[0:23] time. August 11th, 2026.
[0:26] Regular Council meeting. Roll
[0:27] call. Madam Clerk. Mayor Reeves
[0:30] here. Vice Mayor Shaw here.
[0:32] Council member. Dike here.
[0:34] Council member Olinger here.
[0:36] Council member. Rimeikis here.
[0:37] Council member. Russell here.
[0:39] Council member. Schmidt here.
[0:41] Council member Sternberg here.
[0:43] And council member Yao here.
[0:44] All right. Any changes to the
[0:46] agenda? If not, motion to
[0:48] approve. So moved. Second. All
[0:50] in favor? Aye. Opposed? All
[0:53] right. Pledge allegiance, Mr.
[0:56] Sternberg. I pledge allegiance
[1:03] to the flag. And the United
[1:05] States of America. And to the
[1:07] Republic for which it stands.
[1:09] One nation under God,
[1:12] indivisible, with liberty and
[1:15] justice for all. All right.
[1:22] Consent agenda. Jim. Good
[1:26] evening. Consent agenda. 5.1
[1:29] report and recommendation for
[1:30] approval to purchase. Two stand
[1:32] on track loaders. 5.2 important
[1:35] recommendation for approval to
[1:36] purchase K-9 Luna from Culpeper
[1:38] County Sheriff's Office. 5.3
[1:41] Report and recommendation for
[1:43] Acceptance of Virginia Tourism
[1:45] VA. 250 Grant funds. 5.4 Report
[1:49] and Recommendation Resolution
[1:51] adopting the two 2026 Personal
[1:53] Property Tax Relief Rate. 5.5.
[2:00] Paid bills listing and 5.6
[2:03] minutes of previous meetings
[2:06] the consent. Second. All in
[2:08] favor? Aye. Opposed? All right.
[2:10] Thank you. Public forum.
[2:15] Members of the public forum may
[2:16] address Council on matters
[2:18] related to town government. At
[2:21] this time, please state your
[2:23] name and address for the record.
[2:25] Each speaker shall have three
[2:26] minutes and shall comply with
[2:27] the citizen Participation
[2:29] policy. Groups are requested to
[2:31] have a spokesperson. Questions
[2:33] should be directed to the mayor.
[2:35] Is there anyone would like to
[2:37] speak tonight on any town issue?
[2:42] No one. All right. Close the
[2:45] public hearing. I mean, close
[2:47] the hand at this time. All
[2:48] right. 9.1 ordinance amending
[2:52] chapter eight of the Town Code.
[2:54] Second reading. Andrew. Thank
[2:59] you, Mr. Mayor. As noted, this
[3:00] is a second reading for an
[3:01] amendment to the town's outdoor
[3:03] burning ordinance requiring
[3:05] permits. It's an update, really,
[3:06] to bring the ordinance in line
[3:07] with current practices. And
[3:10] it's a provides much greater
[3:13] clarity and certainty as far as
[3:14] what requires a permit, what
[3:15] does not require a permit, as
[3:17] well as safe burning practices.
[3:18] So the recommendation before
[3:19] you this evening is that
[3:20] Council holds your second
[3:21] reading and adopts ordinance
[3:22] number 2026-006, amending
[3:26] chapter eight of the Town Code
[3:27] by adding sections 8.31 through
[3:30] 8.34 related to permit required
[3:32] for outdoor burning and
[3:33] authorize authorizes the mayor
[3:34] and town Clerk to execute the
[3:36] document. Happy to answer any
[3:37] questions the Council may have.
[3:40] Okay. Hey, Andrew. One of my
[3:42] one of the constituents
[3:44] contacted me regarding the
[3:46] burning plan, and they brought
[3:49] up fireworks and, you know,
[3:51] being close proximity to homes
[3:53] and units and people lighting
[3:55] it and potential dangers of
[3:57] fireworks going near people's
[3:59] homes or striking people's
[4:00] homes. Can you comment on how
[4:01] that could possibly relate to
[4:03] this? Sure. It really wouldn't
[4:05] relate to this. We do have a
[4:06] separate section of town code
[4:08] related to fireworks and to the use of fireworks. We
[4:12] amended that a couple of years
[4:13] ago, related particularly to
[4:15] indoor use of fireworks that
[4:16] was occurring. But so this
[4:18] particular section is not
[4:19] related to fireworks, right.
