MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE TOWN COUNCIL FOR THE TOWN OF STRASBURG, HELD ON TUESDAY, APRIL 10, 2007 AT 7:30 P.M. IN THE COUNCIL CHAMBERS OF THE TOWN HALL.
Mayor Crisman opened the meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance and the invocation was given by Rev. Geneal Wilson, minister of Strasburg Christian Church (DOC).
ROLL Called with the following members present: Mayor Tim Crisman, Vice Mayor Taylor, and Council Members Le Vine, Mauck, Nicholson, Rinker, Terndrup, Wallace, and Whittle.
Minutes for the March 13, 2007 Town Council meeting were passed as presented.
Mayor Crisman welcomed all in attendance and said all petitions and communications had been directed toward the appropriate committees. He reminded Council Members all were invited to Opening Day for Strasburg Little League on Saturday, April 14 at 10 a.m.
Visitors:
Citizen Comments:
William Pollard Racey, 191 S. Holliday St., Strasburg, VA: Mr. Racey said he was in attendance to ask a question and was not sure who to direct the question. His wife and he were planning to erect a privacy fence around their property. He spoke with Planner Amos about the zoning for this to see just what he needed or could do. He is okay with a 6’ fence on the east and north side, but his problem for privacy is that according to Town ordinance, he can only have a 4’ fence on the south side that fronts Queen Street. He said a 4’ fence would probably eliminate the childcare and kindergarten children from seeing in, but with the busses at the Hotel Strasburg, church traffic, school traffic, and sporting event traffic the 4’ fence will not provide much privacy. His question was how this 4’ fence ordinance came about and why.
Mayor Crisman said it was before his time and he is not sure how this happened. Council Member Rinker said there was a discussion that a 6’ fence along a streetscape would be too unsightly and “it would look like a prison barricade.” It was thought a lower fence along a streetscape would give you a better view and was more eye-pleasing.
Mr. Racey said a privacy fence is for the privacy of the resident and not those who are driving by or passing by. Mayor Crisman said this issue can be referred to the Ordinance Committee and Council Member Terndrup said the Ordinance Committee will meet on May 2 at 7 p.m.
Reports and Communications from Town Officers:
Town Attorney Neal: Said there was a hearing scheduled for later in the week to hear motions concerning the Voices of Strasburg. He has received a letter from Dr. Fenn with the Shenandoah County School Board regarding the 50’ easement at Strasburg High School. Dr. Fenn has asked that Town Attorney Neal work with the School Board Attorney, Doug Gwynn, to work out this agreement.
Town Manager Fauber: absent due to personal reasons.
Director of Finance Mullins: Reported she and Town Manager Fauber are working on the budget with the department heads.
Town Clerk Keller: The Town Employee Picnic will be held on Saturday, May 12. Also, names are needed of those planning to attend the Economic Symposium on April 19. Those planning to attend are: Mayor Crisman, Vice Mayor Taylor, Council Members Mauck and Terndrup, Town Manager Fauber, and Planner Amos.
Director of Public Utilities Tewalt: Stated he had received a letter from the Virginia Department of Health stating the Town of Strasburg has been awarded an outstanding achievement award at the water treatment plant for performance and analysis work at the plant. Mr. Tewalt and Mr. Chris Ritenour will go to Roanoke to receive the award.
Director of Public Works Rhodes: There was a slight delay in street cleaning due to a breakdown with equipment, but the Town Crew is now cleaning the streets. The date for spring clean-up is May 7-12. Mayor Crisman asked that this be put in the Town newsletter and to try to get the word out to as many citizens as possible. He also said several members of the Chamber have asked for help with clean-up to get ready for Mayfest. Director of Public Works Rhodes said his department is working with the Mayfest committee on this.
Chief of Police Sutherly: Chief Sutherly introduced a new officer, Corporal Chris Dodson. Corporal Dodson previously worked in Warren County and will be replacing Officer Chris Bodkin on the road. Officer Bodkin is now the School Resource Officer at Strasburg High School. Chief Sutherly also discussed a new missing child alert system the Town has implemented. The system can alert 1000 phones per minute and is free to the Town. It has been utilized twice with good results both times. This, too, can be used to alert residents to emergencies. Mayor Crisman asked how this information can be gotten out to the public and Chief Sutherly said there has been an article in the newspaper and will be included in the Town newsletter.
