[0:01] I am gonna call to order the rescheduled regular town council meeting
[0:05] for monday, february 2nd order. And we're gonna start off
[0:10] with our pledge of allegiance, being led by vice mayor by
[0:20] I pledge allegiance, allegiance to the flag of the united states of america,
[0:24] and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under
[0:29] god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
[0:39] silence before three, but we didn't. So clap for a moment of silence before
[0:43] we start
[1:02] mr. Pressley. We'll do our roll call. Mayor cockrell. Here. Vice mayor
[1:06] mayoral. Here. Councilwoman de demon payne. Here. Councilman ingram? Here.
[1:10] councilman rappaport? Here. Councilman ock. Here. Councilman woods here.
[1:16] thank you everybody for being, uh, flexible and joining us in this
[1:20] space for our, uh, uh, rescheduled meeting.
[1:24] the weather. It was quite fine last week. Uh, the first
[1:28] item for council's, uh, purview is approval of
[1:32] minutes. Do I hear a motion? Madam mayor, I move that. Council approved
[1:37] the minutes of december 8th, 2025. Regular meeting
[1:41] work session. January 5th, 2026, work session.
[1:46] and january 12th, 2026. Work session
[1:50] as presented. Second. Second. Okay. There's a motion to second. Any discussion?
[1:55] okay. Roll call. Councilman wood? Yes. Vice mayor ov? Yes. Councilman
[2:00] sea lock? Yes. Councilman rappaport? Yes. Councilman ingram? Yes.
[2:04] councilwoman d demon payne? Yes. Okay. Item number five is
[2:08] an opportunity for any addition or deletion of items from the agenda
[2:12] and or any revision to the order of business. I believe there is a motion
[2:16] tonight. Um, with some changes. Madam mayor, I move that. Council
[2:20] remove items. Number six, recognitions awards, reports and presentations.
[2:25] and number 12, closed meeting from the agenda. Is there a
[2:29] second? Second, sir. Any discussion? It will require
[2:33] a unanimous vote for council's information correct. And the rec,
[2:37] uh, recognition awards and reports and presentations we're gonna bring back at
[2:41] the february meeting so those people won't not get recognized. Just not tonight.
[2:47] roll call. Councilman wood. Yes. Vice mayor ? Yes. Councilman
[2:52] loc? Yes. Councilman rappaport? Yes. Councilman ingram? Yes. Councilman d
[2:56] demon paint? Yes. Pass this. So,
[3:00] uh, we will, item number six is now, um, not part
[3:04] of our agenda. Item number seven, these are our public hearings and we
[3:08] actually have six public hearings tonight. Um, we now come to the
[3:12] public hearing portion of the agenda. Public hearings are an opportunity for council to
[3:16] learn of information of which they may not have been previously aware. If
[3:20] you would like to speak, please wait until you are recognized and come forward to my defendant
[3:25] to state your name and address and indicate if you're a resident of the town front. Royal,
[3:29] if the comments you would like to make have already been made, you may simply state that you agree with
[3:33] the previous speaker. There is a three minute time limit for speakers. After
[3:37] three minutes, mike then will cut off. Please remember, you are to address
[3:42] your comments to the mayor and council and to refrain from words or statements which are
[3:46] amatory to specific individuals or to other disruptive conduct,
[3:50] including obscenity and vulgarity. Bless you. So our first,
[3:55] uh, public hearing is a special use permit requested request submitted
[3:59] by a few cell floors for an artistic mural at 2 0 2
[4:03] east seven, uh, second street. And ms. Presley, um,
[4:07] would you read the summary? Counsel's requested
[4:12] to consider approval of a special use permit application submitted by fusel
[4:16] flores, property owner c-j-m-w-o for an
[4:20] artistic mural exceeding 60 square feet in size on the
[4:24] east side of the building, located at 2 0 2 east second street, identified by
[4:29] tax map 2 0 8 8 dash one dash four dash 33.
[4:33] the property is zoned c dash two downtown business district. The
[4:38] proposed mural would replace an existing one in the same location. The special
[4:42] use permit is required because the symbology contained within an artistic mural
[4:47] constitutes a sign and is proposed size exceed 60
[4:51] square feet. The planning commission recommended approval of the special use permit to
[4:55] the town council at their november 19th, 2025. Meeting letters
[4:59] were sent to the adjacent property owners informing them of tonight's public hearing.
[5:04] thank you. Ms. Ley, normally we open up our public hearings and offer
[5:08] staff if, was there anything that you needed to present or wanted to present
[5:13] or if there's, um, that's a no. Right? Lauren? I don't
[5:17] have anything additional. Alright. Right. Um, or if the applicant wishes
[5:21] to say anything. I don't. You don't have to. Do you, do you have anything you want? I would
[5:25] happy to be here if there's any questions. Okay. But I don't need to say anything. Okay.
[5:29] all right. Thank you. So at this time I'm gonna open up the public hearing and ask ms. Presley, has anyone
[5:33] signed up to speak? We have one. I believe it's diane. I did sign up, so I can't,
[5:37] I mean, I can, I just was gonna give a brief sure. Overview. It's
[5:41] up to you. If you'll just come to this, um, come here to our,
[5:46] yeah. Okay. And state your name and just address
[5:51] them whether or not you're, uh, in the town or county. Yes. So my name is katie bonnet
[5:55] and I live at 1 1 2 douglas drive in middletown. I, um,
[6:00] don't live in front royal, but I own the business. Ell forest in front royal.
[6:04] and there is a photo of the mural we wanna do. Um, it's a mural across
[6:08] the side. It's gonna be replacing the existing mural. We wanna update it. It needs
[6:12] to be updated. Um, it's gonna say every bloom tells a story which
[6:16] has meaning to us as forests, because that's what we do with flowers, is we try to tell
[6:21] peoples stories with flowers, but it also has a greater meaning to the community of just
[6:25] how everyone we meet has a story to tell and we should meet
[6:30] people with curiosity and with that thought that we're complex just
[6:34] like we are. So I wanted to put that positive message in the community and also
[6:38] the mural just needed to be updated. So we're excited to do it if we get approval.
[6:43] thank you. Is there any council members that have a question?
[6:48] no, we're good. No. No. Okay. Thank you. Is
[6:52] there anybody else who wishes to speak at this public hearing?
[6:57] okay. So at this time I'm actually gonna close the public hearing and open up
[7:01] to counsel. I move that counsel approve a special use permit submitted by a
[7:05] few south florida property owner c-j-m-w-o family for an artistic
[7:09] mural exceeding 60 square feet in size on the east side of the
[7:13] building, located at 2 0 2 east second street, identified by tax map two zero
[7:18] a eight dash one dash four dash three three as presented. Second.
[7:22] any admission? Second. Any discussion? It's my only opportunity to re-express
[7:26] my disdain for this part of the town, um,
[7:31] code or signage that I think needs to be revisited.
[7:35] I will, again, express what I've expressed to people with murals in the past.
[7:40] if you own your building and you wish to paint it, you should be able to do
[7:44] that with your property owner's rights. And any time somebody is looking to improve
[7:48] a building in the town of burn royal, I think that should be welcomed and it should not be a financial burden
[7:53] or a hurdle to have to jump through to do so.
[7:57] any other discussion? The only thing that I, I would add, mayor, is that,
[8:01] uh, I think it's well done. It fits the, uh, beautification
[8:05] of the nature of our community and, um,
[8:11] I, I appreciate the artwork. Alright.
[8:15] no other discussion. Will we do roll call? Councilman wood? Yes. Vice mayor
[8:19] fel? Yes. Councilman ock? Yes. Councilman rappaport? Yes. Council ingram?
[8:23] yes. Council iman d demon? Yes. Motion passes.
[8:28] so our second public hearing tonight is to receive public permit on request
[8:32] from zuckerman meadows incorporated to vacate a portion of an unimproved
[8:36] street located between east fifth street and happy creek.
