Town Council - Regular Meeting

go live. Good afternoon everyone. I would like to call this meeting to order Tuesday, February the 17th, 2026. Please note there will be an opportunity during the meeting for citizens to address the town council when the mayor I declare public comments open. We request that anyone addressing the council sign up. Approach the podium when called. State your first and last name. Kim, if you will please call roll. Mr. Web here. Miss Quet here. Miss Billion here. Vice Mayor Austin pres. And Mayor Anderson

here. If everyone will please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Now, if I could get an approval of today's agenda, please. So moved. Do I have a second? I'll second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Mr. Web, I. Miss Quetch, I. Miss Billy, I. Vice Mayor Austin,

I. And Mayor Anderson, I. Now, we're going to do approval of minutes. And we can either do these all together or we can do these individual. It doesn't matter. Choice of the council, whichever you all like. Um, I think Mr. Web was asking. Okay, let's let's just go each one individual. So, we'll go January the 1st, 2026, which was the retreat. The 5th, excuse me, which was the retreat. If I could get a motion for the approval of the minutes for the January the 5th, 2026 retreat meeting. So, go ahead. So moved. I'll second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Mr. Web. I. Miss Qu. I.

Mission. I. Vice Mayor Austin. Hi. And Mayor Anderson. I now if we get an approval for the minutes of our regular council meeting January the 5th 2026. Move to approve that. Do I have a second on that? Second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Mr. Web. I'll have to abstain from that one. I let the record reflect. I was absent on the 15th. No, this is the fifth. Oh, this is the fifth. I apologize. Yeah, I hit the wrong one. I So your answer is eight. Yes. Miss Quetch I. Miss Pion I. Vice Mayor Austin I. And Mayor Anderson.

I. Now if I could get a an approval for the uh minutes for January the 15, 2026. If someone would like to make a motion on that. I'll make that motion. Can I get a second on that? Second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call a roll. Mr. What? I'd like a broken record. Let the the record reflect that I was absent on the 15th. Thank you, sir. Miss Qu. I. Miss Billy. I. Vice Mayor Austin. Hi. And Mary Anderson. Hi. All right. Now, moving down the list, we're going to open up the floor for public comments. I don't think we have anyone signed up for public comments today or we have anyone signed up for public hearing as well. Right, Kim?

Correct. All right. So, next on our agenda is going to be proclamations. We have uh one proclamation today and that's a proclamation honoring my main man Steve Troutman, director of finance on his retirement. Um and I'm going to ask Councilman Mandepinion to please read that for me please.

Whereas the town of Abdon has been well served by the dedication, integrity, and leadership of its director of finance over the past five years. And whereas during this time, the director of finance has faithfully overseen the town's financial operations, ensuring responsible stewardship of public funds, transparency and fiscal reporting, and adherence to the highest standards of accountability. And whereas through sound financial planning, prudent budgeting, and diligent oversight, the finance director has contributed to the town's stability, growth, and ability to deliver essential services to its residents. And whereas Mr. Trotman's professionalism, expertise, and collaborative spirit have strengthened the town's administration and fostered trust among elected officials, staff, and the community. And whereas his well-known appreciation for orderly columns, perfectly balanced formulas, and spreadsheets of remarkable elegance has set a gold standard for fiscal organization, proving that true beauty can in fact be found in a flawlessly structured workbook. And whereas whether reconciling accounts or refining a budget forecast, Mr. Tropman has demonstrated that behind every successful municipality is someone who truly understands the power of a pivot table. And whereas up on the occasion of his retire of retirement, it is fitting to recognize a career marked by commitment, excellence, public service, and an enduring belief that every problem in life can be solved with just one more tab in the spreadsheet. Now, therefore, be it proclaimed that the mayor and town council of the town of Abington do hereby extend their deepest appreciation and gratitude to Steve Tropman, director of finance, for five years of outstanding service to the

town and its residents. And be it further proclaimed that this second day of February, 2026 is hereby proclaimed as Steve Trotman Day in the town of Abington in recognition of the lasting contributions and positive impact made through faithful public service. In witness whereof, the mayor and town council have here to set their hands and caused the seal of the town to be affixed this second day of February, 2026. Steve, if you and your family would come forward, PLEASE know who wrote that.

The other little bit.

Thank you. Come closer. Come closer. We do have some more moving to do. Um, I uh I can't thank you all enough. the uh I'm not sure really who the first part of the proclamation was referring to. Didn't sound too much like me. Second part probably does. Um but I just want to say thank you to the town, to the council, to Mike, all of the staff. My success here is only because I had what I consider to be the absolute best finance team, not just in Abington, but with any finance team I've ever worked with. Five years is not a long time. And you've got staff here that have been here for decades with dedicated work and and and I've had the pleasure of working with all of those folks. So, uh, I greatly appreciate this, but this is definitely a team effort. And, uh, I'd love to stay longer, but we're in the process of moving out to the county. Has nothing to do with my retirement, but um, still in Abington, just be with a different zip code. Um, but you'll still see us around. And I want to thank

Mike very much, Kim, everybody for all of this. Thank you so much. Thank you. Say that picked up. Get it all taken care of up here before you move once you move once you move. Yeah. So, I always joked about like the golden about the uh the golden sandbag award. Um there we go. We couldn't actually get gold, so we got the next best thing. Yeah, we got we got some gold air for you. And kid was able to source this. I won't make you put it on. I wish he would. I wish he would. Put it on. I wish he would.

