Town Council - Regular Meeting

Good afternoon everyone. Welcome to today's town of Admin Council meeting, Thursday, October the 16th, 2025. Kim, if you'll please call roll. Miss Quetch here. Miss Pion here. Vice Mayor Austin present. And Mayor Anderson here. Now, if everyone please rise, I'll lead us into a 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.

I'm sure everyone's had a minute to look over the uh agenda today. If I could have someone make a motion to approve the agenda for today's council meeting. So moved. Do you have a second? Second. Excuse me. That's okay. Any further? This question got me. Excuse me. Um, Mary Anderson, can we make an item agenda item for Mr. West to present first? Yes, we sure can. Right after public comments. Is that okay? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Then I'll make a motion to approve the agenda with the stated amendment, please. Thank you. Second. If there's no further discussion, cam if you'll please call a role. Miss Quetz, I. Miss Peely, I. Vice Mayor Austin, I.

And Mary Anderson,

I. And now we are going to go to public comment. Um, if I call your name out for the public comment, if you'll please come state your first and last name and your mailing address. Looks like we have a couple people signed up today. Miss Julianne Miles, if you'll please come forward and please state your mailing address. Hi, good afternoon. My name is Julianne Miles. My address is 384 Oakmont Drive, Abington, Virginia. And I'm here to make public comment today about the first reading you have coming up on this ordinance about permitting for read it correctly. Um, it's an amendment to chapter 18, businesses, article 4, peddlers, vendors, and canvasers. So, there's a couple of places in this that I think need some attention um before you move forward with this. Most specifically, I'm sure that in Abington, we're not really trying to um infringe on people's political speech, but I see in here under section 1813, application for a permit. It specifically says in subparagraph C, this is a new um

what was that section? Excuse me. 18133 133

in subp paragraph C it says any person seeking to engage in the business of a vendor or canvaser in the town shall register for a permit with the town by completing an application form by the town manager. Now in the paragraph just before that in paragraph 18132 exemptions from permit requirements A4 says canvasers of religious, political and written materials are exempt from the requirement. But then in this next section it says they have to have a permit. So I think it needs to be clarified there to say canvasers except as identified in 1813 A4 where it specifically says canvasers are exempt because there's there's a there's a conflict there. There's a couple of different places in there where there are requirements for canvasers to have permits and then but they're exempt. It also lists them as exempt later in 18.1 through 145. exemptions from the provisions of this article. It's list down there in subp paragraph G. Persons engaged in canvasing for or on behalf of political candidates are exempt from this, but the requirement for them to submit a permit is specifically listed somewhere else. So, I just think we need to clarify that so that we're not um infringing on our canvasers ability to do what they need to do.

Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Miss Miles. And next up will be uh for uh public comments will be Miss Mary Jennings. If you'll come forward please, Miss Mary Jennings and please state your mailing address for us.

160 Country Club Drive, Abington, Virginia 2411. I also am concerned about the um same ordinance. Basically, canvasing comes up in several places there. Now, I know that you all have run for office and I would presume that you would be interested in speaking with your constituents. I think that you need to look at how canvasing is defined. Number one, it says on 132, uh, exemptions for permit requirements. Number four, it says canvasers, pend pend peddlers or vendors of religious, political, or reli written materials. Um, canvasers can also talk, I think. So, I I'm not sure that's the the best limitation. Okay. Um I don't know who canvasers would be um in those in in the later sections. It's not clear to me where it keeps saying canvasers can can't do this, canvasers can't do this. I don't understand um who besides vendors of religious political materials would be canvasing. So the whole uh ordinance seems to me muddy. Uh it is not clear. There's another section uh where it talks about well I think in 133 the permit process is way too detailed and cumbersome. Um it also talks about a permit for every canvaser of an organization. So, it's a difficult application

process. And then like each member of the League of Women Voters would be required to fill out this 30 days before.

