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Minutes
TOWN BUSINESS LIAISON COMMITTEE
MINUTES
November 13, 2008
The Vienna Town Business Liaison Committee (T/BLC) held a meeting at 7:00 PM in the Council Chambers at the Vienna Town Hall. Present were Chairman William Harrison, Chris Brunjes, Mark Uhron, Deborah Brehony, and Orlene Grant. Also present were Julie A. Morris, Planner, and Jennifer M. Murphy, Committee Clerk. Bindy Lichtenfels is absent
Roll Call:
Ms. Murphy called roll. Ms. Lichtenfels is absent.
AGENDA:
Chairman Harrison asked for corrections or additions to the agenda. There being none a motion was in order.
Ms. Grant made a motion to approve the agenda as submitted. Mr. Brunjes seconded the motion.
Motion: Grant
Second: Brunjes
Carried: 5-0
MINUTES:
Mr. Uhron noted a correction to be made on page 6, item no. 3.
Mr. Brunjes made a motion to approve the minutes from the October 9, 2008, meeting as corrected. Ms. Brehony seconded the motion.
Motion: Brunjes
Second: Brehony
Carried: 4-0-1
Abstain: Grant
OLD BUSINESS:
1. Discuss Ribbon Cutting ceremonies and new business contacts
Chairman Harrison stated that a ceremony has been tentatively scheduled for the first week in December. Ms. Brehony stated that the Family First Psychological Services has requested a morning ceremony. She stated that they are waiting to hear back from the Mayor’s office which morning would be appropriate.
Chairman Harrison stated that Ms. Morris has provided a new business to contact. Mr. Brunjes stated that he would contact them. He stated that he has been in contact with the Dun Loring Trading Company and found that they would not like to hold a ceremony. He stated that with respect to the Virginia Express Realty, they are not officially open yet. They will be in contact once they have settled in and open for business. Chairman Harrison thanked Mr. Brunjes for the update.
2. Report on contact with the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority
Mr. Uhron stated that he has obtained a different point of contact at the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority office but they have been out of the office on travel. Chairman Harrison asked if anyone had any suggestions. Ms. Brehony stated that Mr. Uhron may be able to get a better contact through the Board of Supervisors. Additional discussion followed and was determined that Mr. Uhron will continue his endeavors in trying to make contact with the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority and will attempt to find additional contacts.
3. Continue discussion of the Town Comprehensive Plan and Freedom of Information Act
Chairman Harrison asked Ms. Morris for an update on her findings regarding policy on e-mail access, retention and use. Ms. Morris explained that they should generally keep in mind that any business that you would not want to be printed in a newspaper should not be put in writing through e-mail. It could be handled via the telephone. She stated that e-mail communication is subject to FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) similar to the U.S. mail. It is fine to set up meetings via e-mail but any meetings have to be publicly advertised. She stated that they should keep it simple sticking to one topic per e-mail with a meaningful subject line. Personal business should be kept separate from Committee business.
Ms. Brehony asked if T/BLC business e-mails would be subject to FOIA for personal e-mail addresses. Ms. Morris answered that she has all of her e-mails on file regarding T/BLC business. Ms. Brehony noted that those are messages sent to the Town Hall. She asked if in the event she were to send a message to a Committee member mentioning something about a meeting along with a personal conversation, would that be subject to FOIA. Ms. Morris answered that she did not believe so. Additional discussion followed. Chairman Harrison noted that it would be good to “Cc” Ms. Morris on all of their Committee e-mails.
Chairman Harrison asked if anyone had additional comments or questions regarding the Comprehensive Plan. Ms. Brehony asked if it is up for revision in 2010. Ms. Morris answered yes. Ms. Brehony stated that they need to continue reviewing it. She stated that she has the Maple Avenue Vision Committee report. She stated that they really need to take a look at that the report over time and consider opportunities for highest and best use. When the Comprehensive Plan is up for review in 2010 she would like for the T/BLC to present a formal report to the Mayor and Town Council as to what they think would be highest and best use for the Commercial, Industrial and Retail areas of the Town. Ms. Grant stated that it is such a large document. She stated that they could review it in sections over a period of time. Ms. Brehony stated that one of the reasons that the document failed at the time was because it was onerous and overwhelming. If the Committee could take on the responsibility of condensing it down into a format that is easily readable it would show the benefit of what it entails. She stated that it does need to be revised. If they could review it and distill out the important points and present it to the Mayor and Town Council.
Ms. Grant asked about the review process for the Comprehensive Plan. Ms. Morris explained that it is reviewed through the Planning Commission. She noted that there may be opportunities for the Committee members to help with. Ms. Brehony stated that they may want to contact members of the Planning Commission to let them know of their discussions. Chairman Harrison agreed, stating that if they are contemplating making recommendations they should consider their basis for making recommendations and should try to become informed as to what the Planning Commission is doing He noted that they do not want to duplicate their efforts or impinge upon their jurisdiction.