[4:24] Anyone else? Thank you. Andrew.
[4:29] Motion to approve. Agenda. So
[4:31] moved. Second. Any discussion?
[4:34] Roll call, Madam clerk.
[4:36] Councilmember dich I
[4:38] Councilmember Ohlinger I mayor
[4:41] Reeves I. Councilmember
[4:43] Rimeikis. I Council member.
[4:45] Russell. Aye. Council member.
[4:47] Schmidt. I. Vice mayor. Short.
[4:49] Aye. Council member. Sternburg.
[4:50] Aye. Council member. Yao. Aye.
[4:53] The motion carries. All right.
[4:56] 9.2 proposal for historic
[4:58] Storywalk at Rockwood Park.
[5:00] Andrew. Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
[5:02] The Parks and Rec Commission a
[5:04] couple of months back received
[5:05] a request from a local Eagle
[5:07] Scout wanting to do a project
[5:08] in conjunction with the town
[5:10] library to install a series of
[5:12] signs at Rockwater Park. These
[5:13] signs. There'll be 17 in total.
[5:16] When read in progression would
[5:17] essentially tell a story. The
[5:19] story would be rotated by the
[5:21] town's library. The library
[5:24] services would take
[5:25] responsibility for both.
[5:26] Selection of the stories,
[5:28] installation of the stories,
[5:30] the signs, and then again, the
[5:32] maintenance of the particular
[5:33] signs. Parks and rec did
[5:35] recommend approval of this idea
[5:37] and recommended the County
[5:39] Council. It was presented at
[5:40] Council Committee and the
[5:41] recommendation before you this
[5:42] evening is. The Council
[5:43] approved the installation of
[5:44] the Storywalk signs at
[5:46] Rockwater Park and authorizes
[5:47] the town Manager to sign an
[5:48] agreement with the Culpeper
[5:49] County Library related to the
[5:51] maintenance and decommissioning
[5:52] of the signs. So I'd be happy
[5:54] to answer any questions the
[5:55] Council may have on this matter.
[5:58] Any questions? Go ahead.
[6:00] Rimeikis. Go ahead. Do you want
[6:03] to? I'll let him. Go ahead.
[6:05] I'll move the motion. No. Let
[6:07] him go ahead. Go ahead. And ask.
[6:13] Probably should have been asked
[6:15] at committee, but never seem to
[6:17] have enough time to. And it
[6:22] probably be answered better by
[6:23] the librarian and I, I don't.
[6:27] There's nobody here
[6:28] representing the library. Not
[6:29] this evening. So I'm just going
[6:30] to throw it at you. So so a lot
[6:33] of it's a great idea and a lot
[6:35] of thought went into putting
[6:36] this together, but most of it
[6:37] is all the implementation and
[6:40] it kind of stops there and
[6:41] doesn't go any further. So one
[6:43] of the questions I had was.
[6:49] Well, one of the questions is
[6:50] like monthly seems like a
[6:52] little ambitious for Rock Water
[6:54] Park. And, and the reason is my
[6:59] thinking is the water park is
[7:01] like a one season park and the
[7:05] draw is the splash pad. So I
[7:09] was wondering, like, how did
[7:11] the number 12 come up? Why not
[7:12] every two months or quarterly
[7:15] or that sort of thing? Because
[7:16] that seems to be like a lot of
[7:18] work for the library to, to be
[7:21] doing. Sometimes there's two
[7:26] seasons if there's snow and
[7:27] there's a lot of sledding going
[7:29] on over there. And I'm there
[7:30] too, with the. And then the
[7:34] next question. Well, and that
[7:35] is that okay, if you build it,
[7:36] will they come? I mean, will,
[7:38] what's the incentive for. Oh,
[7:42] and I asked about a committee
[7:43] and I think the age group was
[7:45] preschool. Isn't it like
[7:47] elementary, elementary, but
[7:49] early elementary because it's
[7:50] still like reading development,
[7:52] that sort of thing. So that's, not, you know, some kid
[7:55] running around on his own,
[7:56] that's a parent that has to go
[7:58] with them so that it's like an
[7:59] extra, you know, factor to, to
[8:01] consider. And how's the library
[8:04] going to measure? The response
[8:08] or the effectiveness of it? I
[8:09] mean, how are they going to
[8:10] know how many kids in a month,
[8:13] you know, read the story? I
[8:14] mean, there's a lot of ways to
[8:16] do that. I'm just wondering if
[8:17] they thought that out, because
[8:19] that then leads to the what you
[8:20] mentioned with the
[8:21] decommissioning.
