Town Council - Regular Meeting

Just take a second and actually look at your cell phone and make sure it is fully on silent, not vibrate or some fancy ringtone that makes us all want to dance. Um, we just want to make sure we're respecting one another's and each speaker that's speaking. I do ask for your patience and understanding as council deliberates on various agenda items. We do have open public comment at the meeting. We have this at every meeting and the signups are encouraged and there's a signup sheet right up here by the podium. There are also two specific public hearings tonight and they have separate signup sheets. So, if you're here to speak for um regarding uh ordinance 773 or 772 as listed on the agenda, uh please sign up underneath of those specific signup sheets. We want to acknowledge the staff work in preparation for this meetings. Their insights are invaluable to each topic of town business and appreciate our town manager as we operate under the council manager form of government. Our town manager is Natasha Tucker sits over here and she handles daily operations in department administration while the town council provides direction and authorizes policy in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and our town charter. While each council member has the ultimate responsibility to contribute um respons to contribute, we also serve responsibly and ethically all the citizens of Colonial Beach. Participation from each member contributes to effective leadership. Collaboration is key to productivity in local government. We will engage in constructive discussion, remain open to different perspectives, and work together for effective resolutions. And finally, I remind us all that the meetings of the town council are formal proceedings and are thus recorded. And with that, I call the meeting of the Columbia Beach Town Council regular meeting for December 17th to order. and I got 6:05 p.m. for the record.

As I call the meeting to order, please stand with me for a moment of silence, which will be followed by the pledge of allegiance. To the flag of the United States of America to the stands nation. All right. With that, we'll have a roll call of members. All members with the exception of Miss Samford are here presently and she is on her way. Should be here in just a few moments. Um, so when she comes in, we'll make sure she gets added to the roll call. Uh, amendments to the agenda. Um, I don't have any amendments to agenda. Is there approval of the agenda as written?

So moved. Is there a second? Second. All right. Uh, all in favor say I. I. I. I. Any opposed? Okay. We'll keep moving forward. Consent agenda. We have several minutes. September October in both October meetings. Is there a motion for the consent agenda? So moved. Is there a second? Second. Any discussion? All right. All in favor of the consent agenda say. I.

I. Any opposed? All right, keep rolling. Everybody wants to have a merry Christmas. I can tell. All right, next up is our council member liaison and commission reports. And I know uh Miss Amber's running a little bit late. I'm definitely going to start over on this side with Mr. Wood and we'll see if she gets in here.

Good evening everybody. Um I want to wish everyone a merry Christmas. Happy holiday. Um, the Colonial Beach Police Department would like to announce that the annual holiday toy drive for the local kids will be ending uh this Friday, December 19th. The CBPD will be accepting donations of new unwrapped toys and gifts um when they will be distributed to local faith-based organizations for distribution to needy children. We're running a little behind this year. So, uh if we want to beat Mr. trivet. We have to get on the stick and uh get some donations done. Uh the police department is also pleased to announce their annual community holiday tree is up in the department lobby and everyone's welcome to stop by and place an ornament on the tree. Uh the department would like to thank all of you for your continued support and wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season. Uh in regard to the planning commission uh and community development, I'd like to congratulate uh the staff Melissa Bell and John Saudi on being awarded the title of certified zoning official through the Virginia Association of Zoning Officials. Uh the program focuses on the legal aspects of zoning and the technical aspects of zoning and zoning practices. members must be success must successfully demonstrate qualifications including passing technical and legal exams. Um their achievement reflects the town's continued commitment to deliver high quality access services to our residents and business community. There are 14 permits issued, two single family dwellings, three subdivisions, three accessory structures, one demolition, five tree removals, and one sign. So the average days uh to issue was under 27 days. Um extended days including waiting for customers to submit final approval uh plans, bond credit line letter and final boundary line adjustments. Uh the

December 11th meeting uh they voted to recommend approval of zoning text amendment subdivisions ordinance regulations. staff will seek authorization for town council public hearing for this and the other text amendment uh planning commissions recommended at the October meeting. Um the text amendments do not change the planning commission powers and there were some people who were concerned about that. That was never intended to be the case but it didn't change them. Uh and they will continue to review site plans for subdivisions with more than 50 lots and will continue to conduct public hearings for reszonings. Conditional use permits and plan unit developments. Additional language added to address phase developments. And the planning commission authorized staff to advertise a public hearing for planning commission to consider adding a communications facility, a cell tower in C1 with a conditional use permit. Thank you. All right, go ahead, Mr. Larson.

All right, happy holidays, everybody. Um, first I'll start with our NOS's tonight. Just want to highlight a couple. So, uh, our radio station 88.1 WW. If you haven't heard of it, uh, tune in. Uh, they're playing Christmas music from now through the holidays, and you'll hear music there that you won't hear anywhere else, including music from local artists, uh, Tyler Nichols and Sally Adams. And if that name sounds familiar because Sally is on the staff here at the town as well, runs our parks and recck department. Fantastic musician she is. I wanted to highlight one that I haven't really spoken about before. One of our NOS's, the Guadalupe Clinic. Uh they have been doing great work in the town. They just celebrated their 20th anniversary this year. And uh the work they do is is amazing. They they serve hundreds of clients every um every year. and thousands of of visits literally, right? So 2024 they had over 3,000 visits at a value of over a million dollars, right? So think about the the money that that saved for the folks that that um they visited the clinic. And in fact, most of them probably wouldn't have visited at all. So it's hard to put a number on on lives saved, but I believe they save lives because they make medical services available to people that couldn't otherwise afford them and probably would go without. So, um, yeah. So, in those 20 years, just a couple of more stats for for, uh, to sort of eyepopping stats, they've they've provided over $36 million in in medical services to the community. Uh, so, uh, great organization. If you have a chance to volunteer, you should. I know a number of my friends are volunteering there as language interpreters because there's quite a few non-English speakers that visit the clinic. Anyway, just wanted to call them out tonight. Uh finance report. Uh not a

whole lot here. Our utility bills are out and they are due uh on January the 1st. Uh penalties and interest start acrewing on uh February the 1st and then the normal PSA for the finance department. This really applies to any of your creditors. If you're struggling, reach out. They'll work with you, right? And that's that's true of of the town finance department. I used to work for Capital One. And it was true of Capital One. It's true of anybody that that you owe money to. Don't just kind of stick your head in the sand. If you're struggling, reach out. They'll typically want to work with you. Certainly true here in Colonial Beach. And that's all I have. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Williams.

Good evening, everybody. Um, since this is the last meeting of the year, I'll say merry Christmas and happy new year. As far as the schools go, um, I believe Dr. Dr. Ado will be here tonight, but um I did attend their meeting last Wednesday, so I'll just give a few highlights from my perspective and if Dr. Otto gives an update, um he can probably add to this. Um uh first off the a lot of times during the beginning of the meeting the school liaison for the elementary and high school come and speak and uh this past week uh the liaison for the high school had mentioned a few different things but one of the things he seemed pretty passionate about was uh adding a finance class. Um I I guess in the past it's been done pretty early on maybe in eighth grade or so. and he said that the kids later in their um high school career probably, you know, juniors or seniors would benefit more and actually benefit more from a higher um level of uh find personal finance. So, and myself, I personally recently discovered Dave Ramsey. So, I'm I'm still learning myself and you know, I'm definitely not a spring chicken anymore, but um so I think it's great that the kids are interested in something like that. It's well needed. Um Michelle Payne, uh she resigned at the last meeting. I know the mayor wants to probably say a word about that as well. Um but it was a lot of people that were surprised that she was resigning. She's served the community well for many years and there were a lot of sad people there at the meeting when she told them. So apparently it was it was a surprise to all there. Um they passed or they got their construction permit for the front entrance. So that'll be starting soon. Um they'll get they'll be getting a new bus in March. Uh the school did some safety training recently. Um they handed out a a draft budget

calendar. Um they're they're at 406% of their expenditures for this year. So they're on track. Um they they have a new I or AI proposal, artificial intelligence um guide, and they approved that. Uh, let's see. They got $27,000 grant from the VCSS. Um, they also got a $6,600 grant for training. Um, let's see. Both the high school and elementary schools are fully accredited this year. I think last year, I believe it was high school, but don't quote me on this, but one of them uh had conditions. So, the conditions were moved this year. So, so they're doing great. Um the uh there was I think one thing that they need to work on and that's uh the elementary um they had um some there weren't they were considered off track um when it comes to this um kids with disabilities. So that's something they need to work on. Um and then they also passed their eight $887,000 in expenditures a five to zero vote. And that's all I got for tonight. Thank you. Thanks, Miss Grandstaff.

Good evening, everyone. Reporting on behalf of the DCB. Um, a couple highlights. The tourism committee hosted West Morland County Economic Development Director Dale Henden for the December meeting. Mr. Henden discussed proposed plans for the counties and Northern X 250th celebration program and how Colonial Beach can be involved. The committee also began discussing options for a tourism promotion tagline. On the DCB economic vitality committee front, they attended the launch of the West Morland County business talk series and met afterwards to discuss opportunities to work with the county. The committee also briefly discussed the highlights of the connectivity study which Mr. Ruff from Timmans will present later. So I will let him go into more detail about that. Um that's it for those highlights and just look forward to continued um work on the front of those two entities and on that note I would say merry Christmas and a happy new year to everyone as well. Thank you.

Wonderful.

All right. Um good evening, happy holidays to everyone. Uh I just have two announcements for the parks and recck department. Um first, the town has brought back the light up the beach competition. Um, this I guess started a few years ago um and then dropped back off, but they brought it back this year. Um, so you can actually find a flyer for different houses that are listed um around town that are all lit up. Um, you can find the flyer on the town website. Um, if you click on the link that's labeled view map of all entries, they uh bring up a special Google map with all the entries and there's also a few additions. Um, and then also this year's winner is a G a Grinch themed house at 187th Street decorated by uh Don and Angela Deal. So congratulations to them um and hopefully they'll bring this back next year um and have even more entrance. And then also uh the Golden Shell hunt has been extended due to cold temperatures. So, the new final date to turn in your golden shells, uh, is December 21st. Um, and then you can turn them into, uh, Beach Paws, Boutique, Magnolia Hall, or the Cooper Branch Library for a one-of-a-kind artist decorated shell. And that's all I have for.

All right, Mr. Allison.

Good evening, everybody. Happy holidays. uh for the leaison for public works. Um we have a few highlights for the month. Uh infrastructure and utilities. Uh there were two installs. Uh six repaired water leaks. Um one inflow and infiltration issue repaired. Uh seven cleared sewer backups and clean and flushed approximately 2,000 ft of sewer main. That sounds terrible. uh wastewater treatment plant continued support maintenance and operational repairs. Uh streets uh ongoing ditch cleaning and rehabilitation for improved drainage and flood prevention filled potholes across town to maintain safe road conditions and prepared for the two snowstorms in including equipment and crew readiness. uh general services. Uh they finished installing the town's Christmas decorations, conducted yard debris pickup throughout town, and lastly completed the walk path at Eleanor Park. And I want to give a shout out to all the public works. Um they do a great job, especially in the uh snowstorms with the plowing in the streets. Uh normally we're cleared before anybody else is. We appreciate that. Thank you.

