Council - Regular Meeting

Council will now come to order. Would everyone please stand for the invocation given by Chief Tester?

Let's pray. Dear heavenly father, we come to you today as a community. We want to say thank you uh for your your giving to us over the years, dear Lord, for you died upon the cross for us. We want you to keep our soldiers, our first responders and our community in your hands and in your grace. We live with your blessings every day and we want you to please continue to keep blessing our community. And uh please Lord, please bring home our soldiers in a safe way and in your name we pray. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Okay, we will uh begin with the roll call. I see all are present except for council member Hayes. We will need an approval of the minutes and the agenda. I'll make that motion to approve, but I've got an addition to the agenda. Okay, let's uh let's do the minutes and I'll make a motion to approve the minutes. Second. Oh, we have a motion and a second to the minutes and anything that we need to add there or change? Not to the minutes. Okay. All in favor of approving the minutes.

It's unanimous. Now, we need to approve the agenda for tonight. And I'll make that motion with an addition.

I've got three changes, M. Mayor, that I'd like to make this evening. Uh the first one is I'm going to add um Bob Watkins with the Lincoln Theater to public presentations. He's going to do a general update on the happenings at the theater. Um as far as staff reports, I'm going to change the order a little bit. I'm going to move Chief Ham um just ahead of Chief Testerman to be the first staff presentation tonight. And then as far as closed session items are concerned, I'm going to be removing the middle close session um A3 real estate acquisition and disposition. Uh that can be stricken from the agenda. This I make a motion to approve the agenda as amended.

Yeah. And he he had my amendment my second. Did I hear a second? Second. Second motion. Second to approve the agenda. Um, now that it's been seconded, we are going to um swear in a couple of police officers uh publicly. Pardon? Uh, well, that's part of the uh change in the agenda because it's not in the agenda, I assume. Is that correct? Oh, I had him under um uh under Chief Tester's uh staff reports. Uh yes. I'd like to move that up. Okay. if we possibly can to free up the

uh police emergency response, any thing that has to happen, I'd like to move that forward under uh the first thing under public presentations. Okay. Sure. Sandy, do you need me to redo my motion? I'll make a motion that we approve the agenda as amended the second time. I'll second it the second time. Okay, let's vote on it before it gets away. All in favor?

Okay. Um, we have no public hearing scheduled. Uh, as I said, I wanted to move swearing in of a couple of police officers, Don Young, gentlemen. Uh, so if we'll come forward, I'd like to introduce you all to uh, Officer Nathan Sherwood. He comes from Grayson County. Uh, worked over at BOC for eight years at River. He's a valuable server. He's a lieutenant over there. Look forward to working with him. And also Mr. Christopher Parks. He has 20 years in law enforcement. Has worked for Admin PD Highlands Community Services. Uh good with Marcus Alert Systems, CIT trainer. So he brings a lot of valuable experience to be able to give that with the guys on the street. So at this time, I'll give it to

All right, gentlemen. Uh since we are doing this ceremony, uh do you mind doing it together? Okay. Um please raise your right hand and when I say state your name, we can both do it at the same time. Okay. I I thank you. Do solemnly swear or affirm do solemnly swear or affirm that I will support the Constitution of the United States that I will support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia

and I will faithfully impart and impartially discharge all the duties I will faithfully discharge all the duties incumbent upon me as a police officer. incumbent upon me as a police officer with the town of Marian with the town of Marian according to the best of my ability according to the best of my ability. So help me God. Welcome, WELCOME to welcome.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Andrew, if you will help me with the uh rest of the presentations, I would appreciate it. We'll start with Katherine Roar.

Good evening. Um, my name is Kathy Ror and um I am the director of the Children's Advocacy Center of Highlands Community Services. We have an office down in Bristol that serves Bristol and Washington County, but since 2014, we've had a presence in the town of Marian. um first as a collaboration with Mount Rogers Community Services, we were lo co-located with them in their Riverchase office and then as our program grew and their program grew, we had to find another place and so we are um located out on Terrace Drive in Dr. Humsy's old um medical building. We work directly as part of the frontline response to child abuse for child victims of abuse particularly up here from the town of Marian and Smith County. We work side by side with our partners, the investigators at the town police, with the social services investigators, the commonwealth attorney, the school system, that whole wonderful safety net that the town of Marian has pulled together to support children and youth. And I really, really mean this um most sincerely. you you all have created a wonderful place for children and families to grow. Unfortunately, there's always going to be holes in the in the safety net. And that's where we come in. We provide um investigative interviews that are childfriendly and legally defensible for um the investigators from law enforcement and CPS and the Commonwealth's attorney. And then we also provide some very special sort of a

little niche niche counseling of uh particularly play therapy for children ages 3 through five which at the time that we started working with Mount Rogers there that was not available but our youngest victims do need that support. We have a facility dog program and I wish I could have brought our dog with us tonight for you to meet. We have a a brand new facility dog. He is a certified service dog. His name is McFly and his job is to sit with children during hard times. He is allowed to sit with them when they are being interviewed. He is allowed to sit with them in their counseling sessions. And if those children have to go down the street to the courthouse and testify by Virginia code that our children's advocacy center um lobbyed for changes, he is allowed to sit at their feet in the witness box in in the courtroom when they have to tell their story. Um he has also responded by request when there have been some t um some you know crises that have involved the town. Um his handler is part of the southwest regional crisis intervention and he's brought some comfort to some some people in in really tough times. April is child abuse prevention month and we can not do enough to make sure that our children grow up safe and and healthy and happy. And I just wanted really I wanted to salute everyone who is doing that work here because it starts with the values of of the town council and I can tell you it's carried out throughout all of your employees in the town. We are very appreciative to have a

partnership with all of you.