Town Planner Amos: Stated there was only one voting item coming to Council from the Planning Commission and that was the adoption of the Planning Commission By-laws. There have been some very minor amendments to the existing By-laws. Planner Amos asked Council if there were any questions and Council Member Le Vine suggested #5 where it discusses adopting Roberts Rules of Order, be made more explicit and state which version of this will be used. His other suggestion was a typing error as to the chairman and secretary of the Planning Commission.
Council Member Le Vine moved to adopt amendments to the Planning Commission By-laws dated April 5, 2007; second by Vice Mayor Taylor. The motion passed unanimously.
Planner Amos reminded Council that work has begun on the Comprehensive Plan and meetings have been scheduled for various committees. Planning Commissioners may be attending Council committee meetings to receive input and explain what they are doing. Mayor Crisman said the Economic Development Committee that was recently formed because of the Vision Statement will work with the Planning Commission committee on economics.
Standing Committee Reports:
Public Safety: Vice Mayor Taylor gave the monthly report from the police department saying the department answered 750 calls for service during the month of March resulting in 94 adult arrests and 20 juvenile arrests.
The Public Safety and Building and Grounds Committees met jointly on Thursday, March 22, 2007. The first item on the agenda was a presentation from Mr. Jim Brinkmeier of Howard Shockey & Sons, Inc. His presentation was an explanation of the Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (the PPEA). The PPEA grants public entities the authority to create public-private partnerships for the development of a wide range of projects for public use if the public entity determines there is a need for a project. In the Town’s case, the need is a public safety building. Advantages of using the PPEA that were pointed out during Mr. Brinkmeier’s presentation were:
Basically, the committee is looking at the use of the PPEA because the traditional model of Funding and Planning for building projects has been slow and restrictive. More detailed information on the PPEA will be forthcoming as its use is investigated.
After the presentation, it was decided Town Manager Fauber will contact Frederick County and Warren County representatives that are currently working with Shockey's via a PPEA. The committees would like to hear their thoughts on the PPEA process and how it has worked for them.
Before PPEA can be used, a locality must adopt the procedures for the implementation of the process. The adoption of these procedures does not require that the PPEA is used, so there is no harm in this occurring. Mr. Brinkmeier suggested the Town adopt these procedures and to get copies of localities that have already done this to use as a model for ours. Items to be considered and discussed at the next meeting on this topic are:
· any negatives of going this route?
· how will this fit into our CIP with the water and waste water plants also scheduled to be completed?
· Adoption of the procedures to use this process
· localities thoughts that are currently using PPEA
Figures from the LEOs study were shared. It would cost the Town approximately $72,600 to implement the program this coming year. Before making a recommendation to Council for or against the program it was decided to have the following questions answered so they can be discussed at the next meeting:
Personnel Committee: Council Member Whittle said the Personnel Committee met on March 28, 2007. The committee appointed Leon Smith to a position on the Northern Shenandoah Valley Regional Planning Commission. The remainder of the meeting was in closed session for the evaluation of Town Manager Fauber. It was decided he will be evaluated every six months and the schedule will be September, 2007; January, 2008; and July, 2008.
Council Member Whittle nominated Conley Crabill to the Board of Zoning Appeals for a five year term ending December 31, 2012; second Council Member Rinker. Approved unanimously.
Public Utilities: Council Member Nicholson reported the committee met on April 9, 2007. Representing the Church of the Valley was Mr. David Bushman. The church is asking for a water hook-up for a fire suppression system. The agreement drawn up by Town Attorney Neal was discussed and following the discussion, the committee wants more work done on this so it has been returned to Town Attorney Neal. Mr. Tom Price, Mr. Chuck Maddox, and representatives of the Strasburg Moose were also in attendance. Mr. Price and Mr. Maddox had a prospect on some land and they attended the meeting to let the committee know what they are considering. The property is in the County, on either side of Red Bud Road, and the rezoning request is from residential to commercial. The Moose was requesting a sewer hook-up as their sewer is questionable. Also discussed was the water plant and another archeological study must be done on this and the Town is still awaiting word from DEQ on the waste water treatment plant. Commissioner Kepler gave a brief talk on the Comprehensive Plan and what he would like to see from a Public Utilities stand point. The next meeting of the committee will be on April 30 at 7:30 p.m.