Yes, we're quite proud of it really. So, thank you for public works for that. All right, I got a few updates here. One, I just want to give a shout out to all of the kids, but especially the music teacher at Colonial Beach Elementary School. Um, they put on a one-of-a-kind Polar Express concert a couple weeks ago that was so well attended. I don't think the school was quite prepared for how many people love our kids here and wanted to come see them perform. Um, it was a completely packed house, uh, all the way to the perimeter of the room, standing room only, and the kids actually had to weave through adults, um, to perform. Um, but they did a great job, and I know that was a very large undertaking because it took almost all of the school staff to help coordinate also between all the kids in the classrooms and things like that. and it was open to um everyone's family and extended family in Colonial Beach. That often means your neighbors, your pseudo grandparents, your you know your real grandparents or anybody else. And um that really showed. I felt like our community came out um for that very strong and it was just a very um endearing expression of our uh holiday um cheer here in Colonial Beach as well as the Chamber of Commerce Town Winterfest which was frigid cold for it. Um in fact I had a cold and could not participate in the parade because I was already just getting on antibiotics. So, um, but we did do a tree lighting and I just want to thank the, um, uh, the Colonial Car Club that supports that event and all the people who donate to the raffle and the bikes and the things that are given out. Um, the police department also is there and supported the event and, um, brought their families and that was also just a very sweet um, part of our community.

Um, moving forward with stuff, just to thank the staff. We did a staff holiday party. It was fantastic. Susan, our was our HR department, the whole department is one person. Um, and uh, just kudos to Susan and please pass that forward to her. She's not here at the meeting tonight. Um, I also want to recognize the fire department for their support of all of the holiday events going on like our tour drive with the police department. The fire department also does um toys and they also host breakfast with Santa which is a wonderful event and those kinds of traditions um are just really special here to Colonial Beach. Um a couple years ago we also started to uh diversify somewhat and we um now light a monora if you have not noticed on town hill and um so kudos for public works uh which had to coordinate with some of the electrical issues uh with that but also um getting that done and lighting up our town in for everyone's holidays. Um um I do want to say a couple words as uh council member Williams um suggested that uh to thank Shelley Payne who is the chair of the school board for many years. It also came as a surprise to me that she resigned. Um and so I didn't get an opportunity to like make a formal recognition or something for her. Um I hope we do do that. She has served the school and the town um selflessly uh for a very long time and um through years of service to the school system and to all the kids that go through there even post having kids in the school has stayed committed to that part of our community. So we just really thank Shelley Payne for everything she's done over the years and um and I know she'll continue to serve in our community because that's who she is and she won't be able to help herself. Um,

and the last thing I want to do before I move on to town manager update was to see if you guys wanted to discuss the taking off uh January 2nd and the work session for our calendar. Um, just we can save it to the end of the meeting, but I just thought I'd go ahead and get that out of the way maybe. Um, our calendar has our January work session as the 7th and our regular as the 21st, but the week before is at New Year's Day and New Year's Eve, Wednesday, Thursday. And um I didn't know if we wanted to uh follow suit with Christmases and New Year's is just very odd this year that they both are falling on this Thursday and so that Friday kind of leaves it hanging and I didn't know if we wanted to authorize giving them off on Friday and cancelling the work session for us the following Wednesday since that would be right in the middle of everyone's holiday season. Any thoughts on that?

I concur. You concur. All right. Uh I'm going to take that as an informal motion then. Is there a second to that? And we can discuss it further if there's any objections to it. I'll second it. Okay. All right. What are we thinking, guys? So you you're proposing an additional day off for staff. Yep. On January 2nd and then that would also include cancelling the council work session. We just do the regular meeting on the 21st. Don't we have a lot of business we typically cover in January?

We have a lot of administrative business in January. Um, we could also have packets out two weeks ahead of time from that council meeting which would give us more time because it's just the bylaws. It's setting the calendar. It's doing the liaison. Um, it's a lot of administrative stuff. It can roll quick unless we are trying to change direction in major ways. But there's also the we typically have the um strategic plan. Strategic plan. There you go. There will be another meeting in January separately from these two meetings. Correct. Like it's not that we won't be meeting. It's just that you know

there would be three meetings in January and this will make it two meetings in January. Yes. Actually, as much as I love seeing everybody twice a month is just fine. So, uh I I think we'll have enough time to go through our business. Honesty, Mr. Wood. And so what are you proposing that we give an additional holiday? Don't they already get three days for Christmas? I know I get one for my work, but I guess we're unusual federal government. Um, but are you suggesting I am suggesting to give off the second?

I mean, I don't want to act like a Scrooge here, but I already mentioned last year it was a lot that they get three days for the Christmas season. So, I mean, I don't I don't support it. Yeah. In in all fairness, though, um because we can't afford to pay what other municipalities pay for staff, uh this is a pretty inexpensive way to show our appreciation and make sure that staff sticks with us. So, um I agree with you, M. Williams. I believe in doing things a cheaper way as opposed to expensive way. and giving these folks a day off is a cheaper way to show them our appreciation than money. So, I would be for it.

I'm with uh Mr. Williams on this. I don't think they need the extra day off. I mean, most municipalities are not going to be closed that day and they already get the three days off for Christmas. I think second not nec I don't think the second is necessary. Okay, that's fine. That's why we have discussion. Does anybody else have anything else they want to add to discussion? Okay. All right. I'll start with your sign. Mr. Wood, I Okay. Mr. Larson, hi. Mr. Williams, nay. Miss Grania. Nay. Miss Sanford? No. Mr. Alison?

I. I'm voting I. So, merry Christmas, guys. All right. And Heather, for your purposes, we will be planning the strategic action meeting in January. So, we will have to notice that and finalize a date for that, which I know we're working on, but we don't have a date yet. But, we need to let council know that date ASAP because we all do have other jobs also to coordinate that with and then put that in there. Got it. All right. Here we go. That will go to the town manager update.

Good evening, madame mayor, council members, uh members in the audience. Happy holidays to you all. Uh this month, my town manager report will consist of um just a little change this time around. Uh we will start with our economic development director, Charlotte Cole, who has some words on behalf of DCB. Then we'll move on with our sewer plant update with John Simmons, followed by our police department update with uh Chief Lson's and followed by Pardon. Got a promotion. Yeah, Chief Parsons.

You said Chief Larson. Oh, Chief Parsons. I don't think Larson wants to be the chief.

I would have been nicer to him if I knew he's going to become the leader. Chief Parsons. Um, and I will close up with brief updates on a few of our projects. Um, so with that, uh, Charlotte Cole, if you will come up. Good evening, Mayor Shik, Vice Mayor Allison, and council members, and everyone in the audience and at home. Thank you for the accommodation. Um, Natasha, I appreciate that. So, I'm Charlotte Cole and tonight I'm representing downtown Colonial Beach. It's the other hat that I wear, our Advancing Main Street organization. I'll only take a moment of your time, but I wanted to bring to your attention to the small packet that was just distributed to you. What you'll find inside is a wonderful little gift that is a collaboration between DCB and a member of our community, Aiden Test Trust.

Can we open it now? Oh, yes, please. With great fanfare,

Aiden Trest. Aiden can't be with us tonight because he came down with a bad cold and he did not want to share his germs on the brink of our Christmas holiday. Some of you may know Aiden as probably the youngest member of the Chamber of Commerce. Aiden started his 3D printing program up printing business when he was barely 10 years old. I was introduced to him this past summer and was immediately impressed by his business acumen and commitment to his craft. So, tonight with great fanfare, I'm introducing you to Kobe the Christmas Crab. Kobe came about as uh I was looking for a mascot and envisioned a playful, friendly crab, something fun and frolicsome that would honor our Ptoic River and Chesapeake Bay heritage. Never in my wildest imagination did I think that he would come to life in such a delightful way. And all credit is due to Aiden who designed and manufactured this whimsical wonder. As you know, the Main Street movement um main street America focuses on revitalizing downtowns by fostering local smallcale businesses and entrepreneurs like Aiden. Promoting entrepreneurship is a key economic development strategy for Main Street program such as DCB. So, we hope we will allow Kobe to become a part of your annual holiday tradition. In the coming months, you'll be seeing other versions of Kobe holding a beach ball, a sand pale, a boat, a starfish, any of those kind of things that are related to our beachfront, um, and other aspects of Colonial Beach. Um, we're going to deploy our new and beloved mascot throughout our marketing efforts for Colonial Beach. So, on behalf of Aiden and our entire DCB Main Street family, happy holidays to you all and all the best in the new year. Thank you.

Thank you, John.

Good afternoon, everyone. If you would please start on page two. So overall, we had a pretty quiet month at the wastewater plant. As you see there in the graph, the the flow is very low this time of year. It um if you go down to a little bit to the bottom there, you see the other graph compared to the other months. It um one of the issues that this does bring to treatment is we don't have very much food. I think we discussed this last winter. You know, treatment is doing well, but it is something that we keep on our radar when we start seeing flow this low, especially in the plants. this that's designed for 2 million gallons a day. Uh, next page, please. All of your general permit requirements are within limits. Everything looks good. It's uh really performing well at this time. Uh, page four. So, here, as you all know, is our nutrient limits. We uh got the nitrites down pretty pretty pretty far down from where we started the year. We're pretty happy with that. One thing that we are seeing already this month is the average is going to be well below a 3.0. So that's going to we're excited about that because of the WQIFF requirement. And in January we'll be we'll be submitting those final numbers to WQIFF and start the process of you know going through with them whether or not they're going to enforce another civil penalty for this year. We do expect them to work with us, you know, because we have managed to get those numbers down much lower by the end of this year. But overall, you know, the last three months are the best operational years that plant's had in quite some time. So, we're pretty happy about that. And the only other note that I have is we did start the camera work this week that you all had approved. That's going well and

we hope to continue through that until we get done. and we have no issue getting done with that before the required time. Any questions? Mr. Ryan? Um, yes. During the public works update, um, Mr. Allison mentioned 2,000 feet of sewer main. Is that part of the inflow and infiltration? That is not part what he had discussed. You know, they are going in and flushing out the lines and cleaning them before we camera, but what he said is addition to that. Have we done any of that work recently or is that

Yes, they started some of that yesterday. They've been out cleaning out the pipes ahead of the camera. You know, if you don't clean the pipes out, the camera can get stuck in the lines. We did try to do one line this afternoon that was not cleaned out before we started and we got the camera stuck. So, obviously, we got it out, but that that's pretty important that they clean those lines out before we do the camera. So, you'll be hearing about a lot more of that coming up soon. All right. Great. Thank you. Yes, sir. Any other questions? All right. Thank you. Okay. Chief Parsons.

Thank you, ma'am. Madame Mayor, members of council, uh to begin, I wanted to say thank you very much for your patience and understanding as we work through this investigative process. I fully appreciate the desire to have this matter concluded expediently. However, conducting a full and complete investigation takes time, and the gravity of this investigation deserves a fair and comprehensive investigation. I have recently spoken with the uh Virginia State Police BCI special agent in charge of this investigation. He advised me that he has completed several interviews and is working diligently to complete the remainder. Once he completes the factf finding process, he will compile all the necessary information in his report. And once he has completed the report, he will submit it to Miss Jane Writson, uh, the North umberland County uh, Commonwealth Attorney for her review. I have spoken with Miss Wrightson. I am confident Miss Wrightson will give the investigation her utmost attention and after consideration of the facts presented will render a fair and just decision on the next step in the investigative process. Once a decision has been made by the Commonwealth Attorney, the police department will continue its internal investigation, which focuses on whether the exhibited conduct com complied with applicable policy and practice. If any violations are identified, appropriate discipline will be administered. Again, I appreciate your your patience and I thank you all for your understanding.