It's fitting a Caesar. Put that on, Steve. Put it on, Steve. My man. Oh my.

But uh yeah, thanks for everything you've done. It's been amazing. So appreciate Thanks so much.

But when you see then you realize how much how long it's been Steve. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. And as I said before, we have no one signed up for public hearing. So we'll go ahead and close close that. Uh we have no resolutions today. We have a couple of first reading of ordinance. And the first will be the ordinance to repeal, amend, and reenact article two, sewer and sewage disposal, including versions to 74-36, and division 4 wastewater discharge, 74 through 92, 74 through 93, 74 through 95, 74 through 110, 74 through 128, 74 through 141, 74 through 143 74 through5 158 that's a lot 74 through 160-1 162 74-167 through 168 74- 182 74 through 185 74 through 207 and 74 to through 213 relating to pre-treatment standards permit monitoring, reporting, inspections, enforcements, and prohibiting discharge. And I'm going to ask Mike Surret if you would come forward, please.

Yes. Not today. Not today. We're just going to say 74 through through through and through. Son, you wanted to read it. You wanted to read it. We can read it, but I don't know how much time you got me. You're good. Someone be drawing social security.

Uh, so Mr. Mayor, council members, uh little history on this is in our agreement with Washington County Service Authority, there is a stipulation in there that says that the town will conduct a local limit study for our sewer ordinances, which we engaged with. Uh Mike got here uh got with a engineering firm to do the study, CHA out of Blackburg. They conducted the study and uh identified several items in there that we needed to update for our local limits which is the basis of all of this to include the pre-treatment side of it. Uh thanks to the town attorney Cam. He also made some uh recommendations and updates to the uh Virginia code and the federal EPA regulations that need to be updated in our ordinance. So that is the the the gist version of the updates to this ordinance is that we need to update our ordinance because it has been a little bit out of date from the EPA codes, the state codes, and updating our local limits for uh chemicals that go through our sewer plant.

Does anybody have any questions for I mean it's a lot of reading. I know if y'all read all that like I did, you're like this is a lot. Uh but it is just some updates to our existing ordinance and amending some of the items in there to bring it up to uh today's standards and requirements. Shall this proposal be rejected? Anyone? If there's no comment, we'll move to the second reading on March the 2nd if that's okay. Thank you. Thank you. Stay right. Thanks.

Now we have a first reading of ordinance and that is going to be the ordinance to repeal, amend, and reenact chapter 30 environmental environment article 2 noise. And I'm going to ask Mike Cochran to present that if he would.

Yes. Um, and Chief Hull Brook's in the back in case it needs a further explanation, but with the uh the noise uh ordinance, the the way the outgoing ordinance was crafted, it was reliant heavily upon uh there wasn't any quantifiable measure. It was all uh opinion based or what that person interpreted. And there was a request to uh basically to bring it up to something that was more um equitable or or uh able to be uh measured so that there was some understanding of what the noise levels are and what they what they should be. And uh so that was the the gist behind this. The the majority of the communities uh in the state and what we've been able to find from around the country even in metropolitan areas they'll have very similar limits. Then what we found is during the process um that there needed to be an adjustment for ambient noise. And so that that was added to this would to allow the officer on scene to adjust for ambient noise. And like when we did one test happened to be very wet out and then there were a lot of cars going by so it threw off the numbers. And so um by looking further at what other a or what other places do to allow for the noise was they allowed the officer uh the number was between five and 10 dB. Um and I can only tell you sound is slightly different. So while the limits are like 55 or 60 whatever the numbers are six while it's would appear to be not a lot it actually is in practicality the way it's when way the noise is measured. And so the officer would uh if there was a lot of background noise um it's incumbent upon the officer to actually make sure what they're measuring because if they're out there and people honk their horns and you're not there for a horn honking complaint, you have to adjust for that. And so um and then the other issue that we had was the the way it was initially worded had to do with the um the measurement itself. So we have a decimeter and it's a calibrated

decimeter. He's got a little calibration thing for it. um what to do for the duration. So some places have it where it's two minutes, some places do up to 10 minutes um and one we what we have selected was a three minute measurement period and then the uh the decimeter that the chief selected it Bluetooth to your phone and it gives you the readouts. So the officer would actually have a readout that would show you what the measurements are, the highs, the lows and the time period. Um, and then that's something that could be given to either the complainant or the complainant and or the property, you know, whoever whoever wants to see a copy of it, uh, would be recorded for for that. And the nice thing with having the measurement is it's quantifiable. So, um, you're able to have, um, like the decimeters, most people's phones actually do it, too, but to have it be ready for record, it has to be you have to have the fancy version. Um, but the nice thing is is if you have someone who's having an event or whatnot and they're trying to keep the noise level down, they can measure their own. Uh, and also, you know, it's just a handier way to to make it happen. Um, and then the other thing that it does, the ordinance also allows for is, um, like if a car is going by, and since spring seems to be coming, even despite what the groundhog said, spring seems to be here and I hear them and they go by, drives me crazy because they're like people with their windows down right now and blaring. Oh, it's really loud. But there's there's provision in there that allows for I think it's 50 feet. If it's playing the audible by 50 feet away, then the the officer, you know, if it's a car driving by, the officer doesn't have to follow them for three minutes. they just are able to write it. Uh that is a is a violation. So, but the ordinance it's a it's a complete uh it's a departure from the way it was being done, but it's in keeping with how most other jurisdictions that enforce uh noise u uh is in keeping with how they're written elsewhere. So,

