[7:22] [Music] The April 7th meeting of the Marian Town

[7:26] Council is now in session. We will be led with the

[7:31] invocation by Chief Claire followed by the pledge of allegiance.

[7:37] And I would like to ask Mark if he would be kind enough to lead the pledge of

[7:42] allegiance with us today. Um, and let us begin. Yeah. Please join me in prayer.

[7:48] Most holy and glorious Lord God, Father, as we come before you this evening,

[7:51] we're first and foremost thankful for redemption in your word. We'd ask that

[7:55] uh everything we do this evening, we tend to your glory and to the to the

[7:59] good of the people in Marian. and board. We'd ask you to watch over uh all of our

[8:04] public servants this evening, nurses and doctors and teachers and firefighters

[8:07] and sanitation workers, police officers, all those who use their time and talent

[8:12] for the common good. We ask all that in Christ's name. Amen. Amen.

[8:20] [Music] I pledge algiance to the flag of the

[8:25] United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation

[8:32] under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

[8:55] Yes, we'll begin with the roll call. I see that all members are

[9:04] present. We'll need a motion to approve of the minutes of March 17, 2025.

[9:11] I'll make a motion to approve those minutes. Second. Have a motion and a

[9:15] second. Is there any discussion?

[9:20] None being heard, we will vote. All in

[9:25] favor. It's unanimous. Motion carries. We'll need to approve the

[9:31] agenda for tonight. Do I have a motion to approve

[9:34] the agenda? I'll make that motion. Second. Motion and second. Are there any

[9:40] items that need to be changed, added, deleted? Um, I will be moving Mr.

[9:48] Charles Harrington up in the agenda just a little bit if that needs to be

[9:53] addressed, but I'm going to put him a little bit ahead so that he can

[9:59] uh take care of other

[10:03] matters. We have the approval of the agenda. We will begin with public

[10:10] presentations. We have Mark Cheney.

[10:14] Pardon? Did Oh, we did not vote. Okay, we need to vote then for the approval of

[10:20] the agenda. Thank you, doctor. All in favor?

[10:28] Now we'll move on with public presentations from the American Legion

[10:33] Post 18, Mark Cheney and National Poppy Day

[10:47] Resolution. Members may come forward.

[11:05] It's like hurting cats. Mark, would you like to read the

[11:09] resolution or will you have me do it? Uh, why don't you do it, mayor?

[11:14] Okay. resolution declaring the Friday before Memorial Day as National Poppy

[11:20] Day in the town of Marian, Virginia. Whereas the American Legion

[11:25] family brought National Poppy Day to the United States by asking Congress to

[11:31] designate the Friday before Memorial Day as National Poppy Day. And whereas after

[11:39] World War I, the poppy flourished in Europe, scientists attributed the growth

[11:44] to soils in France and Belgium becoming enriched with lime from the rubble left

[11:50] by the war. From the dirt and mud grew a beautiful red poppy. The red poppy came

[11:57] to symbolize the blood shed during battle following the publication of

[12:02] wartime poem in Flanders Fields. And whereas on September 27th, 1920, the

[12:12] poppy became the official flower of the American Legion family to memorialize

[12:18] the soldiers who fought and died during the war. And whereas in

[12:24] 1924, the distribution of poppies became a national program of the American

[12:30] Legion. And whereas led by the American Legion Auxiliary, each year members of

[12:38] the American Legion family distribute poppies with a request that the person

[12:44] receiving the flower make a donation to support the future of veterans, active

[12:50] duty military personnel, and their families with medical and financial

[12:55] needs. Now therefore, be it resolved by the

[13:00] Town Council of Marian, Virginia, that Friday, before Memorial Day, be hereby

[13:07] officially designated as National Poppy Day. And on that day, all citizens are

[13:14] urged to wear a red poppy to honor the fallen and support the living who have

[13:20] worn our nation's uniform. resolved the 7th day of April, 2025.

[13:35] Thank you.

[13:44] Okay, we have a public present. Oh, I thought we Yes. Okay. I'll make a

[13:51] motion we approve the resolution. Second.

[13:56] We have a motion and second. Any discussion necessary?

[14:00] None being heard, we will vote. Everyone in favor? All in favor? It's unanimous.

[14:06] I'm sorry. I thought we voted for that the last time. The adopted direct to be

[14:11] drafted. Oh, okay. Well, you you let me know if we need to do anything. Um Okay.

[14:17] So, uh, thank you very much the, uh, members of the American Legion Post for

[14:21] showing up tonight and for everything that you do for the community. Um, we

[14:25] will continue with Clean Virginia Clean Cities EV charger grant with Tara

[14:33] Keterson. Hi, Tara. Hi. Good evening. How are you? Very good. How are you?

[14:37] Good. I brought a presentation today. Let me know if I need

[14:43] to set that up.

[14:50] is do do we have your uh drive? We do. Okay. Yes, we do. Apologies. While they

[14:58] get that started, my name is Tara Casterson. I'm with Virginia Clean

[15:01] Cities. Um I'm new to Southwest Virginia program. I've been here for 20 years

[15:06] working. I grew up in Tazwell County. Graduated from Monker High School, went

[15:10] to Embry and Henry and stuck around for a little while. Worked in local news for

[15:13] a decade. It's been a decade with Virginia Department of Energy. And uh

[15:17] just a disclaimer before I start my presentation, I've been with Virginia

[15:20] Clean Cities for three and a half months. So, um if there are questions

[15:24] that come up that I cannot answer for you tonight, I'll be sure to talk to the

[15:28] technical experts on my team and get back to you on those. Um I live in

[15:33] Bristol right now. My husband's a small business owner. We have a nine-year-old

[15:36] daughter. So, um, I'm really excited to bring these programs to Southwest

[15:41] Virginia and to meet with communities like yours to talk about opportunities,

[15:45] um, especially through economic development and to help the economy

[15:50] thrive a little. Which one? Um, it's the Marian Town

[15:55] Council.

[15:59] You know, there are some blasting videos that are also exciting to

[16:05] watch. And if you want to go ahead and move to that slide number two, that

[16:09] would be great. Slide number two. Just a little bit about clean cities.

[16:15] Um, it is a national program and the goals are really economic prosperity,

[16:20] um, energy security and we look to do those both through domestic supply in

[16:26] transportation. That's our focus is in transportation. When you hear clean

[16:29] cities, I often get asked to bring solar panels to town. and I don't have access

[16:33] to that, but I can get you somebody that can help you with that if that is your

[16:36] goal. Um, but also by combining those goals, uh, we can reduce emissions

[16:42] through both. That's just a bonus. And you probably know that transportation is

[16:46] the greatest contributor to emissions across the United States. So

[16:50] decarbonizing transportation would make a big impact. If you can go to the next

[16:55] slide, please. And this is just a look at some

[16:59] of the accomplishments across the nation since the clean cities and communities

[17:02] was created. Actually, um in 1992 was when the national program was created.

[17:09] And then the next slide is just a look at where we are across the nation and

[17:14] Virginia is really unique as most states have regional offices. So East Tennessee

[17:18] has its own office compared to West Tennessee, but Virginia covers the

[17:23] entire state. Um, so we have a good collaboration especially when it comes

[17:28] to stakeholders and these are people that supply these domestic fuels. So we

[17:32] have a good network there as well. Um, on the next slide just a little bit more

[17:36] about Virginia clean cities. Of course we're based at James Madison University.

[17:41] Um, and we're also under the US Department of Energy's vehicle

[17:44] technologies office. So we do receive some federal funding. So that's good

[17:48] news for you guys. We have some opportunities for you um, through that

[17:51] funding. And we also have a nonprofit side of operations and that's to be able

[17:55] to collect donations through stakeholders. Uh we have nine people,

[17:59] three interns running all the programs that we offer. And I just want to point

[18:04] out that uh Virginia Clean Cities is fuel neutral. We get the most questions

[18:09] about electric vehicles these days, but um any of the alternative fuels we're

[18:13] excited to talk to communities and police about.

[18:19] So this is just how the region is divided among our staff. And I'm that

[18:23] lovely lemon yellow color there in the west. And I was hired as part of the

[18:27] clean cities expansion. Uh they were doing it across the nation. And really

[18:31] they just wanted to get their programs here in Southwest Virginia since I'm a

[18:35] native and know a lot of these fine people that live here and love this

[18:38] community. Um I got the job. So here I am sharing um all these programs and

[18:44] great opportunities with you guys. But tonight, if you can go to the next

[18:48] slide, I want to talk to you about the royal rural re-imagine program. Uh, this

[18:54] is specific to Appalachin communities. So, it would be a great opportunity for

[18:59] Marion. Um, we do have demonstration vehicles. So, we have two electric

[19:04] vehicles that are available for you to check out and try if you're thinking

[19:08] about maybe electrifying one of your fleet cars or something like that to see

[19:11] how it works in your community and if it works for you. So, you can check that

[19:15] out for a month if you want. Uh, the program also offers free level two

[19:20] charging stations, and that's something we'd like to put here in Marion. And

[19:24] those stations come with up to $2,000 in reimbursement fees for the installation.

[19:30] Um, that can get pricey depending on how far you are to access to electricity.

[19:35] Uh, this program does end in October, so decisions have to be made a little

[19:40] quicker than probably others. Uh but level two chargers, they can be placed

[19:45] in areas where EV users can spend just a few hours to

[19:49] charge. And then a study from MIT actually showed that chargers near

[19:54] points of interest such as your restaurants, your downtown, your hotels,

[19:58] they can increase spending up to about 3.2% annually because you're bringing in

[20:03] new guests, new attractions, um new people maybe you haven't targeted

[20:08] before. Uh this program is open to private and public entities both. So the

[20:13] top photo is a sire that just signed up to get a charger at their spot and the

[20:19] bottom is at Virginia who just submitted their site agreements for three

[20:23] different spots with that city. Um this photo is from your

[20:30] neighbors not too far away down in Saltville. They participated in the RO

[20:33] reimagine program. So if you have a connection there and want some insight,

[20:37] they may be able to offer some advice. Um if you do agree to be a site host, uh

[20:43] there are a few requirements. Of course, you will have to prepare the site. Um

[20:48] installation is going to be up to you and we can recommend installers or

[20:52] electricians if you don't have one in mind to help you get that charger

[20:56] installed and working. Um we ask that it has public access and that you share a

[21:02] summary of the data collected. We're not looking hard numbers, but if you can

[21:05] say, you know, we think five people use this or maybe 45 people use this this

[21:10] month. Um, that's just some information that we like to collect to make sure

[21:13] that what we're doing is working. And the commitment is for about 5 years or

[21:19] it is five years and then after that it belongs to the town. Um, if you don't

[21:24] have success with it, you can get rid of it. But if it serves you well, then

[21:28] definitely keep it and it's yours to do what you would want to with. After that,

[21:33] of course, you have to operate and maintain the charger once you sign that

[21:37] agreement. Next slide, please. And this is just a look at some

[21:42] of the sample chargers. Um, you can get wall-mounted chargers. We, you know,

[21:46] drove around looking for great sites. The parking garage was clearly one

[21:50] that's wonderful. If you put a wall mounted charger there, it' be a very low

[21:54] installation fee. Um, and then we also have the pedestal chargers. whatever

[21:58] works best for the location that you think would be best for these charging

[22:03] stations. You can choose to network them, which means you get on a system

[22:07] where you accept a credit card and whoever's charging pays for that

[22:11] electricity and you can, you know, up a little bit to actually make a profit off

[22:16] of it. Now, the cery I mentioned, they're just going to put a VMO code on

[22:20] theirs and say, you know, if you charge it's $10 or $20. That's really up to you

[22:26] if you want to deal with the networking issues that I'm sure you are familiar

[22:31] with if you've used any kind of credit card system. Um, we do currently just

[22:36] have two fast charging stations left in this program which are also free for a

[22:42] site post. Um, they charge a lot faster than the level two. The level two

[22:47] chargers usually people want at least two to four hours downtown to charge

[22:52] those and get a few miles on their car. And the fast chargers is about 45

[22:56] minutes. Um I have a Ford Lightning that I've been using through this program and

[23:00] it takes about 45 minutes 0 to 200 miles um at the Pinnacle fast charging station

[23:06] in Bristol. So if that's something you are interested in, the site needs to

[23:10] have that threephase power. Just consider that um if you'd like to

[23:15] install PC fast charger and there's only two left for the program. the

[23:18] installation reimbursements a little extra

[23:22] $7,000 just because it usually takes more to get those

[23:26] installed. Next slide, please. So, the process is really very

[23:32] simple. Um, we get the site assessment and that serves as your NEPA approval.

