MINUTES OF THE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY, APRIL 8, 2008, AT 7:30 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE STRASBURG TOWN HALL.

The meeting opened with the Pledge of Allegiance and the invocation was given by Rev. Richard Goeres of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church.

ROLL Called with the following members present:  Mayor Crisman, Vice Mayor Taylor and Council Members Le Vine, Mauck, Rinker, Terndrup, Wallace, and Whittle.  Absent: 

Council Member Nicholson (work emergency).

Minutes of the March 11, 2008 Town Council meetings were approved as submitted.

Mayor Crisman welcomed all in attendance and said all communications had been directed toward the appropriate committees.  Included in the packets was a proclamation of disAbility Awareness Week.  The proclamation was approved unanimously by Council. 

Mayor Crisman thanked the community for the building of the new playground and invited all to visit the site.  Many people were involved in this project.  He also thanked Council Member Mauck for her hard work.

Mayor Crisman highlighted the Town’s new newsletter and again thanked Council Member Mauck for her efforts on this.

Mayor Crisman read a note from Nancy Furr for a donation given in memory of Mr. Jim Moore, a former member of the Strasburg Town Council.

Introduction of Visitors and Guests:

Carlos Ortiz, 2008 State Wrestling Champion:  Mayor Crisman read and presented a resolution to Carlos for his achievement. 

Citizen Comments

Non-Action Items:

Richard Seelbach, 133 E. King Street, Strasburg, VA:  Stated he supported candidates Mr. Redmon, Mr. Swafford, and Mr. Ritenour.  He also complimented Carlos Ortiz for his accomplishments.

He continued by saying the Medal of Honor was given today to a Navy Seal who fell on a hand grenade to save two other Seals and so he asked all to remember those in the service for all they are doing for our country.

Kim Bishop, 728 Crystal Lane, Strasburg, VA:  Mrs. Bishop thanked Vice Mayor Taylor for giving her a water saving tip and said she has been watering her plants with the saved water. 

Reports and Communications from Town Officers:

Town Attorney Neal:  Said he had checked with the Clerk of the Virginia Supreme Court today and there was oral argument last week by phone on the Sonner/Davison request, but nothing has come down either way as of yet.  When he has information on this he will send an email to Council.

Town Manager Fauber:  The pocket park agreement has been received and signatures will be gotten from the Fire Department and Hometown Strasburg.  Work has begun on this project.

He reminded Council of Strasburg Little League opening ceremonies which will be held on Saturday, April at 10 a.m.

Correspondence was received on water/sewer along Route 11 to the Mowery residence.  The work will begin soon and the contractor will be G.B. Foltz Contracting.  Council will be informed of the start-up date, as well as residents in the area.   

Information is still being gathered on the Public Safety project with Wiley and Wilson.  Several meetings are scheduled with Springsted on the Human Resources study.  Work is continuing on the engineering for the storm drainage project in the Fort Street area. 

Director of Finance Mullins:  Currently working on the budget.  Springsted will be doing some job audits on Wednesday, April 16 and then Mrs. Mullins and Town Manager Fauber will met with the representatives on Thursday to begin work on the personnel manual.  The salary survey is in progress and results will be gotten to the Town within the next two to three weeks which will work out with the budget process.

Town Clerk Keller:   Orders are being taken for bricks leading to the playground.  If you are interested in purchasing a brick, please see Clerk Keller.    

In giving the Chamber of Commerce report, Clerk Keller said the Chamber Board met this morning, April 8 at 8 a.m.  It was decided the Chamber will again be giving two scholarships to graduating seniors from Strasburg High School in the amount of $500 each.  The Chamber will be moving on Saturday, April 26 to its new location beside the Town Office and volunteers are needed to help with this move.  The Mayfest print unveiling will be next Thursday, April 17 at Jennifer Shye’s home.  Please RSVP to Clerk Keller by April 14 if you would like to attend.  The Mayfest Pageant will be held on April 19 at the Strasburg High School.  The theme of the holiday celebration will be “History Through the Ages.”  Featured on the Christmas ornament will be the Dosh house.  The Heritage Association is not planning a homes tour this year so the Chamber is looking to continue this tradition.  Please contact Chamber President Jill Webster if you would like to assist with this.  The Chamber Banquet date has not been set as of yet, but it looks as if it will be held in September this year.

Director of Public Utilities Tewalt:  Stated representatives from R. Stuart Royer would be in Town on April 9 to update the Town on current projects.  Council Member Le Vine asked what was going on with the Virginia Department of Health and Mr. Tewalt said he had spoken with the Department on Monday, April 7. 

