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City Manager's Update

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City Manager's Update City Manager’s Update The City of Virginia Beach was honored as part of the first- ever Virginia Energy Efficiency Leadership Awards with 2nd place in the Local Government category. The Virginia Energy Efficiency Council (VAEEC) recognized winners in six categories, drawn from a pool of more than 50 nominations, at a reception in Richmond last month attended by Governor Terry McAuliffe. The winners highlighted how energy efficiency champions across the Commonwealth are helping businesses, schools, government and homeowners save money on energy expenditures while reducing energy consumption – all while stimulating job growth and the economy. Virginia Beach is being recognized for its aggressive energy efficiency program to reduce municipal consumption. After achieving a 15 percent reduction in city facility electricity usage from 2008 to 2013, the City pledged in 2015 that by 2020, Virginia Beach would reduce energy consumption by another 5 percent for natural gas, electricity and propane and consumption per square foot in larger facilities as well. After one year, the City reduced gross consumption by 4 percent and consumption per square foot by 3.3 percent. Savings were achieved through a number of methods to include LED lighting, motion sensors, solar hot water, geothermal, and upgraded HVAC systems and controls. Stricter temperature set-points in City facilities and empowering Energy Champions to assist in performing energy audits and identifying reduction opportunities also aided the conservation efforts. The full list of winners and runners-up with project descriptions can be found online at www.vaeec.org. Congratulations to Tiffany Russell on her selection as Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the Convention and Visitors Bureau, a role she has been serving in an interim capacity for the last year. CVB Director Brad Van Dommelen noted this was the first step in building their new team for growing their internal capabilities for marketing and promotion efforts. The City of Virginia Beach and the BEACH Community Partnership need volunteers who are at least 18 years old to help conduct the annual Point-in-Time Count of the homeless population. The count will take place on Thursday, Jan. 26, from 4:30 a.m. to 8 a.m. Volunteers will be part of a team assigned to one of the four police precincts in Virginia Beach to help count and administer a survey to homeless individuals living on the streets. Mandatory training will be provided. To volunteer, register online at www.beach-cp.org/pit-volunteer-2017 by Jan. 10. The city is also asking citizens to call the Lighthouse Day Support Services Center at (757) 385- 5160 with tips on locations throughout the city where people have been known to live without shelter. This information will help determine the areas where teams should canvass during the count. Contact: Pam Shine, (757) 385-5761, [email protected]. Two events are scheduled in Virginia Beach in observance of Virginia Beach Homelessness Awareness Week, Dec. 19 to 23, sponsored by the Virginia Beach Human Rights Commission in partnership with the Department of Housing and Neighborhood Preservation and the BEACH Community Partnership: Dec. 19 through 23 to collect the following items for the homeless community: new or gently-used blankets (twin size only), jeans, socks, hats, scarves, gloves and travel-size hygiene items. Donated items may be dropped off at the Judeo-Christian Outreach Center, 1053 Virginia Beach Blvd. JCOC will also accept monetary donations. On the longest night of each year, communities across the nation gather to commemorate the lives of the men and women who have died homeless. This year's memorial service and candlelight vigil for Virginia Beach will be held Wednesday, Dec. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Lighthouse Day Support Services Center, 825 18th St. The 46th Annual Service Awards Ceremony was held on Dec. 8 at the Advanced Technology Center Theater. Deputy City Manager Ken Chandler served as master of ceremonies and Regina Hilliard, Director of Human Resources, announced each award. Mayor William D. Sessoms, Jr. and I each expressed our deepest gratitude and congratulations to the employees for their dedication and commitment to our City. We were honored to recognize 99 employees who achieved 30, 35, 40 and 45 years of continuous full-time service – an incredible 3,265 combined years of service. In attendance were Deputy City Managers Steve Cover and Tom Leahy, department directors and City officials who recognized employees from the departments of the City Manager’s Office, City Treasurer’s Office, Clerk of Circuit Court’s Office, Commissioner of Revenue’s Office, Convention and Visitors Bureau, Emergency Communications, Finance, Fire, Housing and Neighborhood Preservation, Human Services, Information Technology, Libraries, Parks and Recreation, Police, Public Utilities, Public Works, and Real Estate Assessor’s Office. Employees from the Department of Public Utilities who received Service Awards. Employees from the Department of Public Works