[8:41] um, ms. Par, I'll read the summary for you. Counsel's request
[8:45] to receive public comment on a request from zach meadows incorporated to conditionally
[8:49] vacate. But were certain public rights away of a 14,188
[8:54] square foot portion of the unimproved street located between east fifth street and heavy
[8:58] creek northeast of east fifth street known as area a. The
[9:02] street was originally platted by the front royal and riverton improvement company.
[9:06] therefore, staff is also recommending a title exam
[9:11] exam right b completed by the applicant, certified
[9:15] letters were sent to the adjacent property owners. So that's the summary
[9:20] staff. Is there anything you wish to share with counsel
[9:24] at this time? Um, so we've been in communication with the, um,
[9:29] property owner, buddy, property owners. Um, I will make note
[9:33] that item, uh, agenda items b, c, and d all relate
[9:37] to the same general area and reasoning behind this. It's
[9:41] just three separate pieces. Uh, we've been working with them,
[9:45] we've, and our gi is to go back all the way from when,
[9:50] uh, front row riverton improvement company acquired the property
[9:54] and to find plats to actually show it. The only thing that we're finding is
[9:58] the map in our office. That's one reason why we've also recommended title
[10:02] exam to just ensure, um, that this was from rural riverton
[10:07] improvement company street that was just never flatted by survey,
[10:11] but just designated in description. Do you have any questions? I'd have to
[10:15] have 'em. I believe the applicants and their representatives are also here today.
[10:20] that was gonna be my next thing is, um, first off, does
[10:24] counsel have any questions for staff? I do about this. Okay. So
[10:28] mr. Petty, when the applicant made the application, uh,
[10:33] or were they made aware of how we're doing a compensation
[10:37] for the vacation of the hour? Yeah, so we've been in communication with that and, um,
[10:42] I, I met last week with their legal representation just to walk through those numbers
[10:46] and we sent the updated ones that are follow our new policy
[10:50] for the assessed value, but also with the understanding that tonight
[10:55] is just to discuss if counsel's open to vacating it,
[10:59] and then we can discuss those costs compensation later. But
[11:03] we've been in communication about that and I've shared the spreadsheets with you.
[11:07] has staff also reviewed, uh, the alley or alleys
[11:12] the land to be vacated for any, um, conditions that
[11:17] may say that we don't want to do it? So, uh,
[11:21] staff would recommend, obviously there is three proposed motions. Um,
[11:25] one would require a title exam and the viewers to obviously to understand better
[11:29] if there was any impact on the public. And then also in
[11:33] the comments and in the survey, they have met their surveyor, met
[11:37] with our public work staff on site to identify any existing utilities
[11:42] and make sure we're carving out any necessary, uh, utility
[11:47] easements as part of it as well. So they staff's been working with the applicant and
[11:51] their surveyor to define those rationale, but as
[11:55] of right now, I think the viewers would help. I will say if you look at
[11:59] the surveys, if you look at the aerials, the property, and I think their description,
[12:04] they've been utilizing this property, uh, for many years.
[12:08] it's, it's gone as if it's been part of the property. And I do believe
[12:12] even some of the assessments have even
[12:16] described it as the alley as part of the actual property, um,
[12:20] for at least I believe two of them. So it's gone
[12:24] on for many years as if they own it, but by legal means, and as
[12:29] I think they discovered, they don't,
[12:33] your opinion, mr. Petty, that we need to send viewers out?
[12:37] I believe so. Just, uh, just to ensure. Yes.
[12:42] alright. Mr. Councilman, do you have any other questions?
[12:47] no. You good? You good? Thank you. All right. Go ahead councilman. I'm alright. You
[12:51] answered it. Okay. Yeah. Yes. Did I understand correctly that the applicant has been
[12:55] potentially paying their taxes to the county as if, if they owned this land
[12:59] for at least two prior? It may be
[13:03] longer than that. It was so that, uh, their representatives and
[13:07] surveyors and that's discussed. But if you look at the, uh, legal description
[13:12] of the property on the tax assessment, it's
[13:17] for at least one, maybe two, I think it's pretty close to the actual area,
[13:21] which would be actual property and the alley
[13:26] or street, unimproved street that they would be looking to purchase. Well,
[13:30] I think they've been occupying this what, 19 56, 7,
[13:34] something like that. Actual buildings. I think it might, some might predate
[13:39] that, that would be a question for the, I think the applicant might know that. Does counsel
[13:43] have any other questions for staff? Anybody have any questions for staff?
[13:47] so, uh, it is up to you. We always give the applicants an opportunity to,
[13:52] to share if they want to. And then that also, if council had any questions
[13:56] for, um, staff, did you have requests staff or for them, for
[14:00] staff? So my final question is, because typically we've been unanimous
[14:04] in appointing committee of viewers, but has it already, I didn't see
[14:08] notes in this from like public works, the electric department.
[14:13] um, is that something that wouldn't be reviewed by staff? I mean, I know it seems
[14:17] like it's, I think they were in with the
[14:21] previous application, but they commented and I think every, if I recall,
[14:25] and I can pull 'em up, but they were all comfortable with just the utility easements were important.
[14:30] right. Um, and then just ensuring that it was part
[14:34] of the front row riverton improvement company, right. Of light. Oh, the utilities in the
[14:38] alley. Now there's a storms that were in there. Yes. We,
[14:42] we looked for water. I don't believe there's water that was just on fifth street,
[14:48] on the actual street, and we would not be vacating any of the actual streets
[14:52] that are there. It's just the abutting properties. Mr. Sonna, I believe,
[14:56] uh, just as a reminder, the task of the viewers is to determine inconvenience
[15:01] to the public. The town's interest with respect to utilities
[15:05] is more to the issue of whether or not the town wants to vacate at all.
[15:10] I just wanted to ensure that we had that information prior to making a decision
[15:14] on which motion we thought was the best to move forward with tonight, that we had
[15:19] town input. That's all. No further questions.
[15:24] you don't have an interest in sharing anything. It really truly is no
[15:28] pressure or the other thing is, what we've done in the past is we
[15:32] allow, um, we open the public hearing, we hear from the public, and then we have
[15:36] the opportunity to ask the applicant questions afterwards. So would you prefer
[15:41] the latter of those? Yeah, that's, I mean, I'll be, I wasn't, my name is
[15:45] daniel pond. I'm, I'm, uh, at 35 north royal avenue in front royal
[15:50] virginia. I'm an attorney in town. I represent zuckerman metals. We, we, all I was gonna
[15:54] say is that we are here to answer any questions you have. Mr. Zuckerman is here on behalf of
[15:58] zuckerman metals. Mr. Brogan's here as a, uh, the, uh, surveyor that, that's,
[16:02] that's done the, the surveys for this and, um, and that, you know, he can speak
[16:06] to it if he, you know, that they've utilized the land pay taxes on the land for probably
[16:10] most of the, most of their existence there in that property. It was just,
[16:14] we discovered that, that they might not, it might not be the boundaries that they, that they've always thought.
[16:18] so that's why we're here, here today. But there's, so they've been, they've been paying
[16:23] taxes on that land, if anyone, um, on, like I said, I think, uh, on
[16:27] one of them there's three lots. The next three thing, uh, two of 'em, I believe that
[16:31] they're, that they had then one, I don't, I don't think that there has that, that
[16:35] was not included in the, in the, uh, um, the county assessment. Um,
[16:39] but I'm not, and I'm not sure which, which one is this one is, but it's the
[16:44] east fifth and happy creek. This is probably the one that that's separate.
[16:48] that, that was, that they have, that's, that's, you know, is like the triangle. Is
[16:52] that the triangle piece? Mm-hmm . Yeah, that's the one that, but there is, I think there, there was built,
[16:56] there might be a, a structure on there that's been utilized forever as well.
[17:00] thank you. Okay. Thank you. No problem. Like I said, any of us will be happy to answer any questions
[17:04] you'll have. Okay. At this time I'm gonna open the public hearing.
[17:08] is there anyone who's signed up to speak? Mr. Pond?