Director of Public Works Rhodes:  Stated he had nothing more to add than what was included in his monthly written report given to Council.

Police Chief Sutherly:  Stated he had nothing more to add than what was included in his monthly written report given to Council.

Mayor Crisman thanked the Police Department by saying a group of 43 motorcyclists had ridden through Town and were very pleased with the way the department handled the traffic lights so the group could all stay together. 

Town Planner Amos:  The second management team meeting for the Community Block Grant was held today and the final analysis for the needs assessment is due on April 18; Margaret Struder is working on the analysis of the “windshield” survey.  She has reviewed the downtown            area and the west end of Town and close to 200 buildings has been reviewed given the criteria that were given to the Town by the Department of Housing and Community Development.  The management team would like begin with the downtown area.  Once the preliminary report is submitted, additional funds will be released to start planning the next phase.  They are in hopes a representative will be able to meet with the management team to find out exactly what can and cannot be done. 

Planner Amos has been forwarding emails regarding the proposed recycling program.  Any comments, positive or negative, should be forwarded to Planner Amos.

Council Member Le Vine asked about the status of the Comprehensive Plan as he is a bit confused on this.  He would like to have a report given to Council by the Planning Commission on the status and what the problems might be on getting it completed.  

Planner Amos said the Planning Commission has entered into a contract with Milton Herd to give assistance on the writing of this plan.  All the information gathered at previous committee meetings was given to Mr. Herd.  It was decided a professional was needed to help with the process and give assistance on density and growth numbers.  The timeline for the plan is that it will be finished by October and she is hoping comments from Mr. Herd will be received periodically.  Council Member Le Vine said his concern was if the October deadline would be met or not.  Council Member Whittle said using the consultant should keep the Commission on track and streamline the process.

Standing Committee Reports:

Public Safety Committee:  Vice Mayor Taylor said the committee did not meet.  He highlighted the monthly Police Department report by saying there were 878 calls, resulting in 101 adult arrests and 5 juvenile arrests.  The yearly report was also presented at the Council meeting which showed 866 more calls in 2007 than in 2006; citizen assists also increased.  The annual report is available to anyone interested. 

Personnel Committee:  Council Member Whittle stated the committee did not meet.  The Springsted HR study is continuing.  Council Member Whittle will request a meeting with the Finance Committee when the salary survey is received from Springsted.

Public Utilities Committee:  Council Member Nicholson was absent and Director of Public Utilities Tewalt did not have anything additional to report.

Recreation Committee:  Council Member Mauck thanked all those who helped with the building of the playground, from the organizing of the committees to the completion of the building.  She also thanked businesses who contributed food, time, and energy.  Pictures of the building of the playground were on display.  She said the Opening Day festivities was well attended and many have been using the playground since then..  An ongoing fundraising project is the “Buy a Brick” project which will continue indefinitely.  The St. Paul’s Lutheran Church donated the proceeds from one production of their original play, “Yo Ho Ho” which totaled $1003.00.    

Finance Committee:  Council Member Le Vine said the committee met twice this month and will be meeting weekly --- every Monday at 7:15 p.m. --- until a budget is adopted.  An informal decision of the Finance Committee is that each of the three funds --- general, water, and sewer --- will all be balanced on their own as opposed to one fund supporting another.  There is currently a deficit of ~$87,000 in the general fund, with a slight surplus in both the water and sewer funds.  Much of the last meeting was spent discussing the donations to various civic organizations and a consensus has not been reached as of yet.  The next meetings will be used to decide how to handle the deficit and balance the budget.  It has been decided to not raise the cigarette tax and decal tax.  Salary increases for Town employees will also be discussed and if there are any, how they will be funded.  A 1% raise for employees costs ~$30,000.  Also the committee needs to decide how to prepare for capital costs which total ~$30 million.  Innovative ideas have been looked at to see how to raise revenue.  A “twist” to the budget talks is that since the Town bills taxes in June and December, the Finance Committee is working on the assumption the sane tax rate must be used for both June and December (a final decision on this needs to come from Town Attorney Neal) so if the tax rate is to be changed, it must be done now or the current rate will remain until June, 2009.  Council Member Le Vine suggested that Council select a date for a special Council meeting/public hearing to decide if tax rates will be increased.  Setting the date will only put a process in place for this to be done and it will be decided at next Monday’s meeting if the special session of Council will be needed.  Real estate, personal property, and machinery and tools tax rates need to be set.  Several Council Members have approached him on how to save money without raising taxes.  Mayor Crisman explained he will be able to call a special meeting after next Monday night’s Finance Committee meeting if it is needed.  To further explain the budget, Council Member Le Vine submitted the following to be included in the official minutes: 

