COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES NOVEMBER 14, 2023 - DRAFT
REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING NOVEMBER 14, 2023
The Edinburg Town Council met for a Public Hearing on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. Mayor Harshman called the Public Hearing to order at 7:15 p.m. All the Councilmembers were present.
The purpose of the Public Hearing was to receive comments on the proposed amendment of Chapter 175 Zoning, § 175-17 Signs, F. Supplemental sign requirements of the Edinburg Town Code.
There were no comments.
A motion was made by Councilman Beachy and seconded by Councilman Dellinger to adjourn the Public Hearing at 7:16 p.m.
The Edinburg Town Council met in a regular session on Tuesday, November 14, 2023. Mayor Harshman called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. All the Councilmembers were present. Also present were Sgt. Dwayne Green from the Shenandoah County Sheriff’s Office and Mr. Brent Johnson from the Northern Virginia Daily.
Mayor Harshman asked if anyone had anything that was not on the agenda.
A motion was made by Councilman Beachy and seconded by Councilman Dellinger to approve the minutes of the October 10, 2023 regular meeting. Motion carried.
A motion was made by Councilman Wood and seconded by Councilwoman Reistetter to approve the Treasurer’s report and to pay all the bills as presented. Motion carried.
Councilman Beachy called attention to Inboden’s report.
Mayor Harshman reported that water production is still down. Mayor Harshman also reported that the Town is still working on getting a replacement for the compressor at the Water Treatment Plant (WTP), since once again, supply issues are making it difficult. Mayor Harshman reported that in the meantime, the other compressor has been serviced and a new system has been installed to control the oil getting into the air lines.
Mayor Harshman reported that work on the interior of the building at the Water Pump Station is completed. Mr. Karl Schaeffer is working with Patterson Construction on another project and he has told them that the Town is interested in having them resume work on the Water Pump Station. Mayor Harshman reported that Patterson Construction assisted the Town on this project way back when and the Town would like them to complete it. Mayor Harshman is going to discuss whether the Town can skip the bid process with Ms. Amanda Kerns, who is assisting the Town with the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding to allow Patterson to do the work.
Mayor Harshman reported that the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) tested the Town’s 2 wells for PFAS contamination a few months ago. PFAS is a chemical contamination from a variety of manufacturing sources that never goes away and the VDH found trace levels of it, but not enough to be considered a problem.
Mayor Harshman also reported that Virginia Rural Water (VRW) had the Town sign up to be part of the legal settlements that have been filed against firms like DuPont and 3M, both of which have preliminary court approval for settlements. The law firm has looked at the Town’s test results and they said that the Town is still qualified for these settlements since there were PFAS detections at both wells.
Mayor Harshman stated that he has always been skeptical of these types of legal cases since it always seems like the attorneys get all the money, but the Town will continue to look into submitting a claim to see where it goes
The Street Committee had no report. Mayor Harshman reported that the Town Crew has been taking advantage of the nice weather and working on the banners and the Christmas decorations. Mayor Harshman also reported that Dominion Energy is coming tomorrow to assist the Town Crew with the big Christmas tree.
The Ordinance Committee had no report. Mayor Harshman reported that the County Building Department is not going to assist the Town with the maintenance issues at 207 S. Main Street, but they did provide a list of firms that the Town might be able to hire to do the inspection. Mayor Harshman will be sending out information packets to each of the firms explaining what the Town needs to see if any of them can be of assistance.
The Personnel Committee had no report. Mayor Harshman reported that everything is going well with the transition from Mrs. Michelle Heier to Ms. Mandy Roberts in the Treasurer’s position. Ms. Roberts is working with someone at the Virginia Municipal League (VML) to establish a spreadsheet to track the Maintenance Department’s breakdown of jobs. Mayor Harshman reported that the Town struggles every year with the Workers Compensation Audit with them wanting to put all the maintenance work under the higher rate category of street cleaning. Mayor Harshman stated that this will be an additional step for Ms. Roberts when she is doing payroll, but it should end the battle with the auditor going forward.
The Finance Committee had no report.
The Property Committee had no report. Mayor Harshman reported that VDOT informed the Town that an 11-foot blade is required on the snowplows. This will still work with the new truck that has been ordered.
The Cemetery Committee had no report.
The Park Committee had no report. Councilwoman Wymer-Hollar reported that the mini-library installation at the Park will be next Wednesday at 1:00 p.m.
The Insurance Committee had no report.
The Health and Safety Committee had no report. Councilwoman Reistetter asked Sgt. Green if there was a way to include a North or South for streets on their report. Sgt. Green stated that he will look into this. Sgt. Green reported that the thief that stole property from front porches around the County, including Edinburg has been caught. Councilman Wood reminded Sgt. Green about the Christmas Parade on November 30th.