Recreational Advisory Committee: Council Member Mauck said the group met on April 9. Commissioner Dean, representing the Comprehensive Plan committee, met with the group. The Recreation Advisory Committee will be sharing ideas that relate to recreation throughout the process. Pam Sheets, Director of Shenandoah County Parks and Recreation, Brian Ball, representing Dunmore, and Planner Amos were in attendance to discuss the quarry. It was decided to get more information on liability and operating expenses. A decision does not have to be made on this in the near future. The pool entrance policy was changed and there will be ticket packets available. Also, hopefully the walking trail will break ground this summer. This, too, has been slowed down due to archaeological studies.
Finance Committee: Council Member Le Vine reported Supervisor Helsley has informed him that the Town of Woodstock and the County of Shenandoah have agreed on a means for the County to collect 2% transient occupancy tax. All that is left to do is for the Town of Woodstock to re-affirm its commitment to do this. Council Member Le Vine suggested that once this happens, Strasburg’s Finance Committee will add it to its agenda to reconsider and see if the Town wants to change its policy.
The Finance Committee met on April 3 with Director of Public Utilities Tewalt, Chief Sutherly Director of Finance Mullins, Planner Amos, Mayor Crisman, and Council Members Terndrup and Le Vine in attendance. The committee discussed expenses for the departments. There have been several requests for new personnel and major items during the next budget year. It was agreed the justifications were not sufficient. The salary was the only cost given for new personnel, but there is more of a cost to the Town than just that --- fringe benefits, uniform costs, etc. The department heads were asked to come back with the total cost of hiring a new person. Also, Council Member Le Vine wants the department heads to think three years in the future and decide where they want to be in three years and what justifies a person or machine to reach this goal. This will help prioritize. He also wants to orient the public as to what services they will receive. Once this is decided, then it can be decided what kind of equipment, etc. is needed. The next meeting of the committee will be on April 18 and there is work to be done as he does not feel there will be enough money to fund all the requests.
Council Member Le Vine then discussed major issues he thinks the Town will be facing. When looking at the growth numbers provided by Planner Amos, there are about 2,800 residences in the Town of Strasburg. The Town is already committed to an additional 1,300 residences that he says will happen at some point in time. By figuring 2.2 people per residence, when all of the building is complete and if nothing else is approved, Strasburg will have ~9,000 people, which is 80% more than the Town had in 2002. There will be a lot of expenses incurred with the new people and also current residents. This brings to mind the Capital Improvement Plan. The water plant and waste water treatment plants will cost ~$18 million. There is talk of a public safety building which could cost as much as $5 million. Also, the underground pipes need to be considered --- the size, depth, etc. He then gave some examples of costs of borrowing and how the Town and residents will pay for this. Financial stability needs to be looked at for the years to come. For these reasons, he was most intrigued by the presentation by the Church of the Valley and the development by Mr. Price and Mr. Maddox. He has worries of precedence --- will the Town have to give water and sewer to others? He feels this is an important issue. The only leverage the Town has is in re-zoning when proffers are possible. Once it is re-zoned, the Town has no control over it. He feels the only control we have on these properties is in the hook-up fees, but they are only a one time fee. The Town will not get tax dollars from these properties because they are not in Town. He said in the extreme, if you give water and sewer, the property is annexed into Town. He feels the Town has an obligation to the citizens here and those that will be coming.
Ordinance Committee:
Council Member Terndrup said the committee met on March 27, 2007. Kate Sowers, representing Hometown, Inc., came before the committee with a request/concern about signage at the corner of Massanutten and King Streets. She asked that commercial signs placed at that intersection by the Town be taken down and replaced with a general, generic sign. A recent article in the VML magazine discussed using signs to direct tourists to what is available in Town. The signs could be standardized and a separate sign for the Strasburg Museum will be allowed. Planner Amos is to speak to VDOT about directional signs to industrial areas. The Ordinance Committee approved the Hometown recommendation and the signs will be ordered. Business owners affected by the removal have been notified by Staff.