Budget Summary

2008 - 2009

REVENUE

General Fund Revenue:

v      No increase in taxes or any other fees   

                                                                                    ADOPTED as baseline

Water Fund Revenue:

v      Minimum water increase from $11.55 to $12.72 (2,000 gallons or less)

v      Rate for 1,000 gallons over min. from $5.60 to $6.17

v      Availability fees are based on 50 new houses

                                                                                    ADOPTED as baseline

Sewer Fund Revenue:

v      Minimum sewer increase from $12.10 to $13.32 (2,000 gallons or less)

v      Rate for 1,000 gallons over min. from $6.10 to $7.23

v      Availability fees are based on 50 new houses

                                                                                    ADOPTED as baseline

EXPENDITURES

v      No salary increase for employees

v      No new employees

v      Constant level of services (e.g., no recycling)

                                                                                    ADOPTED as baseline

Examples of Water Bills:

COUNCIL ISSUES

v      Draft Budget

Ø      Reasonable Assumptions?

Ø      Inclusive of Items?

Ø      Accurate in Projections?

Ø      Adequate in Efficiency?

Ø      Fixed Costs

ü      Any Exclusions? (i.e., not ‘fixed’)

ü      Additions?

Ø      Sources of Revenue

ü      Inclusive?

ü      Accurate?

ü      Clear?

                                                                                    ADOPTED as baseline

v      Capital Expenditures:

Ø      Inclusive?

Ø      Reasonable Estimates?

Fiscal 2008 - 2009

ü      Waste Water Treatment Plant engineering                   $1,000,000

ü      Engineering for new Water Plant                                 (already borrowed)

ü      Capital Improvement Plan (approved May 07)     (up to) $3,000,000

ü      Water Plant replacement                                            $12,000,000

                                                                                                      $16,000,000

Fiscal 2009 - 2010

ü      Waste Water Treatment Plant                                     $15,000,000

Fiscal 2010 - 2011

ü      Public Safety Building                                                 $5,000,000

                                                                                    ADOPTED as baseline

v      How do we eliminate the 2008 – 2009 shortfall

General Fund             ($87,000)

Water Fund                $43,000

Sewer Fund               $11,000

Total                      ($33,000)

Ø      Distribution?

§         Balance each enterprise fund separately.  ADOPTED as baseline

§         Subsidize general fund from water/sewer funds?

Ø      Town bonds                                                               NO RELIEF

§         2011 -- $26,000/year payment

§         2013 -- $81,560/year payment

§         Six others mature later

Ø      Cut discretionary funds?                                           

§         Which ones?  Donations only potential source  ADOPTED as baseline

§         How much?

§         What is the impact?

Council:

Ø      Propose specific dollar amount for each organization

Ø      Is there a more appropriate approach to considering donations than placing all together?

Ø      Should Town determine total amount available for donations and then allocate within that limit?

Ø      Should amounts be provisional and revisited in 6 months to reflect any changes in expenses and revenues?

Staff:

Ø      Is there duplication in tourism support among ‘Tourism’, ‘Chamber’, ‘Museum’ and ‘County Tourism’

Ø      Estimate ‘return on investment’ for donations, where feasible

v      How do we balance remaining shortfall?

Ø      Are there interest payments fir st two years after loan disbursed?

Ø      Describe procedure for raising vehicle decal fee

Ø      How deeply can current baseline budget be decreased without affecting quality of services?

Shortfall = [April 1 General Fund Shortfall less Changes in Donations]

v      Salary Adjustments

Ø      Is Strasburg staff and budget appropriate for our size and challenges?

§         Survey comparable towns

§         Request information from VML

§         Determine state/national standards (e.g., one police officer for each x000’s of population)

Ø      How much?  (~$30,000 for 1%)

§         Merit v. cost of living?

§         Tiered structure?

§         Phased implementation (e.g., start I January)

§         Fixed amount (e.g., $X/employee)

Ø      Sources of revenue?

§         Taxes?

o        Must allocate expenses to appropriate funds (general, water, sewer)

o        Must raise revenue from appropriate sources (general, water, sewer)

§         Reductions in current level of services?

o        Reduced functions, services, capabilities?

o        Fewer people?

o        Lower salaries?

v                 How do we prepare for water/sewer service?

2008 – 2009  Water Plant

$16M for 30 years at 4.25% (total cost of $28.6M)                            $954,000

$16M for 40 years at 4.25% (total cost of $33.3M)                            $833,000