Back to FY Dockets


Special Public Hearing Meeting
Monday, April 10, 2000 - - 4:30 p.m.


* * * * *

Present: Mayor Kerry J. Donley, Vice Mayor William D. Euille, Members of Council William C. Cleveland, Redella S. Pepper, Lonnie C. Rich, David G. Speck, and Lois L. Walker.

Absent: None.

Also Present: Mr. Sunderland, City Manager; Mr. Pessoa, Acting City Attorney; Ms. Steele, Deputy City Manager; Mr. Sanderson, Director of Real Estate Assessments; Ms. O'Regan, Director of Human Services; Director of Health Konigsberg; Ms. Federico, Director of Historic Alexandria; Mr. Lynn, Director of Planning and Zoning; Mrs. Godwin, Director of Management and Budget; Mr. Ransom, Special Assistant to the City Manager for Human Relations; Mr. Neckel, Director of Finance; Dr. Claiborn, Director of Mental Health, Mental Retardation and Substance Abuse; Ms. Boyd, Director of Citizen Assistance; Ms. Plemmer, Assistant City Manager; Mr. Caton, Legislative Director; Director of Libraries O'Brien; Mr. Sudduth, Director of Personnel Services; Ms. Davis, Director of Housing; Mr. Jinks, Director of Financial and Information Technology Services; Mr. Baier, Director of Transportation and Environmental Services; Mr. Ruller, Deputy Director of Transportation and Environmental Services; Ms. Whitmore, Director of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities; Ms. Barnett, Deputy Director of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities; Mr. Eiffert, Director of Agency on Aging; Fire Chief Hawkins; Police Chief Samarra; and Lieutenant Crawford, Police Department.

Recorded by: Mrs. Beverly I. Jett, CMC, City Clerk and Clerk of Council.
* * * * *

OPENING

The Meeting was called to Order by Mayor Donley, and the City Clerk called the Roll; all Members of City Council were present with Councilwoman Pepper arriving at 4:45 p.m.

(It was noted that a Notice of this Special Meeting had been previously served upon each Member of Council pursuant to a provision of the City Charter, a copy of the Notice certified by each Member of Council being on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council.)




2. Public Hearing on The Proposed Annual Operating Budget for FY 2000-2001 (including Schools) and The Proposed Capital Improvements Program for FY 2001-2006 (including the Schools CIP). (#8 3/14/00)

The following persons participated in the public hearing on this item:

Diana Day, 508 Woodland Terrace, representing T.C. Williams Band Boosters, supported full funding of the school budget; a copy of her statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 1 of this item;

Victor Glasberg, 121 South Columbus Street, supported the school budget;

Maggie Williams, 203 Yoakum Parkway, #1011, representing Jefferson Houston PTA, supported the school budget; a copy of her statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 2 of this item;

Rod Renner, 801 North Fairfax Street, representing the Chamber of Commerce, spoke to various issues; a copy of his statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 3 of this item;

Lisa Chimento, representing the Budget and Fiscal Affairs Advisory Committee, presented a report from BFAAC with respect to the proposed budget; a copy of her statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 4 of this item;

Michele Reday-Cook, 2724 King Street, president, T. C. Williams High School PTA, supported the school budget;

Carol Keller, 821 North Latham Street, president, T. C. Williams High School PTA, supported the school budget; a copy of her statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 5 of this item;

Bob Carragher, 17 West Walnut Street, president, Cora Kelly PTA, spoke in support of the school budget;

Tom Waters, 317 East Windsor Street, president, Mount Vernon PTA, spoke in support of the school budget; a copy of his statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 6 of this item;

Pat Norwood, One West Howell Avenue, representing George Washington Middle School PTA, supported the school budget;

Karen Parker Thompson, 4623 Seminary Road, #T-2, PTA Council President, supported the school budget;

Rich Leibach, 200 North Picket Street, representing the Washington Street Task Force, requested a one-time allocation of $70,000 to be added to the operating budget for a temporary staff position in the Planning Department to develop a streetscape plan for Washington Street;






Bill Hendrickson, 212 East Spring Street, spoke to economic development, tree care and maintenance, open space, against school at Potomac Yard, and Duncan Library capital improvements need to be accelerated; a copy of his statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 7 of this item;

Van Van Fleet, 26 Wolfe Street, spoke in support of reopening the Burke Library;

Joyce Woodson, 1407 Wayne Street, supported the reopening of the Burke Library; a copy of her statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 8 of this item;

Douglas Wood, 912 South Saint Asaph Street, supported the reopening of the Burke Library; a copy of his statement is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 9 of this item;

Marguerite Lang, 14 West Rosemont Avenue, suggested the monies for a transit center at Union Station be eliminated from the budget and instead supported providing kiosks at the Metro stations and hotels; suggested that the City needs a water truck to water the trees in the residential neighborhood(s) in order to maintain the new trees that are planted;

Charles Greenfield, 6400 Arlington Boulevard, Suite 630, Falls Church, VA, representing Legal Services of Northern Virginia, Inc., spoke in support of its community services application;

Andrew MacDonald, 1313 Bayliss Drive, spoke to various issues, i.e., smart growth, smart revenue, reopening Burke Library, Queen Street Library not family friendly, more money for open space, care of trees, use of natural gas buses, and GIS system in Planning Department;

Randall Shoemaker, 2123 North Early Street, spoke in support of saving the Burke Library;

Betty Gromeski, 1309 Knox Place, representing The Grassroots Coalition to Save Burke Branch Library, spoke in support of saving the library;

Judy Noritake, 605 Prince Street, chair, Park and Recreation Commission, spoke in support of the budget for Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities;

Bruce Dwyer, 604 Melrose Street, representing the Alexandria Bicycle Committee, supported the City Manager's budget for bike paths; and

Joseph Liu, 23 West Cedar Street, representing Rosemont Citizens Association Traffic Commission, spoke to traffic calming measures for the neighborhood.