who received Service Awards. Virginia Beach is listed among the nation’s Top 20 list for Meetings Cities, according to data recently released by SmartAsset™. Virginia Beach is joined by Orlando and Tampa as the only East Coast beach destinations to make the second annual ranking. This designation follows the recent announcement that the Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) was named a 2016 Platinum Choice Award winner by Smart Meetings magazine. SmartAsset™ analyzed 102 of the largest U.S. cities to determine the list, using a variety of factors including availability of hotels, hotel room rates, the average cost of a restaurant meal and the proximity of each city to a major airport. Also considered were the crime rate in each city and the concentration of restaurants, bars and other entertainment establishments available to conference attendees. A full list of the Top 20 Cities for Conferences in 2016 may be found at www.smartasset.com. The Kids Cove playground at Mount Trashmore Park closed for surface repair work on Monday, Dec. 12, and will reopen Tuesday, Dec. 20. The completion of the project is contingent upon weather. All other areas of the park will remain open for use during this period. As part of the City’s Pavement Maintenance Schedule, Public Works Operations recently completed a 2.5-mile paving project on Princess Anne Road, from Dam Neck Road to Ferrell Parkway. Roadwork included milling, paving and new pavement markings. These types of projects not only extend the service life of roadways, but improve safety and the wear and tear on vehicles. Citizens who want to see what roads are scheduled to be paved in 2017 may visit Pavement Maintenance Schedule FY 2017 to view the street listing or Pavement Maintenance Schedule Map FY 2017 to view a map showing the streets to be repaved. The Virginia Department of Transportation will temporarily close Saville Garden Way beginning 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 20. The closure will last two days as crews install storm drains and utilities to prepare for the new roadway on Holland Road. Motorists traveling on Holland Road will not be affected. Weather permitting, crews will work Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Contact: Traffic Information Line, (757) 361-3016. Lynnhaven Parkway Phase XI opened to traffic on Saturday, Dec. 10. This project, managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation, has provided a long-awaited connection between Chesapeake and Virginia Beach. Construction of Lynnhaven Parkway Phase XI began in March 2014, adding an additional lane in each direction between Centerville Turnpike and Indian River Road. The City contributed funding towards the project (approx. 20 percent) and performed some of the design work on the signals that was ultimately incorporated into the construction documents. Improvements to the new roadway include widening Lynnhaven Parkway from two lanes to four lanes, as well as construction of a bridge over Brigadoon Lake #2, an 8-foot- wide shared-use path, sidewalk, sound walls, LED street lighting and landscaping. In addition, new traffic signals were installed at the intersections of Monument Drive, Heald Way, Beaufain Boulevard and Albright Drive. Lane closures will continue to take place as needed to finish final construction items; however, at least one lane of traffic will remain open in each direction. The anticipated completion date of the full four-lanes is mid- January 2017 (weather permitting). The overall project including landscaping and LED street lighting is anticipated to be complete in late Spring 2017. The Department of Information Technology continues to receive national recognition for its innovative approach to IT projects. Just recently, our advancements in mobile application development were featured in American City & County magazine, one of the mainstay publications for municipal government. The article includes information on several different cities' use of mobile apps, and cites Virginia Beach as an example of a city that has successfully developed mobile apps in-house. Applications Support team members George Omwango and Chris Golding spoke with the reporter about various mobile apps development projects and the effects of mobile apps on citizen engagement. See attachments for full story. The New York City Police Department featured on its official news blog an article highlighting members of the Virginia Beach Police Department’s Warrant and Fugitive Unit. The Unit was credited for work involving a firearm-trafficking ring investigation that resulted in the indictments of several individuals in New York, three of whom were Virginia residents. The New York charges included conspiracy to sell and the sale of firearms in the First, Second and Third degree. Credit was given to four members of the VBPD: “District Attorney Vance also thanked the U.S. Marshals Service’s Eastern District of Virginia, Norfolk and Capital Area Regional Fugitive Task Force, and the Virginia Beach Police Department’s Warrant and Fugitive Unit, particularly Detectives Mann, Jennings, Lindemeyer, and Johnson.” See attachments for full story.
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