[0:00] Good evening everyone. We would like to
call this um meeting of the Salem City
[0:04] Council to order. I'd like to welcome
you to our meeting this evening. Um the
[0:08] slight delay there was as you may know
we are uh streaming these meetings and
[0:13] we wanted to make sure that the
streaming had started at uh just
[0:17] slightly before the meeting did. So
everything will be fine. Today is
[0:21] Monday, August 10th, 2026, and the time
is 6:30 p.m. We thank you for joining us
[0:27] both here in the council chambers and
those watching from home. Please stand
[0:30] and join me for the pledge of
allegiance.
[0:35] » I pledge algiance to the flag of the
United States of America and to the
[0:41] republic for which it stands, one nation
under God, indivisible, with liberty and
[0:48] justice for all.
[0:53] At this time, I'd like to note that
Councilman John Saunders will be
[0:57] participating remotely this evening per
Virginia code section 2.2-3708.3A1
[1:03] for a temporary medical condition. No
vote is required for his participation.
[1:09] Mr. Light, would you do you have a
remote participation request to read for
[1:13] us?
>> Yes, ma'am. Mayor Turk's remote
[1:15] participation tonight is provided for in
a different code section. and requires
[1:18] voting on by the other members. Mayor
Turk asked that I read the following
[1:22] request on her behalf. In accordance
with section 2.2-3708.3b4
[1:28] of the code of the Commonwealth of
Virginia and the remote participation
[1:31] policy of the city of Salem, I hereby
request to participate remotely due to a
[1:35] personal matter specifically that I'm
out of town. So move there.
[1:39] » Second. Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. V roll
[1:44] call vote, please.
>> Mr. Saunders.
[1:53] » Mr. Saunders. Thank you,
>> Mr. Holiday.
[1:56] » Hi,
>> Mr. Foley.
[1:58] » Hi,
>> Miss Green.
[1:59] » Hi.
>> All right. Welcome, Mayor Turk and Mr.
[2:03] Saunders. Thank you for joining us this
evening.
[2:05] » That's right.
>> Thank you for having us.
[2:09] » Awards and recognitions. We have some uh
police officers, new police officers
[2:15] present here this evening and field
training officer Randall McGee. If you
[2:18] would like to bring up our new officers
for introduction,
[2:23] we have Austin Eldridge, Troy Frying,
Talon H. Hearnden, and James Nunley.
[2:36] » Spread out so we can all see your
smiling faces. [laughter] So you can see
[2:40] the citizens.
>> Yeah. And turn around so that the
[2:44] citizens will know you. Welcome. Welcome
to the city of Salem and welcome to the
[2:48] Salem Police Department. We're so happy
that you have joined us. Officer McGee,
[2:53] is there anything you'd like to [cough]
say about these new officers?
[2:56] » Uh they've just graduated from the 87th
Law Enforcement Academy with Cardinal
[2:59] Justice Criminal Academy. Uh I'll just
let them go one by one. Say their name,
[3:05] where they're from, any experience they
have prior to coming here.
[3:10] Starting with Taylor Hearn.
>> My name is Officer Hearn. I was born and
[3:15] raised in Salem. I look forward to
working.
[3:19] » My name is Officer.
I went to school not too far from here.
[3:24] Previously city sheriff's office for
three years a change.
[3:30] I'm officer Eldidge born and raised
Salem Virginia. I have no prior
[3:34] experience.
>> I'm officering born and raised in Salem
[3:37] as well. from high school.
>> Well, great. Thank you. Congratulations.
[3:44] Welcome. [applause]
[3:50] » We look forward to working with all of
you.
[3:52] » Thank you for your service.
>> Yes. Thank you.
[3:53] » Thank you for joining us.
>> Yeah, you're free to be released.
[3:59] » Yes, you are more than welcome to to
[laughter]
[4:02] go out on patrol.
>> Go help us out.
[4:04] » That's right. Thank you.
That brings us to the consent agenda.
[4:10] First item is citizen comments. Um we
have no speakers that are signed up to
[4:14] speak this evening for citizen comments.
[laughter]
[4:19] Um item B, minutes. We will consider
acceptance of the July 27th, 2026 work
[4:25] session and regular meeting minutes. Are
there any questions or comments or
[4:29] corrections to the minutes?
>> I don't have any.
[4:33] » No. In that case, the minutes are
accepted. [cough]
[4:37] At this time, we I'm going to ask the
city manager, Mr. Dorsey, to provide an
[4:42] update on items of interest that are
going on [clears throat] in the city of
[4:45] Salem.
>> Thank you, mayor. Vice Mayor, I
[4:48] appreciate [laughter] that. Um, we'll
start with the um this last Saturday, we
[4:52] had a beautiful day. We had 361 runners
in the 52nd annual Salem Distance Run.
[4:58] Did you want to make a comment on that?
>> Oh, Councilman Holidayiday.
[5:01] » Yes. Yes. City Manager Dorsy. Uh, yes.
The Salem distance run this Saturday was
[5:05] extremely successful. We had like like
uh city manager Dorsy said 361 runners.
[5:12] Uh the weather was great. Uh we honored
uh three of our uh coaching legends
[5:20] within the city. Coach Richard Browder,
Coach Dar Graham, and Coach Thomas Roth.
[5:26] And after the after the race and after
the awards ceremony, we had a uh a
[5:33] reunion of runners from Salem, Andrew
Lewis and Reno College at uh Preston
[5:41] House, Preston Place. And it was we
probably had about 40 individuals there
[5:47] and it was a great good time was had by
all. So yes, it was very successful.
[5:52] Thank you.
>> Great.
[5:53] » Thank you. Um, also, uh, this last
Saturday we had the Salem Farmers
[5:57] Market. It was absolutely slammed, as it
has been all year. Um, this past
[6:02] Saturday also wrapped up farmers market
week in the Commonwealth. Our market
[6:07] here, it's a gold certified Virginia
farmers market and we are very proud of
[6:11] that distinction.
Picking in the park, the wildly popular
[6:15] free bluegrass concert with Junior Cisk
and other acts is this Saturday night at
[6:19] Longwood Park. It runs from about 5:30
to 8:30. Uh Salem Civic Center is
[6:24] hosting the Star City Cruisers 35th
annual car, truck, and cycle show
[6:29] Saturday from 9 to 2. You can get info
from that at the Civic Center website.
[6:34] Today was the first day for teachers to
go back to school.
[6:38] So, welcome to all the teachers. Is that
not right, Curtis?
[6:43] » There you go.
>> Had a great day [clears throat] and we
[6:45] got convocation on Monday and our
students start back next Tuesday.
[6:49] » Excellent.
Oh, and I'm also supposed to say, as
[6:53] always, speeding in school zones and bus
stop areas will not be tolerated. Okay.
[6:59] Uh, and lastly, uh, Mil Lane is back
open and as well as Market Street. So,
[7:05] we fixed the the sewer issue over on
Mill Lane, like I said, and Verizon
[7:09] putting their new diesel tank on Market.
So, things are getting back to normal
[7:13] there. So, I appreciate it. Thanks.
>> Thank you. Item C, financial reports.
[7:19] Consider acceptance of the statement of
revenues and expenses for the 10 months
[7:23] ending April 30th, 2026.
Any questions on the financial
[7:28] statements?
The financial statements are hereby
[7:32] received. Item five, old business. We
have no old business this evening
[7:38] because we have a lot of new business
this [laughter] evening.
[7:43] Item six, new business. Item A, storm
water utility. We are holding a public
[7:49] hearing and considering an ordinance on
first reading to amend, revise,
[7:53] reordain, and enact chapter 30
environment by adopting additional
[7:58] sections 30-189
through 30-19
[8:03] article 6 storm water utility fee of the
code of the city of Salem, Virginia, as
[8:09] advertised in the July 23rd and 30th,
2026 issues of the Salem Times Register.
[8:16] Before I open the public hearing, is
staff um interested in in discussing
[8:21] this and make a presentation?
Thank you, Mr. Simpson.
[8:34] » Good evening, Vice Mayor Green. Um and
members, council.
[8:37] » Sounds like that may not be on.
>> He's muted.
[8:41] » There we go. Okay. [laughter]
Uh good evening. My name is Will
[8:45] Simpson. I'm the city engineer uh and
assistant director for community
[8:48] development for the city of Salem. Um
tonight we're here to discuss uh a
[8:54] potential storm water utility fee. Um
we've had um several public meetings uh
[9:00] to go over this. Um we've met with
council, we've met with staff. Um but
[9:04] I'll just do a a brief presentation to
kind of go over the overview of what
[9:08] this is and why we're doing it.
[9:13] Okay. Um so why why does Salem need an
enterprise fund? Um for [clears throat]
[9:19] for several years now um the city has
been um under a uh what's called a
[9:26] municipal storm separate storm sewer
system permit uh which is short for MS4.
[9:32] Um that what that does is all localities
that are an incorporated city u that
[9:39] that control their own storm water have
to be under this permit. It is a state
[9:43] issued permit. Uh and inside of that
permit, there are mandates that the
[9:47] state um hands down to the city. Those
mandates that come down are unfunded. Uh
[9:53] it is up to the locality to fund these
and make sure you're adhering to these
[9:58] mandates that that come down. Over the
years, they've gotten more and more
[10:02] stringent um as as time has gone on. Uh
when the first permit came out, uh there
[10:08] were very loose ends in this and so you
were able to to to do the minimal amount
[10:14] to be able to adhere to the the permit.
As time has gone on, they've they've
[10:19] closed those loose ends and made things
more stringent to the point where um now
[10:24] you have to do a lot more uh to be able
to make sure your permit is is being
[10:28] adhered to. um we are currently um in
compliance, but we are barely in
[10:34] compliance. So that is why we're looking
at other funding sources. So staff came
[10:39] to council um and told council of our
needs of what was going on. And so
[10:44] council then um told us that what we
needed to do was try to look for
[10:50] possible funding sources for this. So um
as you can see on the the slides here um
[10:57] what we have to do one of the biggest
things that we are uh subject to is
[11:01] what's called a total maximum daily load
and and those are TMDLs and what our
[11:07] biggest one is is sediment removal. So
sediment removal can be anything in
[11:12] creeks, streams, rivers um from
construction to natural erosion, things
[11:17] like that. Um so the city
in addition to the storm water that we
[11:22] regulate, we also regulate our erosion
and sediment control um mandates that
[11:26] come down from the state as well. So all
this is tied together and that's why
[11:30] what what we're seeing with these
increased um regulations.
