{"id":12414,"date":"2015-04-21T18:58:17","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T22:58:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/?p=12414"},"modified":"2015-04-22T20:06:23","modified_gmt":"2015-04-23T00:06:23","slug":"danville-city-council-live-42115","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/04\/21\/danville-city-council-live-42115\/","title":{"rendered":"Danville City Council – LIVE! (4\/21\/15)"},"content":{"rendered":"

This article is now complete. We’re LIVE! at tonight’s Danville City Council meeting.
\n<\/p>\n

We’re underway. Fred Shanks isn’t here yet. He’s at the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors meeting but he’ll be arriving here late.<\/p>\n

Larry Campbell does the prayer. Boy Scout Troop 300 does a flag ceremony and leads the Pledge of Allegiance.
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nMayor Sherman Saunders reads a proclamation for Make Danville Shine month coming in May, and we move to the public comment section.<\/p>\n

Members of the Danville Youth Council invite the council to their event coming up at the YMCA. Next, Fire Chief David Eagle and Assistant Chief Steve Dishman talk about the Danville Fire Department’s accreditation.<\/p>\n

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Only 200 fire departments are fully accredited at this level and only 6 in Virginia.<\/p>\n

Harold Garrison speaks now.<\/p>\n

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He starts off with praise for the Fix It Danville smartphone app, saying that his wife reported a pothole on Tuesday morning and city crews were fixing is this afternoon. He then criticizes Jim Turpin’s request for council to set aside money for another retiree bonus. I didn’t mention that in the last City Council meeting article, but that made me mad as well. I still haven’t forgotten the council members that caved to the pressure and approved the bonus last year. Neither has Garrison, as he calls Lee Vogler out directly by saying “I hope you live up to your words when you said you’d never vote for another one.” Finally, he talks about the size of the Danville budget. He says it’s over $6000 per person if you divide the total amount by the population of Danville and he doesn’t need $6000 worth of governing. That’s clearly an oversimplification, but Garrison is making a point that $10K here, $25K there ends up adding to a large sum of money quickly.<\/p>\n

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Beverly Richardson talks the success of the blight program. She lives on Grove St. and heaps praise on Community Development’s efforts. She says that her Grove St. neighborhood is much better now that the derelict houses have been torn down. She calls out Earl Reynolds for his work on the process and the Danville Police Department for helping “clean up” the neighborhood. All council members return the praise to her for the kind words.<\/p>\n

Bryce Simmons works for the Virginia Office of Drinking Water. He calls the water taste issue a “natural disaster” but clarifies that saying that no amount of money can fix this. The algae problem must naturally pass through. He said that the compound that affects the taste can affect quality at 4 parts per trillion. That’s one drop of water in 40 Olympic sized swimming pools. He hopes the recent rains will finally flush the problem out. Finally. Common sense. Science. Maybe this will help bust up rumors.<\/p>\n

That’s the end of the public comment session at we’re already at 7:35 PM.<\/p>\n

School Board Chairman Ed Polhamus now talks about the school system budget.<\/p>\n

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Alonzo Jones asks if the new athletic director position will be posted. He said he wondered if that position was already filled prior to the budget being passed. Although I’m quite confident that the position was filled before the budget was passed, Polhamus says that the position will be posted. Our commenters barely have said that is has been. Jones also questions the 4-3 vote on the school budget. Polhamus said the “No” votes were about sustainability concerns since the budget is using carryover money to balance. Polhamus says that this version of the school board is more active than previous ones and is asking the tough questions. Coincidentally, Sharon Dones & Steven Gould are sitting with Polhamus tonight. Those two new members are what Polhamus was talking about. I heart Sharon & Steven for what they’ve brought to the school board.<\/p>\n

Buddy Rawley says assuming that the $525K from the “loan payment” will go back to the school system once it’s paid off isn’t a sure thing. He’s talking about the school board getting $2.2 million dollars in extra funding and the agreement to short their request by $525K for four years to make that up.<\/p>\n

