OPENING
1. Calling the Roll. The meeting was called to order by Mayor Euille, and the City Clerk called the roll; all the members of City Council were present. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 2. Moment of Silence and Pledge of Allegiance. City Council observed a moment of silence and recited the Pledge of Allegiance. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 3. Reading and Acting Upon the Minutes of the Following Meetings of City Council: (a) The Public Hearing Meeting Minutes of February 25, 2006; and (b) The Special Public Hearing Meeting Minutes of March 13, 2006; and (c) The Regular Meeting Minutes of March 14, 2006. City Council approved the public hearing meeting minutes of February 25, 2006, the special public hearing meeting minutes of March 13, 2006, and the regular meeting minutes of March 14, 2006. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ RECOGNITION OF YOUTH BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL 4. Recognition of the Girls and Boys T.C. Williams High School Basketball Teams and Their Coaches For Their Outstanding Seasons. City Council recognized the T.C. Williams High School Boys and Girls basketball teams and their coaches. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ * * * * * * (Councilman Macdonald left the meeting at this time - 7:20 p.m.) * * * * * * PROCLAMATIONS 5. Presentation of a Proclamation Declaring April as Sexual Assault Awareness Month. City Council endorsed the proclamation. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 6. Presentation of a Proclamation Declaring April 8, 2006, as Homeownership Fair Day. City Council endorsed the proclamation. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 7. Presentation of a Proclamation for the 20th Anniversary of the Scholarship Fund of Alexandria. City Council endorsed the proclamation. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 8. Presentation of a Proclamation Recognizing the 30th Anniversary of the Kappas. City Council endorsed the proclamation. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER CONSENT CALENDAR (9-15) (Resignations and Uncontested Appointments) 9. Receipt of the Following Resignations From Members of Boards, Commissions and Committees: (a) Alexandria Affordable Housing Advisory Committee David Englin (b) Alexandria Commission on Information Technology Dale Wurzer (c) Alexandria Commission on Persons With Disabilities Laura Lantzy 10. Uncontested Appointments to Boards, Commissions and Committees: (a) Alexandria Affordable Housing Advisory Committee 1 Licensed and Practicing Attorney (b) Alexandria Archaeological Commission 1 Member From the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce (c) Alexandria George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee 1 Member Nominated by the Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations 1 Member Nominated by the Friendship Veterans Fire Engine Association (d) Alexandria Landlord-Tenant Relations Board 1 Resident Member Who Is Neither A Landlord or A Tenant (Homeowner) 1 Landlord or Representative of A Landlord (e) Alexandria Public Health Advisory Commission 1 Representative of the Inova Alexandria Hospital Board (Reports and Recommendations of the City Manager) 11. Consideration of Monthly Financial Report for the Period Ending February 28, 2006. 12. Consideration of Authorization of Recommended Capital Project Allocations and Planning Expenditures. 13. Submission of a Grant Application to the Department of Criminal Justice Services to Continue Community Corrections (Local Probation) and Pretrial Services Under the Comprehensive Community Corrections Act and Pretrial Services Act for FY 2007. 14. Receipt of the 2005 Annual Report of the Board of Zoning Appeals. 15. Receipt of the 2006 Needs Assessment from the Alexandria Commission on Persons With Disabilities. END OF CONSENT CALENDAR City Council approved the Consent Calendar. The City Manager's recommendations were as follows: 9. City Council accepted the following resignations with regret: (a) David Englin, Alexandria Affordable Housing Advisory Committee; (b) Dale Wurzer, Alexandria Commission on Information Technology; and (c) Laura Lantzy, Alexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities. 10. City Council made the following appointments: (a) reappointed John Corrado as the one licensed and practicing attorney to the Alexandria Affordable Housing Advisory Committee; (b) waived the residency requirement and appointed Adron Krekeler as the one member from the Alexandria Chamber of Commerce to the Alexandria Archaeological Commission; (c) appointed Anna Jones as the one member nominated by the Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations and waived the residency requirement and reappointed Quentin Tabscott as the one member nominated by the Friendship Veterans Fire Engine Association to the Alexandria George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee; (d) appointed Lynn Pendlebury Colby as the one resident member who is neither a landlord or a tenant (homeowner) and waived the residency requirement and reappointed Cynthia Clare as the one landlord or representative of a landlord to the Alexandria Landlord-Tenant Relations Board; and (e) waived the residency requirement and appointed Bonnie Sakallaris as the one representative of the Inova Alexandria Hospital Board to the Alexandria Public Health Advisory Commission. 11. City Council received the monthly financial report for the period ending February 28, 2006. 12. City Council authorized the capital project allocations and planned expenditures for the capital projects as detailed in the Capital Improvement Expenditure Summary. 13. City Council authorized the City Manager to: (a) approve the grant application to the Virginia Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) for continuation funding for the current biennial grant cycle (FY 2007 and 2008), in the amount of $432,389, under the Comprehensive Community Corrections Act-Pretrial Services Act (CCCA-PSA.) Last year's application covered funding for the FY 2005-2006, which was the last half of the biennial grant cycle (FY 2004-2006); (b) approve the continuation of six full-time positions to deliver the services to be provided under these grant programs. These grant funded positions would terminate upon the expiration of the grant and the individuals filling these positions will be notified of this condition of employment and sign an agreement of understanding with regard to this condition; and (c) execute all documents that may be required. 