It also says in um 134 that um the town manager has 45 days to respond to the application, but it also says that the application can be made up to 30 days before the event. So that's a little bit of a contradiction I think. Um I am also concerned about the use of streets and other per public places uh vending or canvasing from a stationary location. That's in sorry 137. Um, it talks about a stationary location on any sidewalk less than 5 ft. Uh, the sidewalk remains clear for pedestrian traffic. Well, since I think a lot of sidewalks are only 5t wide, um, I'm not sure that that works too well. Um, I'm not sure whether 137 applies to rallies or protests. Does that apply to rallies, for example, at the uh at the um uh at the at the market um you know what how does this work is what I'm basically saying. Um so I do think that I'm well I am very glad that um Mr. Austin recommended that ordinances have more than one um

reading because you know this is sloppy. I mean as a former English teacher the suggestion at the end um which I can't find right now um anyway has two true two grammatical errors in it. One it should be if etc. And so anyway, um I'd like to speak briefly to the noise ordinance, which I think may not be on the men on the agenda tonight, but anyway, I think that the decibel level needs to be considered and whether something is inside or outside. Uh I know that people on Bradley Street have been bothered by noise. Uh, I know that the the summer's rooftop was a noise factor and so it is something that needs to be considered. Um, I don't know how you measure noise, but I bet there's a tech a technology that can do that. Thank you very much.

Thank you.

That will close the public comments for today. Now we will have Mr. West. come forward, please. Mr. West, if you'll state your name and state your organization and we'll go from there.

Yeah. Sam West of People Incorporated. People Incorporated financial services. See if I know how to smart enough to work for liquor. And I am. So, I just go. Is that it? All right. Uh, so the folks can hear me out there. Out there more for for you all and a little bit for you. You know, People Inc.'s been around for a good 60 years. Focus for uh a lot of the low-income housing uh and our Head Start uh community services. I'm in the financial services uh arm. Uh and I actually have some some folders I was going to give you all, but I'll go ahead and just talk and I'll give it to you afterwards here. Um but I'm the business development and lending officer. So I'm in the community uh community economic development arm. Uh so specifically we do a lot of business loans and some other uh great financial products. We are a CDFI. Uh so we love our acronyms in the financial world. Uh community development financial institution that's been around 30 years uh just about uh kind of like a subsidiary of the uh Treasury Department. Uh we provide responsible capital, financial uh education, technical assistance uh and and things like that. uh we are independent nonprofit uh entities typically uh and our ultimate goal is to increase entrepreneurship and uh capital where it cannot be provided elsewhere. So we're kind of that stop gap uh between when where banks won't win for startups and things like that. So primarily lot what I do is a lot of just startup uh startup funds for typically around 10,000 to uh 50,000 we can lend up more but here's some of our specific CDFI outcomes in the past two years um business loans we just a little over 10 under $2 million uh out there in the community uh we do have a personal loan product uh as well uh and seven o over close to 18,000 hours technical assistance

jobs, businesses. So, we're out there in community every day. Uh our service region specifically, uh is 40 counties in the state. Um so, you know, we started 60 years ago just a small part in southwest Virginia. We've now uh jumped up to the Nova uh region up in some of the Shannidoa Valley. I'm pretty much Lee County Bedford. So, you know, anybody here or elsewhere uh that might need some assistance, just uh connect me. Uh again, we're out there to make uh make the connections to the resources. Whether or not we give you a loan specifically, uh we're out there for assistance. So, what do we do? Good question. Um we are a non-traditional lender. How we kind of describe a holistic way of looking at looking at a startup. Uh we uh are nonprofit. We are missiondriven lenders. Uh so we are typically grant-f funded. We are focused on community economic development. Um we are more flexible. We do a lot in partnerships with other uh entities whether uh it be a traditional bank or another nonprofit. Uh we provide uh training and technical assistance. Uh so again, a lot of times folks come to me and they want to get started, but we might end up working a year before we get them across the finish line. Uh it's not always again about that uh uh financial endgame. Uh sometimes they just need the right uh connections funding for startups. Specifically, I'm going to talk about our business lending. Uh and the business lending is does not have to be a startup, but again, that's typically what we deal with. Can be an expansion. Um 0 to 350. Never had anybody come for a Z loan yet. But, you know, we'll see.

Good terms, though.