The public hearing was concluded.

(Communications received on this item are on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked collectively as Exhibit No. 10; 4/10/00, and is incorporated herewith as part of this record by reference.)


Council Member Walker will be submitting a budget memo requesting a one-time $70,000 addition to the budget to provide temporary staff to assist the Planning staff in coming up with a streetscape plan for Washington Street. This request evolved from the Washington Street Task Force which will forward its report to the Council soon.

Staff will report back to Council with information regarding tree maintenance.

Vice Mayor Euille spoke to the $25,000 concept plan for Charles Houston. He expressed concern relative to the condition of the basketball floor surface in the gymnasium.

Director of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities Whitmore stated that the $25,000 is to address what the future needs of Charles Houston are and to come up with a plan and then come back to Council with a specific amount of money. If there are specific things that need to be addressed right now, then staff will find and have some monies available to get the floor done.

Vice Mayor Euille stated, with respect to Mr. Hendrickson's testimony, he wanted those who utilize the Duncan Library also to appreciate and understand the fact that this item will be something that the Council will be considering as it continues its budget deliberations in terms of the request to advance the renovation plans for Duncan.

Staff will report back on Councilman Speck's inquiry whether there is a duplication of effort between Mt. Vernon School's library facility and the Duncan Library since they are right next to each other.

Councilman Speck noted, with respect to the Visitors' Center, that the item in the budget is not site specific.

Mayor Donley spoke to signage for the owners of dogs who park near the new dog park on the north side of Duke Street near the new library and the Ben Brenman Park access road.

Mayor Donley requested Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities Director Whitmore to draft a memo for his signature asking the status of federal grant monies.

The City Manager will report back at the April 25 meeting with a memorandum on the general issue of neighborhood traffic calming mitigation measures and other neighborhood improvements. He noted that the $200,000 with respect to the PTO development is for all neighborhoods affected by PTO.

Mayor Donley noted with respect to the above that staff should meet with the affected neighborhoods to get some agreement as to what they want.

Regarding a letter from Mr. Thompson about a Community Center, Councilman Speck asked the City Manager the process, from a planning standpoint, when the City is planning to develop a new facility, what's the process by which we sort of survey, analyze and evaluate what needs there are and who will need them?


The City Manager stated that if and when we get to the point that you ask staff to begin looking at a Community Center, irrespective of the location, staff would either do something in-house or get someone out-of-house to assist staff. This would involve surveying affected communities and interest groups, and neighborhood outreach. He stated that staff has met with Mr. Thompson and others and made it clear that before there is any determination as to whether there's a facility, the nature of a facility, and the location of the facility, that we would have to go through a multi-layer citywide planning process for it.

Vice Mayor Euille directed questions to Historic Alexandria Director Federico with respect to certification of the Black Historic Museum.

Ms. Federico explained the process for attaining certification.

Mayor Donley called staff's attention to the Alexandria United Way's letter pertaining to the Hispanic Service Coordinator and how that is going to be structured.

City Manager Sunderland stated this will be addressed at the work session on Hispanic Needs tomorrow night.

3. Public Hearing on AN ORDINANCE to establish the real estate and personal property tax rates for calendar year 2000. (#13 3/28/00)

(A copy of an Informal Memorandum explaining ordinance is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 1 of Item No. 3; 4/10/00, and is incorporated herewith as part of this record by reference.

A copy of the ordinance referred to in the above item, of which each Member of Council present received a copy not less than 24 hours before said introduction, is on file in the office of the City Clerk and Clerk of Council, marked Exhibit No. 2 of Item No. 3; 4/10/00, and is incorporated herewith as part of this record by reference.)

WHEREUPON, upon motion by Councilman Speck, seconded by Councilwoman Pepper and carried unanimously, City Council closed the public hearings on docket item nos. 2 and 3, and stated that Council will adopt the Budget on Thursday, April 27, 2000, and have Second Reading and Final Passage of the Ordinance on Thursday, April 27, 2000. The voting was as follows:

Speck "aye" Euille "aye"
Pepper "aye" Cleveland "aye"
Donley "aye" Rich "aye"
Walker "aye"
* * * * *









THERE BEING NO FURTHER BUSINESS TO BE CONSIDERED, upon motion by Councilwoman Pepper, seconded by Councilman Speck and carried unanimously, at 6:55 p.m., the Special Public Hearing Meeting of Monday, April 10, 2000, was adjourned. The voting was as follows:

Pepper "aye" Euille "aye"
Speck "aye" Cleveland "aye"
Donley "aye" Rich "aye"
Walker "aye"
* * * * *

APPROVED BY:



__________________________________________
KERRY J. DONLEY MAYOR

ATTEST:


_____________________________________________
Beverly I. Jett, CMC City Clerk



This docket is subject to change.

* * * * *

Full-text copies of ordinances, resolutions, and agenda items are available in the Office of the City Clerk and Clerk of the Council.
* * * * *

Individuals with disabilities who require assistance or special arrangements to participate in the City Council meeting may call the City Clerk and Clerk of Council's Office at 838-4500 (TTY/TDD 838-5056). We request that you provide a 48-hour notice so that the proper arrangements may be made.
* * * * *