MINUTES OF THE TOWN COUNCIL MEETING HELD ON TUESDAY, MAY 13, 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 Pastor Geneal Wilson of the Strasburg Christian Church.

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

Minutes of the April 8, 2008 Town Council meeting, the April 28, 2008, Public Hearing and the April 28, 2008, Town Council meeting were approved as submitted.

Mayor Crisman welcomed all in attendance and said all communications had been directed toward the appropriate committees.  He asked all to remember Mr. Buryl Stickley, the perennial Santa Clause for the Town, who passed away recently and asked all to remember Mrs. Ann Keller, a member of the Architectural Review Board, and Mrs. Sarah Lee Proctor who are both very ill.

Introduction of Visitors and Guests:

Citizen Comments

Kim Bishop, 728 Crystal Lane, Strasburg, VA:  She was in attendance to give recognition to two home-schooled students who recently graduated.  The names of the students are Rebecca Sudlow and Catalina Tedrow.  She continued by saying there are home-school students who are available to work on projects for the Town and Council; people can get contact her about projects for the students.

Richard Seelbach, 133 E. King St., Strasburg, VA:  Congratulated all who won the elections and said he was pleased with the results especially with Mr. Rick Redmon.  He also thanked all those who voted for him.

Non-Action Items:

Reports and Communications from Town Officers:

Town Attorney Neal:  Absent.  Report was submitted in written form and attached here-to. 

Town Manager Fauber:  Said the work on Route 11 to extend the water and sewer mains to properties annexed in 2000, across from the Ramada Inn, began last week and is being done by G.B. Foltz and should be completed within the next 30 to 45 days.  The actual cutting of the highway will probably be next week. 

Staff has been busy working with the Chamber of Commerce getting ready for the Mayfest festivities.  Work has also been ongoing in getting the pool ready to open and also the concession stand.  Meetings are scheduled for next week with Wiley & Wilson on the Needs Assessment Study for the Public Safety building.  Work continues on the drainage study for the area behind the theatre and a report should be forthcoming soon.  The report from Springsted should be presented at the Finance Committee on May 21. 

He continued by saying the funding application for the water plant project is now in the Richmond office of Rural Development and it will then go to Washington, DC.  The Town should hear soon on the letter of conditions and the amount of funding or grant money the Town might receive.  Staff is still waiting on word from the Virginia Department of Health on the final drawings.  Hopefully, the project will be out to bid soon. 

In reporting for Director of Finance Mullins, Mr. Fauber said Staff is in the midst of tax season and collections are going well.  He added Mrs. Mullins has been very involved with the budget process.

Council Member Mauck asked where the Town was on the Walking Trail.  Town Manager Fauber said he is going to get together with the contractor to discuss some possible cost savings, especially with the bridge structures.

Director of Finance Mullins:  absent

Town Clerk Keller:  Reported the Mayfest Parade will be on Saturday, May 17 beginning at 2 p.m.  Please let her know if you are planning to ride in the Parade.  In other Chamber matters, the Chamber of Commerce met this morning and most of the meeting consisted of Mayfest updates.  The ribbon cutting for the Pocket Park will be on Friday, May 16 at 4 p.m. and both Hometown and the Chamber are hoping for press coverage on this event.  They would like as many Council Members as possible to attend this.  Good news is the American Legion will be having the Pancake Breakfast on Saturday of Mayfest, beginning at 7 a.m.  The next Chamber Mixer will be on June 19^th at Edwards Jones, hosted by the staff of Edward Jones and RMG.  The Chamber Banquet will be held on September 6 at the Hotel Strasburg. 

Director of Public Utilities Tewalt:  Said he had nothing to add to what had previously been reported by Town Manager Fauber.

Director of Public Works Rhodes:  absent

Police Chief Sutherly: The department had 24 participants in the Women’s Self Defense class and they will be holding another class in the fall.  Chief Sutherly then introduced Mr. John Treese who is the first Reserve Officer to complete the classes to be an official reserve officer.  He will be assisting at Mayfest. 

Town Planner Amos:  Said she had one action item which was a boundary line adjustment between William B. and Ann F. Holtzman, The Holtzman Family Limited Partnership and Strasburg Green, LLC which was already approved by Council, but was never recorded.

Council Member Le Vine asked why the applicant did not file this within the six months and Planner Amos said he did not realize it needed to be filed.  The boundary adjustment is between landowners and will not affect the Town. 

Vice Mayor Taylor moved for the approval of the Strasburg Green BLA; second by Council member Le Vine.  The motion passed unanimously.

Planner Amos continued by saying the Planning Commission has been working with Mr. Milton Herd on the Comprehensive Plan.  Mr. Herd is working with the Regional Planning Commission to get some figures which should save the Town money and he is also working with the Regional Commission on new maps. 