[11:36] So what's causing a lot of these
problems? Um you know we've got
[11:40] increased development um increased
impervious area. you've got more
[11:45] frequent storms, um more intense storms.
Um perfect example was earlier today. Um
[11:52] we didn't get hit as hard here, but
other areas they got hit hard with winds
[11:57] and rains and and there's flooding and
things like that. So that's all that's
[12:01] all occurring at a more um frequent rate
than it has in the past. Um and the
[12:07] other issue is our aging infrastructure.
uh we we've got infrastructure that was
[12:11] put in 50 60 years ago and you know it's
kind of one of those out of sight out of
[12:16] mind type things. Um so those are things
that we need to look at um improving in
[12:22] the city to help with our our permits.
So how would a utility fee be used? Um a
[12:29] lot of it is for our administration. Uh
well I I won't say a lot of it about
[12:32] half of it's for our administration
because we have to do certain things for
[12:37] the state. Um we have annual reviews
that we have to go through. We have
[12:41] audits every 5 years that are very
intense. Um we have our inspections. We
[12:47] have facilities in the in the city that
have to be maintained. So all of that
[12:52] can be um utilized by a stormwater fee.
Um
[12:57] we've also got um developing more um
BMPPS with best management practices.
[13:04] So, those are things like ponds and rain
gardens and things that can help out
[13:09] with some quality control and quantity
control of storm water. Um, some other
[13:14] things that we're looking at doing with
a storm water fee would be to um improve
[13:20] our our streams and and do some
restorations in our streams and creeks
[13:24] and rivers. U because if you ride
around, you can see all kind of natural
[13:29] erosion occurring in all of our creeks
and streams. And so this would be an
[13:32] area where we could improve and get a
lot of credits from the state for that
[13:36] sediment removal. Um and then the last
thing like I talked about before is our
[13:41] infrastructure. We need to we need to
improve our infrastructure and we need
[13:44] to get a better handle on what type of
infrastructure we have, where it is,
[13:49] what shape it is in, and then be able to
come up with a prioritization list of of
[13:54] projects that come out of that.
So how can we do it? Um, the state code
[14:01] gives every locality that is subject to
an MS4 permit the ability to create a
[14:07] stormwater utility fee. It's uh section
code or state code 15.2-2114.
[14:12] Um, that allows
um for the locality to set aside a
[14:18] special dedicated revenue strictly for
the use of storm water. It can't be used
[14:24] for anything else. It can't go towards
any kind of um you know vehicles for
[14:30] other departments or special projects or
anything like that. It has to go
[14:34] specifically for storm water. So if it's
not storm water related, the funds that
[14:39] are generated from this cannot be used
for it.
[14:44] So how did we come to this point? So,
like I said earlier, um we had a
[14:48] directive from council that that told us
to explore some options on how we can
[14:53] generate funds for storm water. Um we
established a storm water advisory
[14:58] committee that was a citizen and and and
public-based uh group that consisted of
[15:06] people from um Renault College uh
churches. We had some industry um people
[15:14] that were on that. We had local business
owners and we had citizens that were on
[15:17] it. Um we met several times, I think it
was probably six or seven times um
[15:23] throughout the span of about six or
seven months um with that that council
[15:28] that that committee in particular. Um
but we also met with that committee with
[15:33] other localities that have already gone
through this process. So Salem is one of
[15:38] the last localities in our area to go
through this process.
[15:43] um Reno City, Blackburg, Christiansburg,
Lynchburg, Stanton, most everybody
[15:48] around us already has this in place and
has had it in place for the better part
[15:52] of 10 10 to 15 years already. Um so we
have talked with a bunch of them, got
[15:58] lessons learned from them, tried to get
the the best of of what they did and
[16:03] tried to incorporate it into this. Um so
the goal of this group was to establish
[16:10] a parameter for what we wanted to what
this we wanted this fee to look like,
[16:14] how we were going to how we were going
to assess it, what it was going to cost,
[16:18] how it was going to be u distributed,
you know, things like that. So um the
[16:24] other thing that we did was we created
the ordinance that is before you today
[16:28] um that we have to do and and and alter
our ordinance to include this language
[16:33] in it. Um, and then I'll touch on this a
little bit later, but the crediting,
[16:40] there is a crediting structure inside of
the storm water ordinance. So, what we
[16:44] have to do is if we off if we charge a
fee, we have to be able to offer credits
[16:50] for any measures that that uh any
company or homeowner or anything like
[16:56] that does to improve their storm water.
Um, and then the last thing, we've had
[17:01] public outreach. We've we've had
information up on the community
[17:04] development's website. We've had a
social media post. Um multiple social
[17:09] media posts have gone out. Um we sent
out a um flyer and everybody's utility
[17:14] bill about what the storm water fee is
and and notifying them of public
[17:19] meetings. Um and then we did have two
public meetings over at Salem Civic
[17:23] Center on June 18th and June 24th, which
I think most everybody um from council
[17:28] and even some planning commission
attended.
[17:33] So
basically what the the fee boils down to
[17:38] is it is a charge for the amount of
impervious area. And by imperous area I
[17:43] mean the amount of um square footage of
area that you have on your land that
[17:49] does not allow water to to to absorb
into it. It just runs off sheet flow
[17:54] off. Um, so that's things like houses,
roofs, driveways, pavement, parking
[18:00] lots, sidewalks, things like that. So
what we have to do is we got the the
[18:08] state data. they they fly the state and
they get um aerial imagery for the
[18:13] entire state and then what they do is
they digitize that aerial imagery and
[18:17] they're able to um trace out and get the
exact square footage for every parcel in
[18:24] the city u for how much impervious area
is on that parcel. So what we did is we
[18:30] have divided that up between residential
and non-residential. So, you've got your
[18:34] residential that has single family
homes, apartments, condos,
[18:40] you know, all those types of things. Um,
and then you've got your
[18:42] non-residential, which is your, uh,
industry, your industrial units, um,
[18:48] your commercial, retail, things like
that. Um, so what we're planning to do
[18:54] on that is every 3 years the state flies
um, their aerial imagery, and we're
[19:00] going to update our data every 3 years.
We're on a we're on a cycle now with
[19:03] state. We have a contract set up with
them that we're going to have this data
[19:07] updated every 3 years.
[19:12] So what the committee came up with was
two separate ways of billing this. One
[19:17] is for the residential side, one is for
the non-residential side. the
[19:21] residential side. It basically say takes
um the average area for the entire city
[19:28] for all residential units, residential
lots in the entire city. We took the
[19:33] average impervious area on that lot and
it came up to about 3500 square ft of
[19:38] imperous area. So that is what is called
on the second slide there, the
[19:43] equivalent residential unit or an ERU.
So all of our fees and everything are
[19:48] based off of one ERU. So what um the
committee came up with after talking
[19:54] with other localities is that for a
single family house, a condo or a town
[19:59] home, it would be charged $10 a month
per ERU. So if you got a single family
[20:06] home, it's just a flat $10 fee. There is
no measuring or anything like that. It's
[20:11] just a flat fee. um for apartments,
duplexes, triplexes, multif family
[20:16] homes, um those are typically
on one lot and they're split up between
[20:22] renters or things like that. Um we're
we're charging a half of an ERU, so
[20:27] basically $5 a month if it's a $10 um
which is what we're proposing. And then
[20:32] for mobile homes, they're a little
smaller. They don't necessarily create
[20:38] as much storm water as a house or any of
these others. We did a third or yeah a
[20:42] third 33 or 30% of the ERU which is $3
[20:50] for your non-residential. So this is
churches, industrial,
[20:58] educational, you know, Reno College,
everything, anything that's not a
[21:01] residential unit.
It's a tiered structure. So basically we
[21:07] went through and looked at everybody's
um structure of how they have that set
[21:12] up and most everybody do a tiered
structure for the larger units. So a lot
[21:18] of these industrial and commercial and
things like that are going to be bigger
[21:22] than what your what your homes are. So
there is a there's a tiered uh I think
[21:27] yeah it's right here. So there's there's
a tiered um monthly fee for that. So,
[21:32] wherever you fall in your parcel, so if
you've got say 25,000 square ft or 20
[21:38] 24,000 ft², you would fall in that range
and that would be your monthly fee based
[21:43] off of this. Now, like I said before,
there are crediting things that you can
[21:48] do for your storm water and and
collection and things like that.
[21:54] If you're already meeting the current
storm water uh management criteria for
[22:00] the city, then you're almost
automatically going to qualify for
[22:05] several credits. Um some of the older
things that ne don't necessarily meet
[22:12] today's current standards, they would
maybe have to bring some things up into
[22:17] current standards to qualify for those
same credits. But most everybody who's
[22:21] doing new development, things like that,
they're going to automatically qualify
[22:24] for 30 to 40% credits on their bill
because they're already doing what we're
[22:30] asking them to do to improve the the
storm water.
[22:35] So,
these are a sample of what we anticipate
[22:41] cost to be. Um, like I said before,
we've got administration. um
[22:47] administration is salary um for staff um
equipment and vehicle maintenance for
[22:55] the storm water staff. Um and then
consultant fees for when we need to do
[23:01] um we have a environmental consultant
that helps us out with all of our stuff
[23:06] that we do with storm water. Um, as far
as like the annual reviews and things
[23:10] like that, anything that we're dealing
with DEEQ, uh, we have a a consultant
[23:15] that is an expert at doing these types
of things and they help us out with
[23:19] that. They also can help us out with um
doing uh designs for any of these these
[23:26] projects that we want to do, whether
it's um infrastructure improvement or
[23:31] it's you know stream bank stabilization
or things like that. These are things
[23:35] that we will need the consultants to
help us with because we do have a very
[23:39] small staff in house.
Um other things u maintenance um we have
[23:46] an ongoing maintenance crew that that
works on storm drains that replaces
[23:51] storm drains. Um they they work on the
maintenance of our ponds, things like
[23:56] that. We also have our street sweeping
program that can be fully supplemented
[24:00] by the storm water fee um because that
is a ma it can be a a good tool that we
[24:08] can use for our sediment removal
credits. Um right now we don't have that
[24:13] enough to be able to qualify for the
storm water credits but or for the
[24:17] sediment credits. But if we were to do
this and we were able to put somebody
[24:22] full-time that can do this and do the
things that we need, we can then make
[24:26] that up and and be able to get the
credits that that we can um use for
[24:31] sediment. And then the last thing is um
our projects, our capital projects that
[24:36] we're looking at doing. We want to we
want to be able to upgrade storm drains
[24:40] and and put in curb and gutter where it
needs to go to help collect things. We
[24:45] want to be able to do the stream bank
stabilizations. We want to um you know
[24:50] do a lot of the sediment removal things
that we need to meet our permits. Um and
[24:54] those are those are not cheap. Those are
not cheap at all. We have
[24:59] uh I'd say probably the better part of
over 150 stormwater ponds in the city.