[17:12] okay. Is there anybody else who would like to speak
[17:16] at this public hearing? Okay, I'm gonna close the
[17:21] public hearing and open it up to counsel.
[17:25] I move that counsel adopt an ordinance as presented, approving the conditional vacation and
[17:29] sale request from the applicant. Second. Second. Hey, there's
[17:33] a motion. And second, any discussion I'll add to that discussion since I made the
[17:37] motion that this is not typically what I have been in favor of during
[17:41] my time on council. Um, because I do think that there is value
[17:46] in appointing a committee of viewers, um, to get the
[17:50] public's input and to offer more knowledge from what
[17:54] we can understand or are capable of, um, not being in those
[17:59] positions. However, hearing that the applicant has been paying taxes for how
[18:03] many years is unknown, I feel like they should found
[18:07] the land and we should be done with this.
[18:11] any other discussion? I would echo the fact that it seems like, uh, we're
[18:15] all, uh, put put to rest any
[18:19] easements or right of ways that concern the town
[18:24] for any utilities now or in the future. So I'm good with it as
[18:28] well. Anybody else? Just go ahead.
[18:32] go ahead, councilman. Go ahead. Just real quick. Um,
[18:36] as vice mayoral said about, uh, viewers that we won
[18:41] often performance situations like this, um, my two echo,
[18:45] the, the sentiment of them paying if they've been paying taxes on it, that's,
[18:50] you know, to me that's, that's, that's raises my raise. My ear broke. I didn't
[18:54] even know about that until you guys said that, but, uh, the fact that I, I know, I know
[18:58] where the area is and I'm familiar with, it's not too far from my house, and I
[19:02] don't know of anybody else ever using that area. I've never heard of anybody playing
[19:07] ball or any kids playing ball there or anything, you know, having picnics
[19:11] or anything like that. So given the location of where it is, it is, it's
[19:15] pretty isolated, you know, right near our railroad track, all, all places. So
[19:20] I, uh, I think it's pretty straightforward myself to be honest. Councilman
[19:24] rappaport? Yes. Um, I, I'm willing to go, go,
[19:29] uh, with, with the motion, however, I, I would've opted,
[19:33] uh, uh, to ask, basically
[19:38] to approve it conditionally, uh,
[19:42] with the title examination. Uh, I think the title
[19:46] examination is important.
[19:51] doesn't that have to be satisfied for them to close
[19:55] despite appointing viewers? Absolutely. Um, no. Um, it,
[19:59] it's a quick claim deed.
[20:06] okay. There's a motion on the table and we've had discussion. Um, we're
[20:10] ready for roll call. Great. And I mean, I, I can make that,
[20:14] I can make that motion. I, I was, I was pausing steve.
[20:18] anybody was gonna, I'll, I'll just, I'll, I'll just make the substitute motion to
[20:23] put it out there. That's all. Okay. Madam mayor, I move that
[20:27] counsel adopt ordinance as presented, approving the conditional
[20:31] vacation and sale request from that applicant
[20:37] conditionally, uh, that
[20:41] the applicant provide a title examination to
[20:46] the town manager.
[20:51] there's a motion on the floor. Is there a second?
[20:56] okay. The substitute motion dies about a second. And so we're back to the
[21:00] original motion, correct. Ms. Presley? Yes. We're getting better at this.
[21:04] we're all, um,
[21:10] for the original motion. Councilman wood? Yes. Vice mayor
[21:14] fel? Yes. Councilman zilo? Yes. Councilman rappaport? Yes. Councilman
[21:18] ingram? Yes. Councilwoman d demon paint? Yes. Okay.
[21:23] so our, um, next public hearing tonight is to receive public
[21:27] comment on request from zuckerman metals for braid to vacate a portion of
[21:31] an unimproved street located between east fifth street and bot 17. A
[21:35] counsel's requested to receive public comment on request from zuckerman metals
[21:39] incorporated to conditionally vacate bot ordinance served public rights way on a 14,443
[21:45] square foot portion of the unimproved street located between east fifth street and
[21:49] lot 17 a south end of east fifth street, known as area
[21:53] b. The street was originally platted by the front ron riverton improvement company.
[21:58] therefore, staff is also recommending a title exam. I just want y'all
[22:02] to know, it does not say examination, and it does not say examine. That's why I tripped over
[22:06] it. It says, examine be completed by the applicant.
[22:10] certified letters were sent to the adjacent property owners. So that's the summary
[22:15] staff. Uh, is there anything you wanna add? I don't, I don't have
[22:19] anything else to add. Nothing different than what you had. Anything different you all wanted to
[22:23] add? Nope. All right. Okay. I'm gonna open the public hearing. Ms. Presley,
[22:28] has anybody signed up to speak? No. Okay. Is there anybody who wishes to speak at this public hearing?
[22:33] okay, I'm gonna close the public hearing. I'm gonna open it up to counsel. I move that counsel adopt
[22:37] an ordinance as presented, approving the conditional vacation and seal request from
[22:41] the applicant. Second. Second. Okay. There's a motion. And second, any discussion?
[22:47] I, I, I want to make a comment in general about
[22:51] this, about tonight because a couple people have alluded to it, and I just wanna
[22:55] make sure that people understand this. Counsel has generally
[23:00] in the past, before vacating allie's appointed a committee of viewers
[23:05] not. Um, and so I think this situation is
[23:09] a little bit different than some of the other mm-hmm . Um, alley
[23:13] vacations that we've been involved with in that people were already using it
[23:17] and assumed it was theirs. And sometimes it seems like in my time on council,
[23:22] there have been times where they went back in history and looked at things and
[23:26] didn't realize, uh, how things were divided up and cut up and things like that.
[23:30] so I just wanna make that statement because if in the future the council
[23:34] does appoint, um, a committee of viewers, it, it would be based
[23:39] on different facts. So, um, we'll just add
[23:43] to that, that I will consistently always move to appoint viewers if they have
[23:47] not paid taxes for decades on the property. . Alright.
[23:52] um, if there's no other discussion by council, then we
[23:56] will take a vote. Councilman wood? Yes. Vice mayor vivo? Yes. Councilman sea lock? Yes.
[24:00] councilman rappaport? Yes. Councilman ingram? Yes. Councilwoman de
[24:04] demon ka? Yes. So I am, uh, 70 as a public hearing
[24:09] to receive public comment on a request from two 18 east fourth street
[24:13] llc to vacate a portion of an unimproved. Right.
[24:17] hold on, let me just make sure. Right. Did I click on the wrong line? No
[24:21] one did not. 1, 2, 3. It's the same one. Sorry. I was looking for
[24:26] z meadow's name. That's how I was, uh, counsel's requested to receive public comment on
[24:30] a request from two 18 east fourth street. Llc is requesting to conditionally
[24:34] vacate by ordinance certain public rights away of a 12,914 square
[24:38] foot portion of the unimproved street located between east fourth street and
[24:42] lot 16. The street was originally flooded by the front row and riverton improvement
[24:47] company. Therefore, staff is also recommending a title examine
[24:52] the completed by the applicant. Certified letters were sent to the adjacent property owners.
[24:57] I'm gonna assume staff has nothing else they wanna add. I'm gonna assume
[25:01] the applicant is good with whatever, or is there extra information
[25:05] this time? We just, um, may we just want to add that
[25:10] this, um, mr. Zuck or zuckerman metals had transferred this property to another entity,
[25:14] um, and that, that that title, that deed did have this, this
[25:18] land as part of the, as part of the, the survey and, and the, and
[25:22] the, um, description had this land in there. So we're going back and trying to fix it
[25:26] for them. All right. I'm gonna open up to public hearing.
[25:30] ms. Ty, has anybody said speak? No. Anybody wishes?
[25:35] okay. I'm place the hearing counsel, I move that counsel
[25:40] adopt an ordinance as presented approving the conditional vacation and sale request from
[25:44] the applicant. Second. Okay. There's a motion. Second. Any discussion?
