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Office of the City Clerk
March 10, 2010

City Council Held a Joint Work Session with
the Alexandria Convention and Visitors Association,
Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, and
the Small Business Development Center at 5:00 p.m.
in the City Council Work Room.


Regular Meeting
Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - - 7:00 p.m.

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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 Meetings of City Council:

(a) The Regular Meeting Minutes of February 16, 2010;

(b) The Public Hearing Meeting Minutes of February 20, 2010; and

(c) The Regular Meeting Minutes of February 23, 2010.

City Council approved the regular meeting minutes of February 16, 2010, the public hearing meeting minutes of February 20, 2010, and the regular meeting minutes of February 23, 2010.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

RECOGNITION OF YOUTH BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL

None.

PROCLAMATIONS

4. Presentation of Check For $5,000.00 For Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial.

City Council received the check for $5,000 for Contrabands and Freedmen's Cemetery Memorial.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER

CONSENT CALENDAR (5-11)

(Resignations and Uncontested Appointments)

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

6. Uncontested Appointments to Boards, Commissions and Committees:

(a) Alexandria-Gyumri Sister City Committee
1 Citizen Member

(b) Archaeological Commission
1 Member from the Friends of Alexandria Archaeology

(c) Citizen Corps Council
1 Representative of Alexandria Civic Associations

(d) Commission on HIV/AIDS
1 Citizen Member
1 Member From an HIV/AIDS Service Organization Which
Provides Services in the City to the Minority Community

(e) Community Criminal Justice Board
1 Citizen Member

(f) Early Childhood Commission
1 Member-at-large

(Reports and Recommendations of the City Manager)

7. Consideration of a Grant Application to the Virginia Commission for the Arts for Funds for Torpedo Factory Banners and Signage.

8. Consideration of a Grant Application to the Virginia Commission for the Arts for a Local Government Challenge Grant for the Department of Recreation, Parks and Cultural Activities.

9. Consideration of Application for 2010 Americorps State Grant to Fund a Child Well-Being and Family Support Program at Brent Place.

10. Consideration of Application for Department of Motor Vehicles Grant for Police Department’s Aggressive Driving Interdiction Program.

(Ordinances for Introduction)

11. Introduction and First Reading. Consideration. Passage on First Reading of an Ordinanceto Amend and Reordain Chapter 11 (Aquatic Health Ordinance) of Chapter 11 (Health, Environmental and Sanitary Regulations) of the Code of the City of Alexandria, Virginia, 1981, as Amended.

END OF CONSENT CALENDAR

City Council adopted the consent calendar, with the removal of item #8 and considered it under separate motion. The City Manager's recommendations were as follows:

5. City Council accepted the following resignations with regret: (a) Earl Cook, Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority; (b) Tom Marlow, Board of Architectural Review - Parker-Gray District; (c) Kevin Brockway and Hank Roeder, Convention and Visitors Association Board of Governors; and (d) Brett Libresco, Potomac Yard Design Advisory Committee.

6. City Council made the following appointments to boards and commissions: (a) appointed Alencia Johnson as the one citizen member to the Alexandria-Gyumri Sister City Committee; (b) appointed Mary Jane Nugent as the one member from the Friends of Alexandria Archaeology to the Archaeological Commission; (c) appointed Tracy Henke as the one representative of Alexandria civic associations to the Citizen Corps Council; (d) appointed Gayle Terry as the one citizen member and Marcos Castillo as the one member from an HIV/AIDS service organization which provides services in the City to the minority community to the Commission on HIV/AIDS; (e) appointed Laura Zimmerman as the one citizen member to the Community Criminal Justice Board; and (f) appointed Sarah Emmans as the one member-at-large to the Early Childhood Commission.

7. City Council: 1. ratified the submitted grant application, in the amount of $20,000, to the Virginia Commission for the Arts Services to the field grant program; and 2. authorized the City Manager to execute all necessary documents that may be required.

8. City Council: 1. submitted a grant application, in the amount of $5,000, to the Virginia Commission For The Arts Local Government Challenge Grant Program; and 2. executed all necessary documents that may be required. (separate motion)

9. City Council: 1. authorized the submission of an AmeriCorps grant application to request funding for the ChildThrive! Program; and 2. authorized the City Manager to execute all necessary documents.