[25:05] Um and probably a third of those are
cityowned and maintained. So there's a
[25:12] lot that we have to do to keep those
ponds running properly and things like
[25:17] that.
[25:20] So, what's our revenues? Um, based off
of the numbers that we've presented, um,
[25:26] if we had no credits whatsoever, um, we
would be generating about $2.8 million,
[25:32] um, in in the revenues. Um, with the
credits, we figured, um, most of the
[25:38] credits would come from the
non-residential side. There is a
[25:41] crediting um option for residential. Um
but it is it can be a little um
[25:48] intensive um just like the the
non-residential can, but anybody's
[25:52] eligible for it. If they want to go
through the process and do it, they can.
[25:55] Um so basically what we're we're
figuring is probably roughly around $2.4
[26:00] million is what we would actually see if
we get all of the the fees coming in and
[26:06] people apply for the credits that they
are looking for.
[26:12] How would it be built? So, um what we
would be looking for is if council gives
[26:18] approval for this, um we would take the
next probably four months and and get
[26:24] everything set up and ready to go
through utility billing. So, it would be
[26:28] build on your water and sewer utility
bill. Um and then we would be looking to
[26:33] implement this starting January 1st. Um,
so there wouldn't be any if if if you
[26:38] vote yes at the next meeting, it's not
like it's, you know, September 1st,
[26:42] we're putting it into to plan. Um, it
would it would take us a few months to
[26:47] make sure we have everything set up with
utility billing and and do all that
[26:51] before we can essentially go live on
January 1st. Um, like we said, crediting
[26:58] is available. Um, there is an
application process that you have to go
[27:02] through. Um we will once we have this in
place if if it goes through we will put
[27:09] out information um we'll send out
letters to anybody who's eligible. We
[27:14] would do all that stuff to get the
public education out there and we would
[27:17] still probably have some other meetings
um public meetings and and open up for
[27:23] questions if anybody has any on how to
do it. We try to walk them through the
[27:26] process for the first time.
Um, like I said, continuing coordination
[27:31] with utility billing. Um, you know,
there's there's things that we've got to
[27:35] still work out. We're going to go
through each each parcel individually to
[27:40] make sure that it's being built properly
before the first bill goes out. We don't
[27:43] want any bills to go out mistakenly. We
don't want them to go out wrong. Um,
[27:48] [clears throat] could it happen? Sure.
And we do have an appeals process as
[27:52] well. That's all in the ordinance. um if
if somebody feels like they've their
[27:57] bill is wrong, they can appeal it to the
director of community development and
[28:02] then, you know, we can sort it out from
there. Um and then for non-payment, the
[28:08] penalties um would be the same as any
other utility that's out there, water
[28:12] and sewer.
[cough]
[28:16] So, I won't take a lot of time on this,
but this is just an example of how
[28:20] accrediting would work. So, you've got
different storms that you have to um
[28:26] design for to do storm water management.
And if you meet those criterias, you can
[28:31] get certain credits for that. So,
upwards of 10% for each one. Um if you
[28:37] go above and beyond our standards and do
all of these things that are on this
[28:42] list, you can qualify for upwards of 90%
credit. Um, so if you've got, you know,
[28:48] for example on this one, if if a non
residential has, you know, 50,000 square
[28:52] feet or so, they would be subject to
$157 without credits. $157.14.
[28:59] [clears throat]
But if they go through and they've done
[29:01] the top four, they're going to get 40%
credit on that. So that that drops it
[29:06] down to $10228.
If they go through and do all of it, it
[29:09] would be 90% of that and it would drop
it down even further. So, like I said,
[29:14] there's there's crediting options out
there. Um, but there's also
[29:18] documentation and things like that that
you have to go through to make sure that
[29:22] your your pond or your facility that
you're using is is functioning properly.
[29:29] So, where are we? Um, these are the
things we've done so far. Like I said,
[29:33] we did research and study. We met with
the the advisory committee. Um, we've
[29:38] done public outreach. We've taken input.
We've mod we've done some modifications
[29:41] to some things. based on that. Um and
then we had work session with city
[29:46] council on July 27th to report the
findings of all that. Um so our next
[29:50] steps to where we are right now. Um
we've got our first reading of the
[29:55] ordinance uh tonight. Um second reading
will be in in two weeks. Um and then we
[30:01] we do have each um the residential and
the non-residential both have crediting
[30:07] manuals. So there's a manual that
explains everything on how to get your
[30:11] credits. Um, like I said, there's one
for residential and there's one for
[30:14] non-residential. So, we are going to be
finalizing those. Um, they're basically
[30:19] in final draft now. We're just making
sure that that nothing comes out of
[30:23] these meetings that's going to change
anything. Um, and then once those are
[30:27] are ready, we're going to put those out
on the website. We're going to put them
[30:30] out in blast and things like that so
everybody knows about them. they can
[30:34] maybe start if they want to go ahead and
start getting their stuff together so
[30:37] that they can apply for it and have it
um active on January 1. Um and then like
[30:43] I said, continuing public outreach and
education. We want to we want to
[30:46] continue to put this this information
out on the web. We want to continue if
[30:50] if people want um additional meetings or
things like that, we can have meetings.
[30:54] um any questions um you know myself uh
Sam Driscoll with storm water um the
[31:00] stormwater manager we can answer any
questions and if if we can't answer it
[31:04] right away we will get answers and get
it back to people um and then lastly is
[31:10] assuming it goes through uh
implementation would begin starting
[31:13] January 1st.
So that's all I have for the
[31:18] presentation for now. Um, I'm going to
sit down and then if there's any
[31:23] anything that comes up, I can come back
up and address anything.
[31:26] » Ask one thing cuz I know it's going to
come up.
[31:28] » Can you just give a few examples of
residential credits?
[31:31] » So, a residential credit could be
anything from like rain barrels. Um, so
[31:36] if if if you've got your downspouts and
they go into a rain barrel, um, that can
[31:40] be a credit. Uh you can do rain gardens,
you can do any kind of um tree plantings
[31:46] and things like that that that take out
uh that that add to green space. So
[31:51] basically the more green space you have
the the better off you're going to be.
[31:55] Um, so tree, like I said, tree
plantings, rain barrels, and rain
[31:58] gardens are probably the biggest three
the best examples that you can you can
[32:02] do on those for
>> and an impervious driveway like if you
[32:05] had pavers instead of so a a driveway if
you have interlocking grid um driveway
[32:12] that allows water to hit it and then
soak in, that would be considered a a
[32:17] BMP, that would get you a credit. Um, or
you could do what's called the pvious
[32:22] asphalt, which it looks just like black
top, but it hits and soaks in. It's It's
[32:28] almost spongelike, but it's hard, if
that makes sense. Um, but there's
[32:32] there's that is a little bit more
expensive to put in and it's more
[32:37] maintenance intensive.
>> Thank you. I just know that's going to
[32:40] be one of the first questions. So,
>> thank you.
[32:43] » All right. Thank you.
>> Thank you, Mr. Simpson. So, at this
[32:47] time, we will go ahead and open the
public hearing on this item. Is there
[32:51] anybody that's interested in speaking on
this ordinance?
[32:57] When you come forward, please state your
name and address for the record.
[33:02] » Good evening. I'm Joe Foley, 302 Academy
Street in Salem. I attended one of the
[33:07] meetings that was done by the city and
Will and his staff did an exceptional
[33:11] job with that. Think of Tyler. Is that
>> Sam? Sam.
[33:15] » Sam. Okay, there was another gentleman
there and they did a great job. It was a
[33:19] testy group. There was a group they had
a lot of questions that was hostile. U
[33:23] people were very aggressive and they
handled it very well and answered all
[33:26] the questions. So you should be proud of
of the citiz of what their work and how
[33:29] they presented. In the end they pretty
much won everybody over and said yes
[33:33] this has to happen. Um we're tearing
things for the businesses and that's my
[33:38] only issue that is concern is for the
residentials. We're not tearing it and I
[33:43] I know why. It's because it would add
city employees. We'd add in the staffing
[33:46] and more of the money would have to go
to administering it. But we're also
[33:50] taking a um house that maybe has 10,000
square feet of imperial surface and
[33:54] charging them $10 a month. And we have a
house that is 600 square ft and we're
[34:00] charging them $10 a month. I propose the
person who has 10,000 ft of imperial
[34:05] surface, the $10 isn't a big deal to
them, but in a smaller residential that
[34:09] $10 a month may be. So I don't want to
add staffing and add more government
[34:13] employees. But we also for the citizens
to say well it's the same fee whether
[34:17] you own a mansion or you have a shack
doesn't seem like we should consider
[34:24] that economics with it. It is only $10,
but in some households $10 is is is
[34:30] impactful. So uh just consider that with
it. And um again everything else went
[34:35] really really well. They did a really
good job and um I don't see a solution
[34:38] to this but just something to be aware
of.
[34:41] » Thank you. Thanks Joe.
>> Is there anyone else in the audience
[34:45] that would like to speak on this
ordinance?
[34:52] » It's not Reinhardt 213 North Broad
Street. Um
[34:57] a comment
and a question and an observation.
[35:04] Um
the question is
[35:08] would the it's kind of what um Mr. Foley
was was questioning about. So if you had
[35:14] say I have a brick walkway that's been
there for a hundred years. Is that an a
[35:20] permeable surface? Just a question.
And then number two is I've been wanting
[35:27] for a long time to see our stream by
city hall, the green, where the pipes
[35:32] are coming out and every year they stick
out a little bit more. That that's
[35:36] something that you see around. If you're
in your own neighborhood, you may have a
[35:39] creek that does that where I worry
actually about the house next door
[35:44] because um over time, unless we
remediate that um you're going to have
[35:50] it maybe hitting the foundation at some
point. Um, and then the comment, um,
[35:57] I don't think it's going to help us
even if we figure out
[36:02] the very astute comment just made about
the difference between a small house and
[36:07] a mega mansion getting the same fee.
But and I see the need for funds to fix
[36:15] a problem that's been de developing over
the years
[36:19] because in some cases because of the
increased rainfall.