The reminder of the meeting dealt with parking lot design requirements.
Council Member Terndrup moved that the following ordinance change or addition be approved by Council --- 3-6.4 Shared Parking; second by Council Member Taylor.
Discussion:
Council Member Le Vine asked about paragraph 3 of the ordinance and why it stated County Attorney. Planner Amos said this would be changed. He also questioned paragraph 4 where it said “the owner shall have the option” and asked if there was only one owner or would it be multiple owners and if so, shouldn’t it read “owners.” He also asked about the enforcement of rules and that if they don’t follow this ordinance, then there would not be a certificate of occupancy; would there always be a need for a certificate of occupancy. He further explained that if there is no change of the buildings uses, then there is no way to enforce.
Council Member Terndrup explained this ordinance is an effort to reduce black top/asphalt in Town.
Council Member Mauck questioned the “proof of recordation” in paragraph 3 and asked where it will be recorded or who will record it. Town Attorney Neal said it would be recorded in the Circuit Court office.
Council Member Rinker moved to withdraw the motion due to questions raised; second by Council Member Le Vine. The motion passed unanimously.
Council Member Le Vine asked a question about a permitted use in 2-8.2 pertaining to signs --- are signs a use. Town Attorney Neal said they were.
Building and Grounds Committee: Report was given with the Public Safety Committee report. Council Member Wallace thanked all for the support shown to her during the passing of her husband.
Streets Committee: Council Member Rinker said the committee met on March 26. Gayle Crowder appeared again asking for transference of several thousand square feet in front of her property. There was a lengthy discussion on this at the committee meeting and it was finally decided to consider leasing the property in question and the Town would retain the right of ownership. As the water tank is directly across the street, this property may be needed at some time. Ms. Crowder was in agreement with this and so Town Attorney Neal and Ms. Crowder’s attorney, Mr. Doug Arthur, will work up the agreement and present it at a later date. Town Attorney Neal said it amounts to an easement; the Town would have the right to terminate this agreement, but Ms. Crowder would have the right-of-first refusal if the land is ever sold.
Council Member Le Vine asked if the property could be built on and Council Member Rinker said nothing could be built on it.
Joe Johnson of Urban Engineering was in attendance representing Mr. Satian who owns seven lots on Mulberry Street. This street is platted and leads to the Hannum property. The street is one of the narrowest streets in Strasburg as it is only 30’ wide. The Streets Committee was not sure what to do about a problem and that being the street is not conducive to putting curb and guttering in. “If you were to put curb and gutter on a 30’ right-of-way street, you would neck it down to about maybe 15’ or 16’ of passable lane, driving area.” The lots that Mr. Satian owns are actually Strasburg Land and Improvement lots and Council Member Rinker said Mr. Satian’s feelings are that he owns the lots, they are on Mulberry Street, “it is up to you guys (the Town) to furnish me a street because I own the lots.” Council Member Rinker said he would be in favor of putting the water and sewer in and would pave the street from Capon Street to the front of his lots. There is no cul-de-sac on the street and the street is platted to go into the Hannum property. Council Member Rinker is not sure if there is enough room as the lots are staggered to put in a cul-de-sac. Council Member Rinker said the Streets Committee needs some guidance as to how to handle this, either by discussing this now or have more Members come to the Streets Committee meeting. It has been proffered to put in the water, sewer, and paved street, but the developer says he cannot get curb and gutter in there. They did proffer to do a ditch. Vice Mayor Taylor said he would like to hear from Director of Public Works Rhodes, but Mayor Crisman said this needs to go back to committee and be discussed there. Director of Public Works Rhodes said there are ways to get around this and it was suggested for Council to go and look at the area.
