Back to FY Dockets

Office of the City Clerk
May 28, 2008

There Was a Work Session With the
Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing
Authority (ARHA) Board at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council
Work Room.

There Was a Work Session With the
Capital Development Foundation Members
at 6:45 p.m. in the City Council Work Room.



Regular Meeting
Tuesday, May 27, 2008 - - 7:00 p.m.

* * * * *

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 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 May 13, 2008.

City Council approved the regular meeting minutes of May 13, 2008.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

RECOGNITION OF YOUTH BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL

None.

PROCLAMATIONS

4. Presentation of a Proclamation Recognizing the 20th Anniversary of Kim Allen Kluge, Conductor of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra.

This item was deferred.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

5. Presentation of a Proclamation Declaring May 26-31, 2008 as Week of Remembrance of the Contraband and Freedmen's Cemetery.

City Council endorsed the proclamation.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________



6. Presentation of a Proclamation Commending SCAN of Northern Virginia on the Celebration of its 20th Anniversary.

City Council endorsed the proclamation.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

7. Presentation of a Proclamation Declaring May 2008 as Mental Health Month.

City Council endorsed the proclamation.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

8. Presentation of a Proclamation Recognizing Bonita Copeland, Office on Aging, as City Employee of the Month for May.

This item was deferred.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

9. Viewing of iM2 Movie Mentors Video and Clips from the Film Festival and Recognition of Mentors and Alexandria Youth Participants.

City Council recognized the participants and the mentors.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER

CONSENT CALENDAR (10-20)

(Resignations and Uncontested Appointments)

10. Receipt of the Following Resignations From Members of Boards, Commissions and Committees:


11. Uncontested Appointments to Boards, Commissions and Committees:
(Reports and Recommendations of the City Manager)

12. Consideration of a Request to Permit the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation to Dock the Tall Ship Godspeed at the City Marina for Seven Days and Waive All Associated Docking Fees.

13. Consideration of a Noncompetitive, Litter Prevention Grant for the City Adopt-a-Park Litter Control Program From the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

14. Consideration of the Monthly Financial Report for the Period Ending April 30, 2008.

15. Consideration of Authorization of Recommended Capital Project Allocations and Planned Expenditures.

16. Consideration of Acceptance of A Funding Allocation from the National Capital Region (NCR) Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) in the Amount of $83,675.

17. Consideration of Acceptance of A Funding Allocation from the National Capital Region (NCR) Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) in the Amount of $92,000.

18. Consideration of Application for Grant Funds for Improvements to the Battered Women's Shelter.

END OF CONSENT CALENDAR

City Council approved the consent calendar, with the exception of docket items #12 and 14, which were considered under separate motions. The City Manager's recommendations were as follows:

12. City Council approved the request to dock the tall ship Godspeedat the City of Alexandria Marina for seven days and waive the associated docking fee. (separate motion)

13. City Council authorized the City Manager to: 1. submit a non-competitive grant application to the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (due June 30) Litter Prevention and Recycling Program, for funding in the approximate amount of $13,176 for the Adopt-a-Park Litter Control Program (the exact amount to be determined by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality by July 15, 2008); and 2. execute all necessary documents that may be required.

14. City Council received the monthly financial report for the period ending April 30, 2008. (separate motion)

15. City Council authorized the capital project allocations and planned expenditures for the capital projects as detailed in the Capital Improvement Expenditure Summary.

16. City Council authorized the City Manager to: 1. accept the funding through the Urban Area Security Initiative in the amount of $83,675; and 2. execute all the necessary documents that may be required.

17. City Council authorized the City Manager to: 1. accept the funding through the Urban Area Security Initiative in the amount of $92,000; and 2. execute all the necessary documents that may be required.

