Town Council - Regular Meeting

All right, Maggie, can you hear us? Just nod your head if you want. Oh, Maggie, can you hear us? Just nod your head or give us a thumbs up or something. Oh, hey Maggie, can you hear us? Don't know. Is audio working Maggie? Okay. Mic check. Hey Maggie, can you hear us? We're working on the audio over here. She's on mute. Okay. Yeah, but thumbs up. You can hear us from over here. Cool. Excellent. All right. Yes, I'll call for that. We'll get there, pal. One step at a time, you know. don't have to be in a rush. Okay. Uh as always, I'd like to start out with welcoming everyone that is here today. Um thank you for coming either in uh in person or tuning in online. Um for those that watch us on YouTube or the Facebook channel, um as always, please silence your cell phones. Just take a second and make sure your cell phone is actually on silent um so that it is not disruptive to the meeting. want to make sure we respect one another's time in each speaker speaking. We ask for your patience and understanding. Uh we appreciate it as council deliberates on various agenda items. Uh there is open public comment at every meeting and the signups are uh just in the front here. And so if you're here in person, you're welcome to sign up and we do encourage that. Um there are is a specific public hearing tonight um for resolution 27-25

uh which is about delinquent personal property tax collection. Um and so if you would like to sign up for that specific public hearing, there's a separate signup sheet to do that. Um we want to acknowledge the staff work in preparation for this meeting. Their insights are invaluable to each topic of town business and appreciation for our town manager Natasha Tucker. We operate under the council manager form of government and Natasha handles our daily operations and department administration while the town council provides direction and authorizes policy in accordance with the laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and the town charter. While each council member has the ultimate responsibility to contribute, um we do uh function as a body and collaboration is key. We are each responsible um to withhold our duties ethically um to the citizens of Colonial Beach. We are going to 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. With that, we call this town council work session meeting to order. Wednesday, October 1st, 2025, and I got 6:05 p.m. All right. First up is our roll call of members. And we're doing something a little bit uh unique tonight because all members are present, but we have to have Miss Sanford check in from the Zoom call. So, uh Maggie, I'm going to ask you to state your name, state your location, and your reason for being virtual, and then you'll be able to participate. Oh, wait. Unmute.

Volume up. Hold on. Heather's working on it. Mike Tech us Maggie.

Yeah. Good for you. I'm just glad that you're here with us on Zoom. All right, Val, is that all good? Excellent. All right, with that all uh members are present. Um the remainder of the members are here in person and I don't have any additions to the agenda. Is there approval of the agenda as is written? Is there a motion? Is there a second?

Second. All right. Nobody speak all at once. Um all in favor say I. I. I. Any oppose? Maggie, you good with the agenda? Excellent. All right. We don't have a consent agenda tonight, so we're going to jump straight to council member liaison and commission reports. And I'm going to start with Mr. Wood on your side.

Good evening everyone. Um, got a lot of good news for us. Uh, today uh Colonial Beach Police Department is going to be hosting the National Night Eye event on Tuesday, October 14th on Townial from 5:00 pm to 8:00 pm. Uh, everyone's welcome to attend. It's a fun event. Uh it's free and uh come on out and and meet your cops. Um there is that better. Uh the police department is pleased to announce that two new officer recruits, Miss Soya Kievanfar and Mr. Brian Tinder, will be entering the police academy this coming Monday. We wish them all the best in completing the five-month course successfully. And uh the police department recently received a very positive final report from the accreditation assessment that the department went through in May. Police department passed all 192 of 192 accreditation standards. That's outstanding. Thank you, Chief. Uh the report will be presented at a meeting later this month. I believe that's on the 9th. Is that right? uh chief. Okay. And uh we're looking forward to hearing about your success there. The planning commission met on September 11th. Uh two new appointments by council are needed to fill the remainder of Mr. Thompson's and Miss Kurt's terms. Uh interesting interested citizens are asked to complete an online application. So far, we've received two apps. Uh by ordinance, members of the planning commission must be town residents and qualified by knowledge and experience to make decisions on questions of community growth and development. Following a public hearing at the September 11th meeting, the planning commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of amendments to article 22, the zoning ordinance regarding tree removal,

trimming, and permitting requirements. This ordin amendment is being introduced to council later tonight. Uh the commission will hold a public hearing at their meeting next Thursday, October the 9th, on revised amendments to the previous staff's work on article 13 parking. The amendments do roll back some of the new regulations of the previous version, and they also offer reduced parking for mixeduse development and expanded shared parking. Uh in September there were 20 permits issued. One short-term rental, three general zoning, eight accessory structures, four wood lot management permits, two single family dwelling, two addition, and one demolition permit. The average number of staff days to issue a permit was less than nine days. That's just an incredible incredible uh speeding up of that process. A total of 129 short-term uh permits, short-term rental permits have been issued. There are currently six notices of violation issued for those who have not obtained permits. Staff is pursuing their compliance or will proceed with legal action. And um I'm sure you're going to meet a new member of our staff later. I had an opportunity to uh meet her today and uh more than impressed, but I won't steal the town manager thunder. Thanks.