Mr. and Mrs. David Malbuff of the Strasburg Emporium attended the meeting to discuss parking at the Emporium. The Malbuff’s want to reconfigure the yellow lines in front of the emporium and mark off parking spaces. It was suggested by the Committee to angle the parking so that you would be backing out into the lane of traffic going north. Mr. Malbuff does not want this as he wants the parking to be perpendicular to the building and he thought it was much safer to back out into two lanes of parking from a perpendicular space than from the angle parking into one lane. Mr. Malbuff felt he could do anything he wanted and there was a discussion as to who owns this and what the rights were. Council Member Rinker asked that Director of Public Works Rhodes take a look at this. He added the Malbuff’s would also like to have yellow lines placed on King Street all the way back to Borden’s Lumber. Director of Public Works Rhodes said this is a VDOT controlled street and he would contact VDOT to look at it.
Also discussed at the committee meeting was the vacation of North Street. Council Member Rinker had explained what was being proposed during the Public Hearing.
Council Member Rinker moved to vacate the portion of North Street in accordance with the sketch plat presented in the Council packet, with a final record plat to be prepared and the necessary easement be incorporated for the Town’s utilities; second by Council Member Mauck. The motion passed unanimously.
Also attending the meeting was Ron Cromer, representing the Fire Department and also the Comprehensive Plan Transportation Committee. He said there is a real problem in the Town in front of the 7-11 store. The intersection is being blocked at Washington Street. Mr. Cromer suggested the placement of a possible blinking light near the railroad bridge that would say “stop here if traffic is backing up.” Council Member Rinker said a sign could be placed and would not have to go to the expense of the blinking light. This, too, was referred to Director of Public Works Rhodes and to the Police Department to study further.
Mr. Cromer said there have been complaints about parking along Washington Street near the American Legion. The street “necks down” through this area and causes a dangerous situation for people on foot and getting out of cars. He has spoken to the American Legion about eliminating parking on the north side of the street from the car wash to the Strasburg United Methodist Church. Council Member Rinker said he has mixed emotions concerning this as there are some handicapped and elderly people who park there. He would like Director of Public Works Rhodes and Chief Sutherly to look at this. Director of Public Works Rhodes said that now that the house beside the Legion has been torn down, the curb and guttering can be placed where it should be and that will help widen the street.
In conclusion, Council Member Rinker said he appreciated all that has been done since his mother-in-law was in poor health and then in her passing.
Special Committee Reports:
Strasburg Heritage Society: Council Member Whittle said the group will meet on Wednesday, April 18. There will be a trash pick-up day on Saturday, April 21. All are to meet at the Old Mill Restaurant and clean the road from there to Battlefield Road.
Chamber of Commerce: The Chamber Board met this morning, April 10. It was reported several representatives of the Chamber visited the Yoga/Pilates Studio as a possible site for the Chamber office. The area is too small and at this time the group cannot afford rent on two locations so the Chamber will remain at Stony Pointe for now. The annual banquet will be held this Friday night, April 13, at the Hotel Strasburg. Approximately 80 tickets have been sold. Mayfest plans are coming along with the brochure being at the printers. The date for Oktoberfest has been set for Saturday, October 6. Plans for Christmas are moving along and the Chamber committee will be meeting soon with the Strasburg Heritage Association. The Chamber wants to welcome all new businesses to the area by having ribbon cutting ceremonies and is asking the Town or anybody to let them know when a new business opens in Town. There was a WSIG Live Remote broadcast today at Sassafras Salon promoting Strasburg. The next Chamber mixer will be on Thursday, June 21 at Edward Jones at 5:30 p.m.
HomeTown Strasburg: Carla Wallen, president of the group, reported the welcome wagon program has been launched. Linda Carver is the chairman of this committee and she and Kate Sowers delivered 18 baskets several weeks ago. April 15 has been designated “Planting Sunday”. At 2 p.m., the Hometown group and the Vision Committee will be working on the planters that have been purchased. The second week of May will be a second planting day when annual flowers will be planted. Larry Haun and Jeff Taylor have done work on the garden at the intersection of King Street and Capon Street.
