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 Meeting of City Council: (a) The Regular Meeting Minutes of January 9, 2007. City Council approved the regular meeting minutes of January 9, 2007. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ RECOGNITION OF YOUTH BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL None. PROCLAMATIONS 4. Presentation of a Proclamation Recognizing Members of the Beverley Hills Garden Club for the Holiday Decorations at City Hall. City Council endorsed the proclamation. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 5. Presentation of a Proclamation Declaring February as Black History Month. City Council endorsed the proclamation. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 5.1 Presentation of a Proclamation Declaring February 4-10, 2007, as Consumer Protection Week in Alexandria. City Council endorsed the proclamation. 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-Caen Exchange Committee Anthony A. Smith (b) Alexandria Early Childhood Commission Amy Donahue 7. Uncontested Appointments to Boards, Commissions and Committees: (a) Alexandria Early Childhood Commission 1 Representative of the Alexandria Child Care Directors Association (b) Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission 1 Citizen-at-Large (c) Alexandria George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee 1 Member Nominated by the First Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line (d) Historic Alexandria Resources Commission 1 Representative From the Lee-Fendall House (e) Alexandria Human Rights Commission 1 Representative From the Alexandria Commission on Aging (f) Alexandria Sanitation Authority 1 Citizen Member (Reports and Recommendations of the City Manager) 8. Consideration of Request to Vacate A Position on the Alexandria-Caen Exchange Committee. 9. Consideration of Request to Vacate A Position on the Alexandria Commission on Persons With Disabilities. 10. Consideration of the FY 2006 Annual Report from the Alexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities. 11. Consideration of Monthly Financial Report for the Period Ending December 31, 2006. 12. Consideration of Authorization of Recommended Capital Project Allocations and Planned Expenditures. END OF CONSENT CALENDAR City Council approved the Consent Calendar. The City Manager's recommendations were as follows: 6. City Council accepted the following resignations with regret: (a) Anthony A. Smith, Alexandria-Caen Exchange Committee; and (b) Amy Donahue, Alexandria Early Childhood Commission. 7. City Council made the following appointments: (a) waived the residency requirement and reappointed Saskia Swider as the one representative of the Alexandria Child Care Directors Association to the Alexandria Early Childhood Commission; (b) reappointed Joy Pochatila as the one citizen-at-large to the Alexandria Environmental Policy Commission; (c) waived the residency requirement and reappointed Carl Gnam as the one member nominated by the First Virginia Regiment of the Continental Line to the Alexandria George Washington Birthday Celebration Committee; (d) appointed David Heiden as the one representative from the Lee-Fendall House to the Historic Alexandria Resources Commission; (e) reappointed David Horne as the one representative from the Alexandria Commission on Aging to the Alexandria Human Rights Commission; and (f) reappointed Elise Fulstone as the one citizen member to the Alexandria Sanitation Authority. 8. City Council declared as vacant one of the citizen positions on the Alexandria-Caen Exchange Committee and authorized the Executive Secretary for Boards and Commissions to advertise the vacancy. 9. City Council declared as vacant one of the citizen positions on the Alexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities and authorized the Executive Secretary for Boards and Commissions to advertise the vacancy. 10. City Council received the Annual Report from the Alexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities and thanked the Commission members for their efforts on behalf of the City. 11. City Council received the Monthly Financial Report for the period ending December 31, 2006. 12. City Council authorized the capital project allocations and planned expenditures for the capital projects as detailed in the Capital Improvement Expenditure Summary. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ NEW BUSINESS ITEM NO. 1: City Manager Hartmann recognized new Deputy Director of Information Technology Tom Trobridge. CONTESTED APPOINTMENTS 13. Alexandria Board of Zoning Appeals 1 Citizen Member City Council appointed Eric Zander as the one citizen member to the Alexandria Board of Zoning Appeals. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 14. Alexandria Industrial Authority 1 Citizen Member City Council appointed Lynn Hampton as the one citizen member to the Alexandria Industrial Authority. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 15. Alexandria Planning Commission 3 Citizen Members City Council reappointed John Komoroske and Eric Wagner and appointed Mary Lyman as the three citizen members to the Alexandria Planning Commission. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER FOR DISCUSSION 16. Recommendations and Status Report on Legislation Introduced at the 2007 General Assembly Session. City Council took the following actions, as recommended by City Council's Legislative Subcommittee (Mayor Euille and Councilman Smedberg): 1. Approved the legislative positions included in attachment 1 (recommended positions on bills of importance to the City); 2. Supported new revenue sources for transportation, but opposed the use of general fund revenue to pay for transportation; and 3. Opposed the proposed changes in the funding formula for HG 599 law enforcement funding. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 17. Deferral from January 9, 2007. Receipt of Report on the Recommended Future Committee Structure for the City of Alexandria's Open Space Steering Committee and Setting the Report for Public Hearing on Saturday, February 24, 2007. (#20, 1/9/07) City Council approved the original recommendation in the memorandum from the City Manager dated January 4, 2007, to: 1. Establish a Manager-appointed Open Space Advisory Committee with the composition outlined, including adding a representative of the Beautification Committee; and 2. Set this item for public hearing on Saturday, February 24. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ 18. Consideration of Proposal for the Development of an Environmental Action Plan for the City of Alexandria. City Council entered into an agreement with Virginia Tech to work with City staff and the Environmental Policy Commission (EPC) to develop an Environmental Action Plan for the City and authorized the City Manager to: 1. Work with Virginia Tech to finalize a scope of work to complete Phase I of the development of the Environmental Action Plan that would focus primarily on two tasks; a) summarize and document existing environmental programs and policies, and b) research and collect information on environmental plans, model practices and programs from other jurisdictions that have the most relevance and importance for the City; 2. Allocate $15,000 from the general fund contingent reserve to fund phase I of the Environmental Action Plan; 3. Develop a schedule and budget for implementing Phases II and III for the development of a supplemental request for the Environmental Action Plan that can be considered by Council for funding out of FY 2008 contingent reserves; and 4. Execute all necessary documents that may be required under this program. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ * * * * * * (Mayor Euille left the meeting at this time - 8:20 p.m.) * * * * * * REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES None ORAL REPORTS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL (a) Councilman Krupicka said he attended the Citizen Corps Council meeting last night, as he and Councilman Gaines are liaisons to that, and he handed out materials the Citizen Corps Council have been working on, specifically he referred to an email that goes through a rank of all of the initiatives they will be working on over the next year, and it is an impressive list. He said the Citizen Corps Council is one of the most active and engaged commissions they have in the City, and they have five or six different sub-committees and each sub-committee has monthly reports and are doing very specific initiatives. He said they are very committed to making sure Alexandria is a safer place and they should be applauded for that. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORAL PRESENTATIONS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL (a) Councilman Smedberg said that last night at the Upper King Street meeting, there were two things that came up. There was a concern by several people that a trash train sits on the railroad tracks, and they are concerned about how long it sits there, and they have heard rumors that it is so the VRE trains can go by, but they ask a good question why can't it park in a more commercial area or somewhere else other than in the middle of a residential area. Also, as relates to trains, he said he received emails from people in northeast concerned about the train tracks on Slaters Lane, the ditches by the trains are very severe and he noted that they are quite bad in both directions. Director of Transportation and Environmental Services Baier said Council did require the developer to fund the replacement of the tracks when Old Town Village was constructed, and what they had done was to give the City the money and they have designed a set of plans with the railroad. The problem is the railroad moves at their own pace, and staff is now waiting for their final approval for the release of those plans to bid out the job. (b) Councilwoman Pepper said the almost 300-year old white oak at the former Second Presbyterian Church was cut down, as it had become infested. She said there is a gentlemen who takes wood from the trees at places like George Washington's home when the trees have become diseased or blown down, dries the wood out and turns it into bookcases and tables, so that is very encouraging. Councilwoman Pepper said there aren't many bicentennial trees left, and she would be hopeful that the Arborist could visit them every year to see how they are doing. She said she would like an inventory taken to see a progress report on the status of the trees. (c) Councilman Gaines said the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association had an all-day retreat for the board of governors and other members where issues related to tourism were discussed and it was very productive. He said he looks forward to bringing together all the information and sharing it with Council. He said there were good ideas about tourism in general, about