[23:38] If you're familiar with NEPA, that's usually anytime you move dirt, you have

[23:42] to get that kind of approval from the US Department of Energy. Um, so this is EV

[23:47] charging stations are a categorical exclusion. So your site host assessment

[23:52] form takes care of that. And once that is approved, the site host agreement is

[23:57] submitted and we're partners with Tennessee Tech. Um, and so they are over

[24:01] the program and they handle all that paperwork for us and we'll work directly

[24:06] with you too. Of course, we would be here to advise you the entire way um

[24:10] throughout the process. chargers would would be shipped after that site host

[24:14] agreement is signed to you here in Marian. And then once you install it,

[24:18] you will send your reimbursement to Tennessee Tech and they'll get you that

[24:22] 2,000 back or if you do the fast charge of that

[24:28] 7,000. And one other program I wanted to mention to you guys tonight is the

[24:32] Mid-Atlantic Electrification Partnership that also provides free chargers to

[24:37] communities, public, private, very similar. It just doesn't come with

[24:41] installation reimbursement fees, but it also um works directly with Virginia

[24:46] Clean Cities. You don't have to go through Tennessee Tech, so it's a little

[24:50] bit of a faster pace in getting your chargers and getting your approvals and

[24:54] things like that. If you are in a hurry to get those installed, the site

[24:58] assessments, we're looking for these to be in by May 30th. We'll order all the

[25:03] chargers in June and then we'll deliver them on site and we ask that the

[25:07] installation be completed by September 30th. So, just so you know, we are

[25:13] tracking the data and a lot of people are choosing to buy and use EVs. In

[25:19] fact, we're seeing a steady 40% growth every year on EV purchases. Um, there's

[25:25] over a 100,000 registered EV users in the state of Virginia. So, plenty of

[25:30] chances to have someone stop in Marion and charge their vehicle, eat downtown,

[25:34] go to the General Francis. Next slide, please. And this is

[25:39] just a map of where the charging stations exist right now. So, we want to

[25:44] put another green dot on that map. Uh, my goal is to get a great little network

[25:49] throughout Southwest Virginia. So, I'm working from Road Oak to Lee County to

[25:54] try and get these chargers installed. But once you do install them, they'll

[25:58] show up on these tools that EV users have in their cars when they plan their

[26:02] trips and they'll know, oh, I can stop in Marion and grab lunch and they get a

[26:06] charge on my car. One, please. I just want to throw

[26:10] this little nugget out here. Um, because we are fuel neutral. If you are

[26:16] considering saving money on your fleet, that's something else that we assist

[26:19] with. um technical look at it. We can run um an audit report kind of and look

[26:25] at how much money you could save if you switch to propane or compressed natural

[26:29] gas or something like that. But because we do serve all of these um just wanted

[26:33] to make sure you knew that was an opportunity as

[26:37] well. Um and of course you don't have to take my word for it. There's a lot of

[26:41] great um sites that I hope you'll take the time to check out as to why EV

[26:45] charging can boost your economy, your community, and other opportunities for

[26:52] clean fuels if you choose to do so within the town and what it can do for

[26:56] you. Next slide. Um also part of the clean

[27:00] communities expansion, we need to complete a transportation needs

[27:04] assessment for one community and I thought Marian would be a great

[27:08] community to do that with. already talked with Mountain Links about

[27:12] this because we're looking at public transportation and just other things

[27:15] within the town that we could just really assess. Um, this is something

[27:21] conducted by Virginia Clean Cities. It'll be presented to the town at the

[27:24] end of uh when we're done to just inform you about where the community stands on

[27:30] domestic fuels and access to things like charging stations that we're talking

[27:33] about tonight. Of course, our overall overall goal is to reduce carbon

[27:38] emissions, but really that goes hand inhand with cost savings for communities

[27:44] and also economic drivers to bring more people into your downtown or to boost

[27:48] your economy and spend their money here. Uh, basically what we do was just

[27:52] schedule a few public meetings with transportation leaders, community

[27:56] groups, businesses, the town, and we may do a few one-on- ons just with, you

[28:01] know, the the transportation leaders in your region or anyone that you recommend

[28:05] that you think may have a great impact and, you know, what the plan should be.

[28:10] Uh, we would like to do some community surveys and town hall type meetings just

[28:15] to gather information and then of course we'll produce that report and present it

[28:19] to a town. It's about a year-long process. Um, if that's something you

[28:23] guys would like to support. So, I am happy to take any

[28:28] questions or you can take down my information and email me after tonight

[28:32] if that works better for you guys. But I do thank you for the

[28:36] opportunity to talk about this with you and hopefully we'll be in touch soon

[28:39] about getting in charge. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much.

[28:44] Very nice presentation. Is there any action required by councelor? What is

[28:49] your pleasure? I believe in

[28:53] 20 uh 23 we addressed a uh program with Kendra Hayden and some county and Mr.

[29:04] Heath's office took point on that. Don't want to put him on the spot, but

[29:10] do you have anything to say in response? For over 30 years, should be having

[29:20] All right. Just wanted to make sure we touched all bases.

[29:26] Is there anything that we go need to go ahead and set a motion forward to do?

[29:30] What is council's pleasure? I I do not know. Ken, is this the same one that we

[29:34] spoke about a while back that we were already approved for?

[29:37] So, it's it's already been in the motion. I mean, do you think that it

[29:42] would be ideal to go ahead and to adopt it or would you guys like to

[29:47] wait? Which committee should we give it to or do we need to just have her start

[29:51] the assessment? I believe that Ken's office has been working with it just

[29:56] assessment. So, we'll just continue to let Ken take point on it if that's I

[30:00] don't believe we need a motion for that.

[30:06] the next council very specific locations and cost and that kind of thing. Yeah, I

[30:10] think we gauge council's interest and see if we want to go further before the

[30:14] next Yeah, I'd say I'd say it's a good idea to go ahead and proceed. Thank you.

[30:18] Thank you. Okay, Tara, thank you very much. Just want to make sure. Okay,

[30:23] we're going to proceed now and we're going to move Charles Harrington up into

[30:27] this spot so that he can continue with what he needs to do. He's from the

[30:32] Marian Housing Authority and he promised me he doesn't need more than two

[30:36] minutes. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Pleasure to be with you tonight.

[30:41] I actually have two commissioners up for the appointment. As you are aware, the

[30:45] commissioners appointed by council rather interesting the way that it's

[30:49] done because when the housing is established by code, the

[30:54] council commissioners after that basically commissioners allowed to stay

[30:58] for as long as they want. But in in town, a lot of the towns they got set

[31:03] terms and our terms of four years. We have Brian Reed who has been an

[31:08] absolute anchor of the housing and Gina Roberts who has contributed a great deal

[31:13] to our housing community. They're both up for appointment. I would like to ask

[31:18] their appointment for I'd like to make the motion to approve both of those

[31:23] individuals. Second. I believe we need to appoint them separately. Yes. I'll

[31:29] make a motion to reappoint Brian Reed first.

[31:33] Second. Any

[31:36] discussion? All in favor? Unanimous. Motion carries.

[31:42] So we got Regina. Okay. I'll make the motion to reappoint Regina Roberts to

[31:48] the housing authority. Second. Second. Motion and second. Any discussion? All

[31:54] in favor? Unanimous motion carries. Thank you very

[31:58] much. Just for a little bit of information, uh, as u you're aware, one

[32:03] of the primary things that we're interested in in our properties is

[32:06] safety and security. We've just bought for another quarter million dollar grant

[32:10] for additional cameras, uh, lighting, and security for all of our properties,

[32:14] which we may be very valuable. It's been great with the police department because

[32:18] we've been able to find things and solve things rather quickly with the cameras

[32:23] that we have. So, we do have that in the works. The other thing I would tell you

[32:27] is there's some programs going on right now uh that don't they do and don't have

[32:32] an effect. They can have some financial effect, but we're looking at the

[32:35] possibility of what they call an asset repositioning uh position which is

[32:40] slightly changes some of the funding streams. It doesn't affect the community

[32:43] whatsoever, but of course that's on our federal funding. And the last thing I'll

[32:48] tell you is that we did finish an audit give Billy a copy of that financial a

[32:53] house of authority to be in exceptionally good financial condition

[32:57] and again we've come three years in a row has been recognized as being one of

[33:01] the highest performing housing authorities in the area.

[33:05] Thank you. Thank you very much all your information. And now we will move ahead

[33:12] with public comment time. And the first person that we have on the

[33:16] list is Chad Armstrong. And if you would please, Chad, approach the podium, give

[33:21] us your name and address, and then the floor is

[33:26] yours. Chad Armstrong, uh, 190 Prairie Lane in

[33:31] Atkins. And even though I don't live in town limits, I travel into the town

[33:37] limits every day. So, as I get off exit 45, come down 16, my really my first uh

[33:48] visible sign is the welcome to the town of Marion sign. In its current state, it

[33:55] is not inviting at all. So, I would like to make some

[34:01] suggestions and ideas that I have to improve the looks of that sign. The

[34:07] first thing you need to do or that I would do is you need to remove both of

[34:12] those shrubs on each end. Just take them out. Then you need to pressure wash the

[34:17] brick sign and brighten it up. And the next thing I would do is to

[34:25] get some concrete sealer uh and seal those brick. If you seal the brick, then

[34:33] you have less trouble with the uh blackness of the sign in its current

[34:38] state now and the mold that gets on it and things like that. It'll kind of shed

[34:43] that off. And then the lighting on the

[34:47] ground, uh it looks to me like it it's been kind of broken a little bit. I'm

[34:54] not sure that it even functions, but I would like to see the town move the

[35:00] lighting to the top of the sign. Center your light, make you an arm that comes

[35:07] get you a light that has an arm that comes out. And I think you would have a

[35:12] more appealing uh sign that way. And then uh you could build I would like to

[35:19] see you build a new flower bed, raised flower bed using some edggers and plant

[35:25] some flowers that are annuals that bloom every year. They come back each year.

[35:32] And I have an example for me would be some dillies. Dillies are very hearty.

[35:40] They love the sun and they are very hearty when it comes to winter weather

[35:45] as we experienced this past year. Then my next thing would be to the

[35:52] uh streetscapes where the flower boxes are at. Um basically take all that

[35:59] monkey grass out of those and plant flowers in there. You

[36:05] can use a variety. You don't have to do all day lillies, but get something that

[36:10] blooms and has some color so it's more inviting when you come into

[36:16] town. And then uh Ken may be able to help me on this one. I've talked to

[36:22] Avery about it is I didn't know if there was any facade grants available still.

[36:28] Um, I know that down here, I'll use this as an example. Down here at the Yummy

[36:34] Yummy restaurant, uh, their roof, it it's not in real good shape. Don't know

[36:40] who owns the building, but I was wondering if Ken could still work on

[36:46] some facade grants available and maybe do something with the roof of that

[36:50] building. As you're come in, actually, it's the second red light. You're

[36:55] turning on Main Street. you see that it sort of jumps out at you and along the

[37:01] uh Route 16 corridor as you're coming in before you approach the town of Marian

[37:06] sign. Um I think it'd be a great idea if you could do some like some uh dogwood

[37:13] trees. I don't know how much property that we could work with there. Uh you

[37:19] could do some pink and white and kind of alternate it. I think it would look

[37:23] great. I think it would improve that little stretch of highway there or an

[37:29] eastern red bud which blooms really bright in the springtime as well. So

[37:35] that's kind of my ideas for uh some things there as you're coming in off of

[37:39] that main thorough affair off the interstate, get off 45, you're coming in

[37:44] on 16 there into the town limits. Any questions for me or anything?

[37:52] Thank you. We

[37:56] and I think several of the things that you mentioned the streets committee is

[37:59] already um looking at. So we'll take your suggestions into account and um if

[38:06] we can incorporate you into this somehow, we definitely will. I'll be in

[38:10] touch. Thank you for coming in and we appreciate your attention and even if

[38:16] you don't live in Marian, we still serve you. That's right. Thanks so much. I

[38:20] appreciate it. Thank you very much. Next, um, we do have Gail

[38:31] Atkins, Bill Atkins, 531 Cather. Got a few things going about

[38:37] transparency in this town council. Last meeting, it blowing out the window. I

[38:44] made a proposal with the camera system and

[38:48] everything I was asked to do. And one thing I'd like to know if the one you

[38:53] got now, was there a proposal done for it?

[38:58] Guess not. We never sent out an RFP. No, we didn't. So they just, you know, and

[39:03] then you say Todd Long was here waiting. Y'all went into a closed session, then

[39:08] adjournment. There was no nothing on the paper saying you going to come back in

[39:13] open session. You have to return to open session after paper. Well, we always do

[39:18] that. That's that's our well you need to know let the people know because

[39:21] everybody leaves if you don't put it on there that's something needs to be

[39:24] changed needs to be on that paper saying you're going to come back another

[39:28] concession everybody's got my number or most everybody they can call me I didn't

[39:33] get the chance to discuss my system or anything which you know you just like

[39:38] that should have been brought to this meeting today to vote on it so everybody

[39:44] can be there for I've been in business for 26 years

[39:49] in this town and nothing has been bought from me except one thing. Chief Blair,

[39:56] would you hand these out for me, please? This was in 2009. Is it all the

[40:01] same? Yeah. 2009,

[40:06] $13.95. Thank you. spent

[40:12] and that by April for the town police department for a SD card

[40:19] for I put in six proposals out of my 26 years nothing has been bought nothing at

[40:27] all except they right there and it wasn't proposal that was just her coming

[40:32] in deep and if Todd was here afterwards why

[40:36] wouldn't I ask you Hunter, we went outside. I said, "Holler

[40:40] at me the next day and we'll go over to this. I'll explain to you because you're

[40:43] on the IT committee." Yeah, that's what I was

[40:46] expecting. Not to be blindsided and do under the

[40:50] bus. Transparency is gone. Y'all need to get it back cuz this is a fullblown case

[41:00] of just appalling, you know, for me to be in business 26 years. And I'm going

[41:04] to tell you, if I do get elected tomorrow, there's going to be some

[41:07] change because I tell you, I'm not a yes or no person. If I don't understand it,

[41:11] I'm going to read it. I don't care if it take you three months to vote. I'm going

[41:14] to know what I'm voting on before voting. Not just throw it out there and

[41:18] say, "Oh, we're going to vote and everybody votes yes or no or whatever."

[41:22] That's one reason I am running. There's got to be something

[41:26] done. As far as Todd not uh, you know, telling me and blindsided me, I asked

[41:31] for his resignation because gets back to Bill

[41:34] Rushes, you know, the same thing he did. You know, blindside put people out

[41:39] there. That's it. Thank you.