18. City Council authorized the City Manager to: 1. submit the grant application to the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development for funding; and 2. execute all documents that may be required.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

CONTESTED APPOINTMENTS

19. Alexandria Commission for Women
3 Citizen Members

City Council reappointed Joan Dodaro, Mary Catherine Gibbs and Laura Mandala as the three citizen members to the Alexandria Commission for Women.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

20. Alexandria Human Rights Commission City Council appointed Nathir Ahmad as the one citizen member to the Alexandria Human Rights Commission.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER FOR DISCUSSION

21. Consideration of License Agreement Between the City of Alexandria and Saint Agnes and Saint Stephens School For Use of the City Athletic Field and Tennis Courts Located at West Braddock Road.

City Council: 1. approved a five-year license agreement with Church Schools in the Diocese of Virginia for the use of City owned athletic facilities located at 4401 West Braddock Road, from September 1 to May 31 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. of each year during the term of this agreement; and 2. authorized the City Manager to sign the license agreement.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES

None

ORAL REPORTS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL

(a) Councilman Smedberg reported on the first meeting of the Motor Coach Task Force and said that at that first meeting, they laid out the issues they have, the questions they have to answer, and a timeline, which will be a distinct four or five month period. There was work done a couple of years ago, but they have to refine it as they have new information before them. He said the members of the task force represent all interests of the City, and they are looking at the City as a whole.

(b) Councilmember Lovain said that as a member of the Transportation Planning Board, they approved additions to the region's transportation improvement program projects in Alexandria, including money for safe routes to schools at Charles Barrett and George Mason Elementary, as well as money for the preliminary engineering for the bicycle pedestrian bridge over Four Mile Run between Arlington and Alexandria.

(c) Councilmember Lovain said the Human Services Transportation Task Force has begun an oversight study on the Metro Access Program, as there were difficulties with that program associated with a prior contractor. They have reached a tentative agreement on the $2.5 million worth of funding for the new freedom and job access reverse commute federal funds. He said he is pleased the way the direction is going, as it will do very positive things for the region.

(d) Councilman Gaines said he represents Council on the Council of Governments Metropolitan Planning Committee and serves as chair of that regional committee. One of the major docket items from last week's meeting was on waterfront planning and development, and they had representatives from all the local jurisdictions, principally from Prince Georges County, the District of Columbia and Stephanie Brown, with the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association. It was a very informative meeting with a tremendous amount of great information, in particular, he was impressed to see what other localities had already done and were planning to do with their waterfronts. They know about National Harbor and the development in Prince George's County, the District has a number of waterfront development projects planned, mixed use projects, as well as recreational use exclusively. He said he wished there was some way to speed up the overall comprehensive planning project for the waterfront development. In particular, he said, Stephanie Brown's presentation was well received, as it included a lot of their adaptive strategies and interim strategies for the waterfront and tourism that they were able to put in place. Of particular interest to many representatives was the success with the trolley and water taxi and connecting different aspects of the multi jurisdictional waterfronts together. He said it was a very good, lively and informative COG meeting and the City was well represented.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

ORAL PRESENTATIONS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL

(a) Councilman Wilson said he hosted a group of first graders from Lyles Crouch Academy, and he thanked City staff who made the visit possible: Laura Zabriskie-Martin, Jenn Harris, Robbie the Recycling Squirrel, Lance Malamo, Steve Mason, the folks from DASH, a librarian from Beatley, and Mayor Euille.

(b) Mayor Euille said he had an opportunity to participate in a semi-annual Mayor's Design and City Design Institute in Chicago last week, and there were mayors from the West and East coast, and the purpose was to talk about what they are doing in their cities, to do a presentation and share best practices. It also had professional architects, planners, engineers, designers, landscape folks, transportation experts, who had all been to Alexandria at one time or another or who are doing projects for Arlington County or in Maryland or the District of Columbia. In most of the presentations, he said, they used Alexandria and Arlington as communities that know how to do community oriented development.