did everyone get a chance to see the the device that the chief had? Derek, did you get a chance to see that? Um, Chief Hobbrook, if you could bring that up and let Councilman Derek Webb take a look at what we've got here. I don't think that he got a chance to look at that. And if you want to add anything to what Mike Cochran said, Chief, you're more than welcome to go right ahead.

Sure. I think um, one of the things maybe hypothetical what this would look like as far as enforcement wise um, compared to what we have now to what we would have if you had the decibel levels in there. So now it would be an officer coming out on adjoining property. Um, we would use the verbiage plainly audible, which I know Mr. Bell probably is concerned with because it's pretty broad. Um, this narrows it down to a specific number. So, the officer would go to the neighboring property, the person that complained. Um, they would use the sound decimal meter to take the reading. And I know some of you all came out and we actually demonstrated that a little bit. Um even even before that the the device has to be certified by the independent company to make sure that it is accurate. Um so each year the state code requires us to send it back to make sure it's certified. A little bit more work on us administratively. However, we want to make sure we get it right anytime we enforce anything. Um in addition um it comes with a field calibrator. So before and after each use, we would calibrate the device to make sure that it is accurate. So we would make sure that's accurate before we enforce the code and it would make sure accurate after it works as well. So that way we know that our numbers that we are getting are numbered. Um with the Bluetooth capability it has um it can record the sample. So what we would do is we would stand there, we would hold the device up and we would take a three minute recording. Um and that three minute recording every second it logs the decibel level at that point and we would go with the average. Um and then if there's ambient noise the code would allow some of us to ex go up to about six decel levels um before enforcement action. That way we make sure that we

are enforcing somebody that's clearly violating the noise. And with any new code, there would be some educational piece to this that we would absolutely go out and educate first. Um, education before enforcement, I think, is critical. Um, we want people to comply and we want the quality of life here to be great. Um, so we would we would do education before enforcement. I appreciate you saying that education before enforcement because you know like this this is something that's going to be fairly new to the town of Avenue and then

to those that that have businesses or have neighbors that are playing music louder than than should be at at reasonable times. I think that that that's a well way to put it. Um I don't know if anyone does anyone have any questions for um the town manager or the John Hope. Okay. Um I'm going to ask you shall this proposal should this proposal be rejected from anyone up here on the town council? Let me make a few comments about it if I could please.

Yes, sir. Uh first of all, I would say that personally I feel like there is certainly a need uh to prohibit many of the acts that are described in this proposed ordinance. Uh I also am cognizant of uh the situation that brought this to light and that has resulted in this proposed ordinance being in front of us. Uh I have concerns. I think that there is um a compromise that can be struck and whether this ordinance in front of us is the correct compromise, I'm really not sure. As I sit here right now, I've read over it. I've read over the two versions that were in the packet and then as we sat down here at council table today, we have a another version of that. I keep in my mind uh certainly when we talk about compromise that uh we need to care for residential needs and and uh and that sort of thing and people will have certainly a right to the quiet enjoyment of their property. Uh and if that is to the exclusion of music then so be it. Uh but I also understand that those people that run businesses in our town uh many times uh they depend upon these things to by these things I mean music and entertainment uh in order to keep their restaurants and businesses going forward. I was told this week and I'm not sure the accuracy but that in the last year uh in Abington and Bristol we have had 22 restaurant closures.

We have had two more in the town of Abington in the last 30 days. So we're up to 24 restaurants and businesses that have closed. Now, I don't attribute that to noise necessarily, but uh I would say that uh being able to present entertainment in a proper fashion at a proper level is certainly important to a lot of our restaurants and businesses in the town. And I don't want to pass an ordinance that will hinder that to an extent that will drive restaurants out of the town. Again, I come back to what I said earlier. I think it's important that residents have the right to the quiet enjoyment of their property. There's got to be a compromise there somewhere. I'm not satisfied that this ordinance does. I looked at uh at several of the provisions in it that give me concern. Just little things. For example, uh uh this ordinance prohibits uh blowing your horn for any reason with the exception of emergency needs. I don't know about you, but I go down the road and I see the mayor and I'll toot my horn at him.

Well, if you don't, he's going to toot at you. Exactly. Well, it's prohibited by this ordinance.