Good evening everybody. Uh just a couple of uh follow-ups from last meeting's NGO announcements. Uh just a reminder, the Alan Alexander Graanbell croquet tournament is this weekend on Townill on Sunday. Um we I spoke about it at length last time. You can put that up online, see the details. Uh the Memories Matter walk for Alzheimer's is uh coming up as well. October 7th is the day at Leo's Pizza where they're donating 20% of their entire take of the day to towards this thing. So, I think that's an impressive uh commitment on the part of one of our local uh retailers and support them if you can. Uh the actual walk is on October the 18th and will launch from the gun uh the main gun in town. And uh last up, the uh around town golf cart scavenger hunt uh put on by BAM is coming up as well on the 19th of October. And all the proceeds from that go to support scholarships. And that's it for me.

Mr. Williams. Uh good evening everybody. I don't really have anything for the schools. We haven't had any meetings since uh our last council meeting. Um but I did want to ask um on the because I've got had a couple of constituents ask me about the um appointments for the planning commission. Do we have a deadline for the applications? Does anybody know? Could you answer though? I guess the concern that they had that they raised was that we've been a few months without members. So, um that's why I was curious if we had a deadline since we have at least a couple applications.

Madame Mayor, members of council, we haven't set an official deadline. Um that would be up to council. We certainly would welcome, you know, setting a deadline so that we could move forward. Uh we were, you know, we do have two applications and we have two vacancies at this point. Um, so we can be happy to put those in your next packet um if you you know we can end um the applications say within the next week or so and and have them any applications that we receive for your meeting. I think it's on the 15th and ask for your appointments at that meeting if you're comfortable doing that. So we'll put those in your next packet that would go out the week before. Um, so the end of next week.

Okay. Thank you. I would support the the rest of the council. Yeah. Yeah, that's fine. That's all I had. Okay. Miss Grandstaff. Good evening everyone. There's no reporting at this time for the EDC as we have not met and our next meeting will be on October the 14th. Thank you. Maggie, do you want to report from Zoom or do you want want to pass.

Cool. The morning we still have two openings for the club and advisory commission. All right. Thank you, Mr. Allison.

Good evening, everybody. Uh the public works liaison have a couple announcements from the public works department. Um in terms of infrastructure and utilities, there were two repaired water leaks. uh one completed sewer install, two cleared sewer backups, and for the water meter system, they installed repeaters to improve accuracy and efficiency. In terms of the wastewater treatment plant, they continue to support maintenance and operational repairs for the wastewater treatment plant. Uh general service event support and beautifification. They began beautifification of the memorial cannon. So, make sure you go by and take a look at that. and provided general beach and property maintenance. Now, moving on to streets, uh there was ongoing ditch cleaning and rehabilitation for drainage and flood prevention and continued rightaway maintenance across town. And that's all I have for this evening.

Great. Thank you. Um all right, I have just a few things. First, I just wanted to uh give a shout out and a thank you to um Travis Cook, the commander of the American Legion, who presented about the program Healing Waters at our Comrell event uh last week. Uh this is a program just so you um to give a little bit of advocacy on his behalf that works with veterans or active duty military that have any kind of need. So you do not have to be physically disabled necessarily. Um but any kind of um need can qualify you. And it is all about fly fishing. And so it is sort of a therapy around fly fishing. You get to go fly fishing. You learn how to um tie lures and things like that and have some camaraderie with other veterans or other um people who have maybe also similar needs or similar experiences. And it just was very touching his presentation. and the work he is doing here in Colonial Beach, I think speaks to a lot of um our resident population who has strong ties to the military and has um experiences that can help guide one another and support one another. And so the work Travis is doing is right now through the Freredicksburg branch, but he has a local Colonial Beach chapter and it is growing. And so if you would like information on that, you can reach out to uh Travis Cook at the American Legion or you can reach out to me and I can put you in in contact with Travis. Um but I just really wanted to uh give them a shout out for uh such a great job in um promoting that program to Comrell and also I think it just touches on the um the values that are reflected here in the town. And then my second shout out is to Charlotte Cole who also presented

um at Comrell on behalf of the town for the work of downtown Clinton Beach and the work of Marina Way. It was hosted at um Ice House Marina and Brewery which is on Marina Way. So it was very fitting and um with the range and the connection we have to Jo Grand Bean the river um also very interesting I think to a lot of our military partners. Um I want to in association with that just set out the date out there. October 6 is the connectivity plan um stakeholder meeting. Uh we do these every time we are getting these major plans that are going to start to implement steps that you have to uh be ready for years in advance. And so your uh feedback during this time is very important. And so I really uh recommend if you're able to to get out to the Colonial Beach Elementary School Monday, October 6 between 6:00 and 8:00 PM. The plan is online. The links have been shared on Facebook. Um I'm sure they're on the town website as well. And there is a digital survey you can do, but coming to the actual stakeholder meeting, that feedback is going to be much more beneficial to impacting the plan. So, um if you can get the digital version, that's great, but coming um in person to the stakeholder meeting will mean a lot. Also, I um want to highlight and thank the Northern Neck Historical Society. Uh they publish, if anybody doesn't know, I think annually, uh a historical magazine. It looks like this. And there are many many many many volumes of this historical magazine that document the history and many other articles of the Northern Neck. And this publication for the very first time in its history has the history of the town of Colonial Beach in it.