Lee Vogler also questions the sustainability of this budget in the future. Larry Campbell talks about the $50M needed for capital improvements still needed. Campbell also says the Glen-More building needs to stop being a school board storage building and become a business location. Gary Miller notes the school board has had level funding requests. John Gilstrap questions if a 2\/3 vote was needed to pass the school board budget. City Attorney Clarke Whitfield says that’s a city council rule, not a school board rule. James Buckner questions the rent being paid for their current office as an unneeded expense. He’s right on that. There’s plenty of space for the entire school central office at Langston. It will cost a lot upfront to get the space ready, but that pays for itself quickly when you’re not paying William Gentry over $220K a year in rent.<\/p>\n

Alonzo Jones asks about the 1.5% raise in the budget. Polhamus says 68% of DPS employees are “Standards of Quality” employees, however DPS is giving raises to all employees.
\n\"\"<\/p>\n

Fred Shanks asks about the ratio between administration and teaching personnel. Polhamus says that if council funded at the minimum level required by the state, there would only be one assistant principal for the entire system. The school board budget is approved on a first reading.<\/p>\n

We now move to fee increases. Lee Vogler asks for a later discussion on who is in charge of setting and changing fees. Gilstrap & Jones concur. Marc Adelman answers questions on the airport meeting room fee increases. The increases pass 9-0.<\/p>\n

I notice that the gallery has cleared out. The Boy Scouts and the Youth Council have left. The record shall indicate that the Girl Scout group from a few months ago stayed until the end of a much longer business meeting. Oh well.<\/p>\n

Public hearing for wastewater rates. Harold Garrison speaks in the public hearing. He explains that people are responsible for their electric bill and the electric rates. He’s mostly right on that. Poor electricity usage like keeping your house at 78\u00b0 in the winter and 65\u00b0 in the summer is going to make you pay.\u00a0 The relatively small increases are approved on a first reading.<\/p>\n

Around the horn time.<\/p>\n

Joe King invites citizens to the River District rebranding event on May 1st. James Buckner concurs. Larry Campbell talks about his appearance on Star News. He said callers said that they were getting sick from the water. Oh boy. Seriously. Alonzo Jones talks about the Youth Council event. Gary Miller says he’s not aware of any illness increase. Gary Miller is right! Yes! Sherman Saunders wraps it up. Work session coming up.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Jason Grey talks about the water issue. He says if the original problem was a “10” then we’re down to a “3” now. Gary Miller says it’s an “8” to him. Fred Shanks says maybe it’s time for academia to help out. I don’t think that these council members understand that this problem has happened elsewhere and cleared up. That’s something that they should know.<\/p>\n

Saunders says “We have got to find the reason.” The problem is that the reason may never be found. Vogler asks about the rebate. Saunders asks is it the time for a redress while we’re still having the problem. Fred Shanks says if the city hasn’t made an error, the city shouldn’t offer a rebate on an act of god issue. John Gilstrap says if the city is selling inferior water that a price adjustment is right. Council agrees that the rebate issue should be addressed later.<\/p>\n

It looks like we’re going to have a DEQ “roadshow” here soon where the various agencies will come on say what they know and what they don’t know. That should have happened a month ago, but I’ll take it when I can get it.<\/p>\n

More coming up at the work session, but we’ll save that for the inevitable BreakDown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This article is now complete. We’re LIVE! at tonight’s Danville City Council meeting.<\/p>\n

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You'll see a recap down below in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Danville"","block_context":{"text":"Danville","link":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/category\/locations\/danville\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12791,"url":"https:\/\/www.southsidecentral.com\/wordpress\/2015\/05\/20\/public-safetys-letter-to-danville-city-council\/","url_meta":{"origin":12414,"position":4},"title":"Public Safety’s Letter to Danville City Council","author":"SouthsideCentral","date":"May 20, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"At Tuesday night's Danville City Council meeting. Fire Captain Daryl Turpin and Police Captain Tommy Merricks presented a letter on behalf of public safety employees to council. As a public service, SouthsideCentral is proud to publish the letter in its entirety for you to read. 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