City Council - Regular Meeting

meeting here on April 27th. We have been meeting multiple times, so it feels like is this a budget meeting? Is this a regular meeting? Tonight, it is a regular meeting. We do have a fairly short agenda, but some very important things to discuss, and we always like to begin with the pledge of allegiance, so we'll ask that you please join us. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Please be seated. And we'll ask two that you join us in a moment of silence that you can use for silent reflection or prayer. All right. Thank you all very much. Um, Council, you all have minutes from the April 1st special meeting where Bless you. Where we received uh the uh budget information. Um, do you all have any changes to those minutes, or do we have a motion to approve as submitted? Motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, please respond by saying I. I. I. Any opposed? And you also have the minutes from the April 6th special meeting. Um, are there any changes to those minutes, or do you want to make a motion to approve as submitted? Motion to approve. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. A motion and a second. Any discussion? All in favor, please respond by saying I. I. Any opposed? We will open the floor for citizen comment on public matters. If you have something you'd like to share with us, please come down to the podium, use the microphone, state your name for the record, and please

limit your comment to 3 minutes or less. We're getting you a clock set up here on the wall. And we will get with it just a second. Give us just a second as we're getting that set. There we go. My name is Regina Meredith, and I live on Rock Road. Aside from you, members of City Council, the chief, and reporters, I have attended more City Council meetings since October than anyone in Radford. During those months, I've learned a lot. Tonight, I stand before you feeling grateful. I'm grateful that I live in a small city where I can freely come to a meeting and voice my thoughts and concerns without fear. I feel like I've come to know you. I've had the pleasure to see some of you outside of this building, and we've engaged in some good conversations. I'm grateful that we can agree to disagree and still like each other. Each of us has our own ideas. Some of us are complainers, some of us are doers, and some are willing to lead. To those who lead, we expect honesty, truthfulness, full disclosure, and behavior that exemplifies integrity and ethics of the highest level. It would be nice to glimpse into the crystal ball of the future before making decisions that impact so many, but it just doesn't work that way. As one of you we can only make decisions based on the information we are given. To those who are present tonight, to those who are watching, and to those who will read about this meeting tomorrow, I want to encourage all of us to choose a new path that begins tonight. Our city has a past that has created our

history. We look to history to learn from mistakes and to know how to move forward. Let's look at the positive the positives that are ahead for our city. Let's be good neighbors and take care of each other. Let's be good citizens and report the wrong and stand up for what's right. Let's support each other and believe that we will see opportunities that are coming that will lift us to a new level. And let's be willing to pitch in and work hard. My dad saved everything. He died in 1989, and in going through one last bag of papers in the last few months, I found this. If we can work together and work hard, this is what we can once be once again. Let's leave the past behind, and let's get ready for what the future can be. Thank you. Hello. My I'm waiting. All right. Takes a minute. Okay. Okay. Hello. My name is Bill Fleischer. I I came to um to thank all of you for your support of of Glencoe. I was very happy that uh the stipend the city gives will be preserved. Um, and uh I'd also like to thank you for all your service. And uh a little a question I had heard that the city dump area was going to be closed in July or as of July. I don't know if that's true or not. Uh if you can, keep it open one day a week. It'd be it'd be nice to have something for us to take our refuge. But anyway, thank you all