[25:49] I, I just wanna add for the public who will watch
[25:53] this, read about it, the press I do appreciate and value staff's
[25:57] input and I was not neglecting that in my original motion for the first
[26:02] one, I feel like this is a unique set of circumstances that counsel
[26:06] has to use discretion with. Um, so I do appreciate staff's
[26:10] input and I do value that. Any other
[26:14] discussions? Payroll call councilman wood?
[26:18] yes. Vice mayor vial? Yes. Councilman loc? Yes. Councilman rappaport?
[26:22] yes. Councilman ingram? Yes. Councilwoman d demon payne? Yes.
[26:26] okay. Motion should have to, our
[26:31] fifth public hearing of the night is to receive public comment
[26:35] on a request from james. He to vacate a portion
[26:39] avenue avenue and lot five counsel's request
[26:43] to receive public comment on a request from jane sland to conditionally vacate. But ordinance
[26:47] certain public rights to weigh a 6,235 square foot portion
[26:52] of the unimproved randolph avenue between washington avenue and lot
[26:56] five certified letters were sent to the adjacent property owners,
[27:01] um, and staff, is there anything you want to add,
[27:05] uh, before this public hearing? So as you can see from
[27:10] the survey, um, and if you've seen there's an aerial
[27:14] map in there, um, the town has recently installed a
[27:18] cul-de-sac in that uh, area. It's not shown on the gis
[27:22] when you look at it's still older. Um, we have requested
[27:27] that, uh, the ordinance be updated to reflect this, but
[27:31] if you look at staff comments as well, we requested our standard 20 foot
[27:36] drainage in utility easement on the northern edge of the property.
[27:41] and on the right or on the eastern edge of the property, it's currently
[27:45] at six foot. We've requested that that be moved to a 10
[27:49] foot right of place. So this would accommodate our current standards for utility
[27:53] easements. Um, that's been discussed with mr. Lin. Obviously
[27:57] this is, again, we're not discussing costs, we're talking just the vacation of it.
[28:02] um, that would satisfy staff. And um,
[28:07] again, you know, obviously we do always request the viewers, but obviously
[28:11] we've sought these easements. We've noted those in
[28:15] the, the ordinance currently states, uh,
[28:19] referencing the survey. But since the survey hasn't been updated to this point,
[28:24] in lieu of that, we would just, uh, describe those two easements in
[28:28] language versus we didn't want them to expend more money in creating a
[28:32] survey if it were denied. So rather than them getting a new survey and moving
[28:36] lines and stuff, we just said 20 foot easement on the northern boundary
[28:41] and a 10 foot easement on the eastern boundary. Um, and that will be
[28:45] written into the ordinance itself. Um, those are the only comments
[28:49] that, you know, staff had at this point is to accommodate that.
[28:54] and if you have any further questions, I know mr. Helen is here as well.
[28:58] well, I'm gonna start off first. Does counsel have any questions for staff? Same
[29:03] question as before. As the applicant been informed the cost of this
[29:07] and is in agreement to pay it. Correct? He has been
[29:11] shared the cost. Uh, mr. Heflin has questioned whether or not he
[29:15] would be required to pay for the land that is underneath of the
[29:19] easements. That would be his question. So he's giving the town a 20
[29:23] foot easement. Would he be required to pay for the square footage within the
[29:27] easement? Um, right now he has what the total cost would be.
[29:32] um, I I assume that would be part of a, a, a
[29:36] future discussion arise at that time, but he may be
[29:40] able to answer that in the past. And he is the only abutting as,
[29:44] uh, mr. Shauna, he's the only, the other abutting owner is norfolk
[29:48] southern railroad. I don't think we want to know what their land
[29:54] about getting a hold of her. And usually in the past, if, if,
[29:58] uh, if an, if land was vacated, the negotiation
[30:02] piece of it happened after that. So we'll just.
[30:06] alright. Any other questions for staff? The
[30:11] statement in the note, the recommended 20 foot drainage mm-hmm
[30:15] . Util easement. The wording is, does not
[30:19] appear. So does
[30:23] it or doesn't it, it doesn't appear on the survey that they reviewed. If you
[30:27] look at the survey, it currently says 10 foot, so they're asking for 20. And
[30:32] that's what we've shared with mr. Heflin. And again, it would be in
[30:36] the, rather than referencing the plat, it would just reference a 20
[30:40] foot wide in the ordinance in your packet, it would say a 20 foot wide
[30:44] easement. And then we would amend that to just, rather than saying, look at the plat,
[30:48] we would actually write, put that in writing.
[30:52] any other questions for staff? I'll
[30:57] just have one more comment. I apologize. Um, if approved and this
[31:01] were to be recorded and, and the sale goes through an updated
[31:05] survey would be required, we wouldn't be able to use this and we would have an updated
[31:10] survey completed. And we've spoken with mr. Heflin and mr. Merchant
[31:14] did this and he would get that done for in consolidation. Correct.
[31:20] is there anything that, that, does the applicant have anything that, that there's no requirement
[31:24] for that. It's just, I would like to give people the opportunity. Are you good? Yes, ma'am. Mr.
[31:28] mr. Petty expressed what you wanted to know. Okay. Um, I'm
[31:32] gonna open up public hearing. Ms. Ty, has anybody signed up to speak? No.
[31:36] alright. Anybody wishes to speak? No close public hearing
[31:40] and open it up to counsel. Madam mayor, I move that council adopt an
[31:44] ordinance as presented, approving the conditional vacation until
[31:50] request from the applicant. Second. Uh, so
[31:54] sorry. Uh, madam mayor. So the ordinance is gonna have to be tweaked
[31:58] a little as mr. Petty outlined.
[32:02] okay. Well, so it's, it's as pre these motions that were allowed,
[32:07] that were presented for us to use did and include that language.
[32:11] are you suggesting that we do a substitute mission that includes language as presented with
[32:15] the following amendment and it would be
[32:19] the language that mr. Petty recommended? Do you want me to read it?
[32:23] yeah, if you could, somebody can write it down. So
[32:28] car it is now on proper time. Okay. Um, we
[32:32] would strike as shown on the affirmation plat of survey and replace that
[32:36] with 20 foot wide drainage, e and easement running along
[32:40] the northern boundary of the property at a 10 foot wide drainage
[32:45] and utility easement running along the eastern boundary of the property.
[32:49] all as shown on a survey to be attached as an exhibit to
[32:53] the deed at the sale price negotiated that that wasn't anything
[32:57] that anybody could write down. So, so the motions
[33:02] already there, like I'm not, I mean not, I was trying recording,
[33:06] but you know, ms. Presley and mr. S so the motion already happened and there was a second.
[33:10] so should we take a vote on that first or go ahead and do the substitute motion.
[33:14] substitute or amended motion, please. Please. All right. Well,
[33:18] um, I mean, who does, bruce gotta read all that. Is that
[33:22] the ? Just let him read it. Um,
[33:26] and then I'm gonna take it back. Bruce. I would used to say like, I move the council, adopt an
[33:31] ordinance as presented, including then blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
[33:37] no, you're right. Wasn't I'm trying to make, I'm sorry. We didn't have it in the packet
[33:42] or probably would've amendment just
[33:46] me to it though. I was going, I'll try it.
[33:51] josh, would you prefer to read the sub? Do you wanna do the sub mayor
[33:55] presented the following? Bruce read? Yeah. Bruce
[34:00] reads it can be a amen.
[34:08] all
[34:14] better to catch it now than didn't have to somebody,
[34:20] somebody seconded it.
[34:32] okay, madam mayor, I have a substitute motion.
[34:37] I may I move
[34:41] that counsel, adopt an ordinance as presented
[34:45] running along the northern boundary of the property
[34:49] and a 10 foot wide drainage utility easement running
[34:54] along the eastern boundary of the property, all as shown on
[34:59] a survey. Is there a second accurate?
[35:03] is that good enough? And the second councilman wood seconded it.
[35:08] any discussion?
[35:13] all right, since there's no discussion, ms. Pressley, can we do a roll call? Who is the second on
[35:17] the first councilman wood? Oh, on the first one of was amber? Yeah.
