City Council Meeting   6/6/2011

David Brown.

Good to see you.

Good to see you.

I'd like to call this meeting to order and we're going to start with the Pledge of Allegiance.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands,

Thank you all for being with us tonight.

and here to say a few words about this event we have Charlie Taurian, John LaPrade and Steve Lehman.

And we thank you for your support.

Joe.

and visit mybackyardvacation.org because when it comes to vacation, there's no place like home.

Nice work.

But yeah, trash those European travel plans and spend your money locally.

And we have, I believe, some other announcements, Mr. Huja.

Thank you.

Anybody else have announcements?

There's a lot of stuff happening, but rather than me trying to explain it to the director of the festival is here, Andrew Owen, and I'd like for him to come up and tell us all a little bit more about it.

And you're on the mic better that way.

So thank you and I hope the Charlottesville community knows how much we appreciate their support in everything that we do.

Do you want to give the website?

Sure, our website is www.look3.org and all of our information and examples of the work that we do is on the website.

Ms. Szakos?

So I'm sure that other councilors join me in being very proud of our staff and appreciative of this, another way that we can save the taxpayer's money.

Any other announcements?

If you would like more information about all the Juneteenth celebrations, please contact Maxine Holland at 295-6632, Tamara Turner, 825-8204 or email tturner at pbcc.edu.

I believe Mr. Huja you had an item?

I have an item relating to Interchange and 29 North.

So that's the Best Buy?

Best Buy ramp, yes.

The first person who will sign up to speak tonight is Mr. Paul Long.

that will include not only Albemarle County but will also include the surrounding counties of Savannah, Louisa, Green and Orange Counties and I want to thank you very much for your time.

Joanna Salidas.

To enlarge the Ragged Mountain Dam without also dredging to preserve and enlarge existing water reserves would be foolish and irresponsible.

Thank you.

Thanks.

Rich Collins.

Thank you.

Carol Thorpe.

I thank you for your time.

It's an interesting segue.

We at ASAP have faith that you will reject the Tea Party position for the conspiratorial absurdity it is.

Thank you.

have from the get-go now raised.

James Halfaday.

Good evening, Council.

Collette Hall

Thank you.

Rebecca Quinn.

in asking that Rivanna and perhaps even the State Department of Conservation and Recreation that is issuing the construction permit that they will help answer some of the questions.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Laura Covert.

Thank you.

We will now open our meeting to council member responses to matters by the public.

Who would like to get us started?

Mr. Huja.

So that study will be happening in the near future I think.

I was actually looking forward to having her listen as well as speak, but I guess one thing that concerned me in her statement was that she interpreted the word sustainable to mean all of these scary things, and yet, you know,

and Kristin Szakos

So thank you for bringing that.

Who wants to go next?

I wanted to go last.

Anyway, those are my comments for this evening.

Ms. Edwards.

This is a bad thing because people aren't picking up after their dogs and we might step in it.

The dog poop looks nasty.

And there is a teacher from Clark Elementary that I'd like to have come forward and please introduce yourself and explain how this grassroots organizing effort got started.

So I just hope that they do get a solution that they get to see by next year.

So I think it is something that you ought to be promoting instead of denying.

Mrs. Edwards, do you have any other comments on the poop debacle?

Yes, I'd like to hear from staff about what the next steps will be.

as well.

Thank you very much and a special thanks to the students at Clark for initiating this project and we do take it seriously and I will be asking for a follow up in a few months.

Is there a motion to approve the remaining items?

I also move.

and it carries unanimously.

Just for clarification, that was the whole consent agenda.

First to one reading, Mr. Jim Tolbert.

Is that in the new lease?

Is there a provision there?

Somebody else wrote this and they didn't write that in for me but this is before you tonight is a five-year renewal of that lease, same terms as before and we feel like it's a great use of city property there.

Any further, any questions, comments, or a motion to approve the resolution?

I move the motion.

Is there a second?

Second.

Good evening, Mr. Mayor and members of council.

