16. Alexandria Commission on Information Technology 1 Citizen-at-Large City Council appointed Heather Planey as the citizen member. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 17. Alexandria Consumer Affairs Commission 1 Citizen Member City Council appointed Harry Mahon as the citizen member. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 18. Historic Alexandria Resources Commission 1 Representative From Planning District I City Council reappointed Kleber Masterson, Jr. as the representative from Planning District I. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER FOR DISCUSSION 19. Receipt of the Proposed Action Plan to Protect Properties Identified in the Open Space Priority List and Scheduling the Action Plan For Public Hearing on Saturday, October 16, 2004. City Council: (a) received the proposed Open Space priority list action plan and summary matrix. The action plan proposes a number of actions to be taken to protect some or all of the open space characteristics of the properties included in the open space priority list which Council adopted last June. The action plan also sets out the recommended time frame for these actions to take place, and recommends the issuance of $10.0 million in general obligation bonds for open space acquisitions; (b) scheduled a public hearing on the proposed open space priority list action plan for Saturday, October 16; and (c) following the public hearing, at the October 26 legislative meeting, adopt the proposed open space priority list action plan, and instructed City staff to begin implementation of the adopted action plan. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 20. Consideration of Matching Federal Funds to Establish a Full-Time Child Welfare Training Coordinator in the Department of Human Services. City Council: (a) approved an allocation of $11,300 from FY 2005 contingent reserve to provide the 25 percent local match required to obtain $33,900 in Title IV-E grant money, to support the implementation of a structured training and staff development program in Child Welfare Services. In FY 2006, the full-year costs to the City of this grant match would be $18,088; and (b) approved the establishment of a full time training coordinator position within Child Welfare Services. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 21. Consideration of Recommendation to Prohibit Through Trucks in the 300 Block of South Henry Street. City Council supported the Traffic and Parking Board recommendation and added the 300 block of South Henry Street to the list of streets in Section 10-1-15.1 of the City Code on which through trucks are prohibited. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 22. Consideration of the Recommended Priorities for the FY 2006 Competitive Grant Cycle for the Community Partnership Fund for Human Services (#11, 9/14/04; #12, 9/21/04) City Council approved the FY 2006 priorities for the Community Partnership Fund with no changes to the priorities as presented at Council's September 21 public hearing meeting. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 23. Consideration of Monthly Financial Report for the Period Ending August 31, 2004. City Council received the monthly financial report for the period ending August 31, 2004. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 24. Consideration of Metro Matters Interjurisdictional Capital Funding Agreement. City Council authorized the City Manager to execute, on behalf of the City, the Metro Matters Funding Agreement in substantially the form presented to Council with such changes as are approved by the City Manager and the City Attorney. The execution of this document by the City Manager shall constitute conclusive evidence of his approval, and that of the City Attorney, of any and all changes from the documents made available to the Council. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES None ORAL REPORTS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORAL PRESENTATIONS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL (a) Mayor Euille said he wished to talk about the good things going on in Alexandria, as the recent media attention has focused on the negative, and the few problems in the City are not representative of the people and the activities of the City. He said the recent article in the newspaper shows Alexandria as an urban City that has been able to retain its small-town feeling, and that is what makes Alexandria so special, as neighbors help neighbors, organizations pitch in, businesses and residents work side-by-side to make the community better. People care about each other in the community, as witnessed when there is a crisis or tragic event. Mayor Euille said the City is safe, with an increasing population and a steady drop in crime, and people are safer now than they were 10, 20 or 40 years ago and the City is committed to continuing the trend. Mayor Euille said the schools are strong. He noted that the press has focused attention on certain events and persons in the school system which have little to do with the education of their kids, and certain facts about the Alexandria Public Schools and what they say about the quality of schools must not be lost. Seventy-five percent of the schools have reached the state accreditation benchmark. Last June, 585 graduates from the City's high school went on to post-secondary education and eighty percent took the AP and honor courses and 19 were national achievement scholarship semi-finalists. This December, ground will be broken for the new T.C. Williams High School. All students in grades 9-12 have been given lap-top computers to use at school and at home, and students in the 9th grade center also have lap-tops. The schools in Alexandria are among the best in the Metropolitan area and he and the Council, in working with the School Board, intend to keep them that way. Mayor Euille