Councilman Baird asked Sgt. Green if anything could be done about jake brakes. Mayor Harshman stated that the Town has looked into signs before, but VDOT has an issue with putting signs up about this and it is hard to enforce. He also stated that there was nothing about jake brakes in the Town Code. Sgt. Green stated that there is nothing about jake brakes in the County Code either and it can’t be enforced if it isn’t in the Code.
Mayor Harshman reported that the Tourism Council met in October and he will forward the minutes to the Council as soon as he receives them.
Mayor Harshman reported that he received notice from Civil War Trail Signs that they will be refreshing one of the signs at the Edinburg Mill and re-doing the narrative on the other sign tomorrow. Mayor Harshman stated that the Edinburg Heritage Foundation pays $400 a year for maintenance for the two signs.
Mayor Harshman reported that he attended the ShenGo Bus Committee meeting last week. They are still expecting the bench grant to come through in 2024 and that it will be a 80% grant and 20% match. Mayor Harshman also reported installing the concrete pad for the bench can be included in the Town’s match.
Mayor Harshman reported that the ShenGo ridership for October was 1,431 and it continues to increase every month. Mayor Harshman reported that the demonstration grant will be ending soon and there will be a balance of around $7,300 in matching funds remaining and these funds may be used to decrease the local matches going forward. Mayor Harshman also reported that the switch to the Department of Rail and Public Transportation (DRPT) funding will still require a local match of $5,000-$6,000.
Mayor Harshman reported that the buses will be replaced with new vehicles in the coming year with the move to a different funding source and he reported that he’s not sure if it was decided to eliminate the $1.00 fee or not. Mayor Harshman reported that it was discussed that most systems like ShenGo do not charge a rider fare and the consensus was that this would be a good idea for the service going forward.
Mayor Harshman reported that the Rails to Trails Committee met earlier this month. Mayor Harshman reported that $35 million in state funding is included in the budget to support the Rail Trail and it is expected that this will generate some sort of study on the feasibility of Rail to Trail or Rail with Trail, but nothing has been publicly announced yet.
Mayor Harshman reported that there was also discussion about the development of a Friends of the Shenandoah Rail Trail logo and there are plans to do outreach for business support of the Rail Trail, future videos and other ways to communicate about the project.
The Architectural Review Board (ARB) did not meet in person, but they emailed back and forth about a request from 211 Center Street to do aluminum wrap around the wood windows rather than replacing/repairing and painting the existing wood windows. Mayor Harshman reported that the ARB approved this request.
The Planning Commission met for a Public Hearing on October 24, 2023 to discuss the proposed amendment of Chapter 175 Zoning, § 175-17 Signs, F. Supplemental sign requirements of the Town Code. Mayor Harshman reported that after some discussion, the Planning Commission voted to recommend approval of the amendment to the Town Council.
The Zoning Report showed that one permit was issued:
1. Michael Wages
105 N. Grove Ave.
Replacing Front Porch
There was no report from the Town Attorney.
Mayor Harshman reported that there was a Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Upgrade meeting yesterday attended by himself, Mr. Ron Ross, Mr. Tarcisio Guzman and another operator from Inboden Environmental Services, Engineers Mr. Karl Schaeffer and Mr. Matt Youngblood from Penonni Engineering and 2 representatives from WGK Contracting.
Mayor Harshman reported that since the last update, WGK wrapped up the construction phase of the project for the most part and have pulled off the jobsite until it is time to begin the demolition of the existing plant. The Town has agreed that the construction phase is substantially complete other than a couple of small punch items. WGK will be back on site this week to complete these items as well as repairing an air leak that was discovered in the west side of the aeration basin and also to look at a problem with the diffusers on the east side.
Mayor Harshman reported that WGK did a substantial amount of grading at the site prior to leaving, but he wasn’t 100% satisfied with the overall safety of the plant operators since the Town has no idea how long it will be before WGK comes back to complete the project. Mayor Harshman reported that it was decided that the Town Crew could do a better job of stabilizing things once WGK had left. The Crew was able to use asphalt millings and gravel to create safe temporary driveways and walkways throughout the site that should hold up until it is time to complete the demolition of the old plant. Mayor Harshman reported that the Town Crew also installed precast concrete steps to better access the new clarifiers.
Mayor Harshman reported that in addition to the work on the aeration basins, WGK will be working on the following items this week: Installing the up-flow dampers in the exhaust fan in the screen room, correcting some handrail issues, completing offsite clean-up and restoring areas used for fill dirt storage, finish the closing of the new access opening in the digester blower building and doing some additional grading around the new clarifiers.