[41:45] We we thank you for your time and your comments and um

[41:51] we're sorry that uh the process wasn't uh to

[41:57] your advantage but we will take that under consideration and we will

[42:04] um we go forward. Thank you for your time. Next we have Kayla.

[42:12] I'm sorry. I can't I have a holds. Yeah. Um, may I be moved to the to last? You

[42:19] wish to be moved to last? Yes, you may be moved. Help me pronounce your last

[42:24] name, Kayla. You're Pastor Kayla to me. Uh, Kyle Wols. That's why I can't say

[42:29] it. I have some trouble with it, too. Okay. So, we have Charles Hayden next.

[42:49] My name is Charles 76 out of church. I really don't

[42:56] know where to begin with what's going on here,

[43:03] but I'd like to point out that under the deal rule freedom of information, a

[43:10] government body does not have broad general authority to adopt whatever

[43:16] ordinance it deems appropriate or desirable.

[43:21] This is a decision that would make the Virginia

[43:26] court quoted with approval from the dealer

[43:31] rule as a result the rule a government body does not have broad general

[43:38] authority. Now, my opinion under code

[43:44] 18241, this appears to be a conspiracy against

[43:49] rights and our rights under Virginia Constitution has been denied by the town

[43:54] cent. One of

[44:01] them storage and many other changes of town codes for changes in the zoning.

[44:08] wish to get passed. Now what freedom information

[44:13] says about chain charges subsection L of

[44:20] 2.23704 prior to conducting a search for records. The public body shall notify

[44:26] the requesty in

[44:29] writing that the public may make reasonable charges.

[44:36] that was not stated when given to me at the time I made my

[44:41] request, but sent an email with an invoice stating the charge of

[44:49] $75. An email is not putting something in right. Then the email invoice was

[44:57] mailed after I was given the information stating the

[45:03] charge under code 2.2-3700 2-3700 of the forer tax all public

[45:12] bodies and their officials and employees shall make reasonable

[45:19] effort reason reach an agreement with the requesttor concerning the production

[45:25] of records requested. Never had that

[45:30] conversation. I do not believe getting on a computer, pulling up a file,

[45:36] hitting a key to copy a file on a zip drive would take the amount of time to

[45:42] justify a $75 charge. This is, in my opinion, a way to

[45:48] discourage the public from asking for rent.

[45:52] Now, the Freedom Information Act rights and responsibility says as of July 2023,

[46:01] the right and responsibility statements must include a

[46:06] written policy, explaining how the public body assesses charges for

[46:13] obsessing and searching for request record, and noting the current

[46:18] fee to be charged, if in I don't think y'all have that policy

[46:26] that state law and freedom of information says you must

[46:31] have each public body may set its own policy within the cost limit allowed

[46:40] under freedom information act not your own amount you wish to have but under

[46:47] the freedom information

[46:51] Then in 2.2-3704.2

[46:56] Two public bodies are to designate border request offer under part L the

[47:04] name contact information of a foreign request offer trained by legal counsel

[47:12] of the public body in plain English writing as the law

[47:18] says these laws are supposed to be that does not say the lawyer can be the forer

[47:26] request. He is to be the legal counsel training the person. So there again,

[47:34] you're violating your own codes. You're violating the state law. You're

[47:39] violating Freedom of Information Act. But it seems to be okay with this

[47:43] council. No way to add no transparency to what y'all are doing.

[47:52] Now, with that being

[47:55] said, this is my opinion about what I've

[48:01] read. And I like any one of them or all of them to look at the same codes, same

[48:08] laws I did. I'm not going to take the time to read them today because I think

[48:11] it's y'all's responsibility to read them and find them.

[48:17] Now, I've lived here at my present address for 28 years

[48:24] plus. I have never never in all that time from the time I bought my

[48:36] house, our transparency, our overbearing

[48:43] zoning laws,

[48:48] our roadblocks put in when we ask for information has completely

[48:55] disguigated to where it almost takes the acts of Congress to get the town to

[49:01] actually work with us. And another statement before I'm

[49:07] done, it's been put in the Smith County news that I am a frequent critic of the

[49:16] town. Well, I got news for you people.

[49:22] I love this town. I hate to move, but it's getting to the point it looks like

[49:27] I'm going to have to because I do not like what's

[49:31] happening in this town. But I am not a critic of the town. I'm a critic of the

[49:39] council. I'm for the people of this town. That's for one reason I'm speaking

[49:44] up. But right now, every move that y'all making is to shut us up.

[49:53] Now, from there, I'm about done, but I would like Chief Clair to give this to

[49:59] the mayor.

[50:03] Huh? Just him. Just him. He's the head of the

[50:09] council. Now, I will read it from town, Virginia. My name is

[50:17] Charles Andrew Hayden. My address is 726 South Church. This statement is to

[50:23] inform the town that my property is posted. I am formally requesting that no

[50:29] town employee, police, town official, or council person enter my property without

[50:36] my invitation or have a court order or a court warrant to be delivered in person

[50:44] on enter dated April 7, 2025. Thank you.

[50:58] We uh appreciate your comments and um that brings to mind that I do time these

[51:05] comments and we we gave you latitude because I know that you had a lot to

[51:09] say. I hope that we'll take all of these things into consideration as we move

[51:14] forward. And Mr. Finnick, um is there anything that you wish to address there?

[51:19] Well, again, 2.2-3702 2-3702, excuse me,

[51:25] 3704.2. I've stated what it says in the past. The code hasn't changed from the

[51:30] last time that I read it. When you look at paragraph E, you can't just

[51:38] read particular words. You have to read the whole paragraph. And it doesn't

[51:46] limit who can serve as a FOYA officer. With regards to the

[51:53] charges in this case, an email was sent by Flave

[52:01] um to Mr. Hayden and he afterwards came

[52:08] and spoke with Flave. Flave informed him and he came up and picked up his uh

[52:16] disc. It was not a simple process. the system that the town uses is it's a new

[52:23] system. So, it wasn't just an easy matter of going and and finding it was a

[52:29] process that um Todd Long was the one that had to take spend a little time to

[52:38] discover. When Leave relayed the information to me that there was a

[52:43] request, I came and spoke to him and asked him, "Are you able to get this

[52:49] information?" He said, "No." I spoke with Samantha White. She said no. And

[52:56] she wasn't aware of anyone on the town staff that could get it. But for Todd

[53:02] Long, Todd Long was on vacation. He was contacted. Uh there was a meeting

[53:09] between the four of us um to find out if he could walk us through it or play

[53:18] through it and he he said no. So when he came got back from vacation,

[53:24] um he and I did get onto the system and he was able to eventually get it. That

[53:33] with regards to a recording, that's not going to be a problem. Now the town has

[53:39] a YouTube page and has submitting it. So if someone were to ask and a easy

[53:48] response would be hey get on YouTube I'm a sub

[53:54] subscriber the town has a form to file that form does come

[54:03] to myself and to Cindy Stanley so that if one of us happened to be gone there's

[54:10] going to be another person that would know something had come in.

[54:17] Um, but the town is doing what it's supposed to be doing. Thank you. Okay.

[54:25] And as far as the uh posting of Mr. Hayden's property um that impact um

[54:33] emergency services, that does not impact police. that does not impact the reading

[54:40] of his water meter. If he's concerned about that, the town

[54:45] can disconnect the meter and he doesn't have to worry about the town coming to

[54:49] look at the meter. Okay. But, uh, we will respect

[54:55] your privacy otherwise. And thank you for your comments. U, it's time to move

[55:00] on. And, uh, we have Tom Hower. Tom Hower would like to speak with us.

[55:07] Um let's let's not um let's not proceed with civil discourse. Um I I would like

[55:14] to go ahead and follow this. I I can give some latitude, but I'm interested

[55:18] in what you have to say, sir. Okay. Well,

[55:23] um I had planned on mentioning this, but I I I was interested in what uh what was

[55:29] the lady's name? First of all, my name is Tom Hower. I live 218 North Church

[55:33] Street. and Tara here with Clean Virginia.

[55:39] I had a conversation with Eric Ken Heath about a couple weeks ago about the what

[55:44] she was proposing in terms of the level of the charging station and for somebody

[55:49] who has an EV and and travels a little bit, you know, trying to figure out

[55:54] where to spend the night. Um, if that hotel has an EV

[55:59] charging, that is a big plus and I think it would be a benefit to our community

[56:06] uh to have that

[56:15] available difference on the large scale but it'll be different for owners who

[56:18] are traveling u using ease. Okay. Second reason I'm here,

[56:27] uh I guess I've heard through the grape vine that there was some controversy uh

[56:33] about uh some unhoused folk who are living um on some property down by the

[56:39] river. And I was just um anticipating some comments that were going to be made

[56:45] today, but uh haven't had the opportunity to hear them. And um I live

[56:51] in Marion and um I live

[56:57] downtown as some of you know and one of the things I really like about where I

[57:02] lived is the diversity of the people walking up and down the street in front

[57:06] of my home. Okay. And I also walk the river walk uh two or three occasions uh

[57:13] every every week. doctor's orders and uh there is an encampment across from the

[57:21] river rock well across the river and I'm glad they're there to be honest with you

[57:26] the property owner doesn't have a problem with it I think it's a it's a

[57:30] good location for those people to be in and uh if some people are opposed to

[57:36] that they have their own opinion to that but I think we should be compassionate

[57:40] and we should be tolerant and in this community embrace folk that uh are

[57:47] having a hard tough time and help them out whenever we can. And I have one

[57:51] other comment too. I sure would like to see a threeminut limit on public

[57:56] comments. I think would make the meetings much more efficient. So, thank

[58:00] you very much. Well, I appreciate your comments. Um I

[58:05] have elected to use the five minute limit and five is any any limit is good

[58:10] as long as Thank you. Thank you.

[58:17] [Music] Thank you, Tom. Um, and now we have Lynn

[58:22] White. Lynn White would like to address us. Hi, Lynn. If you'll please approach

[58:27] the podium and give us your name and address.

[58:35] I'm Lyn White, 501 Virginia Avenue, and thank you for letting me

[58:41] speak tonight. I've lived in the town of Marian for

[58:45] over 40 years and never attended a town council meeting. So, this is my first

[58:53] one. I'm sorry. And so, I'm a little nervous

[58:59] and I have my notes here in front of me um so I don't forget anything. And the

[59:07] time limit, I'm used to it because Mr. Cornet and I were cut off at 3 minutes.

[59:14] That's why I give you five. That's why I give you five. I I don't need five. Um

[59:20] I've over the past few months, I've seen appreciation months for various groups,

[59:27] uh teacher appreciation, law enforcement

[59:31] appreciation, but I didn't know if there was a town appreciation month.

[59:37] So um over the past few months there have been many people in the town

[59:43] capacity that has me several things and I just wanted to

[59:54] come Miss Spencer gave me the correct terminology but I call them the

[1:00:00] sanitation crew. I appreciate the town sanitation people that come by my house,

[1:00:08] especially um they were very kind and helpful to me

[1:00:13] during inclement weather and I really appreciate that and all the help that

[1:00:20] each person has given me. And I also want to

[1:00:25] thank all the candidates that are running for town council tomorrow. I

[1:00:30] know firsthand how very challenging uh this can be. So, thank you to you

[1:00:37] town council members. Thank you candidates that are running and I wish

[1:00:43] you the best of luck. And thank you for letting me speak. And

[1:00:48] if you'll excuse me, I have another commitment to get to. Ben, thank you

[1:00:53] very much for your kind comments. It's nice to hear that uh somebody likes us.

[1:01:00] And uh now we're going to move on with JS Stalin. I saw JS

[1:01:06] earlier there. Okay, JS, if you'll please the podium. Thank you, ma'am.

[1:01:15] I'm JS Daily. I live at 337 West Main Street in the long time of the town. I

[1:01:24] uh simply am here to inquire what's going on with the

[1:01:30] vacancy. Uh I thought we had a little issue last fall

[1:01:36] winter and I thought it was resolved and now find out that they're two separate

[1:01:42] encampments on the river bank without sanitation without public policy input.

[1:01:51] Uh certainly a health issue. I thought that uh I had to have a sewer line

[1:01:56] hooked up. They got a river that they can use.

[1:02:00] So I'm just asking a question. What's going on with the vacancy issue in town?

[1:02:06] I heard Mr.

[1:02:11] Howard's appreciative comments. I don't fall in the same camp. Very good. I want

[1:02:17] us to have a clean, neat society for everybody involved. I

[1:02:25] thought that the investment of a million dollars to upgrade some substandard

[1:02:30] housing was to take care of some of the

[1:02:38] problem more public. So I just I don't have any idea

[1:02:44] what's going on with the vagrant issue and I'd like to know what's going on or

[1:02:51] direct me to somebody to talk to to find out. That's all I've got.

[1:02:59] Mr. Saley, thank you. U we will definitely take your words into

[1:03:04] consideration and moving forward we have uh Charles Wom. Dr. Wasome if you would.

[1:03:13] Thank you. Charles Woma Marian

[1:03:21] Next year will be the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of

[1:03:27] Independence. And I think it' be a very good idea for all

[1:03:34] citizens to read it well enough, study it well

[1:03:39] enough so that they understand what follows were trying to

[1:03:45] do.

[1:03:55] and focus on that for just a minute or so. We hope to be men are

[1:04:07] creator God with certain unalable rights. Among

[1:04:13] these are life, liberty of

[1:04:21] happiness, right? go to Virginia Constitution and before they ever formed

[1:04:28] a government with the constitution, they put the rights of the people up there up

[1:04:32] front. That was the first thing they did, the rights of the people and then

[1:04:36] they form the government. Uh that to secure these

[1:04:41] rights, governments are instituted among men. So what is the purpose of

[1:04:47] government? To secure the rights of individual

[1:04:57] people that to secure these rights governments. Who is the

[1:05:04] government? I understand that the town council governs

[1:05:12] Marion, not the staff, but the town council. Governments are instituted

[1:05:19] among men driving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Who is the

[1:05:27] governed? Us out

[1:05:32] here. According to the Declaration of Independence and the

[1:05:39] Constitution, governments get powers. They don't get rights.