Thank you. Um, if the council would like, I um, Miss Ror has has provided us with a um, sample resolution that I'd be happy to read for your consideration this evening. It was involved or it was included in the agenda packet, but just so everyone else can hear it. Um, this is to proclaim the month of April as child abuse prevention month in the town of Marian. And it's uh, read as follows. Whereas the town um whereas the Marian Town Council recognizes that over 6,200 children in the Commonwealth of Virginia were determined to be abused and neglected in FY25. And whereas child abuse and neglect has been demonstrated to impact a victim's physical, mental, and emotional health in ways that can have lifelong consequences. And whereas effective child abuse prevention programs succeed because of partnerships among citizens, human services agencies, schools, religious organizations, law enforcement agencies, and the business community. And whereas child abuse prevention is a community responsibility in finding solutions depends on involvement among all residents of the town of Marian. Now therefore, it be resolved that the Marian Town Council proclaims April as child abuse prevention month in the town of Marian and urges all citizens to work together to reduce child abuse and neglect and ensure the health and safety of its youngest citizens.

Do I hear a motion to adopt this resolution? I'll make that motion. Second. Motion and second. All in favor? Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for your partnership. Thank you. We appreciate you. Thank you all. Okay, no other uh public presentations. Bob Watkins with the Lincoln is the next one that we walked on. So, that was the one that we walked on. Okay. Hi, Bob.

Hi. My name is Bob Watkins. I am the executive director at the Lincoln Theater. Uh I just wanted to give a little update on where we're at, what we're doing, what we're headed to this year. Um going over uh last year, we closed the year with about 12,662 tickets sold. Uh gross ticket sales of 526,512. Of course, within that gross ticket sales, we do have to take money out for the cost of the artists and everything like that. I would love to be able to go ahead and just hold on to that $526,000, but we can't. Um our goals for 2026 are um increased capital funds, trying to secure more sponsorships and grant funding to uh secure some capital funds because as we are into our 22nd year of operation since uh reopening, we do have some significant needs to uh go ahead and pursue with the roof, HVAC units, carpet, things like that just to maintain it uh so we can continue to provide those services that we do. Um another in uh goal that we have is to increase some ticket sales and revenues for um for operations of course. Um and uh we are currently right now after we close uh first quarter we are at uh 2,635 tickets sold which is a little bit below what we wanted to do. Um our gross ticket revenue to this point is $104,758. Um again like I said slightly behind um our uh 26 goals. Uh the justifications for that variance u they include primarily it's related to the weather that we saw through February. Um and uh that caused the song of the mountains to actually not be able to provide about three different performances that they did last year. And within those three

performances, that was a uh ticket sales of 742 tickets that would then have taken us up to kind of where we were projected and wanted to be. Um hopefully we can go ahead and uh rebound from that. And some of the ways that uh we have elected to pursue that is we promoted Ashley Woolridge who is in our box office currently. that was previously a box office employee and she has now been promoted to our marketing director. Um, since Ashley has taken over, there uh has been a opportunity for increased communication with performers to where she is securing more assets from them for us to do some promotional uh marketing ads with. Uh, also getting the performers to provide some videos of themselves talking about the upcoming performance that they share on their pages as well. So, we just get more market share there with with them. Um, improved market calendars to where she has rollout times to where she can go ahead and boost and post uh different things with upcoming performances to increase some uh early ticket sales. Um, and then uh her increased social media presence to improve the algorithms to improve increase the number of people that are seeing our information on Facebook and our social media platforms. Um, I just recently, uh, purchased some software, Prism software. Uh, Prism software is a program that we can use to work closely with, um, booking agents and and booking managers. Uh, it's used a lot in different venues and uh, buying uh, talent buyers as well. Um, primary reason to go ahead and pursue this is it it creates a attractive uh contract offer that we can go ahead and then send to the managers um as opposed to just a basic spreadsheet. They'll look at this and it has a lot more value to them

because they see the breakdowns a little bit easier than with a uh Excel spreadsheet. Uh it's going to allow me some easier tracking for some settlements. Uh so then we can go ahead and give that to the uh to the agents as well once we close the show. Um little bit less questions back and forth because it's all clearly defined on each line item and it's signed and everything worked with them. Um, one thing that I am extremely interested in in looking forward to using is the uh dis or it's a program that you can go ahead and uh look at your performers that you're pursuing. Uh breaks down the average sales that they have in other performer uh performances that they've done in the surrounding area. So then we can have a better idea as what our return of investment would be on purchasing those performers based on ticket sales that they've done in previous facilities. That information is extremely difficult to find if you don't have a software for that. So I'm looking forward to uh seeing that and helping us with our goals for the upcoming year. Um some other things that we're doing this year, we do have a closer relationship with uh Song of the Mountains this year. We're working pretty much handinand with them. Um, I have been brought on as a board member, voting board member. I'm working with them on uh booking. So, I am sharing this software with Song of the Mountains to hopefully increase the numbers that they have for shows as well as uh improve the national acts that they're going to be getting in for the uh for the season as well. Um increase revenue goals is um obviously any business that's that's what they do year after year is try to increase their revenue goals. Um some additional revenues streams that we're looking at is obviously Lola's consignment sale. I think that's a really big thing because

it also ties back to the history with the theater being Lola being a local artist here from Marian with the murals which is a highlight of everybody's visit when they come in. So, our consignment sales, uh, Ashley is now working closely with the artists to, uh, increase their recognition on social media platforms, doing some artist spotlights just to try to encourage more artists to bring some items in for, uh, local shoppers or people that are traveling into the area as well. Um, grants and sponsorships. Uh since the ice, we had about five to 6 in of ice up on the the roof around our HVAC units, which caused a lot of the seams to go ahead and break. And our attic looked like the roof looked like Swiss cheese up in our attic. Um so, uh currently right now, I have worked with uh Brian Reed to try to secure some other grants, some additional grants that we have not pursued. Um, one is the T-Mobile grant for construction and community building. Uh, it's a $50,000 grant that is going to primarily be earmarked for the capital funds to to do some work to replace some of the things that we need to to get repaired, paying the roof and the HVAC units based on age. Um, the VCA operating expenses, uh, that is an annual, uh, grant that we apply for every year. It's 99% sure that we will get it. But what I am looking forward to this year is um that fund usually increases with increased revenue. And since we closed last year with more revenue than we did in uh 24, we should see an increase in in that in that um grant that we would receive. Another thing that I'm working with uh Brian Reed on is tobacco commission. Uh this