And I'm just gonna say for better or worse I wrote it. So um I had a lot of help though. Uh Tom Moner was a wonderful editor as well as the Colonia Beach Museum who also reviewed the article. It is a uh educational publication and does have to meet some pretty steep guidelines for documentation and um and I haven't written like that since I was in college. So anyway, uh we are now the town of Columbia Beach and the history of Columbia Beach. At least a small uh bit of it because it's only a few pages long and obviously we have a lot more history than just that. Um at least it is now highlighted in that publication. So if you um would like a copy, you can contact the historical society, the Northern Neck Historical Society, which is based in Montros. Um you can also join and they always need more support and more members um to support the magazine and support the work of documenting the history in the Northern Neck. Uh with that the James Monroe birthplace will be holding a celebration later in um October and a couple weeks from now for um the birthday of James Monroe and they have just applied Monday for a grant from the Commonwealth Historical Funds for more improvements to the grounds over there. So, let's hope uh and um wish them well on that grant application as the Northern Neck or the uh anniversary, the 250th anniversary of the United States is upcoming. Um there are some funds out there related to that. So, we hope to pull some of that interest uh here to West Morland County where truly was the beginning of um the development of our independent nation as Letown resolves were written just down the street. So, just gonna say Massachusetts doesn't have anything on

West Morland County, Virginia. Uh, put that out there. Um, the last thing I want to do is similar to uh Mr. Williams request for getting the planning commission members on the next meeting. Um but also in November, if you recall, uh council members, we have had these two part one and part two from Davenport reports, major financial reports about capital improvements. We have obviously on here the resolution for um the proceeding with items that are prioritized and obligated from the consent order. Those are kind of obvious got to do, you know, items, but there are a remainder of other items on those. And I um we have talked about organizing a special work group day just like a session just dedicated to that. So I was going to throw out there the November work session date. um not having anything else interfere with that agenda, but inviting back Davenport, giving everybody a month um it's a little bit more than a month actually uh to get questions to staff, questions to Davenport in so that they are prepared and ready so that we can have a little bit more of a on the table um focus on those items. um moving forward with both the funding and action items that we're going to be committing to within the CIP that is a result of all the work that we've asked them to do. So, just want to kind of throw out a dis November work session date for that and see if there was any potential conflicts.

I do um I'm going to be having surgery that week. Oh my goodness. Well, you know, it's it's all for the better, but uh um anyway um Well, that's why I threw it out there. Yeah, exactly. So, unfortunately, I won't be able to do it because it literally wouldn't be able to see it anyway. Okay. So, is um the Wednesday before what would be the work session? Well, I don't know when your surgery is and I'm don't put you on the spot about your personal medical.

Yeah. Uh it's it's okay. Uh we I'll accept alms. Um, so the the Friday before I have a pre-op appointment and then uh I'm going to be out of commission from Monday basically that entire week. So, um, the Wednesday before. Is that what you said? Yeah. Which would be October 29th. It would still be one, two, three, four weeks from now. Understood. Yeah. So, I don't I don't know. What do you think about that? I can't do the Wednesday after that. But I don't want to go too far. You know, we start to push into December. We're pushing into the holidays and all of a sudden we're noning towards 2026. I got you.

So, can we add it to the regular meeting? Maybe. I think that this really deserves a like just a focus just on this one item. And it doesn't have to be the 6 PM Wednesday time frame. I just know we kind of blog out Wednesday 6 in our own personal calendar. So I was kind of thrown out as the starting place. Well, Tuesday through Thursday, I'm flying for any of those days. So, okay. For the week before. Yeah. Uh what about anybody else? What if we It would be an evening meeting.

I'm I mean I'm kind of throwing out Wednesday the 29th at 6 PM. I can do that. Yeah, you're not sure. You're good, Maggie. I was All right, we got thumbs up. Okay, so um I say this because I want to make sure Heather has enough time to advertise, especially if we pick a different date. You know, she has to set the day and time. So, um David, do you want to just check your calendar and get back with us by Friday, maybe? Is that okay?

Okay, cool. Excellent. And we could do that in lie of the November work session. We just would or we can do both meetings. I guess we'll see if we need to keep the work session as well or not. Sound good? Okay. All right. That's all I got. Oh, and this is a because this is a work session, not a regular meeting. I don't have town manager report on this. So, should I introduce Angela? Can you just stand up and and just introduce yourself a little bit and say hello to us? We did hear about you last meeting, but we didn't get to see you. And hello, I'm Angela Lawrence. I started Monday as a director of planning and community development. I'm pleased to be here. been working with Darla for a couple of days and we'll continue that transition and let you know what that looks like in the coming weeks. Um but excited to be here. I have um I've been town manager at several localities in Virginia and one in Maryland. I years ago was a certified planning commissioner and have been on the elected side as well. So, um happy to serve in this role. happy to get back to what I was doing years and years ago and um looking forward to I mean I've been doing planning and zoning for small localities. So anyway, any questions?