The advisory board voted to endorse option one.

Questions for Mr. Daley?

I think we should follow the recommendation.

Dr. Brown?

Thank you Dr. Brown.

Anybody else?

But I still think that this is not the way, tearing out existing fields is not the way to find new rectangular fields.

So whatever decision we make, I hope that there's a sincere effort to really do outreach in some of the underserved neighborhoods.

I saw it in different numbers, but I know it's well into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

A synthetic turf field of that dimension with lights is easily at a minimum a million dollars by the time.

My colleagues on endorsing the recommendation of our Parks and Rec Advisory Board and I'd be happy to entertain, unless there's any further discussion, I'd be happy to entertain a motion to that effect.

Again, with that in mind, I would make a motion to accept option 1 as recommended by the committee.

Okay.

And that is the Reader's Digest condensed version.

Is there still value in your mind to have this conversation with the community about the future of that side of the park?

And I really believe that the time has come to do this.

That is correct.

How do you anticipate wrestling with that?

We acknowledge that this is going to be a big effort and it's going to take some time.

Is the First Tee program dependent on that space or are there other choices for the First Tee?

Not only the life skills curriculum and the core values instruction, but the golf course play, and McIntyre does play part in that.

And in terms of the, not talking about the other aspects of First Tee, but in terms of kids, young people participating in the First Tee, what percentage approximately are city residents?

It varies depending upon the session, but on an annual basis that's the number.

So it's two-thirds to three-quarters non-city residents for that program.

Right, for the portion of the program that you actually register for, the national school program, which is in all the cities.

I think looking at softball versus soccer is very properly Parks and Recreation Advisory Board Committee conversation, but I think I'd like to see us have creative ways where we engage a larger part of the community into the use of that space, because it's a big space.

Does the first tee necessarily require a nine-hole course?

The chapter agreement requires the provision of an 18-hole golf course, and we are meeting that at Meadow Creek.

So what's available at McIntire is supplemental to what we make of it?

We've used it to accommodate the program needs.

Other questions or comments?

So it will be very, very difficult to keep the size of the program just at Meadow Creek.

Any further questions or comments or a motion to approve?

The only comment I'd like to make is that I do agree with Collette Hall, and even though this is an important conversation, I believe it should be deferred.

So I agree.

This is some kind of body of water because topography lends itself to some kind of water recreation.

The only part of your presentation that gave me a little pause was thinking that a number of members of your Parks Advisory Committee would basically have little blocks and move ideas around about where to put stuff.

That would be for everybody.

I believe that's indeed the plan.

There's money to, go ahead.

They jumped in kind of at that point in time in the process and were able to produce the kind of scalable things that people could move around on the tables and so forth and it worked really well and that's the approach we were proposing.

I'm not really sure where we're going here, I just wanted to voice the fact that I want to make sure we do it well and it might take a little money to do that, that's all.

because it should have to be successful, you need to expose other alternatives like Dr. Brown was saying, there may be other alternatives which will benefit the community.

I agree.

Not just two or three which you know about.

Sure, absolutely.

If there's any further discussion, if not, I'd be happy to entertain a motion to move forward with the master plan.

I make the motion that we proceed with the master plan as outlined in this report.

Is there a second?

Second.

Here to present is our Director of Finance, Mr. Bernard Ray.

Any questions on that?

I have a question.

This was brought to us this evening.

No, I'll be happy to take a look at it.

I'll be happy to take a look at it.

Any questions on that response?

Well, it's also equally valid, I'm not suggesting we do this, but it's equally valid to say we would cut expenses by that amount.

Do you have any other questions that I can't answer for you?

Questions for Mr. Ray?

And we raised them sharply a few years ago.

Our sewer would have gone up 14.8%.

and so, but we did raise our connection fees a few years ago and I think this is a reason for it.

How does the connection fees compare with the county?

For 5-8th centimeter, which is basically a residential dwelling, we have about $6,000 for water and sewer and the county's about $10,000.

So you're less than that?