for your service. Thank you. I don't think we're planning to close the drop center in July, so I don't know that that's accurate. Correct? Not that I'm aware of. Okay. So, if there is anything, we'll check just to make sure there's not something going on that somebody doesn't know about, but we'll we'll check on that. Yeah, the the trash truck doesn't run to my house, and so I would be highly opposed to it closing. I use it several times a week, and that that's where I have to go, so. Yeah, I haven't heard anything, so. I think we're good. Do we have anyone else who'd like to make a comment for the public record? Hi. My name is Beth Barber, and again, I'm back about the electricity, the billing. Um, and I have a couple more pages, and I made a copy um for you guys. And then I had a question that I'd put in an email. Um, it is something that I'm just going to go ahead and read what I had put in there. Because this part I did actually would actually like to have an answer to. Um, other than like my personal electric bill, um I have a question about the [clears throat] income-based housing. I hope that it makes sense. Please know that I'm not saying that I have exact amounts or exact facts. It's my understanding that each county turns in electric or utility amounts to the state, the average bill amounts. Then people who work for HUD get those figures. Then HUD figures those figures into their figures to use for their utility allowance. Obviously, each city and county don't have exact figures, just estimates. If the figures that aren't turned in, if the figures that are turned in aren't correct, though, our rent goes up because it's based on income amounts. Those of us who pay rent, including myself, get our rent increased, and those who get a utility check, which I never heard of before moving to

Riverbend. I didn't know that was a thing. Um, their check amount goes down. I hope this is making sense, and that's why I keep bringing this up with the electric bills cuz it it does make my rent go up. So, and after I'd even sent that, and after the last meeting, it's very weird. I got another utility bill with the same with the exact same dates and same due date. Totally all different amounts. It's it's very weird. Um, like I I literally don't get it. So,

What what do you mean you got different amounts on your utility bill? Um, Was it a restated bill? Did you contact the billing office about that? No. Okay. No, they were both for dues, um, this one, see, I've already gotten the one for this month, which is should be correct. Ones that were both due the 421, this bill is different figures. It ends with amount due 21586, and this one is amount due 42523. If I may say from experience, because I had a late bill, and they sent me another statement, and again, this you need to go to billing for sure on this, but what I recall from my experience when I was tardy, they when they sent me the reminder bill, they had me pay not only what was in the past bill, but up into the present. So, they were including up into the present as well. So, that may be why you see a difference in the two. Please Please do go to the billing office to get clarification on that. I have. The It's one lady that I get in there that is horribly confused, I think, and I understand what I know in the email I'd mentioned there was a man here that kind of pulled me to the side last I think it was last week, and I get when people are new and everything. You know, they still have to figure things out, but she couldn't figure out where I'd mentioned like that $58.70, the the 250 She couldn't like she couldn't even figure that one out, and I don't know why she couldn't, but Okay. We'll We'll work to try to see what can happen to get your bill figured out to make sure exactly how that

but it's not just me, not my personal bill, it's the whole HUD thing. Sure. And who do you want me to give my copy of the If you'll give it to us. All right. Thank you. Is there anyone else who has something to share for the public? Okay, seeing no one, we will close that portion of the meeting. I'll just respond uh, you know, thank you so much for bringing up All-America City. You know, a few years ago the city was part of the uh, National League of Cities and and participated and made it as a finalist. I think there were eight or 12 that that made it. They went to Anaheim and participated. Um, when I first got elected, I had mentioned that to the city manager at the time. We were no longer a member of the uh, League of Cities, which you have to be to participate, and so there was some debate on on whether we did that at that time. So, I think it's great, and the city should definitely work toward All-America City status. We have a lot of wonderful things happening in this community, and I think we could build toward that. We would need to rejoin the um, uh, the League of Cities, and then participate in that program. Uh, I know Roanoke has done it a number of times uh, since Radford was a uh, All-America City, and so hopefully we can do that again. And as far as uh, the uh, drop center, we'll double-check, but I don't think anything is going to be closed uh, for the month of July. So, I'm not sure that that's that's an accurate statement. There may be a couple of days where it's closed with the July 4th holiday, but beyond that, I don't think we're going to have a significant closure. Anybody else have anything they want to share? Okay. We will move on then to new business, and one of the things we've been talking about is the uh, elderly disabled tax relief program. Uh, Kelsey Marletta is here this evening, and she's been reviewing this. We need to amend Radford's program so that we can raise the individual income limits from 24,000 to not to exceed 30,000, and total