how it addresses the waterfront, as well as the new development and the National Harbor development specifically, and how the City responds. He said he looks forward to sharing the report with Council sometime after the February board meeting. He also noted that this Friday, the ACVA will hold another installation of its wildly popular Fun Side Forum at the Sheraton Suites, 801 N. St. Asaph Street, from 8:00 to 9:15 a.m., and the topic is the waterfront development. (d) Vice Mayor Macdonald said he received a call from Mary Noel McMillian, who was representing the petitioners on behalf of the BAR appeal of Pendleton Street, and she was a bit concerned and wanted to make sure that the minutes reflected what Council agreed upon, which he and she believes was that they had asked that the applicant for the project reduce the height for their structure by a minimum of five feet. He said he wanted to make sure that that was the consensus and that was the motion. Vice Mayor Macdonald said he wanted to make sure the Planning Director and staff understand that it was a minimum of five feet. Councilman Smedberg said there was a little flexibility, but in general there was a guideline that Council was expecting to see the roofline coming down to a range of about five feet, but Council should wait for the minutes. (e) Vice Mayor Macdonald said he received a petition today to the Council by over 800 residents of the area around the Braddock Metro, which he passed to the City Clerk. The petition reads: "We support preserving the green space at Braddock Metro locally known as the PBS Plaza Pocket Park from development by Bradley Gray, or others. Building on this land will lead to excess overcrowding and congestion, which we oppose. Because this parcel is under imminent threat of loss to development, it must be added promptly to the city's open-space acquisition plan. Therefore, we request that the city permanently restrict this land from private development, and acquire the entire property for green-space preservation." (f) Vice Mayor Macdonald said mention was made of trains, and they saw the awful accident in the southern part of the United States, and it behooves Council that it is important to work on efforts to deal with this kind of derailment, if it should ever occur. He said the hazardous chemicals pose tremendous threat in rural areas and even more so in urban areas. He said he hoped they have a robust plan of action to deal with the very unlikely case that it would ever happen. Councilman Gaines said the Local Emergency Planning Commission, of which he and Councilman Krupicka are Council liaisons, deal regularly with the issue of the hazardous transportation of products in and out of the City. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ * * * * * * (Councilmember Lovain left the meeting at this time - 8:40 p.m.) * * * * * * ORAL REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER None. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS 19. Consideration of a Grant Application and Resolution for FY 2008 Funding for the Continuation of the Alexandria Rideshare Program and to Fund a Public Transportation Intern Position. [ROLL-CALL VOTE] City Council adopted the resolution and authorized the City Manager to: 1. Submit a grant application and the resolution to the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation for FY 2008 funding: a) in the amount of $228,240 which will be matched by $57,060 of City funds, for a total program of $285,300, for the continuation of the City's ridesharing services through Alexandria Rideshare; and b) in the amount of $26,600, which will be matched by $1,400 of City funds, for a total of $28,000 to hire a public transportation intern; 2. Approve the continuation of two full-time grant-funded positions (Transit Specialist I and Transit Services Assistant I) to administer the ongoing Alexandria Rideshare program. Continuation of these positions is contingent upon continuation of funding from the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation or other non-City sources; 3. Execute all necessary document that may be required under this program. (RES. NO. 2216) Council Action:_________________________________________________________ OTHER 20. Consideration of City Council Schedule. City Council received the revised calendar which includes: the Alexandria Conservation Celebration on Saturday, January 27 from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Lyceum, 201 S. Washington Street; a work session on preschool issues at 5:30 p.m. before Council's Tuesday, February 13 legislative meeting in the Council work room; the annual meeting of the Alexandria Transit Company Stockholders at 6:45 p.m. before Council's Tuesday, February 27 legislative meeting in the Council work room; a town hall meeting at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 1 to follow up on the Economic Sustainability Summit and the Mayor's State of the City Address (location to be determined); the 14th annual Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day on Thursday, April 26. The kickoff will begin at 8:15 a.m. in the Vola Lawson Lobby; and the Alexandria Commission on Persons with Disabilities Annual Awards Reception on Tuesday, June 26 at 6:00 p.m. in the Vola Lawson Lobby. Council Action:_________________________________________________________ * * * * * * The meeting adjourned at 8:50 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.