Council Approves 2011 Legislative Agenda

The Herndon Town Council approved the 2011 legislative agenda at its public hearing on Tuesday, Oct. 12.

The action portion of the legislative program draft includes items the town would ask the General Assembly to pass into law. These include the undergrounding of utilities by contractors, pro-rata share for utility undergrounding and legal advertising.

The town would like the General Assembly to allow municipalities to advertise legal information, such as public hearings, on the Internet, in addition to in newspapers. Town Attorney Richard Kaufman said this item may take a few years to be approved, but will be beneficial to the town in the future.

The informational items included in the legislative agenda are items the town wants the General Assembly to know they would support, if bills were brought to General Assembly. They include items relating to transient occupancy taxes and online companies, business license taxes, the privatization of ABC Stores and human trafficking.

Kaufman said the town would like to preserve the ability to control the concentration and location of hard liquor sales if the Alcoholic Beverage Commission stores are sold. He said the town would also like reassurance that the town's revenue stream from alcohol sales is preserved and not used for another purpose.

After pulling out the informational portion on human trafficking the Town Council Councilman Connie Hutchinson made a motion to approve the legislative agenda. Councilman Bill Tirrell made an amendment to the motion to include the portion on human trafficking. He said he thinks the town needs to lend its support on the issue.

Councilwoman Grace Wolf said Virginia is one of the states that does not have a law of this type on the books and she is comfortable supporting it. Councilman Jasbinder Singh said will support the item, but he would prefer in the future that if the town is going to support something there should be data that it is affecting the town.

The amendment to include the human trafficking item to the legislative agenda passed 6-1 with Mayor Steve DeBenedittis being the singular vote against it. He said he would have supported discussing it at further meetings to make sure the agenda was strong and had the support it needs. The Council then voted unanimously to pass the entire legislative agenda.

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The Council voted on three ordinances related to items passed in the 2010 General Assembly. Often when new codes are passed the town works to update its ordinances to be in line with new state codes.

The Council voted unanimously in favor of the items, which included an ordinance dealing with the numbering and internal referencing of Business, Professional and Occupational License taxes, town procurement code and contracts, and zoning violation appeals.

The Council also voted on three resolutions initiating zoning ordinances that also came from items passed at the 2010 General Assembly. All three items were passed unanimously and will now be sent to the Planning Commission before coming back to Council for a final vote.

The first deals with dwelling structures used for temporary medical care on a residential property. The second item deals with the appeals process for zoning violations.

The third is a zoning ordinance amendment was also discussed that would consider a residential facility where no more than eight aged, infirm or disabled persons can reside with one or more resident counselors as a single family occupancy.

Other items approved unanimously during Tuesday night's meeting included a contract for mowing services for town roadways and parks and a contract for multi-family refuse and recycling used by condos and town facilities.

The final item approved was a resolution approving the retention of bond counsel for the town's VML-VACo Fall 2010 general obligation refunding bonds. The resolution could save the town up to $198,000.

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The beginning of the meeting started with a number of public comments from Herndon residents both for and against the street solicitation ordinance.

The ordinance prevents people from soliciting goods and services in the public right of way on Herndon streets. Several residents commented on the ordinance.

The arguments for included John Robertson's view that Martin Luther King said an unjust law is one that applies to some citizens and not others, but to his knowledge after reading the ordinance the law applies to all so he does not believe it is unjust.

Charlie Waddell, Herndon resident and former council member, said he hasn't seen any unjust application of the law and believes the town should let it stand for at least two years before revisiting whether or not it should be rescinded.

Herndon resident Julius Bradley said he feels the ordinance has brought about negative feelings toward minorities. He said laws such as the street solicitation ordinance bring about suspicion and fear and turn neighbors and friends into enemies.

Herndon resident Amilcar Revara said he has lived in Herndon for 11 years and moved here because he believed it was a tolerant, diverse community. He said he believes the ordinance was created aimed at taking work opportunities away from Hispanics and also places blame on the people who hire them.

William Campenni, also a Herndon resident, said his father was an immigrant as was his wife. He said he is not against immigration but he is against it when people come into the country illegally and expect to be able to work. "Both of them came in the front door," he said. "They didn't ask for any special rights."

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The next Herndon Town Council work session will be held Oct. 19 at 7 p.m. in the Mary Ingram Council Chambers, located at 765 Lynn St. in downtown Herndon. Announcements from the town are included in the photos attached to this article.