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10-1-2020 Work SessionWORK SESSION OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS HELD IN THE ROBERT C. CLAUD, SR. BOARD ROOM OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT COUNTY COURTHOUSE LOCATED AT 17090 MONUMENT CIRCLE, ISLE OF WIGHT, VIRGINIA ON THURSDAY, THE FIRST DAY OF OCTOBER IN THE YEAR TWO THOUSAND AND TWENTY PRESENT: Joel C. Acree, Windsor District, Chairman Richard L. Grice, Smithfield District, Vice Chairman Rudolph Jefferson, Hardy District William M. McCarty, Newport District Don G. Rosie, II, Carrsville District ALSO IN ATTENDANCE: Robert W. Jones, Jr., County Attorney Randy R. Keaton, County Administrator Donald T. Robertson, Assistant County Administrator Amber Johnson, Legal Assistant CALL TO ORDER Chairman Acree called the work session of the Board of Supervisors to order at 6:00 p.m. INVOCATION Assistant County Administrator Robertson delivered the invocation and led the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag of the United States of America. APPROVAL OF AGENDA/AMENDMENTS Supervisor Jefferson moved to approve the agenda as presented. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR'S REPORT Assistant County Administrator Robertson briefed the Board on the study done by Timmons as it relates to the County's internal policies pertaining to customer service in the area of central permitting. Louis Garcia, Senior Consultant, Timmons Group, provided an overview of the strategic plan and organizational recommendations developed to improve methods currently being done internally at the County. It was communicated that staff is performing within the capabilities of the technology currently being utilized. It was further reported that staff was knowledgeable and utilizing the technology well and that there are some limitations with the current technology in place in terms of the permitting software. The creation of training plans was recommended to allow for a standard method for onboarding of new staff so that everyone is learning the same steps and performing things in the same manner. It was noted worth investigating would be to have someone to assist with management on the front side and the associated cost benefit. Vice -Chairman Grice noted the importance of having a workable and understandable manual process and review of best practices of other communities in the Commonwealth. He recommended the addition of a dedicated customer service assistant to assist with the workload. At Chairman Acree's inquiry if there was any merit to utilizing a third -party or contracted service for plans review, Mr. Garcia responded that he did believe there was merit because the work load varies and the County could have an on-call contractor to assist with the volume when needed. Vice -Chairman Grice requested to see a report on what led other localities to go with outside plan reviews. Amy Ring, Director of Community Development, advised that there is an interface on the County's website for customers and contractors which provides a status on their application. She offered to contact the County's IT Department to determine if there is a way to track how many instances an attempt is made on any given property. Vice -Chairman Grice recommended that Munis training for staff be scheduled and Mr. Garcia suggested looking at the capabilities of Munis and whether it is being used effectively against the workload. Ms. Ring advised that the Department of Community Development has identified a number of deficiencies with Munis. Supervisor McCarty spoke in support of a software overhaul in the Inspections Department to improve the process and workflow. Following a suggestion by Vice -Chairman Grice that staff be trained on the Munis software, Mr. Garcia recommended that prior to training of staff that it first be determined that the Munis software is being used effectively against the County's workload and that the work flow and capability are in sync. Assistant County Administrator Robertson recalled that when Munis was originally purchased, it was done so for its financial capabilities. He recalled that staff had approached the Board several years ago regarding the purchase of new software called Inter -Gov which was in excess of a half million dollars in addition to the additional staffing that would be required to implement the software. Mr. Garcia recommended that staff meet with Munis representatives and request training before seeking replacement software. County Administrator Keaton advised that AT&T was awarded the contract to provide Next Gen 911 services to Virginia public service answering points. The 2 funding for this project is through the Virginia 911 Services Board via a grant awarded to all public service answering points. The County has requested funding assistance in the amount of $1,316,874.48 from the Virginia Department of Emergency Management to offset a portion of the costs associated with the conversion to Next Gen 911 and in light of the recent COVID-19 situation, we have been granted a 60 -day extension to submit our Participation Agreement. Supervisor McCarty moved to authorize execution of a participation agreement for Next Gen 911. The motion carried unanimously (5-0). // Don Jennings, Director of Public Utilities, advised that in anticipation of the construction of a new Hardy Elementary School, there is a need to determine whether it is in the best interest of the County to drill a new well to provide adequate service for the school or to extend water from the Town of Smithfield distribution system. The new service also presents an opportunity to serve the surrounding County -owned well systems and the County has engaged an engineering consultant to assess multiple alternatives to serve the new Hardy Elementary School and surrounding communities with safe drinking water. He stated that Day's Point, Tormentor Creek and Thomas Park are existing wells which staff proposes be taken off-line leaving one well source to serve the entire area. Regarding cost analysis, extending from the Smithfield source will be more expensive initially. Other considerations includes a fairly large customer base if the County were to supply the school and all three existing systems and he pointed out that the County is paying for