Any questions? Do we have a ETA on the next update? Not at this time. I imagine at the next uh meeting I'll be able to provide something. Okay. Thank you.

Okay. just have a few brief updates on some of our projects. Um, everyone will very happy to know that we have the request for proposals and qualifications for the uh grant that we've received for the North Beach project. So, those um that solicitation is out on the street. We are expecting responses uh to be returned to us by January the 9th. Once we receive the responses, um we'll review and we'll empanel a selection committee um to review and uh score uh what we've received and I will report back to council um at that time. Aelia Park is moving along. Uh our public works director met with playground specialists. They've reviewed the park layout and discussed the land clearing details. Um we anticipate mid January um that the contractor will begin groundbreaking and uh start to clear that land out. This is the schedule for the ADA sidewalk repairs that I shared at our previous meeting. Um the next sidewalk that is scheduled on our list is one Irving Avenue. Um and that is scheduled to be completed at the by the end of fiscal year 26. We've requested a scope for the survey, design, and construction of the portion of that sidewalk um that we need to repair. And don't move yet. But lastly, I want

to you can go to the next one.

Yeah. And lastly, I am just so pleased um regarding this next update that I am about to give. So two and a half years ago when I first came to the town, it was one of my personal goals um for Colonial Beach to receive this prestigious award. We had won once before in the past and then a year or two lapsed and we didn't receive the award. So I made that one of my personal goals for Colonial Beach to receive um that award. The award is indicative of the hard work that our the department in question really puts into uh work. We know that we receive a lot of sometimes we don't hear the positives of all of the work that's done in the background. And so I just really want to take this time to let everyone know you can go on to the next one. um that our finance department and the town of Colonial Beach has received the Government Finance Officers Association Distinguished Budget Award. Um this is a national award that highlights uh the town's commitment to clear, transparent, and responsible budgeting and it really reflects the high standards that we uphold in serving our community. And so I just want to say thank you. um Lisa, and I won't name everybody else in the department because I will inevitably forget somebody's name and they'll be mad. But for all of the hard work um that you all have put into making this a reality and

congratulations. That note, that completes my updates. Need one more. All right. Wow. I feel like we should go to the audit next after that one, but we have instead the Timmans group scheduled. Oh, yeah, sure. Go ahead, Mr. Williams. Is there a place online where citizens can go and see the um solicitation for the North Beach?

Um I will provide that link. Um the Northern Neck um I forget the whole acronym. Yes, they um issued that for us, but I will get that link and I'll place that on our website so that the public can view it. Thank you, Thomas. Awesome. All right. Thank you. Welcome back.

Thank you, Mayor Counselors. Appreciate it. Appreciate being able to be back here uh wrapping up a project we started a little a little less than a year ago. So, really excited to be able to share this report with you, I think, as the the presentation comes alive. Um, so we've been excited to to uh to bring this bring this to life. We can probably start sliding or I don't know if I have power over the sliding or you do. There we go. So, uh, just to reiterate for for counselors, for you all tonight, um, part of the goals of this project and what you will find in the final report are these were the main goals from from, uh, kind of what was spelled out in the RFP and what's presented. So improving connectivity for your downtown, enhancing the pedestrian experience, develop wayfinding, uh identifying redevelopment opportunities, supporting tourism, engaging community members, and delivering a final clear plan. So uh five of those things were were were part of the project part process and one of those things was on us to make it clear and implementable. So hopefully uh you all will agree when you receive that that that everything followed along. Um, moving on to our kind of just again updating where we we started earlier this year. We've been kind of on uh here in the town uh a number of times both uh to make site visits, walk uh pretty much every sidewalk within the downtown area collect a lot of information and we've had a number of different stakeholder and engagement meetings and an online survey. So kind bringing all those pieces together in the final report. Um and again briefly I'll a lot of these are covered in the report uh which I think we'll all you know you'll be able to look through you can go to the next slide. Um but just uh again the goal here is we reviewed existing conditions that's both infrastructure uh market assessment and different development opportunities of parcels inside the

development area and then worked from there to create improvement opportunities uh for different different elements and and a market assessment strategy and that the plan also includes I think the key part there was the implementation strategies that's a big component of the the final product that was what downtown Colonial Beach DCB wanted which was a focus on implementation. And so about half of the report is truly uh listing a kind of conversation of what came out of our engagement sessions working with different stakeholders of recommendations and then ways uh different funding sources that match up with each of those recommendations uh and and ways for you to take the next step to uh pursue any of those. Uh and so that's that's where we went. Um next slide. Yeah. So again, just summarizing, we did we did hold a number of different uh stakeholder meetings. We had our uh uh DCB and other members here in this room back in June of 20 this this summer. Um and we had a a good gathering at the elementary school this fall. Uh had a good turnout and uh and then also opened the public survey for folks to kind comment on where the project was heading. There we go. Um and uh the the goal here the next step was our vision statement and that was workshopped with DCB and stakeholder staff. Um and it tried to try to bring all these pieces together. So if you go to the next slide, um we tried to bring together so downtown Colonial Beach will be a vibrant, welcoming and walkable destination where inviting public spaces and thriving local businesses create a year-round hub for residents and visitors by strengthening multimotal connections, enhancing the public realm and encouraging thoughtful redevelopment. The town will celebrate its unique waterfront character while building a

resilient people focused economy and community. Uh so again that's pulled from the words that were you know kind of the the spirit that that was told to us from DCB from stakeholders from the public at our our outreach events. And again um the goal there is just again put that all into one nice concise place for how we come up with with different ideas. Um next slide. Uh so again as I mentioned there is there are probably north of 50 different elements within the table that we've created. Um we've I've included this slide for you all to to just make sure is is just calling out how we've laid out ways to approach each of these recommendations. So again strategies funding mechanisms that we think the town is could be successful in pursuing uh who's responsible for making those decisions. Some are private private focused, some are council focused, some are staff focused. Um, and that's trying to to kind of spread that out. So there's different different avenues that this uh the strategic plan could move forward. Um, so next up, um, I would say the number one, and it was it was, uh, nice that Natasha just presented some great photos and the plan for the sidewalk rehabilitation that's going on, but I would say that is something there's a reason we mentioned walkable in that vision plan. There's a there's a reason that came up uh repeatedly through uh almost every one of our conversations was how to improve the pedestrian experience uh in downtown Colonial Beach and how that impacts what people see when they come when they first show up, what happens when they park their car and try to walk around to different businesses or activities is that that infrastructure. And so, um, I'm not going to go through each of these, but certainly, um, there are a number of those elements, uh, on that walkability side that that we've

identified. Um, I think you'll in the in the next, uh, slide, we've got we've got maps within there within the the plan that talk about the quality, kind of what our what what our side visit found with the quality. It kind of mirrors many of the different elements of the ADA plan, but again focused just on the downtown uh Washington and Colonial uh portions. Uh the next uh next element was placemaking and wayfinding and uh so there were a number of different elements uh of actually of implementing the wayfinding signage that we had a long conversations about wayfinding signage consolidating using what the town has already paid for with uh if you go to the next slide there there are already uh kind of created elements and actually implementing consolidating taking down signs that are duplicative and and a number of different pieces like that. Trying to again make the the the visitor experience a little more straightforward and uh and focused and using information you all have already spent money and time to create. Uh next slide. Um, so a number of economic development strategies. We did look in the report and again this is a there's a detailed element to this this report which was reviewing all of the parcels within the downtown Colonial Beach area looking at them from uh their land value versus the built the property value the actual constructed value whether there was any improvement or no improvement the zoning and a mixture of that to to really review locations um that could be developed or could be a good place to spur development. And that was part of the plan all along was to find those areas, call attention to them, so either the town can know that or outside folks can look at this plan and say, "Hey, there's a parcel that's that's ripe for for use." And that's that was one of the goals of uh of bringing that to the forefront with this

project. And uh again, yeah, so we've got a couple, you know, the implementation, right, is there's there's an effort to there's there's some things that can be done in the first year and um I think maybe take a go to the next one there real quick. So this is this is what we kind of have drafted up and um there there's a lot of things within this report as always, right? uh some of these infrastructure elements, some of the the different elements will will take time and so we we understand that and that's why we tried to lay out a a a game plan uh for the town to pursue those different funding strategies. Um I think you know there there are a number of different strategies that can leverage the funds that are already being spent on sidewalk uh improvements. You can leverage that with with VOTE funding in in a several different ways. Um there are a number of DHCD grants that can also leverage the funds that you have to continue. Uh and so again looking to those there's a and then there's a there's a few other pieces that we have kind of we've called out um both in the plan and kind of here just to give uh you all a chance to say okay are we are we taking steps to implement this? I think that's our hope with uh TCB and the and the town is you guys have something you can start on day one looking through this right the calendar starts January you guys were all talking about your calendar coming up you know uh grant season is all the time now um and there are uh constantly I know I I mentioned at the very bottom the build build grant that's a federal grant that funds uh any number of things and so uh that's open that that open just last week, right? That uh I've been working in the industry for a while and and we used to have it it was kind of a little little more scattered. But now every month there is a different grant out there. And I know that was part of our effort was trying to give the town

the information of this is what you wanted to do. here's the grant programs or here's the funding programs that you can do and and kind of start getting getting your slots ready and and making that those those pitches as you're going. Um, so that is all that I have. I'm certainly happy to take any questions, but I know Natasha is going to send the plan if she already has it to to everyone for kind of make a final public release and we'll put it on the website. Okay. Yeah. Will there be any printed copies there? There can be certainly, but I'll we can coordinate with

Right now it's just a PDF, but it certainly can be we yeah whatever the the town would like. I think it would be good for especially for a foyer officer to have in the planning department to have at least a couple printed copies around the office too. Sure. You know, um assist with some collaboration sometimes informal that happens in that way. Okay. Yeah. I'll coordinate with Natasha. Are there any other questions? No, I'm looking forward to seeing the full plan. You kind of gave us a little preview, so we'll see. I'm excited about reading the whole thing.

Awesome. Well, I appreciate you all and I do appreciate the town for We did have a lot of good feedback from stakeholders and from the community engagement throughout. So, appreciate everyone being excited about taking next steps. Is Charlotte excited? Okay, she got a thumbs up. So there you go. Appreciate it. She's gonna have a lot of work in front of her, I think. Thank you very much. Okay. Thank you. All right, Mr. Hawkins. Welcome.

Good evening, members of the council and mayor. Thank you for having me here this evening. Um here to present the the financial report for FY25 and audit results. Um, first off, I was very impressed with the preparation by the town and school board this year. Uh, we were able to We won the budget award. What's that? We won the budget award.

