from both PD and the traffic engineer.

Thank you.

All right.

Thank you, Mr. Duncan.

Yeah, OK. OK.

How will we process the receipt?

potentially some discussion of some updates that need to happen to council in order to release funds for the on-the-job training program that occurred with some of the maintenance skills in public housing and so I think it would be perfectly appropriate to ask Mr. Duffield to also update you on what the nature of that additional appropriation was and what purposes are allowable.

Good evening.

Thank you.

Don't do that.

Thank you so far, Wes.

Is there a timeline in which you were looking to hear back from us?

the rights of citizens, residents of the city are upheld by all people receiving services.

As someone who's worked in the nonprofit, it's a major concern of mine and I know that a lot of people don't come, you know, come forth and talk, you know, talk about it and it's something that I'm hoping that we figure out because it is very important.

I want to know from the professionals here how best to approach this very concerning issue.

I'll follow up on the other part.

Not knowing the particulars of this matter, but any citizen, I mean, there are private legal means through a 1983 action if they felt that a government agency had discriminated against them on the basis of a protected characteristic.

I'm going to say that we can't talk about any individual case and so we will need to be dealing with this more from the level of what our expectations are of systemically and with all clients rather than you know what we're expecting to happen in Ms. Anderson's case because I feel quite certain that due to HIPAA and other regulations there's no way they're going to discuss that particular case with us.

But even outside of particular cases we should be able to get feedback on more broadly some of these issues that are coming up and we should be able to have an accountability loop especially given our funding status.

And I'll just say that in my experience of many years in the human services field to have this many findings against any agency is extraordinary.

the agencies who have the positions of power continue as they have been or are we going to step in, really put some things in place to make sure that the money that we're given, we're not just giving money for people to have jobs, we're giving people, organizations money so that they can serve people well and if they're not serving people well, that accountability loop that you're talking about, we need to be firm about that because the only way it's going to get better if it's clear that there's some consequences associated.

And I would just add to Vice Mayor Hill's comments and questions that if Mr. Murphy's correct they probably will not give you individualized case information but it is certainly within your purview to ask for the number of if any founded violations as well as how many separate individuals have those violations been adjudicated against.

Mayor Walker, I certainly would like to make that request.

All right, next we have Chris Meyer.

Good evening, Councillor.

Good evening.

Good luck with the rest of your proceedings this evening.

Thank you.

create an acting group and so I hope that can move forward very quickly and with your permission we actually have three people in a row to speak on this topic but we don't want to clutter you up too much and so with your permission we'd just like to allow Mr. Shisler to speak.

Good evening Madam Mayor, Members of Council, Mr. Murphy and all the members of city staff.

I'm Jim Schisler.

Thank you.

So that's how I know what he knows and what he can do.

Ellen Osborn.

If you ever hear anybody who's not satisfied with the services that they receive at Literacy Volunteers, please let me know.

Thank you.

Rich Severin, Katrina Turner,

And I know this for a fact.

So Ms. Turner, we discussed this before at a council meeting openly about the fact that you are also aware that there was no videotape.

I need that down in writing.

But you were present and you know that there wasn't a videotape.

I understand about mistakes, but that's what I want her to write.

I made a mistake.

that she made that mistake.

I don't know anything at this point right now, Mayor Walker.

And if it is, I would like to see it because it will show everything I'm saying.

But you were there.

But I was told that that's a lie because there

I don't know what else that I should ask the Chief to do at this point.

So it's okay that when I ask for something corrected that she only changes a word so it doesn't show where her mistake was?

You have both letters.

You want her to say to you, I use photo

Video instead of photo.

How am I wrong?

So the other counselors, if you will.

I appreciate the mayor's support and the remainder of the council, but I'm not going to ask the police chief to revisit the issue.

This is the incompetence I'm trying to tell you that's going on in this police department.

So you filled the complaint out?

After I received that letter from Mr. Murphy, I went straight and filed this complaint.

She did something new?

I went straight and filed this complaint.

And what's that complaint?

This was allowed to leave out of the police department.

So I have filed a complaint against the police before, and I fill out the complaint and turn it

And if the police don't do what they're supposed to do, are they going to do these complaints then?

So does Mr. Murphy have that complaint?

I don't know who has it.

So would you like for us to make a copy of it to make sure that we have it?

I'm aware of the complaint, Mayor Walker.

So it did.

So are we outside the timeline to respond?

It is in the city attorney's office and it's a matter that we'll be discussing this week.

So in terms of the timeline that she's supposed to get notified, um, uh, what's that time?

The policy right here is when they get the receipt of the complaint.

You know, I'm not able to cite you the policy off the top of my head.

I can investigate the case or as you're aware in the last instance I decided elected to contract with a third party for that so that's the decision that will be made this week and Ms. Turner will be notified.

So what good is an outside investigation?

Emily Dreyfus

Thank you.

So I have a question about the individuals at, and this is more for Mr. Murphy, is this something that we can direct for individuals to be supported by the voucher program?

So I do want to say thank you particularly to Mr. Maython, the folks at Legal Aid, and any others.

Yes, Miss Demick.