assets from 70,000 to 80,000, and the assessed value of an individual's home be raised from 180 to 200,000. Kelsey, if you'll use the microphone, could you tell us why we need to look at making those adjustments at those levels, and why those particular levels were picked rather than numbers that were higher or lower? Um, well, first and foremost, we definitely need to adjust because of the cost of living. Um, inflation is definitely impacting everybody as we know. Um, we have also not amended this ordinance in quite some time, and the we have several individuals, three off the top of my head that would qualify for it if we are able to get it up to the 30,000. Um, that is the biggest That's one of the larger reasons. The other reason is also cuz we have people who are in jeopardy of losing it because of the increase of their social of their social security payments that would come into effect at the either end of this year or the beginning of next year. So, if we do not make adjustments as time goes on, then we're definitely going to have people that will come off of the relief. Um, Radford is definitely one of, I think, for Southwest Virginia, we're great in that we offer like 100% on relief. Um, not all of the localities do that. Some of them do it based off of tiers. Some of them do it based off of like a a percentage, you know, of your assets or whatnot. But we offer a really great program, and we definitely have some right now that really need it. Um, so we just had one who came into the office last week, and um, she's only about, I think, it was like $610 over the threshold. Um, her son is disabled, and she's over 65. So, I definitely think that we need to make sure, especially with the increase in the rates that we know that we have to do, that we are protecting our most

vulnerable as much as we can. And right now we have about 29 people or so that are 29 that are on it. So, it's about a $30,000 a year or so cost. Is that accurate, Todd? Somewhere around 30,000? It's 32,600. 32,600. Okay. And what will that change be if we raise to this level? Do we know how that will impact it?

We won't know until we have, you know, other people apply. Um, but the average that we give in relief is about $1,151. And the program itself, um, in order for them to get relief, we need That's why it was so um, pertinent that we voted before May 1st, so then when we run the land book in the next couple of days, then those individuals can get on there. Um, so those three that we have that are out there kind of in the wings that are waiting will be able to get on the program as long as they can get into the office and get all of the documentation. So, it's those three, but potentially could be more that we're unaware of. Um, and how's the process that they go through? Do Must they contact you? It's proactive on the part of the citizen. So, it's not something automatic that if you meet the qualification, they have to contact the Commissioner of Revenue, they have to go through an application process, and all of these areas are reviewed? Yes. Okay.

And all of the information that we have is in the office. It It does have to be done in the office because having to sign. Um, and both myself and the staff can take care of whoever needs to be taken care of, whether it's prior to May 1st, or if they need to wait just because of getting the documentation, of course, after May 1st. Okay. Council, are there any other questions? This is a really important program. We actually asked members of Council to look at it. There was a committee that was put together in 2019, uh, and it was headed up, and the decision was made from that committee to recommend no changes at that time because we knew we were going to have to make adjustments to the tax rate to work on the McCart project, and we wanted to make sure that we were appropriate, and I know they met with the former Commissioner of Revenue, and they they made the recommendation that Council not change that. Council, what are your thoughts? Well, I Kelsey, I would like after, I don't know, what's a good time frame, but for you to come back and let us know how the numbers changed, if you would, please. Sure. Absolutely. I think it makes perfect sense. I mean, at like as you said, as people's social securities continue to rise a little bit, we don't want to leave anyone hanging because of that, and certainly their costs in other places are rising, too. So, I I think that this is a no-brainer, and something we need to do to help take care of our elderly population. So, thank you for working on it. Any other thoughts? Um, just out of curiosity, how did you get the numbers for the amount to increase? So, mainly through looking through the other localities in Southwest Virginia just to see where they are kind of sitting for their either it's for their home or their total assets or their income. Since we are 100% on the relief, unlike some of the other ones, then we would it would not be feasible financially for us to raise as high as some of their thresholds are. But, I

