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 Regular Meeting Minutes of October 10, 2006; and (b) The Public Hearing Meeting Minutes of October 14, 2006. City Council approved the regular meeting minutes of October 10, 2006 and the public hearing meeting minutes of October 14, 2006. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ RECOGNITION OF YOUTH BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL None. PROCLAMATIONS 4. Presentation of a Proclamation Congratulating Anne Boston Parish and the Queen Street Clinic. The proclamation was not presented, as the representative from the Queen Street Clinic was not present. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER 5. Public Hearing To Obtain Citizens Input on the City's Proposed Fiscal Year 2008 Budget and Capital Improvement Program (CIP.) City Council heard testimony on the FY 2008 Budget and CIP. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER CONSENT CALENDAR (6-12) (Resignations and Uncontested Appointments) 6. Receipt of the Following Resignations From Members of Boards, Commissions and Committees: (a) Alexandria Commission for the Arts Marc Sukolsky (b) Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission Matthew I. Slavin (c) Alexandria Youth Policy Commission Emma Shapiro 7. Uncontested Appointments to Boards, Commissions and Committees: (a) Alexandria Citizen Corps Council 1 Representative of the Emergency Medical Services Council, Medical Reserve Corps, or a Person With Emergency Medical Response Experience (b) Alexandria Commission on Employment 1 Business Representative From Among Recognized Area Businesses Including Minority-Owned And Small Businesses (c) Alexandria Commission on HIV/AIDS The Sheriff’s Designee (d) Alexandria Commission on Information Technology 1 Citizen Member (e) Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association Board of Governors The President of the Alexandria Hotel Association (f) Alexandria Early Childhood Commission 1 Member-At-Large (g) Alexandria Emergency Medical Services Council 1 Representative of the Alexandria Chapter of The American Red Cross (h) Historic Alexandria Resources Commission 1 Member-At-Large (i) Alexandria Sister Cities Committee 1 Representative From the Alexandria-Gyumri Sister City Committee (Reports and Recommendations of the City Manager) 8. Consideration of the Monthly Financial Report for the Period Ending September 30, 2006. 9. Consideration of Authorization of Recommended Capital Allocations and Planned Expenditures. 10. Consideration of Acceptance of Urban Area Security Initiative Grant Award in the Amount of $90,369 From the Department of Homeland Security. 11. Consideration of a Grant Application by the Office on Women to the Virginia Department of Social Services Healthy Marriage and Stable Families Initiative. 12. Consideration of Authorization of a Grant Application in the Amount of $92,000 to the Department of Criminal Justice Services For a Two Year Project to Enhance Sexual and Domestic Violence Services. END OF CONSENT CALENDAR City Council approved the Consent Calendar with the removal of docket item #12 and considered it under separate motion. The City Manager's recommendations were as follows: 6. City Council accepted the following resignations with regret: (a) Marc Sukolsky, Alexandria Commission for the Arts; (b) Matthew I. Slavin, Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission; and (c) Emma Shapiro, Alexandria Youth Policy Commission. 7. City Council made the following appointments: (a) appointed Francis Hoang as the one representative of the Emergency Medical Services Council, Medical Reserve Corps, or a person with emergency medical response experience to the Alexandria Citizen Corps Council; (b) reappointed Kenneth Taylor as the one business representative from among recognized area businesses including minority-owned and small businesses to the Alexandria Commission on Employment; (c) waived the residency requirement and reappointed Merry Brinkley as the Sheriff's designee to the Alexandria Commission on HIV/AIDS; (d) appointed Kostas Liopiros as the one citizen member to the Alexandria Commission on Information Technology; (e) waived the residency requirement and appointed John Varghese as the president of the Alexandria Hotel Association to the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association Board of Governors (ACVA); (f) appointed Carol Freeman as the one member-at-large to the Alexandria Early Childhood Commission; (g) appointed Pamela Alesky as the one representative of the Alexandria Chapter of the American Red Cross to the Alexandria Emergency Medical Services Council; (h) reappointed Bernard Schulz as the one member-at-large to the Historic Alexandria Resources Commission; and (i) waived the residency requirement and appointed Sueko Kumagai as the one representative from the Alexandria-Gyumri Sister City Committee to the Alexandria Sister Cities Committee. 8. City Council received the monthly financial report for the period ending September 30, 2006. 9. City Council authorized the capital project allocations and planned expenditures for the capital projects as detailed in the Capital Improvement Expenditure Summary. 