U because it's not an emergency to be able to say hello to the mayor going down the street. Uh, it also provides that a violation of this is a class two misdemeanor. Now, it specifies the fine is a minimum of $300 for a first offense, but a class two misdemeanor in Virginia, chief, it carries 6 months in jail. Uh, I don't think we want to put something like that out on the street, even though this ordinance restricts that, but it can't be a class two misdemeanor and uh, restrict what those provisions are under Virginia law. I think it needs some more work is what I'm saying. I think it needs a lot more work and I think we need to go through it very carefully as a council and consider worst case scenarios in it before we just say let's approve this ordinance. Now I realize this is first reading uh but uh you know on my calendar March what the second matter

March second comes pretty quickly and and uh I have those concerns and I wanted to voice those today

and and I appreciate you voicing those concerns um Vice Mayor Austin because you know if everyone doesn't know by now I do own a a restaurant in the town of Abin and I do rely on the nighttime time entertainment. Um, you know, I I wouldn't necessarily be the one to vote, but I am glad to be part of this of what's going on because, you know, there are a lot of businesses, my business in general doesn't rely on entertainment, but my employees that I employ at my restaurant, they rely on this entertainment. They rely on this music scene. And I look to me if if I'm not mistaken, if I'm not wrong, we are an artsy town. Music is art, you know, and and art is entertainment. So, I want everyone on the council to please take that into note when we make these changes and and we vote on this ordinance because this is people that are in our community. This is their livelihood. And I just want everyone to know that. You know, there's people that have different businesses that they run, but this is something that is very important to me, my business partners, and to other restaurants that are in the town of Admin or anyone that's planning on doing any kind of entertainment business in the town of Avenue. So, I appreciate you saying that, Vice Mayor.

Yes, sir. And and let me say in response to that very quickly, I certainly appreciate uh the circumstances that you've described with your restaurant. Yes, sir. But I don't want anybody to think that my comments were were just aimed at that. I mean, we have several restaurants in town that rely on music and entertainment. Yes. Uh that uh that this could affect. I'd like to point out too, you've already mentioned this, you know, we have to consider the residents also. Absolutely.

And so there has to be a balance and but I feel like that with this these limits on noise that is the balance, you know, that we have to balance to where it's good for everyone. Yes. Well, and council passes the ordinances. So, it's it's you guys's ordinance. So, you know, we're we've been sort of trying to to strike a balance just among ourselves, but we need input from you guys. So, if you disagree with what we drafted, then uh you know, we we you guys are the ones who have to vote on it. And lots of and to Mr. Austin's point,

some of the things that you've mentioned have been there for decades. Um, and so there might be things that we didn't look at directly that need to be updated just like we had to update the the EPA things, but horn honking has probably been there since there were horns to honk. Yeah. So, if there are other things that you all see that that are outdated, then then we can look at those, too.

And and I I am saying this hoping that people are out there listening. And I know we don't have a whole lot of people in the courtroom, but anyone that has interest in this. Please reach out to your council members, reach out to me, reach out to the town manager, voice your opinion. Please come let us know what you think about this before we go any further with what we've got going on. Please reach out to your council members and yay or nay with what you think about the ordinance with the north.

And I and I've already said this once, but you know As far as the residence is concerned, if it's not good for you, then I represent you and I, you know, need to do what's good for you. I mean, the same as if I would, if it was my home, you know, I want to do for you what I'd want for myself. So,

yeah. And so, like the to Mr. Austin's point, the the statute, the some of the stuff that we bring into these are comes right out of Virginia statute. So, Virginia state statute says it's against the law to use your horn for any other use other than just, you know, we don't enforce that. I mean, I don't know in your career how many times you rode a ticket for it, but it's probably close to zero. Um, so there's a lot of stuff that's just carryover exists. You get it from the statutes. So, it's just uh, you know, we bring the stuff in. Um, but like a couple years ago, we outlawed or we changed the ordinance for barking dogs for people that work night shift. And have we written any tickets on that?

Yes. I mean, there's things in there, but the officers are very reasonable when it comes to doing the enforcement. Um, but the the six decel adjustment for ambient noise that was uh identified as as basic I mean, Amanda, you know, the noise, but six dB on top of ambient is it's effectively doubling the noise level. So, it it it adjusts for that. But certainly, if there's things that we need to adjust more, that's fine, too. And I don't think anybody needs to do 60 days in jail for playing music too loud. So, we probably need to adjust the fines, too. But, um,

well, and I think the goal is exactly what what other people have said is to strike a balance, you know, and I I'm a big fan of putting some numbers to this so it is objective instead of subjective. So, if somebody says this noise is too loud at my home, then we can say, yes, it might seem too loud for you, but is within our ordinance. And so, it doesn't leave it up to our um policemen and our and law enforcement to decide what is too loud. we are giving them some guidelines and and the way I understand it, you're not going to be out patrolling the streets and be like, "Oh, they're having a party in their backyard and we're going to come measure the decibb." It's going to be more like if I'm throwing a party and it's bothering Cam and he calls and says, "Hey, the pillions are out of control." And then you would come and measure the noise. So, not that I plan on doing that anytime soon, but you never know.

