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
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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
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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;
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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.
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Cary K Is Storm, Clerk
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Richard L.rice, C airman