10. City Council: (1) accepted the Homeland Security grant funds in the amount of $90,369; and (2) authorized the City Manager to execute all necessary documents that may be required. 11. City Council: (1) approved the submission of the grant application to the Department of Social Services (DSS) for funding in the amount of $22,300 that would result in funding for a part-time position for the Office on Women; (2) approved the acquisition of one part-time Outreach and Prevention Specialist for the Office on Women. This grant-funded position would terminate upon the expiration of the grant and the individual who fills the position would be notified of this condition of employment at the time that they are hired, and would sign an agreement of understanding with regard to this condition; and (3) authorized the City Manager to execute all documents that may be required. 12. City Council deferred consideration of this item. (separate motion) Council Action:_________________________________________________________ CONTESTED APPOINTMENTS 13. Alexandria-Caen Exchange Committee 1 Citizen Member City Council appointed Steven Rich as the one citizen member to the Alexandria-Caen Exchange Committee. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER FOR DISCUSSION 14. Receipt of Proposed City Legislative Package for the 2007 General Assembly Session. City Council: (1) received the proposals for the City's 2007 Legislative Package; (2) scheduled the legislative package proposals for public hearing on Saturday, November 18; (3) scheduled the proposed Charter amendment for public hearing on Saturday, November 18; and (4) scheduled adoption of the Legislative Package for Tuesday, November 28, following Council's work session with the General Assembly delegation. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES None ORAL REPORTS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL None. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORAL PRESENTATIONS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL (a) Councilman Krupicka said the budget public hearing this evening was great. It would be helpful to him to encourage every organization that came forward to submit written comments. He said ideally, he would like to see, after the budget public hearing, a book put together of all the letters organized by class. He encouraged written testimony so citizens do not always feel like they have to come to the meetings. Getting the specific information requests and issues on paper helps him digest it all. (b) Councilman Krupicka said the Del Ray Halloween parade is on Sunday and it will be done in conjunction with the Walk to End Homelessness. (c) Councilwoman Pepper noted the City tree sale this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Fort Ward Park, where one can buy up to 20 trees at a discounted price. (d) Councilwoman Pepper noted that the Apothecary Shop is going to be re-opening after having been closed for some time, and it will reopen on Veteran's Day, November 11, and it has been privately restored. She noted that the City had acquired that property and it will be part of the City's family of historic properties. (e) Councilwoman Pepper said several members of Council attended the Inova Hospital Cancer Center open house and tour this past week. She said it gave them an opportunity to see some new equipment that they are showing off. It is a new state-of-the-art way of treating cancer in a very specific pinpointed way so that not many of the cells that are healthy are not damaged. She said this is the first hospital in Northern Virginia to get the equipment. (f) Councilman Gaines said that on Friday, October 27, the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association will hold the Fun Side Forum from 8:00 to 9:30 a.m. at the Hilton Old Town. Participating in the forum will be representatives from National Harbor. Clearly it is an opportunity for anyone in the community to hear about the plans. (g) Councilwoman Pepper said the new Harris Teeter store is open in Fox Chase. (h) Vice Mayor Macdonald said he was in Baltimore on Saturday at Fell's Point, and Baltimore has a larger waterfront and he was impressed with the very nice things that have been done in the older part of the waterfront. Their parks are very well thought out and planned. He said they have a tremendous amount of commercial development, but it does point out that they need to be very careful about what they want - do they want residential or commercial development in the buildings they have. Adaptive re-use seems to be the smart way to go. Vice Mayor Macdonald said that while driving through Old Town, he noticed the streets and the sidewalks and for an historic district, a lot looks pretty ragged and its ragged for various reasons. He said one of the things the City needs to spend more time on is beautifying Alexandria and beautifying the historic district. Planting trees is one of the things they can do, and yet it charges homeowners to plant the trees. There seem to be a disparate view of how to take care of sidewalks - sometimes it's brick, sometimes it's concrete. He said that if one looks underneath a lot of the streets, there are the old cobbles and he was not sure they