Yeah, you never know. But anyway, I think I think that the whole point is to take some of the um the um subjectiveness out of the out of the um situation and make it so that it's something that's quantifiable and that we can say, you know, this is actually happening and and this you need to do something about it. And you know, and I also we had a conversation, the mayor and I did, you know, and I was like, you know, as a business owner, if you're having an event at your place, then it gives you a quantifiable level. So you can know, hey, ahead of time, I'm I'm within the the, you know, the legal limits. And so if somebody complains, you can say, I've already

checked on this. I'm I'm doing it all right. And so it protects the business owners as well as the residents. And I think that's the goal here. Not to make it harder for you guys or to make it, you know, make it less fair for one party or the other. I think it's to make it as fair as possible for everyone. What else? That being said, I'd also like to get this done because we've been working on it since September. So, I think we need to do it right,

but um I don't want to speed it up at the cost of doing the wrong thing, but I'd like to see us wrap it up soon. and and I'm with you on that, but like like Vice Mayor Austin said, you know, just some of the wording in there, it's going it's going to take time. It's going to take time for us to go through this to actually get it right to appease the businesses and to please the residents as well too. And you know, I I appreciate everyone's hard work on this. I appreciate the start where we've came to start on this, but you know, I still think we need just a little bit more finetuning before we can actually, from what I'm telling from everyone on the council before we can agree on what's going on. We just need to to fine-tune a little bit.

Well, fortunately, I don't think it's a a matter of of urgency in like the next 30 days to do it. There people that are playing music outdoors right now. Yeah. Yeah. It's not the time right now. I I totally agree that, you know, we've been looking at this long enough and we need to get to the bottom and get something adopted. But again, I'm just not sure that that this is it.

Sure. I mean, if you have a model ordinance that you can you can reference it to, just let me know because, you know, we uh you know, we try to most of our stuff, as you know, comes from, you know, rarely. I mean, know CAM doesn't independently come up with the stuff, you know, we always grab it from other places and see what the standards are elsewhere, but if there's anywhere else that has a better one uh that we can borrow liberally from, uh, by all means, um, the, uh, you know, whatever, we're just trying to help solve a problem. But, uh,

absolutely. And I think that's what we're all aimed at doing. And as I said a moment ago, there's there's a compromise that could be struck and and I think it's necessary if needed. But whether this is it, I'm not sure. Is there any other comment? If not, we'll move to the second reading on March the second before I'll get with Wayne before if you want. I'll be happy to thank. Yes, sir.

And and while I think I heard uh Councilwoman Pillian say you're not going to be at the March uh I will not be in attendance because the endure track team will be running at Liberty and my son there. So I respect that. I'm glad you're going to going to go, but uh Mayor Anderson may not be able to vote on this issue and it might be down to three of us and I'd like to have everyone involved and it's why I mentioned and I don't know if we can arrange for me to join virtually and vote virtually then I'm certainly um pleased to do that because I think he'll run earlier in the day.

Just a heads up, I may be in Chicago that week. I have not heard for sure yet for work. So there's a chance 50/50 right now that I not we can move it to the mid-Marchch if that works. That give us a little more time to to the midmon meeting. Yeah. Be okay with everyone. I'll give everybody some time. This is a short month anyway. Kim, is that okay? All right. So, we'll just say we'll move the second reading of the ordinance to repeal and amend and reenact chapter 30 environmental article 2 noise to the March. What meeting was that? The midmon meeting.

The midmon meeting in March. I don't have the date on that. Hold on a second. Well, in theory I will. Um, hold on. March 19th to 2:30 right now.

Oh, yeah. There it is. All right. We'll have that second reading on March the 19th. Is that okay with there one on council? All right. I don't think we have any second reading of ordinance today. No consideration of bids. Um, now we're to new business. I don't think we have any new business, old business. Um, we'll move down to miscellaneous business and communication from our town manager, Mike Cochran. And, uh, first it'll be the presentation of the annual report of the Sinkland Springs Cemetery Committee.

And when I think cemeteries, I think Don Marie. Yeah. So, uh, by the way, happy Marty Gro. Wing ding doodle.

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. Okay. I'm here to present the annual report for the U Sinking Spring Cemetery. It was very quiet here over there this year, which I'm glad to see. Um, we only lost, as far as I know, one tombstone. That was because a tree of limb caught it. It was one of the perfect stones. Just whacked it right in the middle. But so, we're working on that. Uh, adopt a plot was good this year. We had 43 uh 43 plots. About half. Um, how many do you usually have adopted, Donald?

About that about that number. We're holding pretty pretty. Yeah, pretty steady. Um, no new burials over there this year. Um, now the big news, the big news is, um, we are looking to put in a nature meadow down at the lower part where the creek bed is. I actually went by there yesterday. There was actually water in the creek bed. I was amazed. But down in that lower area, that is supposed to be flood plane where over in especially over in the Scott division, the one that's next to the little league fields up through there. Um we're looking at that to put in um a nature meadow and for several reasons for that. Uh number one, William King is getting with all their big landscaping up on the hill and all the good things that are happening up there. They're doing a lot of um they're going to be doing all of their landscaping is going to be natural. It's going to be in the meadow. It's going to be native uh Virginia natives that will be planted up there. And it just seems like a really nice thing to have that kind of come down to our area. It is an area that typically just gets mowed and as we know our mowing bill here in town is achieve. So if we can find a way that I'm looking at that we can have an area that we don't have to mow, don't have to weedy, don't have to do anything to um and y uh it would also be a nice use for that area. As far as we know, no one is buried there because it is kind of floodplanish. We're going to check and double check to make sure of that, but I've talked with Frost Funeral Home and Jack is not aware of anybody in that section at all. Um, I don't know how much ground is down there. Is an acre or two?