Chairman Harrison asked for thoughts or concerns about new directions they think that the Town should take that are not in the current plan. Ms. Grant stated that she had read through it but would like to review it further before she makes any comments. Ms. Brehony stated that it is something that they need to consider for the Town. She stated that the Comprehensive Plan is currently drafted with a strong slant towards individual property rights and free enterprise. She noted that there are those who feel differently and may feel like there are too many nail salons, banks, and pharmacies in the Town. Under a free enterprise system property owners can sell or lease their properties to whomever they want to. She stated that the only way to correct such an issue would be to create an overlay district similar to the one created on Church Street. An overlay district could be created that would limit or curtail property rights. The Town would determine what business could go in and who and who not to sell to based upon a plan. She stated that they need to consider whether or not to continue with the current plan allowing individual property rights or do they create an overlay district.
Ms. Grant asked when the overlay district was created for Church Street if there was an outcry to create it or was it a groundswell movement that took place. Ms. Morris stated that it was something that was well supported due to the historic background of the street. She noted that Church Street is a different situation than Maple Avenue as it does not carry as much traffic and is much more pedestrian oriented because it is not the main street but is located in the heart of the downtown area.
Ms. Grant noted that they do need to consider their stance as to whose opinions that they are representing. She stated that it had been her understanding that those opinions should be those of the business owners. Mr. Brunjes agreed stating that as they are working on their community outreach, collecting e-mail contacts, they will be able to bring in those ideas from the local business community to provide to the Mayor and Town Council. Ms. Grant stated that could be one of their questions when canvassing the business community. Additional discussion followed and was determined that the Committee would first put together an outreach program for communicating with the business community.
Chairman Harrison stated that Ms. Brehony had indicated that they needed a distilled version of the Maple Avenue Vision Plan. Ms. Brehony stated that it would take some time but thought that the current document, which is 210 pages, could be reduced down to twenty pages making it more easily readable. She stated that the plan itself appears to be overwhelming and too complex. When it was originally presented to the Mayor and Town Council it was too much to digest and as a result was rejected. If they were to recreate it in simplistic terms showing ways that it would be more advantageous. They could distill out some conceptual ideas that they can present to the Mayor and Town Council that they might have more success with it. Chairman Harrison asked who the audience would be and what their objectives would be. Ms. Brehony answered that she hoped to make some recommendations from the plan. They need to look at it from a twenty to fifty year program for Maple Avenue. She stated that they should look at the buildings that are currently out of compliance and consider the terms “highest and best use.” Work with the businesses to determine what the businesses want to do and also what do the citizens of the Town want. She asked what are they going to do with Maple Avenue and if it is going to stay the way it is now as the Comprehensive Plan is currently written. She asked what is it that they could do for the Comprehensive Plan that is positive in terms of feedback for the businesses and the Town’s citizens who are working towards the greater good. Chairman Harrison stated that they do have time to develop recommendations for input to the Planning Commission. Mr. Brunjes asked if they should first meet with the Planning Commission to get a sense as to what they would accept or what the Planning Commission would be looking for. Additional discussion followed and was determined that Ms. Brehony will comprise a list of topics from the Maple Avenue Vision Plan that the Committee could further discuss. At a later time the Committee will approach the Planning Commission.
Ms. Brehony asked that the Committee be sure to read over and review the Maple Avenue Vision Plan before the next meeting. Chairman Harrison stated that they may want to check with those who previously worked on the Committee to get their thoughts and experiences. He stated that they may want to try to speak with them before the next meeting. Additional discussion followed and was determined that a list would be put together and divvied up for the Committee members to get into contact with former Vision Committee members.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Discuss plan for business outreach
Chairman Harrison asked if they were supposed to collect anything other than e-mail addresses when contacting the business community. He asked Ms. Grant to give an overview of the information that they are to be collecting. Ms. Grant stated that they are to be collecting e-mail addresses but has found that a lot of the businesses are reluctant to give out that kind of information. She stated that it would be helpful to have a script to help explain what it is that the Committee is doing, what they intend to do with the information and how it would be of benefit to the business itself. She noted that the phone calls are an attempt to gather information while they have them on the phone.
Chairman Harrison asked for additional feedback from the Committee members. Mr. Brunjes apologized stating that he had lost his list and would be in contact with staff to obtain a new list.
Chairman Harrison asked if anyone else is having trouble collecting e-mail addresses from businesses. Ms. Brehony stated that she had found that the larger chain businesses do not have a general e-mail address but that the private businesses do. She has found them to be very amenable in providing information. She stated that the businesses that do not have store e-mail she has asked them to provide some form of contact in the event of an emergency. She stated that she will be sure to note which contacts are to remain private and are not publishable.