14. City Council received the report and thanked the Board of Zoning Appeals for their efforts on behalf of the City. 15. City Council received the Needs Assessment Report, which is a state-mandated report, submitted triennially, to the Virginia Disability Services Council from the Alexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities, and thanked the Commission members for their efforts on behalf of the City. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ CONTESTED APPOINTMENTS 16. Alexandria Affordable Housing Advisory Committee 1 Residential Tenant City Council appointed Michelle L'Heureux as the one residential tenant to the Alexandria Affordable Housing Advisory Committee. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 17. Alexandria Board of Architectural Review - Parker-Gray District 1 Citizen Member City Council appointed Philip Moffat as the one citizen member to the Alexandria Board of Architectural Review - Parker-Gray District. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 18. Alexandria Community Criminal Justice Board 1 Citizen Member City Council appointed Holly Clarke as the one citizen member to the Alexandria Community Criminal Justice Board. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 19. Alexandria Human Rights Commission 1 Citizen Member City Council appointed Kezia Williams as the one citizen member to the Alexandria Human Rights Commission. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 20. Alexandria Board of Review of Real Estate Assessments 1 Citizen Member City Council reappointed Joseph Grouby as the one citizen member to the Alexandria Board of Review of Real Estate Assessments. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER FOR DISCUSSION 21. Consideration of Request for Duke Street, Patent and Trade Mark Office (PTO) Pedestrian Safety Measures. City Council received the report and adopted step 1 for signage and pedestrian education and step 2 for marginal pedestrian barriers and determined that it wished to allocate $50,000 at this time from the remaining balance in the King Street Pedestrian Capital account for the marginal pedestrian barriers described on page two of the report. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES None ORAL REPORTS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL (a) Councilman Krupicka reported on a Day Labor Summit that will be held on Thursday, which is the second summit related to the day labor issue. The focus is now to build a consensus in the region on how to deal with issues of immigration and day laborers. (b) Mayor Euille noted that he would be attending a Gang Forum hosted by the Washington Times newspaper on Thursday morning. (c) Councilman Smedberg spoke about the actions taken at the recent Northern Virginia Regional Commission meeting on the AIDS program. He noted NVRC would send a letter to the Congressional Delegation encouraging them to engage themselves at the appropriate time to try to get Northern Virginia out of the District of Columbia region. He said a task force was established that will look at the services, how they are provided, how they are financed and looking at it longer term. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ NEW BUSINESS ITEM NO. 1: City Council recognized Jay Johnson, Assistant Superintendent for Schools, on his retirement after 32 years of service to the School System and presented Mr. Johnson with a Key to the City. ORAL PRESENTATIONS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL (a) Vice Mayor Pepper said that in the April Washingtonian Magazine, there is an article on Great Places to Live and it mentioned the 60 top neighborhoods, and Alexandria was listed first, and the headline reads, "Happy Streets: In Alexandria, tall trees, short commutes, and pleasant living mean lots of families come and stay." She noted that it speaks to the architectural diversity, the waterfront, the rich history and the activities that happen in the neighborhoods. (b) Councilwoman Woodson said Gaver Nichols has a house in the 300 block of Monroe Street, and he had an old tree on his property that died. She said Mr. Nichols planted a two-story tree, and was done intentionally to maintain the flavor of that house and the community, and the tree is thriving. She said the big developers can do that if the City wants them to. (c) Councilwoman Woodson said she has been asked to sit on a ULI Conference Panel to discuss one of their publications, which they are re-doing, which is Ten Principles for Affordable Housing, and that is tonight and tomorrow. She said she would bring back whatever information she has to share with the City on what direction ULI is headed. (d) Mayor Euille said the Mayor's Walk through the Inner City is this Saturday morning, April 1, at the Durant Recreation Center at 9:45 a.m. Council, citizens and staff are invited to participate. It will end up at Charles Houston Recreation Center around noon with a lunch and brief discussions and interactions with the citizens to discuss what they observed through the walking tour. (e) Mayor Euille noted the Watershed Clean-up project that is scheduled for Saturday, April 8, entitled, Take Pride in Our Potomac: It Starts in Your Backyard. Trash Free by 2013, from 9 a.m. to noon at Jones Point Park. (f) Councilman Gaines said as it moves on the issue of affordable housing, to the extent she is amenable to it, he would hope that City government would find whatever way it can, through a consulting role or advisory role, to avail the expertise and experience of Councilwoman Woodson on the issues moving forward. (g) Mayor Euille said Legislative Director Bernie Caton emailed Council late this afternoon to give a status update on the special session the legislature is in in Richmond, and unfortunately, there is nothing