tobacco commission grant is for operations which will be used primarily for performances. Uh so this will allow us to go ahead and purchase the 10 $15,000 performances that we're doing now, but we can actually double that with the match that the tobacco commission could do. So we can get some bigger nationally known uh performances in the area up in $30,000 range. And we can do that without causing the increase in ticket prices too, so more patrons can come in and enjoy those shows. Um, the bar revenue that we've started to have over the last couple years continues to increase with each performance. Um, so that is a uh nice addition to each show. Usually we can expect an additional $750 to $1,000 profit on each show just from the the bar revenue. Um, beginning this year with Song of the Mountains, they are going to allow us to open up the bar during some of the performances. It will be based on uh select performances with uh Song of the Mountains. But uh the plan for Song of the Mountains this year is to not change their formatting completely, but they are going to start pursuing more of a uh Americana sound. So, it's not going to be the traditional bluegrass. It's going to be a little bit more Americana sound. Uh so, that should more than likely increase some ticket uh sales for those performances, too. Um, one big thing that I wanted to share that I'm actually happy to see is historically the theater has been running around 70 to 72% of our ticket sales have been outside of Smith County area. Um, glad to say that this year we have increased our local uh ticket sales by about 5%. So, we're starting to see more uh local faces coming into the theater and enjoying that gem of a a

theater that we have. And uh we just continue to reach out with Facebook to try to get interest in what shows and performances they would like to see. Uh so we can go ahead and keep seeing familiar familiar faces and provide an entertainment here locally that people don't have to travel to go see. And currently right now that's all I have to to share. I appreciate the time, appreciate the support as always. Thank you very much. Thank you for everything you're doing. Now I believe that concludes public presentations. Am I correct sir?

Okay. Thank you with that. Um we will move on to public comment time and we'll strike Bob Watkins from that. Uh and we'll start with uh Charles Wson.

Thank you. Um, I always like to hear chief testimony give a prayer. He prays to our heavenly father in the name of Jesus Christ and that sets the tone. I think it should set the tone for improvement in Smith County. Child abuse, these are that's all against God's plan, God's laws. People need to be married. People need to take care of their kids and definitely for that we make them. Then we go to the pledge of allegiance. The pledge of allegiance. The pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and the republic which it stands one nation under God. And uh does anybody know what I've got five different kind of bills here? You ever just know what what's the common thing that put keeps them together?

In God we trust. In God. Huh? In God we trust.

In God we trust. On the $1 bill, a $5 bill, a $10 bill, $20 bill, and the $50 bill. In God we trust. Police officers took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States of America and the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia. And they close with so help me God. That is preliminary to the main point that I wanted to make. If if people don't keep the Constitution, elected officials don't keep the Constitution, this country is going to go further down than it is right now. And regardless of uh what you think of bombing Iran, if troops are sent to a foreign country to protect so-called to protect this country, Congress must declare war. one man does not have, in my opinion, doesn't have the authority to send your sons and daughters to a foreign country. It's got to be done by Congress. That's right in the Constitution. It's clear as day. But now, right now, uh it it's a it's a terrible cancer in our country that uh people are neglecting God. They're neglecting the Constitution. They're neglecting their oaths. This nation was founded. You go back and read the history of the 1776 from then on the miracles that happened. That was an impossible war to win. It was impossible. And Washington knew it. But there I've got a number of books of Washington being protected by God. He took his he took in a letter to his wife, he took his after one war, after one battle, he took his suit off and he had four bullet holes in him. He had an Indian come up to him about 20 years later when he was 30 years later when he was president of the United States and

said, "You are the man that God will not allow to die." Air air braves were shooting at you. They can't miss. They couldn't miss, but you were protected. Okay. So, what do we have right now? You know, if there's any I brought this. I think everybody is aware that the oath of allegiance is in section of the Virginia Constitution. Both are affirmations in section seu article 2 section seven of the constitution in article two section six tells how a portionment how you're going to construct congressional districts and the point I want to make is this is reading from it article 2 section 6 Virginia constitution every electoral district shall be composed of contiguous and compact territory Compact is the word I want to define. Compact closely and neatly packaged. Closely and neatly packaged. I'll come back to a little bit later. Section 6A of the Virginia Constitution is entitled Virginia Redistricting Commission. In 2020, 65% of the people of Virginia went out and voted for a redistricting commission where politicians didn't have a complete control of the district. In other words, you could elect somebody to be a a congressman and and he could have a hand in setting up the district that he is going to be, you know, representing. They changed that from having all politicians to having some politicians and some citizens, equal Republican, equal Democrat, etc. And they have different ways to break ties. There was a tie the Virginia Supreme Court had to enter in uh in the year 2020 and every 10 years thereafter, Virginia Redesting

Commission shall be convened. So that's in the constitution right now. in the constitution. Uh and for the benefit of few people, Mark, do you have to interrupt my presentation? You've got a sense to do what you have to do. Why do you always interrupt me or frequently? Not always. You have lawyer time. Can't you do the lawyer time? Mayor, can't you get him to do uh quit interrupting public comment? You're um well beyond your five minutes and uh if you could wrap it up, I would appreciate

having wrapping up. Dr. Could I have one, please? I'm sorry. Uh thank you.