[36:23] But the the question or the challenge I
would give you guys is that we have
[36:30] steadily over the last few decades been
developing out many of our chunks of
[36:36] green space in our community. in
addition to increased rainfall in many
[36:41] areas. Um, and frequently neighborhoods
that are above other neighborhoods, it
[36:46] can really mess with their sewage
systems and the aging infrastructure
[36:49] they were talking about. Um, to me it
seems like
[36:54] I guess it's another question. Do we
have an important section of this where
[37:00] we are addressing the fact that we can't
keep densifying because it it seems like
[37:05] it's going against an something I saw in
the comp plan where there's a it feels
[37:10] like a maybe a push to um increase
density [clears throat] and um allow
[37:17] more development. So, I'm just saying
think about the fact that those are
[37:23] opposing forces and that we need to
figure that out so that we're not kind
[37:28] of killing everything that we're trying
to do positively. Thank you.
[37:32] » Thank you.
>> Thank you. Still,
[37:34] » anyone else who'd like to speak this
evening on this ordinance?
[37:39] That case, I will go ahead and close the
public hearing. Is there anything else
[37:44] you'd like to say, Mr. Simpson?
Um, I'll just there's a couple things
[37:50] that I'll I'll address real quick. Um,
so one of the things that um, M.
[37:56] Reinhardt said, um, about the outfalls
sticking out and and seeing things like
[38:00] that. Those are the exact type projects
we want to go after. Um, because we have
[38:05] uh, what's called an outfall recon.
That's one of the things that we are
[38:08] required to do for our MS4 permit and we
already have identified multiple
[38:15] projects. um without fall recon of just
those types of things that we need to
[38:20] fix and those also will help us with our
sediment credits. Um and then the other
[38:25] thing was about the tiered system for
residential. Um we looked at that. Um we
[38:29] did look at a tiered and we did look at
a flat. U we looked at what others did
[38:32] around us. It's it's a mixed bag. Some
do tiered, some do flat. Um but with the
[38:38] stormwater advisory committee, we talked
with them about it and every one of them
[38:43] unanimously said that it would be u
better to do a flat fee because we would
[38:48] generate roughly the same amount of
money if we did tiered versus flat, but
[38:53] it would be I won't say infinitely more
work, but it would be a lot more work to
[38:57] keep up with because we would have to go
to each individual residential lot and
[39:02] make sure that we are we are um billing
it properly, that we are making sure
[39:06] that the um the square footage of the
impervious area on every individual lot.
[39:12] So every every deck that gets put in,
every shed that gets put in, everything
[39:15] like that, we would have to account for
and change the fee every single time it
[39:19] gets done. So at [snorts] that point,
the the committee said unanimously they
[39:24] said the flat fee would just be an
easier administrative work to do.
[39:31] » All right. So at this time, uh do I have
a motion to approve this ordinance? Yes.
[39:36] I make a motion that we enact chapter 30
environment by adopting additional
[39:40] sections 30-189
through 30-199
[39:45] article 6 storm water utility fee of the
city of the code of the city of Salem
[39:50] Virginia.
>> Second.
[39:52] » It's been moved and seconded. Roll call
vote please.
[39:56] » Mr. Saunders
>> I.
[39:58] » Mr. Holiday.
>> I.
[40:00] » Mr. Foley.
>> I.
[40:01] » Miss Green.
>> I.
[40:02] » Mayor Turk.
>> I.
[40:06] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Simpson and
your staff. I know that it's it's been a
[40:11] great deal of work and I agree with Mr.
Foley. I was at one of the meetings and
[40:14] and you and your staff did a very good
job of of making the presentation,
[40:18] explaining the importance of this
ordinance.
[40:23] » That moves us to item B, special
exception permit. Hold a public hearing
[40:28] and consider the request of Community
Church, Inc. property owner and
[40:32] Cornerstone Classical Academy LE for the
issuance of a special exception permit
[40:37] to allow for an educational facility
primary secondary on the property
[40:42] located at 1923 East Main Street tax
number 78-1-14.
[40:48] This was advertised in the July 23rd and
30th, 2026 issues of the Salem Times
[40:53] Register. The planning commission
recommended approval with conditions.
[40:59] Mary Ellen Wines, would you like is
there anything you'd like to explain
[41:02] about this particular ordinance or
public special exception permit? Excuse
[41:07] me.
[41:10] » Thank you, Vice Mayor. Um, yes,
Community Church has leased a portion of
[41:15] their uh buildings on East Main Street
to the Cornerstone Classical uh Academy.
[41:22] They are a hybrid homeschool
and they are in the church property
[41:28] three days a week give or take for a
total of around
[41:33] 87 90 days for a school year. Um the
primary issues discussed in the special
[41:39] exception permit application with
planning commission were traffic
[41:42] circulation, the student drop off and
pickup, parking issues, and then there
[41:47] are some building and life safety uh
codes that they're currently trying to
[41:53] meet. U so those were the things that
were discussed by the commission. It was
[41:58] suggested that uh two conditions be
placed on any approval. One would be a
[42:03] minor site plan submittal that would
verify the traffic circulation and the
[42:07] parking requirements and also that if
the uh church would cease to be there,
[42:14] any religious assembly cease to be on
the location that the special exception
[42:18] permit would then be void that it's
always uh accessory to a current church
[42:23] use. And as you said, planning
commission voted unanimous unanimously
[42:29] with the two conditions.
Are there any questions from council for
[42:32] Miss Wines?
>> No. All right. Thank you.
[42:37] » Thank you.
>> At this point, I will go ahead and open
[42:39] the public hearing on the special
exception permit. Are there any people
[42:44] who are interested in making comments on
this particular
[42:49] item?
[42:54] All right. I'll go ahead and close the
meeting.
[42:58] Do we have a motion on this special
exception permit?
[43:02] » Yes. I make a motion that we approve the
request of Community Church, Inc. uh
[43:07] property owner in Cornerstone Class
Classical Academy, the LEC, for the
[43:11] issuance of a special exception permit
to allow for an educational facility
[43:15] primary secondary on property located at
1923 East Main Street, tax map 78-1-14.
[43:25] » Is it
With the conditions.
[43:29] » With conditions. Yes. With the
conditions.
[43:31] » Yes.
>> Is there a second?
[43:35] » Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Is there
[43:37] any discussion on this?
>> I have a point of order. Um, I'd mean no
[43:41] harm.
>> Yeah.
[43:42] » Are you a member of that church, Mr.
Holiday?
[43:44] » Yes, I am.
>> Is it appropriate for him to vote on?
[43:48] I'm not trying to trying to keep us out
of hot water.
[44:00] He's not a member of the school
obviously given the fact that there are
[44:06] he's not the only member and I assume
doesn't any kind of salary or any kind.
[44:12] » Okay. Thank you. Thank you.
[44:17] the um life safety issues I assume are
going to be taken care of and it's my
[44:24] understanding that the city we are
working with that with the school and
[44:29] the church to make sure that those are
that the children there will be safe is
[44:34] that correct miss wines
>> yes ma'am they are required to fulfill
[44:38] those regulations before they can occupy
the school
[44:41] » okay thank you any other discussion
Roll call vote, please.
[44:47] » Mr. Saunders,
>> I.
[44:49] » Mr. Holiday,
>> I.
[44:50] » Mr. Foley,
>> I.
[44:52] » Miss Green,
>> I.
[44:53] » Mayor Turk,
>> I.
[44:57] » All right, that motion has passed. The
special exception permit.
[45:02] » Thank you, Chief.
>> Has been approved.
[45:07] That moves us to C another special
exception permit.
[45:10] » Mr. Don't
>> hold a public hearing and consider the
[45:13] request of the Robertson family
revocable trust property owner and Ammer
[45:18] Alsotti Lassi for the issuance of a
special exception permit to allow retail
[45:24] sales smoke shop on the property located
at 501 West 4th Street tax map number
[45:30] 143-3-14.
This was advertised in the July 23rd and
[45:35] 30th 2026 issues of the Salem Times
Register. The planning commission
[45:39] recommended denial. Miss Wines, is there
anything you'd like to tell us about
[45:44] this particular permit?
[45:50] » Thank you. If you all would recall, in
2024, the Virginia State General
[45:55] Assembly allowed localities to extract
smoke shops uh individually from regular
[46:01] retail sales. And that's what city
council chose to do. And since then,
[46:06] we've had a uh special exception
requirement
[46:11] for uh highway business district to
allow a smoke shop. Uh in your packet,
[46:16] I'm sure you have a map of the other 11
locations that we have a smoke shop,
[46:22] which was one of the major concerns of
planning commission uh was that we do
[46:27] have several of those smoke shops
throughout the city. and they were uh
[46:32] questioning whether or not that was the
highest and best use of this property.
[46:36] It does meet the regulations as far as
the distance from any school or daycare.
[46:41] Um but there is also uh one down uh
Fourth Street there by Lowe's WC Vapor
[46:48] and then of course there's two
convenience stores right on the uh down
[46:51] Fourth Street the other side. Um they it
is the former Domino's location uh you
[46:58] may recall and
yeah planning commission recommended
[47:04] denial.
>> All right. Thank you. Any questions from
[47:06] Miss Wines on on this matter.
All right. We go ahead and thank you.
[47:12] » Thank you
>> and open the public hearing. Is there
[47:15] anyone here to speak on the special
exception permit for a smoke shop?
[47:22] Seeing no one, I will go ahead and close
the public hearing. Do I have a motion
[47:27] on this?
>> Yes. I move that we deny the approval of
[47:31] a special exception permit for this
property. I do not believe it's the
[47:34] highest and best use.
>> Second.
[47:37] » It's been moved and seconded. Is there
any discussion on this topic?
[47:43] » Okay. Roll call vote, please.
>> Mr. Saunders,
[47:47] » I.
>> Mr. Holiday,
[47:48] » I.
>> Mr. Foley,
[47:50] » I.
>> Miss Green,
[47:51] » I. Mayor Turk
>> I
[47:54] » All right. The uh request has been
denied for this particular smoke shop.
[47:59] That moves us to item D, special
exception permit use not provided for
[48:04] permit.
We have a request to hold a public
[48:07] hearing at the request of the Preston
Place Preservation Foundation, Inc.
[48:12] property owner for a special exception
permit to allow assembly hall,
[48:17] non-residential uses in an accessory
structure, and non-residential uses out
[48:22] of doors, and a use not provided for
permit for outdoor gatherings of less
[48:27] than 500 people on the property located
at 1936 West Main Street, tax map number
[48:34] 138-2-7.
This was advertised in the July 23rd and
[48:39] 30th, 2026 issues of the Salem Times
register. This is divided into two
[48:46] parts. The first part is a special
exception permit. Uh and then the second
[48:51] part is the use not provided for permit.