[8:22] right. What, you know, what's the
[8:25] trigger on that? I mean, how
[8:26] many years when you have these.
[8:32] Structures which are permanent,
[8:35] you know, embedded in concrete,
[8:37] there's, you know, two legs for
[8:38] each one of these. Signs, you
[8:44] know, that public Works now has
[8:46] to mow around 17 obstacles on a
[8:49] half, half mile loop. Or we'd
[8:51] walk around. And have they ever
[8:57] considered something less
[9:00] permanent? So. I think it's, I, think they're all important.
[9:14] Anyone else? Motion to approve.
[9:17] So moved. Second. Any
[9:20] discussion? Mr. Yeah. Mr. mayor,
[9:23] just a quick comment. This is a scout an Eagle Scout
[9:29] candidate project. And just for
[9:30] those of you who are unaware,
[9:32] this is a capstone project for
[9:34] this young man to earn his
[9:36] Eagle Scout. And it is quite an
[9:38] extensive program. It's a it's
[9:40] an in-depth project management
[9:42] exercise. He's. He's got to
[9:44] determine where the materials
[9:45] come from. The stakeholders in
[9:47] the Community planning office,
[9:50] any sponsors in the area,
[9:51] Lowe's or construction
[9:53] companies. He's got to assemble
[9:55] a team, plan it out and lead it
[9:57] all the way through to
[9:59] implementation. So I wish we
[10:00] could have met the young scout
[10:02] tonight, but just hats off to
[10:03] him and I'm glad he's looking
[10:06] at his community to support it.
[10:08] So and thank you for the
[10:09] description. Thank you. Anyone
[10:11] else? Yes. Thank you. It's also
[10:14] my understanding that he's also
[10:15] working with the and library,
[10:17] working with the county Parks
[10:19] and Rec and Park, you know,
[10:22] which I think is probably more
[10:23] appropriate than our Hill.
[10:26] Anyone else? Roll call, Madam
[10:29] clerk. Council member. Olinger
[10:33] I mayor Reeves I Council member.
[10:36] Rimeikis. No. Council member.
[10:39] Russell. Aye. Council member.
[10:40] Schmidt. I vice mayor. Short.
[10:43] Aye. Council member. Sternberg.
[10:45] Aye. Council member. Yao. Aye.
[10:48] Council member. Dike. Aye. The
[10:50] motion carries 9.2 resolution.
[10:54] Adopting the r r r regional
[10:58] hazard migration plan. Andrew.
[11:01] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. So the
[11:03] town partnered with the
[11:05] Regional Commission in the
[11:07] development of a Regional
[11:09] Resiliency and hazard
[11:10] Mitigation plan. This process
[11:12] took place over the course of
[11:13] approximately two years. The
[11:15] plan then actually sat for
[11:16] another year to 18 months
[11:18] waiting approval at the state
[11:19] and federal level in terms of
[11:21] all components. But essentially,
[11:22] it was a collaborative effort
[11:23] to to come up with a plan to
[11:26] address primarily hazard
[11:28] mitigation in the region, what
[11:30] we could do to help prevent
[11:31] hazards or emergencies
[11:33] occurring in the future, as
[11:34] well as if they occur best
[11:35] practices. In terms of being
[11:37] able to deal with these, it was
[11:38] broken down into recommended
[11:40] actions to be taken by each of
[11:41] the jurisdictions, the counties
[11:42] as well as the towns contained
[11:44] therein. So there are some
[11:46] specific for Culpeper that have
[11:47] been pulled out. If these are
[11:48] to move forward, that will come
[11:50] back to council independently,
[11:52] for they have costs involved
[11:53] with them to be evaluated on a
[11:56] case by case basis individually.