new to report. He said they are having discussion on the budget for the next two years and still dealing with the transportation hurdles. Mayor Euille said he participated in a conference call last Wednesday evening with elected officials across the state with Governor Kaine and they heard the Governor being upbeat on the possibilities once the session commenced. He said both the Governor and the Senate have reasonable proposals on the table and it is trying to get the House to come on board. (h) Councilman Krupicka said he and Councilman Gaines wanted to thank the City staff that put an incredible amount of time into the Gang Summit this last weekend. There were over 500 participants and Mike Mackey did a fantastic job, along with the Police Force, Sheriff's Office, Community Services Board, and Parks and Recreation. He said he thought the City staff was well represented and he wanted to thank the City Manager and Deputy City Manager Evans for their help with that. Councilman Gaines noted that it was a tremendous event, and there was a cross-section of everyone from the City who attended. He said it took a tremendous amount of coordination to pull it off and make it successful. He said several people stepped up to the microphone and said they wanted to get involved and wanted to be mentors and wanted to find ways to help. He thanked the staff and the 500 people who came out on Saturday morning to participate. (i) Vice Mayor Pepper noted that last evening, they had the Salute to Women Awards Banquet, and Deputy City Manager Michele Evans received one of the highest awards, which was the Vola Lawson Award. She said they barely dipped into all of the reasons why she deserved this, certainly for many years of service. She said Ms. Evans has done such a wonderful job and has been so helpful to all of them, and she personally congratulated her again. (j) Mayor Euille noted that last week, he greeted the Mayor visiting for the first time in the United States from Estonian Mayor Jaadla, who wanted to come to Alexandria to have an understanding of its challenges in dealing with affordable housing, because in his country affordable is an issue for them. Mayor Euille said Mayor Jaadla is a board member and a founding member of an International Affordable Housing Coalition and the chairman of that organization resides in Rockville, Maryland. He said the next day, the Deputy Mayor of Suffolk, England, outside of London, stopped by to visit and he met him at the British Embassy when the London Association of Mayors was in town visiting, and the Deputy Mayor and his wife were in the states for a two week period and spent an entire week in Alexandria, and they attended many events. He said that on Thursday, he hosted a seven person delegation led by the Deputy Prime Minister from Kenya, who came to Alexandria and wanted to learn how and what it does in terms of historic preservation, as that is a big issue for them back home. He said a fourth visit was trying to be worked in, but the schedule couldn't be worked out, and that was the opportunity to greet and meet the new Mayor of Liberia. Deputy City Manager Jinks said on affordable housing, they have been working on reorganizing and rethinking how it could get more affordable housing produced, and reorganize the Office of Housing to create in the deputy director position someone as the affordable housing czar, someone who would be responsible for being able to focus on increasing the amount of affordable housing production. He said the new deputy director, Helen McIlvaine, will start next week. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORAL REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER None. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS 22. Consideration of a Resolution on the Financing Plan for Railcars for the Virginia Railway Express (VRE). [ROLL-CALL VOTE] City Council adopted a resolution on the financing plan for railcars for the Virginia Railway Express (VRS.) RES. NO. 2180 Council Action:_________________________________________________________ OTHER 23. Consideration of City Council Schedule. City Council adopted the schedule of Council's regular City Council meetings for March 2006 through June 2006, with the following additions and changes: (a) an open house at the new ARHA housing units at 307 South Whiting Street on Thursday, March 30 at 11:00 a.m.; (b) a work session with the Ad Hoc Transportation Task Force at 5:30 p.m. before Council's Tuesday, April 11 legislative meeting in the Council work room; (c) the City's Days of Remembrance program, at noon on Tuesday, April 25 at Market Square; (d) the location of the Historic Preservation Forum on Wednesday, April 26 (George Washington Masonic National Memorial); (e) the Alexandria Earth Day on Saturday, April 29 from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at the Four Mile Run Park, 3700 Commonwealth Avenue; (f) the City's Annual Health and Benefits Fair on Thursday, May 18 from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., at Charles Houston Recreation Center, 905 Wythe Street; (g) the City Council Installation ceremony on Wednesday, July 5 at 7:30 p.m., at a location to be determined; and (h) the City's Annual USA/Alexandria Birthday Celebration on Saturday, July 8 from 6:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Oronoco Bay Park. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ NEW BUSINESS ITEM NO. 2: Executive Session. At 8:47 p.m., City Council convened in executive session, pursuant to Section 2.2-3711(A)(3) of the Code of Virginia, for the purpose of discussing the acquisition of real property for public park and recreation purposes and licensing of City property for public utility purposes, and pursuant to Section 2.2-3711(A)(7) of the Code of Virginia for the purpose of discussing actual and probable litigation involving the Mirant Power Plant. At 9:35 p.m., City Council reconvened the meeting. City Council adopted the resolution pertaining to the Executive Session. (RES. NO. 2181) Council Action:_________________________________________________________ The meeting adjourned at 9:37 p.m. 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.