This is the map. What you see here is what's constitutional. It's done by commissioners or it's done by article 6A section 2 article 6A I mean article 2 section 6A number two these districts are compact enough according to the Supreme Court but what I wanted to do was anybody out here like to see one of these maps uh it's constitutional because it's done by commissioners. They are fairly compact and it's done at the 10-year uh census, you know, every 10 years. Okay. On the next map, on the one behind it is it's not constitutional because it's not been done by commissioners. It's not compact and it's not been done in 10 years. But I'd like to show you two districts. Look at district 11. on the second map, the one that's not constitutional, that is not compact, that is not closely and neatly packaged. When you go into Fairfax County, we lived up there nine years, and they don't represent most of Virginia, the people up there, because they're most a lot of them aren't aren't even

Dr. Watson, I'm going to have to call time on you. Okay, great. I'm very sorry. Well, look at look at look at district five. Compare district five and four and you'll see that uh what these people in Richmond are doing is not constitutional. Thank you. Thank you. Um next we have Mike Guy.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Good to spend a moment with you. Uh, I want to I'll start by mentioning that Bob and I are working on a little project that we'll we'll be hearing more about later, but we're working on a a play presentation about the history of the town of Miran. I think we'll find that interesting and hopefully we can have that happening in the fall. But enjoying working with Bob on that. Uh I want to say while I have an opportunity how pleased I am as a citizen of Marion of the services I have always received. Your public works people, recreation people, uh law enforcement, fire department, all I think do an outstanding job. Your new town manager who lived for a while. U I think the town is on the right track with a lot of good people doing a lot of good work. And to that end, main reason I'm here today, I've read with some concern the pressure that some may bring about asking the council to tread into areas that are not a part of the operation of the town of Marion. Uh we all have strong feelings about lots of things going on. We could talk about this war in in Iran tonight and have a lot of good different views. You could spend two hours debating it. And the result of all of that would not do anything other than to offend the people who disagree with the outcome. We or I as a citizen of the town of Marion want you to keep the eye on the ball of operating this town in a productive and meaningful way uh and do the jobs we elected you to do. And that does mean at times perhaps you need to comment on state national issues that directly impact the operation of the town. Otherwise, I think it's best for the town to avoid anything that may

appear to be partisan or outside the scope of the operation of the town meeting. And I don't know how many other people feel the way that I do, but I did want to express that concern to them. That's my comments. Thank you,

Mr. Scott. Thank you for your comments. Um, next we have Robbie Collie. Mr. Collie. Robbie Collie, 723 Grace Street, Marian, Virginia. Thank you for your attention and I appreciate the opportunity to address the council. I uh just have three items I wanted to uh address. Um I wanted to clarify something that I brought to your attention. Three things actually I brought to your attention at the last council meeting uh because there was some confusion that was brought to our attention at the ordinance committee meeting and if you were there those that were there certainly uh saw what the confusion was about because what I had presented was not uh actually addressed at the ordinance committee. Um there were three items that I brought to your attention. First was a would have been a resolution um encouraging the town and supporting the town law enforcement to cooperate fully with our ICE agents and our federal government. And I don't think that is out of the purview of town council. I think the town council needs to go on record for that. The second and I do appreciate both Dr. Wson's and Mr. Gu's comments. Um, I asked the council to go on record as opposing the proposed constitutional amendment that's uh mapped out so well by Dr. Wson, but I also understand that you are all out at large and voted at large and you don't represent one particular political party. So, I may rephrase that resolution as to not saying no or yes on any particular stance for this

constitutional amendment, but I would ask for a resolution strongly encouraging every citizen in the town of Marian within your purview to get out and vote by April 21st on this amendment. So, that is a neutral stance. I don't think there's anything wrong with encouraging our citizens to participate in this vote. And then finally, I do have a a uh an ordinance that I would like for you to consider, the actual ordinance that never was taken to the ordinance committee. And uh that was to designate the town of Marian as a sanctuary for firearms owners, enthusiasts, and dealers. And I have copies of a proposed ordinance and I'll be glad to present those as needed. Uh if I need to approach each each one of you, that's fine. But I have copies of a sample ordinance that works out very well for at least other towns that have considered this in recent times because of the attack on our Second Amendment rights. So, I appreciate your consideration and uh hope we clarified a little bit better of what took place at the ordinance committee. Thanks to Mr. Carter, thanks to Mr. Bay,

have one of those copies, please. Certainly. Thank you. And thank you very much. Thank you, sir. There doesn't even Thank you very much. Thank you. And uh next we have Roger Bowman. Thank you.

Roger Bowman, 844 Ed Drive, M Virginia. I only got a comment about a meeting that took place after the last council meeting and it's in reference to this gentleman's comment here next to me. It was sent to the ordinance committee. For some reason, we couldn't agree on it whether it was or it wasn't. And not only that, I've been trying to go to other meetings as far as the town goes. And there's only been one meeting that I have attended where the people cannot stand up and say anything. Now, I don't know if there's any way of doing it. But I'd like to make a comment that Mr. Carter not be able to keep that a rule in his meetings. It seems that he is the only one that wants to hold that off. There was three people wanted to make a comment and I think the meeting would have been over sooner had Mr. Carter not brought up no me notes speaking. I just think that that's something you know we come to the meetings we like to know what's going on. I don't see where there's a problem where we make a comment as long as it's within reason. You just shut down one that went over time. There's nothing wrong with that. But why in the world would you not want to hear a couple people's comments about something that you're obsessing? And as far as the redistricting and all that, I think that's something that everybody needs to be concerned about.

Now, it may not go within the realm of what you was elected for or whatever, but it's something that everybody needs to be interested in. Thank you for your comments. And uh as far as uh everyone using their ability to vote, everyone should do that. And uh I would say that just personally that everyone should look at the issues and vote as their conscience seems fit. Um now next we have David Fulton. David Fulton, Pearl Avenue. Uh, well, what I'm going to speak on has already been touched on. Chief, if you would, I'm handing out two sheets and I'm going to make it short and brief. is about upholding the constitution. Uh on the first page, a person who take a off to oath to uphold the constitution but uphold law that count contradict it. I mean plain and simple legal and moral implication. I'll leave it at that. On the second page, uh, a George Turker, a scholar in the other Republican had opinion on the same issue about people taking oath and then upholding. You can read it yourself.