But, uh, yeah, we were able to hit the ground running and and and um it was a very very good process. So, um, I hope everyone has a hard copy of the report in front of them. uh this is kind of customary with when I do these presentations, I've kind of just flagged a few key pages to go over with you. Um there is also a PDF uh in circulation as well. So keep in mind if you are watching this and and and looking at a PDF version, when I say a page number, I'm talking about the the hard the hard copy number at the bottom of the page, not not the PDF number. So uh page one is where is where I always begin and that's our auditor's report. And um within that auditor's report, the first paragraph you see is our opinion on the financial statements. That's really the whole the whole purpose when you do an audit is is you know the financials are are at the town and the school board and our job as auditors is to give an opinion on those financial statements and and the opinion that that we have is an unmodified opinion which means that based on the testing that we've done as your auditors, you can rely on the financial statements that follow this to be materially correct. Uh new paragraphs this year at the bottom of page one. Uh we did have a change in accounting principle during the year. A new accounting standard went into effect on compensated absences. It was Gatsby number 101. And so for those that don't know, compensated absences are essentially like your acred leave, vacation, sick leave. Um and it used to be that there was a liability calculated in this report and you would take everyone's available hours that they had as of the end of the year. You'd multiply it times what you would consider their hourly rate and you come up with a big liability. And if everyone left the town on June 30th or July 1st, this is what we'd have to pay everyone. That's how you calculated that liability. And uh what Gazsby 101 did was it changed that and it's not so simple anymore. You kind of have to take into account um what's most likely to be used during the year. Um and so um it uses kind of just now you have to kind

of go use some historical data to to calculate what this liability is. So that was a big change for this year. And so there was a restatement related to that as well. Um not only do you have to calculate what it is at the end of the year, you have to calculate it at the beginning of the year so that you have a good apples to apples between the beginning and the ending of the year. So that was um one of the last big hurdles as we um approach the finish line with everything. Page nine is the next page that I flagged and I always go here just because um it's where you see your general fund and I think everyone on council's familiar with our general fund. Um, and so what our fund balance is in that general fund specifically. And so exhibit five shows where you started and where you ended uh with your general fund balance. And so with column that first column on exhibit five on page nine, if you look at the bottom, you began the year with about $5.5 million of of general fund balance and you ended the year with about $6.3 million of general fund balance. So, um, it's about a $750,000 increase in general fund balance for the year. And of that $6.3 million, if we flip back to page seven, um, a vast majority of that number is unassigned. Um, so you see that same number, first column, general fund on exhibit three, page seven, that $6.3 million of that, 5.6 of that is unassigned uh for use at the town's discretion. I'm going to jump much farther ahead in the document now to page 86. And that is the report that we that we issue for the internal control testing and state compliance work that we do for the town. And if we had findings to report based on that internal control testing and state compliance testing, we would identify those findings in this report. Uh we do not have any findings to report this year.

And on page 88 is our report and our opinion on the federal compliance work that we do for the town. Um if we had federal findings to report, we would identify those within this this section. Uh we do not have any federal findings to report um in this year's audit. And the last page I'm going to go over is page 94. Uh last year we did have a finding to report um from that first section that we talked about the internal control and state compliance. Uh we did have a internal control finding to report. Last year it was 2024-00001. This is the page where we identify prior year findings and what what the status of those prior year findings are. Are they still active or have they been corrected? And there was corrective action on the finding that we had last year. If you remember, the school board had some issues with payroll withholdings and and distributing those um to the necessary entities, IRS and Commonwealth of Virginia. Um we did not uh note any problems with that during fiscal year 25. So that was corrected and and and things were were um procedures put in place to prevent that from happening. So glad to try to answer any questions that you have for me.

Are there any questions right now? I know we'll probably sit with this and we may have questions through staff afterwards. Sure. Yes, Mr. Williams. Just a general question. Um, do you have any suggestions as we're going through this? I mean, this is not my first rodeo on these, but you know, this is a almost 100 pages of information. So, I just want don't, you know, just want to gloss over it. Is there anything in here, you know, that we should focus on as council members, community, residents as we're looking through the town's overall financial health?

Uh, you know, that the that first page we looked at, the general fund is is a is, you know, that's a good look to see how our general fund looks. I'll also say um let me just go to exhibit 12 is pretty useful especially as when you're in budget season um just because that shows you kind of a budgetary analysis uh for your revenues and in your expenditures. What page is that on? That would be page 71, exhibit 12. I think that's a pretty useful

pretty useful page um and look and looking at how you performed actual versus your budget for the year. Okay. We've been having a lot of analysis with Davenport as well and so have a pretty good uh packet of information from them on financial standin and the unassigned balance and what we're going to do with that and policies financial policies around that as well.

Okay, I guess that's all I had for now. Um I think that's great that we got rid of our finding. Um couple years back we had incon internal control um questions. Perfect there now. No no no no issues at all. Nothing nothing that rose to the level of needing to to nothing in the report. Um if there were anything that we came across, it would have been very minor that was just communicated with staff. But yeah, it was it was very good audit. So we're good with separation of duties. I think that was the main thing. Yeah. Well, that was Yeah, that was a few years ago when we first started doing the audit. That was kind of a carryover thing. And then a few years ago that was kind of addressed um to to try to see what the town could do to remove those and successfully was able to had those removed from the report.

Great. Thank you. Y any other questions? Okay. Thank you so much. Thank you. Have a nice evening. Yeah, you too. Let everybody know at Robinson Farmer and Cox that we won the budget award. Aaron, please. Next up, Dr. Adto. I think you came in just a couple minutes late, but uh Mr. Williams gave a good thorough update from the school board, too. So, we'll all ready for you.

Well, excellent. Thank you so much. Well, good evening, uh, Madame Mayor, council members, and all present tonight. I do first of all want to extend warm greetings, uh, for happy holidays and merry Christmas, and I have to, uh, give kudos to Mr. Williams. I I heard the last part of your comments and, uh, I might as well sit down. You did a fantastic job. Uh, and I do have a few things that I I want to share uh with the mayor. Y'all represented the school very well, but as always, uh, my gratitude goes out uh to our schoolboard members for their leadership and commitment to kids. Uh, my gratitude also goes out uh to our principles, leadership team, teachers, and support staff. Thank you all for our parents for their support in reinforcing teaching and learning at home. And last but not least, I do want to uh thank you guys, the town council members for your support and commitment to our kids of uh Colonial Beach. Our kids needs to see and hear uh that adults who lives in the community care about them and that that's very important. uh our community, our daily lives are better when kids are doing well socially, physically, emotionally and psychologically also uh academically. Again, thank you for your support in this journey of uh making sure that our kids are growing up in a positive environment. As most of you guys know, uh, VDOE released their 2025 2026 school accreditation and accountability uh, last week and, uh, it was already mentioned, but I I'll give you a little bit more of, uh, some details. Uh, both

the schools, uh, CBES and CBHS are fully accredited and that that's huge. Uh, because, uh, the staff, they have been working very hard. That means overall our students met all the requirements set by the state by using multiple measures including academic achievement uh which is just mastery of uh uh what has been set in terms of uh uh curriculum growth readiness and then preparation for the future in the area of accountability which is the performance category and now this part is uh new uh for us this year uh CBHS has received a designation of distinguished and that is the highest honor you can get uh in the state which means they're exceeding expectations and CBEES received a designation of ontrack but due to group uh our students with disabilities that did not meet that threshold uh we were knocked down one to off track not mean now that doesn't mean that the school didn't do well that school did exceptionally Well, uh we we just have some a little things to work on, some things to to address, and I I think we're on the right track in in doing that. Uh both of our schools are excelling um at a high rate. Uh I am truly extremely proud of Mr. Lush, high school principal, teachers, and staff, and I have to give the kudos to them. Uh from where they have been in the past several years, they were accredited with conditions. Uh conditions meaning you're not meeting. We're going to let you slide this time, but you got a lot of work to do. Uh to go from a credit with conditions to being distinguished is is a high honor. They have worked very hard for that. So, congratulations to uh to them. Also, this past uh week, uh we

were able to uh recognize and award uh congratulations, I should say, to Miss uh Miss Nicole Mitchell, who was uh awarded the teacher of the year for the elementary school. Uh also, Miss Danielle Fitzpatrick was a classified employee of the year for uh elementary school. And then moving on to the high school, congratulations to Miss Jolie uh Pastori who was the teacher of the year for the high school and Miss Maxine Campbell who was a classified employee of the high school. Uh and then a huge congratulations goes to uh Miss Jolie Pastori, excuse me. Uh when we have the elementary teacher of the year and high school teacher of the year, uh the school board office, our task is to select one teacher for the district who will then compete for teacher of the year for the state. Uh so I'm I'm happy to say that Miss uh uh Jolie Pastori was selected as a teacher of the year for the school district and now the next step is that she's going to compete for the teacher of the year for the state. So we're very excited about that. Uh moving on to the elementary school. As um uh the mayor mentioned, we had a a wonderful uh course concert. It was huge. Uh it was uh a surprise to us of the attendance. I think the line was wrapped around uh the building. Uh and it it took a very long time for folks to get in. Uh kudos to Miss Alieri who put on first year music teacher and she put on a great show. Uh we we are going to have another one this spring. So if you missed this fall one, uh make sure you s come and check it out in the spring. I don't have the dates yet, but uh it's to be announced uh soon. Uh I should

mention also that we are excited that uh Lancaster Public Schools uh sent a team of educators uh to our elementary school to observe how one of the programs that we have, which is HMH, and how to teach it uh for reading. uh because our kids are excelling in that area and we have been recommended by the HMH company that we are exemplar that folks needs to come and see what we're doing because is is uh uh producing some dividends. Uh so we are very proud of that. Also uh students at uh the elementary school continue to demonstrate characteristics of uh drift of pride and are rewarded uh in the assemblies. Uh obviously we had some assemblies today to give Joseph pride and then students of the month. And moving on to the high school, we are very proud of Zachary Papa Nicholas. Zachary had the opportunity uh to attend a workshop for schoolboard representative uh with VSBA in Williamsburg. Uh he was there he was there the whole day. Uh and according to him he he was around very smart kids uh a lot of smart kids and he learned a lot uh coming back. So he he has a lot in his tool bag now uh to represent and and bring the perspective of the student uh body uh to the school board and we're excited that he had opportunity to uh to participate in that leadership uh workshop. Uh we were supposed to have a talent show tomorrow that has been uh postponed. So stay tuned for more of that. Last year's talent show was great. I think the high school is now working on the science fair and some art opportunities for the second semester. A huge shout out to our academics scholastic team that is uh headed by Miss uh Reynolds.

