Town Manager’s Report to Mayor and Town Council

December 19, 2011

Approval of A Variety of Documents Concerning the Spruce Street / Matson Drive Community Development Block Grant Project (CDBG)

You have in your agenda packet a number of documents that will require Council’s approval in conjunction with the Spruce Street / Matson Drive CDBG Project. As you recall, the Town was awarded a $682,780 grant (including a Town Match of $30,000) to rehabilitate 13 low and moderate (LMI) owner occupied homes, 5 LMI tenant occupied homes, and the substantial reconstruction of 1 owner occupied home.

The documents that will be presented will include the Proposed Budget, the Program Design, the Management Plan, the By-Laws of the Housing Board, the Program Income Plan, the Anti-Displacement Plan, the Fair Housing Certification, the Agreement with the Rehabilitation Specialist and the Agreement with Mount Rogers Planning District Commission (PDC). All of the documents approval is required in order to begin the project. The project is monitored by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD).

The budget is self explanatory and breaks the project to the up in two phases of approximately nine month. The Program Design goes through a myriad of requirements of the CDBG Program’s policy and procedural guidelines for the orderly and timely implementation of the project. The Project Management Plan outlines the functions and duties of the management team for the project. The Housing Rehabilitation Board By-Laws outlines the duties of the Board. The Program Income Plan describes the use of the payback money (not applicable if the program is all grant unless a sell of the house is involved).The Fair Housing Certification gives the Town’s Commitment to the tenants of fair housing and non discrimination.

The agreement for the Rehabilitation Special Agreement is a key component of the project. The Rehab Specialist is Ms. Anna Meade who also performed the same service for the Pearl Avenue

/ Buchanan Street Project. She will be responsible for drawing up specifications on each housing unit and bidding the unit out. The agreement between Mt. Rogers PDC and the Town calls for the PDC to administer the project and wade through the multiple requirements of a CDBG

housing project.

Ms. Chris Gilley of Mt. Rogers PDC will be at the meeting to explain these documents.

Notice of Violation Issued to Town for Exceeding E. Coli Limits

You have in your agenda packet a Notice of Violation (NOV) issued to the Town by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The violation entails violating the limit of 126 N/CML (Colonies per One Hundred Millimeters) for the months of July, August, September

and October.

As you can see by DEQ’s letter of November 29 they asked for a meeting or time table of correcting this problem. This letter is a required formality to DEQ as defined by regulations and law. We have been in constant contact with them over the past two years or so and I have written them at least three letters stating the Town’s commitment to correcting this problem.

As you are aware, the problem stems from the progressive failure of the ultra violet (UV) disinfection system over the past several years. That is why the town began planning the Sewer Treatment Plant Upgrade about two years ago that addressed the failing UV system primarily, along with other Phase 1 Improvements including replacement of the influent pumps and variable frequency controls, replacement of the lab roof and reconstruction of one bio – tower.

As my December 6, 2011 response letter indicates, the problem should be substantially addressed by Christmas when one of the two banks of UV lights will be completed. The one new bank should take care of any additional problems with E. Coli disinfection because of the cool weather. Engineer Jeff Spickard indicates to me that the other bank should be installed by mid-February.

Closing of Digester Bio-Gas Project Loan

On December 15 we were able to close on the $1,260,285 Digester Bio-Gas Project, of which $1,010,285 was a no interest 20 year loan and the balance of $250,000 was a principal forgiveness loan (grant). The project took much coordination between Director of Finance Cindy Stanley, Attorney Mark Fenyk, our Bond Counsel Carter Brothers of the firm Spilman, Thomas and Battle, Brian Tew of Thompson and Litton, the Department of Environmental Quality, and the Virginia Resources Authority (VRA, the fiscal agent for the Commonwealth).

As you can see in the attached December 7 letter to Mr. Walter Gills of VRA, as part of the town’s first disbursement, we will be receiving $64,500. Of that amount $57,500 will go back to repay the Sewer Escrow Fund which we have been paying Thompson and Litton since September of 2010 for engineering design services. The other $7,000 will be used to pay Spilman, Thomas and Battle for their contracted bond services to close the loan.

Special thanks are extended to all for their part of this endeavor, especially to Cindy Stanley and her staff, to Mark Fenyk and to Linda Pennington of this office.

Signalization Easement at Park and North Main Street at Walgreens

I believe we are very close to receiving the easement agreement for the small portion of property needed at Walgreens to begin the installation of the new signal system at that intersection. Ken Heath, Mark Fenyk and I have had several conversations with the Walgreens legal staff the past week or so on getting the easement.

Ken forwarded me a memorandum of understanding from a Ms. Kristina Raymon of Walgreens basically stating that the town would not unduly interfere with traffic ingress and egress from the facility while the new construction is being done, and that we would notify the store manager at Walgreens before the construction begins. I will send this memorandum of understanding as soon as possible to her. Secondly, after she receives the memorandum, she will send a letter to Mid- Atlantic Commercial Properties (Marion I Realty, LLC, the identified property owner by the Virginia Department of Transportation who we sent the easement agreement to in June) in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Raleigh North Carolina.

Golf Course Transition

Work on the transition of the golf course continues. As you can see by my December 9 letter to Mr. Dennis Parnell, we have made Dennis the interim manager of the golf course. Members of Council, golf committee and me all agreed that we needed a single “go to “ person who could be relied upon to schedule and oversee personnel, consider and sign purchase orders based on immediate and long term needs, act as a liaison between the town, golf staff and members,

etc, etc. Dennis kindly agreed to these duties and began his official duties on December 12.

The applications for General Manager / Chief Operating Officer of the Golf Course end on December 16 and we have 23 applications as of this writing on December 15. We will be making copies of these applications and distributing them to all members of the Golf Committee, and to any member of Council that would like to see them.

Additionally, you have in your agenda packet a Request For Proposal (RFP) to operate a restaurant and banquet facility at the golf course. This RFP was put together by Ken Heath, Dennis Parnell and the golf committee. The deadline for the RFP is January 31, 2012.

Merry Christmas to you and yours,

John E. B. Clark, Jr.

Town Manager

P.S. No predictions on Sugar Bowl this year based on my poor prognosticating record of

the past.