feel like based on the reassessment values from uh that was certified for January 1st, 2024, and just looking at and also speaking with other individuals who have come into the office, I feel like that these will do enough to be able to help those that really need it. Um and of course, we can revisit the numbers, you know, on down the road because we probably will have to. I mean, the ordinance that, you know, we currently have in the code, you know, it has not been updated in a very long time. So, you know, it's So, you took an average of what other communities were doing? Yes. Um but also making sure to keep in mind that we are 100% and we don't, you know, just do like an exemption of $250 or something like that. Like we take the whole thing for them. Well, that may be something that needs to be addressed and looked at as an option Well, maybe it's tiered. Maybe we set a level here where it's 100%, but then if you're making, say, 35,000 or or the house is worth $5,000 more or whatever, it's it's scaled back a little bit or something along that line. I don't know, but I This is a good first start and then we can go from there. There's a few other places that do do it by tiers. Um but that would definitely be something that we will need to sit down and look at and look at how we want to formulate the tiers and how that would impact us financially, especially right now. Can you give me an example of a tier that they do? Is it Is it Are most of them tiered or is it a percentage-based? Is it a flat rate? It's a percentage-based. Theirs is I know Pulaski County does it.

Mhm. Um I'm trying to think off the top of my head who else. But, most of them you just see that their thresholds are so much higher because they only take like that $250, you know, exemption or $500. Um which when you really look at it, is really not that much. Okay. So, they're doing a flat rate tier, so they're taking off a certain amount. And then some people are taking out a percentage Okay. And it's the same And it's the same thing as our program is where you have to have so many qualifications and be in order to be able to qualify for in the first place. Like that's how most all of them are is that you have to have every qualification, not just one. Like you can't just be over 65, obviously, because then, you know, we would have a plethora of people, you know, it but you based on the qualifications that we have, that's why we really do have so many or such a limited number. To for the people that may not be able to get to the um courthouse to sign it, can they call and request you guys mail them documentation and then they mail it back? Um it does have to be done in person for the first time. Okay. Uh we can do the renewals um through the mail, but for the first time because of all the documentation and the ID process and whatnot, we do need to see them in the office itself. Okay. Any other questions? I think this is long overdue. This is something that I had hoped we would have addressed, you know, every few years as we go, so it's not This isn't a huge jump, but it may need to be every couple years it's adjusted by a thousand, you know, depending on what inflation looks like and social security and things like that because we don't want to hurt anybody as we go through this process. Do we have a motion to adopt ordinance 1831 for the elderly disabled tax relief program? So moved. We have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Motion a

second. Any discussion? All in favor, please respond by saying I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your work, Kelsey. Uh Todd, what do you have for us this evening? Uh I have just a few comments and a few uh answers for I have just a few comments and a few uh answers for some questions that were raised last week. Um wanted to start off with uh solid waste trucks. Last week, um we had a few questions about how many trucks the city has. Um just wanted to let everyone know we have six uh solid waste trucks, trash trucks. We have six of those. We run three trucks on a weekly run. We keep three that have aged out in reserve. They're backup trucks. When when when our when our newer trucks are in disrepair or being repaired, uh we use the our backup trucks to fill in. We also use those for double runs, like during holidays, when we've missed a day, we can put six trucks on the road so that we can catch up on um solid waste pickup, but the city does not have 10 trucks. We have six trucks. Uh the Humvee um that the police department has, just wanted to answer um a few questions about that. That was obtained through military surplus. The city didn't pay anything for the for the Humvee. Uh the city The only thing the city pays for the Humvee is maintenance, fuel, and insurance. So, we didn't buy the truck. Um it was it was obtained through military surplus. And it is used during emergencies. It's been used during floods. Uh I think it was used to rescue some hikers that were trapped near the railroad a few years ago. All right. Yeah. Um and it's being used during natural disasters. Uh the derecho, I think it was used during the derecho. Uh anytime there's flooding, hurricane, trees and limbs down in the road, um it it gets used. So, so it is an asset that that we did not purchase and that is put into use.

