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Adjourned Meeting
March 12, 2002
6:00 p.m.
Meeting Convened. An Adjourned Meeting of the York County Board of
Supervisors was called to order at 6:00 p.m., Tuesday, March 12, 2002,
in the East Room, York Hall, by Chairman Donald E. Wiggins.
Attendance. The following members of the Board of Supervisors were
present: Walter C. Zaremba, Sheila S. Noll, Donald E. Wiggins, James S.
Burgett, and Thomas G. Shepperd.
Also in attendance were James O. McReynolds, County Administrator;
and James E. Barnett, County Attorney.
DEVELOPMENT OF GOLF COURSE ON FUEL FARM PROPERTY (Not on Agenda)
Mr. McReynolds briefed the Board members on the procurement process
for the proposed golf course to be developed on the fuel farm property.
Early last May the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) entered into a
Memorandum of Understanding with the State to market the State Fuel Farm
at Route 199 and the Parkway in the upper County to develop it for a
golf course. Shortly afterwards, the IDA and staff set out to develop an
RFP with the State Procurement Office which was a fairly lengthy
process. On November 5 the RFP was issued on behalf of the IDA and
mailed to 80 different firms and advertised in two newspapers, the
Contractor's Exchange, and on cable television. A pre-proposal meeting
was held on November 27, and January 18 of this year was the deadline
for submissions. Five proposals were received, and they were reviewed
and ranked by the evaluation committee using certain criteria regarding
the operation of golf courses. The committee ranked two proposals as
being far superior to the others, and on February 22 the two proposers
were interviewed. On February 26 a group visited one of the proposers'
golf courses and provided input to the evaluation committee. On March 1
the Hawk's Nest group was notified as being the #1 proposer. The IDA is
now negotiating the final agreement. Once reached, it will go to the
State for negotiation of a lease for the property. Once this is
completed, construction should begin and the course completed within
nine months to one year of construction start-up.
Mr. Zaremba explained that he had asked Mr. McReynolds for the update
on this project. He stated he felt there should be more dialog between
the IDA and the Board on this initiative, and he felt the Board was not
informed to the extent it should have been prior to the award. He stated
he felt the project was a real positive to the County's Parks and
Recreation Program. He noted he did not understand who would actually
own the property. Mr. Zaremba stated he understood a meeting was being
scheduled between the Board and the IDA sometime soon.
Mr. McReynolds stated there was no definite date at this time, but it
should be within the next 6-8 weeks. He indicated that as he understood
it, the State will lease the property to the IDA which will, in turn,
lease the property to the golf course. At the end of the lease period,
the property will revert to the State. With regard to a County budgetary
commitment, he stated no funds were committed to this project nor were
any proposed to be.
Mr. James Noel, Director of Economic Development, confirmed that the
State would retain ownership of the property. The terms of the lease
have yet to be determined, and he spoke of the important elements that
will be included in the agreement such as level of quality and
maintenance for the course. He also stated the County will insist that
it be a daily-play public course and that there be a break in greens
fees for County residents, as well as a requirement for providing
opportunities for the County's school golf teams and the Parks and
Recreation Department.
WORK SESSION
PROPOSED FISCAL YEAR 2003 BUDGET
Mr. McReynolds reviewed some of the high points in the information
provided to the Board members last week in advance of this work session
and the public hearing to be held on March 14. He indicated another work
session was also scheduled for March 21. He asked the Board members to
provide the staff with the areas of the budget or budget topics they
would like the staff to cover during the work sessions. Mr. McReynolds
then reviewed the materials starting with the proposed FY2003 General
Fund Budget Summary for revenues and expenditures which showed the
percentage of change over the original FY2002 budget. He stated he was
beginning to hear things out of Richmond concerning reductions to the
Constitutional Officers, but he felt there would be fairly level
revenues coming in from the State.
Discussion ensued concerning how to deal with the possible shortfalls
in the State budget and the formulas for funding certain agencies which
provide services to York County citizens.
Mr. Burgett noted the County can't be expected to step in and take up
all the slack on all these programs.
Mr. Shepperd asked if the shortfalls had been prioritized.
Mr. Burgett stated that part of the problem was that the staff
doesn't know what the shortfalls are yet.
Mrs. Noll noted that the County has to provide funding for the
mandated programs, but it won't know what it can do with the others
until the State budget is finalized.
Mr. McReynolds stated staff was working to define the areas that will
need to be dealt with, and they were also working hard to come up with
some creative solutions.
Chairman Wiggins stated the Board needed to do everything possible to
make sure the County's citizens don't suffer, but at this point in time
the Board doesn't know how they will be affected.
Mr. McReynolds stated the County would be negatively impacted in the
Human Services area. He then returned to the review of the budget
information, discussing personnel increases and health insurance costs
which have gone up substantially. He stated the increase for FY2003
would be approximately 10-12 percent instead of the original 5 percent
increase that was anticipated.
Discussion followed on personnel increases and market adjustment
increases.
Mr. McReynolds then reviewed the increases in the non-personnel areas
of the budget. Upon completion of his review, he reminded the Board
members of staff's need to know the budget areas which the Board would
like addressed at future work sessions on the budget.
NEW BUSINESS
IMPROVEMENTS TO ROUTE 17
Mr. McReynolds indicated that VDOT held a public hearing recently to
receive comments on the widening project for Route 17 north of Fort
Eustis Boulevard; and, as a result of the comments received at that
meeting, the VDOT district office has indicated a willingness to
recommend to the State office and the Commonwealth Transportation Board
that the project be abandoned and that those funds be allocated to
improvements to lower Route 17. He stated the district office has asked
the staff to make a request for allocation to another project. Mr.