Yeah, the terms are typically I'm going to get a little bit into the weeds here on some of the terms. It's 72 months, you know, unless secured by real estate. It's a fixed rate. Uh it's very simple, clean product. Uh if there's one thing I would tell any business entrepreneurs listening now would be don't go out there and get those Quickbook uh loans or those Square loans or anything, you know, those those quick easy Finn product loans out there. I run deal with that a lot. They do not have fixed rates. they have, you know, changing rates are very uh straightforward. Come to us first. Uh your prepayment penalty does not happen with us if you you can get it at any uh paid off at any point and it does need to be secured. Uh there is collateral and a guaranteer involved typical to a non-traditional entity, but that we look at risk risk a little differently. Uh so sometimes that uh one can outweigh the other. So all loans must be secured by collateral. I do get that a lot questions when they come to us. We do need, as they say, a skin in the game, quote unquote. But we do have a lot of flexibility in that when the way we look at things, third party agreements, collateralize on the purchase of the product, uh, first second deed to trust, UCCC lean, all that fun stuff. So, there's some of the technical things. Um, but I'm happy to talk to anybody about that, especially when you're dealing with 10,000 and under. I'm not going to we wouldn't anticipate anybody putting their house up for that, right? Uh, so there's a lot of ways we can work together to get you where you need to be. Uh our application requirements again go online is best way to get uh application download it. Um a lot of this is what you're going to provide to a regular uh bank tax returns proof of income uh income statement balance sheet all that good stuff. Your startup will help you get all that together. Uh big thing is our business plan and two-year cash flow projections. Uh those are the kind of things that we work out primarily with folks on. But why those are so important is because again as a CDFR eye we can

look at a year or less of revenue uh especially for you know again smaller uh main street businesses which I know is important here to Abington have helped a lot here in town as well and we do consider cash flow projections. So that's that's the part uh that makes us a little different and why we lean so heavily in into their importance process for us essentially just uh to give kind of a uh bird's eye view of the way that it looks with us. uh you got you do all those kind of steps you go to underwriting we go to committees we don't have an algorithm we put you in say yes or no uh we will look at it uh from all different angles and try to find a way to make it work you know uh we uh we will take the time to do that essentially it's two to three weeks typically for a business loan that comes across our desk uh can be more uh if those clients timeline as you can see can be a little further as I said if you're preventure we might work with the small business development center here at Virginia Community College we might uh get you connected with um with somebody uh other local entrepreneurs. Uh so that timeline might be quicker but throughout the process we do provide technical assistance throughout throughout it all and that comes in many different forms. So I've been talking about our uh business product uh our financial product for business loans. We do have personal loans as well. Uh it's kind of set there to keep folks away from those payday lots, those quick, you know, players like do a lot of, you know, uh reasonable auto purchase loans, improvement bills, and those are only 25,000 where we max out on those. We also have a rise match savings program. Uh so you do it you have to do an act be an active tanif client. Uh you have to be employed. It is a referral product, but it does help you build up your savings for folks. Uh and there's an eligibility requirement behind that. We also have a ready set credit building program. And that's for folks uh for 18 to 24 years old. It's an unsecured product to help you establish uh you

know real uh credit. My grandfather told me to buy a uh you know get that credit card and paid off every month. You know I was fortunate to get that advice. Not everybody gets that advice or I actually followed it through with it. Not everybody uh had does that or understands how linked it is with your personal and your business. In order to get a good business loan, you got to have good personal credit, right? Uh so we know we find we get to folks a little too late in the process. So if you know anyone uh interested in in working on that program, please uh let us know. And our smaller dollar loans is our only unsecured product. If you're have know someone out there who's having trouble getting the bills paid or or you know just they're in in that tight spot, that's a good product for them. And it is flexible. It is unsecured, but you still do go through the uh similar application process u would at a bank for for a consumer loan. Of course, commercial lending is just a little more complicated, so there's always a little more involved in that. One thing I do want to uh mention is our initiate program. This is a really cool platform we just rolled out this year. It is a free business resource, learning platform. Uh lots of great stuff on there. How to break even analysis, your profit and loss statement, you name it. Uh uh it is a free community resource. We want to connect people to this resource uh and use it, you know, at their own pace. I work a lot with folks when they uh one-on-one using this platform. Um it is right here. If you're if you're online or uh anyone in in here who would be interested, you just uh go up there and get yourself the code and we'll send you an invite to that and get you get you connected. So that's it. Keeping it pretty simple,

straightforward. Any questions? Do you have a business card? I do have business card. I have business card and I'll give you some uh uh folders here. Thanks. Yeah. For you in just a second. Um but yeah, best way if anyone's out there, again, my I think I put my colleagues number on here, but or contact on here, but uh you're welcome to uh contact that number there. And I appreciate your time. Uh but if you have any questions, just contact us directly. Give us a call. We're right down there in West Main Street. And anybody in Abington, best way between 8 and 4:30, we're we're in the office there. uh not the big building but the other one the smaller one past the fairgrounds if we're going west. So um but I appreciate y'all. Thank you.

