TO: Mayor
and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Public Forum on Potential
Legislative Requests
DATE: March
29, 2000
The purpose of this public forum is to provide citizens with an opportunity to identify potential subjects for Council consideration in the development of a set of possible requests to the General Assembly for legislation in the 2000 Short Session.
The Council periodically requests local or
State-wide legislation to allow or clarify authority for the Town to undertake
various services and programs, including adoption of land use or other
regulatory ordinances and adoption of new revenue sources. (A local bill is one which would apply to
one or a few local jurisdictions. Local
bills would include revisions to the Town’s Charter.)
Recent local bills requested by the Town and enacted
by the General Assembly in the past have included authority to enact a motor
vehicle tax higher than provided by General Statute, authority to enact a
hotel-motel occupancy tax, and authority to require installation of fire
sprinklers in fraternity and sorority houses.
This year the General Assembly convenes for a “short session” on May 8, 2000. Local bills need to submitted to Bill Drafting by May 17, 2000, and filed for introduction in the Senate or introduced in the House by May 24, 2000.
For the 1999 “long session” of the General Assembly
the Town’s legislative program, as communicated to the local legislative
delegation, included several local bills.
These bills sought additional legislative authority for the Town:
3. To impose an impact tax in addition to the
current authority to levy an impact fee.
4. To
prohibit open burning.
5. To require disclosure of the names of
contributors to municipal election campaigns and to limit the amount that can
be contributed.
6. To allow poll workers to be appointed to work less than all day
at elections.
7. To regulate the timing and/or number of development projects under construction
within a watershed.
During
the 1999 long session the General Assembly did enact legislation in response to
items 4, 5, 6, and 7 above.
In addition to the issues mentioned last year which
were not enacted, some other potential subjects for legislative requests which
may be of interest to the Council have been identified during recent
discussions at Council meetings and elsewhere:
1.
Authority
to issue parking tickets to vehicles on private residential property, upon the
request of the property owner, parked in violation of front yard parking
regulations. (This might address some
of the concerns raised regarding parking on rental residential properties by
tenants and guests.)
2.
Authority
to use video traffic surveillance technology and impose penalties based on
camera surveillance of street intersections.
3.
An
increase in the value of construction work that may be done by Town employees
(without having to contract out).
Council members may be aware of other potential
subjects for legislative requests.
Legislative rules require that during this “short
session” the principal sponsor of any local bill to certify that no public
hearing will be required or asked for by a member on the bill; that the bill is
noncontroversial; and that the bill is approved for introduction by each member
of the local delegation.
Based on information received at tonight’s public forum the Council will have an opportunity, on April 10, 2000, to call a public hearing for April 24, 2000, on potential legislative requests. The Council has scheduled a meeting with our legislative delegation on April 14, 2000. Following the public hearing meeting, the Council could adopt a legislative program for 2000.
That the Council hear comments from the public
tonight and refer those comments with any additional Council direction to the
Manager and Attorney for Council’s further consideration on April 10.