10. City Council: 1. approved the grant application to the Virginia DMV in the amount of $49,783 which will provide funds to the Police Department to operate a DUI/aggressive driving interdiction program in the City; 2. authorized the City Manager to execute all necessary documents that may be required; and 3. because of severe City budget constraints, affirm that no additional City funds would be available to fund this program in FY 2011 or future years.

11. City Council passed the ordinance on first reading and scheduled it for public hearing, second reading and final passage on Saturday, March 13, 2010.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

CONTESTED APPOINTMENTS

12. Alexandria-Caen Sister City Committee
1 Citizen Member

City Council appointed Jennifer Chapman as the one citizen member to the Alexandria-Caen Sister City Committee.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

13. Environmental Policy Commission
1 Member From the Field of Environmental Sciences (e.g., Environmental/
Sanitary Engineering, Ecology, Geology, Botany, Hydrology, Chemistry) or
Who Have Alexandria Waterfront Expertise

City Council reappointed Kurt Moser as the one member from the field of environmental sciences (e.g., environmental/sanitary engineering, ecology, geology, botany, hydrology, chemistry) or who have Alexandria Waterfront expertise to the Environmental Policy Commission.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

14. Landlord-Tenant Relations Board
1 Homeowner Representative

City Council appointed Debra Zusman as the one homeowner representative to the Landlord-Tenant Relations Board.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

15. Urban Design Advisory Committee
1 Representative of the Old Town North Business Community

City Council waived the residency requirement and reappointed Elisabeth Lardner as the one representative of the Old Town North Business Community to the Urban Design Advisory Committee.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE CITY MANAGER FOR DISCUSSION

16. Consideration of Recommendations and Status Report on Legislation Introduced at the 2010 General Assembly Session.

City Council asked the Human Rights Commission to draft a resolution for Council's consideration reaffirming Alexandria's commitment to human rights with regard to gay rights issues as expressed by the State Attorney General, along with a cover letter for the resolution.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

17. Consideration of Establishing a Pilot Program for Vendor Carts on Market Square and Setting the Report for Public Hearing on Saturday, March 13, 2010. THIS ITEM IS BEING DEFERRED

This item was deferred.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

18. Receipt of the Monthly Financial Report for the Period Ending January 31, 2010.

City Council received the monthly financial report for the period ending January 31, 2010.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

19. Consideration of Proposal to Hold the Woodrow Wilson Bridge Half Marathon Race in Old Town on September 19, 2010.

City Council deferred this for 30 days and asked that staff work with the organizer to get documentation of the other approvals and that it work on an alternative route.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

20. Consideration of Possible City Response to Request for Information from Google, Inc. to Participate in its Fiber Optic Trial for Communities.

City Council authorized the City Manager to submit a response to Google indicating the City of Alexandria's interest in being one of the sites for its high speed Fiber for Communities Project.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

REPORTS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FROM BOARDS, COMMISSIONS AND COMMITTEES

None

ORAL REPORTS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
and
ORAL PRESENTATIONS BY MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL

(a) Mayor Euille spoke about WMATA's $180 million shortfall for the projected 2011 budget, and one of the major items is a fare increase of $89.4 million or $33.5 million in proposed service reductions, staff reductions of $16 million and unidentified other revenue sources of $40 million. There will be six public hearings, starting March 22 at Oakton High School in Vienna at 6:30 p.m., and the other hearing in Virginia will be March 31 in the Arlington County Boardroom in Arlington.

(b) Councilman Smedberg said that at the last Northern Virginia Transportation Commission meeting, there was a lively discussion about funding for Metro and the Federal obligation or the lack thereof, and the Commission decided it would send a letter not only to the relevant committee chairs and appropriations committees, but the entire Congress itself, to let them know they have an obligation to the region as the largest employer.

(c) Councilman Smedberg said they need to encourage City staff to press the Chamber of Commerce, the Alexandria Economic Development Partnership, and the Small Business Development Center to come forward with a plan to see if they are getting maximum benefit from the SBDC and see where the SBDC will best fit and where it will get the most benefit out of their efforts.