They were very cooperative, by the way, in answering these questions for us.

And I think the raised rates here reflect us trying to do that, trying to deal with the aging infrastructure underground of our

And you're not going to have these big increases continuing for water and sewer infrastructure.

Thank you.

and it seems to me that it is a good way to use our resources to help families who need help.

Other comments or questions?

So I would just say I understand the rationale, but if there's a way to utilize that money so that rates weren't

We, for the first time this year, we actually budgeted relief funds in the water and the sewer utility exactly for that purpose.

And instead of having, I guess I'm thinking more of a systemic change, instead of having to have relief funds, create a system where it's not necessary to have, to allow people to live with dignity and not to have to beg for money to pay the utility bills by having a bill that people can pay in the first place.

And I'll go on record as saying I fully support the gas rate and the sewer rate, but I cannot support, I don't support what's happening with our water rates.

That's fine.

That's fine.

with a majority vote, and I know that you didn't vote for it, but that we did agree to do something than to not give our staff the ability to pay for it.

I have every expectation that there's a majority on council who are willing to support higher rates to support the plan that you voted for.

But it's something that we're legally obligated to do at this point.

We have water needs to meet and my point was that I continue to believe that there is a better way of meeting that's not going to require as high a rate increase.

On which vote?

We can vote separately and I think even let the votes fall where they fall.

I think we've done that on numerous occasions so I'd actually I don't see a reason to split this into three in fact I'd like to move that we just approve this.

Ms. Heather Callums.

And so we feel great that we had the ability with our team to at least give a face-to-face interview to every single youth who applied that showed up.

Last time you came, I or somebody mentioned on the council that it would be possible to start a bank account for all these children so that they can learn how to manage their money.

to increase the chances, and then we'll do the satellite banking so that when they get their paychecks, credit union will be on site to help with that.

like a grade report from school would count because you have to provide your birth certificate to school to be enrolled and so that would prove that you are who you say you are.

But we're working on strategies to get by with that.

And you have a video?

We're really excited to show you.

How is this?

I was excited.

It's like I'm 14 years old and I get so lucky.

I had to give them something to do.

You know how that first moment is when you first get your first job.

I was very excited.

Youth also attend a weekly workplace readiness group where they learn important job skills like how to find a job, maintain a job, and work through challenging job situations.

for our employers in this region and help them climb the ladder.

We also learned the more the nuts and bolts as far as filling out your time sheet, how to open an account, how to save your money, and I really think it goes a long way in teaching us not only how to work, but also how to be better people.

So it made me feel good about myself knowing that I was helping others.

Being able to feel as though I was making my own money, making my own way and earning a bit of autonomy and feeling like I impact something.

I get to learn how I need to act.

as an adult.

And it's really fun getting to learn new skills and new things to do.

We have found this to be an absolutely amazing program and I strongly encourage each and every one of you to participate.

And any business owner that might ask me if they should participate in this program, I give 100% back.

It gives the children and kids stuff to do during the summer so they can stay out of trouble, have a job, you know, money and everything like that, you know, help out around the house if their mom doesn't have money and stuff like that because I don't come from a rich family so I have to help out around there.

It does us as much good as it does the young people.

is more hours that we're able to give the residents which just benefits everyone and we see it as a real blessing in our community.

There are many youth out in this community that could otherwise be in trouble or doing something to not better themselves but because of this program there's an opportunity available to help youth and to get them more involved with the people and things in their community.

I know some kids first off, you know, who are my son's kids who weren't able to get into this program and I just think it's critical for us to be able to not have to turn any child away who is willing to put in the time, the effort and be responsible enough to take on a responsibility of what this program offers.

and we're doing more to leverage outside support as well so I hope this program continues to grow and help more people in the future.

If anything else for my parents or my siblings I can buy that for them.

I really want to succeed in my future and you know I want to get ready and get prepared for life ahead of me.

It's me, man.

Tell me about it.

I got the job.

That means you got a job full time.

Yes.

No.

Yes.

Thank you.