Several pear trees will be taken down as part of a program to replace the trees gradually. The trees are not the right variety needed for the downtown area. The sidewalk planters will be placed where a tree is cut down. When sidewalks are replaced it will be decided rather to plant trees or stay with the planters. The group is still working on getting information on the historic style street lamps. They have contacted the County GIS department to assist with this project Mr. Conley Crabill has designed a new sign holder for the historic district signs and he and Director of Public Works Rhodes have come up with a solution to make it a break-away sign so it is suitable for VDOT.
Mayor Crisman said he is pleased with the welcome baskets and they are very nice. He also thanked Mr. Jeff Taylor for coming to the Town and helping with projects.
Vision Committee:
Mayor Crisman said there had been some duplication of efforts of committees in the Town and so there are some changes to the committees.
Economic Committee will be working with Council Member Whittle and the Comprehensive Plan Economic Committee. After the Comprehensive Plan review is completed, the original Economic Committee will work on how to implement the ideas of the Comprehensive Plan. He thinks it is important to keep up with economic developments in the County.
The Committee for Communication had some duplication of members so this committee will now be a part of Hometown Strasburg. They will be working to improve communications between the citizens, Town government, Chamber of Commerce, and other Town organizations.
Human Development Committee is being directed towards the arts.
There are many fine people working on these committees and he thanks them for getting involved.
Old Business and Unfinished Business: Mayor Crisman said a message was received from Town Manager Fauber concerning the problem on Crim Drive. Mr. Wayne Price has been working on this and has come up with a temporary fix and the properties affected are drying up. Mr. Price will work on a permanent solution to this.
Council Member Mauck said a letter had been received from Mr. Earl Cutlip about the benches his grandson, Michael, had made for an Eagle Scout project. She would like to place two of the benches in the park and reserve the others for the walking trail. Mayor Crisman would like to put the benches out in other areas of the Town and get them out of storage; they can then be put on the walking trail when the trail is completed. He would like them to be out by the Mayfest celebration. He also proposed putting a plaque on each bench saying who and why the benches were made.
Council Member Rinker said he just wanted to say “as past chairman of the Finance Committee, I heard what Mr. Le Vine said during his report and I would say that I agree with Don (Le Vine) wholeheartedly. I would just like to publicly say what I’ve been saying all along and that is I think this Town has an obligation to citizens inside the corporate limits of this Town to start with to furnish good water, good services, and the proper sewage treatment that needs to be for the citizens of this Town. I have seen so many locals get so wrapped up in expansions outside of their corporate limits and wanting to go into annexation to take properties in outside of their limits feeling that the additional property is going to cause substantial, additional revenue which was going to carry them forward. What we’ve actually seen here right here happen is we’ve seen development back off severely and that is going to impact our budget severely due to the fact that we don’t have hardly any new home starts; we don’t have any water and sewer hook-up fees to amount to anything except for just a handful of new homes that are being built; and until the interest rate comes back down, the interest in new homes spikes back up again, whether it is one, two, three, or four years, who really knows. You hear from a mixed bag of reports from realtors saying in the area they are seeing a light-up of interest in new homes right now. I hear other people say it is as dead as dead can be and it’s going to be dead for another year, year and a half. I guess if you preach that doom and gloom long enough it will come to fruition. I would say that my obligation to the citizens of this Town outweighs the installation of water and sewer lines and the providing of water and sewer to anybody outside this corporate limits at this point and time. We don’t have a plant built yet, we are a year and a half to two years out to getting a plant built by the time it is under construction and completed and on line plus the expansion of the waste water treatment plant, that’s another couple of years out and as far as commercial ventures go around this Town, they are really not, right now, desirable in my opinion outside of the corporate limits. I would implore everybody on this Council to do a lot of soul searching about even considering extension of water and sewer lines outside the corporate limits of this Town. You see Chuck Maddox appear here and he has a golden plan that he holds up and it looks like it is the golden plan that is going to save this Town; well I don’t think that