Second thing is in reference to what we just discussed, I was one of the persons that was not allowed to speak. My one question was, had anybody from the town contacted the county to see how they've done their remote? I did 18 months ago. I asked the county. Their response were the only equipment they needed was a phone or tablet and a quiet room. That was all because everything was back and forth, back and forth. If somebody has contacted the county right here in your door about an issue that you were discussing to me, it would have been resolved a lot quicker. And like I said, when I asked less than one minute, I had a response, but again, I was not allowed to speak. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Um, I'm sorry I've lost my place. Uh, Mr. Fulton was the last person that had signed up for uh public comment time. Uh was everyone aware that they needed to sign this sheet? And if there was uh anyone that uh wanted to comment that did not sign the sheet, now would be your opportunity to do so. And uh seeing none, we'll move on with the agenda, which is quite extensive tonight. Um we will start with our

council members reports and uh we'll go right down the list. Uh Councilman Gates. Yeah, I have uh one thing first and that is uh this month is uh Arbor Day and would like to proclaim Monday the 27th as arbor day. I'm going to pass out a tenative proclamation. You ought to look at it at the next meeting. Well, I'll address it, but I'll pass these down and it's just a proclamation we've used for the last x number of years. And the other thing is uh I'd just like to make a comment about how I feel. I know everyone likes to know how their council person feels. And Mr. Guy, I I think you summed up my thoughts. I think he's left, but I think he you summed up my thoughts very well. And let me say, I didn't write this. I went to AI to look at it with the disclosure right off the bat, but I think it summed it up pretty good. And uh I believe this is an issue best handled at the state level, not something our town council needs to take a position on. Getting involved risks pulling focus away from local priorities like infrastructure, schools, public safety, and could bring unnecessary partisan division into decisions that should stay community focused. Both parties have handled redistricting in their own ways across different states, which makes it even more important for us to stay focused on what we can directly impact here locally. I think our time and energy are best spent on issues that directly affect our residents daytoday. And that's just my comment on it. I have no further report.

Thank you, Dr. Gates. Uh we'll move along uh with Councilwoman Spencer. Um yes, I would also like to encourage everyone to get out and vote. I think that's your your duty and your right and I hope everyone does that. But also I have a resolution in honor of Rusty Ham. I would like to read Rusty if you could come up. I'm not sure everyone knows but this is I think your last it is

meeting whereas Rusty Ham joined the town of Marian on December 28th, 2002. Whereas Rusty Ham was promoted to sergeant May 1st, 2010. Whereas Rusty Ham was promoted to lieutenant July 1st, 2014. Whereas Rusty Ham was selected as chief of Mary and Fire, EMS July 1, 2024. Are those dates right so far? Whereas Rusty Ham has provided over two decades of public service to the citizens and the community of Marian. Whereas Rusty Ham elected to resign his position as he moves to Richmond for a new career. Now therefore, it be resolved by the council of the town of Marion gathered in regular session on April 6, 2026 that the town of Marion joins to recognize the significant contributions and to honor Rusty Ham through this resolution making his prolific career of service as the hallmark of citizenry and epitomizes the very best of the town. Thank you. Thank you. OH, point of order. We do need a motion, a second, and to vote on the resolution.

So moved. Second. All in favor? Now it's official. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Councilwoman Spencer. Uh, is there anything further? Nothing. Councilwoman Jennings.

Okay. I would just like to first of all thank everyone who has commented tonight whether uh, you know, it's on what we can do or something else. I appreciate every everyone being here because you do have a right, it's your right to come and talk to us. Um, I agree with everything that uh, Dr. Gates said, uh, we are responsible for six areas, and I've been here a long time, and I those those responsibilities did not change. Fire, EMS, um, water, sewer, roads, and I knew I would forget one. And and the the and speak up. Law enforcement.

I didn't hear you. The police department.

Oh, the police. Oh my goodness. I'm so sorry. I should have said you all first. We appreciate all you everything everybody does and those directly affect the citizens every day. I wasn't going to really say that any of this, but I just felt like I should. And everybody has the right to vote. It's your responsibility. Just get out and vote what have whatever who for whoever you want to and whatever you want to. Um just a little update on uh Deborah. she uh had to go to the hospital for an an issue and she was there for a few days and then they let her come back to rehab where those days will start all over so she'll have more uh PT and more therapy. Um u so that that's a good thing. U and she's doing real well. She has taken some steps and and and she's doing well. Um I want to especially thank Rusty. You've done a good job, my friend. You've you've supported our town and thank you. And that's all.

Thank you, Councilman Atwell. I just want to say thank you to Rusty and wish you the best of luck. We appreciate everything you've done for Marian and hope you have a very fruitful career and move. That's all. Thank you, sir. Councilman May, last Tuesday, we did hold a wreck meeting department. It was small in attendance. Um, but we got a lot accomplished. Um, and I think Andrew is going to go over that information in his time. And, um, thank you, Rusty. And that's it for me.

Okay, sir. Thank you very much, uh, Councilman Carter. The ordinance committee recently met and uh the main topic was how do we handle council members electronic meetings when there have a fiscal incapacity. Uh we weighed over and looked at the code and Mark did quite a bit of research on it. It's allowed uh first of all uh remote meetings are only allow normally allowed if the governor this declares a state of emergency. Uh but the code does allow for remote uh council meetings members to attend remotely if the proper equipment is available. Now the only caveat to that is closed sessions. Uh if that particular council member is in a uh nursing home or rehab center or even in their own home, uh if a visitor or a staff comes by, we'd either have to go out of session or uh Todd agree. We all agree with Todd. It can be frozen or paused. Correct, Todd? Yes, I I can mute I can mute the participants.

Okay, can mute that. So, with that, uh our Todd and I are on that committee and uh we recommend that in this particular instance, the particular council member be allowed to view and participate in meetings with this equipment. And with that exception. Okay. Um may I ask are you um allowing a singularity here or are you making us adopt a policy for electronic attendance?