Go ahead. No, I just a a compliment actually. I had the opportunity to meet you today and u even though we're going to miss Darla but not right away but uh certainly uh we are in good hands and I thank you for offering your assistance to our town. I'm pleased to be here and I am going to be a resident of the town so pleased to be living here as well. I love hearing that. Yeah, that's very important to us here. We want you to experience the same problems that we have. the same joy. That's what I said, Nigel. That's what I said. Yes. Thank you. All right. Thank you.

All right. With that, we don't have any other presentations today, so we'll go to public comment. And I know Supervisor Trivet is here, who was not able to be at the last regular meeting. So, welcome, Mr. Trivet.

Thank you, Madame Mayor. Town Council. It's good to see you. Uh, I won't be at your October 15th meeting because our meeting will be on October the 15th as well due the holiday on that Monday and it happens every year. So, uh, but if there's anything that you would like for me to relay, um, you know, I think most of you know my number or my email address and please let me know and I'll be more than glad to share information. If nobody comes, um, from the town that night, that's totally understandable. Uh, I think most of you have heard of Dale Henden or some of you have even met him, our new economic development director. Uh, he gave a presentation at our last meeting and it was interesting. Uh, I think he realized he's going to have his work cut out for him because we live between two rivers and the Rapahhanic side is all farmers. So, what are you going to develop when you have 40 farms down there that probably you're going to have opposition to? And then the other side's the battoomeic where it's seafood. And I've heard this many times, so it's worth repeating. Uh but we're going to we're going to work on it. We said, you know, two of the main things that we need to try to figure out is medical, which is number one priority from anybody we hear from in this county or town, and uh affordable housing. So, those are some things that we hope we're going to find locations and um you know, be able to move forward with uh with him finding some some things to develop in the county. Um the tree up there and I you know, I know it's been a month since I've been so I don't know if I've mentioned anything or whether it's been said, but uh David Bill did a he got right on it. It took a little bit because he was trying to work with McDonald's to get that tree uh trimmed or whatever because they own it. that's on their property, but he did send a crew up there and and they did what was in the rightway, which was 100% better. Thank you, Miss Grandstaff, for bringing that to the attention. And uh so he was

glad to do that. And anytime you see anything along 205 that you think the highway department can do, um David has just been fantastic and and he's very responsive. Um I called him, he was on vacation and um and he called and and tried to get somebody there as quick as possible. Um, we do have, somebody reminded me tonight that we have our finance director position open. Um, our finance director will be retiring at the end of the year. Uh, so we hope to fill that position pretty soon. If you know anybody that's interested, um, Montros uh, fall festival will be this weekend and know I know we have lots of things going on in town every weekend it seems like, but but that will be down there. And this year they're going to be uh, recognizing EMS and first responders. Uh they're going to have a tractor trailer I think that's going to hopefully load up a lot of those folks and and you know they'll be given a warm welcome for the contributions that they make to us and also in the region. So that's coming up. Um so uh and chief I can't congratulate you enough on accreditation. You know it never ends either. You know you spend all these hundreds of hours getting it there and then when you get it there it starts all over again as you well know. The public may not know that, but it never ends. And and that's quite a a ontaking to do, especially with a a small department. And I mean, you need to be commended, no doubt, for that. Um, it's it's it gives you, you know, access to grants and recognition. And I mean, you know, great job. Um, is there anything that, and I know there might been some things that come up at the last meeting that that I wouldn't remember because I was in Colorado, so and I didn't watch it. Um, but is there any questions for me about anything um that you might be thinking of that I might not be thinking of?

I don't think so. Okay, great. Look forward to seeing you soon and having some information for you in the near future and and I'll see brighter things coming. Will you invite the new economic director to maybe our next meeting and Yeah. so he can introduce It'll be the next meeting because we'll have our own. Oh, that's right. Uh um but yeah, November, maybe November. I mean, I can ask him if he's a Well, he'll probably be at our meeting because you never know when there's questions. Uh that's okay. Just that may come up, but sure, we'll get him down here and you know, Mr. Taylor's all it might be time for him to come back again and uh um you know, have a chat. So,

Mr. Taylor was at Comrell is much appreciated, too. And I think he made a lot of uh you know, a lot of good connections there. I think it was his first Comra since he started. So, Yeah, I think you're right. Um, and so anyway, we're we're working, you know, we've got some issues that we're working with town manager and the um and the attorney and and with things that we've talked about for a long time with uh you know, phone towers and radio towers and all these things. So, we're working on those things. Even though people don't hear about them, we haven't forgot. We're we're working on them and keeping those things moving forward. and I'm looking forward to some of the things to come that I think that we're going to be able to resolve in the near future. So, no other questions? Got my tax bill today. Wish I didn't have to pay it, but you know, we all got to do it.

I got the county one like two months ago.

Yeah. So did I. I will tell you though that uh actually we're we've talked about maybe going to u twice a year as well. understand we've got some opposition uh against it from the people that would have to make that happen, but we're hoping that maybe we can overcome that. Uh we just met with Davenport and they, you know, they told us gosh, you know, save a lot of money and make a big impact. But, you know, we might have to hire another person to help out in the in the office, you know, some to to accommodate that. But, I'm hoping that we do go to twice a year just like the town does. And um I think that would help us maybe. Um, so there are things happening. Thank you. Good seeing you. Thank you.