Not sure.

Gabe, do you know by any chance, Gabe, how much an acre. Okay. So, about an acre down there. Um to have it, like I said, done in um Virginia Natives, it would be it would be pretty cool. We had Nick Proctor uh from Nature Conservancy come and kind of lead us along and tell us what the process is. Um and it is I think it is very doable. So, it's something I would love to see and especially if we can have something that kind of takes that old hillside and has this lovely, you know, with starts up at William King and then continues down into that part of the cemetery. I think it'd be lovely. You know, I can see little birdie houses up there and maybe a walking trail eventually and all of that and I just think it would be absolutely grand. So anyway, Mike Cochran has been very helpful in helping me through think through this process, too. So, we're we're looking at having that done. Um, another thing that we're getting ready to do this year, and actually, um, Gabe has started this. Thank you so much, Gabe, is um you remember the old wolf signs that we had out on the street?

Yes. Um, we're going to repurpose them and use them in the cemetery so that we can have directional signs because we always talk about first sec, you know, first circle, second circle, Scott division, um, pen division, blah blah blah blah blah, and everybody's going, where is that? We want to take the wolf signs, put them up at strategic points, do some color coding so that we know that this, you know, the burgundy, you know, the burgundy one is the pin section. We've got the signs. I think we got the money actually already in our small cemetery budget to finish making metal signs that would be the inserts for that. So, I think it would make a very nice addition. Um, let's see. Anything else? Gabe has been wonderful about continuing documentation about who we got buried over there and you know and getting the history together. I'm interested in seeing what Virginia 250 uh what kind of attention is going to be brought to our cemetery because I think we've got 10 uh 10 of our 12 Revolutionary War folks buried there. So, we're going to have additional information for them for at least for the next couple of years for people, especially for people coming into town to be able to look at that and say, "Oh, you know, we were we were connected with that." So, that's pretty much my report. Mainly, I really want to thank Mike Cochran and Gabe Christophari for exceptional work. They're lovely to work with.

Thanks. Kisses. I'll send you a check. No problem for connection. Anyway, thank you all. Thanks D. And uh just so one of the things we are getting uh Gabe has has got a hold of the professor who ran the program where the we had the student fly it with the the uh infrared was it? Hold up Gabe. So before we plant a bunch of plants, we want to make sure we're not planting them over things. Yeah.

So on the eastern section of the cemetery where in our like nomination form says hundreds of our mar graves were there. We had a graduate student Noah Hall do a project there and we found that had 800 unmarked graves over there and that was done through drone imagery, LAR, infrared, all that stuff. So we didn't have to dig anything. Uh the same will be done on the western section where we'll be ensuring that we don't plant anything or do anything over somebody's grave. So this way we're respectful of whatever over there. if it's just empty space to cut down on mowing and everything, we can have this flower garden that kind of mixes in with the rural cemetery movement that's kind of making it sort of like a a park almost. So, we're trying to keep in keeping with everything there. So, they'll be coming in March or April because that's when you kind of get the distinct temperatures to see if anything's over there. But terms of what we've found so far, we don't have any inclination to think that, but we just want to double check.

Thank you, Gab. Yeah. And then uh thanks gave Don Murray. The the next item is uh the the uh banner display uh request from the library. Uh these will diminish because the every time we have one that wasn't in the one it wasn't in the budget, it wasn't on last year's. I had to bring it back to y'all. Uh and so this is from the library. They wanted to put one up for their winter book sale. Uh, and the the form is in the back. Uh, and that actually is in next week. I think it looks like February the 21st through the 28th.

Yeah. Winter book sale. And if you're if you have spend a lot of money on books, it's actually a pretty good deal. They have a lot of books there for a pretty good price. But so it would be consideration for that one. We need a motion or I'd move we allow the permit for the prints of the Washington County Library for their winter book sale. Second. Any further discussion on that? Cam if you'll please call roll. Mr. Wet I. Miss Wetch. I. Miss Pian. I. Vice Mayor Austin I. And Mayor Anderson.

I thanks. And then the uh the next one is consideration of transferring 250,000 from the uh budget fund balance into urban maintenance. As you recall during the uh the budgeting process uh we removed the the normal funding I think Mike's it was typically 300,000 but we removed that from the budget. Uh and as we finished this last year's budget we finished instead of using fund balance we actually added uh uh we didn't spend the 250 and we added 300 back to the fund balance. So with and it's just under 300, but the request will be is that if we spend the 250, we're still adding 40 and change to the fund balance. Uh but that would give you the urban maintenance money in this year's budget. So the the streets that aren't covered by the VOTE uh program, uh would be able to be fixed and just repaired with that money. And it sounds like a lot of money, and it's not bad, but it's you don't get a ton for it. Blacktop isn't cheap, I guess, is the issue. But uh uh so that's and So that's that request there and that was I think you had actually made that comment on the budgeting process that we would take an adjustment if we needed to. So this will put us uh we still be budget positive allow us to get the maintenance done. With that being said from the town manager Mike Cochran, do I have a motion of the consideration of transferring the $2,500 from the budget fund to the balance of the urban maintenance?

