First I’d like to start off by saying happy New Year to the residents of Colonial Beach. Wednesday nights work session was interesting because of some of the topics that were discussed.
Update from Mike Fitzpatrick on economic development committee (part of Chamber of Commerce). He gave a summary of 2021 accomplishments and goals for 2022. Mike continues to advocate for a Economic Development Director to be hired.
New County tax assessments did not go out last month as expected but may go out mid January or after according to our county representative. He asked that we do not hold him to an exact date.
Resolution number 1–22 accept the resignation of Mike Cabrey.
Election of vice mayor. Robyn Schick nominated Vickie Roberson and she was appointed as vice mayor.
The appointment of new liaison assignments was postponed until our regular meeting.
Review of bylaws. Mr. Moncure brought up the fact that we have very little distinction between work sessions and regular meetings. I agreed and asked if we could ensure items of importance be added to the work session prior to a regular meeting because now it seems a long time can be between discussion and when items are added to a regular meeting for a vote. I was told by the town manager it would not be practical to add every item to a prior work session so I said can we at least add items that have not been discussed recently to the work session before we vote at a regular meeting. Consent agendas which are used in many other localities was brought up as a potential solution, this is where routine items are lumped together on the agenda and can be voted on all at once if there’s no disagreement from town Council. If we do this consolidation it would give us more time to discuss items that have not been on the agenda recently. I also asked for clarification on how items get placed on the work session agenda. I was previously told it took two councilmembers to add an item but it was clarified that per section 5–1 B only one councilmember is needed to request but the Mayor and Town manager needs to approve agenda.
Discussion of 2022 vendor program. Due to the sale of our town property on the boardwalk there’s a need to come up with a plan for the future of food cart vendors. The main options were to A- move to town Hill stage, B- move to the bottom of town hill by the boardwalk, C- make a courtyard at the bottom of town Hill by the Boardwalk, D- Allow current vendors to stay where they are month to month until we come up with a viable solution, E- discontinue the program. The concerns I raised from citizens I spoke with were as follows: how Will any drive up traffic get to the food carts at the bottom of town Hill, no solution provided. If placed at town Hill stage how would beach goers get to the food vendors, no real solution provided either. I asked Mr. Duke if any of his research showed where courtyards in option C were successful without drive up traffic, no answer provided. Town government was looking for guidance from town Council and option B was selected I didn’t actually vote but the mayor decided that from the discussion there was a consensus for option B, I am not convinced.
Castlewood park discussion: as part of the food cart vendor discussion Mr. Duke mentioned an additional food cart interested in going into Castlewood Park. To me turning our parks into commercial zones is wrong, Castlewood is the oldest operating park in CB and should be respected as the other parks are. I asked for an explanation as to how food carts are allowed in our public parks zoned R2 where food carts are currently not allowed, I got no answer from Mr. Duke but the Mayor said food carts are allowed on any public property. I asked if all public parks were fair game for food carts and was told yes. I am not convinced because as far as I know an ordinance does not override zoning. Ms. Self-Sullivan advocated for more food carts in Castlewood which confuses me because she is a green space member that is advocating the commercialization of a public park. Our public parks are zoned R2 which does not allow for food vendors per article 27. Currently CB charges $750 a year and provides electricity and no water or trash should be included.
Vote to go into close session to discuss potential candidates for the vacant town Council seat. After discussion by Tom and I to not go into closed session I made a motion to hold discussion in public based on the fact that this is a very important decision and the appointee will be serving as a people’s representative with no vote by the people. The vote on my motion was 2-4 (only Tom and I voted to hold in public). The next vote was to go into close session and the vote was 4-2 Tom and I voted Nay. I also asked for clarification as to when the deadline was for applications (we later voted for midnight January 12th).
Finally we had a closed session to discuss personnel matters.
Exceptional recap