And also, we couldn't sell if we wanted to. Once we don't no longer use it, it goes back to the military, correct? I believe the city has the title to it at this point. I can I can research that.

Okay. I thought when we were talking about that that that was the thing that even if we decided to sell it tomorrow that we weren't able to, that that's a surplus vehicle. I'll confirm that. Uh with regards to our city employees, uh just wanted to speak to a cur a couple things. Um we advertise and hire the most qualified applicants. Um employees are drug tested as follows. Um they're drug tested as a requirement for employment after they receive a conditional offer. They must pass a drug test before they they are given employment with the city. Uh they are tested on a random basis for safety-sensitive positions, like law enforcement, firefighters, uh dispatchers, and so forth. Uh they are also drug tested up on reasonable suspicion that an employee is using uh controlled substance or alcohol or is under the influence of of drugs or alcohol. They are drug tested upon returning to work after a serious on-duty or off-duty accident that involved the use of alcohol or drugs. Or they are also tested if the employee is tested positive for drugs or alcohol use while on duty before they can come back. They are tested again. Uh employees may be tested on a random basis with employee consent. Um all vehicle operators who possess a CDL are subject to drug testing as well. Uh the city does have a street sweeper. Uh we do use it to clear the debris from the streets. It was used as recently as this week. And with that, that's all I have. Appreciate that. You know, we are always looking for any issues that may be uh present in the city. If something is brought up that's a concern, we we look into it to address it, and I think that pretty much puts to bed a lot of the concerns that were brought up last week. Um you know, there's always things we can look to do to try to find savings,

to try to find better practices, to try to find improvements, but I don't think things were as dire as were presented during the citizen comments last week. So, with that, uh Council, uh we'll start with you, Guy. What do you have this evening? Well, just before I came to the meeting, my wife saw something about the water department getting a Oop. getting a uh cup. Yes. What is Atmos Atmos Safe Digger Award. Safe digging. Yep. Okay. And I I didn't know What's What's that about? Do you know?

Well, it's it's quite an accomplishment. So, our our water works team and that work on the uh wastewater, um they have not hit a gas line in a a very long time. I'm not going to quote the time, but it's been a very long time. And that's led to this award. Uh they make sure they review all the all the maps all the schematics that we have before they dig, and they've done a great job not to get into anyone else's um assets while digging. And I will say I've seen pictures of some of the holes they've had to dig, and sometimes it looks like a spider web. So, it takes quite a bit of skill to be able to dig some of these holes and dig these water lines up to make repairs without getting into a fiber optic or Atmos a gas line. Um it takes quite a bit of planning and and very careful execution. Well, kudos to Mr. Green and his crew. Yes. All right. That's all I have. All right. Seth, what do you have? I'll continue to pile it on Don Green. I don't know I don't Every time I run into somebody that's had an interaction with Mr. Green, they compliment him and our water department just does an excellent job. So, congratulations to them. No surprise, I don't think, for anybody here. Um thank everybody who spoke and thank you, Ms. Meredith, for for coming and speaking and and and I agree with you and I appreciate your love for the city. Um And and Ms. Barbara, I appreciate anyone who sent me an email. My email is still down, so I I was out of town, but I will work on getting that. So, if I missed anyone's email, I do apologize between that. Um those are really the only comments only I had one question for Todd. Do you have any update on the timeline for the fiscal 2026 audit for us? I know that we were getting past this budget season, but do you have a update on that? Everything was submitted today. Awesome.

So, they have everything they need. I would imagine a couple weeks. Okay. And then they'll come and present to us, is that correct? Absolutely.

Okay. Yes. And and I I do want to say I'm estimating a couple weeks, but it shouldn't be long. Right. Yep. Okay. That's all I had. Thank you. Thank you. Everything. Um two different things that The the annual audit, not the forensic audit. Yes. But while we're while we're and while we're on that I know that we were supposed to get those a little bit in timeline by timeline, can when can we anticipate the first results to start coming in? Uh I can't put an estimate on that. What I can say, they've begun their work and they've been working, I believe, in the treasurer's office. They've been working there and now that we have our part of the annual audit done, they're going to make their their way toward our offices as well. And I don't have it in front of me. I know we had a schedule. To your knowledge, are we still on schedule for that? I haven't been informed that we're off schedule.