[35:25] councilman wood on the substitute motion?
[35:29] yes. Vice mayor al? Yes. Councilman loc? Yes. Councilman
[35:34] rapor? Yes. Councilman ingram? Yes. Councilwoman de demon payne? Yes.
[35:39] a motion passes. And so, um, our last public hearing
[35:43] for this evening is an ordinance amendment to chapter
[35:47] 12 and chapter 70, pertaining to electricity fees and
[35:52] procedures. Council has requested to consider ordinance amendments to chapter
[35:56] 12 fees and chapter 70 electricity pertaining to an increase in
[36:00] specific fees and reflect current practices and procedures. Portions
[36:04] of the front rule town code have been updated since the early, um,
[36:08] have not been updated since the early two thousands. And rising costs of
[36:12] materials, equipment and labor required the necessary revisions as presented.
[36:18] um, staff, is there anything staff wishes to share?
[36:23] we present this at the, nothing's changed from the work session. I don't know if mr.
[36:27] spell has any other comments, but I have a question
[36:32] and it's more of a clarification for social media.
[36:36] so is the town going to double the electricity rates?
[36:40] thank you . So chris, please make sure that you put that out there. I'm
[36:45] not really sure how that render up started, but I don't know if they, I don't know if they read this
[36:49] somehow and saw something different, but I did not think that that's what it meant,
[36:53] but never hurts to clarify that in an open meeting. So
[36:57] any other questions for staff? Um, I have a question. Okay. Um, and I'm
[37:01] sorry, I didn't notice that the word session, but on page 68 of our
[37:05] packet, or it says, um, that
[37:09] you get past all the red and, um, they're talking about
[37:14] the connection charges will be based on the estimated time and materials,
[37:18] blah, blah, blah. And shall be kept paid to the town prior to the commencement of work. And
[37:22] then after you complete the work, the town will reconcile the
[37:26] estimated payment with the actual common materials extended. So
[37:30] I, I believe this is mostly for commercial or industrial
[37:35] users or, or developers. My question is,
[37:39] so if I paid for work in advance or,
[37:43] or and, um, at an estimated rate and then you come
[37:47] back to me and I have no warning, that would be problematic.
[37:52] so I wanna know, like do we have a cap on that? What kind of communication happens
[37:56] in between? I mean, what happens if you, if if the the rate
[38:00] really blossoms between the time it was estimated and actual?
[38:08] I mean, there's no, there's nothing,
[38:12] no time, I guess is what you're asking. Well, time or time warning
[38:17] and, and amount. So like when you're doing a construction job, you know, you,
[38:21] if it's gonna go like over 10% or something, you know, it's a, if
[38:25] good the services change, we would reach out and let 'em know, hey, this
[38:29] is just, say the transformer cost went up, we'd reach out and let 'em know the price
[38:34] before we purchased the a transformer to give 'em the opportunity. That would
[38:38] probably be one of their biggest costs would be a transformer. So
[38:42] if we went out, you know, just say the project started in august, but it didn't
[38:46] get rolling until january. Well that six months, the
[38:50] price of the transformer could go up. So we would reach back out to 'em, let 'em know, hey,
[38:54] the price of the transformer went up $10,000, is this project still
[38:59] a go? That would be our best suggestion that we would
[39:03] get. And I can speak to that from working in it during my
[39:07] day job professionally, when I have to reach out to the town for connection of services for
[39:11] a new residential bill. Um, there have been times where I've reached out to the
[39:15] electric department and I'm like, we don't like the quote on your materials. We'll buy
[39:19] our own materials or whatever, and then we go and try to do that and then you can't
[39:23] do it better or cheaper. So we reached back out to them, they're like, okay, just let us know if you want us to do it.
[39:28] and that communication is like instantaneously, um,
[39:32] for meter boxes. Anything I've had to do with the electricity services department,
[39:37] communication wise, they stay in constant contact throughout the project for
[39:41] any type of connection to any of the services within the town. And residential
[39:46] is a flat fee. So that's not, this will be
[39:50] commercial. Oh, this one's always a commercial. Well, hopefully
[39:54] they have the money to make the improvement. Well, I mean,
[39:58] I just, I just saw that, you know, that you reconcile it, but it didn't seem like
[40:03] there was any, you know, any, any commitment
[40:07] necessarily in the language that said, you know,
[40:11] we have to contact them if it's gonna go over 10% or we have to contact
[40:15] them if, um, you know, uh,
[40:20] at some point during the, you know, give 'em advance notice.
[40:26] so anyway, I mean, I don't know what's feasible. I don't know enough about it, but I
[40:30] I I do know enough about getting slammed in the end with
[40:34] a bigger bill than you anticipated. So, you know,
[40:38] well, I'll look at it as a way of a little bit of incentive. You know, it's an incentive in
[40:42] a way because, um, to get your, you know, get your project going,
[40:46] not just set off for several years and then all of a sudden, you know, you feel like you're
[40:50] getting a black eye because, well, especially transport. Like I, I
[40:55] know I've seen it firsthand that prices, well, we've seen in our own council over, we approved,
[40:59] uh, you know, purchase them this past year, how, how dramatically have gone up. But I've seen it
[41:03] just outside of this town how hell they are and lead
[41:08] times on 'em alone. You know, that's another problem. You, it's not even mentioned in here, but you
[41:12] know, people have to understand that then if they're going to do, you know,
[41:16] have a connection there like that, if that magnitude, they have to understand the whole circumstance. Like, look,
[41:20] this is moving target, you know, if you want it now, it's now. But you know, I I
[41:24] I, I agree with it. I'm saying, you know, three months from now it may, it may spike up 10%
[41:28] and we would definitely reach out at that point. And that's all I was attesting to
[41:32] is the communication has been impeccable even on the residential side. Um,
[41:38] mayor corporal, to your point, apparently people on social media are talking about this as
[41:42] increasing our rate. I do just wanna say, when we were given this presentation at a work session,
[41:47] I believe it was stated that because of the lack of updates
[41:51] on this, we were actually subsidizing the costs of the town
[41:56] we were eating it. So for those people who think it's doubling their electricity rates,
[42:00] when we talk about tax increases, this is actually something that helps
[42:05] negate that by not subsidizing something that the average tax payer
[42:09] should not have on their back energy services feess for private
[42:13] sectors. All right. If there's no other questions
[42:17] for staff, I'm gonna open up the public hearing. Is there anybody who signed up to speak ms.
[42:21] ley? No. Is there anybody who wishes to speak at this point? And I'll
[42:26] get, um, all right, so I'm gonna close the public hearing and open
[42:30] up the council. Madam mayor, I move that council without ordinance
[42:34] to chapter 12 fees in chapter 70, electricity pertaining
[42:38] to fees and procedures as presented.
[42:42] there's a motion. And second, any discussion?
[42:48] thank you to the staff. The, the only thing that I'll say is, uh,
[42:52] and I, I'm not gonna make a big issue out of it, was I looked
[42:56] at number four
[43:01] page part of 70
[43:05] dash 50, which is what we were talking about, the electrical connections and
[43:09] charges. Um, it was under
[43:13] four c where it was talking about grid impact, uh, assessments.
[43:19] um, uh,
[43:23] I think it was the under power delivery plan from energy
[43:28] provider and impact, uh, shall include backup generator plans.
[43:33] uh, if anyone can listen to the news, uh, that has been
[43:37] a big subject matter, uh, around the state.
[43:41] uh, and it's not only about the
[43:46] electricity, it's also about the environment, um,
[43:50] how we can prep, we, we can, uh, protect the environment.
[43:55] um, so it's important that it's in there. Um,
[43:59] and, but um, I just wanted to bring that to
[44:03] the attention of the family as we go forward.
[44:09] any other discussion? Hey, ms. Presley.
[44:13] oh, wait, no, I'm so sorry. Yeah, no, we made the
[44:17] motion. Sorry. Sorry. Yeah. Councilman
[44:21] wood? Yes. Vice mayor augh? Yes. Councilman ock? Yes. Councilman rappaport?