said the small town in Alexandria can be seen and felt at the weekly farmers market, this weekend's Art on the Avenue in Del Ray, and the Project Discovery walkathon for scholarships for their youth, the citizens who recently banded together to work for more affordable housing, the residents are trained to help their neighbors in a crisis by joining the Community Emergency Response Team, the hundreds of residents who have spent thousands of hours as members of the PTA, who volunteer for Christmas in April, Red Cross Waterfront Festival, the scholarship fund, the Save Freedman Cemetery and protect open space, and Alexandrians will be out in force for the Breast Cancer Walk. Mayor Euille said Alexandria offers the warmth and charm of a small town with amenities and the conveniences of urban living. He said Money Magazine and CNN recently ranked Alexandria as the fourth best place to live in the East Coast and Ladies Home Journal ranked Alexandria as the best City for women. Washingtonian Magazine ranks Del Ray and Beverley Hills as one of the region's hottest neighborhoods. Mayor Euille said Alexandria is the envy of many in the Washington region for its unique blend of history, the waterfront, involved citizenry, quality of life, popular stores and restaurants, recreation opportunities and its great location. Mayor Euille said that he has great pride in Alexandria and he knew everyone on Council loves the City as well as he does. He challenged every resident, business person and the media to stand up for the City and focus on what is good about Alexandria and not just sit back and listen to the negative comments about their homes. There are many more good things going on and Council would like to hear them, he said, and he invited Alexandrians to send an email to the City about what is great about Alexandria to citymail@alexandriava.gov and responses will be posted on the City's website. (b) Vice Mayor Pepper said three different groups contributed volunteers to help the victims of catastrophe in Florida or Alabama. One of those groups is the Red Cross, who sent ten people to help with Hurricanes Charlie, Frances and Ivan. She said the Alexandria chapter of the Red Cross had the greatest presence in terms of contributing volunteers than any other chapter in the Washington area. Vice Mayor Pepper said CERT sent five volunteers and the City's Health Department also sent five or six volunteers. (c) Councilman Macdonald thanked the Victim Witness Assistance Program in the Commonwealth's Attorney's Office for their work in the recent homicide of Mr. Shah, a Pakistani immigrant who also worked full-time for Pizza Hut. He said the VWAP is working hard to see that the family is taken care of and he knew that Pizza Hut would help the family as well. (d) Councilman Gaines said the CERT volunteers who are helping with hurricane relief is a real tribute to what the Fire Department is doing. (e) Councilman Gaines commended the Mayor for his comments. He said the citizens are active and engaged and they all agreed that the cake is good, but they like to talk about what kind of frosting they had on it. He echoed the Mayor's comments about focusing on the positive. (f) Councilman Gaines said he had the opportunity through CERT to head to the National Flag Day training for volunteers, and Alexandria sent the largest class. He said it is another tremendous example of the people they have that work for their government and who make up the citizenry. (g) Councilman Gaines said he was the Rock the Vote speaker at T.C. Williams and it went well. He said that when his comments to the 75-100 students were over, they sat down for an hour and had a conversation where the students asked questions. Councilman Gaines said he wanted to salute Project Discovery, who are having the walkathon this weekend at Minnie Howard, who put the project on. (h) Councilman Gaines said the City will be besieged from representatives from all other cities in the Commonwealth and he hoped they would be able to talk about the fun and informative things they have planned. Mayor Euille said they would provide an update at the next meeting on the Virginia Municipal League annual conference. He said that just this past weekend, there were over 1,100 staff persons and others from throughout the state who were here as part of the 50th conference of the Virginia Parks and Recreation Association. (i) Councilwoman Woodson acknowledged from Council the death of Jimmy Reed, who was a figure on the streets of Alexandria. She said they all saw Jimmy as a homeless man but it was suggested that he had quite a stash of money, and they all hear stories about people who appear to be homeless but are living on the streets and turn out to be quite wealthy. She said that is a nice urban legend, but there are not a whole lot who are wealthy who live on the street, as the average street person is destitute. (j) Councilman Krupicka said he appreciated the Mayor's comments and was reminded that he tried to go to a few back to school nights this year and was surprised that there wasn't press at the back to school nights, because if there had been press, they would have seen parents that were incredibly enthusiastic about the experiences their kids are going through, they would have seen kids with more energy and excitement about the schools they are at than one would ever imagine. Councilman Krupicka said the parents, teachers, students and principals had enthusiasm and optimism about where they were going and they sometimes find ways to not pay attention to that. Councilman Krupicka said the School Board is working on putting together a committee to work on parental involvement and how they can include parental involvement in the City. (k) Councilman Krupicka thanked the Sister City Program, as his family had an exchange student from France with them for the last two weeks, and the Sister City Program coordinated it. (l) Councilman Krupicka said the Governor had a ceremony at Cora Kelly today celebrating the 100,000 milestone in signing up kids for the Famis Health Care Program, which is for people who are too wealthy for Medicare and not wealthy enough to have private health care. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORAL REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER The City Manager reported on the following: (a) there have been a number of incidents in the last couple of weeks and the Police Department is on top of them and he asked Chief Samarra to speak. Police Chief Samarra gave an update on crime in the City. City Manager Sunderland continued his report, noting: (b) he handed out a copy of the most recent FYI Alexandria; (c) staff passed out a memorandum this week on the Virginia Municipal League events; (d) with VML and the host night dinner on Monday night, people will ask about the Marina, where there is a part of the dock shut down and there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and the $519,000 is the cost to repair, which is Hurricane Isabel related damage that happened last Fall, and FEMA has not yet paid for the repairs and the City now waits for an appeal from FEMA as to whether they will pay the $519,000; (d) he gave an update on the recent actions with Mirant, including the consent decree, including NOx, particulate matter and downwash, the hiring of a consultant, and having an independent engineering firm go into the facility every quarter. Mayor Euille asked that this be discussed in executive session at the next Council meeting. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS 25. Public Hearing, Second Reading and Final Passage of an Ordinance to Establish a Pilot Program for Sidewalk Cafe Seating in the King Street Corridor. (#18a, 9/21/04) [ROLL- CALL VOTE] Council held the public hearing and passed the ordinance on second reading. (ORD NO. 4360) Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 26. Consideration of a Resolution Implementing Changes to the Membership Representation Formula of the Northern Virginia Regional Commission. [ROLL-CALL VOTE] City Council adopted the resolution which approves the amendments to the Northern Virginia Regional Commission's Charter Agreement to (a) revise the membership representation formula by requiring that all representatives of the governing bodies be elected members of the respective boards and councils; and (b) allow any member to call for weighted voting based on a population formula on any matter before the Commission. (RES. NO. 2117) Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 27. Consideration of a Resolution Authorizing the Issuance and Sale of General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2004B. [ROLL-CALL VOTE] City Council adopted the resolution which (a) authorizes the issuance and sale of the General Obligation Refunding Bonds, Series 2004B; (b) approves the form and other details of such bonds; (c) authorizes the City Manager and the Director of Finance to take all actions as shall be required in connection with the issuance, sale and delivery of such bonds; and (d) provides details with respect to the issuance of such bonds. (RES. NO. 2118) Council Action:_________________________________________________________ OTHER 28. Consideration of City Council Schedule. City Council adopted the schedule of Council's regular City Council meetings for September 2004 through June 2005, with the following additions and changes: there will be a work session with the Planning Commission on October 25 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Work Room; scheduled a work session to view the video "Smart Growth Begins at the Local Level" developed by the Council of Governments Metropolitan Development Policy Committee and to have a discussion with COG staff at 6:00 p.m. before Council's January 11, 2005 legislative meeting; scheduled a joint work session with Council and the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority Board (ARHA) before Council's January 25, 2005 legislative meeting at 6:00 p.m., in the Council Work Room; interviews for the City Manager are expected to be held October 20-22; the Urban Land Institute Washington Landmark Technical Assistance Panel reception will be September 29 at 5:00 p.m. at Landmark Mall, 5801 Duke Street; various activities at the VML Conference from October 3-5 will be at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Center; the City's fifth annual National Disability Mentoring Day for Alexandria youth with disabilities will be October 20; the City will have VML Day on February 3, 2005, in Richmond with a joint dinner with Arlington County and the legislative delegations from Alexandria and Arlington at 6:00 p.m., at the Linden Row Inn, 100 E. Franklin Street; and the work session on October 12 on economic development will be discussed at the Council retreat November 20. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ EXECUTIVE SESSION 29. Consideration of Convening An Executive Session Closed to the Public To Discuss the Appointment of the New City Manager, pursuant to Section 2.2-3711(A)(1) of the Code of Virginia. At 10:32 p.m., City Council convened in executive session, pursuant to Section 2.2-3711(A)(1) of the Code of Virginia for the purpose of discussing the appointment of the new city manager. At 10:33 p.m., City Council reconvened the meeting and at the end of the executive session, Council recessed the meeting until October 12, when it will be reconvened. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ Note: The action docket is a summary of Council's meeting deliberations prepared largely for staff follow-up. Formal minutes of the meeting, when approved by Council, become the official record of the meeting and of Council decisions made at the meeting.