City Council will meet Tuesday, Oct. 18, in a business session at 7 p.m., followed by a work session. Both sessions are open to the public.
The business session will be held in the Council Chambers on the fourth floor of the Municipal Building, which is located at 427 Patton St.
The work session will be held on the same floor, but across the hall in the Council Conference Room. In work sessions, Council reviews non-routine matters that will be voted upon in future business meetings.
During the business session, City Council is scheduled to vote on amending the City’s budget to provide for receipt of three grants from the Virginia Department of Transportation, including nearly $1.2 million to install a storm water drainage system along Patton Street, continue street and sidewalk improvements along Craghead Street, and perform street improvements along Lockett Drive and Beech Avenue.
A second grant of $450,000 would be used to resurface South Boston Road. The third grant of $45,000 would be used to install flashing left turn yellow arrows in several high accident intersections. These flashing arrows have been used across the country for several years and have been shown to reduce left turn incidents.
A public hearing will precede City Council action on these grants.
City Council also is scheduled to vote on three other matters:
• approving a resolution to apply for a $1 million federal loan to assist Spectrum Medical — formerly known as the Danville Orthopedic Clinic — with purchasing equipment for its new facility in the former Dan River Inc. Research Building. Spectrum Medical is in adapting the historic textile building into leasable medical and mixed retail space to be known as River District Tower. Spectrum and Danville Regional Medical Center will be the primary tenants. The building also will provide space for two restaurants and a small museum. Construction began last October and is scheduled for completion in early 2017.
• approving a resolution to apply for state transportation funds to continue development of the pedestrian/bicycle trail system. This application will be for a section that will extend the existing trail along Airport Drive to South Boston Road.
• approving a resolution to extend the period for recovering electric power supply costs, increase the power cost adjustment cap, and use $4 million in reserves to reduce the power cost adjustment liability.
In addition to these votes, City Council has a first reading on amending the City’s budget to provide for receipt of an $86,999 grant from the Department of Juvenile Justice for the W.W. Moore Jr. Detention Home.
A first reading is an introductory step required by City code before certain matters can be voted upon by City Council. This step serves to provide public notice of pending action. Council cannot vote on these matters Tuesday. The earliest vote that can take place will be the Oct. 18 City Council meeting.
For the work session, City Council has four matters on the agenda:
• review of financial statements.
• discussion of options to address ongoing traffic concerns on Arnett Boulevard at Wendell Scott Drivel.
• presentation on an application for state transportation funds for four projects — 1) street drainage in the River District, 2) second phase of the Riverside Drive concrete base removal, 3) removal of the sharp curve on Airport Drive and 4) westbound lane on South Boston Road.
• an appointment to the Industrial Development Authority.
River City TV, the city’s government access channel, will air the business session. Watch it live on cable (Comcast channel 10 and Gamewood channel 122) or streaming on the River City TV Facebook page and the city's YouTube channel — DanvilleVaGov.
River City TV does not air work sessions, but they are open to the public.