(d) Councilman Smedberg said that at the last VRE meeting, a final schedule of public hearings was announced and Alexandria will host one of the hearings. He said VRE is headquartered in Alexandria.

(e) Councilman Smedberg said on item #19 when it had the recommendation brought forward about the road race, he said maybe it should look at reviewing their special events policy and have a formal process in place that lets everyone appeal, so if an event is turned down by the Special Events Committee, if they are making special exceptions for whomever that it have a blanket policy that every single event or road race has the ability to bring forward an appeal to Council. After the budget session is over, the Council needs to have a discussion about what is a policy decision, what comes forward for discussion to Council as a policy and what comes forward as an administrative decision. Council needs to get a better sense from staff on how they determine policies and procedures to come forward to Council for review.

(f) Councilman Krupicka said that a few months ago, he commented that new residents get caught in a catch-22 where they buy a new car, register it, and there is a timelag from the time they do that to the time when they can get their City decal, and in a few circumstances people get tickets. He said the Police have put in place a new policy to extend the period of time during which they don't issue tickets, and it is a simple solution to a problem to change the grace period from 30 days to 45 days.

(g) Councilman Krupicka said Council received an email from a resident complaining about the dangerous intersection for pedestrians at S. Pickett Street and Duke Street, and he commended Yon Lambert and Rich Baier and the T&ES staff who put in place solutions to accommodate the issues. Councilman Krupicka said he was impressed by staff, as it is a difficult intersection for pedestrians.

(h) Councilman Krupicka said they are getting close to the Streetsmart Campaign, which will start in mid-March and go through mid-April, where the region is promoting pedestrian safety activities. He said it is a great time to remember to look for opportunities on how manage pedestrian safety.

(i) Councilman Krupicka said the business license process has changed recently and staff is now asking for additional information from people filling out business licenses, and as he understands it, some of the information being asked for is not required but it has caused confusion throughout the business community. He said staff needs to get better at how it communicates when it does something like this. If it makes a substantial change, it should be clear what the purpose of the change is and if there is information the City is asking for that they are not obligated to give, they should be clear about that as well.

(j) Councilwoman Hughes said she presented a proclamation last year to the Association for Women in Science at the Westin Hotel, and she welcomed them to Alexandria, as the Association has relocated their corporate offices to Alexandria.

(k) Councilman Fannon thanked staff and the Ballyshanners who participated in the St. Patrick's Day parade this past Saturday.

(l) Councilman Fannon reminded citizens of the budget public hearing tomorrow at 4:00 p.m.

(m) Councilman Fannon said the Mayor's Annual State of the City address is Saturday, March 20 at the Fire Station at Potomac Yard.

(n) Councilwoman Hughes said this is Women's History Month and on March 22, the Commission for Women will celebrate its annual salute to women awards program at 7:00 p.m. at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

ORAL REPORT FROM THE CITY MANAGER

City Manager Hartmann introduced the City's new Director of Emergency Communications Joanne Monroe.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS

21. Consideration of a Resolution to Proceed with King/Beauregard Intersection Improvement Project. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]

City Council adopted the resolution approving the major design features for intersection improvements at the intersection of King Street and North Beauregard Street as presented at the November 18, 2009 public hearing held by City staff at the Minnie Howard School. (RES. NO. 2387)
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

22. Consideration of a Resolution Regarding Membership of ARHA Board of Commissioners. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]

City Council adopted the resolution regarding the membership of the ARHA Board of Commissioners. (RES. NO. 2388)
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

23. Consideration of a Resolution to Submit Election Reform Matter to a Citizen Commission. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]

City Council deferred this item to March 13, 2010.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

OTHER

24. Consideration of City Council Schedule.

City Council adopted the following schedule: 1. a work session on the Waterfront Plan at 5:30 p.m. before Councils Tuesday, May 25 legislative session; 2. a work session on the Beauregard Small Area Plan at 5:30 p.m. before Council's Tuesday, June 8 legislative session; and 3. a joint work session with the Alexandria Redevelopment and Housing Authority (ARHA) work session at 7:00 p.m. on April 8.
Council Action:_________________________________________________________

The meeting adjourned at 9:47 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.

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