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City Clerk's Office - City Council - Town Meetings

Great Bridge Town Meeting
September 1, 2009

• Elbow Road
• Mount Pleasant Road
• Noise Ordinance
• Police Turnover
• Teen Pregnancy and HIV

Following are responses to issues, grouped under headings, raised at the Great Bridge Town Meeting.

Mount Pleasant Road

Improvements:
The Assistant City Engineer reports that the improvement project is for the addition of left turn lanes on northbound and southbound Centerville Turnpike at Blue Ridge Road. The improvements include realignment of the Fentress Road and Centerville Turnpike intersection through reconfiguring the intersection with the Centerville Baptist Church entrance. In addition, the project will provide radius improvements at the current intersection of Centerville Turnpike and Blue Ridge Road. 

The project design is expected to be completed by October 2009.  The project will be advertised by March 2010 and the construction is expected to start in May 2010.

Need for Reflectors:
The Traffic Engineer reports that our Traffic Engineering staff inspected roadway conditions along Mt. Pleasant Road between Battlefield Boulevard and Centerville Turnpike on September 9, 2009.  The inspection reveals that all median breaks have reflective signs posted at the breaks directing motorist around medians.  Yellow reflective paint is visible around median edges.  There is little evidence of damage or motorist hitting median noses; however, the only hazard identified was a narrow median strip for the left turn lane across from the Town Bank.  It appears that this median strip is too narrow for a sign installation.  As a result, it is recommended the nose be painted with reflective pavement paint and a work order has been generated to paint the median nose identified above.

Elbow Road

The Operations Division of the Department of Public Works investigated and completed the repair of broken roadway edges along Elbow Road between Butts Station Road and Centerville Turnpike on September 16, 2009.

Noise Ordinance

City staff is currently is the process of reviewing the noise ordinance and will be making suggestions for amendments. A City Council Work Session on this topic is tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, October 13, 2009.  Adoption of the new noise ordinance should occur in late October or early November.

Police Turnover

Records for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2008 and ending June 30, 2009 regarding turnover in the Chesapeake Police Department were researched.  For public employers, we do not use retirements as a measure to determine if turnover is an issue.  During last fiscal year, twenty officers left employment with the Chesapeake Police Department.  The reasons are listed below:

 

Number Leaving	Reason
2	Did not complete initial training
3	Left for medical/family or death
3	Resigned pending disciplinary action
12	Left for other employment or moved from area

Two of the twelve who left for other employment were employed by various federal agencies.  The total turnover rate for those who left for other employment is less than 4% of the sworn work force.  Nationally, 7% turnover is generally an average percentage for employers.  Some of those who left for other employment selected non-police positions for their new occupation. 

Many federal agencies target their recruiting efforts to local and state government law enforcement personnel since there are insufficient numbers of experienced military personnel available to join the federal sector. Virginia local governments cannot compete with the pay and benefits of these federal agencies.  Chesapeake is not unlike the cities of Norfolk and Virginia Beach and the State Police that have lost some employees to the federal sector.

While we regret losing the skilled employees that we have invested resources in to another employer, as the data indicate, the number of persons who left is not a statistically significant number.  The Chesapeake Police Department has developed policies and procedures to improve morale and provide opportunities for advancement for officers by enhanced training opportunities and assignment rotations.  We have also invested resources in a mentoring program for new recruits.

Teenage Pregnancy and HIV

Chesapeake Health Department (CHD) offers teen family planning counseling and pregnancy prevention strategies, including birth control, to teens that come to their outpatient clinics for this service. In addition, our data shows that the primary target populations for teen pregnancy reside in the South Norfolk and Deep Creek areas of the city. In collaboration with the Housing and Redevelopment Authority, community programs have been developed within those high risk areas to include after hours family planning services. These services are offered at the main offices of public housing in those areas and individuals are given family planning counseling as well as counseling on making good choices regarding choosing to have sex, STD counseling, and other issues that are relevant to teens. This program is in its infancy and so we have not yet been able to determine effectiveness, which we would be by monitoring teen pregnancy rates in those areas. But we will know within 12 months if this is making an impact.

Chesapeake Health Department is also involved in a mentoring program which has been spear headed by Court Services. This planning committee is working toward developing programs geared toward our high risk youths who are at risk not only for pregnancy, but also school discontinuation, crime, gangs and all the associated things that go hand and hand with these behaviors. This is also a fledgling program but our participation is targeted to reduction of teen pregnancy through diverting teens to other activities such as utilizing neighborhood recreation center programs as well as referral to a wide variety of programs geared to improving teen choices.

In 2008 Chesapeake was the recipient of infant mortality funds from the state. One of the strategies developed by a coalition that was formed to address this issue was to improve pregnancy prevention services within the schools. With a target population of uninsured teens, strengthening of prevention and support services in the schools should be pursued. This has not yet come to fruition but the coalition did identify the things needed to assist with this effort. Those things identified include working with school staff to develop programs aimed at prevention services and strengthening support and services to pregnant teens; especially aimed at staying in school.