man has a golden plan for anything right now. All the people can think about right now is what are they going to do for their pocket books. You see Tommy Price standing out here, they are going to do this. You saw Byron Brill stand out here and he’s going to do this. And, you’ve seen Richmond American standing out here; Doug Boyd standing out here holding up the grandiose plan and in my opinion, I could keep on going all night long for everybody who said they were going to do something for this Town except for their own pocketbook. So, I’m going to be quite honest with you, I don’t know about you all, but I’m getting extremely tired of being raped and pillaged by all these developers that are coming and going and the only thing they’ve got in mind in this Town is to line their pockets with golden change and golden goose money from the citizens of this Town and I am damn sick and tired of it and I’m not going to say excuse me, I am damn sick and tired of that and I would implore everybody to take a hard look at all these developers and people that are pillaging this Town. Let’s look at this point and time more after the folks that we’ve got in this Town. Is this a bad looking Town? No indeed! You talk about signs on buildings, you talk about looking like a Washingtonian state --- I rode over into a beautiful little community over in Maryland the other day and they had signs nailed on the side of buildings. So and so this way; they had signs out in the streets; they had signs everywhere. It was one of the quaintest little communities that I’ve been in a long time. It felt like I had gone back 35 years to what Strasburg looked like when I was a youngster that every Friday night and every Saturday night all the stores in this Town were open, the two movie theatres were going, the bowling alley was going, and I could walk up and down these streets and shop and enjoy myself as a kid. I tell you what, whether you move the signs, whether you move this or you move that, this Town needs to come together as a group of citizens, whether you’ve lived here one day or 75 years, we are all about this Town; we’re all about this is a hometown community and I implore you to look at it that away. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.”
New Business:
Council Member Le Vine said when Mayor Crisman spoke of the Human Development Committee, he was reminded of the wonderful talent we have in the community. He mentioned the Buddy Holly Story performed at the Wayside Theatre that utilized all local talent.
Mayor Crisman asked Town Attorney Neal if he had anything on the School Board issue with the easement. Mr. Neal said he had drafted the agreement with the Shenandoah County School Board and Dr. Fenn wants him to work with the School Board’s attorney, Mr. Gwynn and so he will be doing this and getting back to Council on this later.
Council Member Terndrup asked if Staff could make a request to the School Board as to how the new elementary school will impact the Town. Council Member Rinker thinks there will be an issue about streets as there is only one way in and one way out. There needs to be open dialogue now for a second way out.
Chief Sutherly said there was a gentleman in Town who did not agree with Council’s choice for Police Chief and he apologized to the Town for any embarrassment it has caused. He said it will not affect his job performance. Following other comments, Mayor Crisman said he will discuss the issue with the Town Attorney.
Council Member Mauck said the Electoral Board wants to move the voting place in the Town of Strasburg to the Strasburg United Methodist Church. She has discussed this with several other members of Council and it is not felt this is a suitable location due to traffic. She would like Staff send a letter to the Electoral Board saying the site is not suitable. She suggested using the Mennonite gymnasium, the recreation center, or the Strasburg Fire Department. Council Member Terndrup said the Administrative Council of the Church will meet with the Electoral Board on April 17 to discuss this and he will take input back to this meeting. Council Member Mauck said there are 3,200 Town residents and 1,000 from out lying areas that can vote in Town and so she would like Council have some input in the decision. Council Member Rinker said he does not think the church is the appropriate place to vote in. He mentioned “separation of church and state” and didn’t know if holding an election in a church was appropriate. Council Member Mauck said the ultimate decision is up to the Electoral Board.
Committee Meeting Dates as Follows:
COMMITTEE DATE TIME
Public Safety Committee Thursday, April 26 7 p.m.
Personnel Committee Wednesday, April 25 7:30 p.m.
Utilities Committee Monday, April 30 7:30 p.m.
Recreation Committee Tuesday, May 22 6:30 p.m.
Finance Committee Wednesday, April 18 6:30 p.m.
Tuesday, May 21 7 p.m.
Ordinance Committee Wednesday, May 2 7 p.m.
Streets Committee Monday, April 16 7:30 p.m.
Buildings and Grounds Committee Thursday, April 26 7 p.m.
Planning Commission Worksession Thursday, April 12 7:30 p.m.
Hometown Strasburg Thursday, May 3 7 p.m.
Being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:27 p.m.