Planner Amos’ two high school interns, Zach Wakeman and Philip Ramsey, have completed their projects and her new intern, David Hupp, a student at Virginia Tech, started work on Monday. 

The trip to Hanover, PA, to visit the Homewood site is still on schedule for May 27.  She also asked that Council be thinking of a topic for the Forum scheduled for May 19.  A suggestion has been made to use the “VML Go Green” information as a topic.      

Standing Committee Reports:

Public Safety Committee:  Vice Mayor Taylor asked all to support the Duck Race for Mayfest; his Girl Scout Troop will be walking in the parade dressed as ducks to promote this event. 

Vice Mayor Taylor gave the police report for the month of April and stated there were 797 calls, resulting in 65 adult arrests and 2 juvenile arrests.  He asked all to watch out for children as warm weather is here and to please have children wear bike helmets.  He added the committee had not met formally, but he did have an action item on PPEA.  He then highlighted portions of the PPEA agreement (brochure attached here-to).   

Vice Mayor Taylor moved to approve the model PPEA guidelines as submitted; second by Council Member Le Vine.  The motion passed unanimously.

Personnel Committee:  Council Member Whittle said the committee will be involved with the joint meeting on May 21 to hear the Springsted report.  With the election of Mr. Robert Baker to Town Council, there will be a vacancy on the Board of Zoning Appeals which the committee will need to fill.

Council Member Mauck asked if there was a vacancy on the Planning Commission.  Council Member Whittle said there is no vacancy as he is still the Council representative on this until July.

Public Utilities Committee:  Committee did not meet.  Council Member Nicholson said they will be meeting on May 29 at 7:30 p.m. to tie up some unfinished business before he leaves office.

Recreation Committee:  Council Member Mauck said plans are moving forward for the July 4^th Celebration.  There will be a new company doing the fireworks and there will be lots of vendors and food for the festivities. 

Finance Committee:  Council Member Le Vine said the committee has met several times since the last meeting.  Progress that has been made since the last Council Meeting include:

Ø            Donations to town organizations adjusted

Ø            Availability fees increase from $8,000 to $10,000 each incorporated into budget.

Ø            If Hometown Strasburg is awarded a grant from the Hamburger Helper Foundation to assist with the Town’s Pocket Park before June 30, 2009, the Town’s 2008 – 9 contribution will be reduced from $20,000 to $15,000.

Ø            Increase of 50 cents for trash fee to balance its costs with revenue (independent of recycling)

Ø            Beer and Wine revenue from State eliminated (~$5K)

Council Member Le Vine said Woodstock is getting a 0% loan for their sewer plant and so he asked Town Manager Fauber why the Town of Strasburg couldn’t do this, too.  Mr. Fauber said this was only for the sewer plant and not for the water plant and so when the upgrades to the sewer plant are done, this will be pursued. 

Council Member Le Vine said he will introduce a list of policies for adoption by the Council as separate but complementary motion when Council votes on the budget.  The current list of these policies is:

The Town Council of Strasburg adopts the following policies:

The General, Water, Sewer and Trash Enterprise Funds should be self supporting. 

a. The Recreation Fund will be subsidized from the General Fund for the foreseeable future.

b. The Trash Fund fees shall be adjusted with the adoption of the annual budget to be revenue neutral

All revenue beyond $800,000 from water and sewer availability fees during Fiscal 2009 shall be allocated to the Town’s Fund Balance and reserved for repayment of debt incurred to finance the new water treatment plant and upgrade the waste water treatment plant.

Began discussion of curbside recycling and will reengage on May 28^th at 7:15

c. Financial relief for some citizens broached but no consensus reached

Springsted will discuss HR study next Wednesday the 21^st at 7:15

d. Possibility of town employee raises to be discussed after Springsted report presented.

The committee will continue to meet each Wednesday until the budget is passed.

Council Member Le Vine submitted the following summary 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 short all

General Fund             $0

Water Fund                $43,000

Sewer Fund               $11,000

Total                      ($54,000)

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?

ADOPTED as baseline

AGREEMENT: If Hometown receives a grant from Hamburger Helper, the amount of the Town’s donation will decrease to $15,000.

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 first 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]

Proposal:

Ø      Eliminate transportation study from budget (ask VDOT to conduct at no expense to us) --- saves $45,000

Ø      Adopt above donations – saves $9,300

Ø      Decrease general fund by $30,000 without affecting salaries or reserves; document changes and staff discuss their perspective if adversely affect budget  -- saves $30,000

(Accepted $30,000 adjustments proposed by Town Manager, April 21, 2008)

ADOPTED as baseline

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%)

Distribution of Funds: General - $17; Water - $6.5K; Sewer - $6.5K

§         Merit v. cost of living?

§         Tiered structure?

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

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

Ø      Sources of revenue?

§