So when the voting happens, we will um
[48:56] vote on those separately. Miss Wines, do
you have anything you'd like to tell us
[49:00] about this?
[49:06] Thank you. Um, Preston Place on West
Main Street is zoned community business
[49:12] district. Community business district is
a transitional district that allows for
[49:17] smallcale mixed use. Um, on the
periphery of residential neighborhoods
[49:22] most of the time. So, you get that
transition. You get uh things like the
[49:27] dillydally and other small shops on the
periphery of neighborhoods.
[49:31] This property um as you know has the
Preston house on it. Uh originally it
[49:37] was going to be a mixeduse structure
where someone would live upstairs and
[49:40] they would use the rest of the house as
their civic uh location. Um because of
[49:47] that, a special exception permit is
required for any use out of doors that's
[49:52] non-residential,
any use of accessory structures that are
[49:56] non-residential,
and uh for the
[50:04] assembly hall that they uh propose for a
future wedding venue and event space.
[50:11] Uh, also they want to have large outdoor
gatherings and the only definition in
[50:16] our zoning zoning ordinance currently
for outdoor gatherings is for larger
[50:20] than 500 people. So this use not
provided for permit request is for under
[50:25] 500 people. And in order to accommodate
the foundation in one fell swoop without
[50:30] them having to come back to you all
several times for different uses, we
[50:34] tried to include everything in their
request. Planning Commission did
[50:39] recommend approval of the special
exception permits with no conditions.
[50:43] They did place conditions on the use not
provided for permit that you have before
[50:49] you. Uh for an updated site plan to be
submitted, for the existing brownstone
[50:56] uh to be maintained, and for anything
above the the normal occupancy load that
[51:03] they would submit a traffic plan and a
parking plan so that we could uh verify
[51:08] that their safety and traffic would be
handled appropriately.
[51:14] Okay, thank you. Any questions for Miss
Wines?
[51:16] » And then he als M Mr. Garc also request
um be limited to 200 persons.
[51:21] » Yes, you are correct. Sorry. Thank you.
>> So that's one of the conditions.
[51:26] » Yes, ma'am. There were four.
>> Okay.
[51:30] » All right. Thank you. We're going to go
ahead and open the public hearing. We
[51:35] have one person signed up to speak,
which is Mr. Breen. if you could come
[51:41] forward and state your name and address
for the record.
[51:48] » I I was so hoping I would follow Mr.
Robbins or somebody else more qualified
[51:53] to speak on this, but I do have some
thoughts. The Preston Place application
[51:59] deserves the council's full and hearty
support.
[52:03] The project is presented and undertaken
by Salem citizens who have organized
[52:08] into a group to protect and enhance this
property.
[52:12] The group is not like a deep pocket
developer who seeks approval to enhance
[52:16] their profits.
Rather, the Preston Place project will
[52:20] enhance Salem's amenities and benefit
its citizens. The project's intended
[52:26] uses dovetail nicely with public and
private services
[52:31] that support many of the comprehensive
plan goals and objectives. It is only
[52:36] appropriate that sales Salem's official
administratively and legislatively
[52:42] support this effort. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
[52:45] » Thank you.
>> Are there any other people in the
[52:48] audience who'd like to uh speak on this
topic? Please state your name and
[52:53] address for the record.
>> Good evening. Hope y'all are doing well.
[52:58] My name is Dave Robbins. I live at 620
High Street and I'm the president of the
[53:02] Preston Place Preservation Foundation,
Inc. And I've got a few things I want to
[53:07] hand out to each of you. This this is a
brochure we've just come up with that
[53:12] talks about Preston Place. It it gives
information and and all about the
[53:18] things. I'll give these out. We have
[53:25] Thank
>> Dave
[53:27] off the press.
>> Thank you on your fingers and take no
[53:31] responsibility.
[53:34] » Uh
[53:41] um
as you well know, you know the history
[53:44] of this property. I'm not going to go
back and go through all that. Um
[53:49] uh the goal obviously is to save the
oldest house in the city, save them the
[53:54] only green space, uh left in that part
of town. So parking is a major issue in
[54:00] that area. Um and uh we had a plan that
was uh done by Ben Crew in 2018 which
[54:10] had to be reviewed and updated which we
did. uh Ben been uh updated it in one
[54:15] day and I delivered that to Will Simpson
uh what a week ago roughly. Uh uh and
[54:24] just so you know it's uh it is a it it
had it it is a spot parking spot for 14
[54:32] spaces which we have to have just have
to have that for the main property and
[54:38] basically that's done the same way you
know as you know I was involved with the
[54:42] hang rock battlefield trail and that's
built the same way. Uh it has a rock
[54:47] base. It has a geotechnic material and
it has a colonial rock surface very
[54:54] little pavement which lets the water
table go up and down. Uh and so
[54:59] basically it's very friendly for it
taking the waterway and so we we really
[55:04] desperately need approval of that. Uh
the EDA, as you all know, has authorized
[55:10] $50,000 up to for us to build that and
we're waiting for that approval. The
[55:15] minute we have that, we have bids both
from G&H that I'm going to be getting
[55:19] one from Salem Paving uh and and based
the performance screening we have to
[55:24] meet with them is we have to, you know,
find the best
[55:29] uh builder uh not necessarily the
cheapest, but we will get two bids and
[55:35] hopefully they'll be both below u uh the
$50,000
[55:40] range. um with that if we have those 14
and and that gets along with the 17 that
[55:47] gives us 31 spaces. Mary Ellen uses the
three per space. Uh so that's only 93
[55:55] people we can accommodate which leaves
us a fairly long way from 200 even and
[56:01] you can do that math. Um and so
basically uh I have a call in to 81
[56:08] reality. 81 uh reality owns the is
located in um uh North Carolina. Uh but
[56:18] uh the one of the owners is uh on is is
lives in Kingpring and I've I've and at
[56:25] that 81 Realy owns the lot where the
Goodwill, the Good Feet store and the uh
[56:32] gym is and I've I've talked with the
manager of the gym and um he's very much
[56:38] in favor of us trying to get 36
additional lots that are already paved.
[56:45] But the last thing I want to do when I'm
trying to preserve green space is put
[56:49] more pavement in.
>> It's the last thing I'm going to do.
[56:51] It's kind of an oxymoron.
And so I've called him uh uh um Mr.
[56:58] Leonard is is the owner's u uh and I'm
waiting for his call back. So, if we can
[57:05] get an agreement to get 36 spaces there
on the outside for special events only
[57:10] for the days, which will probably be 12
times a year, mostly on Saturday, and
[57:15] come up to some agreement with them, you
know, 36 and we add uh uh that to 31.
[57:22] That gives us uh 67* 3, we're pretty
close to that 200 number.
[57:28] And for us to make a go of it, we've
we've got to have that kind of parking
[57:32] spots. Um,
without that, uh, Reed Gar said, "Well,
[57:39] Dave, if somebody gave you a million
dollars, would you need it?" And he and
[57:42] I said, "No, if you got a million, you
can give us." And he said, "No." And I
[57:45] asked Mr. Dorscher, did he have a
million? And he said, "No." But for us
[57:50] to be self-sufficient and make that
project help a attractive business and
[57:56] make it ongoing without coming back
every year and asking for money, we've
[58:00] really got to have that kind of uh if
that doesn't work. U we have other
[58:06] options probably to probably bust people
from a church, but that's more
[58:10] complicated. I we probably could get
some spaces across the road at Walmart,
[58:15] but that's a dangerous road to cross.
We're dealing with a very dangerous road
[58:20] for people to get out in and out of. If
you haven't tried to get out of Mama
[58:25] Maria's or coming out of there at rush
hour between 4 and 5:30,
[58:33] let me tell you, it is a dangerous and
we've got to do something with the speed
[58:36] out there. We got to calm. I don't know
how we do that. Uh but we have to. And
[58:41] when we add wild to that mix, it's even
going to add more traffic and more
[58:47] congestion in that area. So, uh, the
other things I know y'all were there
[58:52] when we had the work session years ago,
we had before we were going to set up
[58:58] and one of the things you should have in
your packet is that what? Well, before I
[59:03] get to this one, one of the things that
Brad McDonald, he was the guy from the
[59:08] Department of Historic Resources that we
talked to and we asked about, you know,
[59:13] what what if we had a barn out there. I
think Mr. Holidayiday asked that
[59:18] question and he said yes, he would allow
barn if it's of the period. And what
[59:22] that barn would look like is a step back
barn. You've seen you probably I don't
[59:26] know if you have that in your packet.
This is one example that's in there. And
[59:31] here's another example of a stepback
barn, a German Swiss barn. And and if we
[59:38] built that, however, that's just going
to add more parking requirement
[59:42] and the cost of doing that is probably
prohibitive. Uh but I did talk to Mr.
[59:48] McDonald today. And this is a um a
concept of what a an outdoor roofed
[59:56] timber structure like they have at
Smithfield and at Sandlane. And he said
[1:00:01] he'd be happy to entertain this. Uh and
so I think you allow us to to do this
[1:00:07] which will will again be more conducive
to having 200 people rather than having
[1:00:13] to add more for that. So,
>> just so everybody sees what that looks
[1:00:18] like. But he was very, very receptive
today. Meg's going to try to get a
[1:00:23] picture for you. Dave,
[1:00:27] » did the glare bother you? [laughter]
[1:00:32] » Well, thank you, Mr. Robbins. It sounds
like you're um making progress towards
[1:00:36] the goals and the planning condition put
on.
[1:00:39] » Have been a lot of effort by a lot of
people.
[1:00:41] » Well, thank you very much. We appreciate
it. Is there anyone else that would like
[1:00:45] to speak on this particular item?
[1:00:50] All right, I'll go ahead and close the
public hearing. Um, so as I said, this
[1:00:57] is broken into two parts. The first part
is consider the request for a special
[1:01:01] exception permit to allow an assembly
hall non-residential uses an accessory
[1:01:06] structure and non-residential uses out
of doors. This is what the planning
[1:01:10] command commission recommended approval.
Do I have a motion?
[1:01:13] » Yes. I make a motion that we approve the
request for a special exception permit
[1:01:18] to allow an assembly hall,
non-residential uses in an accessory
[1:01:21] structure, and non-residential uses out
out of doors for the Preston Place
[1:01:27] Foundation at Preston Place.
>> Is there a second?
[1:01:30] » Second.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Is there
[1:01:33] any discussion on this item?