But also, I would like, even if they get to stay, if you're talking about someone with an income of $800 a month, if our vouchers can assist them, even if they're in the same location, then I would like for us to explore whether we can help them.

And I think it's on the path to do that.

Fantastic, thank you.

All right, Harold Boland.

Carol Foley, Legal Aid, I succeed my time to Joyce.

Good evening.

That's not quite half.

I'm not 35 years old.

This initial CRB group is going to present to you on Wednesday or talk to you about on Wednesday and then present in May and we hope that you will also support it.

Is there anyone else who would like to speak?

I know that there is a lot of work being done, but it would be great to have more updates on those sorts of things, so thank you.

Yeah, you know, we've been working with the groups that wanted to come and make comment, including the C3, our environmental office, I know that there's a potential resolution from the council, and all of that slated for the next meeting, May 6th, and I apologize if that didn't get communicated through whatever groups you're networking with, but certainly those groups are aware of the date, yeah, no doubt.

So I call this meeting back to order.

Yeah, I would like to make a motion that we change the order of the agenda to move item 7 up to be discussed now given some travel constraints of Dr. Richardson.

Second.

Okay, please vote.

And there you go.

And for your consideration as a council tonight is your approval of his employment agreement with the city.

Move that we adopt the resolution.

Second.

And now just for public information, the information starts on page 154 of the agenda if you hadn't had a chance to look at it.

Welcome once again.

Okay, so is there a motion?

And Mr. Signer's not here, but he did say that he would be certainly voting in favor of this as well, but he's not here yet, and we move the agenda.

All right, that carries four to zero.

Thank you very much.

Safe travels.

Safe travels.

Alright, next on the agenda we have a public hearing resolution on the 2019 bond issue.

We also have a public hearing as well.

Were there any concerns from the rating agencies?

I would say that there were no issues or concerns raised by either agency during those phone calls.

Is there anyone who would like to speak on the series 2019 bond issue?

Ms. Bogart, I heard you wanted to speak.

So we'll close the public hearing.

So I just want to make sure that we understand that while the CIP had that issued, or the authorized but not issued, debt of over $37 million, that the $7 million that makes this $17.5 million is fully funded by the rate structure that's approved for the utilities, and so it really is $10.5 million from your regular CIP.

And so I'd like to publicly acknowledge her and thank her for her work.

Thank you.

Great job.

Okay.

All right.

You're welcome, Pete.

So I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Sounds like an efficiency makes sense.

Thank you, Chief.

Is that what?

Yes, it's their personal vehicles.

Right, so it's a sticker that goes on their squad license plate.

I think the principle behind it, Madam Mayor, and I think this is a great efficiency for us because there are literally hundreds of people on the list prior to this change that's being proposed.

I think we're less than a hundred if we stick with full active members.

And the idea is somebody could be downtown, need to park their vehicle and be called out on a call and we wouldn't want to penalize them for being in a two-hour parking spot or something or in zone parking.

Is there communication about if it's not a situation like that?

What is communicated to the permit holders?

Even though I have some parking issues with parking a lot.

The sticker is affixed to their squad tag.

I'm just trying to figure out if it's still communicated at the leadership team meetings or whatever to just be mindful of what the appropriate use of the privilege is.

That's certainly something we can discuss with the leadership of the Rescue Squad.

Yes ma'am.

Okay.

And that, so we're actually, just wanted to make sure that the public had this information.

Representative of the applicant is present as well.

I support it.

Any other questions?

Well, we're going to vote.

Is there any information that you would like to share?

I don't need to take up the time.

So we do both?

I would do them.

In succession.

Second.

And do we need to do that?

Yes.

So the, um, there's a resolution for a special use permit, um, for Lyman street residences, um, tax map 58 parcel two eight nine point two and three five eight E, um, subject properties first to one reading.

And the Planning Commission also unanimously recommended approval of this item as well.

Mr. Stolzenberg.

OK.

Right.

And was that in the property because there was some discussion whether it would be in internal access.

All right.

All right.

That carries forward as well.

Do you have a question?

I'd just like to say it's a beautiful project.

All right, thank you.

Thank you for coming.

All right, next we have the update on proposed changes to alleys and Paper Street closing policy.

And the process didn't change, but what we added was this baseline threshold for measuring the applications once it's submitted.

that increases rear axis for potential ADU and then the first box, it meets it, it gets a 3 and then it gets a weight times .25.

And then after you finish, you add it up.

Wouldn't you multiply it by 1.25?

The lowest you can get is one point.

We spent a considerable amount of time.

If it was something that we have to look at then in the future, if there is a request, maybe by bike and pet committee to combat an alley.

Or if an alley winds up, if we really start promoting the ADU, we'll start getting more ADUs on the garages and the alleys, in which case you're going to have to start improving the alleys so that somebody would have to take them over for maintenance.

Yeah, at that point then we have to go into a detailed discussion in terms of cost for making it more easier.

Thank you.

This is intended just to be a report and that we now have this tool.

We can have a resolution on your consent agenda at your next meeting.

And to the whole working group.

All right.

Is it maybe just you and me coming?

No, Wes is going to be there.

You call me?

Okay.

Is there anyone here who would like to speak?

Before 9.