And I must say at at today as of today we are 14 and 0 uh uh with with two more uh matches left and then uh they will automatically qualify for the region uh but we we still try to win the district. Uh these are some of our our smartest kids. Uh if you ever seen a scholastic bowl uh you will be impressed of some of the facts that they can regurgitate. uh so fast. Uh but kudos to them. They went to a VCU winter tournament uh at VCU with 27 school districts and their record when they came out of there was seven and one. Uh so uh we were very proud of their performance and I want to give a shout out to to the team. Uh if you don't mind I I like to highlight their names. David Allen, Noah Foster, uh Parker Nel Melson, Kayn Meer, Troy Daly, and Cararissa Christensen. Uh they have been uh fabulous and we are very proud of them. And finally, uh just to let you know a little bit about uh some of our short-term projects. We met with uh con uh contractors today and also Ashley and McGro just to a pre-construction meeting first with the three and a tenative start day for our front entrance for the high school and renovation of the main uh office will be uh next month maybe mid to late January is is a start day so and the completion time frame is 6 months u so uh just to give you a little bit of that also our schoolboard parking lot is is within that same time frame. And we are also excited that we received a security grant uh the second one uh to do uh some exterior doors for the high

school uh especially in the in the back. Uh so uh uh Chief Parsons will be happy that uh those doors are not propped open and we we getting calls uh those double doors sometimes they do not latch uh when someone goes out of them and and they're left open and it's a security uh hazard. Uh so when we applied for the grant, that's what we applied for and it was given to us to use it uh for that. I think it was in the amount of uh $48,000 I believe something like that. Uh it comes with a 20% match of course. Uh so uh we'll we'll take care of that. Uh and that's uh that's all that I have for you unless you have any questions for me.

Yeah, Mr. Wood. Congratulations on all the accomplish accomplishments over the past year. Uh it wasn't always so, was it? Uh you've had some trying times up to this. What is it that you guys are doing differently now to have such tremendous results as opposed to times past? To be honest, we it always comes down to to people, okay?

Uh to to teachers uh to to their commitment and then to create an environment that people like to work in. uh where you do that and you couple that with some of the uh researchbased strategies that work for kids uh uh sometimes it proves to be golden uh if I'm answering your question uh other words are you talking about academically or some of

actually it it's it's obviously a culture change right and part of what you described is giving quality people a quality place to work and using anal analytics to see what it is that the kids need. And I I'm just thrilled that you guys have been able to put together a year of success like this. We wouldn't thought this possible several years ago. And I want to thank you and your staff and the kids for everything you've done. It's been incredible. Well, thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? With that, I'll say merry Christmas. You too. and happy new year. Safety. Safety.

Next up, Mr. Trivet. Welcome. And you we have several guests also associated with the West Morland County staff. So, you want to start us off and then we'll go. Well, actually, thank you, Madam Mayor. I was going to ask you was there any if you would mind if Dale Henden came up first our economic director and then uh and Chief Burden and then I'll probably explain to you at the end why I asked you to move it if it's necessary but sure if that's good and you don't mind. Thank you. Not a problem. Welcome Mr. Henden.

Thank you very much for having me. Madame Mayor, members of council, good evening. Uh, and so for the record, I am Dale Henden, economic director of West Economic Development Director of West Morland County. Um, and it's a sincere, it was my sincere pleasure to join the West Morland County team um, on August of this year. I regret it has taken me uh, this long to stop by for a formal introduction. Um, but I can tell you that we've been hard at work on the county side. Um, so it has not been a time of of a respit for us. Um, so I come to the county with 15 years of uh, public sector and public sector adjacent experience. Um, by way of introducing kind of myself a little bit because I sincerely believe that personal relationships are vastly important. Um, I also have my my wife Caroline and and two daughters that couldn't make it tonight. Um, but they're a big part of what we do and as I'm cating around town um and talking to you all on occasion, they will certainly be part of uh part of that experience as well. Um, so I'm fortunate that uh my first time in West Morland County and and even in Colonial Beach happened well before taking this role. Um and this has afforded me personally to pick um uh the place uh that that we we being my family uh want to uh create and help develop our communities. I sincerely appreciate the unique culture and the entrepreneurial spirit here. Um it's it's really interesting and rare to see this type of entrepreneurial spirit. Um, I think there's ways to harness that and leverage that and make it make it a really wonderful systematic thing. But I want to tell you I've got something very unique in that in that aspect. So before I share a little bit about the current efforts, I also want to thank Supervisor Trivet um for his leadership and steady steady support um on strong uh county town relationships and partnerships. Um

I appreciate the emphasis on the practical uh team-based approach. Um, and I think we're going to see a lot of benefits uh from that. Um, I also had the pleasure of sitting down with Miss Tucker and Miss Cole uh during my first days on the job. Um, Miss Cole and I continue to have a near daily dialogue and I do mean near daily. Um, sometimes it's hourly. Um, and I can assure you, um, uh, even though there may not always in every situation, um, be perfect alignment, that, uh, I am committed to a partnership first mentality, um, with the town. And, and most importantly, in my opinion, I've already had the opportunity to meet with several of several of the businesses located here in the town. Um, and you have my firm commitment to keep that dialogue going. Um, and to work with those businesses across uh, here and across the county. So, while this is not a comprehensive list, I'm going to highlight um two uh what I think are important programs or initiatives that we'll be working on in 2026. Um and again, importantly is as is part of our partnership as well. First is the VA250. Um this is America's 250th anniversary. Um and that's happening in 2026, which is not very long from now. Um and uh so it is a unique and time-sensitive opportunity to really elevate the county as a whole um including Colonial Beach as a heritage retail and waterfront destination. Um so our focus is um not just on um developing a celebration of the 250th that's awesome and fun but on developing usable tourism assets. This includes programming, visitor engagement, market ready content, and partnerships that will translate into measurable measurable visitation increases in local spending. Um, so the goal is to ensure we are positioned prominently uh in the region and statewide story. I have shared uh some comments with the West Morland County Board of Supervisors on

December 8th uh regarding some of the 250 action plans on the county side. Feel free to grab that. Um I have also shared uh shared with staff a memo um and that PowerPoint outlining some of those concepts in greater detail. Um so that that can certainly be available to you all. The second um and something you may not be as directly familiar with is our upcoming site inventory work. Um so we being the town and the county partnered to secure some funding um for uh site inventories. Uh this is a foundational economic development program. So this includes building a clear incredible pipeline of business sites um that are truly market ready. Um so this is about aligning utilities zoning um addressing access, alleviating constraints so that businesses and investors can choose West Morland County. the the line that I had said to the go uh the go Virginia council whenever we were requesting this funding was if a business a wonderful industry came to West Morland County and said hey let's locate here tomorrow I would have to look at them and say good years out

we're going to do the best we can to close that gap so whenever it comes time for attracting larger employers into the area we have the sites and all of the assets that's ready to go. Um so these are typically around 25 acre sites. That's generally the state standard um for these business ready sites. Um and we're going to be working together over the the next year um with you all being on the advisory committee for that to identify some of these sites in the county. I'm happy to take any questions you have. Um and I'm available for direct follow-up as needed. Um, and again, I sincerely thank you for the opportunity to quickly share an update um, and reiterate uh, my personal commitment and the county's commitment to our mutual success.

Well, welcome and I look forward to getting to know you better. I know we haven't had a chance to meet as um, much as you know, you've been on the job for a while, but we've missed each other at a couple things. So, yeah, appreciate it and thank you for coming tonight. Is there any other questions right now? Okay. All right. Appreciate your time. Thank you, Chief Bird. Welcome back,

Madame Mayor, members of council. Um, I'm here tonight to actually talk briefly about two programs um that we've developed and share some insight on why we developed these programs. Uh, so I'm going to start with uh the first, which is the C team, and I know Chief Parsons is going to be really happy. him and I have been discussing this for about a year now. Um, so to understand this is understanding the fundamentals of of West Mullen Emergency Services. And I I get this question quite frequently of, you know, I see the patch on your arm. I see the side of the truck. If you've seen our new mobile command asset that falls under emergency management, that looks completely different. What is it that you all do? So, it's actually it's multifaceted. We are one agency under with with three divisions that fall under us. So EMS is the obvious one that you see the most of. The red ambulance is transverse in the county. And then where I spend 85% of my time now is the EM. I'm kind of a one-man band. I have a part-time person. Um radios as I work with the chief quite often on falls under EM. And then mobile healthc care is the third pillar of of those divisions. So with that um when we brought back EM under the cover of emergency services, we wanted to bolster it and support it in case of disaster or the unthinkable. Um so with that over the last year, we've taken uh some major strides. If you were at Bikefest, you saw a green and white trailer with a bunch of antennas. That's our mobile command asset that falls under the EM division. Um, quickly it has become realized that during a disaster, it's us, it's it's me or us as a department. And 40 of the 46 people that work for us, their primary job every day is EMS. They're paramedics, their EMTs, and depending on the circumstance, I still wear a paramedic patch on my arm, and it could be me as well in that role. So, we wanted to bolster this and not um request a great deal of funds to do it

all at once. So we actually adopted uh a model that has been around since 1985. And with EM there are two things. There are two areas that you look at. You look at California and you look at Florida. Earthquakes and hurricanes. The one of the largest the two largest disasters that you can do that affect the most people. So in 1985, Los Angeles Fire Department, they developed the community emergency response team. In 1993, that was adopted by FEMA. And then when the homeland security was developed in 2002 post 911 they adopted the model and created the training. So what is C? If somebody wants to volunteer their time participate in the EOC participate in tabletop exercises, communication drills events like bikefest um ham radio operators. We do have an ACS component here in the county. um they can actually have a dual purpose and function under there and it allows folks to come in if if they don't want to do EMS, they they want a way to give back their time, it's a way for them to do that. So, how do folks do that? All the training is online. It's done through FEMA. It's self-paced. It's free. It's free for them. Um we we're actually going to start in January. The county just launched their website on the 10th of December. uh the application will be there along with the completely built out description of exactly what it is and what available roles will be will be open to them to apply to. So over the next 3 to 6 months um I hope to be back with some great reports on that. I know I've had some discussions individually about tabletops u to really involve these folks and bolster our em capabilities um with folks that want to give us their time and anybody that wants to give us their time we are more than willing to have them do that. Uh so that is the C program that is the first piece of this and I'll be happy to take any questions at this time regarding that.

No. Okay. part two of this. Um, this one is is very near and dear to me. Um, I stand here today uh quickly becoming a middle-aged man. Um, and everything I have in life is because a volunteer organization took a chance on a 15-year-old kid 20 years ago. Um, that's where I started, deputy chief, uh, the deputy chief of the department, Chief Matthew, she started with, so we both have very, uh, vested roots in in volunteerism. Uh so we took a step back and and we developed a program within West Mullen County um that is overseen by our department, West Mullen Emergency Services. Um it's a volunteer contingent. So if we have anyone in the county that has is an EMT, has EVOC, uh or or wants to do that, we have an avenue for those folks to travel now to come and give us their time. Um it's a lot to us. It means a lot to us. volunteerism. The the agency I represent today was built on the back of some absolute EMS legends in the county. Um, and I'm going to segue for a minute and I I promised her when I did this and asked her to come that she wasn't going to have to speak and I was going to try to to keep it to a dull roar. One of those legends is right over my left shoulder sitting in the bag in the far back. And if you didn't know it, because the humbleness that comes with Pat Fitzgerald is absolutely astonishing. I wish and I hope sincerely that I can help a fraction of the people that she has. And I I sat in the back when I when I did this and I said, I just want to look for the last five years uh of how many calls she's run. And I stopped after two years and was at 1,400. Um, so I I don't know how many over the 50 years joining Colonial Beach Rescue Squad in 1976, how many tens of thousands of people that she has helped.