Asking for two ordinances that we advertised advertised for what 10 days. Well, we have guidelines that say how often they get advertised. Once once a quarter, is it? No, it would be we're we're looking at I think

two or three advertisements before the um date that that public hearing is scheduled for. So, you would be asking, I guess your committee is asking that the public hearing be scheduled for both of the ordinances, the declared state of emergency and the non-declared states of emergency. So, we'd have to have two separate meetings. They're two separate ordinances. But wait a minute. Can't we do both ordinances? We can do both of them at the same time. Yes. Okay. So, we only have to Cindy, you'd only have to advertise once, but you're advertising two ordinances. Okay.

Can we get it at the next meeting or do we have to do it the next meeting? Um, does Mark know the U requirements for advertising that publication? It's the same. It's two weeks, three different times. Yeah. So, you couldn't get it until Okay. First meeting in May. The um Yeah. You Larry, you want to make the motion to I'll make a motion that we advertise for the first meeting in May. What date would that be? S May the fourth.

May 4th. That would give us time to advertise and have a public hearing uh to discuss the two ordinances. U we'll vote on it at time. And will we put these on the website? Yes. Ordinances. Okay. So the public can see it also. Uh, I'll second it. Oh, thank you, sir. Because it is something we have never addressed before. Um, that I know of. Uh, so correct. Needs to be addressed and we put a stipulation on it, too, that uh that's a thing that we think we can come in under $2,000 total cost for this equipment. Okay. So, we have a motion.

Todd have anything? You have anything to add? No, that's about it. covered it. Okay. Um motion and second. Any further discussion? Are we ready to take this to a vote? All in favor? And is unanimous. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Carter. Anything else? That'll do it. That'll do it. Okay. Um under the mayor's report. Uh, want to let everybody know that um, Garrett Vernon uh, as a Smith County Youth Ambassador is uh, Am I stepping on your toes? You had this under your section if you'd like to reference.

That would be that would be great. Um, uh, the spring cleaning on April the 11th. It starts at uh, 9:00 a.m. at Riverbin Park. Anyone that would like to volunteer, uh, please support the, uh, youth ambassador and Garrett Vernon and let's clean up Riverbin Park a little bit. Uh, that's that's a great thing. Segue into caring for our community, which uh has established our uh, community service days as June 6th and 13th. Um, and for uh your information, I know that's that's that's a little bit off, but we're looking for people to make teams and to sign up well in advance so that we can assess your skills and see what projects we can actually take on and what projects we can get done for the town. And it's a it's a very good uh program for caring for our community. Um, Arbor Day, wonderful. and the town continues to work with the VFW uh for Memorial Day uh which is quite a celebration and we were talking to someone that was completely unaware of the uh flags that will be flying in Marian uh over Memorial Day. So, uh we've got a lot of good things coming up. Um know we've got a long session tonight. So, that concludes the mayor's report and we'll continue with the attorney's report.

No report. Thank you, sir. And staff reports. Chief Tester, I'd like to ask. We're going to let Chief Ham go first. That was one of our one of our amendments there. Oh, sorry. Thank you. Uh, thank you for yielding your time, Chief. I'll see you in

That's right. So, let's uh let's start out a little closer to home with uh the Marian Fire EMS report uh that I have for you tonight. I do have solid uh call numbers for the month of February. Um looks like we were at 211 calls for that month. Um they were averaging about 43% in the county and 56% a little over 56% of those were in the uh town of Marian. Uh if you looked across the parking lot when you came in, you saw a big shiny new ambulance sitting over there. That ambulance uh has been in the works for five years, Chief Keys, give or take. Could be five years,

I dare say. We hold the uh the world's record for longest uh vehicle uh or the longest ambulance uh ordering process. Um, they sent us a brand new ambulance, but it was on the wrong chassis. So, uh, we had to go back and and punt. And now the real Bright truck is sitting outside. Uh, for any of you guys that, ladies and gentlemen, like to check it out. Uh, other exciting news, our uh, new fire engine uh, has been completed. Um, they they got all the gremlins, as we call them in in the public safety world, out of the truck. We hope uh and it's going to be delivered to Rono for a yet another final inspection. Uh and we hope that it'll be here within the next couple weeks. Uh and you won't miss it. It'll be sitting across the street just like that ambulance. Uh maybe by the next council meeting, if not certainly the one after that. So, uh we've had several of our team members that have attended training since we last spoke. The majority of those have been EMS trainings. uh everywhere from uh Fairfax to the mountains of West Virginia. Um and our paramedics and uh emergency professionals have been getting their continuing education credits all over. Uh would like to say thank you for the council for uh the funding and the budget that allows our team members to participate in training outside of uh the internet and online training. So, in conclusion tonight, as I take a deep breath, it has been an honor and a privilege to serve this town, this council, and the men and women sitting behind me, and the men and women sitting at home. Uh it seems like yesterday I was

standing uh where those the two gentlemen was standing earlier and took the same oath uh almost 25 years ago and I stand before you now at my last council meeting. I have accepted a position uh with the department uh with the Commonwealth Virginia Department of General Services as their uh continuity of operations and emergency preparedness manager at the capital. So my job will be actually physically uh at the capital, the governor's mansion and all those all the government buildings around Capitol Square. Um, so, uh, Country Mouse is going to the city. So, I'm, uh, very thankful. I'm very excited and a little terrified. So, thank you all and thank you for the the kind comments tonight and the resolution.

Thank you for your service,

Andrew. in in respect for the public, could you sort of tell them what the ambulance and the fire engine costs? Uh, yes, absolutely. So, the uh so you know so you know what you're getting. I'm glad you haven't walked out yet, Rusty, but um fire truck um a little over a million dollars, a million30,000. Um and then the ambulance 350,000 was a little more than that. Okay. Right. But the cop Okay. Okay. Yes. Yeah. So we've got between those two, we've just got just shy of a million and a half in um public safety investment there. So

fire truck took this month is the three and a half years since it was and it's wonderful that we have these wonderful pieces of equipment that no one ever wants to show up at their house, right? But we were glad you're there to do it, Rusty. Thank you so much.