[44:26] yes. Councilman ingram? Yes. Councilwoman de demon payne? Yes.
[44:30] alright, thank you. That's the end of our public hearings, but no one else. Quite a bit.
[44:35] no. Asked from what I thought there. Um, so at this time we have our public
[44:39] comments that are not related to public hearing and send me reading this
[44:43] long directions. Let me just ask first ms. Trustee or anybody signed up to speak? We have
[44:47] one. Okay. Well, here we go. We now come to the public comments portion of
[44:51] the agenda. It is the duty of the mayor to conduct this meeting in an orderly manner.
[44:55] persons addressing the mayor and council are asking that their remarks to those relevant to
[44:59] the business of the town of front royal, no persons in attendance shall be allowed to voice remarks.
[45:04] exceptance recognized by the mayor or the clerk of council. Upon recognition
[45:08] by the mayor, the clerk counsel the speaker shall state their name, address, and
[45:12] indicate if they're a resident of the town of front, will direct their comments to the mayor. And counsel
[45:17] shall not address the subject matter of the public hearing being held during the same meeting.
[45:21] stay within the allotted three minute time limit. After that time is expired, microphone will
[45:25] be cut off. Refrain from words or statements which are defamatory to
[45:29] specific individuals or display other disruptive conduct including
[45:34] xfinity and vulgarity groups or individuals in the audience, creating an
[45:38] atmosphere detrimental to or disturbing. The orderly conduct of the meeting will be worn to
[45:42] refrain from such conduct. And the additional disturbance after the warning will not be
[45:46] tolerated in the area. No other choice. But to ask the representative of the front
[45:50] row police department, which is our chief here tonight, to review the individual group. We clear the
[45:54] room says that the council can conduct the business of the town. Ms. Presley, who
[45:58] signed up to speak, sorry, somebody wants to mark bauer. Sorry. I'm sorry.
[46:08] good evening. My name is mark bauer. I live at ten seven glenview drive here
[46:12] in front royal. Uh, I bought estates, been a resident for 28 years.
[46:17] I'm also a member of the executive council at, uh, american 18, post 53
[46:21] here in town. First and foremost, I want to thank the council for our
[46:26] posters that you put up in town. Um, it's
[46:30] well received. We just wish we could do more, which I've already spoke to mr. Perry. We're
[46:34] gonna have a, uh, a conversation with some more of the executive committee, but I
[46:38] do have some thoughts I'd like to share. Uh,
[46:42] prior to this evening, I took the liberty of going through
[46:46] several local, uh, towns
[46:51] to see what they have as far as their posters are concerned. I hate to say
[46:55] it, but front royal is the smallest around, uh, the bulk of 'em seemed
[46:59] to be 20 by 40, 30 by 40. And I understand there's a time limit
[47:03] that's no big. I understand that big time because there's a lot of veterans would like to be
[47:09] recognized. That being said, you
[47:13] can go to berryville, you can go to middletown, wherever, and as you're
[47:17] driving, you can actually read the posters.
[47:22] I hate to say it, but we can't. You'd have to stop and walk to really get an
[47:26] idea of what's going on. So my concern is this,
[47:30] excuse me, I would like to see more posters after the two
[47:34] year period. We can make you one heck of a list of people who would
[47:38] like to be involved, myself included. I'm sure mr. Would like to get on that.
[47:43] that being said, I'd like to see 'em larger and hopefully
[47:47] we can work out something, uh, with the ex with the committee and
[47:52] mr. Perry and get this done in a timely fashion. But
[47:56] again, thank you for putting it up. I just wish we'd had more opportunity to, I
[48:00] saw the notice and within two weeks before I put my name in, it was full.
[48:04] I said, well, dang, I try this again. It was actually about seven or eight days
[48:08] when they were full. So tell on the notice being out. Yeah, well,
[48:13] and, and on behalf of the executive committee, we
[48:17] would have no issue helping fund these things. Uh,
[48:21] for all $75 a piece, most that I had looked into
[48:26] are 200 to 250. I had one $300. Uh,
[48:30] but the families, families will do it in a heartbeat. That's not a problem
[48:34] to recognize. You all don't realize there's less than 1% of the people who
[48:38] volunteer to serve the military. So it's, it's
[48:43] humbling. It's, uh, it's gratifying and I'd just like to see us
[48:47] to do a, a better job and exploit it in a, in
[48:51] a bigger fashion, especially the size of the poster. That's it. Thank
[48:55] you. Thank you. Thank mark. Are there,
[48:59] is there anyone else who wished us to speak tonight during the public comments portion?
[49:06] okay, we're gonna move on to the, uh, the town manager.
[49:11] uh, thank madam mayor counsel. Um, just had a few comments tonight and
[49:15] a big one for me was, um, obviously we just gather
[49:20] snowstorm turned to ice and I just really wanted to thank
[49:25] our, uh, team here at the town. You know, our public works, energy
[49:29] services, pd folks on social media, and then all of our
[49:33] staff's families who allowed their, uh, loved ones to be out here helping us get it
[49:37] done. You know, we mobilized last saturday at 6:00 pm to start hitting
[49:41] it. And while public works was getting ready for the snow energy services
[49:45] was out changing transformers to make sure people, um, uh, in town had,
[49:50] uh, power as they headed into the storm. Um,
[49:54] you know, we were working to fix things obviously too. You know,
[49:58] it was a unique storm. As soon as it stopped, everything just froze up
[50:02] and, you know, I don't think we were the only ones alone in that. So we've already talked
[50:06] to folks like warren county public schools, um, the, uh,
[50:10] builders association to see, um, we're gonna come up with an operation plan afterwards
[50:15] to make sure we're doing everything we can at the next storm to be
[50:19] prepared. Um, and we're all just praying that the groundhog was wrong today
[50:24] and that we spring is coming. Um, 'cause now our
[50:28] staff's been out almost every day doing water main breaks. So now we're, we're seeing
[50:32] that. So we just wanted to commend all the team here at the town
[50:36] who really stepped up to make it through that. And just one last notice
[50:40] is that town offices will be closed monday, february 16th
[50:44] for president's day. Thank you.
[50:49] alright. Um, at this time we have the report council members. Is there anybody
[50:53] who wishes to speak? First, I will
[50:58] say is I went out, uh, on saturday night
[51:02] when, when the judge started, and I stopped and talked to the people
[51:06] on virginia avenue to thank them for what they were doing out there in the court. It was
[51:10] bitter out there when they were climb. I, not climbing, but going up in the bucket.
[51:14] and, uh, I think they really did a timely, they did a timely magnet.
[51:18] the people had to power back in what, like, two, three hours? Probably, I think.
[51:22] yeah, it was two hours. But, uh, and the guys that were
[51:27] plowing the snow, I know we've contracted with some people. Uh, so the
[51:31] contracts did a great job. Um, I mean, they headed down
[51:35] like almost the asphalt for a little bit, and then the ice hit and, uh, everything
[51:40] went, you know, where. But, um, but again, thank and the police department,
[51:44] I saw them out moving around and doing things, and I need to thank them for
[51:48] being out in the cold. And, you know, I don't think y'all had that
[51:52] many wrecks did you? Chief? But, um, you know, they were
[51:56] out moving and it's great to see 'em out there doing it even in the cold and getting out and helping people.
[52:01] uh, but again, thanks to to the road crews, thanks to the
[52:05] electric department and thanks to the police department for the job. They're done for us.
[52:10] anybody else? Any other council members? Yeah, I'll judge.
[52:16] thank you. Uh, this is pretty short for me.
[52:22] I have a, I just wanted, I wanted to, uh,
[52:26] uh, add on to, uh, uh, councilman,
[52:31] uh, as well as the town manager.