It is a household name. That is 50 years of continual service. She is the longest standing continual volunteer in the region. Um, awards, I don't think a tractor trailer would haul them into into this room here tonight. Um, so with the development of uh the volunteer contingent upon in West Mullen underneath of our our department, um, I spoke with Supervisor Trivet, county administration, and we felt it more than appropriate to offer, uh, Pat a life membership into ours as the first actual member of the department. So Pat, I promised you I would keep it keep it low and not to make you cry, and I hope I did that. Um, but I I would like to congratulate her and uh all of her accomplishments and to make sure that that stays around for a for an eternity. So, uh, if you would join me,

I know I I almost kept my promise to her. Um, but uh, yeah, we absolutely. Um, so you know, again, if you have any questions about uh, you know, the search team or or the volunteer EMS program, I'd be happy to answer your questions. Yes, sir. When you mention this C team, is that just for EMS or could it be for other emergency type service? No, no, no, no. That's two two completely different things. Um, sure, you can have folks that do that function in both realms, but um, the Cert team is specifically for emergency management function. Okay. Thank you. I hope Mr. William signs up for it. He has a lot of experience. We'll take it.

And the application for you said the search team stuff is already on the website. No, it will be January 1st. That's probably one of the leading questions I get is, "Hey, I went to check it out. I did this presentation uh in November for the board." And uh when we did it, I I didn't say how to sign up. We had discussed putting it on the website. We're about seven days into the new launch. So in January, we plan on going live with both programs. when you push it out, we'll try to push it out uh with you. Absolutely. And then the volunteer program also for information on that or how to get in touch or how to become a member of continuing to volunteers. A lot of

people have been volunteers. Maybe that co changed so much of the volunteers and maybe they're ready to step back into it too and some of those changes. How do they get or what's the same way the same manner they'll they'll both be in tandem on our website and when I do that I'll make sure that all the information gets up to and they'll be clear emergency management absolutely okay yes ma'am thank you very much very exciting both programs all right well thank you all so much have a very merry Christmas and happy new year thank you madame mayor I don't know about her but I want to cry myself I want to give her a hug hug right now. I know. I want to walk right back there.

That's why I I I kind of, you know, I spent some time with Pat today and, you know, I'm going to speak about the squad in a few minutes. Um, not because I want to, because I think it's imperative, because of allegations that are being made and things that are being said in the public um, about not only me and the county and you and all of us that are I could use some pretty bad words, but I'm just going to say they're inaccurate. Um but um anyway, it's just sad when you try to do everything for a community and you know this kind of thing happens and and I feel for Pat. Um, I love you Pat and uh you know that organization 75 years and and she's been there almost the whole time and and I was in the organization when Annawren and Carlton was living, you know, part of the founding fathers of that organization. Um, so what we've been going through the last couple months has been extremely difficult and I don't think Pat until today and Donna Schlar and some of the people I've been able to talk to had any clue at all what's been going on behind the scenes. Um, so I'm going to talk about that in a minute because I need to kind of compose.

Do you want me to take a fivem minute recess? No, I'm good. I'm I'm going to get there. Okay.

But I'm going to talk about some other things to enlighten you first and then I'll come back to it since Mr. would kind of got my me a little excited about, you know, we have, you know, he mentioned something at last meeting about competition and this is friendly competition. And I'm not looking at it as competition, but in a way it is because we love our children and we know that without some volunteers putting up money, putting up their time, uh that there would be kids in our neighborhoods, in our county, and our town that wouldn't have Christmas. I was I was just lucky enough to be at the Baptist church yesterday when the uh when the school was there and they had uh hundreds of gifts for so many families and and and just to see that and see them passing that out is just so awesome. And I know there's the the police department's involved in a in an operation. I know Sher Lee and some other organizations. It's it's just so heartwarming to see the see the community service and and how much people really do care, especially in small communities. You may not see this in bigger areas as much, but when you have that here in a small community, most people hear about it and they know about it and they participate in it and and that's a blessing and and it's a blessing to all of us. Uh especially when we don't lose sight of what it's all about and it's the children. Um, I don't think Mr. Wood collected around 15,000 this year. So, um, I've been doing this program now for five or six years and I've tried each year to exceed a goal and this year I exceeded it again and and the sheriff did too. When I first started helping him with this program, I think they had 28 kids that year. This year, they're going to service 55 children. Um, and and many families involved in that. and a couple of the supervisors have jumped on board, which

is a blessing as well. And one of them is providing pizzas to all the families when they come to to have Christmas on Thursday with the sheriff and Santa. Um, and one of the supervisors has provided them Christmas dinner with turkeys and and all the all the things to go with it. And one of the supervisors paid for all the people that went and shopped, over 20 of them, to have dinner in Fricksburg after they shopped. So, we're we're committed to this and we're committed to children and we're committed to our community. And I can report to you today that some of those kids are from in the town of Colonial Beach. The first year that I participated in this, we wasn't that fortunate because the school said, "We're doing our own thing. You know, we really appreciate you asking, but we're doing something." And then we had a little conversation after that year. and and they're providing names now because that was the stipulation that I made to the sheriff that if we were going to if I was going to be involved in this program, there was going to be kids in this town that was going to benefit from it. And that has been it's grown every year. We have one family that's got seven children and this is their second year participating. So, there are needs and I'm so thankful for and there's people in this room right now who made contributions to that program and I'm so proud of them and thankful for them and and I'm blessed for knowing them because they give and they don't ask for any kind of recognition at all. Um, I'm sorry I'm going on about this, but I think it's extremely important when you can say something good out of all the bad that's said all too often. And so anyway, I'm going to talk about tax collection for a minute now if it make you feel better.

That's a turn.

Might make me feel a little bit better. U but what I want to tell you is that uh um we were we we've been exploring whether we should go to by annual taxes for December and uh June uh twice a year like the town does. And uh so uh we just had a retreat yesterday and we actually met with the treasurer and the commissioner of revenue and I was all in favor of it till I listened to them talk. I was like no we got to do this. The first year is a $9 million windfall that we could take that $9 million and put it in the bank and draw about 300,000 or so in interest. Um but then when you hear what's involved in it, how many people you got to have, how many mailings you got to have. I mean it's it's it's a cost. It's not cheap. So, what we're hoping to do is put out something to the general public and ask their opinion with hopefully three options. The first option being we're not going to do anything at all, but leave it like it is. Uh, another option will be um we'll change the date uh maybe to collect in November instead of December. And maybe that will relieve a little bit of the burden of Christmas time and and the holidays uh Thanksgiving and those times. um or whether we'll go to the two billing cycle. So, those will be the the the three options and hopefully you'll have more information on that soon. I think the county administrator is going to try to put out some information so we can ask the public, what do you want? Because we've heard pros and cons on both sides and and uh and I I just feel like a lot of times that the the the public they criticize us because they don't think we give them enough information. And I understand that sometimes you can't give but so much information, but if we can include them, and I've really tried hard to to make that a goal to to include the public as much as possible with anything so that you're not accused of doing something behind somebody's back or they didn't know it. They ought to see that what you got tonight. That audit report's

unbelievable. That fund balance for this small town is unbelievable. Y'all need to pat yourself on the back. That is fantastic. the county's fund balance is about 9 million and yours I think was six, you know, so that's that I believe that is really impressive. Um, and it not being assigned, that's even more impressive because that means you're going to have money to do projects that you're going to need to do. So, I would have to say to every one of you, you've done a great job when I see that and congratulations on the award. That's impressive. It really is. and you won't get recognition or credit for that, but it but it's a big deal and and I hope that that somebody will will come up and thank you for what you're doing for their finances because it means a lot. It really does. It's my tax dollars, too. So, I don't mind talking about it because I get the opportunity to tell you. Um so, uh anyway, we talked about shopping with the sheriff and I wanted to uh um tell you that we got a new finance director in the county now, Sanita Cox, who's just started. uh she comes with a vast amount of experience with the federal government. Um so uh um our former um and you know I'm having a one of those moments where I can't remember our former finance director's name. Um so uh Miss Foxwell though retired. That's what her name is, but sometimes you know you have those moments. Uh but anyway um and I want to mention I know Dr. did he might not have been here when you mentioned um about Miss Payne's resignation um and probably had he heard that if he and maybe he did say something I don't recall if he did or not but uh thank you for recognizing her. I worked on that board with her for several years. She has a love for children that's out of this world. She's made many many sacrifices. I'm saddened to hear that she's stepping down from that position after so many years. I think probably around 15 years she's been on that board

and she's chaired it ever since I've been gone, which has been six years. So, um, but I think that if you see her, whether it's the public or or council, you know, to I hope that you'll thank her for her service and commend her, which you you've done tonight. Uh, because she has the love of children in her heart, too. And she's given a lot. And and for those of you that are in these positions, you know, it's it's all the time. Whether your food line or or where you're at, there's somebody has questions and wants to know something or wants to be involved in something or, you know, it's just it's all the time. It's just not we go home and say, "I'm going to a meeting once a month." It just doesn't work that way. So, I I just want to commend her. And obviously, I I I I can't say enough about y'all with that with that audit. That's just unbelievable. It's it's impressive. Um, and now to to something that I I I really don't want to talk about, but I it's absolutely imperative because we're kind of at a crossroads. Um, so I'm going to start out by saying that uh, you know, that squad was um, it was established April the 4th of 1950. And there's been literally hundreds of members in that squad, lifetime members, people that have sacrificed hundreds and hundreds. He he need a computer to add up how many Pat Fisher drill has done. There's no doubt about it or a calculator because it's just thousands and thousands of hours. And and I know because I've been at many many of those calls with Pat um where she knew everybody on a firstname basis. She'd been at their house probably a dozen times. She might have even delivered their children. There's just so many things through the years that she has done for this community through EMS. Uh Blake was so happy to issue her the first West Mullen County uniforms and the key fob to that

building down there last week and have a conversation with her and and and we're very sincere. Um that that she has a place in our hearts and and in our business and and it will always be there and there's nothing going to change that and and we support her 100%. Um, she did mention to me today that they've been trying to get some information from the town on a monument that they want to design. I don't know if they've reached out to y'all. She's been told that somebody reached out to y'all. I'm not sure that that's true. Um, but I I would ask that maybe, Madame Mayor, that you reach out to her if if you're not aware of it. Um, and and see what it is that she has because I can assure you that the countyy's probably going to fully support it. Um and I I'm quite confident that the that the uh town will support it as well. But uh on November the 19th uh this year, you know, we came to you. I came to you as as the town representative. The our county attorney asked me to come to you and you were gracious enough to entertain what I had to say and you unanimously approved a resolution agreeing that we should follow through. uh with a court injunction against the Columbus Volunteer Rescue Squad uh based on numerous foyer requests that we've received about uh funds that have been donated. Um and you know where that money is and and how is it accounted for? Uh hundreds of people have been given since at least 2014 that I can remember uh for a new building. That new building as we have discussed is going to be built. We have recently appropriated and we're just waiting to close on our loan through Davenport uh 1.5 million to go towards that new building that will be in the town of