McReynolds stated staff is very pleased and encouraged that VDOT is
listening and seeing that this would be a better use of funding. He
recommended the adoption of proposed Resolution R02-68 to make the
formal request to VDOT.
Mrs. Noll moved the adoption of proposed Resolution R02-68 that
reads:
A RESOLUTION TO REQUEST THE COMMONWEALTH TRANSPORTATION BOARD AND THE
VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO CANCEL THE PROPOSED ROUTE 17
WIDENING PROJECT BETWEEN ROUTE 105 AND SIEGE LANE AND TO TRANSFER THE
REMAINING BUDGETED FUNDS TO AN IMPROVEMENT PROJECT BETWEEN ELLA TAYLOR
ROAD AND ROUTE 134
WHEREAS, the Virginia Department of Transportation recently conducted
a design public hearing for a proposed project to widen Route 17 from
four to six lanes between Route 105 (Fort Eustis Boulevard) and Siege
Lane (Project #6017-099-F19 / Federal #NH-103-1 (136)); and
WHEREAS, the overwhelming sentiment of those attending the public
hearing was that the proposed project would not meet traffic needs and
that improvements should instead be made on the segments south of Fort
Eustis Boulevard; and
WHEREAS, while the Board of Supervisors has supported the widening of
this segment of Route 17 to six lanes in its endorsement of long-range
regional transportation plans, so too has it supported the widening of
the more heavily-congested segments south of Route 105; and
WHEREAS, the Board strongly believes that the southern segments of
Route 17 should be considered a higher priority for improvement and has
consistently expressed this position in its comments to the Commonwealth
Transportation Board and the Virginia Department of Transportation; and
WHEREAS, the Virginia Department of Transportation has previously
agreed to reduce the scope of the proposed project and to transfer the
resulting cost savings of approximately $10 million to fund an
improvement project on the segment of Route 17 between Wolftrap Road and
Ella Taylor Road; and
WHEREAS, based on the public hearing comments, which validate the
Board's opinion that improvements are needed most on the segments of
Route 17 south of Fort Eustis Boulevard, the Board believes that the
subject project should be cancelled and the remaining funds should be
added to those already transferred to the project BETWEEN Wolftrap Road
and Ella Taylor Road, thus allowing that project to be extended further
south toward Route 134;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the York County Board of
Supervisors, this the 12th day of March, 2002, that the Commonwealth
Transportation Board and the Virginia Department of Transportation be,
and they are hereby, respectfully requested to cancel Project
#6017-099-F19 and to re-allocate and transfer the remaining budgeted
funds to facilitate improvements on the segment of Route 17 south of
Ella Taylor Road toward Route 134, thus supplementing the funds
previously transferred to a project for improvements between Wolftrap
Road and Ella Taylor Road.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the County Administrator be, and he is
hereby, authorized to convey the Board's position to the Commonwealth
Transportation Board and the Virginia Department of Transportation and
to take such other actions as he deems appropriate to urge consideration
of the County's position and to communicate the County's position with
officials at the regional and state level.
On roll call, the vote was:
Yea: (5) Zaremba, Noll, Burgett, Shepperd, Wiggins
Nay: (0)
CLOSED MEETING. At 7:50 p.m. Mr. Zaremba moved that the Board convene
in Closed Meeting pursuant to Section 2.2-3711(a)(3) of the Code of
Virginia pertaining to the acquisition of property for a public purpose,
and Section 2.2-3711(a)(7) pertaining to the provision of legal counsel
concerning actual litigation.
On roll call, the vote was:
Yea: (5) Noll, Burgett, Shepperd, Zaremba, Wiggins
Nay: (0)
Meeting Reconvened. At 8:25 p.m. the meeting was reconvened in open
session by order of the Chair.
Mr. Zaremba moved the adoption of Resolution SR-1 that reads:
A RESOLUTION TO CERTIFY COMPLIANCE WITH THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION
ACT REGARDING MEETING IN CLOSED SESSION
WHEREAS, the York County Board of Supervisors has convened a closed
meeting on this date pursuant to an affirmative recorded vote and in
accordance with the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information
Act; and
WHEREAS, Section 2.2-3711 of the Code of Virginia requires a
certification by the York County Board of Supervisors that such closed
meeting was conducted in conformity with Virginia law;
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the York County Board of
Supervisors this the 12th day of March, 2002, hereby certifies that, to
the best of each member's knowledge, (1) only public business matters
lawfully exempted from open meeting requirements by Virginia law were
discussed in the closed meeting to which this certification resolution
applies, and (2) only such public business matters as were identified in
the motion convening the closed meeting were heard, discussed, or
considered by the York County Board of Supervisors.
Yea: (5) Burgett, Shepperd, Zaremba, Noll, Wiggins
Nay: (0)
Meeting Adjourned. At 8:28 p.m. Mrs. Noll moved that the meeting
adjourned to 7:00 p.m., Thursday, March 14, 2002, in the Board Room,
York Hall, for the purpose of conducting public hearings on the proposed
FY2003 Budget and 2002 tax rates.
On roll call, the vote was:
Yea: (5) Shepperd, Zaremba, Noll, Burgett, Wiggins
Nay: (0)
_____________________________________
____________________________________
James O. McReynolds,
Clerk
Donald E. Wiggins, Chairman
York County Board of
Supervisors
York County Board of Supervisors
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