>> Yes, this is Mayor Turk. My uh concern
[1:01:40] is doing a limitation of 200 when we
apparently or Preston Place apparently
[1:01:47] entertained
uh a festival or a gathering already
[1:01:53] that had at one point uh I believe 300
people. So why are we capping at 200?
[1:01:59] Could we consider putting the cap at
maybe 350?
[1:02:05] And what would be the problem with doing
that?
[1:02:08] » I is I think the condition is on the use
not provided for item. Not not this
[1:02:14] item, Mayor Turk.
>> Okay. All right.
[1:02:22] » No more discussion on item D1. Roll
call, please.
[1:02:27] » Mr. Saunders.
>> I.
[1:02:30] » Mr. Holidayiday.
>> I.
[1:02:31] » Mr. Foley. I.
>> Miss Green.
[1:02:33] » I.
>> Mayor Turk.
[1:02:35] Hi.
>> All right. Part two, use not provided
[1:02:39] for permit. Consider the request for a
use not provided for permit for outdoor
[1:02:44] gatherings of less than 500 people.
Planning commission recommended approval
[1:02:49] with conditions.
Do I have a motion on this?
[1:02:54] » I move that we approve this uh use not
provided for uh permit with the
[1:02:59] exceptions off offered up by Mr. Garst
in the planning commission. Is there a
[1:03:04] second?
>> Second.
[1:03:06] » All right. Now, we can discuss this. So,
[1:03:12] » well, if I may, because he's already
stated, I think the issue is in some
[1:03:16] ways it's it's becomes an issue. If we
allow for more than 200 people, he's
[1:03:20] going to need more space by definition.
>> So, I mean, we're creating a bigger
[1:03:25] problem for him with
>> while allowing more people in theory,
[1:03:29] right?
But I guess also too now we could come
[1:03:32] back and change that at a later time and
when it looks like that maybe parking
[1:03:38] has been accommodated and it looks like
that they're able to handle more then
[1:03:43] then I guess we could change it at that
point,
[1:03:48] » right? Yeah.
>> Yeah. I guess the concern is why come
[1:03:52] back and change at that point
if you look ahead and look to the future
[1:03:58] of what is possible. Uh and I know
you're saying well there aren't enough
[1:04:03] parking spots for that. Um
you know there are other ways that
[1:04:09] I don't know. I just I I do not agree
with the 200
[1:04:13] number because I feel like you're
limiting their ability to to make a go
[1:04:18] of things and make it successful by
reducing the number of people that they
[1:04:23] can allow to attend if there is some
type of paid event where people would
[1:04:27] would be paying money to come in. Then
that's going to limit Preston Place from
[1:04:31] being able to
sell more tickets or whatever it is they
[1:04:36] may have for a specific event. Um,
>> so let me ask you
[1:04:43] » state what I've and I'll state what I've
stated before. Uh, you know, I think the
[1:04:48] one of the first issues we as a council
need to look at when we're looking at
[1:04:52] the different ordinances that we have is
the situation with requiring people to
[1:04:57] put more paved area in when we're trying
not to have paved areas because uh
[1:05:04] they're non-permeable surfaces and that
causes more storm water runoff. Um,
[1:05:10] so hopefully that'll be one of the first
things that that ordinances that we look
[1:05:14] at
when the time comes.
[1:05:19] » Well, my question based on on your
question is to either Miss Wines or Mr.
[1:05:25] Robbins, is is there a reason that the
200 was chosen
[1:05:31] by the planning commission or I mean is
there is it a problem if we increase
[1:05:37] that to 350 and does Preston Place
indeed want it at 350?
[1:05:42] » The 200 was an extension of what they
thought they wanted to accommodate
[1:05:48] originally. Uh the condition of the
overflow parking and traffic plan
[1:05:54] approval covers additional numbers uh
from a staff's perspective. They'll have
[1:05:59] to accommodate whatever number it is
that they're uh going to offer uh for
[1:06:05] those events. So we'll have to do that
each for each special event for that
[1:06:10] large number. So as long as they can
accommodate those numbers, staff does
[1:06:15] not have an issue with increasing the
the number of occupants. So they could
[1:06:19] actually up go up to 500 under the way
this is written as long as they Now I
[1:06:25] understand you're not going to but the
[clears throat] way this is written as
[1:06:29] long as there was an appropriate traffic
plan and
[1:06:31] » Yes ma'am that's correct if you don't
limit the numbers. Okay.
[1:06:34] » Um and that 200 also included employees
and volunteers as well as ticket sales.
[1:06:41] So that was another reason planning
commission upped it a little bit was to
[1:06:45] include those as well. So, so there
would be no requirement to come back
[1:06:50] according to how it's written right now.
>> If if you did not put that condition and
[1:06:55] limit it to 200, then they would not
have to come back before you to have
[1:06:59] events up to 500 people. They would just
have to supply the parking and traffic
[1:07:04] plan.
>> Okay.
[1:07:05] » So, we So, the motion could be made to
approve this without the condition
[1:07:10] relating to the maximum of 200 people.
>> Yes, ma'am.
[1:07:13] » That would take care of this particular
issue,
[1:07:16] » right?
Does that sound like something? Um,
[1:07:20] yeah. Yes. Uh, Mr. Robbins, please come
forward. Thank you.
[1:07:24] » We did we didn't ask for the 200, but
that's what we feel we could accommodate
[1:07:31] uh currently even with the having
additional parking
[1:07:35] » up the way. However, city when the when
city said we don't want this property
[1:07:41] and it came to us to set up a foundation
had the city taken it in you can park in
[1:07:46] the grass we cannot
>> right
[1:07:49] » and so there is grass located
conveniently next door that I had
[1:07:54] planned to use and I've already talked
to the president of the go mart and he's
[1:07:59] willing to uh u work with us on that
work a plan but but when I found Right
[1:08:07] now I can't park in the grass. So I
didn't go any further down the road. But
[1:08:11] were we to park in the grass allow an
exception to for that lot adjoining the
[1:08:16] property park in the grass which
wouldn't add any more payment then that
[1:08:21] would up the numbers to the probably the
350 that the mayor is talking about.
[1:08:27] » But that's not before us.
>> I understand that. But all I'm saying is
[1:08:30] that option is there. That's my
reasoning if we want to go up to three.
[1:08:34] I don't see going above 350, but if we
wanted to go up that and not coming
[1:08:39] back, if that were to be worked out,
then we wouldn't have to come back again
[1:08:43] and ask for that change. And that's all
I'm saying. That's a possibility.
[1:08:49] » Okay.
>> But
[1:08:52] correct me if I'm wrong, but what we are
looking at today does not include any
[1:08:56] parking on the grass. But if the Preston
Place Foundation wanted a larger event
[1:09:02] and had an appropriate parking plan and
we removed this condition, that could be
[1:09:07] approved by staff.
>> Okay.
[1:09:10] » Okay.
>> Does everyone on council understand?
[1:09:13] » Yes.
>> Okay. Is is there a motion?
[1:09:17] » Well, there was a motion in a second
forward.
[1:09:19] » Right. There is a motion.
>> We have to amend that motion. All right.
[1:09:23] » I'm not amending my motion.
>> Okay. I All right. I'll make a motion
[1:09:27] that we
>> Okay.
[1:09:31] » Yes, we do have to vote on this motion.
>> Okay. All right. That's right.
[1:09:34] » All right. V roll call on the motion as
currently proposed by Mr. Foley.
[1:09:40] [laughter]
>> Mr. Saunders.
[1:09:42] » Mr. F.
>> Whoa. Whoa. Mr. Foley, please restate
[1:09:45] the motion. I couldn't hear.
>> There was too much talking going on. Mr.
[1:09:50] Foley, could you please restate?
>> He's going to. I move that we approve
[1:09:54] the permit for pro uh sorry I'm looking
for the language use not provided for
[1:10:01] with the four conditions that were
approved by the planning commission one
[1:10:05] of which includes the limit to 200
attendees.
[1:10:10] » So that's what was moved and seconded.
>> Thank you and that's what we're voting
[1:10:13] on.
>> Yeah. So the point
[1:10:15] » updated a site I sorry I got it now. So
my I stand by my motion for the
[1:10:19] approving the permit for use not
provided for. It includes an updated
[1:10:23] site plan shall be submitted for review
illustrating both the existing parking
[1:10:27] configuration and proposed parking lot
expansion. Any future site development
[1:10:31] shall require submission and approval of
an amended site plan. The existing
[1:10:34] brownstone parking service shall be
properly maintained through the removal
[1:10:38] of grass, weeds, and other vegetation.
Routine maintenance shall preserve the
[1:10:42] approved brownstone surface and standard
gravel shall not be substituted because
[1:10:46] the city's standard parking requirements
do not apply to a use not provided for
[1:10:50] permit. A parking overflow and traffic
management plan together with any
[1:10:54] supporting documentation including
parking agreements or property owner
[1:10:58] authorizations shall be submitted to and
approved by the city prior to the
[1:11:02] operation of any special event. And then
total occupancy on the property at any
[1:11:06] one time shall be limited to 200 persons
including attendees, staff, vendors,
[1:11:10] volunteers, and participants.
And that was seconded by Mr. Holiday
[1:11:16] previously.
>> Correct.
[1:11:19] Roll call vote, please.
>> Mr. Saunders.
[1:11:23] » Hi.
>> Mr. Holidayiday.
[1:11:25] » Nay.
>> Nay.
[1:11:27] » Mr. Foley.
>> I.
[1:11:29] » Miss. Green.
>> Nay.
[1:11:32] » Mayor Turk.
>> Nay.
[1:11:38] » So, the motion has um failed.
Is there a second motion?
[1:11:51] Yes. I make a motion that
that we consider the request for the use
[1:11:58] not provided for permit for outdoor
gatherings of
[1:12:05] » Go on. I was just going to give you the
conditions because you want to get rid
[1:12:08] of number four,
>> right?
[1:12:10] » With the removal.
>> Okay. I make a motion that
[1:12:16] we consider the request with the
following conditions as recommended by
[1:12:20] the planning commission. Uh an updated
site plan shall be submitted for review
[1:12:26] illustrating both the existing parking
configuration and the proposed parking
[1:12:30] lot expansion. Any future site
development shall require submission
[1:12:34] approval of the amended site plan. The
existing brownstone parking surface
[1:12:38] shall be properly maintained through
removal of grass, weeds, and other
[1:12:42] vegetation. Routine maintenance shall
preserve the approved brownstone surface
[1:12:46] and standard gravel shall not be
substituted because the city standard
[1:12:52] parking requirements do not apply to the
to a use not provided for permit. A
[1:12:57] parking overflow and traffic management
plan together with any supporting
[1:13:01] documentation including parking
agreements of or property owner
[1:13:06] authorization shall be submitted to and
approved by the city prior to the
[1:13:10] operation of any special event and total
occupancy on the property at any one
[1:13:16] time shall be limited to 500 persons
including attendees.