I'd make that motion. Do I have a second? Second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Mr. Web. I. Miss Qu. I. Miss. Billy. I. Vice Mayor Austin. Hi. Mayor Anderson. Hi.

Thank you. And then uh the next one. Um this is the uh as we do through grants. Um we had put in for $17,000 grants. $17,575. Um there's a if you go up towards Taylor's Hill across from the cemetery, there's Wheeler Street and there's like a fence around it and it looks awful. Um that's our storm water basin and the um we had gotten a grant in order to uh uh in order to do some work with that that basin and then there's a construction project on Wheeler Street that's adjacent it's not Wheeler Street it's next street over once it makes the curve whatever that small housing development is going to go in there and they'll be able to use part of this drainage basin as part of that. So the um uh the Wellspring Foundation is actually going to pay the town's match so it doesn't doesn't cost us anything. Uh and then the hope is is that when they redo this, I want to get rid of the fence and make it look more like a pond rather than just a ditch. Like you know, right now if you go by it, it looks it looks like the government owns it. It's just not that visually attractive. Um but if we can get rid of the of the chain link fence and actually make it look like a small pond, it would actually be attractive. and feel it would add to the neighborhood and not not do what it's currently doing. Uh but again, this is budget neutral. I just need a acceptance of that.

Would anyone like to make a motion to accept the uh Department of Environmental Quality grant of the amount of 17? I'll make Do I have a second? I'll second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Mr. W. I. Miss Quetch. Hi, Miss Pian. I Vice Mayor Austin, I and Mary Anderson. Hi.

All right. And then the uh the last thing is um uh our uh clerk of council uh Kim is very active with the uh the clerk's association. And what you'll find is you look at it is there's a whole lot of uh municipal clerks in the state. And there's it's an association that needs some uh you know it's a very good uh organization but um they don't have a huge huge budget and they have a conference coming up and so the request would be is that if the council would consider in sponsoring the uh uh the conference she's got coming up in April. Where's it at? Yes, it's in Blackburg. We tried to get it in Avenue but the week did not work out. So yeah, they said it was too far

which will help a lot of the Southwest Virginia Yeah. municipalities. I'll make a motion if we are sponsor. What is Excuse me. What's the cost? She didn't put a cost in, but I think 2500 would be that would be great. That would be I would second00. So, I have a motion to uh to uh consider the sponsorship of the 2026 Virginia Misable Clerks Associating Student Conference. And that was made by Don and then it was second by Mr. Web. Any further discussion?

Mayor, would you also state the amount? Uh $2,500. $2,500. Is that okay with everyone on council? Thank you. Yes, ma'am. So, Cam, if if you would uh no further discussion, if you please call roll. Mr. Wet. I. Miss Quetch. I Miss Billian. I Vice Mayor Austin. I and Mary Anderson. Hi.

Thank you. And then for the rest of my comments, um I don't think the groundhog was correct. Um it certainly seems to be a lot warmer than it was supposed to be. Um anyway, no, I think uh everything's plowing along fine. Uh we've had a just a busy month. I mean, couldn't say enough about public works. Those guys uh were out there uh getting after it in the craziest of weather, but we took care of it. And um you know, run out of salt. No, we still have more salt. There's plenty of salt from from

Yeah, we had we had a whole lot of salt before. So, uh yeah, I think we'll probably actually buy some this year. Um but we do have a mountain of salt over there by the waste treatment plant. Um but yeah, they certainly spread enough of it. But, uh it's much appreciated. I know the I didn't realize quite the difference until I had to go uh about two miles out into the county and realize quickly the difference between living in town and not living in town. So, no, I do appreciate what they what they they've done out there. So, thanks. But yeah, that's the extent of my comments right now. Um, that's one thing that I'd like to add to what the town manager Mike Cochran said. Um, I've got numerous calls from residents in the town of Avenue, just showing their support and their thanks to our public works. um through this terrible weather that we had for the past couple of weeks. Um it seemed that everyone was pleased with uh the way that we handled the snow, the way that we handled the streets. Um a lot of business people has reached out to me. Um we've included getting the sidewalks for everyone that has a business along Main Street from the police, if I'm mistaken, not mistaken, the police office all the way up to girl in the Raven. Um, I've got nothing but big ups to public works for that and thank you all for that. And one thing that I want to throw out, um, last night and for everyone in here, I know some know and some don't know, we had the passing of a fellow employee, a town employee by the name of Glenn Foster. Glenn Foster gave probably 25 plus, if I had to say maybe 30 years to the town of Abinan. Um, I don't know how the council feels about this, but I of me particularly, he is someone that is in my neighborhood, in my life, in my businesses, you know, the tavern and Dwayne and company daily. Um, I don't

know if there's a proclamation that we could come up with or if there is a day that we could claim Glenn Foster Day here in the town of Avenan because I just feel like Glenn Foster gave gave us his all. This would just be a a nice kind gesture to give back to have maybe a Glenn Foster day or a proclamation honoring Glenn Foster.