Okay. All right. Thank you, sir. Jesse, what do you have? Uh just a quick update on the meetings that I've had in the last couple of weeks. Um we're still meeting with the amphitheater group, so we're moving closer and closer to fruition on that. I had a Department of Social Services meeting. I had a Heritage Foundation, Glencoe Retreat. Obviously, we've had a lot of budget meetings. That's been our focus. Uh and I just wanted to take a moment to also say thank you for the kind words and some encouragement. We take it on the chin a lot up here and we take these jobs very, very seriously. We're here because we care, so I it means a lot when someone speaks up and acknowledges that we might lose a little bit of sleep over these roles and it matters to us. So, thank you for doing that. And thank you for coming and speaking about your concerns when you're worried and things are not working out exactly as you would anticipate and that you'd like. So, I appreciate you bringing that to our attention and we do hear you. Um I hope that you will go and talk to someone in billing and then if you do have any other questions or they're not able to answer, you're more than welcome to reach out to me via my email personally and I will work with you to try to figure out um to to get you an answer because you do deserve an answer and one that you can understand, but try that route one more time for me and then you'll afterwards I can give you my email or it's online. You can find it there as well, okay? We'll get you an answer. Um And I would just wanted to point out I was getting a lot of calls about High Meadows and there were some lines that needed painted, some potholes that were of concern. Can you give us an update on how that has transpired? So,

[clears throat]

the city staff has repainted the lines in the road. We have not made repairs yet. That road is scheduled to be repaired in the coming months. Um we are coming back, so I just want people to know that just because we painted the lines doesn't mean we're not coming back to repair the road. So, we'll come back, get it paved and and get it fixed to the condition that it needs to be in. We painted the lines to to keep to keep it as safe as possible. And then we're thinking we're going to be addressing that road in the next couple of months on a more serious level. Yes. Okay. Thank you. That's all I Okay. Thank you, Kelly. What do you have? Also, thank you very much for coming and I do encourage you to go talk to billing. Electric bills can be very difficult to understand and I would not be the one to be able to look at that and and sort it out for you, but yes, if you don't get anywhere, definitely let us know so we can take care of it on our end. Uh Joint Commission meeting. Uh I wanted to give out some dates for new student orientation, which is called Quest. They will be here in town, hopefully eating and drinking and staying in our hotels and doing all the things on 6 5, 6 9, 6 13, 6 23, and 6 27. The 6 9 and 6 23, I believe, are Tuesdays, so that's uh not a weekend, so um just to let restaurants and hotels and everybody know that we will have an influx of people enjoying our city, so wanted to uh prepare you guys for that. There's roughly 6,000 students at RU and there's 1,300 new students coming in, so definitely a good good thing to hear. Melissa gave us an update on my favorite festival, Community Fest. Um

there's 62 vendors already with absolutely no advertisement, so it's a a great thing to see that we've got a lot of buzz around it. We have one band contracted and two others that we're working on. Uh Fluidity and all of their amazing things that they do are coming. Um And we'll we're just going to continue to have can talks with with people wanting to um set up places and letting vendors know to prepare for the festival in town, so it should be well attended again. Uh we're uh working on a retail study update, so uh the study is going to find strategies on how to attract, retain people to come to the city. They've looked at Blacksburg and Salem areas to see what they're doing, what their scope is, what works for them, uh what businesses make sense in Radford, zoning, planning, implementation. Uh hopefully to do a three-year study. They've talked to some companies um that have existing studies to see if they can tap into speed up the process, so hopefully we can get some answers on how to help uh that side of things. Other than that, um it's just been budget and that's been about it, so I appreciate everybody's hard work on it. Um hopefully we'll be able to wrap it up tomorrow and and move on to working on some other things that need our attention. Mayor, can I jump back in one second?