Colonial Beach. And we will work with you very closely uh to ensure that that happens and and we'll have some people to on your side and our and the county side that will make it right and do what we've got to do to keep that squad here. It it's been a bumpy road though and there's been a few times in the last few months when I thought this squad, believe it or not, that many people in this town doesn't know that that squad, that EMS squad from West Mullen County has been in this building now for almost two years and been running almost 100% of the calls. Uh Columbia's Volunteer Rescue Squad hasn't run a call since October of 24 at all. Period. It's all been paid EMS from West Mullen County. And so I I'm just amazed, I guess, at how many people don't know that. Um, but there's a lot of people that don't know that. And and now that that the squad got out there, uh, and it's, you know, anything they post is under CBVRS, so you don't know who's doing it, even though, and I know who's doing it, but and and I won't name any names tonight. Uh but uh you know everything that's being posted is under that name. You know saying that West Mullen County is resp or at fault while they're closing their doors. That's absolutely not true. They willingly gave up their license so they didn't lose them. And in turn our chief of uh emergency management entered into anou with them and said that uh they could run all the calls they wanted. We wanted them their support. we would do anything at all that we could accommodate them. Um they were supposed to restructure their 501c3. Uh unfortunately, none of those things happened and and we've even got documentation where volunteers in this community wanted to volunteer with uh the West Mullen EMS and we're told we're not accepting applications. Sorry. Um

from the CBVRS, whoever that is. Um, so this is kind of uh predicated me asking uh Chief Bird to come tonight to explain uh why we're doing this volunteer program and and that we're going to have open arms for those who need those certifications. Joey Strong has been running with this organization for with with the county now for probably at least two years. ever since all of this has happened, he came to the county and said, "Could I continue to run with y'all because I don't want to lose my certifications?" And and he runs quite frequently for those of you that know him, which just about all of us do. Um, but other members that have been put out of the department that were running with us because uh they were told they had to go through CBVRs before they could run or do anything. And so they were removed from that organization like members have been removed from that organization. And a whole lot of things have happened. But uh it was it was on Facebook that they disillusioned on um November the 13th. Um we still don't know what all that entails. But uh but based on the the resolution that you adopted um we uh our board unanimously adopted or or agreed to the same resolution and and filed a case with uh West Mullen County Circuit Court. Um, and it's not against anybody that's a member. Has nothing to do with any members that has to do with an organization that's that's by their own admission is disillusioned. So that's what's predicated us having to do this because we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars um somewhere and there has to be an accounting for that. So I just want it's and I'm almost done, mayor. I know y'all got a busy schedule, but I I just think this is extremely important. And and I'm also going to let you know that I'm more than willing sometime in January after

the holidays to have a and I want to have like a town hall meeting um with anybody that's willing to come or any of you that want to participate, not only to talk about this, but to talk about the partnerships that we've been able to develop over the last several years and how that has benefited us as a town. you know, being part of the county because we weren't for many many years. And so it's it's just been it's just been phenomenal, I think, in the last few years. Um, so but but basically, uh, what we're asking the court to do is is grant the disillusion, uh, of the Columbia Volunteer Rescue Squad. And there is a a Virginia state code section that allows that. And and believe it or not, our county attorney, who's a state senator, is the one that wrote the law and when it was adopted because we were having issues with another squad in our county that was going through the same issues. And so he presented this to the general assembly and got this law passed. But um anyway, we we part of the injunction also is that they can't interfere with any of the operations or anything, which I won't go into that, but that's already occurred some and and um so we're we're dealing with that with with some other people. Um um the uh we're asking that they turn over all funds raised uh for the construction of the new building um um to emergency medical services uh um to West Muller County. So, and that's what the law that's what the law actually states that it has to go to a county or city. Although we have talked to the town about, you know, we'll do whatever work with whatever to to see, you know, that we do whatever's right. In my mind, those funds were given to go to a building uh and that building is going to be built and that's where those funds should go unless there's somebody that donated that thinks otherwise and then their funds should be returned to

them because that's what they designated them for. Um and the last thing that we're going to do is we're requesting an accounting from the last five years um showing all expenses of the funds raised for the construct um uh for the construction of a new emergency medical services building. So that will go back five years which we know will also cover an area of where there was some funds that were embezzled and that's been litigated already but we it's going to cover that area as well uh back in 23. So, um, so that's what we've done. It's no, I don't know that anybody's aware that this has been filed, uh, with the court yet, but so it's it's public information is foyed. Uh, so I wanted to make sure that at least our side of it gets told um, with all the misinformation that's being put out there, and it is a lot of being put out there. And, um, so um, but we're going to do the right thing. No question in my mind. We're going to do the right thing. And the right thing is public service to the people that live in this community. That's the right thing. And some people have lost track of that. But that's what it's all about. We're here to serve the public and the people just like all of us are. That's what we signed up for and that's what EMS signed up for. And we're here 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. And we're going to stay here. I can promise you as long as I'm here and you're here, we're on the same page and that's not going to change. And we can reinforce that with everybody that lives in this community. I'm confident of that that that we've won that battle and it was a battle for a couple years. As we know, we spent half a million dollars to add on to a building at Oak Grove to keep two squads in. Nobody does that. Nobody. But we've we fought that battle and we won it. And we're going to continue until until we see this through. But please research

that monument and see what Miss Fischer has for you. And and I can promise you I absolutely 100% support it. Um any questions tonight um for me? I know I I apologize to the public and for you for talking so much, but it's imperative that we get this information out there and it be accurate. I appreciate everything and and that you've said tonight. Uh highlighting all the programs also um telling a little bit of the story that um you know has been kind of slow and agonizing. So not necessarily you did a good job summarizing it. Um considering the pending litigation and the council support of such litigation, I just am going to have one sentence statement. um that is that uh the commitment of the town of Colonial Beach has been and will continue to be always the health and safety of our citizens. It has been through this entire endeavor and it continues to be that. Um the support for that building and the funds donated to it require accountability and transparency. And uh we're here to make sure that what has always been intended, which is to improve the health, safety, and welfare of our citizens of Beach continues to be the case. We want the best response times possible. We want the best care possible. We want the most volunteers and the highest certified EMS people working for us. And we just want the best service possible for our citizens. And that's always been key. And it will always need to be a partnership and we're committed to that.

Thank you, mayor. Thank you.

Anybody have any questions for me about anything tonight? If I could just follow up. U Tim, I people don't realize how hard you've worked on this as we all, but you've been the spearhead of this and um the only reason we're going to be keeping a rescue squad in town is because your leadership and you put pushing it through. So, I think I want people to realize that mayor is absolutely right. what she said, but I think it's important that people realize that you have been a champion for Columbia Beach, and I personally thank you, as I'm sure we all do. I grew up here. I love this place. But thank you. I I appreciate that. And and I don't look for any recognition. We're doing what we were put in office to do. And that's the bottom line. And I mean I you nobody should expect any less from us but to give 100% of anything that's going to benefit them whether it's taxes or what it might be. Some things aren't always comfortable but you just you got to look out for the people that put you where you're at in their best interest all the time.

Thank you very much.

All right. Next up is public comment. I always have a little spiel to say before that starts. All right. During all public comment or hearings, we ask that certain guidelines be followed. We do have general public comment first tonight and then we will have two subsequent public hearings. So these items um do apply to all three. Uh when you come up to the podium, please for the record state your name and address. If you'd like to be contacted, please provide your contact information to the clerk. you can do so either after you've commented or if you did ahead of time on the signup sheet. Um, that's always helpful to her. Make your comments to the council as a whole. Be brief. State your position and provide facts. And you may provide written statements and/or supporting materials to the clerk for distribution to the council and the town manager. Um, since debate is prohibited, followup on comments is provided by our town manager. So, she needs your contact information to get back to you. Speak clearly as we want to hear what you have to say. The council will try to hear everyone who wishes to speak on any subject. Comments are limited to five minutes. Time cannot be transferred to another speaker, but if you represent a group, you can identify all the members of your group who are in attendance. And after public comment is closed, I encourage you to stay for council dialogue and deliberation on any of the subsequent items. And with that, we will open public comment. And I'll have 7:55 p.m. on that. First we have welcome, Miss Bon.

Good evening, Madame Mayor, town council, and town staff. I'm here this evening as as you mentioned my name, Kelly Woodsvon. I live at two Kettlebottom Drive. I'm here on behalf of the Colonial Beach Historical Society and Museum. I guess my group would be me and Mity the president, Miss Safos. Um, I just wanted to mention on this past weekend we had the 23rd the annual 23rd Whit Stone Christmas home tour and it was a successful community event that demonstrated strong public engagement, effective collaboration, and positive economic impact for the town. The tour featured seven privatelyowned homes, each showcasing historic preservation, thoughtful renovations, and seasonal decor. Homeowners, volunteers, and local partners contributed significant time and resources to ensure a high quality experience for all the attendees. We saw both local and out of town visitors and that increased foot traffic to Colonial Beach and revenue for our businesses. In addition to its economic benefit, the homes highlighted recent homeowner improvements. We had one home um that was 100 years old and celebrated this past weekend. It was pretty cool. She actually really had um awesome uh 100year um cookies for everyone that attended the house tour. So, it was kind of cool. These investments contribute to neighborhood stability, property values, and overall community pride. We raised over about $10,000. Those proceeds from the event will support the historical society and museum, a scholarship to a student at Colonial Beach High School, and support our events for the NA nation's 250th birthday in um next year

2026. On behalf of the organizers, volunteers, and participating homeowners, thank you to the town council's continued support for events that promote heritage tourism, economic vitality, and civic engagement. We look forward to building on the success and continue to collaborate on initiatives that benefit the town. On one quick note, I just want to say thank you to Eric, um to Charlotte, Natasha, um the Timmans group. Um as a business owner here in Colonial Beach, it has been incredibly exciting to see things um kind of really fall into place. Um, I'm excited for 2026. Um, I think we have a lot going for our community and I applaud all of you for giving up your time to be here and to continue um to work towards the betterment of our community. So, thank you and merry Christmas and happy holidays.

Next up is Mr. Ericson.

Welcome, Mr. Nelson. Thank you, uh, Eric Nelson, 1321 Losing Avenue. Uh, madame mayor, council, thank you for letting me speak this evening. Um, and what a good segue. I didn't pay Kelly anything to say that, but it is exactly what I wanted to talk about for just a second. I want to wear my uh president of downtown Colonial Beach hat for just a second and I want to uh comment on the the uh the relationship that we've had with the Timmans group over the past I guess nine months. Uh they have been really terrific to work with. Uh I think their report is I have had a chance to look at it to read it. Um and uh I'm very excited and nervous actually for all of the work that they have given us to do. But I did want to thank uh Mr. Ruff and the Timmans group for their responsiveness and all the hard work they did to put together that report. I think it's a really good roadmap for downtown Coney Beach and for the town for the for the next uh year and and years to come. And uh as Kelly said, I think this there's so many things that are coming together right now. We have a great um economic development officer here in town who's also the the uh executive director of downtown Colonia Beach and Charlotte Cole. She's um really terrific and we're excited to have her. She's really a powerhouse. Uh we have a terrific relationship with the town and you know I am in almost disbelief that the county has gone forward and has hired an economic development director and it's so exciting to have that have the county as a partner. Um and James Taylor is Jim Taylor I think is has the a terrific attitude towards cooperation with the uh between the county and the town. and I just have uh really high hopes for uh DCB being able to run on all cylinders this coming year. Thank you.