Is anybody else signed up? Welcome.

Good evening, uh, Madame Mayor, Council. Uh, first, uh, just quickly, I want to tell you how nice it is to be home. Uh, I've been traveling for a month and, uh, and I had a wonderful time, but there's no place like home. There's no place like Colonial Beach. and I just feel so happy to be home. So, I just want to say that. Um, also I want to underscore what you were saying, Madame Mayor, about the meeting on Monday. Um, as president of downtown Colonial Beach, we take very seriously that uh downtown Colonia Beach is a private public partnership and we need to hear from the public uh their concerns about how we are going to be implementing this uh all the the recommendations that that the consultant will be presenting to us. So, I really do encourage um anybody who's listening uh here in the audience or at home to please come to the meeting on Monday uh October 6th at uh 6 o'clock at the school. So, please come to that. And just finally um I hope all of you have been following the exciting things happening uh on the other side of that empty field there with CB Creative, the new art center. Um if you haven't been there recently, it's super exciting. We now have outfitted the uh garage to be a pottery uh workshop. So you will be able to um take classes and making pottery and firing pottery and uh there's other classes going on. So if you walk in there now, it really we are really truly an art center and it's really uh very uh exciting to to be where we are. We've been open now about a year and I think everything has come together very nicely. So that's all I'd say. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? All right, keep moving forward. Next up on our agenda is our public hearing. Uh this is in relation to resolution 27-25,

delinquent personal property tax collection. Before I open the public hearing, I'll give Adam a minute just to intro um we had a discussion on this at the last meeting, but just to reintroduce the item before I open the public comment.

Good evening, Madame Mayor, council members. Uh the 2725 is for us to approve TACS to collect our delinquent personal property. Um, back in June, you all did approve it. However, TACS requires us to have a council action so they can charge the 20% collection fee. I'm happy to answer any questions. Okay, nice and sweet and to the point, Adam. Good job. All right, I'm going to go ahead and open um the public hearing. Uh during all public comments, uh especially during hearings, um we ask that certain guidelines be followed. Please uh stand at the podium and for the record, state your name and address. If you'd like to be contacted, you need to provide your contact information to the clerk. Um make your comments to the council as a whole. Um be brief, state your position, provide facts. There is only five minutes limited to each speaker and you cannot transfer time to another speaker and you may provide written statements or supporting materials. You can hand them to the clerk for distribution to the council or town manager. Uh we don't debate but we will follow up on comments provided by the town manager and speak clearly so that we can hear what you have to say. And with that, we will open the public hearing at I got 6:39 p.m. for resolution 27-25.

Welcome, Mr. Long.

Thank you. Uh Nigel Long, 115 Linhaven Court. Totally in favor of what's being proposed here. Just a couple of questions or suggestions. I think it might be interesting for the public and uh the town councilors to know when um a finance department goes to collection, how long after the bill is due do you do that? And secondly, as a suggestion, um there is clear notification on the uh personal property tax bill as to what um penalties apply for people who pay late. I'd like to suggest that you add the notification that if the bill is not paid within let's say it's 60 days or whenever you start to bring them forward that there will be an additional 20% um penalty for going to collections that might also um make sure that delinquent taxpayers are aware of what's um what's coming for them if they don't pay. That was my suggestions. Thank you.

Thank you Mr. Is there anyone else signed up? Would anybody else like to speak at this public hearing? All right, with that, I'm going to close the public hearing at 6:40 p.m. And um the item is now up for action. We can do a motion, a second, and then have discussion if you like. So moved. Second. Okay. It's now open for discussion. Um I think to Mr. Long's point, uh is it years, two years? Is it like real estate taxes or is it different than that?

Personal property where there he is. Personal property is actually we can start collecting after six months. Six months. So you have to be delinquent six months. Yes, ma'am. Okay. That's when we can send it to TACS. That's when we can officially start our collection process. That's when you can start it. Correct. So, it would still be not like tomorrow that this would start regardless. Just so people have that are listening can understand. Well, if council approved it, it would start for the delinquent monies that are outstanding currently that are more than six months. Correct. Which everything is out everything is more than six months right now except for the current bill. The delinquencies are 2024. 2025 bills just went out.

Got it. Monday. Okay. So, everything would be up for collections except for the 2025 amounts. Okay. I would recommend that we're going to give notice though if we're actually going to start that process and add the 26% fee. So, we don't add that 20% fee. I know they do. But if we are using a company that adds 20%, we should still give notice that the collection process has changed to do that. How would you like us to do that? The bill just went out, so we're late on this one. Yeah. In the next water bill. I don't know. Ideas, Natasha,

that won't go out until December. And how have we been collecting before? basically through our through the finance office. Right. So, giving it three months wouldn't be any different than what we're doing right now. No. Okay. So, you want us to wait until the next utility bills go out, put a notice in that utility bill regarding delinquent personal property and then we can start sending everything over the tax in January. I'm looking for feedback from council members, too. What do you guys think about this? That makes sense to me. Sound good? to your point, get three months

head head start notice if you're going to get the extra 20%. So then we don't spend any more on a mailing. So I was just going to ask um Powell is what's the legal requirement for notifying the public. I know we're having a public hearing on the 20% but well we're having a public hearing as pursuant to statute. You can do the 20%. Um, I don't think there's any other legal requirement to give notice. It's more of a courtesy to let people know what's going on. Okay. Thank you.