[1:13:21] » Oh no. Okay, I'm sorry. Total occupancy
on the property at any one time shall be
[1:13:27] limited to 200 persons including
attendees, staff, vendors, volunteers,
[1:13:31] and participants.
>> But you want to you want to remove that.
[1:13:35] So you want your motion includes
conditions one, two, and three from the
[1:13:39] planning commission.
>> Okay.
[1:13:41] » All right.
>> Is there a second to that motion?
[1:13:47] » Second.
>> Any discussion?
[1:13:53] Roll call, please.
>> So, just to be clear, you're you're
[1:13:55] going to 500
>> from 200, not 350. You're going because
[1:13:59] you you just went to 500.
>> Well, it has to be 500 or under. Yes.
[1:14:03] » Yes. Yeah. That's
>> because Right.
[1:14:07] » Thank you.
>> It's been moved and seconded. Roll call,
[1:14:11] please.
>> Mr. Saunders.
[1:14:15] » Uh,
>> Mr. Holiday.
[1:14:17] » I.
>> Mr. Foley.
[1:14:19] » No. Due only to Delta, the fourth item.
Right,
[1:14:24] » Miss Green
>> I.
[1:14:27] » Mayor Turk
>> I
[1:14:30] » All right, that motion has passed.
Does this the staff does understand?
[1:14:36] Okay, great. [laughter]
>> Thank you very much.
[1:14:42] All right, that moves us to item E,
resolution authorizing a referendum.
[1:14:49] Consider adoption of resolution 1535
authorizing a referendum on a not to
[1:14:55] exceed 1% general's retail sales and use
tax used solely for capital projects for
[1:15:02] new construction and major renovation of
Salem City schools. Mr. Dorsy,
[1:15:08] » thank you, Vice Mayor. Um on July 1st,
the general assembly um enacted their
[1:15:14] bianual budget and appropriation
legislation
[1:15:17] uh which the amendments put in there.
I'll put it in English. the fact that
[1:15:22] any governing body of any county or city
can levy a general retail sales and use
[1:15:27] tax at a rate not to exceed 1%
provided that it's used it's approved by
[1:15:32] referendum as you said and can only be
used for new construction or major
[1:15:37] renovations of the schools. Uh it can't
be used for past debt. Um it can't be
[1:15:43] used for smaller, you know, capital
items. It's literally construction and
[1:15:48] major renovation for this. And uh
Superintendent Curtis Hicks is here too
[1:15:53] if you'd like to say say a couple things
real quick if that's fine.
[1:15:57] » So I came to Salem in 2007. Um so that
was almost 20 years ago and two major
[1:16:03] renovations that occurred before that GW
Carver Andrew Lewis. Since then we've
[1:16:06] done South Salem and the high school. So
the two properties that that continue to
[1:16:11] need major renovation or additions would
be East Salem, West Salem. Uh when we
[1:16:15] completed the high school, we thought we
were going to have some debt free up um
[1:16:19] short I think it was either Carver or
Andrew Lewis was coming off debt, but
[1:16:22] the way that debt was structured for the
high school, that debt just kind of
[1:16:25] rolled on and replaced it. So one of the
issues right now is we don't have any
[1:16:29] really um capacity where debt is
concerned until 2034. Um so those two
[1:16:35] schools we they're in good shape. I
think the city does a great job of
[1:16:38] maintaining those facilities. you know,
the agreement we have with the city with
[1:16:41] the opportunity to to hold on to any
funds that we don't use annually and
[1:16:45] apply those to capital improvement
projects. I think our schools are in
[1:16:48] great shape. But those two schools, I
think it's pretty clear to everybody are
[1:16:51] are could do a major renovation and and
depending on uh the Hope Tree project,
[1:16:58] uh the Newman Drive project, and how
that impacts enrollment, those two
[1:17:02] schools might possibly even need um some
sort of an addition. So, just wanted to
[1:17:07] answer any questions you guys had if you
had any about, you know, the current
[1:17:10] state of the schools.
>> You have any questions for
[1:17:14] Superintendent Hicks? I I I kind I did
um on projected enrollments, I guess,
[1:17:19] and you're talking about whatever
happens at Hope Tree and other future
[1:17:22] developments, but I guess would there be
a would there be a time where possibly
[1:17:28] we would consider closing one of the
elementary schools or combining two
[1:17:31] schools where uh we wouldn't need to
have the schools that we have right now?
[1:17:39] » From a community perspective, I don't
think there'd be much appetite for that.
[1:17:43] personally uh based on what I know of
Salem City Schools and I also think from
[1:17:47] a size perspective uh having all four
schools be similarly sized I think there
[1:17:52] are a lot of benefits to that in terms
of the programs that are available to
[1:17:56] students the the availability of staff
um I just I think we have a really good
[1:18:01] structure I think if funding down the
road if if it were determined that one
[1:18:05] of those facilities was not safe or
couldn't be renovated to the degree to
[1:18:10] bring it up to modern-day standards I
think maybe then you would start to
[1:18:14] entertain a conversation about that. But
but currently I don't think that's
[1:18:17] something that that there'd be a whole
lot of appetite to consider.
[1:18:20] » Okay.
>> Any other questions for the
[1:18:23] superintendent?
>> Thank you.
[1:18:25] » Thank you.
>> Yep.
[1:18:28] » And and with that, um we we mentioned
the fact that if if you decided that you
[1:18:33] want to put this out for referendum, the
referendum would say up to 1%. But that
[1:18:38] means if it passes, you don't have to do
1%. you could do a half a percent or
[1:18:43] whatever. You know, if if it passed and
the appetite was there, we'd get with
[1:18:46] Superintendent Hicks and find out his
long-term capital improvement plan and
[1:18:50] how much money is really needed to fund
that and not try to overt tax
[1:18:54] » just to do that.
>> To do actually a study in October of
[1:18:58] this year, RRMM, our architecture
group, is planning to do a study, a
[1:19:04] facility study this October. So, we
potentially would have that available
[1:19:08] right after if it passed. Has staff
crunched the numbers u on on like
[1:19:14] actuals this year or from last year what
that would generate just hypothetically
[1:19:21] » m Jordan hasn't spoken
>> hypothetically
[1:19:24] [laughter]
a
[1:19:25] » lot of unknowns I know based on what we
know at this point in time we are
[1:19:30] thinking we if we were looking at 1% we
would be in the neighborhood of about $7
[1:19:36] million a year from the sales tax to be
used toward for, as he said, major
[1:19:41] renovations, capital projects, or debt,
bond, loan cost of a borrowing if that's
[1:19:47] what was needed for an expansion.
>> And this goes till 2046.
[1:19:53] » Is it 20-year?
>> That's when it sunsets.
[1:19:55] » It sunsets. Yes, sir.
Is there a if if we voted to approve the
[1:20:01] referendum and it were approved by the
citizens, is there anything at the
[1:20:06] moment that limits implementation? Could
it be delayed five years? I even though
[1:20:10] it passes in 26 referendum I do not have
a law degree. [laughter]
[1:20:19] » Well, I mean is there any lang I
seriously is there any lang is there any
[1:20:22] language in there about it?
>> There's [clears throat] no limit in that
[1:20:24] regard. Um uh and and I think uh
you know the up to 1%
[1:20:33] takes care of that because you can I
mean you could do a tenth of a percent
[1:20:36] or something if you had to just to keep
it going if anything like that changed.
[1:20:41] The um the concern I think most people
have had in this is the fact that it was
[1:20:45] amended as part of the budget and that's
a two-year deal and it's not really
[1:20:50] clear um if you don't do it that you can
do it sometime in the future. So you
[1:20:55] need to get the you at least the
referendum
[1:20:58] » you need to have the referendum done for
that reason. The other thing that I
[1:21:01] heard pointed out in a meeting the other
week that I thought was interesting was
[1:21:05] uh to the extent that the school budget
includes capital that we fund, you can
[1:21:10] fund that capital with uh the the
referendum pro, you know, with the
[1:21:15] proceeds of the one 1% sales tax doesn't
have to be used immediately. So that
[1:21:21] » correct current debt,
>> right? No, not for current debt. you
[1:21:24] can't use.
>> But the point that was made was this is
[1:21:29] not going to be on necessarily on top of
your real estate tax to cover capital
[1:21:34] because what you'll be able to do is
you're not going to have to worry about
[1:21:37] the capital because you're going to be
having it taken care of with the 1%.
[1:21:41] not, you know, so you might not, it
might save you raising real estate tax
[1:21:46] maybe a penny or two in the future based
on uh the fact that you're going to be
[1:21:51] covering the capital with the 1%. So
there are it's not necessarily an
[1:21:57] addition.
I mean, it probably is, but it's not but
[1:22:02] it may not be as big as you think it is.
[1:22:06] Okay.
[1:22:09] I mean, I personally have a problem with
with raising taxes uh
[1:22:15] uh with the potential to raise raise
taxes
[1:22:19] uh of at least 1%. I think with with the
with the fees that we've got scheduled
[1:22:24] and uh
and and everything else that is that is
[1:22:30] that's coming down the pike, I I I don't
want to
[1:22:36] to put an additional 1% tax on on uh on
retail sales um at this point in time.
[1:22:43] Me personally, so that's how I feel.
I think that sales taxes are incredibly
[1:22:50] regressive. And even though this would
not apply to food and personal hygiene
[1:22:55] products, it would still apply to other
things that everyone has to buy such as
[1:23:00] clothing, tires, cleaning supplies, etc.
And and that concerns me. I also see
[1:23:07] this as a way that the general assembly
has given us the ability to tax our
[1:23:13] citizens so that they don't have to.
Exactly.
[1:23:16] » And uh I think they're abdicating their
responsibility for school construction.
[1:23:21] It um it bothers me also, as much as
that may surprise you. [laughter]
[1:23:25] » Well, thank you.