[52:35] uh, you know, I appreciate what public's work works
[52:40] did during the storm. Uh, the electrical department,
[52:44] police department kept it, kept the lights on,
[52:48] uh, the electric. Um, uh, one thing
[52:52] that um, uh, really stood out to me was,
[52:57] you know, you drove around town and our public works department
[53:02] was doing the best that they could, but you couldn't, you can't keep up with
[53:06] something when the snow is coming down and then
[53:10] the temperature drops to zero and everything freezes over
[53:15] and you gotta do something with the snow. You gotta get it off the roads.
[53:19] so there's not the sidewalks, uh, you
[53:23] know, most of them are all covered up still in town.
[53:28] and I wanted to point out, uh, that, you know, um,
[53:34] people are driving on the streets, you know, be careful,
[53:38] keep an eye out for people because people are walking in the street. Not everybody has
[53:42] a vehicle. And, um, uh,
[53:47] particularly on, I noticed it on south street,
[53:51] uh, you know, pull over into the left lane if you can give
[53:55] 'em as much room as possible. Um, so, um,
[54:02] pretty much, uh, mayor, that's pretty much all I have. Uh, I just
[54:06] wanted to point this few things out and I appreciate all the staff
[54:10] what they did. Thanks. Is there anybody else that has anything they want
[54:15] to report, need to report? I'll keep it brief. I've, I've done a lot in the last month,
[54:19] um, that I had to give it the last one, but I was not disappointed to have canceled
[54:23] that meeting because unlike councilman rappaport and , I did not go
[54:27] out driving around in it like they advised us not to do, stay
[54:31] off the streets, guys. Mm-hmm . Um, you know, obviously I echo the
[54:35] same sentiment that public works. The guys in the
[54:39] electric department, all of them, they were working hard. I've defended our staff
[54:44] for anybody who's had something to say about it, because I mean, we've just been up against,
[54:49] you know, unprecedented. I read yesterday was the coldest day in six years
[54:53] for our locality. So all that brings me to
[54:58] the only point I wanted to make at our regular meeting last week, which
[55:02] became magnified through this last week, was
[55:06] most people received an emergency alert on their cell phone, whether they lived in the town of fort
[55:10] royal or not. And it notified you that, uh, shenandoah valley electric
[55:14] and rappahannock electric might have to do forced power outages
[55:18] to protect the grid due to the temperatures and conditions
[55:22] that we were facing. And on december 1st, 2025,
[55:27] we had a work session where we got progress updates regarding the zoning text amendments to the town
[55:31] code, defining data centers and adding data centers with performance standards
[55:35] by sup. And at that meeting, I said something extreme and I said,
[55:39] let's ban data centers. Put it out there. I don't know a single person that
[55:43] I've, I have maybe one or two who say they want 'em. Nonetheless,
[55:48] I just thought about my grandmother who I couldn't get to having a forced power outage.
[55:52] and I thought to myself, we don't have the power for our residents, but
[55:57] we have the power and infrastructure for data centers. It doesn't make sense. Can't make it make sense to
[56:01] me. So despite the facebook warrior saying that we've all conspired
[56:05] behind these meetings to bring in the data centers, and we're all
[56:09] getting some kind of kickback, I just wanna go on record to remind people to watch
[56:13] the december 1st meeting where I proposed to ban. And it was not the favor appetite,
[56:18] which I respect, but it just brings me to this. It was like an
[56:22] amper alert that went off on every phone in my household that said, due to
[56:26] this severe temperature drop, um,
[56:30] you may experience a forced power outage. And, um,
[56:35] it just makes me think about common sense. And, um,
[56:39] nonetheless, I'm gonna reiterate it for the 15th time. I don't
[56:43] think the data center belong in the town of front royal.
[56:48] any other council members? Yes, madam mayor. Um, just
[56:52] to hitch on what everyone else said, certainly want to, uh, um,
[56:58] give our public works or police and electric departments, uh,
[57:03] kudos for doing a great job. Uh, like the vice mayor, um,
[57:08] I feel like when everybody comments, well, they didn't
[57:12] do this, they didn't do that, I don't think some in public understand
[57:17] how large and difficult of an event we've
[57:21] just gone through. Um, especially, you know, with eight
[57:25] or eight plus inches of snow and three inches of ice. It, it
[57:30] certainly, um, was a challenge. Continues to be a challenge as
[57:34] we try to clean up intersections. But, um,
[57:38] and, and somebody mentioned, well, they couldn't get to a store downtown,
[57:42] and I'm thinking probably the store owner wasn't there either. , .
[57:47] so I, again, I don't, I don't engage to nonsense. If
[57:51] somebody comes to me and they have an idea and they have a solution, I'll listen. But,
[57:55] um, our, our employees work hard and yeah, you know,
[58:00] we got zero degrees. I know the other morning, the other morning
[58:04] our trash guys were picking up trash in six
[58:08] degree weather, and I'm gonna go on record again.
[58:12] I know we're doing a survey about it, but this is ridiculous
[58:16] when we have people out there cold doing it when a truck can
[58:21] pick that trash up without having a man out there or a woman, a human
[58:25] being, having to deal with that. So I hope that we'll get
[58:29] the results back from that study, perhaps in the future who can start
[58:33] buying some of these trucks that eliminate a somewhat thankless job,
[58:37] uh, when it's a hundred degrees or six degrees. So,
[58:41] um, the other thing that I wanted to say is,
[58:46] uh, have conversations with people over sidewalks
[58:50] and what's the town gonna do about the sidewalks? Well, the
[58:54] sidewalks are so bad. Uh, uh, mr. Perry even talked about our crew
[58:58] out trying to open up the path along 55, the paid
[59:02] path that runs from, I believe jamestown
[59:07] to westminster. Mm-hmm . And the difficult, we
[59:11] had actually using a, a bobcat and a front end loader and such.
[59:16] um, we do need to be careful as councilman, uh, rappaport
[59:20] said about people walking in the streets, but I think that it's
[59:24] unrealistic to expect the public, um, to go
[59:28] out here and open up these sidewalks when there's piles
[59:33] of ice higher than me over six feet tall. I
[59:37] don't think that it, it, it is something, you know, it's one of the things to get, you know,
[59:41] uh, three or four inches out there. You can shovel it off, but when you pile
[59:45] it up and we have to pile it to, to scrape it, even though we pile
[59:49] snow off of main street, um, the complaints
[59:53] about the sidewalk is unfortunate. I think the weather conditions make
[59:58] it so that it, it, it's very unusual and hard to do it.
[1:00:02] and, um, you know, that, that's all I'm gonna say about that.
[1:00:06] thank you. Yep, go ahead. Well, I was gonna piggyback
[1:00:11] for a second. Uh, our nation's capital had the same thing where, where the,
[1:00:15] uh, snow was piled up on the sidewalks we're not alone in the community.
[1:00:20] the other thing is that if you've lived here for a few decades, even
[1:00:24] though in, maybe in recent years, the weather has not been like that, but this is how the weather
[1:00:28] was. The weather used it. We have snowy winters, you know, we
[1:00:32] january to february at least, um, if not into march
[1:00:36] and april. So anybody that moved here and didn't think you were gonna have snow bear
[1:00:40] with again. Um, but I wanted to reiterate the thank you
[1:00:44] as well. Um, and also just suggest maybe
[1:00:48] because I, um, you know, everybody receives the price tag on their
[1:00:53] electric bill, but apparently they don't know who they're paying it to. But, so maybe
[1:00:57] we, if if the thing goes out on svec or rec,
[1:01:02] maybe we need to go ahead and say, if you live in the town of front royal, you're
[1:01:06] probably paying electric to the town of front royal and not rec or
[1:01:10] svec. Um, it was not applicable. Um, I don't know how they
[1:01:15] figured out the range of who they were giving notices to, but people were
[1:01:19] very confused. Um, so maybe we just need to do a follow up,
[1:01:24] you know, when we see something like that, that that confuses people about who they pay
[1:01:28] electric to. Um, and, um, it's, oh,
[1:01:32] even a better ideas during the storm stay off social media.
[1:01:37] 'cause it's just really negative
[1:01:41] only board games. It's probably something else to do.