[1:05:45] Governments are to secure the rights of the

[1:05:53] people. To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men

[1:05:57] deriving their just powers from the consent of the

[1:06:02] government. If you read the constitution, what's the first in the US

[1:06:08] constitution? It's also all this is in the Virginia constitution too. But

[1:06:12] article 1 section one reinforces that it's governments

[1:06:16] that have powers. Article 1 section one all legislative powers herein

[1:06:23] granted the people have granted to the government the

[1:06:29] power to secure the rights of the people. This is the way I read it. I

[1:06:35] think this is the historical uh way it was meant. Article two. What's

[1:06:41] article

[1:06:44] two? Article two of the constitution says the uh executive power shall be

[1:06:54] vested in a president. Executive doesn't have any

[1:06:59] rights by the constitution. They have powers. the executive power in the third

[1:07:03] amendment I mean the third uh article in the

[1:07:09] constitution the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in one

[1:07:14] supreme court.

[1:07:17] So I hope in the state of Virginia calls it 250 Virginia meaning the 250th

[1:07:24] anniversary of the declaration of independence. But my interest

[1:07:27] particularly now is on July the 17th,

[1:07:34] 2023. Four people agreed that the town has

[1:07:42] rights. Two people said no, the town doesn't have

[1:07:47] rights. And I've talked to people about this. It just seems to be a lack of

[1:07:53] understanding for what's written in the foundational documents in

[1:07:59] America. People, individuals have rights. They give power to governments

[1:08:08] to secure those rights. To me, that is the most important job that governments

[1:08:15] have that you all have is to be sure that our rights are secure.

[1:08:20] So, uh, I hope we'll just study that over the next year and we'll be able to

[1:08:27] celebrate, uh, 250th anniversary, the Declaration of Independence,

[1:08:32] understanding a lot better what our roles are. Uh, people have rights,

[1:08:38] governments has powers. So section 3087 of the town code needs to be adjusted so

[1:08:46] it reflects the truth as it stands

[1:08:52] now. It

[1:08:55] uh turns upside down and throughout the country throughout the world people's

[1:09:00] rights are being overturned. It's getting to the point where it's a

[1:09:06] they're shifting where the people had rights.

[1:09:10] Now it's the government that has the rights and they dish them out to the

[1:09:14] people. That's that's the agenda worldwide for evil people. So I

[1:09:20] hope you'll think about that. I like that evil people.

[1:09:26] Doctor, thank you very much for your order. Order please everyone. Let's keep

[1:09:33] order and we'll move forward and we'll move forward with Pastor Kayla who I'm

[1:09:39] sure has something wonderful for us today. No

[1:09:44] pressure. No pressure at all. Um I am Kayla Copp and I am the pastor

[1:09:52] of Ebenezer Lutheran Church. Um I live at 102 Sprinkle Avenue. Um, and I wanted

[1:10:00] to talk as well about um, the unhoused. Um, I agree with both the gentleman who

[1:10:07] spoke before um, in that, you know, there are some people who aren't ever

[1:10:12] going to be able to live in homes. Um, whether that is because of mental issues

[1:10:17] or whatever else. Um, and they will want to continue to live outdoors and we

[1:10:23] should try to make that as safe and clean as possible. Um, I can also

[1:10:28] understand the fear for, you know, health and cleanliness and all of these

[1:10:33] things. Um, and we want to make sure that the people who are unhoused, um,

[1:10:38] have access to all the things that they need in order to live, um, fulfilled

[1:10:44] lives even outside of being housed. Um, I do want to try and shift the

[1:10:51] perception um in our town and for the um wording of the council when speaking

[1:10:58] about this um to move towards speaking of them as the unhoused instead of as

[1:11:05] homeless or as vagrants. um vagrancy laws were enacted um to um kind of point

[1:11:13] towards people who were poor and unhoused and a lot of times people who

[1:11:19] had um nowhere else to go that they were um perceived as idle or as undesirabs.

[1:11:26] Um, if you have questions about vagrancy laws, um, I encourage you to speak to

[1:11:32] Chief Player, who knows more of the history than I do about it, um, and why

[1:11:37] it's not something that is really enacted anymore. Um, but I want to

[1:11:42] encourage us to look towards solutions for the unhoused community. um and what

[1:11:49] those solutions can look like of all of us working together to help those who do

[1:11:55] want to be housed again. um myself, um Pastor Barbara Doyle, Pastor Emily

[1:12:02] Edmonson of the Episcopal Church, Pastor Barbara Doyle is of the Methodist

[1:12:05] Church, um and chaplain, um Patty McAndrews, also of the Episcopal Church,

[1:12:10] have been working with a homeless couple, Michael and Samantha Mitchell,

[1:12:15] um for a little over a year now. Um, and it's taken all four of us to really help

[1:12:22] and promote um, them moving forward and trying to get back their housing. Um, I

[1:12:29] just recently took Samantha to get cataract surgery. Um, and her cataracts

[1:12:34] were so bad you could see the white in her p her pupil. That's how bad it was.

[1:12:39] And that prevented her from any sort of work. um she couldn't get a job doing

[1:12:43] fast food or working with people because the space is too tight. She wasn't able

[1:12:48] to see out of her lap eye. She has since gotten that um surgery and has been

[1:12:55] vigorously looking for work. It is not because of lack of trying that she is

[1:13:02] unhoused and without work. Um, she is looking and she is trying, but it is

[1:13:07] very hard to receive work, when you don't have access to showers, um, when

[1:13:13] you don't have access to being able to sleep well at night. Um, if you are

[1:13:19] hungry, these are all things that people need in order to survive and to thrive

[1:13:26] because it shouldn't just be about surviving. Um, and I thought my watch go

[1:13:30] off. I set up it for three minutes, so I'm going to end here. Um, but I just I

[1:13:34] I would like to encourage us all to look for a solution together to help our

[1:13:41] unhoused neighbors thrive and not just survive and not treat them as

[1:13:46] undesirabs. Thank you. Thank you, Kevin. Thank you. Yeah, thank you very much.

[1:13:50] Appreciate your commentary. Avery, would it be unappropriate if we could ask

[1:13:57] social services to directly engage with this issue?

[1:14:02] Um I bet I don't know I if we have uh we we

[1:14:09] can discuss it's okay. Um council can discuss this presently if you wish to. I

[1:14:15] think pastor Kayla has tried that haven't you? Well it's um social

[1:14:20] services is very overwhelmed and I'm sure chief cla can speak to this as

[1:14:24] well. Um, and it's also building up trust with um, those who are are

[1:14:31] unhoused. Like I said, we have been in relationship with Michael and Samantha

[1:14:35] for well over a year. Um, and it's not just I don't want people to think that

[1:14:40] we're just like handing them money. Um, we are actively working with them. Um,

[1:14:46] and there have been times where we have had to put up boundaries and kind of

[1:14:51] almost been the the bad guy, as it were, to say, "Hey, you guys need to do these

[1:14:57] things if you want to push forward." Um, and so it's not just that we're being

[1:15:02] taken advantage of or because we're in the church that we're naive to this. Um,

[1:15:06] it has been hard conversations, but very fruitful and wonderful conversations and

[1:15:11] wonderful relationship in this. But it is something that will take all of us to

[1:15:18] do. Um because yes, there are the core four of us who are working with Michael

[1:15:23] and Samantha. Um but they are working with Mount Rogers. Um Michael suffers

[1:15:29] from schizophrenia. Um so he has he works with Mount Rogers. Um there are

[1:15:34] members of our congregations who have searched out work for them, who have

[1:15:38] bought them food, bought them tents, like all these different things. um in

[1:15:43] order to just help them keep going. It sounds like social um department of

[1:15:50] social services needs a little bit of pressure though to do a little bit more

[1:15:54] and to be more proactive and I think a letter from the town council would be

[1:16:00] definitely a start and also to the Marian Housing Authority. And I'm sorry

[1:16:04] Charlie left here because I wanted to ask him some questions as well. I mean,

[1:16:08] I hear constantly that we have um nowhere for people to live. I mean,

[1:16:14] that's people wanting to pay rent without assistance. Um people that need

[1:16:20] assistance can't even find somewhere to live. So, I think we need to have a

[1:16:24] conversation. What are these people doing to create more housing? You know,

[1:16:29] if you don't have anywhere to go, you have no choice, right? Um you know,

[1:16:34] neither do I want to be honest with you. I don't really want to walk the river

[1:16:38] walk and you know that people are using the bathroom in the river and there's

[1:16:45] trash everywhere. It's it's it's it's sad. It's sad. So I think the first

[1:16:52] start is to get these people together and see you know with the chief and

[1:16:57] because he works with them you know they work very close with the home the

[1:17:02] unhoused sorry the unhoused people also and you know they're working on the side

[1:17:07] but town of Maring doesn't have funding for these programs social services does

[1:17:13] Marian Housing Authority does you just heard him say how financial shape that

[1:17:18] they're in this is a perfect time to get these people together and we've got to

[1:17:24] put pressure on their backs to do something more proactive.

[1:17:28] So, I I would like a letter sent from the town council if possible. You want

[1:17:32] to put that in a motion? I would like to put that in a motion. I'll second that.

[1:17:36] Yes, absolutely. So, we have a motion and a second. Um, I don't think it hurts

[1:17:42] to um state that we would like to find a solution and to help people um because I

[1:17:49] believe that's our motivation. Yes. So, um is there any further discussion

[1:17:54] needed? I don't think so. I believe we'd have to have someone draft said letter

[1:18:00] and um then we would have to approve it. declared. So, uh, we we would we would

[1:18:07] need to go a little bit further than, um, the current motion. Can I make a

[1:18:12] suggestion of who we should recommend write that letter? You absolutely may.

[1:18:17] As long as it's not me. Suggest Mr. Claire.

[1:18:21] [Music] I agree wholeheartedly.

[1:18:25] So, we have a motion for Chief Claire to draft a letter that would be kind and

[1:18:31] state our concerns. I I think the way to do that, sir, and just to kind of jump

[1:18:36] into the whole question. So, the the current question at the Riverwalk, uh

[1:18:41] those folks are on private property by invitation of the property

[1:18:46] owner. And so the the first step I if action

[1:18:50] were to be taken would be a zoning action which is notably

[1:18:56] unpopular. I'm not wrong. Notably unpopular. Okay. So so then the next

[1:19:03] reasonable step would be engagement by the folks who have the

[1:19:09] tools like social services. Right? when when the police are in, you know, from

[1:19:14] the police perspective, the laws applicable are very narrowly crafted and

[1:19:20] apply whether you live in a house or whether you don't, right? Doesn't

[1:19:23] matter. And so when we're doing it, it's more of a mission of mercy, right?

[1:19:28] Trying to apply solutions, you know, that these are the only tools the police

[1:19:33] have. we we don't have housing or anything

[1:19:38] else, right? Kayla and and and other public servants, you know, or people

[1:19:42] trying to serve the public have those things. So, I haven't had a ton of time

[1:19:47] to think about it. But if you wanted me to draft letter on your behalf that

[1:19:51] might ask for a presentation of strategic goals,

[1:19:57] right? Like what what's the plan and and maybe get some kind of engagement like

[1:20:02] that. But but I really appreciate the work that the community itself does.

[1:20:07] Right. The only solution to the unhoused crisis is

[1:20:13] housing. Housing. Everything else is a a tradeoff or a band-aid or something like

[1:20:20] that. And you heard Kayla, they've been working with Mike and Samantha for a

[1:20:25] year. The lift is huge. And frankly, you're naive if you don't realize that,

[1:20:31] right? Like it it's just a huge lift. But how much closer are you? Right.

[1:20:37] Yeah. I mean, you're somewhere, right? Eventually, you're going to win that

[1:20:39] one. We're much much closer than the world. You're going to win that one.

[1:20:43] Right. Yeah. One. Right. Right. And so there's no such thing as

[1:20:49] like homelessness as a problem. It's just a collection of

[1:20:55] people all in some different stage of housing insecurity.

[1:20:59] So, I'll type something up and and have it to the mayor in the

[1:21:06] next 48 hours. That'll be great. I'll make sure that council is completely

[1:21:11] involved in every step of that. Then we will approve that. We have a motion by

[1:21:16] Councilman Atwell. Can I Can I ask one more question? Would it be would it be

[1:21:22] more appropriate to do this letter in conjunction with Billy that it's on

[1:21:27] behalf of Oh, I think it should be on behalf of the town council. Really? It's

[1:21:30] a it's a political question. I'm not so sure that all of you shouldn't sign this

[1:21:34] letter. Right. Yeah. I would like to sign it.

[1:21:40] The town council doesn't have the tools. We're not tasked with that. Right. But

[1:21:46] we'd like to be part of the solution. Solution. I think if you ask for some

[1:21:51] direct engagement, I'm working I mean I'm wondering if the county should also

[1:21:57] be involved in a solution for housing and would I mean

[1:22:06] well that that's that's we're getting too far off of our task and our subject

[1:22:11] and we need to return to the motion that's at hand. Uh did someone second

[1:22:16] that motion? I think I did and form. So, we have a motion and second. The motion

[1:22:22] is that Chief Claire draft something. Get it to me. I will get it to you. We

[1:22:27] will all work on this. We'll look at solutions for everyone's suggestions in

[1:22:33] this. All in favor in the affirmative unanimous vote. Chief

[1:22:39] Claire, you have your work cut out for you.