We appreciate we we appreciate People Inc. Um yeah I've done a couple of things couple months for People's Inc. and there's a lot of people that's in my community that People's Inc. has helped out. So thank you all for the great job that you are doing and thank you for the presentation today. Thank you. Yes, sir. M welcome. Thanks.

Thank you. Moving forward, we have no proclamations today and we have no one signed up for public hearing today and that's going to send us to our next thing on our agenda which is resolution. And we have uh uh one resolution today and that is going to be the resolution authorizing a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals responsible for the graffiti or other defacement of public buildings. And we have Mike Cochran, the town manager to speak on that.

Uh yes, sir. Thank you. Uh yeah, we had covered this briefly at the last council meeting and this was just to give us a memorialized piece of paper so we could have it in the record. Uh, and what I would suggest is that as we put a 2500 if at a on an annual basis, I doubt we'll even come close to that, but I just till we have a placeholder number and we'll just use budgeted funds for that and that way we'll have a resolution in place. And this is like I said at the last meeting it was mainly to uh make sure that when we do have an issue that we have the ability to get public uh you know get information back and it's historically it's been very successful when you take that approach. This just gives us a a resolution on the on the books.

So after after that being said do we have a motion to make let me ask uh Mr. Cochran, if if you fill in the blank in number one, the town hereby authorizes monetary reward in the amount of up to blank for information. Sounds like that if you put 2500 in there, you'd be authorizing up to 2500 to an individual and not annually.

Well, so the objective would be to have an annual amount just as a placeholder number. the the general amount that I would be thinking for the types of stuff that we're looking at is 50, 100 bucks, 200 bucks at the most, something like that. Um because what we're dealing with generally are young offenders that are doing it. And Yes. Yeah. Is there a place for the 2500 that you mentioned that I've missed. The only blank I see is in number one. Yeah. And that would be per individual. Yeah. No, I wouldn't go that not for that type of uh not for that type of Right. I didn't think so. Yeah. Yeah. So, um, so, so maybe 250 as a maximum. Yeah, that's fine, too. Yeah, 250. That's fine. Okay. Yeah. Okay. All right.

All right. And then perhaps we should add another paragraph in to set that annual budget that 2500 you're suggesting. Yeah. It's continuation number one. Just put an annual max of two. All right.

Yes, sir. A and I would also suggest under number two says town manager or designate minister the program with the avenue police department and shall determine my suggestion is to add in there in their sole discretion so that you've got the sole discretion to to make those decisions the eligibility of the claim. Okay. I think that could be helpful if somebody came back and said, "Well, you know, I I think I owed money for what I said or did." But if it says in your sole discretion, then that'd be totally up to you. Okay. That'd be the end of it.

Great. Thanks. That's why you're an attorney and I'm not. Yeah, that's what I was going to say. Clean that one up. Thanks. Yes, sir. With those changes that Vice Mayor Wayne Austin just stated, do I have someone that like to make a motion on the resolution authorizing a reward for the information leading to the arrest and conviction of individuals responsible for graffiti and other defacement of public buildings? I'll make that motion. Do I have a second? I'll second. Any further discussion? Kim, if you'll please call role. Miss I. Miss Pian I Vice Mayor Austin I and Mayor Anderson