[1:01:45] um, but, um, some people just want
[1:01:49] to complain. I mean, the, the thing is when it snows, you know, things happen in
[1:01:53] life that are inconvenient and let's just, you know, wait 24
[1:01:57] to 48 hours and take a breath and roll with it, you know,
[1:02:02] figure out how to get through life with some inconvenience sometimes.
[1:02:06] um, and, uh, that's enough of
[1:02:10] the preaching. But, um, the only thing I think I attended was liaison meeting,
[1:02:15] um, this month. I was trying to think back, but this, uh, january
[1:02:19] went very fast and, um, when we
[1:02:23] were outta commission a lot, but the liaison meeting of course, was good. So I appreciate my
[1:02:27] colleagues, um, navigating, you know, continued relations with the county.
[1:02:32] I think, um, I think we're getting, you know, just some good spots. Um,
[1:02:37] so we'll see. Thank you. Anybody else?
[1:02:43] okay. The mayor's report I was gonna forego, but, oh, I
[1:02:47] did, I did forget to say the, well, let me think. Shall I give him
[1:02:51] a second turn? No, go ahead brad. Wait the next
[1:02:55] month.
[1:02:59] well, I'm getting ready to do it anyway, so I'll bring that up. You've threw my name in there.
[1:03:04] I'll, I'll make sure. Um,
[1:03:08] as amber said, I, I feel like it's just been a busy month, even though really we're
[1:03:12] reporting all the way back from december 12th. So I, I don't have any,
[1:03:16] I'm not even bringing up december, but I'll start in january.
[1:03:21] um, so I attended a community book fair, um, that all the elementary schools
[1:03:25] put together for a local student, um, who
[1:03:29] was having rejection, lung, lung transplant, rejection. And
[1:03:33] then, um, I, uh, attended a
[1:03:37] meeting with the smithsonian town of brown smithsonian. We met with, um, some
[1:03:41] people there. And then on the 15th, um, I had a meeting
[1:03:46] with little league, um, about the state tournament that's coming up.
[1:03:50] and then that night, councilman rappaport and I, um, we did attend
[1:03:54] the liaison meeting and I would agree with you, that was a good assessment. I thought it
[1:03:58] was actually one of the best liaison meetings I've attended. Um, so
[1:04:03] lots of conversation, discussion, which was great. Um,
[1:04:07] uh, I also attended the front row fire department awards center.
[1:04:12] um, and that's always amazing just to see they,
[1:04:16] the, the years of volunteer service when they
[1:04:21] are sharing. Um, and I know one of the things they talked about
[1:04:25] is the bingo, and I believe they were able to pay
[1:04:29] off a fire truck like several years earlier and now are
[1:04:33] using the, the, the bingo proceeds to put towards purchasing
[1:04:38] the next one. And these are like, well, nixon might have been purchased,
[1:04:42] well, 29, well, whatever they were talking about at that time, but it was like million.
[1:04:47] like, it wasn't like a, these aren't like, uh, small purchases. These
[1:04:51] are, are very expensive, um, purchases. And then,
[1:04:55] um, so I also attended,
[1:04:59] um, the recovery court meeting, um, and then the citizens
[1:05:04] academy, which is just going wonderful. I'm just
[1:05:08] gonna say that again. It's a great group of people. Lots of questions. I
[1:05:12] feel like they're learning and we are learning from them things that they're
[1:05:16] about or asking questions about. Um, I, right before
[1:05:20] the snow hit, I attended that a chamber of commerce start gazer
[1:05:25] gala. Um, and that was another wonderful event
[1:05:29] that, um, warren county, the front one warren county chamber
[1:05:33] of commerce put that on. And there were awards for a variety of things,
[1:05:37] but just to see how many like businesses and
[1:05:41] entrepreneurs and there was a spark club award and, um,
[1:05:46] it just to see all the people in our community that are working to make this a better place to live and
[1:05:50] raise their families. And so I think that was, that was a, a, a great,
[1:05:54] um, event. And then of course the snow hit and then
[1:05:58] it was had not be going that week, obviously. Um,
[1:06:03] and, uh, let's see. Was there something, and then, yeah,
[1:06:07] and that was it. I wanna comment on a couple things that our friend
[1:06:12] said. One is, um, actually the town of front row
[1:06:17] did respond to people asking about, um,
[1:06:21] panicking that their power was gonna go off, you know? Um,
[1:06:26] and so the timeframe did respond and say that this is not, that it's
[1:06:30] not us, don't worry about it. But I, but I do respect what you're saying there,
[1:06:34] and probably only because I knew that, but the majority of people may
[1:06:38] not know that. So that, that is, that's a valuable thing to say. Um,
[1:06:42] about the weather event over the last week, a couple things. One is
[1:06:47] my husband and I were talking about this, not pretty old. I'm 59. We were both saying,
[1:06:51] I feel like this might be the longest I've ever seen
[1:06:56] a winter weather event. Wait, let, what are you trying to say? You're 59. I'm seven. Well,
[1:07:00] you might, maybe you're gonna, maybe you're gonna counteract me again. You're gonna contradict me
[1:07:04] again. . Um, but the, I've never seen
[1:07:08] a weather event and then seven days of bre cold temperatures,
[1:07:13] there may be a weather event even in 96 when we had three feet of snow,
[1:07:17] you know, by the third or fourth day the temperatures were up and something was melting. Of course,
[1:07:21] then we had floods. But, uh, which I wouldn't mind a flood right now
[1:07:26] to treat me . We could use a little water. Um, but anyway,
[1:07:30] I'm just saying like, it is just a very unique situation and I'm sad
[1:07:34] when people don't see it that way. And as far as for people saying,
[1:07:39] why can't people get out there and do this? I when sunday, when it
[1:07:43] was coming down, we went out three different times because my husband had to work
[1:07:47] monday. So we went out three different times, clear at our driveway on monday after he went
[1:07:51] to work, I spent four hours just trying to dig out a path so he could come home.
[1:07:56] then I spent three hours the next day digging out my car, and the next
[1:08:00] day, another two hours, the male lady would actually deliver my mail. And that
[1:08:04] day I had to pick ax. And that's the truth. Like, my was like,
[1:08:08] don't hurt yourself. Well, I've seen that. Um, but that stuff was brutal.
[1:08:12] so anybody that thinks that we can just go out there and, um,
[1:08:17] you know, clean off every sidewalk, I I don't even know where the snow would go.
[1:08:22] so I am extremely grateful for our, uh, town
[1:08:26] crews. And honestly, I just wanna say too, while maybe social media
[1:08:30] had some, there were a lot of people out there that were defending the work that, that
[1:08:34] our town staff did. Um, and I was personally
[1:08:39] getting texts and messages sent to me saying
[1:08:43] the town did a great job. And I, I did share that. Like I shared that
[1:08:47] with, with some supervisors too, just to say, look, I don't, you know, please
[1:08:51] make sure so did an amazing job. I hope we might be
[1:08:55] done for a little while with snow, but tomorrow, yeah, that's what they say. But
[1:09:01] I hope not. Um, snow is one thing. It's the ice, it was the ice that killed
[1:09:05] us. But anyway, thank you to everyone that kept everything going
[1:09:09] from, um, our electrical services to our public works, to our
[1:09:13] pd, um, and those of you that made it into town hall to keep
[1:09:17] to answer all the phone calls, right? So I'm grateful for everyone.
[1:09:22] item number 10 is our consent agenda. Um, and
[1:09:26] I will entertain a motion for the consent agenda. I move
[1:09:31] that we adopt the consent agenda
[1:09:35] items as presented.
[1:09:40] , you had what? Motion and a secondary discussion.
[1:09:45] okay. Um, roll call. Councilman wood? Yes. Vice
[1:09:49] mayor fel? Yes. Councilman ? Yes. Councilman ur? Yes. Councilman
[1:09:54] king? Yes. Council? Yes. My brain
[1:09:58] was trying to comprehend that we're going into another council meeting so that the, um,
[1:10:02] next item would be business items. And there are none. So actually we're gonna
[1:10:06] adjourn this regular meeting.