[11:58] The one in in primary practice
[12:00] that that would be would be
[12:02] potential planting of
[12:03] additional trees in Palmetto
[12:06] Park along Mountain Run to aid
[12:08] in the riparian establishment
[12:10] and growth of the riparian
[12:11] buffer there to aid with
[12:13] flooding. But again, there are
[12:15] a number of measures that are
[12:16] taking place that are, that are
[12:18] called for within this plan.
[12:19] And again, this is part of a
[12:21] regional collaboration. So the
[12:23] recommendation before council
[12:24] this evening is that council
[12:25] adopts resolution number
[12:29] R-2026024, adopting the
[12:30] Rappahannock Rapidan Regional
[12:31] Commission's Regional Hazard
[12:33] Mitigation and Resiliency Plan,
[12:34] and authorizes the mayor and
[12:36] town clerk to execute the
[12:37] document. Again, I'd be happy
[12:38] to answer any questions that
[12:39] Council may have. Any questions,
[12:42] John, in these discussions,
[12:45] were there any is there any
[12:48] bantering back and forth about
[12:50] supply chain? So if if we do
[12:53] have a disruption in a highway
[12:55] or a rail or anything like that,
[12:59] is that going to be is this is
[13:02] that in here? Because I didn't
[13:03] see it, but the plan is not
[13:05] focused on any sort of specific
[13:08] identity identified incidents,
[13:09] but more identifies essentially
[13:11] the forces that would come
[13:12] together to deal with incidents.
[13:14] So it essentially identifies
[13:15] how the town's police
[13:16] department would work with the
[13:17] sheriff's office in terms of
[13:18] road closures or things of that
[13:20] nature. In the event that we
[13:21] had a major accident, the
[13:23] routing, the rerouting of
[13:25] traffic, also expanding to the
[13:26] regional basis as well. Again,
[13:28] if there were significant
[13:29] impacts to 29 running
[13:31] throughout the majority of the
[13:32] region. So again, it's not
[13:35] contemplating specific
[13:36] incidents because they're so
[13:37] broad. And and we wanted to
[13:39] ensure that we had the
[13:40] flexibility to address any of
[13:42] these, but it helped to foster
[13:44] the relationships between many
[13:45] of these different agencies, as
[13:47] well as articulate who would be
[13:49] involved in dealing with some
[13:50] of these shocks that we could
[13:51] see to our system. Okay, anyone
[13:54] else so moved? Second, any
[13:59] discussion? Roll call, madam
[14:02] Clerk. Councilmember Rimeikis.
[14:04] Aye. Council member. Russell.
[14:06] Aye. Council member. Schmidt I
[14:09] vice mayor. Short. Aye. Council
[14:11] member. Sternburg. Aye. Council
[14:13] member. Yao. Aye. Council
[14:15] member. Darby. Aye. Council
[14:17] member. Olinger. Aye. Mayor.
[14:20] Reeves. Aye. Motion carries.
[14:24] 9.4. Resolution authorizing RR
[14:28] f for 302 East Davis Street
[14:31] page. Good evening. Before you
[14:35] this evening, we have a report
[14:37] and recommendation to authorize
[14:39] staff and the manager to submit
[14:42] on behalf of 302 East Davis
[14:44] Street, an Industrial
[14:46] Revitalization Fund grant. This
[14:47] would ultimately become a grant
[14:49] to loan program. As you are
[14:52] familiar, 302 East Davis Street
[14:54] was previously home to Sandra's
[14:57] Taqueria and and many other
[14:58] iterations during its
[15:00] Centennial. Plus, life building
[15:02] owner and business operator
[15:03] Miguel is with us this evening.