>> However, be a contrarian. Um we're just
[1:23:31] presenting it to the people to decide if
they want to be taxed. We're not saying
[1:23:35] you're going to be taxed 1% or a half a
percent or tenth of a percent. We're
[1:23:39] simply saying we're going to put it on
the the the ballot and let the voters
[1:23:44] decide if they want to be taxed 1% or
and and then also I would go on to say
[1:23:49] yes it is regressive but the one thing
about sales tax it's not all our
[1:23:54] citizens paying those taxes right we
have visitors to the town so the city um
[1:23:59] so unlike property tax which is our real
estate which is all of our citizens so I
[1:24:05] just think it's uh I I don't see
anything wrong with giving
[1:24:09] the uh the citizenry that opportunity to
make that decision on their own.
[1:24:15] » I think it is complicated though. Sorry.
And I think it's going to be difficult
[1:24:19] already. Some of the stuff we've
discussed, it's going to be hard to
[1:24:21] communicate that to voters about doesn't
have to start. You can do this, you can
[1:24:25] do that. So,
>> but but I think voters don't,
[1:24:29] » you know, people say that they look at
it and say, "Well, this is going for
[1:24:32] schools, so let's just vote for it." but
they don't understand the ramifications
[1:24:37] of of how that can affect their
pocketbook every month, every week, and
[1:24:42] and until it actually happens and then
then they realize, oh, well, this is
[1:24:46] what I voted for, but I didn't realize
it was going to affect me the way that
[1:24:49] it is. So, uh, this is something that I
don't support at this time, but we can
[1:24:55] we can
>> Well, then yeah, you could also argue
[1:24:58] that in three years you're going to have
to raise the property taxes for four
[1:25:02] pennies to pay for the new school we're
going to need. So, I mean, you can go
[1:25:05] back and forth on that. I mean,
>> we can we can, so
[1:25:09] » part of the reason
>> Sorry, go on.
[1:25:11] » Yes. I think part of the reason why they
put a limit on 1% is so that it would
[1:25:18] not be that much of of a uh oppressive
uh tax on the people when you're talking
[1:25:28] 1% of what's being sold that it's it's a
good limit. It's a very small amount and
[1:25:38] I like letting our citizens make the
final decision that let them have the
[1:25:44] opportunity
to decide.
[1:25:50] » Mr. Saunders, do you have any comments?
[1:25:55] » I just uh flat don't like
the tax itself.
[1:26:01] I can see years down the road, General
Assembly suddenly changing that 1% tax
[1:26:08] into something else.
[1:26:12] And since it's already there, it's a lot
easier to do.
[1:26:18] So, no, I'm not in favor of any sales
tax increase. But I mean we we said this
[1:26:25] I mean we've we lowered the real estate
tax 2 cents but actually that actually
[1:26:31] real estate
uh property taxes went up because the
[1:26:36] home values increased what was it 8% or
so there really wasn't uh any net gain
[1:26:45] to the citizens their their their bills
still went up and and so I don't uh
[1:26:52] again I at this point in time, I I don't
support raising it having even having it
[1:26:58] on as a referendum and letting the
people decide. I don't think that the
[1:27:02] public will some people just won't think
it through and until it actually happens
[1:27:08] and and then they actually see it in
their pocketbook every every month. So,
[1:27:13] um I think what uh Vice Mayor Green said
about, you know, the state is trying to
[1:27:18] pass this off to the localities, I agree
with that comment and and I think we
[1:27:23] should, you know, proceed accordingly.
So,
[1:27:26] » and I think another point at least in my
experience with referenda
[1:27:32] um the someone needs to provide
information to the citizens about what
[1:27:38] they are voting on and that generally
would fall to the local government. So,
[1:27:43] it involves a cost and staff time and
then making very sure that what is being
[1:27:51] prepared is entirely factual, not
persuasive one way or another. And I I
[1:27:56] have been involved in that and and that
is not an easy proposition either.
[1:28:02] » And we have to remember that the
situation we we did not raise we did not
[1:28:11] raise real estate. The value of the
homes went up. So the amount paid went
[1:28:17] up but we reduced it by 4%.
And if we have a situation that the
[1:28:23] citizens if they agree that it's okay
for the 1% then that 1% is something
[1:28:30] that will not have to be paid by the
city. The money would be I guess what
[1:28:37] I'm trying to say is the uh repair of
streets and the other types of
[1:28:42] infrastructure that the city needs to
have done uh would benefit from that.
[1:28:48] We'd be able to do more if that tax were
restricted, the 1% restricted solely for
[1:28:55] school renovation and school additions
or rebuilding. So remember, we went down
[1:29:03] 4% 4%.
And if if there is if the citizens agree
[1:29:08] to a 1% then that amount of money gets
allocated strictly to schools and then
[1:29:13] the the funds that we normally would
possibly have to be given the schools
[1:29:18] could be used for other infrastructure
improvements.
[1:29:25] » Is there are there any other comments
before I ask for a motion?
[1:29:32] » Is there a motion on this item? I move
that we approve resolution 1535
[1:29:37] authorizing a referendum on a not to
exceed 1% general retail sales and use
[1:29:42] tax used solely for capital projects for
new construction and major renovation of
[1:29:48] Salem City schools.
>> Is there a second?
[1:29:53] » I second it.
>> Any further discussion?
[1:29:59] » Roll call vote, please.
>> Mr. Saunders.
[1:30:03] Nay
>> Mr. Holidayiday
[1:30:05] » nay
>> Mr. Foley
[1:30:07] » I
>> Miss Green
[1:30:08] » nay.
>> Mayor Turk
[1:30:11] » I
>> the resolution authorizing the
[1:30:15] resolution sorry the resolution
authorize a referendum has failed.
[1:30:22] Item F, Salem City School Board.
Consider setting the date for a public
[1:30:26] hearing in accordance with section
22.1-29.1
[1:30:30] of the code of Virginia 1950 as amended
regarding the consideration of
[1:30:35] applicants for the school board term
expiring December 31, 2026 of Mesel
[1:30:41] Janosca.
Um the suggested date is September 14th,
[1:30:46] 2026.
Mr. light. Would you like to explain
[1:30:50] this to us?
>> Yes, ma'am. The Code of Virginia
[1:30:53] requires council to have a public
hearing um at least 7 days prior to uh
[1:30:58] naming a school board member. Um and at
that public hearing, anyone who might be
[1:31:03] named later or appointed later, their
name must be read at that public
[1:31:07] hearing. That doesn't mean they have to
come speak at the public hearing, but
[1:31:10] their name has to be read. So if you all
are amendable to Sep September 14th, we
[1:31:14] would ask you to set that public hearing
date and direct staff to provide public
[1:31:18] notice and accept letters of interest
and resumes from interested applicants
[1:31:21] for naming at this public hearing.
>> Thank you.
[1:31:25] » Yes, ma'am.
>> Do we have a motion?
[1:31:29] » Do we need to vote on this or just we
just approve it?
[1:31:32] » We voted on it in the past.
>> Okay. I move that we approve September
[1:31:35] 14th as the date for new school board
candidates in 2026.
[1:31:39] » Second.
Roll call, please.
[1:31:42] » Mr. Saunders,
>> I.
[1:31:44] » Mr. Holidayiday,
>> I.
[1:31:45] » Mr. Foley,
>> I.
[1:31:46] » Miss Green,
>> I.
[1:31:48] » Mayor Turk,
>> I.
[1:31:51] » Item G, appropriation of funds, consider
a request to amend the school operating
[1:31:56] fund budget as approved by the school
board on July 14th, 2026. Mr. Foley.
[1:32:02] » Thank you. At their July 14th, 2026
meeting, the school board amended the
[1:32:06] fiscal year 202627 school operating fund
budget to increase revenues and
[1:32:11] expenditures by 1,70,180
as outlined in the council report
[1:32:16] included in the agenda. This amendment
was needed because the state did not
[1:32:19] approve their FY27 budget until June
29th, 2026. I motion approval of the
[1:32:25] schoolboard amendment to their operating
fund budget for fiscal year 2027.
[1:32:29] » Is there a second?
>> Second. Any discussion?
[1:32:34] Roll call vote, please.
>> Mr. Saunders,
[1:32:38] » I.
>> Mr. Holiday,
[1:32:39] » I.
>> Mr. Foley,
[1:32:40] » I.
>> Miss Green,
[1:32:42] » I.
>> Mayor Turk,
[1:32:44] » I.
>> Item H, appropriation of funds. Consider
[1:32:48] a request to transfer unallocated
capital reserve for fiscal year 2027
[1:32:53] capital improvement plan projects. Mr.
Foley.
[1:32:56] » Thank you. The fiscal year 2027 budget
was adopted on May 11th, 2026, which
[1:33:01] included four projects to be funded by
capital reserves. Tonight's action will
[1:33:05] authorize the city manager to transfer
the funds for these approved capital
[1:33:09] improvement plan items into specific
projects account within the capital
[1:33:13] reserve fund. Projects include storm
water drain at Kerry Avenue for 850,000,
[1:33:18] storm drain at Market Street and Clay
Street for $750,000, police vehicle
[1:33:23] replacement of $523,249,
[1:33:27] and front load dumpster truck for
$452,000.
[1:33:31] I motion approval for the city manager
to transfer $2,575,249
[1:33:37] from the capital reserve account to the
specific project accounts with an
[1:33:40] effective date of July 1, 2027 in
conjunction with the fiscal year 2027
[1:33:45] budget as specified in the council
report included in the agenda.
[1:33:49] » Is there a second?
>> Second.
[1:33:51] » Any discussion on this item?
>> Roll call, please.
[1:33:54] » I I I caught that reading it. It's the
wrong date, isn't it?
[1:33:58] » 26, not 27.
>> Yes. 20 fiscal year 27 July 1st 20 26
[1:34:04] » right but okay I'm reading from
documents when I read it apologize I
[1:34:08] gave you that's all right that's all
right [laughter] let me make that motion
[1:34:10] again for clarification I motion
approval for the city manager to
[1:34:13] transfer 2,575,249
[1:34:17] from the capital reserve account to the
specific projects account with an
[1:34:20] effective date of July 1, 2026 in
conjunction with the fiscal year 2027
[1:34:25] budget as specified in the council
report included in the agenda. There you
[1:34:29] go.
>> Do you still second?
[1:34:30] » Second. [laughter]
>> Thank you.
[1:34:33] » Roll call, please.
>> Mr. Saunders.
[1:34:35] » Hi.
>> Mr. Holiday.
[1:34:37] » Hi.
>> Mr. Foley.
[1:34:38] » Hi.
>> Miss Green.
[1:34:39] » I.
>> Mayor Turk.
[1:34:41] » I.
>> Thank you. Is there any other
[1:34:45] information we need to have before us
this evening or share?
[1:34:50] Thank you everyone for your time. This
meeting is adjourned.