[1:22:44] And that Thank you everyone. Your honor, if I may, I know no one's going to back

[1:22:51] the room. I think if there's anybody here close to an expert on business,

[1:22:53] it's no, if you don't mind, I I would so much like to be recognized. I have some

[1:22:58] information. Um uh yes, by all means, Nolan. Um it is

[1:23:05] usually our custom that you sign this public comment form, but you're a very

[1:23:09] busy man and you are an authority in this. I was so I just wanted to listen

[1:23:13] but as you got to talking I have some of the answers uh for some of the questions

[1:23:18] that have come to I have um since Thanksgiving

[1:23:25] 2023 brought these persons that we're talking about into our church and I have

[1:23:31] lived with them 24 hours a day. I go home to shower every day and I'm right

[1:23:38] back. I'm going to give you some numbers because I'm a numbers person and this is

[1:23:42] just this year from December the 2nd till

[1:23:47] today. I've had 80 women and 150 men sleep at least one or multiple nights in

[1:23:55] our church. Only 20 of them return from last year. It's a new group. I've had

[1:24:01] over 700 people come through our church for hot meals that we provide every

[1:24:07] single night. different churches, different clubs, different families get

[1:24:11] together, cook the meals, and bring them in. We've helped over 40 people recover

[1:24:17] documents. There's a lot of them who won't have jobs because they don't have

[1:24:22] identification. They don't have birth certificate. They don't have driver's

[1:24:25] license, don't have an ID. So, have to start with document

[1:24:29] recovery with a staff of me, my wife, and my mother. And you heard Pastor

[1:24:35] Taylor talking about how hard it's been, the four of them working with one

[1:24:38] couple. We've been doing this with 300 people. I have begged across this

[1:24:44] community for people to come and help. I will make another plea tonight. Come and

[1:24:50] see. We have a meal every night at 7:00. If we're going to make decisions about

[1:24:55] them, let's move them. Because, you know, I'm hearing, you know, as we call

[1:25:00] them unsheltered, I call them Kim and David and Tyler and Rose, and I know

[1:25:05] their stories and where they are from. And it's a very complex issue. There's a

[1:25:09] mental health component. Um, I believe it was Miss Spencer who was talking

[1:25:14] about um asking Mr. Harrington about the housing program. One of the problems is

[1:25:20] because it is a federally mandated program. If any of them have a felony

[1:25:25] anywhere in their history, automatic denial and there's nothing they can do.

[1:25:30] I've already approached it. We we talked about this. When they put it in the

[1:25:34] computer, if they have a felony, they're not going to get anywhere with the

[1:25:37] housing program. So, I thought that was information you guys needed to know

[1:25:42] since you were you were asking about that.

[1:25:45] Now many of them we have reconnected with family. It is not an outside of

[1:25:53] this area problem. Out of the 80 women and 150 men who we have served this

[1:25:58] year, 10 of them have been outside of Smith County. The majority of them are

[1:26:04] marrying. There are a few from Chowi and a few from Sugar Grove. This is not an

[1:26:10] outside problem. Out of the 10 people who were from out of this area that came

[1:26:16] through, five of them were in a car from Arkansas that broke down and they were

[1:26:21] here in town for a month trying to get their transportation, their car fixed

[1:26:25] and they were there with us. It is not, I repeat, it is not an outside problem.

[1:26:31] These are our citizens, our brothers and sisters from this community.

[1:26:37] We also did a giveaway and uh we had 200 uh excuse me 480 cars come through um

[1:26:45] and over 2,000 people that got food and supplies. I'm seeing an increase this

[1:26:51] year of elderly women. Some are handicapped and

[1:26:57] um I'm my program goes through Sunday. My overnight program goes through

[1:27:03] Sunday. And when I shut down, you're going to see an increase of people

[1:27:07] sleeping. And I'm telling you, if it had not been for that warming center that

[1:27:11] was there, we would have picked people up off the street. Many of them came

[1:27:16] through that door in hypothermia. We've dealt with frostbite. We've had people

[1:27:21] with limbs being amputated all this year, and they're right here. We have a

[1:27:28] very serious problem uh here in Marian, Virginia, and it's going to take us all.

[1:27:34] My wife and I have invested $100,000 of our savings. We have depleted our

[1:27:39] savings account trying to feed these people the documents that they have

[1:27:43] recovered. And I'm going to sit down cuz I'm about five. Um, we pay out of our

[1:27:48] own pockets for all the fees that have to be paid to get the birth certificate,

[1:27:52] birth certificate, driver's license, social security cards. We're running

[1:27:56] around doing all of that. F. And my final two things I want to say. Number

[1:28:00] one, you want to know where they're using the bathroom app? They're coming

[1:28:03] to my church because I put a porta potty on the side of my church. I know every

[1:28:08] one of those people that are living in those encampments. They've been sleeping

[1:28:11] in my floor in the winter. Now that it's warm, they want to be out on their own.

[1:28:16] Because they they feel bad about sleeping on the floor. They said, "We've

[1:28:20] been here 3 months. We've been here." Some of them uh were returned from last

[1:28:25] year. They said, "I've been here with you over a year and a half now." And so

[1:28:29] they've gotten tents and they're they're they're trying really hard. They come,

[1:28:33] how do I know that they're showering? The reason why I know they're showering,

[1:28:37] I um didn't have a shower facility at my church. I begged across Facebook for

[1:28:42] somebody to come and help me with that. I don't have a lot of money to do

[1:28:45] everything, but somebody could put a shower in and we had an electrician came

[1:28:50] and and a plumber and got halfway through it and it still isn't done. So,

[1:28:54] I begged and I begged if any churches uh anybody had shower facilities if they

[1:28:59] would open them to us. Nobody came forward but a church in Abington,

[1:29:04] Virginia, Rosedale Baptist Church. Three days a week they send their church van

[1:29:09] from Abington to Marion. And those people um that we are now learning to

[1:29:16] call unsheltered unhome get on that van, drive all the way to Abington, get their

[1:29:21] showers, drive all the way back to Marian, and then he in turn has to drive

[1:29:25] the van back to Abington because he lives in Chill Howie. He has to drive

[1:29:29] back. There is a lot of work going on. If you have questions, I promise you I I

[1:29:36] will know a lot of the answers because I've been there since Thanksgiving 2023

[1:29:43] and it's getting worse and we it's going to take every last one of us. So, I beg

[1:29:49] and plead for all of us to help. And if you're going to be making decisions, I'm

[1:29:55] invite you again, come and see. My overnight sheltering ends this Sunday

[1:30:00] and I'm going to do a cookout all day long for them on this Sunday. Come any

[1:30:05] night this week between 7 and 8:00 and you will watch them eat their meal and

[1:30:10] you will see they are happy. You will see um just come and meet them because

[1:30:15] it will shift when they go from being them and unsheltered to knowing who they

[1:30:19] are personally. Thank you for allowing you. Thank you. Thank you.

[1:30:27] [Applause] Absolutely

[1:30:31] inspiring. Okay. Um we will uh continue now with uh council members reports and

[1:30:40] we'll start with council member Gates. Yes. the uh uh the makeshift or

[1:30:48] temporary ordinance committee met and we still have some questions to finalize

[1:30:53] the solid waste ordinance. Uh and uh we do not need to set that for a public

[1:30:59] hearing and I'll make a motion that we continue that and we will have another

[1:31:03] report back at the next meeting. I'll make that motion. Second. Motion second.

[1:31:09] Discussion. None being heard. We'll vote. All in

[1:31:14] favor? Thank you, doctor. Nothing else. Council member Spencer. Yes. The

[1:31:20] community development committee met Friday on the tree commission and the

[1:31:26] tree planting proposal. We have um asked for you to

[1:31:31] approve um a planting of the trees. Of course,

[1:31:36] no trees at exit 45 and not to exceed $4,000. Is that a motion? Yes. Second.

[1:31:45] Motion and second. Discussion.

[1:31:53] None being heard. We will vote. All in

[1:31:57] favor? It is again unanimous. That good. That okay.

[1:32:07] Anything further? No. No. Thank you. Council member Jennings. I just have uh

[1:32:12] the Lincoln Theater April newsletter and with the events and I've given everyone

[1:32:17] a copy and I have extra copies if anyone in the audience would like one. I'll put

[1:32:23] them up here and that's all. Wonderful. Thank

[1:32:28] you, Council Member Apple. I have nothing to

[1:32:32] report on, but back on Mr. Atkins presentation earlier, I wanted to ask

[1:32:38] would it be an issue any time that we have a close session on the agenda that

[1:32:43] we distinctly mark a line item that we will return to open session after we've

[1:32:49] already corrected. Okay. Thank you. Thanks. Anything further?

[1:32:55] Anything further? No. No, that's all. Council member May, I attended the

[1:33:01] District 3 meeting uh two weeks ago and um I have a survey if anyone would like

[1:33:07] to take one and it helps them get funding and currently they're working on

[1:33:12] budget. So that's all I

[1:33:18] have. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Um I uh will continue with the

[1:33:25] mayor's report. Um, I'm going to get you to check this

[1:33:31] uh as the vice mayor to make sure that I have addressed everyone that is on that

[1:33:36] list while I make my report. Do you mind, sir?

[1:33:43] I'll add. Okay, Nolan. Oh, okay. Thank you very much. Okay. Uh,

[1:33:49] mayor's report. Um I have been uh very busy um in the

[1:33:56] last uh little while. Uh we've had a three-week break in between. Um been

[1:34:02] meeting with the BFW. I've had several meetings uh caring for our community. Uh

[1:34:08] participated in student government day, particip uh went to the Chamber of

[1:34:12] Commerce job fair. Um I wanted to say congratulations to Jordan Propost. Um,

[1:34:20] did I get that right? Hunter proped. Proped I'm bad with the last names. Um,

[1:34:27] as being uh officer of the year for Marian and and welld deserved and um

[1:34:34] quite quite an asset to our PD um and and just a whole lot of other things

[1:34:40] going on in Marian. Uh but the bright spot was I saw a group of uh trail

[1:34:46] maintenance people out walking. They were beside the Lincoln Theater trying

[1:34:50] to take their picture by the love sign and I took their picture and sent them

[1:34:54] up to the Henderson where they had the luier class going on and I had told them

[1:34:59] about it and then guess what? They had the class going on. They got to tour. It

[1:35:04] was wonderful. They had a great time and uh we just have a whole lot of good

[1:35:08] things going on in Marion and it is a good place to come, a good place to be.

[1:35:14] uh want to welcome all of our viewers that are not here with us that are on

[1:35:20] the internet. I would suggest that um anybody that uh can't make it to our

[1:35:27] meetings, check us out on YouTube. We're doing the best we can to uh accommodate

[1:35:33] the new technology as we've spoke. And that's all I will have to say tonight.

[1:35:39] Thank you all for being here. We are going to move on with the attorney's

[1:35:43] report. No report. No report. We will move on to staff

[1:35:50] reports.

[1:35:55] Uh Cindy, no report. I'm sorry. Um no report. Okay. Chief Claire is

[1:36:02] missing. We'll just put him off for a couple minutes and see if Chief Ham

[1:36:07] would like to address. Absolutely. You just did.

[1:36:11] Good afternoon, Mr. Mayor, ladies and gentlemen, council. Um, let's talk about

[1:36:14] some staff updates u since we were last here. Uh, a couple of our full-time

[1:36:20] members, uh, Miss Sal and Mr. Widner have completed their firefighter one and

[1:36:24] have tested out for that. Um, they successfully passed all of their skills

[1:36:28] and are waiting results of the written test. I'm I feel very very confident

[1:36:32] that we're going to have uh those certifications locked in by the next

[1:36:36] time I come back. Um, Saturday, let me tell you about this past Saturday, we

[1:36:40] had our candidate testing day. Um, as you were aware, we had a full-time

[1:36:44] opening. We had about 10 applications that came in and uh we invited seven

[1:36:49] folks uh to come for candidate day. Uh, two of those folks dropped out prior to

[1:36:55] the day uh for a couple of different reasons. uh we had one person that

[1:36:58] didn't show um and then we actually um tested out uh four individuals and we

[1:37:06] were all very highly impressed with all four of these individuals. Um I think

[1:37:11] you know I stand before you and say if I had four openings I'd hire all four of

[1:37:14] them full time. Um that was one really good part of

[1:37:19] Saturday. The other really good part of Saturday is the men and women of Mary

[1:37:22] Fire EMS coming together to pull this day off. Um just to give you a brief

[1:37:27] overview, what we did was we did a written test in the morning and that

[1:37:31] took a little less than two hours. Uh we gave the candidates the opportunity to

[1:37:36] change. We went down to the track at the high school and did a physical agility

[1:37:40] day uh where they had to do a mile and a half. Uh they had to do some tool

[1:37:45] carries. They had to climb the 75 ft quintup ladder at a 60° angle. And when

[1:37:50] you get up there, that ladder is doing this right here.