I think the point is if they are not late, they won't get to 20% either way. So, we're giving them the option to pay it ahead of time before they get delinquent. Right. Or before we get the 20%. If we wait to give the file to tax to start collections, if we wait till January, they'll have until then and avoid getting that extra 20%. If that's the way you'd like to go. Yeah, I think I if I'm understanding that, that's what my notice out with the next utility bill, right? And tell them that that 20% will fee will start being assessed in January. Yes. By tax, not by tax. Correct. Just so that we'll make it clear. Yeah.

Do we have a handle on how much revenue we'll be losing by delaying it three months? No. I I really I mean you couldn't quantify because even if it goes to tax and it could take years for tax to collect it or you know whatever. So um it depends if they're going to pay. If they don't pay it's still going to stay delinquent. So Okay. Yeah. So if it's no harm, no foul then? No. No, not really. Maggie, I want to make sure you're included over there on Zoom if you have any. I was going to say social media.

Yep. And we can be encouraging people to pay it prior to the December billing because they won't get the additional tax. Yeah. We start putting it out in social media now and then with the formal mailing and then come January, we'll just implement everything. Right. Policywise, everybody see head nods on that side. Yeah. I just wanted to suggest since this is a work session that we should hold the vote until our next meeting.

Oh yeah, that's fine. This is up for a motion second right now. So we can either delay or we can hold it until I honestly I wasn't thinking about it to be honest with you. I do like to normally vote at the regular maiden. I say we vote now and get the process started.

Yeah. I honestly uh once we have a seconded motion uh and we we've already had discussion, then I think it's probably a good policy to go ahead and hold the vote. Well, by the rules of Robert's rules of order, I have to hold the vote. But, uh, we can vote yay or nay about this or delaying it till next time. I could I guess I could What's that? Amend the motion to You can amend the motion. So, delay the vote till our regular meeting, which is Uhhuh. Okay. And then we can vote on that first and then we'll come back to the motion if it fails. Okay. Yes.

All right. And I don't remember who made the original motion. I think it was Kenny Rick. Nay. Okay. Nay for delaying it. Yes. All right. We'll just go down then. Larson. Nay. Okay. Hi. Okay. Lisa. Nay. Okay.

All right. I say I, but I still lost that battle. So, we'll say So, now we're going to vote on the motion as it stands with a policy direction to um begin the tax services January 1 and give notice Facebook um website water bell and the public hearing that happened and the two weeks notice that happened prior to this. Okay. All right. on that one. I'm gonna stop start on the opposite side this time. Lisa, I Excellent. Maggie. Okay. I I

And I All right, there we go. Next up, resolution 28-25, approval of the 2026 legislative agenda. Kyler, you cleaned it up. We worked through it. We paired it down. It is all cleaned up, ready to go. We had our 13 priorities that the council elected to move to seven, which as you notice in this new six- page document, we had seven. We combined scene H as desired. And we've obviously kept the same format as we had last year with some some of the goals that we're looking for. We've updated some of the addresses and phone numbers that were incorrect last year. And uh we are ready to go. I have a little one sheet at the end which is kind of a little infographic easy for the legislators to look at. And the fun part after this is approved is we get to have those conversations. And luckily we have a road map with our CIP and our needs that we have and we will go to work on these once it's approved. All right. I like the infographic. That was a good addition. I thought it was eye-catching.

Thank you. Um, okay. Do we we have discussed this at two meetings now. So, um, if there's a motion, we can entertain this this meeting. So, move. Second. Okay. Um, all right. Any discussion on how it looks after the work we've done with it.

Yes, Miss Williams. Yes. At the last meeting, we discussed uh part of the the process was we were going to have actual projects listed out so that we could um present something to the legislature versus just, you know, generic. Um do you guys have any projects outlined? because I haven't seen anything in email or or presented to council.

Correct. So, this is this is our our base map, right? And the council, you've already done the work, right? We have our CIP, which as you look at wastewater and community infrastructure. We know what our needs are based off of that and off of our funding requests. And so, this this priority list doesn't need to have necessarily specific projects in it because it's just a base map, if you will. But, we will take our CIP and the needs we know we have. So when we meet with our legislators, we will tell them specifically, here's what we needed funding. Here's what we need help with. And then the other items are going to be more policy driven, right? It's going to be the LRM. It's going to be healthcare. Letting them know we don't have anything in town. We need these different options.

Okay. Is that something council can see like once you guys have it and ready to present to the legislature besides the CIP or I guess what are you looking for exactly? You said you you were going to present those when you went to the legislature. Correct. Based off of the documentation we already have through the CIP and our other funding needs, right? I just wanted to know if we could see that once you have it ready and send it, you're going to send it to them.