Mayor Harshman reported that the plan is to begin testing the west side of the new plant and sludge was hauled in to seed the aeration tank. Mayor Harshman reported that after the initial deliveries of sludge were done, an air leak was discovered and it was decided to haul additional sludge to the east side and get it up and running first instead. The blower on the west side is still running to keep the sludge active and the repair to the air line can be accomplished without affecting the “bug” growth. Mayor Harshman also reported that the colder temperatures are slowing things down and it looks like additional sludge will need to be hauled in to speed up the process.
Mayor Harshman reported that starting this week, Plant Operator, Mr. Tarcisio Guzman is running flow through half of the new plant and half of the old plant. The UV still has not been turned on in the new plant, so everything is being sent back to the old plant for final treatment with chlorine. Mr. Guzman hopes to have the new auto sampler in place by the end of this week and start up the UV.
Mayor Harshman has asked USDA if the Town can be reimbursed for some or all of the start-up costs. Each load of sludge is costing around $1,500 in hauling costs and 4 loads have already been done. The Town has also had to purchase 2 pumps to use while both the old and the new plants are running. Mayor Harshman also reported that charges from Inboden are quite a bit higher than the standard operating costs and this is due to needing additional staffing hours for the training on the new treatment processes and all these expenses are reimbursable.
Mayor Harshman reported that the Town is also looking at a number of other improvements at the plant that can be covered by USDA funds. The Town will have a substantial amount of contingency money left when the project is completed and USDA requires that the Town spend the entire loan funding first and any left-over funds will be part of the grant funds the Town received, so the Town needs to spend it or return it.
Mayor Harshman reported that the Town Crew has installed concrete walks on either side of the new UV disinfection unit. These will serve as the base for an aluminum carport structure that will be placed over the unit. This was not included in the project, but it was determined to be a good idea to have shelter over the UV unit. The equipment is located in a concrete trough about 3 feet deep. Mayor Harshman reported that the new auto sampler will be placed down in the trough since the old sampler that is now located in the lab will be done away with. These costs will be reimbursed from the contingency funds.
Mayor Harshman reported that details are also being worked out for the clarifier railings and a heater in the screen equipment room. The heater is going to be quite a bit more than what was included in the original budget because it requires an explosion-proof unit that was not planned for. The railings are also going to be in addition to the original budget and at this point, the Town is going to purchase the materials and have the Town Crew install them.
Mayor Harshman reported that the Town is also looking into relocating a receptacle for the auto sampler and installing hour meters on the influent pumps. Mayor Harshman reported that the Town is thinking that these items as well as the railings and heater are going to be covered by a number of change orders that reduced the original project budget.
Mayor Harshman asked the Council to consider adopting the amendment of Chapter 175 Zoning, § 175-17 Signs, F. Supplemental sign requirements of the Edinburg Town Code. Mayor Harshman asked the Council if he could read just the title of the amendment. A motion was made by Councilman Dellinger and seconded by Councilman Wood to approve of Mayor Harshman reading just the title of the amendment. Motion carried. Mayor Harshman read the title of the amendment. A motion was made by Councilman Dellinger and seconded by Councilman Beachy to adopt the amendment of Chapter 175 Zoning, § 175-17 Signs, F. Supplemental sign requirements of the Edinburg Town Code. Motion carried. Recorded vote as follows: Wymer-Hollar – aye, Dellinger – aye, Baird – aye, Beachy – aye, Reistetter – aye, Wood – aye, Harshman – aye.
Mayor Harshman stated that the State Holiday for Christmas this year is Friday, December 22nd and Monday, December 25th and at this point Friday is shown as a half day, but sometimes the Governor will change it to a full day as the Holiday gets closer. Mayor Harshman asked the Council if they were okay with the Town closing at noon on Thursday, December 21st for the Employee Christmas Party at the VFW. After some discussion, a motion was made by Councilman Beachy and seconded by Councilman Wood to approve of closing the Town Office at noon on Thursday, December 21st and closing the Town Office all day on Friday, December 22nd. Motion carried.
Mayor Harshman stated that last year, the Town gave the full-time employees $250 as a Holiday gift and part-time employees received $150. Mayor Harshman asked the Council if this was what they would like to do again this year. A motion was made by Councilman Dellinger and seconded by Councilman Wood to approve Employee Holiday gifts of $250 for full-time employees and $150 for part-time employees. Motion carried.
Councilwoman Reistetter stated that cookies need to be brought to the Town Hall by Wednesday, November 29th at 10:00 a.m. and if anyone wants to help with bagging the cookies or with the Children’s Christmas Party to let her know.
With no further business, a motion was made by Councilman Wood and seconded by Councilman Dellinger to adjourn the meeting. Motion carried. The meeting was adjourned at 8:12 p.m.
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