[1:37:53] Um, and I asked for extra help from our team members that day and they came out

[1:37:59] and drove and we were able and later after we did that we came back and did

[1:38:03] the panel interviews all day. Um, our station was busy uh was buzzing, the sun

[1:38:09] was out, the doors were open. I had a gentleman uh who was coming to a show at

[1:38:13] the Lincoln who came and sat in our station and talked for 30 minutes about

[1:38:17] our 9/11 steel out front. Uh I had when I came back into the station, there was

[1:38:21] a man holding a little girl who didn't want to leave because all she wanted to

[1:38:24] do was look at the ambulances and fire trucks. Um and and our team was

[1:38:28] surrounding those people and and these candidates and it was just a testament

[1:38:32] again to the men and women that you that you had marrying

[1:38:36] fire. Um as far as station updates go, um you may have saw on our social media

[1:38:42] that we completed host testing um this past week or last week. Uh we did have

[1:38:48] some failures in that, but it was mainly in the 5- in supply lines. Um I'll be

[1:38:52] I'll probably email you guys out a report on that a little bit later. Um

[1:38:57] fingers crossed that new ambulance that's been put off and put off for

[1:39:01] various reasons is going to roll in this town tomorrow morning. Um so we're super

[1:39:06] excited about that. It will take us a couple of weeks to get that thing

[1:39:09] licensed and get it on the road. Um, and that'll probably what I drive the next

[1:39:13] council meeting. So, we all go out and take a look at it. Um, as far as call

[1:39:19] totals go, uh, my in-house statician, Mr. Tally, informs me that in the month

[1:39:25] of March, we had 232 responses. Um, year to date, we're at

[1:39:31] 636. Um, and that's about 3.7% lower than the

[1:39:37] previous year. Um, it goes without saying, you guys,

[1:39:42] you guys know, you hear, you see. There's some days that we have two to

[1:39:45] four calls and there's some days that we have 15 to 20 calls. You just never

[1:39:50] know. So, that's all I have for today. And, uh, hello to everybody at home on

[1:39:55] YouTube. Uh, I'm glad to see that get some more interaction in. So, uh, does

[1:40:01] anybody have any questions? You're a star. That's right. Thank you all. Thank

[1:40:06] you. Let's move back to Chief Claire. Uh yes, sir. Just a few things to mention.

[1:40:12] One, it seems I'll be drafting a letter to deliver to you and uh in in in the

[1:40:18] name of the council uh talking about addressing the helping out our unhoused

[1:40:23] residents here in Marion. Uh we had our BFW officer of the year awards. Thank

[1:40:29] you so much for coming. And we we understand if you couldn't make it. You

[1:40:32] know, our officer was Jordan Propes. Jordan Probes was at the other end of

[1:40:35] the road from a firefighter who um went into a rushing river to pull out a boy

[1:40:41] and he was given critical services and survived. And so uh thank thank the Lord

[1:40:48] we we had no to my knowledge no loss of life during during that event. Um, and

[1:40:55] that's officer ProS. And we'll we'll bring him to a future council meeting.

[1:40:59] And and then in August, we're going to have our officers who were on the scene

[1:41:04] of the death of Hunter Reedi will receive valor awards in Williamsburg on

[1:41:09] behalf of the BACP. On May the 3, we have a fishing

[1:41:14] event at the park. This is where police officers, firefighters, EMS personnel,

[1:41:20] uh the uh river is stocked specifically for the event. we go down and kind of

[1:41:24] teach the kids how to fish. It's a really really good time. I don't teach

[1:41:28] at Rick and Bill and people like that teach. And then uh on May 17th, we have

[1:41:32] a 5K here in Mary, the blue uh a blue line 5K and the proceeds of that uh go

[1:41:39] to benefit um critical incident stress management programs that are here in the

[1:41:44] area. And one of the other things that has come up recently is, and I can't

[1:41:48] remember the name, I wish Kel was still here. The Lutheran retreat at Hungry

[1:41:52] Mother Park has been offered at no cost to Adam Levensw with the Virginia law

[1:41:58] enforcement action partnership to offer a retreat for officers like who were

[1:42:03] involved in the murder of Hunter Hunter Reed to receive critical services. So

[1:42:07] that's that's going to be kind of a marquee program. Right now they have to

[1:42:10] drive to kind of Virginia Beach to do that. We're going to offer some of that

[1:42:13] here for folks in our region. So, unless there are any questions, that's all I

[1:42:19] got. Could you explain real quick the cameras

[1:42:24] on the lights downtown main street? Which one? So, I think there was a thing

[1:42:32] on social media going around, Hunter, I think you knew more about it than I do,

[1:42:35] that it's um I think they're questioning exactly what those cameras are for and

[1:42:41] if they're monitored. So, there's two, to my knowledge, two sets of camera.

[1:42:47] Well, I I don't even know if that's true. Let me start again. In

[1:42:52] 2020, we were told that V DOT was going to make changes to our traffic light

[1:42:58] system downtown. We assumed that would happen

[1:43:02] in somewhat timely way. So, we installed traffic monitoring

[1:43:07] cameras on behalf of the town um for a couple of reasons. One, for for

[1:43:14] that. Two, um for the public events that we have.

[1:43:18] So, we've got good situational awareness. Remember, this was also

[1:43:22] during uh the social unrest that we had in 2020. We were looking for some

[1:43:26] cleanings there. And those have been in place for about four years. the most

[1:43:31] recent install. So now they finally I guess decided to do what they said they

[1:43:36] were going to do then four years later. Most recent install I don't have a ton

[1:43:42] of details on. I think one piece is the light override system for

[1:43:48] fire where where they have a device in the cab that will change the lights. I

[1:43:54] think another piece is a light override system for VOD to help keep Route 11

[1:44:03] clear during traffic shutdowns. And I well beyond my technical basically when

[1:44:08] when 81 is closed for a for an accident, you reroute your traffic. Most of you

[1:44:15] seen bumper to bumper tractor trailers for two or three hours at a time coming

[1:44:20] through town. Uh, this signal upgrade will allow them to put put the signals

[1:44:27] on flash to keep traffic flowing. Um,

[1:44:34] there's some kind of camera component to that, but I have no idea what it is.

[1:44:38] That that's I mean they can monitor traffic flowing uh and things like that.

[1:44:43] Uh, my understanding is we're getting some phase upgrades also in our

[1:44:48] cabinets. Um the phases is uh that's your that's your time differential

[1:44:56] between each intersection and um I think they've already installed

[1:45:01] some flashing yellow arrows so we didn't have them before. Uh so we're getting

[1:45:07] some signal upgrades as they go along but uh but the cameras and all that is

[1:45:12] strictly uh VOP. Okay. doing that and and and our

[1:45:16] iss and I know I hope Dr. Wson would appreciate it. So I feel like I'm pretty

[1:45:21] sensitive to civil liberties. They have no LPR capabilities, no facial

[1:45:26] recognition capabilities, no sound capabilities, no object tracking

[1:45:30] capabilities. They've been deliberately positioned so you can't see traffic

[1:45:34] signals. They've been deliberately positioned so that you do not have views

[1:45:37] of areas commonly not not commonly observable. It's they're only retained

[1:45:43] for about the footage is not consistently monitored and it's only

[1:45:47] retained for about seven days. The the times of most usage would be like during

[1:45:52] the chili cookoff. We put that up in the incident command. We have some

[1:45:55] situational awareness views. We feel like that's important for active shooter

[1:45:59] threats, vehicle border threats. Um I think some of our defense attorneys wish

[1:46:04] that it was held longer because we get requests for well for like traffic

[1:46:09] accidents especially. You know, it's like you you get in an accident and you

[1:46:12] work out a deal with someone like, "Oh, it's all fine." And then a week later

[1:46:16] they decide that they didn't do it like they said they did it and then they

[1:46:20] request the footage and again it's been overridden. Um it it has been useful in

[1:46:25] some some crimes. We recently had uh a town citizen who was defrauded of uh

[1:46:33] several thousand dollars. We were able to identify the vehicle that left her

[1:46:38] home. Uh there was a I think an RV that ripped the drive-thru off the

[1:46:43] McDonald's. We were able to identify that vehicle. Uh there was an accident

[1:46:49] recently where the parties disputed kind of what happened and kind of just barely

[1:46:53] able to catch that. But one of our town residents just lied flat out about what

[1:46:58] they did and tried to turn that that poor woman into a offender when she was

[1:47:03] in the city. And so those are just a few examples. It's it's not overly useful

[1:47:09] for evidence stuff because again it's just kind of a passive monitoring, but

[1:47:13] it's really useful for for a situational awareness tool and and I think that

[1:47:18] we've got restrictions in place that recognize the the need for certain

[1:47:24] technology, but also my own personal uh you know you know that things like

[1:47:27] license plate readers are very prolific. If you saw the article in Cardinal News,

[1:47:32] they we don't have um and and I think that's important because I think a lot

[1:47:37] of folks in the region here are very concerned about privacy. So I I sent

[1:47:43] Billy a couple a couple of views. I don't know if you want to pull it up.

[1:47:46] one of them. Let me try to find just to give you a sense of what it looks like

[1:47:52] and and in terms of monitoring if listen if the town council wants to provide a

[1:47:57] monitoring link I'm going

[1:48:02] to keep. Oh, it's right here.

[1:48:12] That's not it. That's not it. That's not it. Nope.

[1:48:17] Oh, that's what I see you right there. Camera, right? Yeah.

[1:48:29] Yeah.

[1:48:33] So, this is an

[1:48:36] image that's an example of what we see. Okay. Uh they have no pan, tilt, zoom.

[1:48:44] Uh there is some electronic zooming but you know it gets so pixelated by that

[1:48:48] time it's hard it's hard to tell but that's just one one example. Uh and then

[1:48:54] there's a video do you guys remember a while back we had a citizen come in. He

[1:49:00] was concerned we were chasing a motorcycle absolutely certain about what

[1:49:06] he saw. Well, we invited that citizen to then observe the camera footage

[1:49:11] and that's not what we saw what we saw was something else. So,

[1:49:16] here's an example of the moving the moving footage

[1:49:19] downtown. And again, if if citizens have a desire, I guess, for some kind of

[1:49:24] access to it. To me, that's an IT question. I

[1:49:30] don't if I if I may for a moment. Um, when I was at the police department, I

[1:49:35] actually helped write this grant. This was all grant funding. And, um, I will

[1:49:41] say as far as the open link to view it, um, the system itself is somewhat

[1:49:47] unreliable because it's based off of cell

[1:49:50] phone service. So that's why instead of seeing cars

[1:49:56] that look like they're just going, that's why you see a car every every few

[1:50:01] seconds, every few frames. So if we attempted to do a link, which I'm open

[1:50:05] to as well, but I just want everyone to be aware that if that ever occurred, the

[1:50:10] overload to the system that may occur may

[1:50:15] How many users do you have? How many users? Anybody in this room tuned in?

[1:50:21] Well, I can say uh that at on my computer on my laptop um when I run the

[1:50:27] program to watch it, I have to turn an extra fan on my laptop computer because

[1:50:31] it spins so much and get so get so hot you can smell start smelling my laptop

[1:50:36] computer. Um and if when I was at BD and let's say Sergeant or Wes Thomas was in

[1:50:42] his office and he was doing it, uh there was often times that only one of us

[1:50:45] could watch a video at a time. So just be aware of that before we start

[1:50:50] throwing out links and promises that I don't

[1:50:54] think so. So So again, I know there are concerns about things like cameras and I

[1:51:00] feel like I feel like my instincts are to

[1:51:03] guard civil liberties. Maybe not everybody would

[1:51:07] agree with the compromise that I feel like we have, but I don't feel like it's

[1:51:12] a bad one. And I think it avoids certainly some of the most problematic

[1:51:17] data collection. No, no license plates, no no, no, no anything. And I I don't

[1:51:23] have any problem at all with transparency steps. If we want to create

[1:51:26] some kind of IT base, it's way outside of my knowledge base. That that's fine.

[1:51:32] But uh it has had some use for us and and it continues to some of them are

[1:51:37] reaching their service life. There's trouble

[1:51:40] with about the cabinet. the cabinet that kind of holds it overheats and so

[1:51:45] there's some trouble with stuff like that. But if anybody has questions on

[1:51:49] that, please let me know. Well, thanks for answering the question. Yeah, thank

[1:51:53] you very much, Chief. Anything else? Anything else? Oh, I didn't start that

[1:51:57] one. I know you didn't. That's why I'm just kindly moving on. Uh, and next we

[1:52:04] have Ken Heath with economic development. You don't mind if you want

[1:52:07] to stay seated for another month or so, then after that I'll be able to get up.

[1:52:10] Absolutely. Election day A is tomorrow. Three precincts are open. Wherever you

[1:52:14] normally vote, the town of Marian, East Park at Marian Recre, Wona, Marian

[1:52:18] Senior Hospital, and Royal Oak East at the Marian Police Station. So, make sure

[1:52:22] you go out and vote. Town council. Uh, April 9th, ADA meeting. This Wednesday

[1:52:27] at noon, Marian Police Department. April 14th is an update on the Steel Park

[1:52:33] program. We're going to have another meeting at Mount Pleasant at 6 p.m. Uh

[1:52:37] we've received some renderings uh that Greg uh and his group have put together

[1:52:42] what they'd like to see and I've asked them to put together. Uh I've also asked

[1:52:47] Tony and the group to go out there and kind of take some paint mark off those

[1:52:51] areas. I think that once folks been out there and you see the space and you

[1:52:55] start feeling how big a basketball court is on that space, it's like trying to

[1:52:59] put on your bridges. It ain't fit. So that's what we're going to be. I think

[1:53:02] in in a lot of this. So I think once we see things out there, it'll change and

[1:53:07] the the design that Greg provided that get in seems pretty reasonable. Seems

[1:53:13] like hopefully we'll be able to go for it and Dr. Gates has helped us get the

[1:53:17] ground in. So I think we'll be a nice park out of that. April 15th, Senator

[1:53:22] Mark War will be at the Lincoln 11:30 to 12:30 for meeting just like this for you

[1:53:26] to come and express your views. Uh and then April 19th hazardous material day

[1:53:30] at the trade school one. So any hazardous material issues taken down.