Chairman Harrison asked if it has been a feasible means of improving upon communications between the Town and business community and for purposes of updating their online directory of businesses in the Town. All members agreed. Chairman Harrison asked if the list of e-mail addresses is sufficient for gathering information from the business community. Mr. Brunjes agreed, stating that it is a good activity but would take some time to complete. Additional discussion followed. The Committee will continue their efforts in contacting the businesses to update business contacts and obtain available e-mail addresses.
2. Discuss plans for the 2009 Carole Wolfand Annual Community Service Award
Chairman Harrison stated that they need to plan the Community Service Award. He stated that a notice for nominations went out in the newsletter this month. They need to publicize the deadline for nominations this month, December and January. Nominations will take place through January with a selection of a winner in February followed by a presentation in March. He stated that they need to come up with ways to get the word out and an award. He stated that they do have some monies left over in the budget. In the past they have spent approximately a hundred dollars on an award. He stated that costs may have gone up and asked for suggestions. Mr. Brunjes asked if there is a standard style of placard that the Town gives out. Chairman Harrison stated that the Mayor typically gives out certificates at her Mayors Advisory Award Ceremony. Additional discussion followed and was determined that the Committee will look further in to award options at the next meeting.
Chairman Harrison stated with respect to a publication an article about the award would be helpful. Mr. Brunjes agreed that it would be a good way to educate the public about past winners. With respect to publicizing, he stated that the Town website and newsletter are their best source. Chairman Harrison stated that they may want to send a letter to the various service clubs in Town. They could ask that they announce the award at their regular meetings. Additional discussion followed and was determined that Chairman Harrison will draft a letter to the service organizations and Ms. Lichtenfels will draft an article for publication in the town newsletter.
Chairman Harrison asked for additional ideas for the community service award. Ms. Grant asked if at the end of the month they could test out their new e-mail list to see what kind of response they receive as a test run. Chairman Harrison stated that would require staff time in order to compile a list. Mr. Brunjes stated that it should not as the Committee is compiling the list through their phone calls. He stated that it would only require someone to cut and paste contacts onto the e-mail. Chairman Harrison asked Ms. Morris if it would require further approval. Ms. Morris stated that the contact list would have to be clear as to which was for emergency contact only and who was for general contact. She stated that in addition they would need to determine where the e-mail is getting sent from. She stated that she would need to get something set up with the IT Department for sending out.
3. Discuss T/BLC annual Work Plan
Chairman Harrison stated that he had been thinking that it would be useful to create a list of the items that the Committee is currently working on and updating it as needed. The list would include items such as the Softball Slam or the Annual Community Service Award and the timeframes for working on each event. He stated that it would also be helpful in planning and updating the Mayor and Town Council of their projects. Ms. Grant stated that she liked the idea. Mr. Brunjes stated that it is a good idea, noting that they could also treat it as a working document.
Chairman Harrison stated that if there are no objections then they will incorporate it into their customary procedures. Mr. Brunjes asked that it be e-mailed to him. Chairman Harrison stated that it could be e-mailed out by staff following each meeting after it has been updated. Ms. Morris noted that the list should include the Snow Removal Award. Additional discussion followed and was determined that Chairman Harrison will e-mail the list to staff to work on a revision. The revision will be emailed out to the Committee when it is complete.
4. Discuss the Mayor's request for community input
Ms. Morris explained that Mayor Jane Seeman had thought that it would be a good idea for T/BLC to post an opinion poll or brief survey for citizens and businesses on the Town’s website. She gave an example from the Northern Virginia Regional Commission website, which posed the question on its website, “What do you like best about living in Northern Virginia; excellent schools, great shopping/restaurants, many cultural integration opportunities or its proximity to the District of Columbia.” She stated that the six questions that the Committee drafted for businesses might be appropriate for posting as an opinion poll.
Chairman Harrison asked for feedback. Mr. Brunjes agreed that they could start it. Ms. Grant stated that they could add to it as they gather information from the business community. Ms. Brehony stated that if they present what they have they can add to it. She stated that they would not have to wait until the entire process is finished. Chairman Harrison stated that they may be able to put an announcement in the Town's newsletter inviting people to participate in the poll. Ms. Brehony stated that they could post an announcement in the Towns newsletter and/or website inviting businesses to contact the T/BLC. She stated that they may get a good response. They could request a publishable e-mail or a private e-mail address in the event of a town announcement.