want to resurrect the old cobbles, but there is a lot of brick paving under a lot of the asphalt. He said that in the historic districts, if they could expose that again, it would make a fine way to have them identify some of the historic part of the town - the waterfront, and it might be used as a way to slow traffic. Vice Mayor Macdonald said they need to look at beautifying Alexandria, look at other cities like Baltimore, and they need to think about the commercial side of the redevelopment. Mayor Euille said he has raised good points in terms of beautification. He said he had a discussion with some folks at lunch this afternoon and he assured them they are always looking at ways to improve and beautify and some evolved as a result of last night's Alexandria Beautification Commission presentation of their annual awards to 50 residential property owners and several commercial and retailers. When one looks at what the citizens are doing and have done to maintain and beautify their own properties, it only makes sense that as a City government it do the same throughout the City as much as possible to make sure they are committed to beauty, and the City is. It takes time and money, and the waterfront exercise will be an opportunity to take a look at what they want to do, not so much what has been done in Baltimore, but a lot of the citizens and Council and staff have done an awful lot of travelling and have seen waterfronts and what others are doing. Mayor Euille said the condition of streets needing paving and sidewalk conditions and curbs and gutters is all outside the perimeters of the waterfront. It is a commitment the City needs to be on top of, but it all comes down to dollars and cents. It needs to look at what it can do in the short-term and the long-term. Some of the things as far as beautification, whether it be trash cans, cleaning the streets or signage, can be done in the short-term and is not something that needs to wait for the next few years down the road. Councilman Smedberg said he agreed with Vice Mayor Macdonald that there are several things they can do in terms of general beautification. One thing started a few years ago was the gateway initiative that seems to have fallen on the wayside. He said one thing the City could do is the entryway on the G.W. Parkway as one enters the City, the sign and the garden are pitiful and is the thing that every tourist and visitor to Alexandria sees and it looks very bad. (i) Mayor Euille said the City was the recipient of the Virginia Municipal League's Achievement Award for 2006 for cities and towns over 90,000 population, which he received a week ago at the annual banquet of the Virginia Municipal League. The award was given for the successful Chatham Square redevelopment project that was a collaboration between the public housing authority, the developer, and the City of Alexandria, and it was a very successful project, and not only did it receive State recognition, but they had the opportunity to attend a program for the National Builders Association where the top award in the entire United States was presented for the Chatham Square project. The project is featured in the October 2006 edition of the Builders Magazine as the choice award winner. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORAL REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER None. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS 15. Consideration of a Resolution Supporting the Northern Virginia Regional Commission Application For Fiscal Year 2007-08 Transportation Enhancement Grant For Four Mile Run Pedestrian and Bicycle Bridge. [ROLL-CALL VOTE] City Council: (1) adopted the resolution supporting the Northern Virginia Regional Commission application for FY 2007-08 funding in the amount of $500,000 for phase 1 in the design and preliminary engineering of a pedestrian and bicycle bridge over Four Mile Run at Commonwealth Avenue to South Eads Street in Arlington County; (2) requested the City Manager to assure the Commonwealth of Virginia that the City of Alexandria will provide a local match of $50,000 if the grant is awarded; and (3) authorized the City Manager to apply for these grants, and to enter into agreements with the State to accept any of these grants. (RES. NO. 2210) Council Action:_________________________________________________________ OTHER 16. Consideration of City Council Schedule. City Council: (1) scheduled a work session on Virginia Paving at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, November 6 in the Council Chambers; (2) scheduled a meeting of the Alexandria Transit Company Stockholders at 7:00 p.m. just prior to the beginning of the Council's Tuesday, November 14 legislative meeting; and (3) noted the revised calendar includes the grand opening of the Stabler-Leadbetter Apothecary Museum on Saturday, November 11 at 10:00 a.m. at 105-107 South Fairfax Street; and noted that Thursday, November 30, the EMS Council is sponsoring the 30th anniversary celebration of the Emergency Medical Services Council and Program in Alexandria. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ * * * * * * The meeting adjourned at 10:28 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.