Town Audit, Food Truck/ Vendor Courts, Rescue Squad Lease and other routine business was on Wednesday’s Work Session agenda.
Additions to the Agenda -
1) Kenny Allison’s re-appointment through 12/31/22. Mr. Allison’s Council appointment expired as soon as Vicki Roberson was certified for her 2-year special election seat so Kenny had to be reappointed until his regular election seat starts in January. With only a few weeks left in the year, there were no objections to the appointment.
2) Plat for Ms. Kennedy for purchase of town owned easement adjacent to her property.
Council Member updates -
Public Safety- suggested donating to the rescue squad considering their current endeavor to build a new rescue squad.
NGO/ Economic Development- Neighbor 2 Neighbor (started up by Bill and Becky Taylor to check in on those who may be alone in town starting with elderly), Working on plans for fall Main Street status, CBVFD collecting toys.
Parks and Rec and Planning Commission- activities announced, the company doing the park master plan meant with town employees, the planning commission passed zoning changes to allow vendor/ food truck courts (now to Council for approval)
Mayor- talked about winter fest and other town activities.
Awards & Recognitions
· 10 years of Service, Captain Sara Lombraña -Congrats!!
Resolution #51-22, Reappointment of Nathan Howell to the Planning Commission vote7-0
Resolution #52-22, Amends and Appropriates FY 22-23 Budget, General Fund
(Wayfinding Funds) vote 7-0
Presentations
Audit - Annual CAFR Presentation, Farmer & Cox Associates
Overall, he said, things were in good shape with a few exceptions. I asked what the audit findings were (things we are doing wrong) and he said it primarily had to do with controls and separation of duties. Payroll accounts, payable, accounts receivable and cash disbursements were the findings. Tom later said that he was very concerned about this issue that apparently has been going on for years. The The Mayor suggested it would need 5+ new full-time employees to resolve. I asked the auditor, was $3M unusual for unassigned cash “money the town can use at their discretion” and he said it was $1.5M over the normal 15-20% towns typically have. The town manager said town was looking for investment areas for that money.
Town Vendor Program, Director of Parks & Recreation -
“Public Property Part Only” Town staff said we collected $7,800 in fees last year but they did not say how much free electricity was given as part of the agreement. This program does not make the town money so it is considered a paid service the town provides. Staff is proposing changes to the program with 5 options which include Repealing all or parts of Article III regulating the Vendor program so the town staff can manage more efficiently. Basically, the ask was for council to give up all or some of their authority to regulate seasons, locations and times of operation, etc. The decision was for staff to proceed with public hearing on this topic.
DRAFT Resolution #53-22, Colonial Beach Volunteer Rescue Squad Lease of Town- Owned Property
• Public Hearing & Council Action (Deferred to December 21, 2022) the president of the CBVRS presented counsel with the terms of the contract and location and other details. Proposal is basically to lease for $1 a year the property on 700 Colonial Ave that they will be building a $1.5M building on.
PUBLIC HEARING Ordinance No. 736, Amends Town of Colonial Beach Zoning Ordinances, Articles 7 (Resort Commercial), 8 (General Commercial) and 9 (Commercial Residential)
This was primarily to add Vendor Courts as conditional use allowed on private commercial property. Vendor court is defined as “one or more vendors”. The primary reason for this is food trucks, but it does not limit to just food trucks. Some of the questions I had were what if we don’t like the conditions that we set out in the original permits, can we change in the answer was no. I asked how long does the conditional use permit last and was told it conveys with the property, unless we issue the permit with a limitation on time. One or two years with the option to renew. If this passes in our next meeting, there will be no conditions set until after food truck/Vendor courts are allowed. A few residents did speak in favor, and the vote will be at our next meeting. One person raised the concern of the conditional use permit CUP being required because it is a burden, $800 just to get the permit and that person would like to see them just allowed with no permit. I believe I’m in the minority on this but I am not real comfortable with the direction our food truck program is going in. It appears somebody is very focused on ensuring these things are allowed everywhere in town. I believe you may start seeing them all over so be prepared for the wild west of food trucks!
Economic Development Strategic Plan, Economic Development Manager - She presented a very simple economic development plan for the town. One of the things on the list was workforce housing so I asked what is the real need, numbers wise for workforce houses? I did not get an answer, but they are looking into it. A resident also asked if we could add some things to the plan like promotion of more year around businesses.
Audio & Visual Discussion, Council-member Williams - I asked for this to be added to the agenda, because the quality of our audio and video at the town center has been an ongoing issue for years. I actually requested audio/video be addressed a year ago and nothing has happened so that’s why I wanted council to discuss in a public forum. The same excuse you often here, it’s expensive to fix this, so it’s just shouldn’t be fixed to me is not acceptable. Large numbers were thrown around, up to $40K but I’m not looking for the town to be spend big bucks, I just want the issue to be fixed so we discussed getting a professional to come in and assess. Town staff is looking into options to bring to counsel next month.
Closed Meeting
Discussion with legal council for consideration of the acquisition of real property for a public purpose and of the investment of public funds, and the Town regarding the Charter Agreement between and among the Town, Rappahannock Regional Criminal Justice Training Academy, and others, and related issues.
Public Works Update
· central drainage area has two bids and will close on December 14. The decision will be made in January.
· Sections of the golf cart path were closed for maintenance, but should be open soon.
· The Holiday decorations were put up.
· I did a tour of the waste water treatment plant and reported my experience.
Please email or call with questions or comments:
dwilliams@colonialbeachva.gov
540-604-4335
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