What do you have? On Ms. Barbara's billing, if I'm correct, we pay at the treasurer's office, but there's a billing department around the corner, so who should she be at the treasurer's or be around at the billing billing Across from the circuit. That's the place to start is the billing office to figure out.

Barbara, or have you been at the treasurer's? Okay. Okay, I just want to be sure you were in the right spot. Okay. All right, I Sorry, I do want to start sorry. Okay. [laughter] that you reminded me. Um kudos to Don Green. I've had to call him many times to find water lines and manholes and all kinds of things in the roads and he shows up and his team does a great job. I've had to use him many times and they are always very prompt, so very deserving of that um that award that they got, so. Love Don. He's great. All right. Um I have a a couple of things that I wanted to share. First, I do want to add my thanks to the water and wastewater team. You know, Radford has the gold standard for water and really our water resource one of the envies of the New River Valley of the region. We are able to provide more than enough water for our community and it's incredibly well done from the water treatment facility to delivery to repairs to everything imaginable and we need to keep investing in that resource because it truly is something for today and tomorrow that is top notch. Um Melissa, I wanted to ask you how where do we stand on our zoning update? I know we were getting pretty close on things, but I wondered where we were. We are very close. We're actually, hopefully, in June, we're planning on scheduling a work session with City Council and then July and August do our community outreach and get some feedback from the community with the goal of final approval in September. Okay. This has been something that has been years in the making. We've been working with the Regional Commission to update that to make sure that we have the most appropriate zoning throughout the city to allow for the preservation of the areas we want to conserve, but also to be very modern in our zoning to allow for the most opportunity in many spaces.

And I I think this is going to be a good update and I strongly encourage folks to pay attention to that process. The community outreach piece will be important because we want you to understand what we're doing and why we're doing it. Seth, I appreciate your service and the Planning Commission services. They've worked through this. Um it's not easy and some of the zoning laws hadn't been updated for years and years, so it it has been something we've had to work on for quite a little while. So, thank you and sorry I didn't ask you about that before the meeting, but that went through my mind a few hours ago. Um I wanted to mention the electric piece. We've talked about that eight ways to Sunday and I do understand how challenging it is. Um if we weren't to go up the 5% that's recommended on the electric or if we were to find some way to cut that electric, the main thing that would first have to happen would be to eliminate the transfer. There's about a $4 million transfer that takes place from the electric department to the general fund. That $4 million equates to about 40 cents on the real estate tax and that would be a substantial chunk for folks on that. That would probably affect rents and everything else at a much higher pace really quickly. So, it is a an extremely complicated piece. Even if we were to adjust by a percent and not go up as much, it's anywhere from 250 to about $300,000 for each percent that we change that. So again, that's another two to three to four cents on the real estate tax just trying to stay level. And and that's with the increase we've already potentially built in to balance the budget. So, there's no easy answers. And part of the challenge is the city has chosen to fund a lot of the general fund activities over the years through the enterprise funds, through water and through our electric department. Part of the challenge is electric has changed significantly in the last five years. It's really become almost a totally

different business. Especially for the city of Radford, our wholesale cost has changed completely. We are as of June, we are no longer on a 20-year contract that the city had been on. So, we're purchasing on the open market. We We think we're going to be okay with these adjustments, but it is a moving target for us. And just as you see nationwide, electric rates continuing to rise because of demand, because of international and and other issues, um Radford's not immune to that. And we don't have a fixed cost where we can say our profit margin or our community share margin of the electric bill can stay exactly the same. So, it's becoming incredibly elastic and incredibly complex. So, I I fully understand how horrible it is that it affects you two or three different ways. I think everybody is really struggling with it, and we don't take it lightly. We really don't have a lot of other choices in the matter. You know, eventually the city's going to have to make a decision about how we fund other things to be able to maintain the systems the way they are. Really, the enterprise funds should be more self-sufficient, and and we're not quite there. So, we we've got to do that. This is a decades-long problem that is coming to roost today. And and that's what we're trying to deal with. Um