He was certainly a gentleman. I'll echo those comments and always uh thought the world of it. He knew a lot about the town. In fact, uh uh I've heard people say that we didn't need sewer map locations that he could just go out and point where things point out where things were. He was that kind of person, very friendly, very well-liked in the community. And I would agree with you, Mr. Mayor. We should uh honor that to some extent. I don't know what we'd have to do, Kim. What would be the process to us having to do that?

Yes, we can certainly get ready for March 19th, the midnight. I'll get try to get up this way. All right. Yes, ma'am. Good. Thank you. You're welcome.

November 1st is the first. Timmy, am I wrong? 52 years with the town. 52 years. Was it 52? I thought it was 30. Excuse me. 52. Thank you, Tammy. That's 20% of the town's age. That's pretty crazy. Yeah.

Thank Thank you Tammy Fallen and Mike for that because I didn't know but I know it was I knew it was 25 plus. You know, my father done a little bit of time with the town of Abin, and I know that him and Glenn were tight, but my father moved on to Westinghouse, and Glenn stayed with the town. He's just been a a figure of this town for years. So, thank you. Thank you for those dates. I'll keep you updated.

Please do. Thank you. Um, with that, um, we'll go to Vice Mayor Austin. Do you have anything that you would like to comment on? I don't have any additional comments. I I echo what people have said up here already today with the how the streets were cleaned and taken care of. It's just remarkable. And as Mr. Cochran said, you could tell the moment you got outside the corporate limits of the town of A. Good job, Amanda. I'll just echo those remarks, Donna. there.

Just want to point out, they were talking about street maintenance and removal of snow. Um our our staff are so serious. This is a truly a compliment. I'm sitting in my house the other day and I hear um somebody with a blower. We had a gentleman that literally walked all over town with a blower just to blow the gravel off the sidewalks. Like they're for real. They do a great job. So kudos to the staff. They they have done a fantastic job. Mike Cochran, do you have anything you want to add?

No, just I mean that they really get after it and u you know it's just uh we're just very blessed to to be here and to have such a quality staff really makes it a whole lot easier. So yeah, but no, it definitely is a huge difference once you left the town because I for like me I couldn't understand why we have some of the snow days that we have and then I realized it. Yeah. So uh yeah. Okay, moving right down the list. Our last thing on our agenda here, it looks like it's going to be appointments to boards and committees. Um, I don't know. Do you all think that we need to go into close session for this or is it something that we can handle out here? I I'm not aware of any reason. I think we got it. Okay.

Yeah, Eric, you swear. Yeah, we kind of Yeah, I mean, because it ended up we had even applicants for each, didn't we? All right. Well, Derek, if you want to go for sure, we'll we'll go for that right now if that's okay. And uh Councilman Derek Webb is going to make make the adjustments to the appointments of boards. Absolutely. And if it's okay with you, Mr. Mayor, I'll do them all at one time.

Excellent. So, I'd like to make a a motion u to reappoint uh Danny Owens to serve an additional term on the tourism advisory board as well as Dave Dalton to serve an additional term on the tourism advisory board. Um on the historic preservation review board, um we need to fill the expired term of Brooke Bun and Christy Hartorn and Mr. Byum Gizler and Pam Atwall have both applied for um appointment to the pres preservation review board. So, I would appoint those two. And then then the board of zoning appeals. Um, we have a vacancy that Kenny Schuman has applied for and reappointment of David Cody Johnson to serve an additional term on the the BZA. All right. Sounds good to me.

Second. I'll second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Mr. Web. I. Miss Qu. I. Miss Gillian. I. Vice Mayor Austin. Hi. Mary Anderson. Hi, we do need to go into close session to discuss issue. Okay. Um, you want me to read this? Yes, ma'am. As permitted by the Virginia code section 2.2-3711A88, consultation with legal counsel employed or retained by a public body regarding specific legal matters requiring the provisions of legal advice by such counsel. With that second

if I get a second. Make a second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Mr. Web. Hi. Miss Qu. Hi. Miss Billian. Hi. Vice Mayor Austin. Hi. And Mary Anderson. I with that we will go into close session.

Oh boy. Sure thing. Go for it. I move that the town council certify that in the close session. Just go back. Oh, I'm sorry. I have to Somebody has to make a motion to reconvene. I'm going to make a motion to reconvene. Second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call roll. Mr. Web. Hi. Miss Quetch. Hi. Miss Pia. I. Vice Mayor Al. Hi. And Mary Anderson.

I move that the town council certify that in the closed session just concluded, nothing was discussed except the matter specifically identified in the motion to convene in closed session and lawfully permitted to be discussed under the provisions of the Virginia Freedom of Information Act cited in that motion. Mr. Webb, do you so certify? I so certify. Miss Quo, sir. Miss Pion, ISO certified. Vice Mayor Austin, ISO certified. And Mayor Anderson, ISO certified. With that being said, I will call this meeting to adjourn.