(c) Councilman Krupicka said he serves as chair of the Statewide Safe Routes to School Program, which is a combination of VDOT, the Board of Education and PTA folks and others, who meet once a month to go over a variety of initiatives across the state related to getting kids to walk and bike to school. He said Alexandria is a fortunate recipient of a grant from the Kaiser Foundation to take one of the local elementary schools and make it a pilot school for safe routes to school. Through education and other things, they will try to create a sustainable program for walking and biking to school. He said Mt. Vernon Elementary School was chosen, and congratulations to the Mt. Vernon PTA, as they worked hard to get it to the State, to VDOT for helping support Alexandria in seeking to get it, and to the Kaiser Foundation for bringing it to them. He said it is a nice follow-on to the State grant they received last year to support the pedestrian and bicycle initiatives.

(d) Councilman Krupicka said anyone who was following Maury Elementary School in Rosemont over the last few years knows that the PTA has been pushing a very strong environmental message with the kids - they are composting, recycling, and they are putting in energy efficient light bulbs. For the past few months, from October to April, they were sponsoring a turn off the lights contest to see which classrooms and which areas of the school could be the best at remembering to turn the lights off when they left the room and all things associated with that. He said they saved $1,600 by keeping the lights off at Maury a little more frequently. The amount of energy they saved - about 20,000 kilowatts - would have taken about 38 tons of trash to produce that 20,000 kilowatts of energy.

(e) Vice Mayor Pepper noted that Aniece Wilson died this past month and she had been the executive director of Hopkins House and had expanded the program to include child care. She said she had previously been the vice president of the NAACP, served on every committee that needed someone, and was always in charge or working for the banquet committee.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

ORAL REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER

City Manager Hartmann, Fire Chief Thiel, and City Attorney Pessoa gave a status update presentation on the ethanol transloading operation being done by Norfolk Southern in Alexandria. Mr. Doug McNeil, director, distribution services, and Mr. Michael Webb, district manager, representatives of Norfolk Southern, also spoke and responded to questions of City Council.

Mayor Euille summarized what is being requested: There will be a meeting with the City Manager, City Attorney and the Fire Chief at 12:00 noon on May 28 to talk about some things; arrange for an executive session with Council for personnel matters; it needs to talk about legal maneuvers and options available to the Council; request a meeting with Congressman Moran and their U.S. Senators; prepare a letter to Norfolk Southern for his signature; coordinate and plan a meeting that will occur next Monday with Summers Grove and see if it can't get the other adjacent civic associations or community associations engaged and present, along with staff.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

22. Second Reading and Final Passage of an Ordinance to Increase the Business Professional and Occupational License Tax Rate Applicable to Pay Day and Car Title Lenders. (#3, 4/14/08, #31, 4/22/08, #12, 5/5/08, #33, 5/13/08)

City Council deferred action on the ordinance to increase the business professional and occupational license tax rate applicable to pay day and car title lenders to the June 24 City Council meeting.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

23. Consideration of a Resolution to Establish a Fee For Noise Permits. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]

City Council adopted the resolution to establish a fee for noise permits. (RES. NO. 2279)
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

24. Consideration of a Resolution to Increase Admission and Rental Fees at Select Facilities of the Office of Historic Alexandria. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]

City Council adopted the resolution to increase admission and rental fees at select facilities of the Office of Historic Alexandria. (RES. NO. 2280)
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

25. Consideration of a Resolution to Increase Excavation and Right-of-Way Permits. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]

City Council adopted the resolution to increase excavation and right-of-way permits. (RES. NO. 2281)
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

OTHER

26. Consideration of City Council Schedule.

City Council received the revised calendar which includes: the 27th Annual Alexandria Red Cross Waterfront festival on Saturday, June 14 from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and Sunday, June 15 from 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. at Oronoco Bay Park; and a reception for the Commission for the Arts grant awardees at 5:30 p.m. before Council's Tuesday, June 24 legislative meeting in Room 2000 of City Hall; and added a work session with the ARHA Board on June 10 at 5:00 p.m., if needed.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________


* * * * * *

The meeting adjourned at 10:08 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.




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. Meeting materials are also available on-line at alexandriava.gov/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.

City Council meetings are closed-captioned for the hearing impaired.
* * * * *