I think the CIP is the document. So what we do is like logistically how it works is you meet with a legislator and you say what are your you know what are the goals in Colonial Beach what are your items right well we have this priority list we give them the one sheet and you know we kind of say what's on the docket what's going up what are you what committees are you on things like that and then they have let's say they're on a committee that works with sewer infrastructure then we say we're gonna you know we can send you more information which is the CIP documents or in the sewer infrastructure aspect. It's the you know the consent order and the uh other reports engineering reports and things like that that are related to that particular item. So these are sort of like uh seven umbrellas and then all the supporting documents come from lots of places but are the list of them is the CIP that I mean that's the way we've worked in the past. I don't know Kyler.

No that's exactly right. So when we meet with them, just like you said, we would ask them one, what do they see coming up from appropriation bills, from different legislation, so they can let us know what to be aware of. And then when they do tell us, we can tell them, okay, here's our priorities. Here's the projects we would like to help get funded that meet the criteria that's in those bills. And a lot of that is going to come from the CIP, which is a planning document that y'all have already approved. Okay. Thank you for clarifying.

You're welcome. I did have one item on this is and it's really from Lisa um when we were working through this was to add in the uh local access to um no in economic development I think it was it was to add the words affordable housing into that descriptor because it really I think um in order to have economic development you have to also be considerate of affordable housing so it wasn't to have a full affordable housing extra bubble was that Lee, do you remember that kind of the caveat in there? Um, so I just wanted to throw that out if we uh

Can you repeat that language please to add affordable housing? Yeah, just um so where it says funding and grants to support downtown revitalizations um small business growth, affordable housing and tourism initiatives that strengthen local businesses and attract visitors. Do you see what I'm saying? Just put that term in with all the commas things because affordable housing ultimately supports your workforce and your workforce supports small business, right? And economic growth. the council so wishes we can add that language very easily. I'm just throwing it out there as a discussion point to council if you I agree.

Yeah, it it's a license to hunt. So why not add it to the Yeah, 100%. Okay. So I will propose that as an amendment to this motion to add that in. We'll vote on that and then we'll come back to vote on the document as a whole whether we um yay or nay the affordable housing term. So moved. Second. Okay. Awesome. All right. So this is on adding that term within the economic development and tourism bubble. And Lee, I'll start with you since it's really your idea. Even though I I All right. Maggie. I Okay. I I I

And I All right. And now we'll go to the whole document as a whole because that passed as amended then by that one little Okay, so we're ready to vote on that and I'll go opposite time this time. Rick I Okay, Tom. Hi, David. Hi. I Maggie. Hi, Kenny. Hi.

And I off to the races. Tyler and Natasha, good to go. Um, okay. Next up is the consent order compliance items. Chris, you ready for us?

Yes, madam. Mayor, good evening and council as well. In front of you is our memorandum for moving some money around. Menandum to the town council is for the ARPA grant DQ ARPA grant modification. Currently, the town has 2.7 million in unrestricted funds available available for eligible wastewater projects such as treatment plant, pump stations. Ini

staff requests town council authorize use of these funds for eligible reimburseable projects already approved under the DQ ARPA grant. background. In 2022, the town was awarded a $5.7 million ARPA grant funds uh to address infrastructure needs including wastewater treatment plant repairs, pump stations, upgrades, inflow reduction. The town has completed the central drainage area under the grant and already been reimbursed those expenditures. At present, the town has 2.7 million in unrestricted funds to ensure the completion of the remaining projects outlined in the DQ ARPA grant performing deadline performance deadline of October 2026. Staff recommends allocation of these funds towards elible projects. This approach will both secure full reimbursement to the town investment support implementation of town's capital improvement projects as several projects funded under the DEQ ARPA grant overlap with the consent order as well. By directing the unrestricted remaining funds, we can fulfill the requirement of the DEQ ARPA reduce CIP obligations by $1.4 4 million to the treatment plant which remains under the consent order items for $320,000 for the INI consent items and total of 1.7 projects under identified under the DQ ARPA grant must be completed by October 26 to qualify for reimbursement. The town currently has 2.7 five 2.7 million available. Alternatives, town council can authorize the use

of the 2.7 million dollars of unrestricted funds, complete these projects, explore a tenative funding options to support the remaining projects or take no action which would result in forfeiting $2.7 million in reversible funds, leaving critical infrastructure projects incomplete. The impact would be move the 2.7 million to these projects for completion by the deadline. Staff recommends town council authorize the use of the unrestricted funds from the ARPA grant account fund 200 towards these projects outlined in the ARPA grant to ensure reimbursement and all work be completed by October 26th 2026.

Okay. Um I don't know that we want to delay this item because it is tied to these contingencies and also to the reimbursement process of DQ which as we know takes a year and a half. So so moved. Okay. Is there a second to that? Second. All right. Is there any further discussion on this? I think most of us probably know what this is but yeah. Oh yeah. At the last meeting I asked for um some more details on the projects. Um I haven't seen anything in the email. Did I miss the any communications that?