[15:06] The Industrial Revitalization
[15:08] Fund is a program that is
[15:09] administered through the
[15:10] Virginia Department of Housing
[15:11] and Community Development, and
[15:13] it is an opportunity for
[15:15] catalytic reinvestment for
[15:17] buildings that meet the
[15:19] criteria for being blighted.
[15:21] And as you're aware, Sandra
[15:24] suffered a catastrophic fire on
[15:26] May 30th, 2026, took over a
[15:30] million gallons of water to
[15:32] suppress the fire, and today
[15:34] the structure remains unsafe,
[15:37] Unoccupiable continued
[15:41] deterioration and damages are
[15:42] being incurred because of its
[15:44] exposure to weather and
[15:45] additional elements. Since that
[15:47] fire, and this opportunity to
[15:49] submit for an IRF for a maximum
[15:51] award of $1 million provides an
[15:54] opportunity to help bring what
[15:56] has been a community asset for
[15:59] over a century and an economic
[16:01] driver back to life here in the
[16:02] town of Culpeper. The program
[16:04] does require a 1 to 1 match
[16:06] which has been pledged and
[16:07] committed to by the business
[16:09] owner and building owner,
[16:11] Miguel, so there is no
[16:12] financial impact for the town
[16:13] of Culpeper. And the
[16:15] recommendation in front of you
[16:16] this evening is that Council
[16:19] authorizes or adopts resolution
[16:23] 2026023, authorizing the
[16:25] submission of an application to
[16:26] the Virginia Department of
[16:27] Housing and Community
[16:28] Development for Industrial
[16:30] Revitalization Fund. Assistance
[16:31] for the redevelopment of 302
[16:33] East Davis Street and
[16:34] authorizes the mayor and Town
[16:35] clerk to execute the document
[16:38] further. That council
[16:39] authorizes the town manager or
[16:40] his designee to execute all
[16:42] documents necessary to complete
[16:43] the application process. Happy
[16:44] to answer any questions. Any
[16:48] questions, I move the
[16:50] recommendation. Second. Any
[16:52] discussion? Roll call, Mr.
[16:55] Mayor. I'm sorry. Just a quick
[16:57] thanks to Mrs. Reed for
[16:59] coordinating this through all
[17:00] of the millions of wickets. And
[17:02] also a shout out to the
[17:03] property owner for his passion
[17:04] for historic preservation, and helping keep
[17:07] our downtown. The way the way
[17:09] it's been through a very long
[17:11] time, the work with the ARB
[17:12] that you're doing and the
[17:14] surrounding stakeholders and
[17:16] contractors in the area, it's a great story. It's
[17:18] difficult to move through a
[17:20] team effort. The director of
[17:21] Museum of Culpeper history is
[17:23] helping Andrew Kukowski cry.
[17:25] The chamber has led support,
[17:27] and we have a number of state
[17:29] agencies that were actually on
[17:30] site today, DHCDDHDEQ
[17:34] Commonwealth Preservation Group
[17:35] and others. So this is
[17:36] definitely going to be just
[17:38] that, a team effort to to help
[17:39] bring this back to life. So
[17:41] thank you. Thank you. Okay.
[17:42] Roll call, madam clerk. Council
[17:46] member. Russell. Aye. Council
[17:48] member. Schmidt. I vice mayor
[17:51] short. Aye. Council member.
[17:53] Sternburg. Aye. Council member.
[17:55] Yao. Aye. Council member dich.
[17:57] Aye. Council member. Olinger.
[17:59] Aye. Mayor. Reeves. Aye.
[18:01] Council member. Rimeikis. Aye.
[18:03] The motion carries 9.5. Town
[18:07] and County Interaction
[18:08] Committee. Council may discuss
[18:11] potential item for the next
[18:12] meeting. There are currently no
[18:14] town item in the next meeting.
[18:15] Date has not been set. Anyone
[18:17] have any items they'd like to
[18:20] produce at this time? No one.
[18:24] All right, thank you. All right.
[18:28] Town manager, monthly report is.
[18:30] Any questions by anyone? All
[18:33] right. Anything else to be
[18:35] brought to the council? Anyone
[18:37] have anything else? If not, we
[18:41] are adjourned.