I now we'll read to the we'll move down to the first reading of ordinance and this is going to be a reading of ordinance as we've had the the two ladies come in for the public comment this is the first reading of the hearing of the amendment chapter 18 business article 6 peddlers vendors and canvasers and we have Mike Cochran here to speak on that as well too. Yes, thanks. Uh I appreciate the comments from the public earlier. The intent behind this uh I know specifically about the religious exemption and the political exemption. The the specific purpose for this uh ordinance was to uh we've been getting hit a lot with requests for solicit solicitors in town. uh and unfortunately they tend to uh be very persuasive and a lot of times when we get them we'll get people that'll have sometimes eight or 10 people requesting under one company and when you when you run their histories you find that hardly any of them live anywhere near close to here uh and then they're going in and I know in one particular incident where the person signed a 25-y year u sales uh for solar panels you know the person was 71 so when they're 96 they'll actually get discounted electricity uh which you know is kind of a it's a tough cell but unfortunately when you get the older people sometimes they they get taken advantage of and given our demographics in town with a lot of people with a lot of experience. The intent was to restrict the people going doortodoor soliciting the folks that are doing uh you know constitutionally protected uh things such as religious andor political uh things. That's not what this is intended for. This is strictly for the ones that want to go doortodoor um and and and sell stuff because we've gotten them in the last couple months. We've had um various types of uh communication stuff, the cable type uh or fiber people trying to sell that. The solar is perennial and then we've gotten vacuum cleaners as well. U and you know

there's just the never- ending limit of people that want to solicit stuff. I completely understand the the ones that do the the um yeah it's just that the door to door and we get blown up by him and Hullbrook gets I don't know if it's a chief here or not he's not here

no but uh he he gets hit with them quite a bit because the the last time we had put it out there we had approved a couple based on the ordinances that existed and we put something on their website or their their social media let people know that it is authorized and immediately the the uh comments weren't re weren't positive because and the yeah they do a great job out there, but they also get hit with it. And so, and a lot of times, um, the solicitors, in fact, will will they'll often comment, um, oh, well, you know, I've applied or the the the town said we could. Well, no, they can't. They didn't and and we don't. Um and so the after discussion with this trying to figure out how we can address the issue um you know the idea was is to just strictly prohibit the door-to-door solicitation other than those that are constitutionally protected. And with respect to the sidewalks the most of our sidewalks are 5 to 8 feet depending on what part of town you're at. Um the objective there is to not completely block somebody's ability to go by. Uh we have folks in town quite a bit that hand out religious material and that's perfectly fine. Um but it's just the ones that uh if someone is u I guess the scenario would be if someone's trying to sell you something that's standing in your way is what it's meant to protect. But again we're thankful that we don't have many of those issues but this is really meant to to stop those. So uh if we do have issues where we need to clean up the language um we can certainly clean up the language. I know we this is going through legal review, but

there's always Yeah, there's always I appreciate that. I It's something I think that we do need to clean the language up a little bit on that.

Um and I'm glad that the ladies came forward and brought this to our attention, but I don't think the ladies knew what the intent was to this first. Um it might be something that's going on that's not going on in you all's neighborhood that is going on elsewhere in the town of Abdon. And this is something that we are working on. And like I said, this is a first reading of this. Some of the language does need to be cleaned up and we will work on that. And you know, as far as I'm concerned, me on the council here, like this is something that, you know, we'll have a second reading on. I would I would like to have a second reading on with the language cleaned up to verify what exactly we are trying to get to the bottom of. And I I'm assuming that and this this is I I won't say I'm assuming. I'm going to ask the question. Um the five feet is probably because of ADA compliance, right? I mean, don't we have rules about signage and displays on the sidewalk that are similar?

Yeah. The sidewalks have to be a certain size and uh Yeah. Yeah. And you can't I know that we've run into this. We've discussed this before where people stores have had displays and we've had to ask them to move because they didn't leave enough space for somebody who might be disabled to get through. Yeah. And so when I read it, that's what I thought you were getting at. I And um you know I I know we certainly have to have rules and regulations, but we don't I've knocked a lot of doors in my lifetime. Oh, for sure. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's hard enough as it is, right? We don't want to make that any harder for

No. Absolutely. Yeah. Political and religious absolutely allowed. I mean, in fact, I think um one of the speakers knocked on my door a couple years ago. So, I mean, it's perfectly legal and perfectly loud. Uh the whole idea really was is the folks that are selling to the folks because they can really be really persistent. And you know, with the the review process we process that we have in place, we've had that for quite a number of years. But the uh the challenge is is that while some folks that sell things doortodoor or whatever are well-intentioned, other ones just really aren't. And we review every one of those ones before we grant the solicit before we would grant a permit. And some of the ones you honestly wouldn't want to knock at your door. And I'm I'm I'm all in favor of that because I don't want scammers in my neighborhood and I don't want scammers in neighborhoods of elderly people in the community that could take advantage of them.