If I could just make one more comment the micro. I'd be remissed if I didn't also say thank you to these guys and these guys and all the relationships that I have had the privilege of building uh with teammates across all public safety. um wouldn't be here if it wasn't for those those men and women. So, thank you to them as well. Thank you. I'm out. Don't you have to make a last uh call and key in on the mic or something like that?

Chief Tester, how do you follow that? you'll show us how.

Without any further ado, I'd like to introduce Officer Logan Self and his family. Sergeant uh Andy Self with the Avenue Police Department, his stepmother Ruthie. And uh I very proud of Logan. He uh just graduated last Thursday about the academy. He has a brother also that's worked for Whitfield PD that is in the New River Academy now. He's a third generation police officer. Uh his grandfather is retired gay lord from over in Bland County. He brings a lot of tradition to the table. Uh has an amazing personality. Just a great young man and I'm honored to have him on the force and I just wanted to introduce him to everybody and reintroduce the council because he's been gone for a while. Come on up here. Great to have you.

Thank you, man. Glad to have you. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Glad to have you. Thank you, sir. Third generation. You got any kids yet?

Floor is yours if you'd like to say anything. Yes, sir. Now, I just appreciate especially thank y'all for having me and my family out here and thank you for being police department for u you signing me back cuz first time I came through things didn't go my way but and I took a little time off to reflect on some stuff and then I came back and Chief Tesman really put uh we talked quite a bit and he he thought I could do it. He knew I could do it. I was still skeptical on it. So, but I took the lead for it and glad I did. Glad I did. So, I just want to say thank you all. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations. We're glad to have you.

So, your parents are here. We wondered who you were. Thank you for coming. that chief. And I'd like to say on Chief Ham's part, I know he's already part of the building, but uh he and I have built a friendship. I first started at Marian PD. He was working part-time at sheriff's office then and uh we've had a great friendship over the years. There's been times he killed me, times I killed him. But we've shed tears together and and we've really worked together well over the years, and he he'll be a loss to the community. That's all I have, Chief. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you.

Uh, as we move along, um, I next I see Todd Long with zoning and IT director is approaching the podium.

So, uh, just to reflect back on the ordinance committee, uh, recommendation to council, I know that the budget is set at $2,000. um what we think we can do this for right now, what we've got in our Amazon cart, it's right around $264. We're going to be utilizing what we've got here already. We're going to be running it through the Switcher studio, so whoever's participant should be able to see every camera angle that is currently on YouTube. Um, the only thing that we're working on, we we found a a a used laptop down there that we can run Teams on. If it's good enough to run Teams on, we're good at about $270. If it's not good enough to run Teams on, then we may have to upgrade to a computer that that should be the only other expense to get this thing to work. We've been testing some stuff last couple weeks. It seems like it's going to work fine. Um, uh, when Chris was here, we we run a little test on on phone downstairs and up here, and it seemed like it worked really good. Um, had a little bit of a problem interjecting USBC to USB to HDMI to quarter inch. Uh, found an adapter that we think we can do that with. Um, once we get all that stuff in, we'll we'll know more, but we'll definitely be well below $2,000 on that. And that's all I got. Not unless you got questions.

Thank you for your report. Speak English, not tech. I didn't understand a word he said,

but I know he can make it happen. Thank you, Todd. Uh, moving along. Um, we have um down to the town manager report. Yes, sir. So, um, much of what's on my report, we've already touched on this evening, but I did want to revisit the the firetruck purchase. So, there was a, um, a resolution that I'm going to ask you all to sign for the financing of that truck. Um, I did want to point out that while it was a little over a million dollar purchase, we had about 400,000 in the firetruck fund. So, um, we'll be paying that down on it and we'll be financing, um, at the USDA prime rate about $600,000. Uh, we do have a lot of flexibility on on the, um, the time limit of that loan and what that looks like, but um, there are no restrictions on an early payoff. So, um it's my goal to to get that paid off much more quickly, but this will get it in the door and um certainly get something get get something safe and um and new on the road for us. So, we're excited to have that and I would ask that you all approve that resolution so we can move forward with the the financing of that piece of equipment. Um again, just wanted to plug the Riverbin Park cleanup on April 11th, runs from 9 to 12. Um should be a uh good time. I believe breakfast and lunch is going to be provided for folks that participate. So um excited to have that youth ambassador program and um see how that can benefit some of our town facilities. Um and then lastly, I just wanted to um follow up on uh what council member May was saying about the uh wreck meeting. We did the the purpose of that was to discuss uh fees for the swimming pool this year. So, I've got some um some a fee sheet that I'm going to pass out and I'll explain it as soon as I do that.

As far as the resolution goes, what do you need from the council? Uh just a vote on the new I'll finish with. Okay. Thank you. Thank you.

Okay. So, what we're looking at here is a description of the fees for the pool. Um last year's rate versus a rate that I'm proposing this year. The goals here were to make the pool um uh more affordable and more accessed by community members. Um the pool is not something that the town is ever going to uh you know profit off of, but it's more or less a community staple and we want to um while we attempt to cover as many expenses as we can u what's most important is that it can be utilized by youth and and families in town um as much as it can be. So, I've surveyed some rates from different uh like facilities and and proposing new rates that I'll go down one at a time. Um the season pass for a single individual last year was $250. I'm asking that we reduce that to $99. Again, that's in line with what we've seen at Lake facilities. A household season pass last year was $350 and we're asking to drop that to a um a peace meal rate. It would be $99 for the first two people in a household and then $49 for the um the third individual and any more that lived in the same household. Um previously we did not offer a 2hour pool party option, but what we found was there were u folks that had younger kids that had pool parties and they were leaving before that third hour. Uh they just liked one hour in the party room and one hour in the pool. Um, so in order to make the the party more affordable, um, this year we're going to offer a two-hour um two-hour party at a rate of $149. And then our standard pool party is a three-hour rental. Last year was $250. I'm asking that we reduce that to $199.