That's all that was signed up, but I always like to give an opportunity if there's anybody in the audience who would like to come up, you're welcome to do so. You don't have have to have signed up. All right. No takers today. Merry Christmas everybody. All right, we will uh close the public comment. I got 8:01 p.m. Heather for the record. And next up, we'll have two public hearings. Uh Darla, would you like to open it or would you like me to run the public? Yeah, you intro the item and then these are formal public hearings. So, um, these public hearings on any of these articles or amendments, um, will be on the record for them. I mean, all public comment is, but these are a part of the amendment record.

Thank you, Madame Mayor, members of council, Miss Tucker, staff, and the other participants this evening. There is a public hearing on a revised zoning text amendment number 24-02 relative to parking regulations. This is ordinance 773 on your agenda. Just a little background. Um, you know, we've been talking about this since the spring of 2024. Since that time, um, the planning commission, uh, with council direction, met with stakeholders in town to talk about parking and received that input. Based on that, staff drafted some revisions to the um amendments that you had in hand back in 2024. We had heard back then that the changes that were proposed were too cumbersome. So staff did work after the stakeholder input with the planning commission to um turn back some of those uh revisions that had been proposed but also look at some other areas where more flexibility could be provided. Next slide please. So um this lists some of the amendments and I'm just going to let you know just go over a few of them. The amendments expand the distance to permit spaces from 500 to 600 ft that could count towards transitory uh parking for commercial and office requirements. And it also offers um some clearer regulations for reciprocal parking and understanding those agreements between different businesses. It allows one garage space to count for um single family dwellings for the two spaces that are required. And it also offers flexibility for multifamily development and attached single family dwellings to support um you know a mixeduse type

community that the comprehensive plan suggests is appropriate in town in certain areas. It also adds golf cart parking um and allows golf cart parking to count towards the required parking spaces for uses. It also modifies design standards to allow for flexibility such as with drive widths, landscaping, cross access, um and also modernizes some of the use categories that were in the uh parking requirements. Clarifies some of the you spaces that are needed for those uses. And it also reduces the number of spaces for certain uses, especially those mixed uses and um also the design standards such as within the downtown area where a mix of uses is encouraged. Next slide, please. Next slide. The planning commission um following its public hearing on October the 9th uh voted unanimously to recommend approval of the revised amendments to article 13 parking to town council. Uh no one spoke in favor of or in opposition to the proposed amendments. Um, in your packet, I did provide for you the uh attachment two, which is the uh a memo that summarizes the stakeholder input that we received back in June. And um staff is also recommending, next slide, please, that um after the public hearing that town council would approve the amendments as offered to article 13. and I'll be glad to answer any questions.

All right, with that we will go ahead and hold the public hearing at this time and then uh we'll get into any council discussion after that point. Is there anyone signing up? All right, I'm going to officially open the public hearing uh for ordinance number 773, amendments to article 13 parking at 8:06 p.m. And if there's anybody in the audience who would like to speak, okay, I will close the public hearing at 8:07 p.m. All right, sounds good. Got it down. Um, in some ways I think nobody coming to speak on it is because uh the people who really have massive stakeholder in the parking ordinance have had a chance to speak throughout the process a lot because it went terribly wrong a year and a half ago or so and they all came in screaming that it was so bad. Uh, also parking has been one of the biggest hindrances. The parking ordinance specifically is so uh a lot of it is antiquated to a 90s style of zoning um which is different than actually the principles and concepts of zoning that we have found today and um are not as uh applicable really to especially smalltown main street development. And so, um, yeah, the whole point of it is really to get it up to date, hear people's concerns that were huge stakeholders in this, and get out of our own way on some of this economic development stuff because it's pretty much makes many parcels in our downtown core undevelopable with the current

parking ordinance. So, we don't change it. Um, that's one of the results for better or worse maybe. Okay. Um, I say that because I didn't get to speak at public input, but that would be my public input. So, I guess I'll put that on the record. Um, all right. Is there council action for tonight? So moved. Is there a second? All right. and is open for discussion. Is there any questions for Darla? Yeah, go ahead, Mr. Williams.

Some questions from Dar for Darla. Um, I know at the last meeting, uh, one of the things I asked you was, did we address the situation going on with School Town? Um, it seems like we've maybe done the opposite. You're saying now we count a garage as a parking space and historically we haven't done that or have we done that? So what we're talking about is for single family dwellings which would include detached and attached single family dwellings. We have not historically in the past required on two parking space. We have required excuse me two parking spaces on site and have not allowed a garage space to count. what we heard from contractors especially in um you know areas of the town where lots are smaller um and some of those being in the point and then also with the setback requirements from 15 to 30 ft in the um R2 district contractors were saying that they were having difficulty providing the two spaces and being able to have the flexibility on the lot because of it's smaller to have the house closer. If you have to provide the two spaces, then automatically the house has to be set back further, which creates problems for some of the lots being developable. So, yes, we have added in here ba based on that input that we received to allow a garage space to count as one of the two spaces. Now, that does not address the issue with town parking. What I'm seeing and and and we talked about last time is that you have, you know, a need for overflow parking at Townill. Um and so with that, I mean that is something that in the design of Townill, the town

homes there should have been required, right, to make sure that there were some um overflow parking spaces for visitors. um because they are are designed the way they are and the driveways are so close together, there's really not much room for on street parking there. So that's why you're probably seeing the overflow that you have over on the park property. Um you know, the p people that are parking on the park property shouldn't be they should be parking in the rightway um not on the town property. But yes, we are proposing that relief for the one garage space. the parking at at Tory Smith is a problem.

When I've walked there on weekends, there's like sometimes 10 or 15 cars sitting there using public, you know, park as their parking for overflow and they're there bright and early. I mean, as early as 7:00 in the morning. So, I know that they were there overnight and they're just parked there. Mr. Williams is right about that. Uh, that is a problem there. Um but that's separate and apart from what we're discussing tonight, right? In in my opinion. Yes, sir.

Yeah. So, um uh I agree with Mr. Williams on that, but this is not what this is about. I would encourage us to move forward with this. A it's been 18 months. Secondly, we've gotten a lot of input from folks who are stakeholders, developers, contractors. Um, we don't want to continue to be unfriendly to business people trying to spend money in our town. So, uh, I would agree we need to correct the one problem, but this not being part of it, I would suggest that we go forward with it.

Is this is this being addressed in this ordinance or is there or is there another place where that will be addressed, I guess, was my question that I didn't get to finish.

So, Mr. Mr. Williams, I would suggest that we have a conversation with town management to talk about whether or not there needs to be some signage or something um that would identify that the park is not a place for it's parking for the park, not for other purposes. Um and then hopefully that would discourage um that parking because it really is in that case the use of a town park for other purposes. And so I think you know that wouldn't this ordinance wouldn't regulate that one way or the other. I think we would need to talk about with uh Mr. Brower and Miss Tucker.

Okay. All right. And then just one other question. Um a big concern I've had from a few constituents is we double or triple count parking. Um I'm not sure is that addressed in here or not? When I say that, I mean a business. I don't know. Does the town have like a map when they're when they're laying out like a new business or a new proposed development for parking? Do they actually say, "Okay, we're giving them so many off- streetet parking, you know, spaces or street parking spaces to count, but then we also give the businesses two doors down the same spots and then another one five doors down." I mean, I've heard from some businesses that they've actually been required to put in their own parking lots and stuff, but I'm just not sure if that's currently being done or or not. Can you address that?

Yes, sir. So, the the ordinance currently now allows for on street parking in certain areas to count for towards in commercial areas. Um, and it specifically talks about basically the Washington Avenue and that downtown area um to count to allow for on street parking to count towards parking requirements for transitory uses and I think that's the key to the discussion here. This ordinance also proposes to allow for on street parking to count towards required spaces, but we're expanding it not to say that's not only appropriate in the downtown area, you know, the um but it may be appropriate in other commercial areas. So, we're expanding it to say in all commercial areas, but that also is um for the idea that it is for transitory uses. Um because, you know, everybody I mean, if I'm going to this retail store or this restaurant, the idea is that I'm going to be there for a certain period of time. That wouldn't be everybody, right? It wouldn't necess that wouldn't apply for the employees and those kinds of things. So, there will be some on-site parking that may be required. But the idea is there isn't a frequent a fairly frequent turnover. So it's appropriate to allow this, you know, two businesses side by side to be able to count those same spaces because of that timing and the transitory use.

Okay. So typically that would the on street parking would be for businesses, not necessarily like say if they have Airbnbs upstairs though that that wouldn't count for their parking. It would be the transitory parking for businesses. Is that what I'm understanding?

Right. So if if each of the So if it's an Airbnb, we don't ask number one. The ordinance doesn't say is it an Airbnb or not, right? The ordinance wants to know what type of dwelling is it. And so if it is, you know, a multif family dwelling or a town home or even a single family dwelling, but that's how the the number of spaces would be required. There is a change in this ordinance that would allow a reduction in um the uses for multifamily to have fewer spaces because it's mixed use. So there's going to have to be some commercial spaces and some spaces for the residential uses. The idea being that most of the time, oftentimes, not all the time, but there would still be um a difference in time of those uses uh for parking there. Um so it's not based on is it short-term rental or not? No.

Okay. Thank you.

Anyone else? Okay. Should I wait for Miss Sanford to come back? Okay, we'll go for the vote to come back in. Um, all right. I'll start on this side again in case she comes back. Mr. Mr. Larson, hi. Mr. Williams, I uh Miss Grandstaff I um Mr. Allison,

I want to go with I and it passes regardless. So hopefully she'll be Okay with that. All right. Um, next up is ordinance number 772. Um, which is the change to our CIP funding policy. Lisa, would you like to read into that? Yes, I want to start by um saying that this is an ordinance change only. It is not linked to any sale of property. The ordinance is just um how we allocate the proceeds from sale of property. We're not selling any property. Just want to put that make that clear. Um so um now that the Colona Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad is no longer providing EMS services um we are asking to revise um the uh ordinance um to remove uh the 5% allocation of proceeds from Sale of Town property um from the rescue squad and make that no proceeds going to any rescue squad. and add that 5% to go back into our general fund. Um, that's just the gist of it. We're not changing anything else. If we sell town property, if we ac adopt the revisions, the proceeds will be 5% to the fire department, 10% to the school, and 85% to the general fund. Okay. Okay, with that, I'm going to open

the uh public hearing for ordinance 772. Uh public hearing is open officially at 8:19 p.m. Anybody like to speak on this one? I think after Mr. Trivet spoke earlier, might be self-explanatory. Okay. Going to close the public hearing then. Wait a few more seconds. 8:20. Okay. Close at 8:20. All right. Is there a motion? So moved. Is there a second? Second.

All right. Is there any uh discussion on this item? All right. With that, I'll do a roll call vote. Uh Lisa, I'll start on your side this time. I Allison I. I'll come back to her. Um, wood. Wood. Trees are made of. Would you like to answer? I'm the old guy up here. Wood. How do you vote? Hi, Kevin. Larsson, not Parsons.

Hi. Okay, Williams. Hi. And Maggie, just to uh let you know, we're on the capital improvements change uh 772. Would you like to vote on it? That okay, not to put you on the spot. I apologize for that. All right. And I vote I. And that's it. And with that, we have no further business today. Uh everybody like to adjourn at 8:21 p.m. All right. I I Captain, Merry Christmas. Happy New Year. Ajourn.