And like I said before, I'm I'm glad that the ladies came forward today. But now you have a clear understanding of where we're going with this. There is some stuff that we need to clean up in this, but it's for a good cause. It's not for religious. It's not for political. It's for a good cause. It's to keep our community and our town safe from from people that are trying to take advantage of people in our community. And frankly, I would I love it when people come and um actually know what we're doing and have actually read the ordinances. It doesn't happen very often. And I think it's great when people participate because

so often people will ask a question and I'll say, "Well, we talked about that two meetings ago." And they don't they they completely missed it. So, I'm really glad you all came and brought your concerns. I think what we're saying is that that the purpose and intent of the ordinance is well intentioned. Yes. Uh to protect residents of the town. However, the way this ordinance is prevented is presented uh as mayor says needs to be cleaned up in some respects. I think that we need to to work on it more and I'd like to uh you know perhaps have some sort of a maybe not full counsel but individuals

some sort of a work session with you Mr. Cochran between now and the next meeting so that we can sit down and look at these issues. Yeah, absolutely. And I would say secondly, it brings to light the other comment that was made today. We absolutely, and I see the recommendation of administration to wave the second reading. We absolutely don't need to do that unless it's some dire emergency. Yeah.

And this is not a dire emergency. Well, we No, it's not a dire emergency, but um if we could get it fixed before the second read if it if it is pushed through today or passed through today. The the reason is we have several people that have inquired about getting solicitation permits. Understand? Yeah. And understand. Yeah. So, there's a there's a little time sensitivity there. Perhaps it's well intentioned, though. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. No. Yeah. Well, I mean, not everyone's a crook that applies for Oh, no. Yeah. Or permit. Yeah. No, no, I get it. But the ones that are applying are the ones that are we're also getting a lot of complaints on. It's Yeah. It's the same stuff where there was a message or a method to it. But if we uh Yeah, we can absolutely get together and clean up the language.

Sure. And yeah, part of it is because this ordinance was crafted to address the farmers market and other peddlers. And it's kind of an odd uh food vendors and food vendors. Yeah. So, it's it's it's uh it's not a standard straightup ordinance on peddlers and solicitors. So, it's kind of a And does it also involve protests or do we have different ordinances that involve um protests? That's a good question. Or or demonstrations or that sort of thing? Yeah, the the we have a different set of ordinances for that. Correct.

Yeah, I believe that. Yeah, because there's a there's a permitting process for that and they always get approved. The only thing that we will look at on that is the amplification sometimes because the um that can be loud and disruptive. So there's a separate thing for for amplification. Okay. I just wanted to clarify that point too. Yeah. No, we uh we have quite a bit of uh freedom of expression in town which is great because it's a you know it's part of what we have in America. So

well should we look at something uh more specific to the intention of this as opposed to this overall ordinance that we have here? What's the thought on that Mr. Coch? Uh, as far as Miss Paleium makes a good point that this is kind of an allincclusive ordinance that could apply to farmers market, could apply to protest, could apply to a lot of different things. Should we try to hone in on what the needs? What I would like to see looking at the this and the complexity of it is to break it out and have one that specifically addresses

uh what we're talking about. The rest of the stuff can stay. I agree. I'm all right with that, too. Yes. I I like that idea. And given that, we're going to Can we just pull this for today and represent on the third? Yes. Yes. All right. I don't want I don't like I'm not a fan of being overly restrictive, but I also I mean it's like being a parent. you have if you have exact rules and everybody knows what the rules are, then they're easy to follow and there's not any question and it it cuts off problems. No, I got you. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it makes sense.