[1:53:35] When was that again? April 19th Saturday. The other thing we're

[1:53:40] going to be doing is starting next Friday. We received a grant from

[1:53:44] Virginia Main Street to do a community visioning. It'll do three things. It'll

[1:53:47] do a market analysis to show us where the markets are headed. Uh and that's

[1:53:54] anybody's guess at this point internationally, nationally. but at

[1:53:57] least be able to look at our markets here. Uh our businesses, how they can be

[1:54:01] better and and solidify their business and hopefully help us recruit new

[1:54:05] businesses to come in as well. Uh they'll be looking at the physical plant

[1:54:08] of downtown, the downtown district, our trees, our streets, and everything else.

[1:54:12] Chad, that's why I was asking for your notes on that because I want to include

[1:54:15] that. The biggest part of that, we're going to have a series of meetings at

[1:54:18] the Lincoln Theater inviting public comment. What do you want to see Marian

[1:54:23] look like in the next 10 to 20 years? and I'll be down there just to the point

[1:54:28] to open up the meeting and I'm going to leave not because I don't want to be

[1:54:31] there to hear what you have to say, but I don't want folks looking and saying,

[1:54:34] "Kim, what do you think?" Because I've done this for 30 years. I want this to

[1:54:37] be a communitydriven project where at the end of it, we'll have a market

[1:54:41] analysis, show how businesses can be successful and how we can make our

[1:54:44] current business successful and also new businesses to recruit. We'll have the

[1:54:49] tools to make downtown more accessible, more traffic uh worthy for parking. We

[1:54:54] talk about parking lot, talking about lighting, we talk about signage. Uh and

[1:54:58] then also we'll have what this community wants to see and the priorities and then

[1:55:02] we'll hopefully come up with some goals one year, 5 year, 10 year game changers

[1:55:06] that we can work on as a community as those of us that are out of solar that

[1:55:11] are ready to retire and move on in a couple years. Uh we want to be able to

[1:55:16] clean the the rocks out of the path so that the people that come after us can

[1:55:20] make this bigger and better than we can ever dream it can be sitting in this

[1:55:23] room here tonight. And the way for us to do that is to use the knowledge we have

[1:55:27] gathered since the time we've been here and let's people come up with you bigger

[1:55:33] pick that up. So as those are announced they'll be later this fall. I appreciate

[1:55:37] all the comments you do. We'll probably do some surveys of the events in

[1:55:40] downtown as well. And the more opinions that you guys come and express, the

[1:55:45] better this product. The last thing I want to do, your honor, is congratulate

[1:55:49] Tony on being named assistant manager. I know

[1:55:52] that Lyn White was in here thinking to the public works crew and we've got

[1:55:57] we've got a heck of a team here with the town of Maring. All the snow that was

[1:56:01] removed. I this winter was I I dare say that anybody any better than your We

[1:56:09] appreciate Thank you. We We have a heck of a heck of a staff. Public works,

[1:56:16] everybody all the way around. Super duper. And speaking of them, Todd

[1:56:23] Long, I'm sorry. Um, you're out of order.

[1:56:28] I'm sorry you're out of

[1:56:31] order. There's There's no comments right now.

[1:56:35] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I just want to give everybody a quick update. Um,

[1:56:40] Friday we had 50 subscribers to our new YouTube channel. I just looked before I

[1:56:45] walked up here. We got 105 as of right now. Um, the the uh video that was

[1:56:51] uploaded on Friday with with the mayor's welcome has been viewed

[1:56:57] 766 times. As you said in that message, I mean, there's going to be some

[1:57:02] hiccups. There's going to be some things that that humps and bumps in the road.

[1:57:05] We're going to work through that. Um, I'd like to apologize to M Mr. Atkins.

[1:57:10] I, you know, we didn't certainly didn't mean to burn any bridges. We certainly

[1:57:13] didn't mean to uh step on anybody's toes by doing this. It was a council's

[1:57:18] decision and and we went the council route. We may have to revisit it

[1:57:22] sometime. And uh, you know, don't certainly don't mean to burn any bridge

[1:57:25] with Mr. Atkins. Um, some planning commission updates. Uh

[1:57:31] this coming up next Monday, we're going to be talking about some stuff that the

[1:57:35] plan that the council has referred to uh planning commission with the uh

[1:57:39] livestock regulations and the fence height in the front yard. Uh after that

[1:57:44] meeting, we'll report back to you all on that. Um they was talking about

[1:57:49] streaming some of the uh intersection uh cameras. I think that would require

[1:57:54] opening up a port. The biggest part with that is some of the latency is the

[1:57:59] upload speeds on the on the Comcast modems that we have at each of the uh

[1:58:04] traffic signals. You know, you can get a lot of download, but it's it's hard to

[1:58:08] get a lot of upload. And uh the size of the videos that that we try to upload.

[1:58:14] That's why when you seen it look jumpy the system upload speeds from the from

[1:58:19] that intersection was just it just it can't handle the traffic that it that it

[1:58:24] push has to push through to get back to here then out to there. But if that's

[1:58:28] something council wants to entertain, we'll find a way to do it. We always do.

[1:58:33] Um I just appreciate y'all support. I want to congratulate Tony as well,

[1:58:37] assistant town manager. you got a good one and we're all going to work

[1:58:41] together. Nothing's going to change here and I just appreciate that all support.

[1:58:45] Any questions you got, I'll be happy to answer. Todd, I have one. Can you go

[1:58:49] over the camping ordinance with us again? Refresh us. Sure. Um, so I think

[1:58:56] the camping ordinance said u you had to be related to the property owner. And

[1:59:01] I'm doing this from memory, so it's been a minute. I think you had to be related

[1:59:05] to the property owner. you could camp for 72 consecutive hours. You had to

[1:59:10] have a sanitation facility available 24/7. Um, and there were some other

[1:59:17] things in there, Trish. I can I can certainly look back at that and and and

[1:59:21] report more to you for the next meeting. Um, I don't have my phone on me. I'm

[1:59:28] sorry. I'd have to go back and look at it. Uh but there were some things in

[1:59:33] there that really related to family camping and stuff like that. Uh but the

[1:59:37] biggest thing was the sanitation facilities and and of course you know uh

[1:59:41] the trash and and and the debris and other stuff that comes along with

[1:59:45] camping in some cases. And are we enforcing that? No, we're not. And how

[1:59:51] come? Well, as you've heard from some of the

[1:59:55] citizens here tonight, it's it's it's zoning is an issue right now. You know,

[2:00:00] whenever we propose this stuff, we propose for what we feel like is the

[2:00:04] highest and best use for everybody in town. Let's make Mar a better place for

[2:00:09] both women to play. That's been our motto for three years

[2:00:12] now. I hate that I got to come and ask council every time we get ready to

[2:00:17] enforce saying is this okay? It shouldn't be like that, but with today's

[2:00:21] environment, we almost feel like we have to. It's almost like we we got to have

[2:00:25] your blessing for everything. I wish it wasn't like that, but that's where it's

[2:00:29] at now. But if you all would like for me to enforce that at your discretion, I

[2:00:33] certainly will. Well, why did we do it if if we're not going to enforce it? I'm

[2:00:38] just curious. I mean, with all of our

[2:00:41] ordinance, we've had other people complain about signs and

[2:00:47] I'm just curious how we pick and choose. Well,

[2:00:51] that's I I don't like picking and choosing. I either like to do it or I

[2:00:54] don't. I I I I would I'd like to have your blessing to enforce it all. Just

[2:00:58] like the last meeting that came and I addressed the the uh solid waste. I

[2:01:02] think Dr. Gates said, "Let's look at it before we do that." You know, I want to

[2:01:07] get out in front of that to keep birds, cats, dogs, animals from tearing up

[2:01:11] bags. It's not in trash cans open without going all over the neighborhood.

[2:01:15] I can tell you prior to the last council meeting, I

[2:01:19] don't remember the exact date, I probably

[2:01:22] had two or three calls where people were animals had gotten into just bag trash

[2:01:28] that tore open and blow blown all over their their yards. We get that every

[2:01:33] month. Every week. Every week. But, you know, all you got to do is give me the

[2:01:40] go ahead and and you know, I'm very proactive and I'll be happy to enforce

[2:01:45] everything as we interpret it. Um, if I if I can mention something and someone

[2:01:53] spoke this to me at one point in time, the speed limit is

[2:01:57] 25, but we don't give people tickets until they hit 32, something like that.

[2:02:04] laws are made to be enforced, but some of them apply to what

[2:02:12] I want to call egregious circumstances. Um, discretion is the

[2:02:18] greater part of valor. Just my opinion, and I'm only one

[2:02:23] person, but applying the letter of the law to every citizen seems a bit

[2:02:31] excessive to me. I don't think you should have to ask

[2:02:36] every time you apply the law either. I believe we're all reasonable people and

[2:02:41] we know when a situation needs to be corrected.

[2:02:46] My opinion, does the one at Riverbend need to be corrected? That's not my

[2:02:50] question to be answered. We need to be consistent with everybody

[2:02:55] and that's what we are doing, right? I mean, that's that's that's really why

[2:02:59] I've not gone out. Now, I can tell you I've had complaints, not so much of of

[2:03:04] the camping, but the trash that they're making. Uh the debris that they're

[2:03:08] putting down over toward the and I'm not even talking about this area here. I'm

[2:03:11] talking about another area.

[2:03:15] Uh it's it's a lot of trash that they're putting down over at the riverbank. And

[2:03:23] u I've not addressed that yet, but it is on my radar. I just I just if you give

[2:03:28] me permission, I'll certainly go do it. Well, have you So, I understand the

[2:03:34] unhoused are not the ones you're going after. You'd be going after the property

[2:03:38] owner, correct? He's the one responsible by law. I have to go after the property

[2:03:43] owner. So, have you addressed the property owner about the trash? So, the

[2:03:47] the police department did some engagement down there and spoke with the

[2:03:51] property owner. He wants he wants those residents there

[2:03:58] because he knows they have nowhere else to go and he won't tell them to

[2:04:03] leave. He he's very adamant that he wants them there. Well then what don't

[2:04:10] we have ordinance in place if you have a camp ground?

[2:04:15] Don't we have things you have to have for a campground? Commercial campground.

[2:04:19] Yes. So isn't that considered a camp ground? Would that would he not need to

[2:04:25] go about getting making that a campground area? My in my opinion it

[2:04:30] would not be considered a commercial a commercial campground trash. Why?

[2:04:35] Because commercial is is transfer of money and I think the state code

[2:04:40] actually does mention up to number of I want to say more than two which it is

[2:04:46] down there but there's still no money change at hand no value there.

[2:04:51] Well, what provision has he made for a restroom

[2:04:55] for or picking up the trash? Yeah, I can't answer that. I have not made

[2:04:59] contact with the property owner yet. Folks, um if if you want to u refer this

[2:05:05] to a committee, um I I think that would be the appropriate action.

[2:05:16] What committee would it be? Um that what is council's pleasure.

[2:05:23] Would that be more recreation with the park or I mean it wouldn't really be

[2:05:28] streets but it does involve sanitation.

[2:05:33] Do you have a suggestion, Billy? Community improvement.

[2:05:40] We don't have a committee for community improvement. What's your committee? Um

[2:05:45] economic development. That's under I'm I am not currently allowing uh

[2:05:52] comments from um you have to understand take it to I'll be happy to take it to

[2:05:58] my committee and your committee which one

[2:06:02] I'm on the police committee and the economic

[2:06:06] committee and if you want to take it into your wheelhouse absolutely

[2:06:13] this isn't contradictory to what we said about you writing the better in us

[2:06:17] wanting to be part of the solution. Is it? No, I don't think so. I think I

[2:06:22] think there's an certainly an immediate discussion to be had on the enforcement

[2:06:27] of the camping ordinance or not. I'm not sure I'm leaving this meeting with a

[2:06:34] clear understanding unless I'm missing

[2:06:37] something. It sounds like something we need to talk about that. But that's, you

[2:06:41] know, that's a solution that's this far. So if if if the property owner was

[2:06:47] notified that he was violating the zoning ordinance willfully because he

[2:06:51] actually wants that there right then what action is there to take? He would

[2:06:56] get the ordinance he would get the zoning violation. He would maybe appeal

[2:07:00] that to the board of zoning appeals to the board of zoning appeals and then

[2:07:05] some discussion would go on there. None of the folks who are staying there

[2:07:09] committing any any offense whatsoever. And then if he refuses

[2:07:14] Then what happens if he refuses after I think it's 15 days it just goes through

[2:07:20] the same process all the other zoning uh non-compliance does it go to court so I

[2:07:25] guess it would end up in court but but that solution well first of all that's

[2:07:30] not a solution that process is just those steps so I think

[2:07:37] if we're going to get something closer to a

[2:07:40] solution certainly engaging with social services is the only answer, right? As

[2:07:46] illquipped or underfunded as they may be, that's the only answer. What about

[2:07:51] Mount Rogers? Um, did I know they have So, they're doing a lot of engagement. I

[2:07:57] think it's more of a question of vision. Who in the social service field

[2:08:02] has the vision to do the engagement and to actually move the needle? We see that

[2:08:07] Kayla had vision, right? She's working with one group of people. I think I

[2:08:12] think Nolan's got some vision. I think there are people in the community with

[2:08:14] the vision for it, but maybe we need to find those same people in the social

[2:08:20] service that have the vision and the drive to to do something.

[2:08:28] And and I think by by enforcing the zoning helps push this needle slightly.

[2:08:36] Maybe it's temporary, but I mean, unless we do

[2:08:42] something, nothing's nothing is ever gonna get done. I mean, they'll have to

[2:08:48] go somewhere. They'll have to go somewhere. Um, if

[2:08:53] these sidewalks, if if I may uh mention that Mr. Finnick may have information

[2:09:01] regarding um the the disposition of moving these

[2:09:07] people. Well, your town manager has just told

[2:09:11] you that if you move them, if you cause the property

[2:09:18] owner an expense that that property owner doesn't want to bear, then that

[2:09:25] property owner will say you can't you can't be here. You're trespassing. So,

[2:09:30] they will go to another area. Whether that's they don't have a

[2:09:35] choice, right? I mean, they're humans again.