No. So with these projects, we are requesting that we move the funds over so that we can uh begin to start the projects. What we have presented to you um in the past have been the projects as identified um in the DEEQ um packets. So, that's what we have and we need the funding um to go out and start. In some instances, we'll need um solicitations drafted and put out. And so, without having those funds, um other than the project list that we've provided to you, there isn't anything else to provide to you right now. But upon approval tonight, um if those funds are moved, we can go ahead and move forward. and where solicitations are required, draft solicitations, and provide those to you.

Okay. So, we So, we're being asked to approve two almost $2.8 million um without any real detail. So, I mean, I'm personally not comfortable that I'm full on support of actually investing in our infrastructure and getting things fixed, but I'm personally not comfortable voting without at least some detail on the projects. You'll see that my personal

we've attached along to this memo the uh sewer fund capital improvement projects which identifies items that are required per the consent order which we've discussed before council um prices included in here for your review. We also have uh the schedule one project which we have provided uh to DEEQ which identifies the different categories along with the cost associated with those and we've provided these also to council previously

and just to clarify where of the 5.7 that was allocated to the town from ARPA funds um has already been used for the central drainage area and for some of the INI testing and that is already reimburseable but we had to renegotiate with the consent order new items that aligned with the consent order to make sure that the process of reimbursement could happen. So this is this is DQ's money, right? That we are then saying yes, we are going to obligate it to the items that you by by order of by by a judge say we have to spend it on. And that's what this document is really saying. It's that the consent order items that we are obligated to by law by a judge, we will use the DEEQ money for those items and that those items will be in alignment with one another for reimbursement. That's really what we're doing tonight. Um, we have to do those items and we have to pay for them and we have DEEQ money that will allow us to be reimbursed for it. And so that we're authorizing the policy that puts in place the ability for the town staff to then coordinate that process with DEQ.

Ultimately, things that you're you're trying to get approval to spend money on or a subset of the items on the sewer fund CIP. Yeah. So I think that's that's the bottom line. It's it's a subset of those, the ones that are part of the um consent order in particular and some others,

right? Yeah, I understand all that. I'm just I'm just not comfortable with seeing something that says contract for professional services or planning for professional services, you know, 400,000 or or engineering services 320,000. I mean, that's a lot of money. I I just wanted I asked for more detail and didn't get it. So, but that's, you know, that's just me. I don't know that anybody else really cares, but I'm good with the my piece that I just said. Okay. Is there any other discussion on the item? Okay. All right. We have a motion and a second. With no further discussion, I'll do a roll call vote. Uh, Miss Grandstaff

I. Samberg. [Music] Gotcha. Mr. Allison. Hi. Everybody's doing it twice now. I want to push the button. Okay. M. I I Mr. Larsson I.

Mr. Williams. and I vote I and very thankful to the hard work of our staff and DEEQ and our state partners for the $5.7 million that is going to go towards very critical infrastructure needs at our sewer plant. Um all right, next up is a request for the public hearing. So all we're doing tonight is setting the public hearing for the regular November work session um on the Chesapeake Bay preservation district tree overlay. This was passed us by the planning commission. They approved it unanimously. It's my understanding and so we will have the document as a first read but also just the only action tonight is to set the public hearing date.

So move. Okay. Is there a second to that? Second. Okay. Yes. Sara. Madame Mayor. Pardon me. Uh we had originally discussed having this at the public hearing at your November work session. My understanding earlier is you were having some discussion about your November work session date. So had you would you prefer this to be at your regular meeting in November since you're dedicating the work session for your other discussion that you mentioned earlier with Davenport?

Is it too I mean, I leave this discussion up to council on this. Is it too difficult to move it to October's regular meeting? Is that too fast? I don't know how everybody else feels about the um work of the planning commission. If they need more time with it, I won't be here. Bless you. So, we have um critical staff who will not be available October 15th. Oh, okay. All right. So, uh, November regular meeting. What do we think about that? Can we amend the motion to that?

Oh, you're not at the regular meeting either. Yeah. Okay, Tom. I see you want to say something. I'm confused because I thought we had had talked about adding uh the October 29th session, leaving the November work session in place. So, I'm not sure why we can't do it then. We can. I think we were going to try to leave the option to moving the November work session to the 29th if we could. Okay. All right. Fair enough. So, I mean, if we set this up now for that, we're obligated to both meets back to back. And if we're don't set this up for that, then we aren't necessarily obligated. You're planning for flexibility. I see. I don't know. Maggie's got a baby. She don't want to be every

December. This item isn't time sensitive. So um we can push it out um November or December uh meeting actually. Okay. So I think the motion has been accepted to amend it to the November regular meeting at this point. So uh just a follow procedure on that. I think that's where we're at unless I hear a strong moving it again datewise. All right. All in favor of that say I I I I

I. Okay. And then I just um I don't know if we um we'll have some time with it then from now the whole month of October and really most of the month of November. So you have it in your packet. Take a look at it. Ask Darla questions between now and then too. And she'll present as well. She'll have a presentation when we do the public hearing as well. So, but uh it's not that long. Thank God. All right, that's all I got, guys. So, with that, I think we get to adjourn tonight at 7:08 p.m. Thank you so much for coming.