[clears throat]

I do want to encourage folks to come out tomorrow evening. It will be our second reading of the budget. That meeting is at 6:00 p.m. in Council Chambers, and we want to be sure that you are fully aware of where we are with rates, fees, and the budget overall. We'll have a very very very short presentation just to bring anybody up to speed. Uh we may have a little bit of debate and discussion before we go. I don't anticipate it'll be an exceptionally long meeting, but tomorrow at 6:00 we do have that. I did want to point out a couple of things that happened. This was an incredibly busy weekend in the city of Radford. Um happy Arbor Day on Friday and on Saturday, the city planted trees in Bissett Park and along Sundale Drive in honor of Arbor Day. We had a wonderful group of citizens who came out to participate in that, and that really makes a difference in our environment here in Radford. It's an important thing for us to keep up. Thank you to Nick Lancaster, thank you to be the beautification and forestry commission, and thank you to the Radford Pathways group. I also wanted to note that we had our first All-American relay in years sponsored and held at Radford High School. They were able to host for the first time in I believe at least three or four years as we have a brand new track. So, we are still investing in our students. The Radford High School stadium has received significant investment in the last seven or eight years from lighting to seating to the track. Uh there's even been work done on some of the field areas and everything along that line. So, significant upgrades there, and the track was able to host this relay. They were also able to do a fundraiser with concessions. So, that was positive. And the Radford ACE program, Access to Community College Education, was able to do a significant fundraiser. They made about $500. They need to make more for that, so you can participate in their raffle. If you look on social media, if you look online, look for the Radford ACE fundraiser to

be able to help them out. The high school also had a greenhouse and student market day. Our CTE students that are in horticulture, that are also in metal work and craft shop and and woodworking, all had items that they had produced. And it's very impressive work. We're graduating students from high school that are job ready in many fields, and that is significant work on the part of our CTE team and the Radford City Public Schools. I know an awful lot of folks participated with those activities, and uh just truly wonderful. And the greenhouse has even been able to produce some of the flowers that we use throughout the city in some of the planters. So, that's another wonderful piece. The Radford Farmers Market opened on Saturday for its season. It goes until October. That will be down at the field and the parking area at Glencoe Mansion, and that's going on every Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. We have a significant number of vendors. There were more than 30 there this Saturday for the opening, and a significant number of folks came out to shop. And then finally, we had recognized our Radford Floyd Victim Witness Program and the National Victims Week, Crime Victims Week that was the 19th through the 25th. And on Saturday, that program held its 5K, which raises awareness and provides support for members of that community who've been impacted by crime, violent and and other crimes. And that's a really important piece. There were a lot of participants from law enforcement, from the families, and and from folks who've been impacted through crime situations. Uh that's a wonderful piece. If you don't know more about it, be be sure to look for the Radford Floyd Victim Witness Program. They do a lot of work to try to help folks who have been involved in those situations, and I think it's really significant. So, great things are happening in our city every single day. And it is a lot going on. And you know, while we have a lot

happening here at our Council as we try to deal with some of the structural problems and some of the structural challenges, some of the things that we need to do to plan for the future, there are wonderful things happening every day in our community, and and we're pleased about all of all of that going on. So, with that, we will plan to adjourn until 6:00 p.m. tomorrow. We hope you will join us again both online and in person for our last budget meeting of this season. We will be voting on everything. It'll be the second reading. That will conclude the budget for this season, although it is a 12-month process anymore as we go through budgeting, looking at next year, looking at the past year, and keeping current. So, with that, we'll take a motion to adjourn. So moved. We have a motion. Do we have a second? All in favor, say good night. Good night.