water whether it uses it or not through the Norfolk Water contract. He said by eliminating the groundwater systems, the county would get out of maintaining four older systems. If the County purchases water from Smithfield, the base cost to serve the school only would be $1.7 million and if we select the option to serve the school and the surrounding localities it would be $4.1 million. He recommended that water be run from the Town of Smithfield and take these other facilities off-line in the future. Regarding an alternative to purchase water from Smithfield Foods, Chairman Acree requested Mr. Jennings to find out and report back on how much water can be withdrawn under their current permit. He advised that once the Board has that information, it will be better prepared to provide a direction to Mr. Jennings. The Board took a break and returned to open session. Judy Winslow, Director of Tourism, explained the concept behind how the Small Business Gift Card Program works utilizing CARES Act funding to support local businesses. t3 Chris Morello, Director of Economic Development, advised that his Department would work in conjunction with the Department of Tourism and the Chamber of Commerce to ensure the program is marketed correctly to both the businesses and the customers who would be using these cards. The consensus of the Board was that staff move forward with a second initiative. Mr. Morello updated the Board on round one of Cares Act funding in the amount of $900,000 to small businesses. Since September, staff has received eighty-one applications for the round two program which has a deadline for submittal of applications by October 30th. He advised that the entire amount of Cares Act funding was $1,296,000. County Attorney Jones briefed the Board relative to needed amendments and revisions to Chapters 10 - Licenses and 15 - Taxes of the County Code which clarifies how a business license tax is calculated; adds that if someone fails to pay the tax that their business license can be suspended; states that there are certain businesses that have to have other licenses in order to have the ability to conduct business; and, that the Commissioner of Revenue does not have to issue the license until a zoning certificate is provided. He stated that a public hearing will be necessary prior to the Board's formal consideration of the proposed amendments and revisions. IJl Chairman Acree provided a recap of the Board's motion at its regular meeting on September 17, 2020, to create a task force whose mission is to investigate and locate potential sites for the possible relocation of the Confederate monument and to investigate methods to contextualize the monument at its current location. The task force will consist of County residents to include one resident from each of the five Election Districts, one representative from the IOW County NAACP, one representative from the IOW County Historical Society, one from a local citizen's group, one from the Chamber of Commerce, and Mr. Don Robertson, Assistant County Administrator. The task force is to report its findings/recommendations back to the Board by December 1, 2020. It was noted that the Chamber of Commerce declined to participate Supervisor McCarty moved that the Chamber of Commerce be removed from the list as they declined and approve the nominations as slated. The motion was unanimously (5-0) adopted. Supervisor McCarty moved that the following individuals be appointed: Representing the Newport District, Supervisor McCarty nominated Derek Boone 11 Representing the Hardy District, Supervisor Jefferson nominated Rebecca Mercer Representing the Windsor District, Chairman Acree nominated Maggie Richards Representing the Smithfield District, Vice -Chairman Grice nominated Raynard Gibbs Representing the Carrsville District, Supervisor Rosie nominated Volpe Boykin Representing the civic organizations, Herb DeGroft Representing the Isle of Wight Historical Society, Albert Burckard Representing the NAACP, Reverend Lilton Marks The motion was adopted unanimously (5-0) McCarty asked County Attorney Jones to take the necessary action to compensate members of all task forces at the rate of $50 per meeting. CLOSED MEETING County Attorney Jones requested a closed meeting pursuant to Section 2.2- 3711(A)(1) regarding a discussion pertaining to the performance of a specific County employee, namely the County Administrator. Upon motion of Supervisor McCarty and all voting in favor (5-0), the Board entered the closed meeting for the reasons stated by County Attorney Jones. Upon motion of Supervisor McCarty and all voting in favor (5-0), the Board reconvened into open meeting. County Attorney Jones reminded the Board that in accordance with Section 2-10(G) of the Board's Rules & Procedure, all those who participated in the closed meeting are reminded that all matters discussed in closed meeting are to remain confidential, as provided under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, and that such matters as were discussed in closed meeting should not be acted upon or discussed in public by any participant unless and until a public, formal action of the Board of Supervisors is taken on that particular subject matter. Upon motion of Supervisor McCarty and all voting in favor (5-0), the following Resolution was adopted: CERTIFICATION OF CLOSED MEETING WHEREAS, the Board of Supervisors has convened a closed meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act; and, WHEREAS, Section 2.2-3712(D) of the Code of Virginia requires a certification by this Board of Supervisors that such closed meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law; 5 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Board of Supervisors hereby certifies that, to the best of each member's knowledge, (i) only public business matters lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution applies, and (ii) only such public business matters as were identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed or considered by the Board of Supervisors. VOTE AYES: Acree, Grice, Jefferson, McCarty. Rosie NAYS: 0 ABSENT DURING VOTE: 0 ABSENT DURING MEETING: 0 ADJOURNMENT At 10:30 p.m., Chairman Acree declared the work session adjourned. 44'. 61 N5 -42 L24 - Cary K Is Storm, Clerk 0 Richard L.rice, C airman