Ms. Morris stated concern that there may be overlap and they may not know which business the e-mail contact may go with which. Ms. Grant asked if there is a way to structure the posting in order to limit confusion. Ms. Morris noted that she would have to look further into the matter as she has never hosted a web poll before in addition the deadline for the newsletter is tomorrow. Also she is not certain that the draft questions are what they want to post. She thought that they may want to revisit the issue again. Chairman Harrison agreed. He stated that he would be in contact with Ms. Kisner, Public Information Officer, to discuss running an advertisement and time frame for running the advertisement. At the next meeting he would like to look over a draft announcement and possible polling questions. Ms. Grant asked if they have a Chief Information Officer for the Town. Chairman Harrison answered that Ms. Kisner is the Public Information Officer. Ms. Grant asked if there is a Web Master who they could discuss their future vision for communicating with the businesses. She stated that way they could begin to plan for anything that needed to be built into the system. Ms. Morris stated that nothing would need to be built. She stated that for the most recent web survey they used a free web posting site that generated results in a table. Ms. Grant stated that she had only been thinking in terms of how to make it a more fluid process for getting in contact with the businesses and to get all parties attuned so they can all begin gathering information. She stated that it does not have to begin today but noted that it does have a lot of possibilities for extracting data from the businesses. She stated that they should be able to do it in a fairly fluid basis.
Ms. Brunjes stated that one would think that the Town would eventually have a database of all of the businesses. Ms. Morris stated that for now it’s her and was not certain about the involvement of the other departments. She stated that she would certainly offer it to them. Ms. Brehony stated that she appreciated that Ms. Morris is the one person handling the issue but felt that it needs to be a goal to have a complete database of all of the businesses within the Town. She was not certain if that should be a specific goal of the T/BLC but thought that as a Town it is an imperative. Ms. Grant stated that for each new business coming on they should have that information as a standard procedure. Ms. Morris noted that it is information that is not being asked for. Ms. Brehony stated that it is something that should be asked for. She stated that there needs to be an option on forms and documents obtained by the Town. She was very surprised that the Business License application does not have a line for a website and e-mail address. It is a sorely lacking peace of information and could be changed as soon as tomorrow morning. Ms. Morris stated that even if they changed the Certificate of Occupancy forms it would still require her to manually import the information as an extra step. She could do that but it is going to get lost because it is not going to get collected by the Business License office. Ms. Brehony stated that she would rather have an e-mail address than a phone number as people are more apt to answer e-mail than telephones. Mr. Brunjes stated that the exercise of gathering e-mail addresses will help push it along.
Chairman Harrison asked Ms. Morris about the information that is gathered and kept in the database. Ms. Morris answered that the business name, business address, and tax identification number are only collected for the electronic database. She stated that the contact information is kept on the applications in the paper files. She stated that the most logical time for collecting e-mail addresses is when the Committee person contacts the business. She did not think that the forms could be changed. Ms. Brehony asked why the forms cannot be changed to include a line requesting e-mail or website. Ms. Morris answered that it would have to be approved by the Director of Planning & Zoning and may also require the Department of Public Works because they sign off on it. She stated that as it stands neither department is interested in collecting that information at this time. Chairman Harrison noted that it does add some manual staff time to transfer the information and key it into a database and the Department of Planning and Zoning does not have many people. Ms. Brehony stated that even if it was not staff time to put it into a database she would have the time to volunteer on Mondays between 2 and 5 pm and Wednesday mornings between 9 and 11 am to go through the files and write down the information. She stated that all they are requesting is for blank lines to be added to a form. She stated that she was sure that other members of the Committee would be available to do the same and did not understand not having the option on the forms.
Ms. Grant agreed that it does not make sense for the Committee to be collecting all the information when it is not going to be institutionalized at the Town that it is of value to. She stated that it should be institutionalized as a normal piece of information just as important as the parcel of land that they stay on is the ability to communicate in the real world time frame. It is another piece of information but is just as critical as any other piece of information. Additional discussion followed regarding options for the Committee.
Ms. Grant made a motion that as a part of normal data gathering for new businesses registering in the Town that a website and e-mail address be collected and recorded in an electronic database. Mr. Brunjes seconded the motion.
Motion: Grant
Second: Brunjes
Carried: 5-0
5. Notice of election of officers at the next meeting
Chairman Harrison stated that they will hold the annual election of officers at the next meeting. He stated that the officers of the Committee are typically a chair and vice chair with the option of electing a secretary. He asked if anyone is interested in either position. Ms. Grant asked if they can nominate. Chairman Harrison answered yes. He noted that when he originally agreed to chair the Committee he was the only person eligible at the time. He has enjoyed serving as chair but he would also be happy for someone else to have the opportunity to chair the Committee. He asked for nominations.
Ms. Grant nominated Ms. Brehony for chair. Ms. Brehony respectfully declined stating that she has other plans. Chairman Harrison stated that an election of officers will be held at the next meeting.
6. Discuss any issue from the business community
There being no further business to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 8:31 p.m.
Respectfully Submitted,
Jennifer M. Murphy
Committee Clerk