So, I will uh get something together and get it to you and set up some set up a time. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So, with that, we'll move on to the second readings of ordinance and we have none of those today. no consideration of bids and um we had Mr. Sam West come up earlier with the new business. We have no old business today. Um we have miscellaneous business and communication from our town manager, Mike Cochran. I just wanted to point out in case you haven't driven it, uh Valley through Walden Road is finally fully paved. And

thank God, thank God I seen that. I seen that. I actually took a stroll Tuesday. I think it was Tuesday or Wednesday night after I got off work from the tavern and I was very pleased with the way things are going on Walden Road and Valley Street and I hope that you know our taxpayers and everyone that uses that road understand that there's still some work to be done but we are progressing in the right direction. Yeah. Thanks. No, and the um the one thing I want to say too is uh as I always joke about whenever you u pave you can look out for the speeding complaints.

Yes. Um we did have uh one one um speed sign, pardon me, the the one that was down there uh close to Leth Park and for some reason or another only certain months was mainly because it wasn't getting sunlight, pardon me. So we moved it down a little bit further so to separate it from the intersection. Uh and I just got the full read on that. So for a u from the 29th uh to the 19th so 20 days worth we had 9,000 cars and on a 24-hour day. So you had the the speed average was 24 and the 85th percentile was 28 and that's on the 25 road. So while there still may be one or two that goes above uh statistically that's a really good set of numbers and thankfully we have a pretty um you know folks drive pretty nice in town. But uh that's it. I was just glad they finally got it paved and glad they did it when the school was on break so we didn't have to disrupt traffic any more than than others.

Speaking of that, Mr. Cochran, since we approved uh our support of closing the road up near the high school for the roundabout, I know that's been sent to the state. Has there been any problem with the state in agreeing that that be done while school is out? No. No. In fact, they're out there. If you drive by, you'll see they've replaced some of the poles. They're doing prep work now. Yes. uh and and that is uh you know so I think it's not nearly as complex of a project as a lot of things we take on because they're not dealing with rock they're really just you know I think they'll do as much prep work as they can but I think they'll get it done I didn't get any push back on it to answer your question good thank you because if they did it was going to be

yeah any other anything else from you uh my oh I'm sorry no sir that's it thank you

okay um well I'm going to take the lead with a couple of if that's all right that we've got going on. Um, this weekend is going to be a busy week for Washington County and the town of Abdon as well. Uh, it is Emery and Henry's homecoming this week. So, we should have large crowds in for that uh in the town of Abdon as well as Glaz Mview area. So, um, if anyone doesn't have anything to do, please come out and support uh, our local college Emery and Henry with their homecoming. Um, it's also going to be Abington and High Schools. This is their uh homecoming week as well. I think they have a football game on Friday and they have the homecoming dance on Saturday night. Um, I know that there's lots of kids that that will be attending that. Um, there'll be people probably taking pictures at the Martha along through Main Street. Um, just people please have a caution out for the traffic. It should be heavy traffic this week in the town of Aden for those two things that are going on. Um, one thing that I also would like to say, I'm sorry I didn't get to attend yesterday, but um, we had a firefighter by the name of Chip McCall, a gentleman that I went to school with. Um, I apologize. Um, his funeral and everything was yesterday. And God bless Chip McCall's family and the friends of the fallen firefighter. And also uh my kids attend Watagi Elementary. We also got something going on out there this Saturday and that's going to be their fall festival and that will start at 400 p.m. and go till 700 p.m. Um if anyone doesn't have anything to do, I know Watag Elementary would love to have everyone out there. Be lots of smiling faces out there. So please keep that in mind as well too. And we're just a couple weeks away from our town trick-or- treat going on here. And what's the date on that?

25th. the 25th. And the time that that starts and ends is I think it starts at four o'clock and ends roughly at 7:30. Yeah. 4 to 6:30. 4 to 6:30. So, um, we got a couple of weeks for that. So, trick or treat. I'll pass it on to my fellow council members. Maybe Vice Mayor Austin, you have anything that you would like to to add? Yeah. The only thing I would remind folks of is uh Tuesday, November the 11th, we have the veterans ceremony at Veterans Park. It begins at 11:00. So, everyone is welcome to come out for for that ceremony on Veterans Day. Thank you for that reminder, Vice Mayor. Donna, do you have anything you'd like to add?

Thank you. Uh, Miss Amanda Pion, I do not. I think you covered it. All right. With that being said, we have no appointments to boards or committees. And with that being said, I'm going to close this session and call this meeting a journ. Thank you. Thank you all for coming out today.