TOWN COUNCIL: Work Session April 1, 2019

At the latest Town Council work session the following issues were on the agenda:

Town Staff Items

1. Humane Society of Warren County Request to Use Trolleys for “Waggin for Dragons” Event – Town Manager
2. Proposed five (5) year renewal of Tower Site Lease Agreement, as amended, Shenandoah Personal
Communications, LLC (“Shentel”) – Town Attorney
3. Update on Façade Improvement Program – Director of Planning/Zoning
4. Update on the Building/Maintenance Code (Chapter 9) – Director of Planning/Zoning

Council Items

5. Continued Discussion of FY2019-2020 Tax Rate (Mayor Tharpe)
6. Discussion with Legal Counsel on Related EDA Issues
7. Council Discussion/Goals (time permitting)
8. CLOSED MEETING – Consultation with Legal Counsel

The Royal Examiner’s camera was there:

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFob3UjDsIU[/embedyt]

Click here to download the agenda.

Agenda Summary of Town Staff Items

Item 1. Executive Director of the Humane Society of Warren County is requesting the use of two Town trolleys on August 3, 2019 from 7:30am – 5:00pm to ferry visitors and participants to their
“Waggin’ for Dragons” event from local parking areas to the event location. The cost for the usage will be $1,159.00 for two trolleys and $518.50 for one trolley.

Item 2. Shenandoah Personal Communications, LLC, dba Shentel, currently under lease with the Town for use of the Town’s Fairgrounds Road water tank and “floor space”, through October 31, 2019, has proposed a “Third Amendment to Tower Site Lease Agreement” for four (4) additional five (5) year renewal terms, with the first five (5) year term commencing November 1, 2019, and with each successive five (5) year renewal term to be approved by the Town in its sole and absolute discretion. Shentel is currently paying $2,750.00 per month. The agreement provides for an automatic ten percent (10%) increase in rent upon the commencement of each renewal term.

Item 3. Town Staff  provided a presentation on April 1, 2019 regarding the status of the Façade Improvement Program. The final report from the architect, received March 15, 2019, is attached for Town Council’s reference on the first round of applications.

Item 4. Town Staff provided an update on research options for enforcement of the Town’s recently adopted Maintenance Code. To enforce the recently adopted Maintenance Code, the Town is required to 1) appoint a qualified Maintenance Code Official, and 2) appoint a Board of Maintenance Code Appeals. Both the Maintenance Code Official and Board of Maintenance Code members must meet certain qualification requirements. Previous direction from Town Council was for Town Staff to explore cost-effective (low cost) approaches to accomplish these prerequisites. Town Council input was also received to start the program small and focus primarily on complaints and derelict buildings.