[2:09:38] So, they they're going to go somewhere. They're going to go in behind

[2:09:41] businesses. I've had them behind my business with their clothing. And I'm I

[2:09:47] really am trying to enforce the rule of not engaging with the public at this

[2:09:54] point in time. I'm very sorry. I I don't want to This is a discussion with

[2:10:00] council and staff. um more than welcome to

[2:10:07] uh comment at a later date. So uh Miss Spencer,

[2:10:17] yes. What is your question? We we have left this as you wanting to take this

[2:10:22] into your committee. Do you have a second or is that a motion?

[2:10:26] Um, I'll be happy to make a motion to take it to a committee, but I think I

[2:10:32] don't think it's necessary to be honest with you. I think it almost needs to be

[2:10:37] decided now whether we want to enforce these camping laws or not.

[2:10:47] [Music] I hear no second to your motion. Was

[2:10:52] that a motion? Yes, that's a motion to enforce the camping laws. You need to

[2:10:59] have a motion on the floor already with no second. Do you want to resend that

[2:11:02] motion to refer it to a committee? Sure. Yes.

[2:11:06] Motion rescended. I make a motion that we enforce the camping laws.

[2:11:14] I'll second.

[2:11:19] We have a motion. We have a second. Do we need discussion?

[2:11:25] Probably. Yeah. Then please discuss. I I I agree with what Miss Spencer has said.

[2:11:34] But then on the other hand, what do we do with these uh humans once they are

[2:11:45] told to leave? Is there any responsibility? But

[2:11:49] Chief Claire, maybe you can answer this question. Do we have any responsibility

[2:11:54] there? Uh I mean I don't know the answer to it. It's a it's a tough tough

[2:12:00] decision. There's there's not an answer. There are only trade-offs. The only

[2:12:04] solution to people not having homes is people having homes. There's no other

[2:12:09] solution. Everything else is a tradeoff. It would seem the current tradeoff is a

[2:12:16] piece of property at Riverbend. So that means if that's eliminated, there will

[2:12:20] be a trade-off somewhere else, perhaps behind

[2:12:23] businesses. Um the the reality is is that they they

[2:12:29] can't be teleported into a different dimension. They're human beings who do

[2:12:33] human being things. They sleep and eat and go to the bathroom and they can't

[2:12:39] they can't stop doing that. And so perhaps

[2:12:45] if we were to inform Smith County Social Services that this area has become

[2:12:53] untenable and ask for direct engagement in, you know, kind of a righteous

[2:13:01] relocation maybe. Um well, do these do these humans

[2:13:06] have rights that Dr. was talking. They're all from here, too,

[2:13:11] by the way. I beg your pardon. They're all from here. Mike and Samantha, too.

[2:13:15] Yeah. Yeah. They're all right. What's the difference in their rights and our

[2:13:21] rights? I mean, I don't know. I mean, I'm just I I I'm just toward I don't

[2:13:25] want them to be behind your business, you know? I want them to have housing,

[2:13:31] but I don't know how to go about that. I think we need more people involved in

[2:13:36] it. And I know Pastor Kayla is working very hard with other community leaders.

[2:13:43] I think that's what we need to do is get the community leaders together and try

[2:13:48] to come up with a solution. That's why I think the county also needs to be

[2:13:52] involved. But as long as we let them stay

[2:13:58] there, no needle will be moved because social services is content with them

[2:14:05] staying there. Maring Housing Authority is content with them staying there until

[2:14:11] until we start being a little bit aggressive. And

[2:14:16] I hate it. I hate it. Honestly, I hate it. But

[2:14:20] well, it it'll be the property owner has to be aggressive. Remember the people

[2:14:24] who are staying there have committed no crime. Right. Right. Only the property

[2:14:28] owner is in violation of the zoning ordinance. Yeah. So this is where low

[2:14:33] when notified of it he'll have a decision to make.

[2:14:38] He'll either make his property comply by asking them to leave or he will not. And

[2:14:44] if he does not then Todd will take the next step and

[2:14:48] then maybe he'll appeal that. And so certainly not something that's going to

[2:14:51] happen overnight. But But the owner would have to decide to either and and

[2:14:56] then what if the owner just takes the charge? No amount of camping ordinance

[2:15:02] violations result in public hanging, right? Like it it just is what it is.

[2:15:07] There's no there's no escalation level to, you know,

[2:15:11] just making it. What if he decides to take the charge? Then I guess we do it

[2:15:17] again.

[2:15:22] That's my motion. It's just a very very tough uh situation to be in because

[2:15:27] there's no really good answer. Um no answer period. Well, um we can be

[2:15:33] here all night talking about it and never get it solved. But we have a

[2:15:37] motion and a second and we have had discussion. Do we want to discuss

[2:15:42] further? I just like the motion reread. Yeah, I want to. Yes. Miss Spencer made

[2:15:47] a motion seconded by Mr. May. a motion to enforce the camping laws.

[2:15:52] Um I will mention that um those camping ordinances have not been produced uh to

[2:16:00] your satisfaction.

[2:16:04] Remember earlier in the meeting we had asked that Mr. Long present us with

[2:16:09] those camping ordinances. So, we're making a motion at this point in time to

[2:16:16] enforce ordinances that we do not know. I do we want to clarify those

[2:16:22] motions? I I think are those ordinances rather

[2:16:28] I I think both camping have come to a public hearing.

[2:16:34] Is that correct? Yes. And you all have taken action on them. Uh, I believe

[2:16:39] they're adopted. Or could you read Could you read in the

[2:16:45] minutes ordinance? As far as the minutes, no, what we have

[2:16:51] in the ordinance for the camping. I'm trying to find

[2:16:57] Let me get my phone.

[2:17:16] to summer stylish sandals for 10.

[2:17:44] Yeah, we might have to

[2:17:55] take a race.

[2:18:01] In the interest of time, since we cannot produce these, I got I got it right

[2:18:05] here. Okay, just took me says camping on private properties.

[2:18:10] Camping on private properties allowed in the town of Marion with the following

[2:18:14] restrictions. There must be a camping unit, tent, travel, trailer, RV, etc.

[2:18:19] Only one camping unit per service building located on the same parcel or

[2:18:24] parcels that are contiguously owned by the owner.

[2:18:28] The service building must have working sanitary facilities available 24 hours a

[2:18:32] day for the people camping on your property. Camping is allowed for 72

[2:18:37] consecutive hours. Example, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. People can only camp

[2:18:41] on the property they own or related to the owner. No more than four people can

[2:18:46] camp in a camping unit simultaneously. Primitive camping is

[2:18:50] prohibited. A service building with working sanitary facilities is required.

[2:18:56] And then it goes on to commercial campgrounds, which I don't think really

[2:19:00] applies to this situation. And could you tell us the penalty for failure to uh

[2:19:06] adhere to this ordinance? Well, what would happen is we give the we have to

[2:19:10] write the property owner, excuse me, property owner uh notice of violation.

[2:19:15] Normally the presidents we set and we send them an initial letter say we've

[2:19:19] noticed this happening on your property. Can you meet with us and let us know

[2:19:23] your your plan what's going on here? If they don't meet with us, most of the

[2:19:26] time they do, but if they don't, then we send them the first notice of violation.

[2:19:29] We give them 15 days to correct the the issue. I I'm I'm asking the monetary. So

[2:19:36] So the monetary I believe it would be a class three misdemeanor. So it would be

[2:19:40] up to $500 fine. And how often can this $500 fine be

[2:19:48] applied? Daily. Daily. So you're looking at a $500 fine. uh and with

[2:19:54] non-compliance that uh but the court would have to enforce that. Is that

[2:19:59] correct?

[2:20:02] So the court would be the one that would have the ability to go up to a $500 fine

[2:20:08] or whatever they feel is appropriate. Is that correct? Right.

[2:20:13] That the court could find them guilty and have no financial penalty. Okay. So

[2:20:21] now we know what we're voting on. Can I ask a question? Of course. Okay. So, the

[2:20:25] rights of Cubans are okay as long as our codes and and and uh uh zoning

[2:20:38] issues are enforced.

[2:20:43] Can you ask that question again? I'm just I'm I'm just hung up on if if if

[2:20:50] everybody has rights that Dr. Wasam was talking about, citizens rights. Well,

[2:20:56] they are citizens, right? Is that and I I don't want to belabor this, but I have

[2:21:01] a a real problem with where will they go? That's that's that's that's kind of

[2:21:08] a question I'm thinking is if we run them from this place, they're going to

[2:21:11] go to Wona. from Wona. They're going to go to

[2:21:16] somewhere else and they're just going to chase them all around town. I mean, I

[2:21:20] point of order, you may withdraw your second.

[2:21:24] Well, I get that. I just It's I'm I'm seeing a problem here. And I and would

[2:21:31] we not be better off asking you know someone like from social services come

[2:21:35] to have a discussion with us next council meeting invite them and then see

[2:21:40] what see what the the best outcome for everyone is in this situation. So we

[2:21:45] have a motion and a second. You can withdraw your second. That will kill the

[2:21:50] motion. Or it will open the floor to a second uh from another council member.

[2:21:56] Or we can take the motion and the second and we can go ahead and take it to a

[2:22:00] vote.

[2:22:03] I'll resend my second. Please let the record show that Mr.

[2:22:07] Mayor rescends his second. Is there anyone else on this council would like

[2:22:10] to second that motion?

[2:22:16] Then the motion dies on the floor. We'll move on. Town manager report.

[2:22:21] I'm gonna be real quick. Sorry. Uh radio read. As of April 1st, we had had

[2:22:28] installed uh 1,186 radio meters. That's almost a

[2:22:35] third of what we anticipate. Um I had housing authority reappointments, but

[2:22:41] Charlie was here and did that first. in your packet.

[2:22:46] Um, I had the bid where I put the mowing of the Round Cemetery out for bid.

[2:22:55] Um, let me find

[2:23:02] it. In your packet, I had the list of biders.

[2:23:07] Uh, it's page, let's see, are the pages page 22.

[2:23:11] Um yeah, we had uh one, two, three, four, we had five biders. Uh one of them

[2:23:19] uh was rejected uh due to the fact that they didn't price it the way that we had

[2:23:24] asked. Uh the low bid was Elite Property Care at

[2:23:29] $43,000 for this season.

[2:23:33] Um advertised it three times in the Smith County News, had it on the

[2:23:38] website. um had all the procurement uh hoops jumped through.

[2:23:45] Um would like to ask council at this time to consider awarding the mowing

[2:23:52] contract to Elite Property Care. Do you need a motion?

[2:23:59] Thank you. I I'll make that motion to award the mowing to Elite Property

[2:24:05] Care in the amount of $43,000.

[2:24:10] I'll second it. Motion and second. Staff's advising to accept this

[2:24:18] contract. Any discussion? Billy, they are bonded, correct? Yes. I have

[2:24:23] reinsurance information. I saw that. They've got the business license. Tony

[2:24:28] has met with them um and um talked to them and they seem very capable of doing

[2:24:38] their job. All right, motion and second. Any further discussion? Let us vote. All

[2:24:43] in favor? Unanimous. Thank you. Motion

[2:24:47] carries. We're cutting it close on getting that

[2:24:50] started. So, I appreciate it. Uh Wel was scheduled to be here today, but it it

[2:24:55] rained. So, uh, they're here. They're here. They just can't start till

[2:24:59] tomorrow. Okay. They're here. They just can't start till tomorrow. Pray for

[2:25:03] sunny day. We hope to work on the park drive in uh

[2:25:10] concrete while the papers are in town so we can so we can uh have them to pull

[2:25:15] over that and patch it. Uh, I have here Market Street bids have

[2:25:22] been sent to the EQ for their approval. I got word today and sent you all a copy

[2:25:28] of the approval letter from DEQ. So, we're we're good to go on the Market

[2:25:32] Street Project. Um I think Hunter had asked me what the

[2:25:38] projected time was. We're thinking it's going to be September early fall. Um it

[2:25:44] takes even if we order everything, it it takes about 3 months for them to build

[2:25:48] all the concrete structures that we're going to need. So, it's probably going

[2:25:53] to be filed before we can actually get started on

[2:25:57] it. That's basically all I have. You You said pavers are in town. Does that mean

[2:26:03] Staley Street? Yes. Grows closed. Thank goodness. Thank you very much. Yes.

[2:26:08] Wonderful. Nobody wants it no quicker or faster than we do, Billy. The Park

[2:26:14] Boulevard phase two. Uh I think everyone has been informed about that. Uh I I'll

[2:26:21] make a motion that you work with uh VOTE to

[2:26:26] [Music] uh whatever needs to be done to not

[2:26:30] proceed with that at this point. Okay, I'll second that

[2:26:36] motion. All in

[2:26:41] favor? Anything else, council? Yes. I I would just like to make a comment. I I

[2:26:47] understand so much about what Miss Spencer has said, but I think that we

[2:26:52] have tried to do something to tonight because we're writing that letter. I

[2:26:58] think that's a start. And I would like to ask Billy to have someone at social

[2:27:05] services come to our next meeting that maybe we could talk to and find out what

[2:27:11] they can do. That is an invitation. Um, do we need a

[2:27:17] motion for that? No, just an invitation. So, if there's

[2:27:22] nothing further, I need a motion for us to adjourn.

[2:27:27] I make a motion. Second. Motion second. All in

[2:27:33] favor? We stand a journ.

April 7, 2025 Town Council Meeting

Transcript