Any comments, questions for Ms. Collins?

Both the program and the movie.

What comes next?

So there are no other hurdles that are out there for that project at this point.

And can you comment on the point that Rich Collins raised earlier about this expedited, or I don't know if Mr. Brown could comment, just verify that there is indeed a time frame now for the legal action to be considered and adjudicated.

I would defer that to the city attorney.

There's certainly no guarantees on that, but he thinks that's a reasonable outcome.

I mean, what are we talking about in terms of the immediate future of this project?

very similar to what they did on the county portion.

We wanted to allow time for the courts to proceed, but I think we owed it to the public to, if we're having a change of heart on that, that we should... Mr. Mayor, can I ask you the question I kind of asked rhetorically earlier?

Since you're an opponent of the parkway, why wasn't an injunction asked for?

I don't know if Mr. Brown or we could invite one of the plaintiffs to comment.

Were there legal reasons they couldn't have asked for an injunction?

Mr. Collins, you're involved in law.

Can you just briefly address?

I guess I'd ask Mr. Brown, does this seem consistent with what you know and what we, the situation that we're now in?

If we could, if we could see them, we would.

So there was a four month gap between when they could have filed suit and when they did file suit.

Well the question is that, are you done with the

But yes, that's true.

And then another four months.

Pardon me now?

I think that's what Mr. Brown was trying to get at.

So we had to get the two attorneys.

And I kind of feel like, anyway.

I think the original question though, which we've kind of gotten away from, which was why you didn't ask for a preliminary injunction.

Well, our action is, in effect, a request for an injunction.

A final injunction, but a preliminary injunction to stop construction.

Thank you, Mr. Collins.

So the question before counsel is, again, knowing that it may be till the end of the year before the court rules on the legal cases, do we stand aside and allow major construction to commence in our park

So it is a, it seems to me that it is a project we want and we might as well get started.

Other thoughts?

I think that if we in a way it may help facilitate that process if we just say if we go ahead and then you can seek a preliminary injunction because there is an imminent danger that's you know I to me it's it doesn't I'm not trying to change my mind I don't feel that I'm being at all inconsistent I've said the same thing from the beginning so so yes I support moving on no I do not think it's a change of course other thoughts

Ms. Edwards, anything to add?

We waited 45 years, 45 and 6 months.

I also am concerned we would lose a construction season where prices are low and wait for a construction season where prices are higher.

Mr. Huja, you had another issue.

Is that what basically... Mr. Tolbert?

Anything you'd like to add, Mr. Tolbert?

And as Mr. Huja said, we believe that the one thing we need to condition it on primarily is that A, that they commit to do that pretty quickly, but B, that we have a great deal of involvement, both the city and our businesses and affected property owners in the design process.

So what's the downside?

It sounds almost too good to be true.

indicated that he would stay on top of that and was very interested in making sure and he spoke to the fact that the governor's new initiative is not about building roads to damage business but to assist and help businesses so that's the approach I think he's taking so from the funding side it's all positive I think and the one concern we have I think as Mr. Jones said we can address the conditions and making sure we're involved in that design process.

And does this absolve the developer from putting proffer money into, you know, that was a pretty hefty contribution they were explaining to me.

If we make this, the developer is, that's money that's not on the table for this project or any others if he chooses not to do so.

Or is it more that, yeah, we'll let you sit at the table

We could just cancel the project.

No, they understand that's the starting point.

I think the only thing that would limit their desire to do that are the design criteria and the amount of lane shifting that has to occur.

We can use this for something else.

I mean, did we just take that million dollars away from the Belmont Bridge?

That's right.

That's true.

So do we need to make a motion of it?

Is there a second?

Thank you Mr. Huja for bringing that to our attention and Mr. Tolbert.

Thanks for asking me to go there.

Mr. Kleeman.

So I would request that some amount of time be allowed that this material can actually be digested.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Ms. Hall.

There was an agreement.

For pedestrian bikes only.

Thank you.

Thank you very much.

?

?

Thanks for watching!