Fellow residents of Colonial Beach, in order to provide the transparency I promised during my campaign, I plan to give regular updates. Here are some highlights and notes from Wednesday’s Town Council meeting and other updates:
I was sworn in as a Council Member prior to the meeting.
I was appointed as the Public Works Department liaison.
During the meeting, Mayor Schick asked the Town attorney the status of her research regarding the law of accepting the easement grant on Eleanor Park. This research seems to be related to the need of having a super majority vote (6-1) vs a simple majority vote (4-3). Mayor Schick explained that the public hearing will be scheduled after the Attorney's decision/opinion is made available. This means that the earliest the public hearing will happen is during December and the vote during January.
Vote on the new CB Redevelopment Housing Authority member - The Council was presented with one Applicant to review and approve. During the Council meeting, I asked if this position was publicly advertised and was told no. In order of transparency and fairness, I made a motion to defer the appointment until the position could be advertised and a review of all applicants' applications can be conducted before a vote next month. No one seconded my motion and the Council proceeded to vote. I voted Nay because I believe public positions need to be advertised. There is nothing wrong with the candidate appointed, but this is a four year term and it is incumbent on the government officials to do the necessary due diligence and exercise fairness and equity during all government procedures. Therefore, positions that are not fully advertised and candidates that are not fully vetted, not only give the appearance of being hand picked and perpetuate the appearance of a government that is making closed door deals.
Vote to move police chief supervision under town manager - I had my reservations about Council giving up supervision to the Town Manager so I did my own homework. After talking to several people in law-enforcement I discovered top manager supervision is not uncommon and actually preferred by many. Previously the police chief technically had to answer to six council members and the mayor which is an inefficient way to manage. I was also reassured by the fact that the Town Council supervises the town manager so we still have the ability to oversee any issues that our constituents may have. During the public input, only two residents provided input, one in favor and the other against. The person in favor, based on research, advocated for the independence of the Police Chief to exercise his function and manage his Department, Police Chief Involvement with the community and police training for the Town Manager, which I believe is a sensible thing to do. The person against, argued for almost the same but thought that reporting to the Council was more beneficial as there was more visibility. I voted yes.
Vote to refinance bond debt- The town was given the opportunity to refinance $6.7M in bonds at a lower interest rate and save over $200k. I asked if there was an advantage to taking the money upfront or spreading it out over 17 years. There wasn’t a clear answer but commonsense seems to say take the money upfront. I stated I will support that option if we could ensure that money would go to infrastructure needs since that’s what many of the residents want. I voted yes, the motion was passed.
Vote to reassign unspent funds to the current budget year - I voted yes after clarifying that the $160k in VDOT money would be put back into street maintenance. I do have a bit of a concern that hundreds of thousands of dollars need to be used for otherwise unfunded liabilities. During the public hearing there were serious concerns about the amount of money spent by the Town in projects, parks and recreation and buildings for which there was no funding. Before this motion was discussed, the auditor cited the School's spending of money without a budget allocation as a deficiency. This is the first time this has happened in the Town for a while. As a Council we need to hold the Town Manager accountable for these issues and you all need to hold us accountable for unscrupulous spending. This is your money, our money and we have the fiscal responsibility of doing what is right for Colonial Beach. The Motion passed.
Other updates
Audio/ Video issues - I have submitted a written request to the town manager to add a discussion to the next work session agenda to address poor audio and video recordings of town meetings.
I put in a request that Planning Commission meetings be recorded and made available to the public via YouTube (waiting to hear if needs to be addressed by the Zoning Administrator or if this requires TC discussion)
I am collecting all the questions and comments received related to the Eleanor Park grant and vote and will submit a letter to the Town Manager with a request to forward to the Town lawyer for a response. NOTE: To the people that reached out and said they are not sure if they will trust the Town Lawyer's opinion; my response is that the Town Lawyer needs to emit an opinion based on facts irrespective of where she/he stands on an issue. Her license depends on this. However, if someone believes the issued opinion is not fair, or there is evidence to support a contrary opinion, the person can reach out to a Council member and/or Town Manager to request a Virginia Attorney General's (AG) Opinion. Reaching out to a Council or Town Manager requesting an AG opinion doesn't mean they will do it, but it is an option the constituents have.
If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to reach out to me at
DWilliams@ColonialBeachVA.net
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