Um, then for each additional 50 people, we have to um have another lifeguard um on staff for that event. So that rate is going to stay the same. It' be um 50 additional dollars for each additional 50 people. Um and then last year we did not offer this as well, but there is a um I'm calling it the the use of the pavilion, but there's a building there uh at the pool that's got access to to shades, some tables, a refrigerator, a sink. Um and we thought it would be nice to um offer that up to to folks that wanted to use it at the pool. So, uh, the daily rate on that we are going to or I'm proposing that we make that available to folks at the pool and that would be a daily rate of $50. Um, so I guess first of all, are there any questions on any of this that I could um try to clear up?

I just like to say I applaud you all for doing this because it's going to make it more affordable for our our citizens who like to have come last year or the year before and couldn't because they couldn't afford it. Sure. Maybe this will make it easier. Yeah. And um uh Councilwoman Spencer had had brought up um we're going to be looking at at uh opportunities to maybe give a select number of passes to underprivileged children and things like that. So

um we're going to be looking at that as well. But um essentially what I am asking for you all to do is approve these proposed rates and then we will um get the rates changed on our website and we're going to do a little bit of a marketing campaign to get this out in front of people that we have um you know reduced rates and want to to make the pool as accessible as we can. Quick question on the pavilion. Sure. Um if the pavilion is not um uh reserved on a daily basis um then uh it will also be open to access to people that are at the pool. I don't understand.

Um I we we haven't used it for that in the past. That's something we can certainly discuss. Um but no no need no need to. I just didn't understand the Okay. It's a um Tony, can you group? Okay. Yeah, it's it's more for for daycarees and things like that that come um for kids that need to get out of the sun and um and things like that. So, so it's not open to public access. It's not. No, it's something that would be um uh the lifeguards would set up for the group that's coming. We'd have it leased out in advance. So, it would um kind of be prepared for the the renter based on based on what their needs are. So, do I have a motion to accept uh the uh suggestions of the recck department? I'll make that motion.

Second. It's a great idea. Thank you. All in favor? Okay. Thank you to the uh rec committee for service. Actually, thank you to Andrew and Tony and Beth because they did all the leg work. So, well, thank you. Absolutely. And that concludes my report this evening. Okay. Financing resolution resolution. Oh. Oh, I'm sorry. Uh, we do need to vote on the resolution for the fire truck, the financing of the fire truck. Oh, okay. Is there a resolution that we have? Uh, yes. It's on the It's in the agenda packet. Okay. That is a similar one. I think that was from 2022.

Did you And you looked at it. It's okay. Yes. I think that one was for 1 million 8. The same amount. It's the same amount for public. Well, I'll make a motion that we uh approve a resolution for the purchase of the purchase and financing for the fire truck uh for the amount stated 1 million. Once again, Cindy 18,000 18,000. Yeah, that's my motion. I'll second it. You need a roll call vote on this, Cindy? No.

No. And uh that's uh the loan resolution that we do see in our uh packet. U no further discussion. Um is everyone comfortable with voting on this measure? Sure. All in favor? Okay.

Thank you for approving that. And if I could point out one other thing that I um u thought was nice that that Samantha and Cindy and Tony and myself had looked at. Um I had mentioned that that we were using the um the accumulated monies from a firetruck fund to buy down what we would be financing on this. So um every year there's about $65,000 that we roll into the firetruck fund for when we need to um to make the purchases. So, our our fire and EMS team do a tremendous job of um taking care of the vehicles. So, um we don't make these make these purchases very often, but um I thought it was nice to say that the the payment on this truck would be about $65,000 a year. So, we're going to use what would be the contribution to the firetruck fund to make that loan payment until we do get it paid off. Of course, there will be extra principal payments as money allows, but um just wanted to point out that the way that we um uh structure this, it won't be an actual budgetary impact because we'll be taking the money that was to be reserved for the tri firet truck fund to um actually make the the loan payments. So, uh we have the new equipment, but there won't actually be a um a budget negativity hit in the um um in the debt service category. So that's all I've got.

Thank you. Okay. Is there anything else? Questions? Yes, sir. Steel Creek Park. Is it totally finished? They're coming to paint in June. That's all we lack is the paint. Yeah. And another one is the uh River Bend Park down there. I think it was set aside for soccer, wasn't it, Jim? And I notice when I go by there a lot, I don't see a lot of particular. They took that soccer, they took the fsaw, which is a a version of soccer, and took it to Steel Creek Park cuz that's what the uh area that's what the area voted on. They wanted the soccer wanted up there.

They wanted it up there. So, we've moved it down there. And the tenative plan is to make two pickle ball courts. That's what I was getting around to is young lady asked me the other day for us to look into opening three three now and when they come to paint they will they will paint it open up another pickle ball. It seems to be growing quite rapidly and and we have and we have to thank the foundation for for a big part of these funds. The Smith County Foundation they had allotted funds for the park at at Steel Steel Park.

Yeah. uh we didn't use all those we didn't need all those funds so they allowed us to parlay those into a couple other things and part of that is that river to convert if you see if you see any of the members of the board of the foundation please thank them yeah good community partners glad to glad to receive their donations is there anything else that needs to come before the council before we go into closing Then, Councilwoman Jennings, will you take us into close session?

Sure. I make a motion we go into close session to discuss two issues. The first is a personnel fire chief hiring process uh as allowed under state code 2.23711A1. The second issue is consultation with legal counsel and that is allowed under state code 2.23711 A7. I second that motion and second. Uh all in favor, we'll now go into close session. We'll take a fivem minute recess before we begin. We will return to open session.

I make a motion we go back into open session and declare we only discuss the two appropriate issues as allowed under state code 2.23712. Second. Roll call. Yes. Yes. Spencer, yes. Jimmy, yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Mar and Town Council is now back in open session. Is there any further business that needs to come before the town council? I make a motion that we um Keysling Chief Keezling as in as chief of fire EMS.

And I'll second that. Okay. We have a motion to make uh Deputy Chief Keezling interim chief of the Maran Fire and Rescue. Is that any discussion? None being heard. All in favor of this and it's unanimous. Now, is there any further pleasure of the town council? Yes. Motion to adjurnn. Second. All in favor? Council stands adjourned.